Dramabuds!

Not clickbait, sorry 🥲 The most buzz worthy show with the highest ratings ever from tvN is over… FINALLY. How did everything go wrong for a drama with a stellar cast, excellent PDs, and a writer famous for her iconic works? Short answer: bad writing is bad writing, and not even the best leads could save this.

Dramabuds is back to talk about her (very) unproductive Kdrama year so far + the third season of TRANSIT LOVE/EXCHANGE, the Korean dating show that’s been driving her crazy for months. How did the new PD team switch things up, and does Season 3 live up to the iconic Season 2 cast and stories? 🍿

Before we say goodbye to 2023, Francine recaps the dramas she watched from October to December, with her final thoughts on the dramas she shared her first impressions on. Bonus segment, only on today's episode: she dives into her 10-year love for EXO’s discography and her new Kpop obsession, RIIZE 🧡

To build her currently watching list up again, Francine tries 4 ongoing dramas and shares her very quick thoughts on the first two episodes of Soundtrack #2, Maestra: Strings of Truth, Welcome to Samdal-ri, and My Demon!

Dramabuds is back with a quick episode about love triangles (in the year 2023?!?!?), how Francine never falls for second lead syndrome, and her thoughts on Castaway Diva and other dramas with famous love triangles.

We’re celebrating our 3rd anniversary by sharing our first impressions on CASTAWAY DIVA: writer Park Hye-ryun’s newest drama starring Park Eun-bin 💚 Enjoy this full circle moment of talking about old favorites (and old enemies) on the podcast!

Today, we share our first impressions on DAILY DOSE OF SUNSHINE: a gem of a drama that does its best to educate about mental illnesses while still being hopeful and heartwarming ☀️

For our second Super Special Spooky Episode, we review SAVE ME: a creepy psychological thriller Kdrama about a cult in a countryside town.

Looking for a thrilling Kdrama to binge this Halloween season? For the first of our Super Special Spooky Episodes, Francine reviews her first ever horror Kdrama: THE GUEST. No jumpscares here, so enjoy this drama (and this episode) before you sleep tonight 😈

We’ve taken all your Kdrama recommendations, and Francine is kicking off her watch challenge with 4 dramas:

• The Guest
• Mad Dog (@DingooDramas on Twitter 💕)
• City Hall (@OnionMok on Twitter 💗)
• Salon de Nabi

The most devastating sageuk romance of 2023 is coming back, and Francine is more than ready to suffer (and love every minute of it) 💔 Here’s a full recap of the events of MY DEAREST PART 1, for those who need a refresher before we jump into the long-awaited Part 2!

After 4 years of waiting, ARTHDAL CHRONICLES is back— with new faces for some of our favorite characters. How have the new actors portrayed the changes their characters went through in the 8-year timeskip? Has the first half lived up to the hype?

July to September wasn’t a productive watching quarter for Francine, but recent dramas are keeping her optimistic for the rest of the year! Listen to this recap episode for her thoughts on:

D.P. 2, Not Others, Mask Girl, Moving, Revenant, See You in My 19th Life King the Land, A Time Called You, Salon de Nabi, Arthdal Chronicles: The Sword of Aramun (+ The Bear, Oppenheimer, Barbie)

Today, Francine talks about why she sometimes watches her Kdramas in 1.5x speed or fast forwards to skip scenes— and why she’s trying to kill the bad habit. No judgement here, even if you’re watching the Chipmunks remix of a Kdrama 😵‍💫

🎶 Oh, I got better things to do with my time than you 🎶

Today, Francine talks about why some dramas are so hard to drop, even if they’re not as good as they initially seemed. Should you let them go or keep giving them a chance, hoping it gets better? (No hugot intended 👀)

Also, she’s looking for Kdrama recs for a First Impressions challenge! Send your recs through Dramabuds’ socials or through the answer box on Spotify 👇

Currently on her list: Life on Mars, Delightfully Deceitful, Matrimonial Chaos, The Guest, & Salon de Nabi

What a devastating finale to MY DEAREST PART 1 and a cliffhanger that’s making viewers beg for October to come faster 😭 Today, Francine defends some of the main leads’ frustrating choices and gushes over the powerful character arcs that led to this tragic ending (for now). Full recap of part 1 will come right before the 2nd part airs!

