First things first: even the bare minimum doesn't make sense, since the writer can't recall the dates they had set and everytime they present you a different number.
Then you have a psycho stalker stalking a girl, but ok, she finds it perfectly ok and acceptable. Guess what: it's not. For some reason she tries to find excuses to every damn thing this guy does, but he is just crazy and she is just dumb. No growth, no insights, no anything, just plain stupidness. And I'm not even going to mention that asshole prosecutor, because he manages to be the less worse character we are presented to.
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Disappointing
Just want to say that this not the worst drama as many reviews say but just a below average one. Kudos to the creator for ruining a great plot. It would have been one of the best thread only if!!! I don't know whether the creator underestimates the viewers. I haven't seen a drama in the recent past with so many loopholes and mistakes. They were really immature in building the story and not to mention the dialogues, cringe ultimatum!!!The male leads were good in a way that they were successful in giving some feels to the viewers in some of the scenes. On contrary , FL character was really a disappointment . I would rather put her as more of a psycho than Gong Ji Chul in this drama.
I feel for Jang Ki young cause he was having a great streak.
I don't recommend this drama to anyone but I would say that this is not the worst as there are even more trashes rated over 8 with more popular leads.
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Don't watch for your health
Just one wordDon't watch, I can't believe I watched 30 episodes because of Lee soo hyuk and jang ki Yong.
But please don't try and don't watch.
This drama is horrible
First the storyline: is pretty messed up, you just don't understand what's going on, what obsession, stalking, serial killing and all sort of things, they even tried putting a fantasy reason behind the bullshit.
Acting : Why I gave it 1, well the two guys acting was good, but seriously.. They didn't check the storyline before acting. What a bullshit story and acting from the girl. I got headache watching her, seriously.
Music: Well not something memorable, can't remember it
Re-watch: Don't even watch it, don't please.
Overall: worst drama ever ever and ever. Can't be saved.
Don't say anything about my review.. This is my personal review. If you don't get it, forget about it.
Peace out
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casting
the casting for this dram is not great but the characters play their role well. there could've been a better cast but this casting I pretty good because the character is not that bad. I think that the girl's role was perfect in the first story but in the second one it was not really working out because the girl was supposed to be fierce and the actor was not really able to portray that.
story
this plotline is not many Kdramas. the multiple life might be in a mother drama but the sacrifices in this story are very upsetting and they are really abnormal. it is not normal to see somebody do what the characters do in this story. every role that everybody portrays is odd because not many people can relate to them. Also, there are some roles when the actors supposed to portray a pyco but they are not very good at it.
through this drama has a lot of flaws it thinks it is a good drama to watch if you are into romance and thriller. if you are a hard-core rom-com fan than this dram might not be the best for you.
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Very Disappointing
I am a fan of Lee Soo hyuk, ive been waiting for his comeback drama for quite sometime now. When i read the plot i was very hopeful and his co.star jang ki yong is a good actor as well.So what I ended up watching was just horrible. I felt bad for the actors coz this will be like a stain on their resume.
There was one OST that stood out though, Dream by Sondia. That was the only good thing that came out of this depressing production.
This is just my take on the drama, please go ahead and watch it for yourself and form your own opinion.
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Great Story, Weak Female Lead
My 4 categories are Acting/Cast, Writing, Direction/SFX/Music, Entertainment Value.Its unpredictability due to its unconventionality saved this drama. As I watched this drama, I negatively assumed a lot about how the plot would unfold, which caused me to lose interest at times. Thankfully, I was wrong.
