The Long Song is a three-episode BBC drama adapted from the book of the same name. I stumbled upon it by chance a few days ago, and I was hooked as soon as I began watching. The Long Song is the tale of a Jamaican slave named July, and the events of her life that take place around the time that ideas regarding abolition are beginning come into play. The drama depicts a breathtaking and harrowing tale that encapsulates so much more than a single woman's experiences, and white men are just as awful as you'd expect. Characters are realistically and terribly flawed, and the drama gets you invested before you even realize what's happening. Beautiful cinematography, wonderful acting, and heart-hitting writing really come together to make The Long Song a powerful feature you don't want to miss out on.

I enjoyed pretty much everything about Ratsasan except for its horrific representation of females as police officers. Women are rarely police officers in Kollywood films, and furthermore, even if they are, they're definitely not in any high positions and are usually seen working with or working under other male officers. However, in this film, we get to see a female who is not only a main character - I use the term "main" loosely - but also a police officer who's actually higher in the hierarchy than our hero Arun. Unfortunately, there's nothing exciting about this, as Arun doesn't take heed to this female officer even once. And even worse is the fact that the female officer is an egotistical, incompetent maniac whose sole purpose in this film is to get in the way of solving the case and simultaneously annoying everyone around her. I wish she could have at least gotten a character arc where she finally realizes that yes, her subordinate is right about everything in a way he could never be if this wasn't a movie, but unfortunately, she's a terrible character and person from beginning to end.

As if this wasn't bad enough, it seems that her being a female as well as a mother is utilized to further accentuate her incompetence and self-absorption in the film; for example, she is constantly picking up calls from her children while she's working. She talks to them sweetly while she orders a man to beat a man half to death, and she later sings her child an English lullaby on the phone while Arun is trying to tell her that he knows exactly who the serially killer - but she could care less. Her role in the film ends when an old man has enough of her and handcuffs her, locking her in her office; this old man also happens to call her by the nickname "demon" when she's not within earshot.

Although I really enjoyed the plot of Ratsasan and found myself immersed in the story - though I don't really see the need for Arun to be a wannabe filmmaker, but that's a whole different thing - the terrible representation of women as police officers is quite frankly, offensive. The single, truly useless officer in the film happens to be the only female police officer, and they way she's treated and represented in this film is obnoxious and small-minded, and it takes away from an otherwise decent film.

I'd stayed away from Fight or Flight by Samantha Young when it first came out because I'd heard some pretty negative things about it from fellow readers. I'd been told that there wasn't so much chemistry between the lead characters Ava and Caleb as there was inane arguing and insults being traded back and forth. I'd also heard that Caleb isn't such a great guy and really shouldn't be featured in a romance novel. And to an extent, all of these things are true, especially when you crack open the first chapter of the book and find two stupid characters being terrible to each other for no good reason. But thankfully, the further on you get into the book, the better it gets - although I never end up falling in love with the characters or their story.

The main issues I have with this novel are the meet cute, Caleb, and Caleb's backstory. The so-called meet cute in this novel is that Caleb cuts Ava in line and takes the last first class seat available on their flight, which Ava was patiently waiting in line for. When apprised of the situation, he isn't apologetic in the slightest and goes on to call her pet names like "babe" and blows her off despite the fact that he is entirely in the wrong. He continues to do rude things to her throughout the course of the day, and somehow readers are expected to fall for him while he's being a complete ass. That's not quite what I would call a meet cute, and indeed, I'd be more likely to toss him from the plane at that point than smooch with him. And yet despite all of this, Ava does find herself intrigued by him, which made both of them super annoying to me quite quickly.

But Caleb isn't like that because he's in an airport and exhausted - no, he's just terrible to strangers in general. He never says please or thank you to waitresses or flight attendants on purpose because, according to him, why should he thank a person who is just doing their job? And he never fixes this either - Ava just comes to accept it. Now that I think about it, I don't think Caleb even has a character arc in this novel other than his coming to accept love again. But I was never fully on board with Caleb's character because there was always something off about him. He did have his typical romantic hero moments later on in the novel, but a lot of his scenes - especially toward the beginning - made him seem like a possibly unhealthy romantic interest. But then by the end, he was completely normal, as if he was a different character entirely, and we don't get to see the changes that brought him there.

