A Time Called You

My brain hurts...

Don't hate me because I didn't love it. It's a personal taste thing. I liked the acting in this. I also like that this has convinced me not to go back and try to watch Some Day or One Day. I'm apparently a superficial watcher and don't want to have to think too much. It's a shortcoming, I know, but there you have it.

I love me a good destiny show, but this is the first time that I felt like the universe was trying to tell them that they should NOT be together. Together, tragedy, together, tragedy. I guess the ending had to be the way it was, but I was disappointed in the lack of payoff. Though it did border on a happy ending, which I appreciated.

And what was with her telling everyone that she was time traveling?! Her telling the murderer guy was random. I didn't get the impression that they were that close, and just why?

I actually made a flow chart to try to keep up with this while I was watching it, and even that confused me. My biggest problem was when the two versions of the ML met. That just didn't make any sense to me. Also, the random gay storyline (though seeing Rowoon and Ahn Hyo Seop together on screen was a treat!) was confusing, because weren't the two versions of the ML the same in each timeline?

I now need to find me a simple love story to watch. Since I'm WAY in the minority here, you might want to read everyone else's reviews and give the show a try.

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It makes sense in the end!

I left a review on this show 9 episodes in and it was basically about how I loved the feel of the show, especially when in the 90s but I was just so confused and felt like the timeline was hard to keep up with. Now that I have finished the show, there are still some things I don't understand but the main storyline I get now.

Like I said I really enjoyed the 90s vibes, the cinematography, and the sweet relationships between the main characters. It made me happy that in-gyu had a chance in the end with min-ju and that even though they can't remember the time travelling, her getting in the accident benefited her in that she felt more at peace and almost had a new beginning at life. Also how Si-heon and Jun-hee did meet eventually in 2011, and how it ends openly and optimistically. Every episode I watched ended with so many twists and turns that it really makes you want to continue watching to know what it means and how it changes the future. Although it did make me sad and happy at the same time in the end lol.

Sure the twists and turns in the show were good and really captivating, but it also left me confused often and still now I don't get certain things. Because of this, I was tempted to drop the show but stuck it out and I'm glad that I did. It's crazy to comprehend most of the things that we saw over the course of the years in the show ended up never happening, specifically with si-heon and jun-hee.

I think the cast was great too, with Vincenzo being one of my favourite dramas, I'm super fond of Yeo-been and seeing this new side of her in this show was really cool to see.

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Two Worlds, Two Stories, One Fate

It is not unusual for Netflix to release Korean remakes of popular shows. Money Heist and Designated Survivor have already recently proved that the formula works; a decent story is a decent story in any language, and the trademark quality of acting and production found in Kdrama tends to provide a little uplift overall. But A Time Called You is riskier territory, as it’s not just a remake, but a remake of a beloved Taiwanese classic titled Someday or One Day.

There’s a lot of intrigue from the get-go, as the names of the characters who resemble each other aren’t revealed until the end of the first episode. Given the constant back and forth, body swapping, and parallel timelines, writer Choi Hyo-bi remains largely consistent with the sharp, pacy writing throughout the show. There’s a steady build-up in intrigue, especially with regard to the whodunit element. Every plot point in this show’s complex narrative finds a place in a time loop, and the effort that has gone into the writing is evident from how it all unravels neatly.

The pace also, in a way, becomes this K-Drama’s biggest enemy as it robs the show of much of its emotional nuance and depth. The show instead constantly shifts focus, and proceeds to march forward in an inexplicable hurry. While it goes without saying that A Time Called You requires a willing suspension of disbelief given the paradoxes of the world it is set in, the writing in the last two episodes stretches this to the hilt. Nevertheless, for a show that’s packed to the brim and has a convoluted plot towards the end, the writing remains taut, and manages to nearly tie up all its loose ends. Music plays the most important and positive part in this 12 episode drama.

