PODCAST

The Urban Lily Talks Tropes

40somethingahjumma

Reflections on Asian Dramas 40somethingahjumma.substack.com

All Episodes

60:38

Drama Watch 12 November 2025

The Urban Lily Talks Tropes ·

2025/11/17

0:00 Introduction — could be my last podcast for 2025.1:09 Where we begin our conversation about Walking on Thin Ice, the underwatched crime K drama led by Lee Young-ae and Kim Young-kwan as partners in crime. This conversation does contain spoilers for the show. If you’re trying to avoid spoilers please go to my spoiler free review of the first half of the drama.28:05 We talk about Kim Young-kwan and his career so far.32:50 Our chat shifts to Typhoon Family. The historical backdrop of the Asian

61:55

Drama Watch October 2025

The Urban Lily Talks Tropes ·

2025/10/01

Recorded on 27 September 2025 for October.0:00 Introduction0:28 absoluteM begins the conversation with a review of Queen Mantis starring Go Hyun-jung and Jang Do-yoon as a mother-son pairing in this police procedural. 8:31 absoluteM mentions Tempest with Ju Ji-hyun and Kang Dong-won as leads and Bon Appetit Your Majesty led by Im Yoo-na and Lee Chae-min as well-regarded dramas that are currently airing.11:49 I do a quick review of Beyond the Bar with a focus on the characters.17:07 I say a bit about

59:49

Drama Watch 1 Sept 2025

The Urban Lily Talks Tropes ·

2025/09/07

00:00 Greetings and absoluteM immediately launches into a review of Summit of Our Youth, a second chance story featuring Sun Zhenni and Chen Jingke. 5:19 We shift the conversation to The Legend of the Female General led by Zhou Ye and Cheng Lei. Be warned: I have nothing complimentary to say about the show. absoluteM mentions Cheng Lei’s other drama Shadow Love, currently airing. It also stars Song Yi. 26:17 absoluteM takes a turn to talk about Wang Xingyue’s latest, The Wanted Detective.31:47 I am

69:28

Drama Watch 2 August 2025

The Urban Lily Talks Tropes ·

2025/08/05

I apologize for the sound quality. While I managed to boost the volume more generally I couldn’t get rid of the earlier distortions from absoluteM’s side of things. Thankfully the misbehaving audio righted itself after a time. Maybe it’s time to invest in a decent microphone.Greetings and introduction: A brief summary of what we’ve been watching1:49 The Princess’ Gambit — What in the world went wrong with his?16:56 We switch our attention to shows absoluteM has been watching — A Dream within a

59:33

Drama Watch 3 July 2025

The Urban Lily Talks Tropes ·

2025/07/06

0:00 Greetings. What we’re watching and what we want to watch. We refer to The Legend of Zang Hai, The Princess’ Gambit, In the Name of Blossom, Mercy for None.4:33 We begin our discussion of The Princess’ Gambit.29:48 absoluteM asks about Legend of Zang Hai and I give a review.41:26 absoluteM goes into what else she’s been watching: Perfect and Casual, The Best Thing, Our Movie, Head Over Heels52:03 I ramble on about the latest in short C dramasThanks for everyone’s support. I apologize for the

43:57

Bonus Podcast Episode: The Prisoner of Beauty (2025)

The Urban Lily Talks Tropes ·

2025/06/15

absoluteM and I come get together for a chat about the show. absoluteM kicks the conversation with her overall feelings about the show.If you enjoyed this podcast episode, please like, comment or share the post. Get full access to The Urban Lily Talks Tropes at 40somethingahjumma.substack.com/subscribe

65:07

Drama Watch 1 June 2025

The Urban Lily Talks Tropes ·

2025/06/03

0:34 Starting off with Resident Playbook that ended two weeks ago.37:06 absoluteM raves about The Prisoner of Beauty, Liu Yuning’s latest. He’s paired with the talented Song Zu’er. I have since seen several episodes and am quite impressed. It’s been a while since a C drama has been able to grab my attention right out of the block.53:08 absoluteM moves on to talk about another Liu Yuning drama, Eternal Brotherhood which also stars Yang Xuwen from Strange Tales of Tang Dynasty. A show that’s not