Caleb's traumatic backstory is a whole different mess. I can't say much about it without spoiling it, but it does seem to be a tad problematic. There seems to be an aspect to it in which a woman is villainized for a certain decision and Caleb apparently cares more for that decision than the woman herself, who apparently did it for her physical and emotional well-being. The woman is called a selfish, conceited jerk because of this decision, and the reader knows nothing else about this woman to be able to agree with or refute this claim. Of course, this woman probably should have confided in Caleb regarding her decision - I don't know enough about the backstory or Caleb to say this confidently - but either way, this is definitely not a black and white topic, and the author only dedicates a couple paragraphs at most to it. 

The strongest part of this book is without a doubt the friendship between Harper and Ava: they're always there for each other, and this friendship is much more appealing than any romance offered in the novel. Their relationship is the only thing that I found genuinely appealing in the book, and indeed, Harper's scenes were more compelling than whatever happened with Ava, which is odd considering that this is Ava's book. Ultimately though, if I could make the choice again, no, I would not choose to read Fight or Flight. I also definitely wouldn't re-make the choice to watch Destination Wedding - I may still be traumatized.

I picked up The Clockwork Scarab by Colleen Gleason - along with the next two books in the series - from the local library as soon as I was finished with final exams. It's rare that I pick up a book without having heard about it first on Goodreads or some other blog, but every now and then I do take a chance on things I know nothing about. While I don't have anything much against the plot, the fake chemistry slathered all over the pages of this book was quite a bother while I was reading it.

The book is about the niece of Sherlock Holmes, Mina, and the sister of Bram Stoker, Evaline, being propositioned by Irene Adler to solve a mystery, more or less, on behalf of royalty. Both are trying to prove to themselves that they can live up to their respective heritage, and also, they're not really fans of each other considering each one has what the other doesn't. And to be honest, I think I'd prefer that Mina and Evaline get together and completely forgo the terrible flirting and awkward encounters with the male characters.

I realize that I've become more perceptive about romance in novels lately, but the setups in this are truly quite awful. I'm fairly certain that every single twenty-something male character in this book is introduced with the adjective "handsome", and that gets annoying fast. Trust me, author: if you introduce a young male character to me, I'm just going to assume that he's handsome and begin shipping characters together without your use of the adjective. Also, I felt that the romantic scenarios the author created between Mina and Evaline and other male characters were really contrived, and as such, made me cringe and only dislike the romances that much more. Do we really need a guy with a Cockney accent pressing Evaline up against a wall as soon as they meet? Does Holmes have to blush any time a guy looks at her? I think not. Additionally, I'm just not fond of the idea that Mina and Holmes both need a male counterpart - Holmes with two, actually.

Surprisingly, despite this fake chemistry, by the end of this book, I had a vague interest in a male character called Inspector Grayling. He's the usual stoic dude who cannot express his feelings and ends up simply annoying Holmes, but even despite his cliché role and moments in the novel, I still kind of like him. The most annoying character is probably Dylan, who is from the future, but I'll be fine as long as Mina doesn't end up with him in the end of it all.

Normally, I would have no intention of continuing on with the series, but the mystery isn't terrible in this one. And even though I'm not aching to find out who the antagonist in this installment really is, and although I couldn't care less about the characters and their potential arcs, I might find myself trying out the second book sometime just to see what goes on with Mina and Inspector Grayling.

Since it's almost the end of the year and I haven't written another Korean drama post since my mid-year TOPFIVE drama post, I figured it was time for an update - especially since a lot of what I said in that other post is null and void. I put some dramas in that list that were currently airing, and unfortunately, they turned a tad sour after making it onto my list. If you're curious regarding which dramas on those list you should probably avoid: Wok Of Love and About Time. But why start on such an unfortunate note? Let's get straight into the most amazing dramas of the year!

This is the new drama written by the famed writer who gave us beautiful dramas like Heirs, Goblin, and Descendants of the Sun. Mr. Sunshine is a breathtaking tale of Japanese colonization of Korea and the resistance fighters who will give up anything to save their country. It is a glorious and gorgeous drama, and it's conveniently on Netflix - I highly recommend it. It has a superb cast, and the dialogue is so charming and witty that I just melt. There are twenty four episodes in the drama, and while that may feel long, it's actually quite perfect. I want to say that this is my favorite drama of the year, but I feel like that spot goes to the melodrama Nice Witch.

