Just somewhat average
I felt excited to watch Park Bo Young again in a series, after loving Oh My Ghostess and Strong Girl Bong Soon.Overall I felt like this series was just average. There are no high points that deserve a special note worthy comment.
The series had a great villain portrayed by Lee Sung Jae, one of the best villain I've seen in kdrama. Without that captivating villain I don't know what would have happened to this series.
It's not bad, but it's not great either. Just somewhere in between.
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Nice drama, but betrayed by the implementation
The show introduces an interesting mystery right from the start with a serial killer and the death of Se Yeon. Now I did think the way some of the mystery was presented was a bit confusing in the beginning. It does get clearer as the show progresses, but some things remain confusing.The overall fantasy element to Abyss was also something I really liked. With people coming back to life and changing forms, we got some very intriguing dynamics at play. It also created some pretty fun plot twists.
One thing I would have really liked to have seen early on though was some of the dynamic between Min and Se Yeon before they changed appearances. I think it would have been more meaningful to witness the relationship between them before the change. There are only a couple conversations where their relationship is mentioned. We do get a handful of flashbacks later on, but even those don’t show a whole lot.
But luckily, the reincarnated versions of Min and Se Yeon in the form of Ahn Hyo Seop and Park Bo Young quickly pulled me into their relationship. They had a great banter between them.
It was interesting to see them adjust to their new forms and how that affected their relationship. Min isn’t as attracted to Se Yeon anymore, but he sees his friend, and the feelings naturally develop for him.
Se Yeon now finds him attractive but also has to allow her feelings for him to blossom. And once the romance does kick into gear, Min and Se Yeon make a pretty adorable couple. They work well together as a team and are ready to do anything for each other.
The pacing of the drama is good with new plot developments consistently emerging. There are also multiple supporting characters that play important roles and contribute to the narrative which is something I appreciated.
Without getting into spoiler territory, the biggest negative to the drama for me was the overall execution. The story itself is good, but it’s poorly executed, particularly with how some of the fantasy elements are handled concerning the orb Abyss.
The rules as to how it actually worked didn’t always make sense, and it felt like they changed to fit the situation throughout the drama. Some of the new rules got pretty ridiculous towards the end of the drama. I was definitely rolling my eyes.
Many times some of the things that were happening in the drama were just plain confusing too. Also expect a few plot holes and some shoddy police work here and there. If you like well thought out writing and for everything to always make sense, this might not be a good drama for you. It’s also one of those dramas that feels like it goes off the rails at the end.
Aside from some complaints about story execution and how the magical orb was handled, Abyss was still an enjoyable watch. I liked that the fantasy elements were solidly woven into the narrative throughout the drama, the mystery was good, and the romance was cute. All in all, it held my interest and made for a solid watch.
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Dumb characters
Very hard to believe at the level of stupidity of the characters in the drama. When the killer is on the loose, they do not put in measures to be safe themselves. Instead, it is like.. come kill me.. come get me.. I am here for you to be killed. Really stupid that Se Yeon and that character with the mother.Was this review helpful to you?
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Should have stuck to my first instinct
I never really had the urge to watch this drama. When it first came out, I watched the first three episodes and dropped it, but recently I ran out of things to watch and decided to give it a shot because the rating is 7.8 on the list. I regret it. I skipped all of last episodes just to get a gist of what happens.The actors were amazingly picked out for this project, and my high score in the acting section goes to all the non-main lead actors who portrayed their roles oh so well. With the main couple, rather than it be their acting in general, but I think it is more the screenwriters fault for not making the characters more consistent with little nicks and things.
The murder/mystery plot was most interesting, the love line just seemed so... forced? As in they really tried to put in some history and character changes, but it just didn't click. The actors acted super cute, but the personalities in the beginning and afterwards were so different. It just seemed like ok, now we need the two characters to get together. Then they get engaged (when he was oh so recently engaged??)
The biggest disappointment was the lack of exploration of the main theme. More back story, more unique reasoning, the distinct and surprising changes of treatment, character, maybe trying different things since body and face is different like different styles or so on. Instead, the characters just got used to it super easily, only excused things like plastic surgery and more. It was really disappointing, the main characters were already lacking and the lack of appearance exploration just makes this more apparent. Not to mention even the bad guy's "scar" bwahah.
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A pesky magical orb brings on a quest full of bright, dark, and clumsy moments.