MOVING is the biggest Kdrama this year, and we’re loving the Korean twist on the superhero genre! Today’s episode is a recap of the first half: the characters we love, the unique pacing, and the epic conclusion that we’re hoping for.

Dramabuds is back! 💕 Today, Francine shares some life updates and her thoughts on all the dramas she’s currently watching and enjoying.

The grand finale of Francine’s Jung Hae-in review trilogy features ONE SPRING NIGHT, one of the first Kdramas she ever watched and fell in love with 🥰 Today, she discusses how the writer-director tandem from SOMETHING IN THE RAIN made huge improvements in a year and created this timeless romance melodrama with so much rewatch value.

Are you ready for D.P. Season 2 on July 28? 🤩 For anyone who needs a refresher on the Best Drama award-winning 1st season, today’s episode features a full recap of all 6 episodes and some thoughts on how this drama manages to be fun without diminishing its very serious themes.

We’re throwing it back to 2018 with today’s review of SOMETHING IN THE RAIN, the iconic romance melodrama starring Son Ye-jin and Jung Hae-in! Francine gave this very polarizing drama her best attempt at watching it and… actually loved it? 🫢

Kdramas have been feeding fans of all types of genres: fantasy-romance (See You in My 19th Life), horror-thriller (REVENANT), and classic Cinderella story romcom (KING THE LAND). Today, Francine talks about the latter two, some thoughts on writer Kim Eun-hee’s other dramas, and what she’s looking for in a romcom.

A new Kdrama cycle has just started, and Francine is kicking off a series of First Impressions with her quick thoughts on SEE YOU IN MY 19TH LIFE, a fantasy romance streaming on Netflix. Has the first half of the show lived up to its A+ pilot? 🫢

Things are starting to look up in Kdramaland recently, and today, Francine recaps the dramas she’s watched in the past 3 months. Here’s to a more exciting second half of the year! 🥂

Features the following shows: Anna; What’s Up; One Sunny Day; Something in the Rain; The Glory; The Good Bad Mother; Doctor Cha; Dr Romantic 3; Queenmaker; Race; One Spring Night + more

Is season 3 of DR ROMANTIC a worthy follow-up to one of Francine’s favorite Kdramas of all time? She weighs in on the first 10 episodes of DR ROMANTIC 3: the fresh spin on old themes, the new (and sometimes controversial) side characters, and the episodes that keep getting better and better.

Is Francine’s Kdrama slump finally cured? Today, she shares her first impressions on THE GOOD BAD MOTHER, a tearjerker and an acting masterclass. It has some of the best written morally grey characters she’s seen in a while, even though some scenes are VERY hard to watch 🥲

We’re celebrating the 100th episode of Dramabuds by talking about Francine’s ultimate love: musicals! She quickly recaps a bunch of musical dramas, the kind of music they feature, and pitches 3 of her dream musical dramas + casting 🫶 Thank you to everyone who has listened to the pod and shared it to other drama lovers!

Advanced Happy Mother’s Day to all the moms and mom figures out there! For today’s ep, Francine asked her mom (who has watched maybe over 200 Kdramas by now 😭) for her Kdrama milestones and ultimate recommendations for different moods 💖

Part 2 of our Makoto Shinkai Massive Movie Review is here, and we’re finally talking about SUZUME, his latest work! Beware of major spoilers in one segment, sorry 😅 Also includes quick (and maybe controversial) reactions to the winners of the recent Baeksang Arts Awards in the intro.

