A Very Intelligent Story On Virtual Game Competition. What We See On Screen, Can Become REAL!
I seriously started to watch this drama because I love Hyun Bin. Then see if he has chemistry with the sweet and pretty Park Shin-Hye and finally hoping to understand this virtual reality game drama is.And I must say, the virtual reality game came top on my list from episode 1. It all started for me, the moment I caught on the complexity of the game where real humans can enter duel with them. All this whilst the gaming company is trying to launch faster than the other competitor. The chase for control, the mystery, the chase to duel to the end of the game is thrilling. Special effects, fighting scenes, pretty cool.
Because of this, the romance became secondary to the Virtual Game plot. The relationship between the two main leads left a lot to be desired.
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This review may contain spoilers
Story: First of all, the plot was quite promising an augmented reality video game and it reminds me of SAO (Sword Art Online) but it gets deeper than that. I am also disappointed that there were only like two, TWO kissing scene from Hyun Bin and Park Shin Hye. I want more. The ending was unexpected though and I felt that it was sort of rushed I don't know and what was that? I didn't even know if they met or not!!! I so wanted a season two real bad.Acting/cast: well, the cast are top-notched but I don't see much chemistry between the two main leads but love their acting nonetheless. Hyun Bin is a good kisser too and Shin Hye has improved her kissing scenes very much. Especially the rain/umbrella scene it was very passionate! it was the best Kiss scene of Shin Hye for me.
Music: Music is quite good and catchy and I have it on my phone to listen to whenever I drive.
Rewatch Value: I don't know. Maybe if they make a season two I will probably rewatch season1 again.
Overall: It was a good watch despite the ending, I just didn't like the ending that's all but overall this is a great drama and a must watch. It's only on Netflix, LOL
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✒The Ghost in the Machine °7.4° °Good°
🅰® ➡ Alternate reality. The mind makes it real. Isn't that what Morpheus told Neo?Jung Hee "Joo" moved to Spain w/ her family when she was young. Her parents died /too/ young & she ended up being responsible for her grandmother & younger siblings. Brother, Jung Se Joo (Park Chan Yeol) is a reclusive gamer. As the show opens, he's developed a groundbreaking RPG (role playing game) & is attempting to sell it. She knows about none of this b/c he's mostly non-communicative w/ the family by nature. He comes & goes sporadically w/ little or no notice. Yu Jin "Woo" works for an investment company & is always on the hunt for new tech. Bro, Se-joo, wants to sell his game. Woo wants to buy it. Before they can meet & make the deal, things go terribly wrong. Se-joo flees. Woo easily gets hooked on the game, but then the game gets its hooks in him. He can't let Joo out of his sight until her younger brother comes back home, as he /must/ purchase that game. That's the setup, & the struggle is real.
MOA, 16 60-min eps in all, is quite different from other Kdramas. I went into it w/o any inform & it went in never anticipated directions. Our ML must not only run from the police but dodge virtual bullets & knives as he's doing so, b/c he's trapped in the game, & death in the game means death IRL. MOA also ➰🔄➰ through time in circles, cycles, & loose loops. It's not linear. It reminds me of basting stitches: The science, plot drivers, character development, technology, romance, motivations ~ almost all its elements 🅰® (are) not tightly bound & tied off. We kinda wander through it w/ our protags. Park Shin Hye & Hyun Bin can carry a show & they do: They 🅰® both outstanding. MOA is a fun ride, it just could have been better. It's the disease: 💰BBD, big-budget disease. Sometimes the money gets in the way & distracts from what really makes a feature great. (The whole show operates alittle bit like the Bonita Hostal; apart from the 💰.)
