Abyss

WORTH WATCHING but very frustrating sometimes

This drama is WORTH WATCHING! but after setting a very interesting plot and characters it starts showing a lot of flaws as the show continues to struggle to keep the mystery and romance interesting.
The plot got to a point where the characters were comically being the dumbest group of people in any mystery/crime show I've seen. They kept being separated or running on their one, without no one stopping them for absolutely no reason and for multiple times. The FL instead of being smart or knowing how to deal with pressure, from being in law, will do the most hot headed decisions and run it more and more trouble. Even some of the most fundamental mechanics of the abyss stop working or start showing plotholes.
The acting, other and the FL, is mostly lacking(not to a point of it ruining anything) ... but at least the actors were pretty to look at.
They could have explored a bit more the ML feels of being humiliated for 20 years by the FL. It felt like the character was lacking some self respect or realness because of that.
The OST was non existent for me, I don't recall any moment where I felt something by the music.
I felt like at some point I was in a loop and while it was fun I never want to go back!!

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Beautiful Souls, Chaotic Rules, and a Romance Worth Reincarnating For

Let’s be real — Abyss is kind of a hot mess. But it’s the kind of mess that feels like it was made with love. Like someone knocked over a shelf of fantasy tropes, mystery thrillers, and soft-hearted rom-coms, scooped everything into a script, and then said, “Let’s go with it.” And weirdly? I was in.

From the jump, the premise is absolutely bananas: two people die, come back to life with totally different appearances based on the purity of their souls, thanks to a glowing marble of alien origin called the Abyss. (Yes. Really.) It sounds like something out of a late-night writing prompt — but the show doesn’t try to justify itself with hard sci-fi logic. It just shrugs, smiles, and leans all the way in. And because the cast buys into it, so did I.

Park Bo-young is, unsurprisingly, the emotional anchor here. She’s got this rare ability to make the most bizarre plot feel rooted. Her Go Se-yeon is sharp, sarcastic, grieving, brave — a full person, not just a vehicle for the plot to drag around. Even when the writing doesn’t quite catch up to what she’s capable of, she elevates it. She’s the kind of actress who can cry without making it a performance and crack a joke without chasing the laugh. Just magnetic.

And Ahn Hyo-seop? Honestly, I didn’t expect to care for his character as much as I did. At first, his awkwardness felt like a placeholder — like he was still figuring out how to hold his body onscreen — but then it clicked. That doofy sincerity became his superpower. His Cha Min isn’t some cool, brooding reincarnated mystery man. He’s a soft-hearted goofball who got a new face and didn’t quite know what to do with it. And that made the romance land in a way that was surprisingly affecting. Not fireworks — just steady warmth.

Plot-wise, though? It’s a minefield. The rules of the Abyss change depending on the needs of the episode. The thriller elements — while occasionally gripping — can feel stapled onto the love story, rather than woven through it. And there are entire stretches where the pacing stutters like the writers needed one more pass at the story map. But through all of that, I was never bored. Because when Abyss hits an emotional beat, it really hits. Grief, guilt, longing — all sneak up on you when you’re busy trying to follow the logic of soul-based resurrection.

It’s not what I’d call a great drama in the traditional sense. It doesn’t have the elegance or tight storytelling of top-tier fare. But it’s so weirdly earnest that I couldn’t help but love it a little. It’s like a scrappy little show that just wants to be taken seriously — and somehow, through charm and heart alone, earns it.

So yeah, the rules make no sense. The twists are occasionally wild. But by the end, I wasn’t thinking about any of that. I was thinking about second chances. About how love can endure even through the most ridiculous circumstances. About how sometimes, you don’t need perfect — you just need honest.

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✒ 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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Don't expect the title to be explained

So much hype on this during promotion that I added on my watch list.
The start isn't going to hook you to watch, tho I continued giving it the chance. Few episodes later, i wanted to drop because it dragged and became chaotic. The writer seemed to have used the license to do whatever whenever to the male lead character.
I did say it dragged .... this serirs could have been done in 8 episodes if directed well enough. So many senseless scenes that didnt make sense as to why it was even added. So many scenes came kn without any explanation as to what it is about.
Overall, I felt I wasted my time on this series. FEMALE LEAD character looking just regular and not beautiful anymore was mentioned so many times that it reflected Korea's culture of valuing physical appearances more than humanity.
Last, this series ended without clear explanation of the abyss. It said what it does but why how when were not answered. I wonder why even title it Abyss when the series was a mystery/murder/romance plot.

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Good plot but dissapointing portrayal !

TBH I liked the plot , initially , thats why i got intrigued into watching this after checking out the trailor ! And also i have liked other works of park bo young , so just thought of giving it a shot , but to my dismayal , there is nothing more in this series !

There are no good elements to support the plot , instead the story line also gets super boring and messy later. This could have easily finished in 8 episodes easily . all they were doing was running recklessly here and there !! The FL was selfish and weak , she was only good with her brain ! but she was only shouting and running , even after the knowing that the serial killer is after her and the ML was always chasing behind her to rescue her ! and all that was happening on a repeat ! For once i felt that the role dint suit PBY , she could not do justice to it ! Also it was clear that she dint like the ML , coz of his face , they tried to make it like feel like genuine feelings later , but it wasnt convincing enough ! And what was that with the ending ??? The ball disappeared when she took the pregnancy test ??? like reallly ???? Shouldnt it disappear either when she conceived or when she delivered ?