Today, Francine enters the world of movie reviews?!?! This is Part 1 of a 2-episode recording with a guest where they gush over and rant about Makoto Shinkai’s 2 major films, YOUR NAME (2016) and WEATHERING WITH YOU (2019). Next week’s episode talks about SUZUME, his latest work!

CALL IT LOVE is proof that the romance melodrama genre isn’t dead! ❤️‍🩹 Today, Francine dives into the drama’s characters, her initial fears about the show, and how this slow melo managed to become her (current) fave drama of 2023.

Repeat after me: awards don’t matter, unless they validate my faves 🧘

This year’s Baeksang Arts Awards will be held on April 28, so Francine is sharing her predictions and hopes on the winners based on her opinions and the overall hype these dramas got throughout the year. Prepare for spicier opinions, observations on the previous winners, and a lot of side-eyes on some questionable nominations 👀

On today’s episode, Francine ranks 30 couples from some of her top rated Kdramas and explains why some of them are her Dreams Come True, while others make her go…… Why Why Why………

We’re officially starting our Jdrama Journey with LIFE’S PUNCHLINE, a 2021 drama about a failed comedy group and their biggest fan. Francine talks about their amazing cast chemistry, the Kdramas that tackle similar themes of failure & change, and all the dramas and idols that gave her comfort when she needed it the most 💖

Part 2 of ISLAND finished airing, and……… well. 🫥 Here is Francine’s very critical (but very affectionate!) review of the entire drama, and despite its many flaws, we can see just how much the cast and staff poured into trying to make this show work— even if it didn’t.

After months of waiting, Part 2 of THE GLORY is finally coming on March 10! Join Francine as she recaps the first half of the show and shares her thoughts on Part 1 and her expectations for the much-anticipated Part 2 🍿 

Sometimes the music slaps— but the drama doesn’t 🥴 Here are 4 Kdramas that Francine never finished but have immortalized themselves in her massive Kdrama OSTs playlist: Clean With Passion For Now, Because This is My First Life, Love is For Suckers, and Start-Up.

Are you tired of romcom Kdramas but still need a romance fix? Today, Francine reviews(?) two buzz-worthy Korean dating shows from last year: Single’s Inferno 2 and Transit Love/EXchange 2— with a brief segment on Terrace House, the Japanese reality show franchise that she once LOVED, back in the day 🥺

Goodbye(?), Kdramas— Francine is finally entering the world of Jdramas ✈️  She’s kickstarting her Jdrama phase with some new selections available on Netflix:

❄️ First Love: Hatsukoi

🍚 The Makanai: Cooking For The Maiko House

🎻 Quartet

There are a LOT of things going on in each of the Kdramas we’re currently watching 😵‍💫  Here’s our first impressions on them, if you want to know if they’re worth checking out!

You can stream Payback: Money and Power on Prime Video, Crash Course in Romance on Netflix, and Strangers Again on Viki 🍿

MyDramaList is a site where users can rank and discuss Asian dramas with each other, and even though it’s useful, Francine has her own system for ranking all the dramas she’s watched. Today’s episode is a deep dive on her detailed ranking system: from the dramas that made her wish she could get her time back to the dramas that changed her life 🫶

ISLAND is Francine’s most recent guilty pleasure Kdrama! She’s hopeful that part 2 (coming to Prime Video on February 25) will continue to get better and better, even if Part 1 wasn’t exactly the greatest 🫣 She also rants about the recent trend of splitting Kdramas into 2 “seasons” and how much she hates it, especially for this Kdrama.

(feat. Francine’s thoughts on the Single’s Inferno 2 finale and the final couples 🫣)

UNDER THE QUEEN’S UMBRELLA is Francine’s top 3 drama of 2022— and possibly has one of the most satisfying endings she’s watched in a long, long time in Kdramas. Today’s episode is her overdue review of the show, her favorite character moments, and her mini-rant about why not all good endings need to be happy endings.