Is this a romance? Not quite. It's much more of a slow moving thriller that contains a romance. This is only my 2nd Hyun Bin feature. He plays ML, Woo, & is so completely different from CPT Ri in Crash Landing On You-9.1 (make sure to watch that one) that I kept doing double takes. Ri always holds himself stiffly - being near robotic - always speaks in level tones, & his behavior is nearly too perfect. Woo is a jerk. The contrast underscores the acting skills. Most impressive. He lost his first wife to his best friend & she's pregnant now. He's in a rebound marriage & second divorce as the show opens. They fail to go into his psychology, so he remains much of an enigma - we only get glimpses of his backstory & his motivations 🅰® unknown. Is he likable? Dunno. Hyun Bin is likable. He can humanize any 2D NPC. Woo displays negative qualities for most of MOA & then seems to magically morph into a stunning male lead w/ no growth 📶chart or explanation ➡ MOA's 〽systemic bug🐜. Park Shin Hye plays FL Joo/Emma & she already had my 💘. She often plays someone vulnerable, but you should see her snarky @$$-kicking in Sisyphus-8. She's fantastic. {Woo... Q: Why does she like him? A: He's Hyun Bin Q: and that's enough? A: It is, apparently ~ That's fair.} There's beautiful romantic moments carried by the actors alone w/o the help of directing or writing. If we knew more about each of them, it would be more rewarding.
Lee Re as Jung Min Joo (Hee Joo's younger sister) is a pistol. She is wonderful in Hello Me-6.7 also. Her relationship w/ our ML is one of the best things in the show. The kids in Kdramas 🅰® mind-blowing, & this kid is the real deal. MOA is visually beautiful. Shot in hi-res, from the start, the filming is big budget. The shots of Spain 🅰® thrilling & feel like a real visit. Some of the suspense music is 80s techno - I couldn't help but smile. 🎶Shazamed: "Is You", by Ailee. Very nice.
This ain't no feelgood feature, though. Many sad things happen & the air always feels weighty with the constant pressure weighing on our protags. "Given a choice between grief & nothing, I'd choose grief," wrote William Faulkner. If there is a theme to MOA, it's sadness. Love, loss, & sadness. Our FL is sad. Her friend is gloomy. Her guitar playing is mournful. Our ML is lugubrious, his aid is grimly determined, his best-friend-and-rival is miserable... Well, it would be easier to list the characters that aren't thoroughly morose: Jung Min (Joo's lil sis). That girl is a ray of 🌞. My advice is: Listen to the tune that they 🅰® playing. It's not like they aren't forecasting the heavy rain.
"The crazy have their own logic & even a crazy world has its own rules," concludes Woo. Saying stuff like that does not give show creators leave to throw anything they want into the mix w/ no plausible explanations. MOA has many logical⛔deadends, so it's not for the thinking viewer. To a certain degree, one must turn off the brain to enjoy it. There's nothing wrong w/ that; such entertainment has its place. Every person has h/h tolerance levels, & everyone has h/h needs. They were so close to something exceptional - that is what frustrates. I still enjoyed it, & most watchers do. It does baffle that they felt no need to come up w/ workable explanations for most of the crazy things that happen. They 🅰® too comfortable w/ their inconsistency & they 🅰® slightly insulting of their audience, given some of the premises... seriously, they want us to take a Blue 💊❗
The cadence is methodical. It doesn't drag...too...much... but it is right on the line. The fact that it's calling attention to itself means some faster pacing wouldn't have been detrimental. Is it slow-paced to fill all 16 eps? (Just make 10 or 12!😤) Before I got to ep16, my wandering eyes read that the ep is "all flashbacks". That's not quite true. They flashback to things we have seen already but also things we have not. We get a look at the future as well. This is the episode that I'm always missing from most Kdramas. More often than not, we get a curtailed ending w/ little or no wrap up, which always feels deflating. Unfortunately, MOA's ep16 didn't reinflate...
Fans 🅰® clamoring for a S2. Who wouldn't 😍 to see them fix the bugs that they left in S1? The actors' schedules 🅰® bound to be a problem so here's a proposed compromise: They don't have to stick w/ only the same primary couple. I would pick it up w/ her siblings, introduce a new character at J One, & get into the geeky side of what's been going on. The Joo/Woo story could be wrapped up ~ more tightly ~ as part of S2 but it needn't be the whole of it. That gives them a chance to make all their romantic fans happy & to scoop up a bunch of Sci-fi fans along the way. I don't think it's going to happen. Those of us who 🅰® asking for it 🅰® projecting what we want onto the ending: We would like for our entertainment to be a little more fulfilling than real life, but we don't always get what we want, do we? Just put only one lens on when you watch the show so that you don't lose sight of what it is & where it's really going.