Story:-- It is no secret that the early episodes of "Abyss" are tough to watch -- there are many unknowns, some of the more violent aspects of the story are automatically brought up without much explanation, and the main characters are pushed into a situation that is odd on all levels, and the characters react accordingly. After the first four episodes, the premise of "Abyss" becomes clear: uncovering what happened to Prosecutor Go Se Yeon. This mystery spans out for several episodes and while the main characters engage in investigative work, they also try to settle in and return to their normal lives as best as they can. There are some moments here that viewers should suspend their disbelief and remember that this is a mostly light hearted k-drama with fantasy elements, and not a mystery thriller like exploration of life & death.
At crucial moments the lead characters make very unwise choices and sometimes forget they have a pesky magical orb but this never deters the main plot from advancing. In fact, one of the good aspects of Abyss' storyline is that it goes on from plot twist to plot twist in a well paced manner -- it never lags or is affected by the standard rom-com tropes in Korean dramas. On the negative side what stands out is the underdevelopment of certain characters, loose plot-lines, and no real side stories.
The final episode wraps up everything neatly, and ends on a high note for the heroes of the story while the "bad guys" got what they deserved. It is a satisfying, bright ending.
Acting/Cast:
-- After being absent for two years, Park Bo Young makes a solid return to screen and carries "Abyss" on her shoulders, establishing herself as one of the main reasons why you should watch this drama in the first place. Her counterpart Ahn Hyo Seop is also eye catching, and the chemistry between them is undeniable even if at times somewhat awkward and cute due to the height difference. Needless to say they are young actors who know how to get the job done, and it's very likely "Abyss" did not explore their full potential due to how their characters were written. Nonetheless, they do a good job from start to finish, and should be commended for it.
Park and Ahn are joined by an experienced support cast who fulfil well their assigned roles with Lee Shi Eon, Han So Hee, and Song Sang Eun standing out as they become crucial elements of the main characters' circle and participate in the quest to uncover the main mystery.
Music:
-- The OST of "Abyss" is very pleasant to listen to, featuring performances by Suran (수란), Coogie (쿠기), Kim Feel (김필) and Kim Bo Hyung (김보형).
Rewatch Value:
-- Standing at sixteen episodes - sixty minutes each - the quick paced storywriting of "Abyss" makes it an easy watch, and time will definitely fly while you are watching it. This makes "Abyss" easier to rewatch in the near future, if not for seeing once again Park Bo Young and Ahn Hyo Seop interacting with each other in the strange world of "Abyss."
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Not only were the characters very likeable, but they were casted perfectly.
The story itself was completely enthralling, intriguing and unexpected. There were so many twists and turns, so many smiles and frowns.
The beginning, I loved it. The middle mark, I loved it. The ending, I loved it.
Bittersweet is not a word I have to use here luckily.
This drama is completely brilliant and in my opinion anyone who watches it should fall in love with it.
To those who want a sensational drama, this is the one for you.
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Had so much potential but it failed
Sorry but this didn’t work for me. I could understand the main idea and it had potential but the execution failed. They were many plot holes due to lazy writing maybe? If you don’t care that much about coherence then it might work for you.ML and FL had an interesting dynamic but her personality was a big no for me. And what is the message about physical apparence? When he was ugly she didn’t want him but now that he looks like a model it’s ok to date him?
I managed to finish it but this is not the best drama I’ve seen
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Never a kdrama had me this depressed
I went in with this with so much hope, maybe I got myself too excited because the plot seemed hella interesting and the cast so promising... The first 2 episodes were great and I was looking forward to seeing the rest of the show...Well, I shouldn't have... At some point I was just fast forwarding it, and it still felt long and nonsensical. The writing is just bad. Like bad bad, I felt like watching an American series, which is exactly what I was running away from when I started to watch Kdramas. The plot makes no sens. Since it is called Abyss and you would expect that the Abyss takes an important part in the plot line... Well, it does not. The characters ar absolutely not developed, if anything, Min regressed and had me hating him by the end. Unnecessary violence and irrelevant plot twists, the female lead always getting in trouble and having to be saved by the male lead. They made the whole thing so irrealistic that by the end I felt like I was watching a parody
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It was a complete mess
I can't describe how long I've watched this drama because I dropped it several times. But I always came back because of the actors. Every single episode had so many different stories, I honestly wasn't sure if it was a serious drama. It started out so well and had so much potential. But they've never used it. With such great actors, what a waste. I think I needed 2 months after the show has ended because I justwanted to know how this mess will end and I still wasn't satisfied. I wonder how the korean viewer liked the show, does anyone know?Was this review helpful to you?
✒ Looks ARE Everything ⛔ Don't Descend Unless You're Down With That °4.7° °Abysmal°
How could a show named Abyss be so shallow?Sadly, the show created its own Abyss, trying to make -4 = +4, to extract a sample from the feature. Mathematically, 1 negative in the mix only detracts & never adds + too many negatives will bring everything down into the abyss. A successful feature needs enough positives to negate those negatives. Does 🅰 teeter, or does it totter? Let's examine it.