For a show which started with great promise in the first half, felt a litte flat in the second half with loosen grip in writing and focusing more on romance between the leads, rather than expanding the friendship of the trio. Nonetheless, it's a good one time watch.

My Rating : 7/10

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Just watch the original, if you have the opportunity!

This is a hard one to explain. Obviously 'A Time Called You' is the adaptation of something amazing, that much is probably clear to most MDL users by now and what makes hard writing this review is that it really is in many ways a fantastic adaptation. They have changed the ending, but that was literally the weakest point of the original, most other things are incredibly faithful to the source material. Most of the time when a kdrama is not an original work, the writers try to add their "personal touch", which more often than not leads to the ruination of the script. Recent examples that come to mind are 'See You in My 19th Life' and 'Kiss Sixth Sense'. Both of these are webcomic adaptations & all changes the writer has made from the source material made the scripts worse, pretty much every single one of them. However as I said this drama is different, the plot most of the time is identical to the original, with the dialog being identical as well, the changes are extremely minimal up until the later episodes. One could even say that this is a far more authentic adaptation than the Harry Potter, or Lord of the Rings movies.
As for the casting, most actors fit the original Taiwanese casting down to a T, the similarities are quite eerie actually, I have never seen something like this before. I may not be a big believer in Ahn Hyo Seop's acting ability, but he tried more than hard enough & he is visually a very good fit as well..

So then it begs the question, why is this not amazing?
I think this is the first kdrama I have ever seen where the script was -in a practical sense- perfect, yet I did not really like it. I'm just going to list the big issues one by one:

⌲ The cinematography is too pretty and vibrant, it does not fit.
⌲ The 'song' is a terrible pick and yes this is VERY detrimental in this drama. (if you have to listen to the same song 20 times in a drama, they gotta do better than this, is there even a melody?)
⌲ The OST outside of the cassette song is completely lifeless & could be described as 'nothing'.
⌲ The FL may have had the same lines, but the production team has somewhat ruined her characterization, there's not enough contrast between her two roles, the "switch" is not impactful enough! (YeoBeen acted amazingly well, this is not on her)
⌲ The chemistry could've been better.
⌲ Some of the most impactful scenes of the original are very inferior and some of them are missing, which is weird, because of how closely the adaptation follows the plot. (I think it's not a FF button malfunction, the Piano scene & the bullying of the bullies scene are missing from this? Please do tell me in the review comments, if this is a problem with me falling asleep at those critical moments and I'll just adjust my review & apologize for being stupid)

Ultimately it comes down to this adaptation being redundant, it's just unnecessary! There is no Korean touch here worth mentioning, It's a pointless adaptation. (perhaps it's all about the new product placements within a show that should be a guaranteed success, since it's a copy of something very few ppl know in Korea, but is already proven to be amazing?)


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Not trying to bash the songwriter here at all, songs that are basically just poems sang with a soulful voice can be amazing, having an impactful melody is not a requirement, it's merely a bad fit for this drama, that's all.
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edit 1: It kept bothering me, so I rewatched the last 15-20 minutes of the drama in a less medicated state than before. My conclusion is that while I'm not very happy with how the original drama ended, this just feels low effort, I don't know. Considering how one of the few changes they made is related to young Han Jun Hee's story, I sense this might be because they wanted to avoid something that can be considered risque. This I can understand, it's just that the result is much more lifeless & lacking in impact, than the original.

edit 2: There are a large number of positive reviews on MDL that criticize people like myself for not evaluating this drama correctly & that we have too much bias since we watched the Tdrama first. This criticism has merit, however I think even if we ignore the redundancy thing there is just such a huge difference in emotional impact between these two dramas. I have rewatched some select scenes from the original this afternoon & It's fascinating to see how much better those are. (The Birthday Cake scene, This is our First day scene.. generic banter & liveliness etc etc) I think someone has to dislike Mandarin or Taiwan a lot to not see this.