74:15

Drama Watch 3 May 2025

The Urban Lily Talks Tropes ·

2025/05/05

0:00 Greeting and introduction0:33 absoluteM mentions what she’s watching at the moment: Resident Playbook, Heavenly Ever After, Serendipity, Pump Up the Healthy Love2:31 We launch into a lengthy conversation about Resident Playbook, the Hospital Playlist spin-off.38:29 absoluteM does a quick review of Heavenly Ever After.43:18 I ask if absoluteM has seen The Art of Negotiation. Then I give a brief review while she asks the questions.57:19 Then I shift my attention to The First Frost starring Bai

61:12

Drama Watch 9 April 2025

The Urban Lily Talks Tropes ·

2025/04/09

0:23 absoluteM lists the dramas she’s been watching on various platforms: When Life Gives You Tangerines, Undercover High School, Buried Hearts2:48 absoluteM delves a little more into Buried Hearts’ storyline and characters — a a makjang that she found engaging.5:02 Our discussion of When Life Gives You Tangerines begins. At the time of recording I’d only seen 2 episodes.14:04 We review Undercover High School, the recently completed spy comedy with Seo Kang-joon and Jin Ki-joo in lead roles. Praise

70:59

Drama Watch 8 March 2025

The Urban Lily Talks Tropes ·

2025/03/15

In this episode, we start off by talking about:Love Scout which stars Han Ji-min and Lee Joon-hyuk16:19 absoluteM is watching Undercover High School (Seo Kang-joon), Buried Hearts, The Potato Lab (Kang Tae-oh, Lee Sun-bin).24:57 We yak about C dramas that are airing that we aren’t watching. Filter (Tan Jianci) and The First Frost (Bai Jingting) get mentions.27:13 The conversation switches to Tan Jianci’s rising popularity after Lost You Forever. 29:11 We switch gears and start talking about reverse

63:51

Drama Watch 3 February 2025

The Urban Lily Talks Tropes ·

2025/02/04

01:58 Wang Xingyue’s latest entry Perfect Match — an ensemble drama with strong Jane Austen vibes. Currently airing on Netflix. A tale of a family of women in search of husbands21:09 absoluteM mentions Flourished Peony which sees Li Xian and Yang Zi collaborating again after Go Go Squid. Trailer found here.23:34 Despite flaws and criticisms of Perfect Match, absoluteM is still planning to continue after 17 episode.28:17 absoluteM asks me if I liked Blossom starring Meng Ziyi and Li Yunrui. 30:21

57:42

Drama Watch January 2025

The Urban Lily Talks Tropes ·

2025/01/09

0:00 Introduction and state of our relationship with dramas2:17 Looking back at 2024 and thoughts about the output6:03 Ji Sung's drama Connection: Our differing views of its relative success10:38 Miss Night and Day: An example of what goes wrong13:12 Lovely Runner -- my critique14:07 Too many dramas and production line thesis. Too many episodes.15:42 absoluteM's quick (very positive) review of Love Your Enemy19:05 We talk about When the Phone Rings.22:43 absoluteM has seen The Tale of Lady Ok with

62:50

Drama Watch 20 November 2024

The Urban Lily Talks Tropes ·

2024/11/21

0:00 Greetings, introduction and travel plans1:05 The current state of C dramas — what’s the problem2:43 Discussion around The Story Pearl Girl and Kill Me, Love Me — symptomatic of issues with the most recent spate of C dramas.20:51 We have a chat about Dong-jae, The Good or the B*****d the spin-off from the Stranger franchise, featuring the wonderful Lee Joon-hyuk in the lead role. 35:45 What’s around the corner…36:29 absoluteM gives a quick review of Mr Plankton and at around 38:07 she launches