This drama was in my last drama post as well. If you knew how much I loved it, you wouldn't even blink at seeing it again in this list. Long story short: it's about two twins, one evil and horrendous and dubbed "Ice Queen" (but not in the cute romantic way which means some male is about to get close to her and melt her heart - no, she's actually an awful Ice Queen who'd sooner shoot shards of ice at your face than be nice) and the other a beautiful soul, a mother of an adorable child and a terrible husband, and such a nice person. The premise of Nice Witch is that the mean sister falls into a coma after getting herself in trouble, but before falling unconscious, she begs her nice sister to take her place and pretend to be her. And then of course she meets this hot pilot, who thinks she's the awful Ice Queen who he hates, only to find that for whatever reason he's suddenly reacting differently to her. Cue swooning. Nice Witch is the nice twin's love story and character arc, and if you're looking for adorable romance, this is what you want to watch.

Life is a medical drama with Lee Dong-wook as the male lead, but I don't think medical drama really captures what it's about. Life takes place in a hospital, yes, but it's much more about the politics of hospitals that anything else. I don't even know how to put this drama into words because it's that unique and brilliant, but it has a great cast, an amazing suspenseful atmosphere the entire time through, and although I wouldn't go for this drama if you're wanting romance, it's so so good. And also conveniently on Netflix. (I swear I'm not a sponsor for Netflix or anything.) The antagonist character is really the true gem of the drama, and the relationship between him and Dong-wook is...wow. But fair warning: if you watch this, you're not going to be trusting hospitals or doctors anytime soon.

If you read all my ravings about this drama already, feel free to skip ahead. If not, just know that the sequel to Mystery Queen more than lives up to its predecessor - it might even be better - and if you love mysteries and Sherlock Holmes, then you're really missing out if you have yet to check out the first season as well as this one. It features a ton of slow burn romance and cutesy angst - as opposed to the stressful kind - and the mysteries as well as the way the main characters go about solving them is truly fun to watch and really quite smart. All I want for Christmas is a Mystery Queen 3.

I'm going to straight up be honest about this one and say that this drama is still in the middle of airing, so it's entirely possible that I might become bored of this one by the time it's finished. As of now, however, this is one of my favorite kdramas, partly because it features Choi Jin-hyuk and Jang Na-ra as the leads. We saw them together in Fated To Love You, but Jin-hyuk was the second lead at the time. The Last Empress begins with musical actress Oh Sunny (Jang Na-ra) catching the eye of the Emperor, but she didn't really catch his eye and it's all actually a conspiracy to cover up a crime. Jin-hyuk plays a Bodyguard aching for revenge against the throne, and he has some really cute moments with Jang Na-ra. Of course there's a ton of politics in this one, and you're really going to end up hating rich, royal persons, but hey, there's nothing wrong with that.

I'd read the first Anne book a couple months ago thanks to my friends who kept pestering me about how brilliant Gilbert Blythe is. And yes, he is brilliant, but I'm beginning to fear that the version of him that I love is the one from Anne With An E. However, I'll probably get one book further into the series before making any definitive decisions regarding which Blythe I hold more closely in my heart.

I began reading Anne of Avonlea at the start of the fall semester this year, but I didn't finish it until a couple days ago. Terrible, I know. I could blame it on how busy the semester was with my eclectic mix of film and computer science classes - I wouldn't be lying - but the real reason the book took me so long to read was because honestly, I found myself a bit bored with it all. The author L.M. Montgomery remains brilliant at creating lovable characters who feel like they're real; she brings the town, its folks, and its stories to life. But there isn't much dramatic tension in the novel as most things are spectacularly happy all the time, and so I found myself less enamored of the world and its characters than I had been when reading Anne of Green Gables. I hate to say it, but my main fear at the moment is that when I finish the series, it'll be because I've forced myself to rather than because I crave each book the moment I finish the one before it.

Despite its issues, I did end up enjoying my slow, meandering return to Prince Edward Island. At first I had been reluctant to accept the new cast of characters, but the addition of persons like the old neighbor with the parrot and Miss Lavender were actually quite sweet. There definitely isn't nearly enough Gilbert in this book - and gah, he's all soft and no angst - but all in all, this wasn't a horrible book by any means. I do believe I might've enjoyed the series more if I had read the books when I was younger, but I'm still determined to finish them all someday. And besides: maybe a slow meander isn't the worst way to experience such a vast and endearing story world like Anne's.