IT'S OVER . . .

The saga has ended and I'm exhausted. We finished "All In" last night in one mega-four-hour session, punctuated by Indian food, pasta and fussy vaccinated babies. Episodes 21, 22 and 23 -- the episodes leading up to the grand finale -- were excellent, totally full of everything that makes a cheesy Korean drama miniseries perfection. Lots of pensively looking out the window holding a snifter of liquor, lots of flashbacks and rehashed conversations, lots of neatly choreographed fighting and a really cool dude with a Kendo stick, lots of "I'm so heartsick and pale, look at me, I'm not even wearing lipstick for this scene." It was awesome.

And then came the finale. It sucked. How can you wrap up 23 hours of drama, enmity, true love and criminal Mafia connections in one hour-long episode? You can't, and apparently neither can SBS, the Korean channel which produced "All In." Waaaah. It's never a good sign when the viewers are having conversations separate and distinct from the action on the TV screen, when Kwon is using C's laptop to IM with his friends, when C is desperately trying not to fall asleep and I am coddling one of the fussy Noodles on my lap while trying to avoid the spot on her leg where she received multiple vaccination shots. Never a good sign.

So, it ended. Our it's-so-bad-it's-good-television addiction has been broken for now. (Of course, we're already on the hunt for the next senseless program in which to immerse ourselves, and a BIG THANK YOU to Camp Capio for always opening their resort to us!) I didn't get home until right before 1:00a.m. and today, I'm looking forward to another long evening ... with Legolas. YUM. Then early tomorrow morning, I embark on my much-needed vacay and downtime with my L.O.L.'s. I expect to spend much of it napping and wondering why the finale episode of something is never as good as it should be.