The show has a similar twist to that of Shallow Hal. Hal is given the gift of seeing people as they are on the inside, not the superficial outside. Hal ends up falling in love with a corpulent, plain girl who has devoted her life to others as a volunteer, so to him, she looks like Gwyneth Paltrow. Go Se-yeon (“Sey”) is a prosecutor, and she's a looker. She's been friends with Cha “Min” since college. He's not attractive in the least, but as an heir to a cosmetics empire, his family is. They aren't attractive enough for Sey to accept Min, however. He's never told her, but he loves her, and there's little doubt that she knows this.
Sey wouldn't join Min in life, but she joins him in death: They are both murdered around the same time. Using an "Abyss," which is a beautiful sphere of light that can bring back the dead, Grim Reaper type beings resurrect them into bodies that reflect the beauty of their souls. Sey ends up average looking and Min, well Min ends up looking like Ahn Hyo Seop from Business Proposal-7 & Dr. Romantic. On his worst day he's a 9. They decide to work together to hunt down their killers. This stirs the villains into action and the show proceeds from there, but it's a bumpy and unsatisfying descent into a pitfall of poor dialogue, bad plot points, and general sloppiness. Abyss is abysmal.
Apparently, becoming more beautiful will improve somebody's personality. They made Min look like Super Dork in the opening clips of the show. After his exterior is transformed to match his internal beauty, he becomes intellectual, reasoned, thoughtful, and displaying social intelligence that he clearly didn't have before. It's true, attractive people receive different (better) treatment during the run of their whole lives, even by their own parents. Parents of unattractive kids treat them worse than parents of attractive kids treat their own, studies have shown 😲.
Park Bo-young is an adorable human being. They bring her in to play the dull reincarnated appearance of Sey's soul against the now beautiful Min. She also takes on a brasher, more grating personality. This is what I most hate about 🅰. it kills me to see them do that to Park Bo-young. When her hair and makeup are done right, she's gorgeous. As a ghost possessing her body, she criticizes her appearance in Oh My Ghost-10 as well, but it's played for laughs, and the rest of the show reinforces her attractiveness. She's the type of person who can look many different ways with makeup, wardrobe, and hair changes. She's a superb actress. As 🅰 progresses, her face gets softer. She starts looking a little more comfortable and, consequently, prettier. Ahn Hyo Seop doesn't have a lot to do other than look good. For what he was called to do, he's more than competent. It's just hard to assess his skills from this show.
Lee Sung Jae as the doctor is nothing short of fantastic. His character gets more irritating, though, as the show goes on. Why can't he just put that shaggy hair in a ponytail? It grates the eyes. Han So-hee, as Jang Hee Jin, is annoying in 🅰. She's great in Nevertheless-7.6, playing the quiet tortured type in that, as well. It's unclear if she can do anything else based on these features. Having to put up with her in 🅰 is wearisome.
Though it likely wasn't intended, the theme of the show is: Looks /do/ matter. They actually hammer in that theme ~repeatedly~. This romance is the worst. They're trying to push a narrative that he only ever liked her for her - the woman with the hideous soul. Yes, they had a friendship, but she treated him like doo-doo for 20 years. How could she not show shame? Why didn't she even apologize? She's shameless - so entitled. She's small and mediocre, too; she's shown her soul❕ She even resents having to pose as his secretary, she's that bossy and selfish,. They try to make the case that she was always interested, but that's ridiculous. There's no connection between them that the viewer can feel (and these actors each connect with their co-stars in other dramas, so don't blame them). Sey shunned Min for his looks, and only now that Min looks better, she likes him. I'm probably not the only viewer who wanted him to end up with somebody better.
There are so many issues. Basically, it's people making stupid decisions, doing stupid things, running off stupidly, without asking for help or backup, as the director tries to force certain emotions, situations and plot points. For those of you who skew more logical, don't go near this. I'm half logic / half emotional, and it drove me nuts. Like trying to weed around rose bushes and constantly getting scratched by thorns, it's impossible to enjoy this. The supposedly tense times don't have any effect. The supposed cliffhangers are just big yawners. This show flat-lines.
I literally logged an entire page of problems with the production. Here's a sample:
☄ It's incomprehensible that a prosecutor would leave her door unlocked. If you know anybody in law enforcement, they know too many horror stories to do anything as naive as leaving a door unlocked. In fact, enhanced paranoia is a much more likely condition. We know a state prosecutor who won't let his wife go to the mall alone. Leave the door unlocked? Laughable.