70:12

Drama Watch 17 October 2024

The Urban Lily Talks Tropes ·

2024/10/19

0:00 Welcome and Introduction1:08 We chat about what we liked and didn’t really care for in Love Next Door that’s still available on Netflix. It had likeable characters but was probably too long for what it set out to do. Still a better watch than Hometown Cha Cha Cha. Both scripted by the same writer.15:27 We briefly mention The First Shot, a C police procedural with Johnny Huang and Wang Ziqi as leads.15:49 We launch into a discussion about short C dramas and try to account for their popularity. I

67:31

Drama Watch 18 September 2024

The Urban Lily Talks Tropes ·

2024/09/18

0:00 Introduction and what absoluteM has been watching1:22 Discussion around Are You the One and comparing our different takes. I misspoke when I said “the last thirty episodes” when I really meant the last 10 episodes. 26:10 We move on to Love Next Door starring Jung Hae-in and Jung So-min. What I like about it33:05 absoluteM reviews The First Shot, a period police procedural set in late 1990s China with Johnny Huang and Wang Ziqi at the helm. We do our bit to put the word out there.48:11 I rave on

72:08

Drama Watch 28 August 2024

The Urban Lily Talks Tropes ·

2024/08/30

0:00 Introduction2:35 We begin with Miss Night and Day, a Netflix show that ended a few weeks ago. Definitely a show with missed opportunities and misguided use of characters.9:45 Sweet Home 3. My critique of it after 5 episodes. Conceptually fascinating but execution is all over the place. Like a lot of sci-fi, it’s about the ideas rather than the characters. Integration of various elements is the weakest link.31:20 I make some quick comparisons with Kingdom.37:12 absoluteM asks me about The

62:24

Drama Watch 31 July 2024

The Urban Lily Talks Tropes ·

2024/08/04

0:00 Introduction and what we’ve been watching2:38 absoluteM reviews Sweet Home 3 in relation to Season 2. Spoiler free.6:19 We have a conversation about Miss Night and Day. What we like about it. It’s led by Jung Eun-jin, Choi Jin-hyuk and Lee Jung-eun.18:35 I go off on a tangent about the clumsy female lead rom com trope often deployed to establish chemistry. I draw on my extensive experience with short dramas 😛 and launch into a tirade.23:06 A review of The Auditors — a brief summary and

72:37

Drama Watch 10 July 2024 Bonus Episode

The Urban Lily Talks Tropes ·

2024/07/11

0:00 Introduction and objectives1:49 We begin the conversation with Connection, a recently completed K drama. Started well and ended well. We discuss the plot, complex characters, themes and specific performances. A quality script with a top-notch cast. Beware of crucial spoilers.34:31 We move on to talk about the slice-of-life series The Midnight Romance at Hagwon helmed by Jung Ryeo-won and Wi Ha-joon in the vein of My Liberation Notes about the education system, cram schools in South Korea with a

92:40

Drama Watch 3 July 2024

The Urban Lily Talks Tropes ·

2024/07/04

0:00 Introduction and my relationship with short dramas3:36 We chat at length about The Double which concluded recently. Beware. The conversation contains major spoilers about character arcs and deaths. 48:26 We switch our attention to the excellent K police procedural Connection starring Ji Sung, Jeon Mi-do and Kwon Yool. Watch out for my early impressions post.1:05:50 absoluteM mentions Midnight Romance at Hagwon briefly. We are both aiming to finish it.1:09:39 Miscellaneous dramas: absoluteM

70:27

Drama Watch 4 June 2024

The Urban Lily Talks Tropes ·

2024/06/05

0:31 absoluteM out of the block with a review of Lovely Runner a well-received K drama that ended recently.10:08 After mentioning Marry My Husband briefly, we turn our attention to Will Love in Spring? We comment on the performances and the characters. Read my review here. We go deep about the final act and the actions of the female lead.21:50 We critique Go Go Squid, another Li Xian drama that was popular. 23:08 I make reference to the sub-genre of a much older man romancing a much younger woman

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