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K-drama's Tenet

Seriously, could this drama be any more overcomplicated? I don't think so.

The timeline is a mess. You can tell they tried to make it so 'twisty' they couldn't even untangle their own mess properly.

I won't get into the timeline's specifics but it just doesn't add up. You keep waiting for a resolution that will tie it all together and just end up with a fantasy plot line that basically did whatever it wanted while tossing all logic to the side.

Jeon Yeo-been is an absolute queen but she was out of her element. Although I personally love her, this role doesn't bring out the best in her. She kills it at serious drama, and she was great in Vincenzo since it's more on the comedic side, but 'cute lovey-dovey' felt out of her range. I was glad we got to see her again, though.

If you have nothing else going on, this show is passable for a lazy afternoon but nothing worth looking back on.

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CLOSE YOUR EYES – NOW FEEL ⏯️

DISCLAIMER: I completed this a week ago and had time to collect / sit with my thoughts so please take my opinion / review with a grain of salt as I’m not here to argue with anyone.

I also have not watched the Taiwanese version yet (but I will do so soon) It will be interesting to see if my opinion on the show will been alter / change. Anyways, this is just a my summary of the drama. I watched it completely blind with no preconceived notions.

The emotions you will experience while watching this drama cannot be replicated by reading a plot synopsis or watching a summary video on YouTube. I recommend that you watch it without looking at the spoilers or hating / comparing it to versions you've seen before. Just pretend it's a whole new drama.

Genres: Mystery, Thriller, Romance, Fantasy

Tropes: Time travel, time loop, doppelgängers, friends to lovers, second chance romance ,found family, friendship, transmigration (body / soul switching), soulmates.

Likes:

This drama was interesting to say the least. The cinematography was beautiful and it felt very nostalgic because it takes you back to the 90s and 2000s. The time travel plot was very well done. I thought it would be confusing but it wasn't. It was easy to understand and found myself figuring out the plot half way through. I figured the scarred man was in fact Nam Si Heon and came up with reasons how this could be possible etc. My guesses were close enough lol. Every episode had me on the edge of my seat, thinking I had it all figured out, only to be surprised by unexpected twists and turns. I had to pay close attention because of the back-and-forth storytelling, but it was worth it.

Jeon Yeo Been's performance was outstanding, especially in how she portrayed the two different characters – she was convincing in showing us (the audience) that it was in fact two different people. The especially how she shifted her personality between the characters. The way she looked at Si Heon / Yeon Jun, laughed, walked, smiled and talked – all changed with the person and the timeline.

Ahn Hyo Seop gave me butterflies and made my heart skip whenever he was on screen, he really is very handsome and I think I developed a crush while watching. Si Heon / Yeon Jun was soooo boyfriend and just the greenest flag ever, across every single timeline. I mean he did such an amazing and convincing job as he portrayed the Si Heon / Yeon Jun who longed for his love (Jun Hee) across time and space. I thought the way he could immediately tell the difference between Min Ju and Jun Hee was precious and endearing. Min Ju could not fool him and unfortunately he would never be able to return her (or anyone else’s) affections becasue Jun Hee was his one true love.

Kang Hoon proved that even without a lot of lines, one's screen presence can be pretty impactful. Also, the way he emotes with his eyes is at another level altogether.

Rowoon's guest appearance was a pleasant surprise and I enjoyed seeing him on screen even thought it was short lived.

Min Jin Woong was a very compelling villain. He nailed the psychopathic murderer / serial killer role so well. I was definitely creeped out and on the edge of my seat watching and waiting to see what his character would do next.

Dislikes:

Some aspects of the time travel phenomenon weren't entirely explained, like why there were two people with the exact same face? I also found it puzzling how Chan Yeong looked exactly like his older brother. That resemblance was truly a mystery for me but I guess it made the storytelling easier from the writers perspective. It seems like that's just how the world of 'A Time Called You' works. I did not have a problem with Si Heon / Yeon Jun and Min Ju / Jun Hee existing in the same timeline like other people. It was very understandable and if you pay close attention you won’t be confused.

