Born Again (2020)

Hello! This is my first rewiew so I'll try to make it short.
Things I liked about this drama :
- acting, especially Lee Soo Hyuk.
I really felt his pain as HB, he's the saving grace of this drama in my opinion
-music was ok, nothing memorable but I didn't mind it either.
Now the things I didn't like about this drama :
-everything else
My biggest issue with this drama was the female lead. At first, I was like she's too naive, too innocent but now I don't feel that anymore. Her character is plain dumb. Won't get into details because I'll have to spoiler you but I doubt there's anyone watching this drama that likes her.
The story had potential but it started wrong from the start. I think the period was too short, being reincarnated after 32 year, if I remember correctly. Is not like a lot has passed, people still remember you. Another thing I didn't like, there are too many crazy people in this drama, like for real, I felt like this was way too unbalanced. I liked the characters before being reincarnated more and that says a lot about how terrible the present ones are.
The writing is terrible, they made it seem like him stalking her or wanting to give her a heart (lol) is cute, cheesy. Yes, very sweet. For the people who find this cute, look out for your heart, I'm sure you'll change your mind when someone will want yours.
The directing is not better either.
Overall, in my opinion, this drama is not worth it. One of my biggest disappointments, I was quit hyped because of the story.
Don't waste your time on it, you will end up regretting, as I did.

Read More

When i first started watching this drama I rated it an 8.5 ... but as the story line gradaully progressed I kept looking back at that rating with doubtful conviction. Then came ep 21 from where the story started to make no sense at all. Here kindly note that I didn't use the word "nonsense" but rather "no sense" at all... Like if dramas could be pronounced brain dead/ gone in a vegetative state then Born Again is one classic hell of an example. The series more or less died by episode 28. So what kept it going? One crazy writer who just doesn't know when to call quits on a project he/she obsessively thought was "novel". I don't even want to know the writer's name/gender/age or any relevant information. Cause that might tempt me to go rage a war against him/her. And that will not fare good for anyone. However the rage he/she has put in my heart with this drama is something that's gonna slow burn me to the pits of frustration for a long long and long time. So what's so bad about this drama? The short of it everything.. the storylines, the characters, and the mediocre acting of the two lead casts aka. Jang ki Young and Jin Se Yun. Being a die hard fan of Jang Ki young I never thought that I would use the word mediocre and acting in the same sentence for him. My god the boy if anything is known most for his phenomenal scene stealing acting. However in this drama where technically the writer "served him the role in a golden platter" he came to shockingly dissapoint his audience. I don't know what went wrong with him in this project, but this was definitely not the Jang ki Young or near about his excellent acting caliber that we have come to love and adore over the previous years. This is also one of the major reasons why the drama sucked till the end. Cause audience couldn't really connect with either of his characters Gi chol/Jong bum at all. So even if he "got" the girl no one felt happy at all. No seriously it was cringy to look at that final scene... I swear I would have gotten goosebumps if my heart was not raging with agony for Soo hyuk.
Next comes the female Jin Se Yun/ Ha Eun/Jong Sabin (or shall I call her the villain of the drama?) Where to even start?! Here I wouldn't say the below average acting was to blame rather it was the character in itself that was the problem. I highly doubt any actress in korea would have been able to do a better job. Cause in one word review her character was trash. There is no other way to sugar coat it. Sorry Jin Se Yun... (But you should have run after reading the script). Everything about this character is creepy. More creepy than the psycho killer fiancee of Soo hyuk. Cause at least the psycho knew what she wanted and this one doesn't. Which only goes to makes her character seem more dangerous and damaging to others. But like I said it isn't the actres's fault but rather the writer again who if you ask me is more like the crazy writer character Jang Mi in the drama. As people who had seen the drama would know how crazy obssessive that woman was with the serial killer... So is the actual writer of the drama whose main intent of writing the script was to make the female lead love the male lead.. no matter how he portrays himself. Want examples? Take your pick.... 1. Oh so he is a stalker/potential serial killer? Gwenchana gwenchana must have had a tough life. 2. He killed a woman to get a heart? Gwenchana gwenchana it's his love for the heroine and that woman was bad anyway. 3. He majority time acts as a psychopath? Gwenchana gwenchana its all an acting shield he built as no one understands him. 4. He killed the heroine's sweet sweet fiance? Gwenchana gwenchana but he did it first by accident and the later knife stabs where just his frustrated heart needing an outlet. Also it's best that he killed him cause that gave the heroine a good reason to turn the fiance down which she would have done eventually anyway as you know he is the... Second lead!!! (Sssssh don't tell anyone) .
See? ??? Where the problem lies with this Only mother terasa for Jong bum/ psycho heroine Sabin/Ha Eun character.??? I wish I could laugh it off like the struggling actor of laughter at Waikiki whose name I suddenly forget due to all the trauma I incurred watching this drama. So now you must be thinking so why watch the drama if it's so bad? Well the problem is I didn't knew it was gonna be so bad did I??? They dragged the story till 32 episodes to tell us "HAHAHA THE JOKES ON YOU AND YUP... SO HYUK IS THE SECOND LEAD SO WATCHYA GONNA DO YOU BUNCH OF WIMPS???" Believe it or not that's what the writers and directors did .. they made us believe So hyuk the only sensible character in the entire drama was the lead until the second to last episode only to reveal in the climax that he is the second lead. And you know how drama gods feel about second leads right? TOTALLY DISPOSABLE PIECES OF PLOTLINE. But out of all the brutal outcasting of second leads i have seen in k-dramas over the years... This one takes the crown. The cruelty that So hyuks's character has been dealt with is a betrayal that should be remembered along the lines of Julius Ceasar's assassination by his friends. Yes it's that bad. Just so the writer could make the two leads fall in love without guilt... They deconstructed the entire character of So hyuk in the last few episodes. Tuned out his prosecuting style isn't right, his love not so novel, and yea he is also the Butterfly effect for ha eun's parents to die in the car crash. That for me was the wake up call to villify the holder of the pen who wrote this utter bullshit. Cause all the things that were "supposedly" wrong with so hyuk.. wasn't and I repeat WASN'T WRONG AT ALL. So here allow me to curse once "WHAT IN THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH THIS DRAMA???" why write stories like this at all?!
The main reason I took up this drama was Lee So hyuk.. its his project after a long time. And it really showed all thoughtout the drama how much an of effort he has put into it. Not only was his character the only good thing about this drama but he also acted the best of his acting career here. Being a model turned actor his acting previously wasn't always polished. But this time he really brought out the hidden acting capacities within him and gave his all. And the result was beautiful to watch. Audiences could connect pulse for pulse with his characters hyung bin// So hyuk... But here I would like to stop and ask the writer what for??
Why write a character like that and have an actor portray it the best was possible only to make him and audiences suffer till the end?! What was the point of this "pseudo novel " drama even? Sacrifice? Redemption? Salvation??? New beginnings??? Well whatever your cause was let me tell you one thing and one thing only. This drama "didn't get the message across even by an inch". What it all came down to is a potential drama gone heavily south.