Acting/Cast: I decided to watch this because I know the two male leads are good actors. They did well, as expected. There were some side characters that also did well. In particular, the casting for the umbrella murderer was perfect - very crazy and scary facial expressions. My main issue in this category is the female lead. The only drama I had seen her in before was Bridal Mask, wherein she also played a damsel in distress. Simply put, her acting skills were just not up to par with the males leads'. She would often go into these monologues where it seemed as though she would change her voice, as if she were trying to lull me to sleep. It annoyed me every time; It was grating on my ears. This could be more of a directing issue though. Her two uncles were over-the-top with their acting. They literally acted like cartoon characters. Actually, most of the characters felt more like manga characters than actual, realistic people. That comic book type vibe is a legitimate directing style, but it's not for me. I prefer watching more realistic characters on screen. 4/10
Writing: For me, the plot saved this drama. It didn't go where I expected it to. It ended up being very different to what I've seen before in Korean dramas. I like how the redemption arcs played out. However, the terrible female lead really dragged it down. I can't even say that it would have been better with a different female lead because the character itself was so poorly written. She was simply a damsel in distress. She was constantly confused, constantly fainting, giving random unsolicited opinions, and doing stupid things. Just because a girl has a weak heart, doesn't mean she needs to have a weak personality, too. She was an extremely one dimensional character. Even after finishing the drama, I still don't know who she is and why these guys are so in love with her. She may just be a Mary Sue. On a positive note, however, the other characters were well done (aside from some minor side characters) and I liked the ending. It showed that all the seemingly random things the female lead would say was actually meaningful to the story, even though the way she would say it made me cringe. 8/10
Direction/SFX/Music: The music annoyed me. I take notes when I watch dramas and I wrote "this music needs to CHILL". It was loud, repetitive, and sometimes didn't really fit the scene. This makes me think the issues I had with the lead female's voice was a directing issue as well. It was as if she had too much gain? The mic was too close to her? I'm not sure. Like I've stated previously, the characters also had more of a manga style to them, which I'm personally not a fan of. Also, I got secondhand embarrassment watching prosecutor Kim Soo Hyuk miming in public for such a long period of time (pretending to be hit, shot, stabbed to death). I was thinking "is anyone seeing this?" I get it, it's part of the story, but why did it have to go on for so long? Flashbacks are part of the story, too, but it wastes so much time. 1/10
Entertainment Value: The beginning was great. Very fast-paced. A lot happened in just the first 2 episodes. I feel the first half of the drama was better that the 2nd half in this regard. I would lose a bit of interest here and there when I would get too frustrated with the female lead or when I was worried the plot was going in a cliché direction. 5.5/10
Overall, I gave this drama a 4.5/10. For me, a weak female lead can do a lot of damage to a drama.
By the way, does Jang Ki Yong play a main role in anything where he's not the son of a murderer?
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This review may contain spoilers
This story really have great concept and could easily fall into superb storyline if not for the very frustrating characters. The term "fate" and "love" portrayed here seems too forced. And the most messed up understanding of "kindness", "sympathy", "compassion" and "love" by the female lead. Yes, its true that strong love can be formed by sympathy BUT... she already have someone who loved her tremendously. And it turns out that Hyung Bin is the one end up honoring Ha Eun's prayer to love eternally? Yes, frustration is an understatement when you watch this. Although, I understand that the second life time is finally being kinder to Ji Chul, but, it comes at the expense of dismissing other characters' progress. Was this review helpful to you?
The flaws aren't the performances
The writers of this clearly had ideas but didn't handle them well. The confusing or irritating elements were further muddled by editing and quite likely also by some director decisions.Allowing for the plot-linked changes, there were major failings on basic consistency within each character and their having credible rationales and actions for what they did. Bad psychology. Jung Sa Bin most frequently came over as worryingly erratic and irrational in her behaviour and that undermined the narrative credibility really badly. That's on the writers, not the actress. While Choi Dae Chul was given a largely more credible path for Seo Tae Ha, there was a jarring change in a relationship with a main character in the final episodes where the writer's made his character's reaction to it an unbelievably full u-turn. Kim Hee Jung was also given a character whose scripted behaviour broke suspension of disbelief for me.
The script had some clanging contradictions (mob lackey going to kill a female car passenger when later reveal is that mob has a rule against targeting any women) and some very heavy handed moments despite some really well-written scenes. Painful inconsistency letting the whole thing down. There was a lot of frustration even with apparently overlooked consistency issues that were eventually addressed, as it left the viewer grated by the internal inconsistency too long so the respinse to the good bits was too polluted.
That's a real shame because this show was aiming for a lot of subtlety (in performance and script) and when it got that right it was beautiful. I liked the camera work a lot too and the soundtrack was a perfect fit.
Jang Ki Yong did what was possible with a difficult character who seemed almost designed by the writers for long periods from episode 5 on to disengage viewers. One major change to the reborn person lacked any explanation.
Jin Se Yeon delivered as well as anyone coukd have with what they gave her. A pity for the actress that she was given a mess.
Lee Soo Hyuk was very well cast and his performance was very well judged and executed, though a few of the lines he was given were a jarringly bad fit for the character or just made no sense. There was one whole long scene that really made my blood boil because they'd written themselves into a corner giving him so few people he could be shown to discuss his inner feelings with so Kim Soo Hyuk behaved with brutal insensitivity and undeserved cruelty in a massive breach of relationship etiquette that seemed really out if character and repellent. Dishonourable. I was outraged on behalf of the other party, who to Kim Soo Hyuk's knowledge was entirely innocent of fault.
Lee Seo El had a character written with little subtlety in behavious or character, which stood out compared to the rest. I can't judge her oerformance because I can't decide what was writing or direction and what the actress brought to it.
Kim Jung Nan had an good role and did well with it, as did Choi Kwang Il. Some of their one-on-one conversations with a main character were really well scripted and captivatingly well played by eveyone in the scene, making them high points for me.