What triggered me was Min-Ju’s suicide. It captured a suicidal persons thoughts perfectly but reinforced the fact that no matter what you say / do to help a suicidal person, it won’t change the fact that if someone wants to die… they will kill themselves. They have to want to live for themselves and want to heal / get better and have something to live for. I’m not saying this to be cold/heartless because I just knew a girl like Min Ju. The only difference is she'd always threaten suicide for attention (unlike Min Ju) but in actuality, being her friend was exhausting. Safe to say we're not friends anymore and she still has her depressive episodes but I’m glad I’m not around for her to trauma dump on me or act like her issues are for more important / greater than anyone else's. She used to claim other's do not understand her and that she doesn’t have the mental capacity to care about anyone but herself (at least she was self aware, but imo she was also self centered and mean spirited most of all!). I don't think it was for a lack of love or attention, because it seemed she received both, but like Min Ju she was bullied a lot in her formative years and then kept attempting to transform herself indefinitely. Unfortunately she did not realize (and still hasn't to this day) that by doing all that she was killing the person she used to be, leaving her feeling empty and full of self-hatred (much like when Min Ju claimed to be Jun Hee lol!)

Anyway, it's ironic because thorough everything I was deemed selfish and told that I just don’t understand even though I always was encouraging, reassuring and supportive much like In Gyu. Seeing such a similar occurrence in this drama brought up a flood of emotions for me, which is why I think I felt overwhelmed then slightly irked while watching it. It was insane, especially when they showed inside Min Ju’s mind, Jun Hee trying to stop her, In Gyu pouring his heart out and trying to comfort her by lending caring / supportive worlds to then hearing Min Ju claim nobody cared about her. It was even more shocking to then see her catapult / launch herself off the building, thus killing herself (bleeding to death) and In Gyu taking the blame. I had so many mixed emotions but that very intense scene left me feeling sad and disheartened most of all. I could feel the same sense of hopelessness much like how Jun Hee felt, just being a mere bystander/watcher from that cave – not being able to do anything to help or convince Min Ju her life was worth living.

Moral of the story is choose your friends wisely, try your best and be kind always. If it’s not good enough (especially to the other person) and they don’t see the value in their life then know it’s not your fault / on you. Don’t blame yourself and go to prison for someone else’s choice or twisted wishes to be fulfilled like In Gyu. As Jun Hee said it was Min Ju's own expectations of people that made her miserable and she needed to take time for herself and take care of her wellbeing.

I wish the show explained the alternate ending better, I would’ve liked to find out exactly how In Gyu saves Min Ju on time. It would also have been nice for them to tell how Min Ju gets stuck in a cave where she see through the eyes of Jun Hee and vice versa plus how they escape from it and become the main host of the body.

I’m a very emotional / sentimental person so I did tear up while watching. If you’re the same (or worse) be sure to bring some tissues.

Final Thoughts:

Overall, each of their stories was beautiful as was the ending. Even though it’s an open and some what bittersweet ending I think it gives the viewer hope and promise of what is to come between the two main characters. While watching I felt warm seeing the kind of love that was portrayed throughout the drama. It made me feel the butterflies of a first love, the comfort of a mature love, the pain of separation and the overwhelming relief of their reunion.

The ending made me hopeful and happy, but it also made my heart hurt. I think it’s more so because of the realization that so many precious memories and relationships formed across various timelines would be lost forever, as if they never existed.

This was the kind of drama that stays with you long after you finish watching it. I still feel an ache in my heart when I think about it or listen to the OST (which by the way is just as amazing!) I think everyone who enjoyed this had that moment where they played "Gather My Tears" and tried to close our eyes and dissociate pretending we were going back in time like Jun Hee.

If this drama was a quote it would be: "In a hundred lifetimes, in a hundred worlds, in any version of reality – I'd find you and I'd always choose you."