In the end I would say don't even think about watching the drama if you want meaningful entertainment. If you are going to watch it for Lee So Hyuk then do so until ep 20... Cause from 21 his character's unfair treatment will give YOU a broken heart syndrome if not a stroke. For Ki young fans.. just pretend you didn't see him here at all. His under the weather acting will give you additional grievance. All in all, Born Again is a ball of massive dissapointed wrapped in a silk cloth that rot by the end of it all. So wanna see don't wanna see that's up to you.. but don't say you haven't been warned. I just wish Lee So Hyuk can put this sad project behind him and move on to do greater things where he and his acting will be appreciated for all its deserving worth. (Lee So Hyuk ssi Hwaiting!! <3 )

Read More

So underrated drama

I rarely post reviews but this drama totally deserves one. This is not the typical drama or plot with fluffy romance but rather a more realistic and diffrent type of romance. Lee Soo Hyuk was absolutely AMAZING in this drama and I was shipping him with the FL all the way. The chemistry was good and everything between them felt like there were meant for each other. I could not feel the chemistry with the other ML and certainly, she should of choosing the same man as she chose in the past. Both ML had flaws and dark sides but this is what made them realistic. Personally, I was not a fan of the FL but at least she was not portrayed as the silly woman that acts like she is 13. This is not a fluffy rom-com and if you expect that then you should skip it. For those that want an original plot, twists and some serious topics this one is for you!

Read More

OMG. Now that I have stopped crying I can see the keyboard. I watched all episodes over two days. Was absolutely addicted. Loved the leading actors. Type casting was perfect. Always liked the idea of reincarnation and this series does a great job. A few parts were a little hard to believe but so what. I am still thinking abput the ending. I could have done better without the very last epilogue as I prefer hapyy endings but will think of the last scene in the Old future bookstore as my ending to think about. Right now I have to put cold compresses on my eyes to get rid of the puffy eyes.

Read More

Worst

The theme of the story looks new and interesting, I followed this drama for 8 weeks. The cast is good acting plus handsome and beautiful, but it is unfortunate in the middle of the story of the female actor too long confused with her feelings. Just decided his feelings at the end of the episode. Too long the audience waits and is bored. At the end of the story, the male characters who act as prosecutors are too forced to become evil. From the beginning the audience was only deceived by the characters who were covered. So the point is that the story is only an exchange of the situation of a sad guy being happy with a guy who was initially happy to be sad. Very disappointed with the author, even though the beginning of the story is very interesting but in the middle to the end is very messy. Too bad you guys threw away the talent of the cast.

