Born Again (2020)

The story started out in a slow pace but eventually picked up its pace after a few episodes. I love this kdrama! It has so many twist and turns in the storyline that keep you guessing. The story itself is riveting! It's a fusion of fantasy, melodrama, mystery, and romance. You'll feel different emotions as you go along. =) I love so many parts of the story--most notably was how Jeong Bum was vindicated after the mystery which labelled him as the serial killer in past life, was finally unraveled in the present life. =)

The last scene initially got me stumped, 'coz it shows Jeong Bum lying in the hospital bed as Sa Bin begins to show him stuff in an attempt to wake him up. But after re-watching the last few scenes, I was able to discern it. =) The last scene (i.e. hospital) is like a flashback of the current scene wherein you find Jeong Bum in Sa Bin's bookstore reading a book and suddenly recovers his memory by recognizing Sa Bin from the window and uttering her name. So that flashback shows that he did undergo a successful surgery but temporarily lost his memory. Hence, the final scene is Jeong Bum recovers his memory in the bookstore and utters Sa Bin's name. =)

I love the ending--in her past life, she ended up with Detective Cha then with her present life, she ended up with Jeong Bum whose name has been cleared as the serial killer in the past life. =)

Pls. give this kdrama a chance! Don't be daunted by the negative reviews. =)

Read More

Born again started as a crime thriller and ended up as a revenge story. I stopped watching it at the middle when I felt like there will be no redemption story and there will only be past repeats itself. However, the story-telling changed right after I stopped watching it. So, I continued watching it out of curiosity.

I like all the redemption arcs. KSH becomes a lawyer for people wrongly accused for murders. He apologized for all the wrong doings before. CJB becomes a human and not a monster. This is with the help of JSB. His story kinda reminds me of Joker film (2019). In which, a mentally-ill man was misunderstood and was judged by the society. Only, in this kdrama, there is 1 person (or 2) who tried to understand him and also loved him. Thus, the proper ending for him. (Because you know, in the Joker film, if only Joker had that 1 person who tried to understand him, he would’ve not snapped and became batman’s ultimate villain.)

As for JSB, the character was annoying and hate-able for many. I also felt the same way as I watched the series. She cannot make up her mind between the two men. But, I remember this is a LOVE TRIANGLE. A story in which a character will be confused who he/she likes between two other characters.

On the 1980’s story, Ha Eun was clearly in love with Hyung Bin. This love made her confused of JSB’s feelings with KSH in the present because, they are reincarnation of the two lovers. In the present, JSB was drawn with CJB’s personality. He was broken and misunderstood and JSB empathized with him. These made her confused between the two men. Once, she was able to separate her feelings in the past from the present, she sorted out her feelings and chose CJB.

In the end, the story has a very good premise but, the writers was not able to follow up on it. I also think the story will be a better without the LOVE TRIANGLE arc it had. This made watchers hate the show. It has good osts. Is it rewatch-able? Depends. if you want to go back to digest each scene.

Read More