It truly deserves an 8.5/10 and I will definitely be sure to rewatch it in the future, whenever "a time calls me."

If you read all this ILY! 🥹


Thanks for reading & happy watching!

˚ʚ♡ɞ˚

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Enjoyable but Original is Superior

Don't get me wrong... A Time Called You is well-made and visually wonderful but there are several ways in which it cannot beat the original despite a great effort. I suppose fans of the original, like me, can be happy that they didn't ruin it which is very common with remakes. So that's always a plus. Hopefully everyone will also go and watch the original drama - Someday Or One Day.

One of the strongest points of SOOD was the OST. Both the theme song and the main song - Last Dance by Wu Bai, are magical and memorable. Unfortunately, Gather My Tears can be described as nice at best but not worthy of being THE song that makes magic happen. It doesn't give me goosebumps the way Last Dance did. It's unforgettable. And it was the highlight of the original. However, I didn't get the same feeling from Gather My Tears. Last Dance was also meaningful to the story and elicited nostalgia. 'A Time Called You' made it seem like a song that happened to be liked by MinJoo and it wasn't the highlight of the scenes. Or at least it didn't come across that way to me. That itself took away the essence of the drama.

The main plot is essentially the same so I won't spoil that but there are a few other differences that I'd like to highlight from memory which count as spoilers. This review might be more appreciated by those who have watched both versions.
- One of the basics, they changed from the original is how the FL discovers the photo of the 3 friends. That was unique in SOOD and tied a bit more into the destiny theme perhaps.

- One big moment that stood out was when the FL, Han Jun Hee first arrives in the body of Kwon Min Joo, she is so shocked to see Koo Yeon Jun. That was supposed to be an impactful scene but it didn't feel that way. It was one of the FL's weakest scenes in my opinion.

- A memorable FL's dialogue from the original is her highlighting the age gap between her and the school boys which also added to her awkwardness at seeing her fiance's face. every time Something this show glossed over.

- They changed the way the ML meets the child FL of the past. The original encounter was far more memorable from the perspective of a child. I wish they hadn't changed it.

- There were times when I didn't see much difference between Jun Hee and Min Joo when it should have been more blatant. Alice Ke, in the Taiwanese drama, was masterful in that way. But Yeo Been's final scenes with her counterpart matched the emotions of the original's actress very well. I appreciated that a lot.

- Comparing the male actors, Ahn Hyeo Seop did a good job and there were moments when he really shined but Greg Hsu had bowled me over (considering I didn't think I would like him initially). He was far more charming and cheeky and one could see why he was popular. AHS's character didn't stand out as much to be a popular guy. I also felt his hairstyle wasn't great. However both male and female leads fit the ages they were portraying well.

- The lame jokes scene was just immensely better in the original. It felt terribly flat in this Korean version and lacked soul considering how important it actually was.

- One of the reasons I was keen to watch the Korean version was for Kang Hoon. Although I feel his character was given more importance here than the original which I liked, the original had a bit more heart. His hearing disability was inconspicuous and forgettable for the most part. The original depicted his liking for the FL far better. You could also understand his pain better in SOOD.

- The ML's accident was quite different from the original though I wasn't really upset with the change.

- Koo Yeon Jun and Tae Ha (Rowoon)'s moments together was an interesting take on the original story.

- The show failed to highlight Min Joo's attacker and his obsession the way the original did. It was a bit muted.

- The weakest points of the original was the ending so it was good to see A Time Called You address that which required SOOD to release an additional clip. Though it would have been nice to have a little bit more.

It's been over a year that I watched Someday Or One Day and I'm glad I could not recall all the details especially towards the end so I could enjoy A Time Called You a lot more rather than just comparing scene for scene. But I would always recommend the original before this one and it will always be one of my most favourite dramas. Watching the remake just made me want to rewatch the original again because that's how impressive it is.

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