Knowing what I now know, would I watch again for the 1st time? Yep. The closeups of Hyun Bin alone 🅰® worth the 16hr investment. Hopefully this helps inform your decision😜.
QUOTE🗣
Why are you apologizing after doing everything that you wanted to do?
〰🖍 IMHO
📣68 📝74 🎭80 💓65 🦋7 🌞65 🎨80 ⚡72 🎵/🔊74 😅20 😭55 😱45 😯67 😖35 🤔40 💤33 🔚67 /100
Age 14+ w/ these cautions: pr!(k × 2; $h!+ × 2; F💣×2; B!+ch × 2; Blood & video game style fighting w/ lots of shooting; A graphic fall that's hard to watch. Rated TV-MA: Mature Audience Only.
Re-📺? Won't say never
Would this be in the top 20 kdramas I'd recommend to a newbie? No.
I am smitten by Asian entertainment, so naturally I'm on a quest for the best recommendations in hopes that my friends & family will enjoy it w/ me. MOA requires a too-high suspension of disbelief. For Sci-fi/action/thrillers/ my current choices 🅰® Sisyphus-8 (same FL), Tunnel-8.1, Signal-8.6, Black-9, & Private Lives-8.1 - imperfect as they 🅰® + some of these 🅰® more romantic than others. Sweet Home-8.4, Kingdom-8.3* & Squid Game-8.4* have plenty of action but also horror. As for romance... Crash Landing On You-9.1* (same ML) is a sweeping feelgood epic, like a Roger's & Hammerstein w/o the musical numbers (but the soundtrack is BOSS), Oh My Ghost-10* is a fantasy-romcom masterpiece, & Touch Your Heart-8.2 is a good-old everyday life Mars-crashes-into-Venus. I don't watch anything that I don't hope to enjoy & am not looking to criticize - I was looking forward to this one, but I can't help but be a bit disappointed by all of the logical sinkholes.
*My family enjoyed
⚠⚠⚠
⚠❗SPOILERS FOLLOW❗⚠
This is not sci-fi; it's a fantasy about technology w/ 🅾 scientific basis. I stopped bothering over listing the probs b/c they 🅰® recurring 🐜s. Here's examples:
He's attacked while logged out of the game
The lenses 🅰® supposed to be essential, but people 🅰® playing the game w/o them
At what point did NPCs start killing IRL/for real? They didn't in the beginning when he was learning the game & dying constantly
The logic in episode 11 (You've proven your point vs You've proven yourself crazy) & Turn on the server vs Turn off the server is twisted up like a pretzel.
If the brother is hiding, why doesn't he get in touch w/ them? He provides an inadequate explanation. If he was frightened of the game, why didn't he shut down the server? If he was hiding in the game why didn't his body die from lack of food & water?
A video game cannot evaporate matter like bodies, blood, & clothing. That's too far of a leap. Unless, say, the mathematics in the game managed to breach another dimension. Now THAT would be cool. They aren't even trying to make sense of it, though😥.
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10/10 show, until... the ending
I loved every aspect of this drama. From the superb acting of Hyun Bin, to the great setting of Spain. The story was gripping, intriguing, and not predictable at all, the latter being an abundant problem in K-dramas to-date. That is, until the last episode. I've never been this disappointed by an ending. I get that an ending doesn't have to be happy, but this just feels wrong. If the ending were better, this would probably have become my favorite drama of all time, but sadly it isn't.Watch it if you like games and action, but don't expect feeling good when coming out of this drama.
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The story's interesting because it shows the mix in between the real world, magic and the game. It tells the future, the experience of the gaming world and the imagination of development of new technology in the future.
Furthermore, I disliked Jung Hee Joo character in the story, this one I can blame the writer, Jung Hee Joo character seem like a support character more than the main character in the story. The character is too weak and cries a lot.
Park Shin Hye already did her best to save this character. Another thing that I dislike is, the writer did not explain clearly of the story and how the game end. In my opinion, the story is good at the begin and getting worse at the end.
Overall, I think Park Shin Hye and Hyun Bin had done their best job to save the characters in the story. The writer had wasted the actress and actor's skill to show a perfect ending.
