Yesterday I said I would talk about the watch party that I had recently finished. But before I get to that, I have to say that I did not have a fun time with tech support earlier. It’s a bit of a long story, but needless to say, I will be reaching out to them tomorrow to solve the even bigger problem that was created during their “help” earlier. Please keep your fingers crossed for me that tomorrow will have better results.
Enough about that, let’s talk about Kdramas
Today is the first Wednesday in just under two months that I don’t have a weekly virtual Kdrama watch party to attend…and I’m already missing it. Heck, I was already missing it last week when we finished the final two episodes of Hotel Del Luna on Viki.
Side note: it’s also currently on Netflix, and I HIGHLY HIGHLY HIGHLY recommend it. IU is stunning (as always) as the female lead Jang Man Wol and Yeo Jin Goo was equally enjoyable as the male lead Gu Chang Seong. Oh man, they had such great chemistry, and IU’s wardrobe was GORGEOUS.
But what I wanted to talk more about was the watch party itself.
It was not my first time doing a virtual watch party, having done previous parties through Netflix and Disney+ with friends, but it was my first time with people I had only met through social media. Specifically through TikTok. One of my now mutuals on TikTok had posted a video in late August or early September about the possibility of doing a watch party for Hotel Del Luna. I just had to be a part of it, and it was worth all the things.
One nice thing about Viki’s watch parties (as the site also hosts their own watch parties with various shows and movies) is that there are no cameras involved, unlike the watch party extension Scener. So every conversation is text-based, and they have a notice label showing upon entering the chat for viewers to protect their privacy and how they should act while chatting.
So what did that mean for me?
For me, I only ‘knew’ one person, the host, from any of the weekly parties, so both the text-only chat space and the warning label added to my comfort. Not that I expected any negativity as the people who joined were like me, fellow Kdrama fans. And so, instead of worrying about who knows what, I got to enjoy being virtually social, participating in an activity that I love with people who also love it—a clear win by all counts.
Am I looking forward to my next virtual watch party? You better believe it, though it probably won’t happen after the holidays are over. At least not with that group of people. I do have some virtual movie nights planned with friends soon, but I find myself really liking the opportunity of meeting new people virtually who share my love of Kdramas. My younger self would never have joined, but I am glad that I can do so now.
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