☄ How would the killer know that Mr Park was in the hospital?
☄ Why does Hee Jin look the same after reincarnation? Despite her questionable soul, her face even cleared up. Is it just because the actress is hot?
☄ It's insulting that person would go into a dark & desolate area to meet somebody for a sales transaction, particularly after the trauma she'd been through. It's almost worse than horror movie stupid.
☄/Beyond/ horror movie stupid is the prosecutor running off on her own to rescue her parents at the restaurant. She has no weapon and no plan. She does have the police force at her disposal; she's a prosecutor for God's sake.
☄ They leave a dangerous villain with her phone which she uses to get rescued.
☄ They use an entire convoy - with video cameras - to take a murderer to his crime scene for a reenactment, but only one cop is needed to escort him to the restroom. It doesn't go well.
☄ Next there's a woman who helps out the killer and her reason is utterly ridiculous.
☄ Sey asks Min: ‘Wouldn't it be great to be rich?’ He IS rich. She KNOWS that. How moronic.
☄ Somebody that wealthy would have gotten his teeth fixed, wouldn't he?
Director Ja Won-yu is more than capable as shown with Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha-8.2 and Oh My Ghost-10, which is my favorite. This is an excellent director that dropped a dud. It happens. Around episode 12, I thought I could keep going. It got worse. By episode 14, I started sorting through mail and other things, only looking up once in awhile. It was continuing its downhill skid, and I couldn't take it. It isn't junk food. It's moldy food. Even the message it sends is rotten. Therefore, I would say don't let yourself slip and fall in. There's hundreds of more /attractive/ shows to watch first.
Time Better Spent: Here's a short list of lite & wispy, no-tears Kromcom recommendations that require no thinking:
Romance Is A Bonus Book-7.9, Forecasting Love and Weather-6.8 (not that good but not bad enough to trash + it's relaxing), A Witch's Love-8 (Actually great!), Mad For Each Other-7.7 (fun and short), Her Private Life-8 (a surprise winner), Live Up To Your Name-7.6 (solid and enjoyable), My First First Love-8 (simple & cute), & My Only Love Song-8.7 (hilarious), My Roommate Is a Gumiho-7.9 (the 2 leads make it worth it), Oh My Venus-7.4 (Shin Min Ah is great in everything) .
C🇨🇳: Well-Intended Love-7.5 Rom-porn - extra points for the dopamine, but the ML pulls a stunt that many will find too obnoxious;
When I Fly Towards You-7.8,
Wait, My Youth-8.4,
A Little Thing Called First Love-8.5,
Find Yourself-8.9,
Hidden Love-7.8
〰🖍 IMHO
🎬42 📝51 🎭70 💓54 🦋53 🌞25 🎨43 ⚡45 🎵/🔊67 😅20 😭36 😱45 🤢46 🤔15 💤73 🔚68
Age 15+ Language: b!+ch, sh!+, b@$t@rd. Violence. Serial killings. Domestic abuse. Stabbing. Sex reassignment.
Re-📺? 🆖 That's only for masochists
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I might have been too harsh, but the writing did not give this drama justice
This is one of those Comedy-Romance-Mystery Thrillers with a Supernatural element, and if you are an avid South Korean drama watcher you might liken this to Strong Woman Do Bong Soon. In terms of its writing quality though ... it is just written poorly and acted poorly.Concept and Execution---
While the concept of the story is very, very interesting the execution was poor. The supernatural element and the thriller element were so gripping that I enjoyed the ride. Unfortunately, the ending had little explanation or intrigue; it was vague and indeterminate as if the writer and director were having a quarrel. There were so many unanswered questions that made me angry. Overall, there was a lot of potential that was wasted in the slow repetitive pacing of the drama.
Pacing---
As a drama watcher, a drama has to keep me hooked and invested for the 16 hours I am investing to watch it. Unfortunately, this drama did not meet that bar. The poor pacing left the story stagnant in the end. There were so many questions that were left unanswered that could have easily been answered with the amount of time wasted
Romance and Comedy---
This was at best average. The romance was a little lacking in my opinion. I could tell that there was shyness in the romance which did not match the characters. But the friendship between the actors was what kept this drama going. The friendship that turned into love was fun to watch as well, but the concept of the show was the most interesting bit. The friendship to romance bit is the only reason I feel inclined to watch this drama again.
Thriller---
Yes! Yes! YES! I loved the thriller in this drama even though it was just a side show.
Acting---
The lack of chemistry between the main leads makes me less inclined to say that this drama had good acting. Their height difference was cute though.
Ending---
I hated the ending (period). This contributed to my lower rating. See Concept and Execution for more info
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