The Urban Lily Talks Tropes

0:00 An hour-long discussion about Against the Current which we both really liked. Is it the C drama of the year? Perhaps. We talk about what we liked and didn’t like. 1:07:13 I give In Blossom , another Liu Xueyi drama, a plug. 1:13:26 I shift the conversation to The Early Spring . 1:20:56 Then I briefly mention The Ordinary Jackpot . 1:22:28 absoluteM recommends A Prophet which stars Li Xian and...

00:00 Introduction 0:28 absoluteM talks about In My Prime , Wang Ziqi’s latest. A slice-of-life family drama set in the 1980s. 3:41 absoluteM brings up The Early Spring , a show that I haven’t started but am curious about. Would this show do as well as it has if it weren’t for Jing Boran? 17:07 We start talking about the presently airing Against the Current , starring Tan Songyan and Liu Xueyi as...

To celebrate one of the year’s best C dramas, absoluteM and I come together and chat about The Road to Splendor . 0:00 Introduction and overall impressions The first 24 minutes — Non-spoilery review From 24:07 onwards We talk spoilers — big ones, little ones. If you enjoyed this podcast, please like, share or leave a comment. Did you watch The Road to Splendor? Did you enjoy it? Get full access to...

0:00 Introductory comments and greetings 01:07 Talking about what I’m watching. 01:28 Launching into The Road to Splendor featuring Ding Yuxi and Ancey Deng Enxi formerly of Melody of Golden Age . A new currently airing C drama about two young people trying to makes something of themselves in a hostile world. So far so good. (A first impressions post is taking shape and on the way) 22:34 absoluteM...

0:00 Greeting 0:58 absoluteM asks and I answer. We discuss My Royal Nemesis : The good, the bad and the indifferent. Heo Nam-jun’s breakthrough role and the landmines of using temporal devices 21:34 absoluteM praises Reborn Rookie — a recent drama in the manner of Reborn Rich featuring Lee Jun-young and Son Hyun-joo. 29:46 After a brief exchange about AI in dramas, we talk about Tan Jianci and Wan...

0:00 Introductions 0:51 The Heir starring Yang Zi and Elvis Han 13:16 A Splendid Match featuring Ren Min and Ci Sha 25:29 I’m not necessarily singling out Pursuit of Jade for criticism but just highlighting why dramas changing direction can trigger the ire of viewers. 29:36 My Royal Nemesis with Im Ji-yeong, Heo Nam-jun, Jang Seung-jo. The show I was thinking about and couldn’t remember it at the...

0:00 Introduction and greetings 0:43 absoluteM talks enthusiastically about My Royal Nemesis starring Im Ji-yeon, Heo Nam-jun and Jang Seung-jo. 3:47 absoluteM mentions A Splendid Match . 4:01 I’m currently watching The Scarecrow , a crime investigative drama featuring Park Hae-soo, Lee Hee-joon, Kwak Sun-young. 14:00 We get a tad nostalgic about OCN dramas. 15:04 I speak briefly about Light the N...

0:00 Greetings from the both of us. Apologies for some of the sound issues later. Not sure what happened. 0:28 Where we begin talking about Pursuit of Jade — a show that started so well and then came crashing down like a ton of bricks in the final phase of the drama. ***Beware of spoilers. 41:39 We finally move on from our severe critique of Pursuit of Jade to absoluteM’s latest favourite, Hold A...

0:28 absoluteM gets right into it and mentions Pursuit of Jade . 1:00 She asks me about Unveiled: Jadewind led by Bai Lu and Wang Xingyue. 15:45 absoluteM opines about ancient detective dramas. 21:51 absoluteM gives a synopsis of what she’s seen so far in The Pursuit of Jade , which is about 4 episodes at the time of recording. 28:51 absoluteM mentions How Dare You?! with Cheng Lei and Wang Churan...

Hi everyone. We jumped a lot in this episode because neither of us watched the same dramas. Thanks for being onboard and supporting what we’re doing here. All the best for the new year. Xing Nian Kuai Le. 0:00 Introduction 0:37 absoluteM launches into a review of Undercover Miss Hong starring Park Shin-hye as a investigator/auditor in a checkered relationship with Go Kyung-po the CEO of the compan...

Happy New Year! We beckon another year of too many dramas. 0:00 Introduction and greetings 0:36 absoluteM talks about what she’s been watching on: Typhoon Family, Dynamite Kiss, Idol Eye, including Wallace Chung’s latest Second Chance Romance — w idely thought to be something of a dud. 2:04 She mentions his 2022 drama Because of Love in passing. 4:27 Sniper Butterfly — a sleeper hit. A noona roman...

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-k...

Recorded on 27 September 2025 for October. 0:00 Introduction 0:28 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...

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 So...

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 watching 1:49 The Princess’ Gambit — What in the world went...

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 H...

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

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, E...

0:00 Greeting and introduction 0:33 absoluteM mentions what she’s watching at the moment: Resident Playbook, Heavenly Ever After, Serendipity, Pump Up the Healthy Love 2:31 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...

0:23 absoluteM lists the dramas she’s been watching on various platforms: When Life Gives You Tangerines , Undercover High School , Buried Hearts 2:48 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 Unde...

In this episode, we start off by talking about: Love Scout which stars Han Ji-min and Lee Joon-hyuk 16:19 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...

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 husbands 21:09 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 con...

0:00 Introduction and state of our relationship with dramas 2:17 Looking back at 2024 and thoughts about the output 6:03 Ji Sung's drama Connection : Our differing views of its relative success 10:38 Miss Night and Day : An example of what goes wrong 13:12 Lovely Runner -- my critique 14:07 Too many dramas and production line thesis. Too many episodes. 15:42 absoluteM's quick (very positive) revie...

0:00 Greetings, introduction and travel plans 1:05 The current state of C dramas — what’s the problem 2:43 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...

0:00 Welcome and Introduction 1:08 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 Ziq...