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Memories of the Alhambra
Memories of the Alhambra tells the unique and suspenseful love story of Yoo Jin Woo and Jung Hee Joo.Strong spirited Yoo Jin Woo is the CEO of an investment company with a degree in engineering and a knack for developing video games. He has an adventurous and competitive spirit. Suffering after his best friend betrays him, he takes a business trip to Granada, Spain in search of the mysterious inventor of an innovative augmented-reality video game. He ends up at a hostel that Jung Hee Joo owns.
Hee Joo is a former classical guitarist who came to Spain to further her studies. After the death of her parents, she takes on various jobs to support herself, including running the old hostel .
Love me a good romance drama.
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The questions I have:Episode 7: If the game was started in Spain. How the hell he was able to crawl to the outside world like US or Seoul in korea?? This thing does not make any sense and talking about the AI games in seoul I think that's the whole new game engine used to build.
Episode 9: Something is quite strange in here.. How can his Ally die from the NPCs. I mean from the starting of the game, If a person dies from any NPC then that person will be logged out. and afterwards he can log in again and fight back. Alright talking about (Jeong-Hun), He can kill both (Mr.Yoo) & (////) if he wants because of the Allay partnership. But why they've changed the whole meaning here and No explanation about it that if you level up you can die.
Episode 12: I'm actually loving the Sweet Bitter Relationship and i really like (Mr.Yoo) being Honest in every way. That's exactly how a relationship should be, just be honest with you prtner no matter what.
Episode 16:.. No how could you.. What the hell No Nooo Atleast let them see each other. For God sake. I was actually going to cry that they're are gonna meet each other. what the hell is going on here.. I'm really pissed off now.
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This drama presents a new challenge for me to not stop watching it. It's incredibly enchanting. The plot is so unpredictable and full of startling events. The idea of the story is so fresh and it pursues me to know more about virtual game.The acting of the casts has made me involve into the story. Hyun Bin and Park Shin Hye have really made me fall in love with. Their acting is so perfect. Each character in this drama has strong mindfullness.
The setting of this drama can be another great poin for me. When they chose Alhambra palace, so I think the story can be so intriguing spiritually. And I am not wrong. The combination of the spiritual and historical value gives the strong plot of the story. A new technology of virual game is really something new I can get from this drama also.
Finally the twist of this drama is so perfect for me. I love the end of this story. And I bet so many viewers will fall in love with beautiful view of Granada and enchanting Alhambra palace.
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I am seriously impressed with this drama.
'Memories of the Alhambra' is one of those underrated shows where you begin watching it wondering if you would be wasting your time but end it with 'Why isnt this hyped yet?'. I loved this fresh take on sci-fi meets reality. It had the perfect amount of action, romance and emotions. The story is not your usual 'Hero saves the Day' kind and keeps you on your toes till the end. I would definitely recommend this show to all!! Hyun Bin is as always charming and Park Shin-Hye brings another level of sweetness to the show. This series deserves way more love than what it is getting!!!Was this review helpful to you?
Interesting Take on Gaming
Memories of the Alhambra was a very interesting series that definitely kept me on my toes.As you watch, you think you start to understand what's going on but then the series will take a turn.
I think the acting and chemistry between the actors was great. They really helped draw you in since there is a little bit of everything emotion wise.
When it comes to the gaming part, this show takes a different approach than other gaming related shows and I think that's what makes the show so great. Memories of the Alhambra does a great job of appealing to gamers and non gamers alike so this show truly is for everyone.
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This starts off strong with a mystery and dynamic game play and strong conflict between the leading characters. Then the motives and story for the humans gets muddled and isn’t as interesting as the game. And then it gets worse when the editing jumbles up time periods in an attempt to make more plot and give depth to the story.
It’s a missed opportunity if only someone could make the second half as strong as the first. And let’s not even start on that ending....
Sigh.
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mostly i can say its OK to watchbut i still find it frustating to watch from male lead to choose still to conceal the fact there is something wrong with the game and he could prove it by "alliance" feature that make other people see the thing he see, what afraid to dragging other with life on the line you can always make sure to do preparation before going to do quest right ........but still doing it alone with failure and not entertaining anymore
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