All the characters were super annoying and not well written or developed . ML sometimes becomes smart and sometimes super dumb , as per the convenience . Same for FL and SFL , both are annoying and selfish as hell. I don't blame the actors as they did the good job , but in a show at least few characters needs to be loveable , right ?

In short there was nothing to like about this series in my opinion except for few romantic scenes ! :)

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Strong start, headed south for the Winter.

Honestly, this series started off really promising. I mean sure, I wasn't a fan of how the whole 'extreme-makeover' situation was handled, but with a cast like that, I was HYPED-- And then, the Fire Nation attacked.
Characters and entire sub-plots were built up, only to be dropped at a moment's notice; nothing made sense, and the plot soon started to feel repetitive and dull-- I mean, is it just me, or does 'murder' kinda lose its edge after the 8th resurrection? At times, I truly did feel like I was watching Dragonball Z again...

Let's take, for example, the character of Hee-jin. Remember how, at one point, she was in pretty much every other scene? That is, until her mother's body got thrown into the sea as part of Oh Tae-jin's 'Pro-gamer move' (which felt both anticlimactic and pointless). After that, we didn't see her again until the very last episode- and that too, only in the drama equivalent of 'you won't believe what they're doing now' clickbait! Seriously, there were so many plot-holes and unanswered questions: how did Cha Min come back? What happened to the real Ji-Uk in the end? WHY WAS SEO IN-GUK A DOG???

I guess what I'm saying is, if you take your drama with milk, sugar or actual resolution, maybe you should skip this one.

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Concept was good but story was weak

Abyss ,a marble which gives life back but it changes the face of the person to whom it gives life .with this concept they could make an interesting ,funny along with little romance . There is a romance but they took the story into a murder mystery Which after sometime felt like bored .
Starting of the drama would increase the interest level except the first episode but story increase the drama mystery much and not clear as well or I could say not properly executed which made the story bored.
The reason I watched full drama because of the acting of the actors . Each character acting was too good . Songs were good but story was poor . Even the ending .

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Went into this looking past the reviews and while there are positives to Abyss, I found myself mostly confused after watching the whole thing. The story is interesting on paper and the drama even starts out grabbing your attention immediately, but the more it went on the more I found myself only wanting the romance portion and not the murder-abyss mystery.

The two leads and the romance story are what kept me going to completion. I thought about dropping it a few times throughout my watch through, but I'm glad that I pushed to get to the very end. If it wasn't for them and their acting + scenes, I wouldn't have been interested. I didn't really care for any of the other back stories at all, plus the villain is easy to guess from the beginning.

The plot holes are always a little crazy in fantasy dramas, but this one seemed to be on another level to me. Some of the questions you are left with are huge and the way the story progresses can seem a little messy. A huge one for me is how everyone just moves past that they brought themselves back to life. Not just 1 person, 3.. and everyone moves past it and continues on like they didn't die and come back looking entirely different. If you truly look at how their relationship starts it's so messy and toxic. How he was pining after her during his previous relationship, how he still is pulling both girls along for most of the drama while knowing who he truly wants to be with.. I do wish we could've gotten more scenes of how she liked him with his previous face. That is the downfall to these Ugly-to-Hot dramas for me.. they are still the same person they were before, but everyone treats them differently and suddenly realizes their true feelings or wants to express them after they are Hot v. Not.

Good for cute romance scenes, but the story wasn't one that kept me hooked or satisfied.

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No matter how good the acting can be, the overall story and plot can really make it look worse than it is. I love Park Bo Young, I'm a huge fan of her work and have generally loved all of the stuff she's been in. Werewolf Boy, Oh My Goddess, Scandal Makers to a name a few, I think her as an actress has a special air of charisma about her and that's why I like her so much. Ahn Hyo Seop also does a great job in this and I heavily believe that the acting is the only thing good about this show. But unfortunately, I'm a firm believer of "the acting is only as good as the story" and that part is where this entire show falls apart.. and it really didn't take long to show the worst part.

This show has tons of promise and has a great premise to capture viewer's attention. A mystical alien orb that right off the bat revives the main character and his love interest! Not only that, but also revives the main antagonist! This happened ALL IN ONE EPISODE. So it's no wonder I got instantly hooked by this show! I'm now on episode 7 but I'm already growing tired of the plot. The abyss' power is already being abused non-stop, elements of the shows or sequences don't make sense or aren't powerful enough to push my interest further.

Why should I care that Oh Yeong cheol tries to kill the same person 3 times? Why should I care that the characters don't seem interested in the Abyss' power more? Why should I care that almost everything each character does is almost inconsequential? Cha Min's big reveal happens early on but his family just completely accepts it within a couple of scenes. It's bizarre! Why should I care about Cha Min's creepy character depicted in the flashbacks that all of a sudden turned gorgeous that somehow resulted in his demeanor and attitude doing a 180? He's no longer a stalker and no longer does creepy things toward his love interest further driving home the idea to its audience that ugly people are creepy and beautiful people are perfect.

There are a plethora of issues that leave me disappointed and hard-pressed to continue watching this and the only reason I've continued thus far is because of Bo Young's amazing acting ability, though even with her ability, I don't think I can finish Abyss. The biggest losers in this show are the actors/actresses, I think they've done a good job all things considered, but their performance is heavily hampered most likely by the director and the script.

Trust me, I wanted to love this show as I've been waiting for it ever since it was announced Bo Young was going to star in it.. but this gets an abysmal 4/10.

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