Read More

This is a pure unadulterated trash drama- period.
The story starts off strong enough (the first 2 episodes at least) that you can't help but be excited about it. The premise of reincarnation is nothing new but the synopsis made it intriguing. The wheels fall off fairly early on and if you decide to continue/ complete this drama be prepared for a nice long train wreck. It's a fantasy story-line but that doesn't give it an excuse to be incoherent.
The cast did the best with what they were given. Lee Soo Hyuk- came back better than ever and my gripe is that he deserves a better script than this (he nailed the crap outta this role). Jin Se Jeon- my first drama with her and I wasn't impressed. Again though I'm blaming the writing for her character being wishy-washy and all damsel in distress-y. Jang Ki Yong- I feel he is being type cast at this point as the strong, deadly, silent type. Not saying that's bad but... I just want to see him do more than just stare beautifully into the camera.
The music was lovely and I'll for sure be checking out the OST's to add to my chillax playlist.
Overall this drama did not meet my expectations in being a great mystery drama but instead became a top choice in my trash drama list. I'm kinda pissed off I wasted my time with this but at the same time I'm glad I watched it, so with that I would recommend it.

Read More

Hello so i started this drama because i liked the plot and the main leads and when i started this i was really binge-watching it.

I don’t know why, but this drama really got me interested, especially because they are often referring to the book Wuthering Heights and i was amazed at how good the actors could portray the emotions, i was really desperate to know how the writer will end this story and the fate of each character. But then the story started to repeat scenes, nothing new happened and it didn‘t really progress plot-wise. And then the story ended abruptly and fast..like what? I think they could have gotten a better ending, but most of the characters don‘t really have any ending at all so you have to imagine an ending for them. It seems like the writer couldn’t find an ending themselves!
The same for the actor and actresses..like there were so many good acting scenes but because of the story they ( i think) had to show the same reaction multiple times and that made me really get tired of the drama. Nevertheless, i think the music really suited the story so it at least got a profound emotional base.

My hopes were high for an epic ending even if it was sad i would have loved it, but all i got was a silly ending where people surrendered or weren't even shown..my hopes on a reasonable ending got shattered.

To sum up, this drama was built on a good base with all the emotional stuff but the end was too abrupt.The re/watch value for me isn’t really high, because i think i would just re-watch half of the drama where the psychological part really was to see.
(I hope this review was a little bit helpful )

Read More

Save Yourself

First off, i am a fan of all 3 actors. The story right from the start was intriguing, a detective and his lover, and a serial killer that falls in love with the detective's lover. Tragic entails, and all 3 figures are reincarnated into present lives with new identities, but i still bound together by ill-fate. The gist of the story sounds promising, and the visual effects of the highlight reel was enough to draw me in ...

The story starts of painting the detective (LSH) & his lover (JSY) as one of eternal love and JKY as the "serial killer". Series of misunderstanding causes all 3 to die at the episode 2, and reincarnate into their new forms. For the first 10 episodes, the story was going for JSY x LSH's character as the main pairing, and JKY being a psychopath with murderous intentions, especially towards LSH's character because of his love for JSY's character (in both lives). Somehow, their production team had an internal dispute/ feud and the writers had changed. And lol they decided to switch the pairing to JSY X JKY right at the last episode. I am not sure if it's the directing and writing, but it made JSY drew alot of hate because she was being seen as a two timer because he was obviously attrached to LSH's character, but is unable to ignore JKY's pitiful character. And sorry, the mystery part and revenge sublines were kinda underdeveloped and seems like the writer suddenly woke up and rmb there were these subplots only in the second half of the show.

All in all, other than the disappointing loveline and direction of the entire plot (which had so much potential), i don't see any motivation for anyone to pick up this drama. Probably the only saving grace was LSH face + abs (LOL) and his acting, same goes with JKY. Oh the OST is good by the way, just stick to listening to it and never start on this drama. Save you 16 hours of your life. Still confused with this drama til date and i am sure alot of you here can relate with me :)

Read More

This one I was so excited for! I even waited for it to finish so I could binge watch. I thought to myself it's Jang ki young and Lee Soo Hyuk how bad could it be ! Well , the answer is pretty bad.

The make up was so terrible, and the childishness of the plot and characters can only be summed up as an epic fail. The only character that was a little fleshed out was Jang ki yong's but the others were all so one dimensional.

I couldn't feel a thing when they were sad or crying. And again I did get emotional for Jang ki yong because at least his character was a bit relatable. Other than that everyone else seemed so superficial.

The direction at times was good and other times something so cringey would happen. Childish, immature script. Just a big fat failure. I'm done.