Jang Won Young gave a good performance in another of the support roles.
Jung Sa Bin's social circle wasn't given a lot of screen time or plot to work with and always seemed oddly peripheral to her life, including not being called in fast or often when she was taken sick, leaving the live interests most oriminent in hospitals.
The child actors were pretty solid, though the stand out for me was Lee Joo Won in the early episodes.
I have a very major problem with a non-consensual kiss forced on an unconscious character who has made their lack of romantic interest in the kisser very clear at that point.
There is one emotionally wrenching scene played out at a graveside where someone has just been laid peacefully to rest that made me furious - that scene could have been played out exactly like that but with just a cut to even a very slight change in location (even eithin the graveyard) rather than as an (in the context) desecration of the peace of the dead.
I watched to the end but those who decided episode 4 or episode 20 were good stopping points made valid choices.
The final episode should arguably have ended as elevator doors shut on a scene - what followed that point was no improvement. If you priceed further, I strongly advise against watching the very brief Epilogue right at the end which is a hot mess with no redeeming features.
My favourite moments included a beautiful proposal but the standout memories for me are actually two really unique scenes one just a tiny moment) between Kim Soo Hyuk and Jung Sung Eun.
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This review may contain spoilers
Outstanding Story But Poor Writing Hurts It's Potential
Born Again had a lot of potential. We got a refreshing story regarding fate and destiny not being so concrete. About how our past lives don't dictate our present ones. Jong Bum’s life seemed destined to be a killer but he learned that he could be a normal man with a normal life. But this lost me at several points due to the writers over complicating things, which took away from the great elements this show had. For example, the standoff at the end of the “Past”scenes was the perfect conclusion to end that story and lead us into the present day. Everyone dies. Ji Chul kills himself after causing the death of Ha Eun and Hyung BinPerfect, but they opt to renege on that ending, and have this cult, that Ji Chul’s father is the figure of, save him from death and then he gets hung in prison anyway. All so we have a link to the present day. This was not needed whatsoever. Likewise with Jong Bum being related to the Gong Family. The past life link was all that was necessary. Obviously these things on their own are fine but there were too many instances where if the writers left things alone and stopped trying to add their magic to it, it would've been excellent. But the writers couldn't help themselves. I'll reiterate that the story upto a point had me in the palm of it's hand. I was ready to call it a 10/10 drama but the story falls apart in the 3rd gear. And while it's not terrible, it leaves a bad taste in my mouth.
Thankfully the acting is terrific. Jin Se Yeon can struggle to capture the right emotions outside of the romantic character building (Doctor Stranger) but she was really solid in her overall performance, along with the always brilliant Jang Ki Yong and Lee Soo Hyuk. They all had to be two slightly different characters for each time period and they were successful in making all six characters distinct from each other in a subtle way. The low-key greatest performances come from Kim Jung Young, Jong Bum’s (adopted) mother. Her cameos always shine, even in the best dramas (One Spring Night, The Smile Has Left Your Eyes, etc) and her portrayal as a Norma Bates inspired character blew me away. It's a shame that even this plotline faltered a little as well. Her and Jang Ki Yong had the most compelling scenes and relationship of them all. And this is a drama full of them.
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This review may contain spoilers
You know how some dramas become your guilty pleasure but this one just was bad by each and every single episode.The ending was no shocker to me but I had a little hope that writer might save the ship but no. We don't do that here.
Sa Bin choosing JB over Soo Hyuk is like throwing yourself in a well by your own will, when a clean water tap is just few steps ahead.
JB needed help, psychological help. He needed to know that his stalking and creepy tendencies weren't cute but somehow the writer decided to make him a sad hero when Soo Hyuk really did had potential to he the saving grace.
Sa Bin was dumb and her whole "Yes I can fix JB" theory was boiling my blood. It's not your damn job to fix anyone.
Whenever she felt pain in her heart I hopped she would just leave becuase there was no need for Soo Hyuk to suffer.
Again, the idea of reincarnation was really unique and good but the execution and character development was just garbage. I'm not sure why would anyone support Jb and Sa-Bin's relationship.
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No Rewatch Value
This show was really well done but the last episodes are wrought with bullshit that doesn't make sense and characters making choices that don't make sense and the ending is bad. Completely ruined the show for me. If I could give zero stars for rewatch value I would. The writers build up a certain theme over two-thirds of the show that they completely throw out the window for the last few episodes. Do yourself a favour -- don't watch it. Here's a tip--If you hated the ending of Cheese in the Trap then you will hate the ending of this show. If you liked Cheese in the Trap? Then you're insane but you and this show deserve each other.
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