Read More

spoilers (what I didn't like in romance part) is only in second part

no spoiler part:
It's really great drama, interesting, good twists and turns, high production value, good dramatical plot and acting, multilayered characters, good and interesting romance (plus almost every time romances/triangles are predictable, bot not here) and quite sharp emotions. though there are little plot holes/unrealistic details, but this is compare to overall drama level, otherwise 90% dramas have bigger plot holes/unrealistic moments.

another interesting thing about this drama - ML is typical anti hero SML, so if you love second male leads and/or anti heroes (like me, it's like real syndrome, almost everytime liking SML) this drama would be special for you. I loved that SML was good developed and had similar or more screen time, he is more ML type character, and also we could have damaged full of pain anti hero (very SML type) as main lead and because of that drama was more understanding to him, though he really has dark side in both lives, and this dark side is quite deep, not usual "kind of dark ML".
both male leads have their charisma and "SML charm" and because of that I wasn't sure who I rooted more. though drama manages most of things/plot developments good, I think at some point it was misleading and to say more about that I sould give some spoilers.

spoiler part:
in romance part there was something I didn't liked, as I said I liked that ML was SML like anti hero and it should help me to root him more, plus I kind of knew (think I read somewhere and the fact that he is ML) he would end up with FL, and of course in first life he so tragic viewer wants him to have something good, some happyness at list in second live.... but... at some point drama makes you root to SML and FL, they are like romeo and juliete, loved each other so much in first live and have so good prelude of romance in second life, though I didn't like this actor his character was so cool in second life, and FL falls for him and al this is so natural, good acted, they have chemistry, when she looks at ML as younger brother who needs support... Viewer feels pity to ML because his misfortunes repeats in second live, but as the drama was at list for 10 episodes, it was logical that FL loves SML and they are destined...
So I don't understand sudden change in romance part, why was she so understanding to ML, ok she is good person and sees he needs someone to support him, that he is damaged but not evil yet, but there was too much facts against ML and after all she believes him and supports anyway, it's not natural, when she didn't forgives SML (who she loved and said to him always be with him, never break his hart) because he shot ML...
understanding/forgiving everything to ML and almost nothing to SML is kind of old cliche and even this drama has it, but in last 4 episode suddenly she falls in love to ML? falls for guy who she hated in past live and looked as brother (plus she tried to stop him to protect SML) in this live, why? she was saying to him that her love to SML wouldn't changes, why they developed that strong chemistry/feels with emotional past life paralels if they were going to that ending?
I just couldn't understand this...

Read More

It's worth watching for the acting of Jang Ki Yong

POSITIVE: Jang Ki Yong's acting in this is absolutely amazing. I'd rate his acting ability a 20/10. He was able to convey so much with just his eyes and you never knew quite how to feel about him. Should you be appalled by him? Terrified of him? Should you root for him? Should you feel sorry for him? With the disclosure of each piece of mystery, he was able to pull you in and I couldn't seem to look anywhere else when he was on screen. He also has a deep voice that is perfect for the voice over work required in this show.

SO MUCH NEGATIVE: Keep in mind that this is just my personal opinion, but I thought this drama was a big mess. It started out very strong and the first 7-8 episodes were very good. Then it seemed as if the writers threw absolutely everything into the mix. There were so many characters in this show to keep up with it gave me a headache. Actually, you need to make a flow sheet with all the characters and how they are related in the past and present. It wandered aimlessly, continuing to add characters for the next 20 episodes. The last three episodes got exciting again as they tried to tie up the large number of loose ends. As for the story, it spent so much time about talking about timeless, everlasting, and fateful love, and then threw the whole thing out the window. The story was very convoluted and unnecessarily confusing, and ultimately it left a bad taste in my mouth with one of the worst drama endings EVER!

Lee Soo Hyuk as the second male lead - first, they gave him a really unfortunate haircut that was distracting in the past timeline. I'm usually on the fence about his acting, he seems to have two expressions, 1) bland/blank, and 2) pursed lips like he just sucked on a lemon. I found the relationship between the two male leads interesting, though.

The female lead bothered me no end! I can't remember when I've spent so many hours watching such a wishy-washy character. She couldn't decide between the two men, which was ridiculous because they were the absolute opposite of each other. She went on and on about how much she loved the one guy, but then completely abandoned that. It might not have been so irritating if they hadn't been playing up the "even in my next life I won't love anyone but you" idea.

There were quite a few psychotic people in this drama. More bad guys than you can shake a stick at. Again, it should have been pared down considerably.

CHEMISTRY: Good chemistry between Jang Ki Yong's character and the female lead, a couple of good kisses. There were a couple of kisses between the female lead and Lee Soo Hyuk, but, unfortunately, they were very fake looking.

I stuck it out (because I'm not a quitter) and I'll repeat again, the ending was so bad and it made me so mad that I had wasted so much time on this drama. For me, it falls in the "That's time I'll never get back" category. However, many, many people seemed to really like it, so start it to see Jang Ki Yong's acting and decide if it's worth sticking around for the rest of it.

Read More