A Time Called You

Left me dazed and confused

I didn't watch the 2019 Taiwanese version, so the review is based on my take on the Korean version alone.

The drama started out pretty strong. Jeon Yeo Been did a great job portraying two completely different personalities between Jun hee and Min ju. One was outgoing and popular, the other was a miserable introvert. The show also did a good job showing the chemistry between Jun-hee and the two boys and Si Heon's growing love for her. The high school timeline was the most interesting with the most chemistry between the three main characters. The adult timeline was kind of bland with Jun hee and Si Heon/Yeon jun having a much less dynamic relationship. This was the second drama I watched with Ahn Hyo Seop and he did a lot better here than in Lovers of the Red Sky.

While the show had a great start, the writers decided to make the plot more complicated than it should've been. By episode 9, I started losing track of who was who because the timelines kept switching and characters kept flip flopping between bodies. I wasn't sure what the connection between the timelines was either. I assume they were parallel universes with two versions of the same person living in both of them, I guess? But, then how did Si Heon and Yeon Jun meet at the airport if they were from different universes? The show also didn't quite explain the connection between them and how Yeon Jun even ended up falling for Jun hee. Maybe I missed it because I was trying to keep track of all the characters and timeline hopping.

Some plotlines got too extreme and others were kind of forgotten. In-kyu disappeared for several episodes, making his character kind of irrelevant, then appeared again towards the end trying to save Min-ju. The murder/suicide plotline was radically extreme. It would've been better if Min-ju just died in a car accident, instead of by some random obsessive classmate turned serial killer who traveled back in time in a body of his brother to train himself to be a serial killer. This is not to mention that the outcomes kept changing as the story progressed from all the timeline hopping, making it even more confusing.

I didn't quite get the significance of Rowoon's cameo as Tae Ha. Did it mean that Yeon jun was gay and was just starting to confess his feelings for his friend before the accident, and that Jun hee really fell in love with Si Heon and not Yeon jun? The writers spent no effort trying to flesh this nuisance out. And, did Tae Ha die in the accident?

The ending was very sweet and left a lot of questions unanswered. The only couple that made sense was Min ju and In kyu because there was no confusion about who was who. With ML and FL, I am not sure whether Jun hee ended up with Si Heon or Yeon jun. They acted like the same person. I think she met Si Heon at the end because Yeon jun was the one who got into the car accident, became a cripple, and got stabbed to death. Not to mention, he might have been gay.

Overall, the show left me with a lot of unanswered questions and some confusion about Jun hee/Si Heon/Yeon jun romance. On one hand, I liked their love story. It was very touching and bittersweet. On the other, all the timeline and body hopping made me completely lost about who was who.

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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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Could have finished it in less episodes instead of dragging it.

I had great expectations when I started off with this drama. Both the lead characters dazzled with their acting charm in their respective timelines. The plotholes deeply saddened me considering there were chances to write some scenes in a better way.
** Not a spoiler but really wanted In gyu and Min ju to be really use their brains at some point of time.**
While some scenes really were too lengthy and unnecessary, some scenes really touched my heart. Overall a good watch. Ahn Hyoseop was an eye candy in this but most notable was Jeon Yeobeen's double role acting that was marvellous. Kanghoon could have been given more screentime which I am really pissed off as his personality was so kind but storyline for him was shit. I wouldn't watch it again for the story but may rewatch the college dating timeline for it was so good that it will make you feel things.

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if the plot confuses you Just watch the ORIGINAL

Honesty as a fan of original version I can't review this drama without prejudice.
It has been a year after I heard about Korean remake version of Someday or one day. I am excited and looking forward to watching it. But after I finished watching episode 1, I wasn't sure if this was a drama I really wanted to watch.

Of course, in terms of production costs, the Korean version is higher than the original version.
Whether it's the cinematography, the background, the camera angle, everything looks beautiful, but I think it looks like there's too much filtering applied to it and it doesn't look natural.
I know it's normal for Korean dramas to have bright beautiful backgrounds. But I think it doesn't really fit with this drama.

Since it is a remake version so I cannot help but compare to the original version there are many things that I disappointed.

1. Many scenes was cut off
Actually, a lot of scenes at the beginning of this drama show how heartbroken and upset Female lead (Huang Yu Xuan) is after lost her boyfriend in a plane crashed. And why, after two years, she still cannot move on. Some people might think that it was slow and boring scenes but I think it is very important scenes to build up the emotion into the characters.
That's why I didn't feel that emotion from Han Jun-hee.

2. OST
Originally the biggest impact of this drama is OST.
Seo Ji-won's Gather my tears doesn't have strong impact comparing to Wu Bai's Last Dance.

3. Friendship between 3 main characters
Korean version seems to show more of a high school love triangle than a friendship.
Also, they gave less air-screen time for Jung In-gyu so we didn't see the point of view of him that much.

4. The Character's switch
As you know, both the male and female leads must act in different ages and roles.
They have to act in roles between the ages of 10s-40s.
Jeon Yeo-been : Present Han Jun-hee, Young Han Jun-hee, Kwon Min-ju, Han Jun-hee in Kwon Min-ju's body, Kwon Min-ju act like Han Jun-Hee
Ahn Hyo-seop : Nam Si-heon's in Koo Yeon-jun's body, Real Koo Yeon-jun, High School Nam Si-heon, Old Nam Si-heon

But actually I didn't see the difference. Their acting skills aren't bad. But he just doesn't fit the character.

5. The Ending
In my opinion, it's not memorable ending.

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A Time travel story with romance? Depending on where you land.

The time travel piece... HOT MESS! It was so confusing that it became distracting. I went into this series with no expectations, nor had I read the novel or seen the original. With all of that said, this fell flat. Honestly, if I was not a fan of Ahn Hyo Seop, I would have dropped it. There were too many holes within it where you have to 'assume' parts just so the next part could be considered. The ending was open-ended. The 'fix' towards the end tried to close up loose ends and felt rushed. The actors sustained the storyline. However, there were parts of the writing itself that seemed unclear or missed opportunities. Some parts missed the critical thinking and maturity of an adult. The love connection was touch and go. Yet, in the end...Did they really connect? I would ask the same for this series.

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Here for Jeon Yeon Been only :)

If you watch this drama because wanna know how FL saved her late boyfriend by time traveling, you're not gonna find it. FL traveled to the past to save Minju LOL. Both the director and writer are failed to deliver the story. Here is why:

The writer developed the story really well when Jun Hee trapped in Minju's body, but not when Si Heon trapped in Yeon Jun's. Why i wanted it to be developed? Because, when i reached 9th or 10th episode, i was sad knowing that actually, Jun Hee has been loving Si Heon who trapped in Yeon Jun's body all along. That's why, imo, this time travel is also meaningful for Si Heon, not only Jun Hee buttt again, Si Heon's story wasn't really developed by the writer.

There were some parts i wish they developed for instance; I want Si Heon, who just trapped in Yeon Jun's body in 2007, to be as crazy as Jun Hee who always talks about the time travel. I also need their lovey dovey moments during that year to develop, so that when Yeon Jun died in 2022, we as viewer will feel the grief Jun Hee experiences. Why we should feel Junhee's grief as viewer? IMO and from my POV, this time travel is to satisfy JunHee's grief, because she is able to meet someone who resembles her late boyfriend, not because she wanted to prevent her late boyfriend from dying, she's just happy meeting Si Heon who resembles Yeon Jun.

If only the writer focused on Si Heon's time travel and developed the story from Si Heon's POV started from episode 6, i think it would be so much better. Because it's gonna make sense why Yeon Jun and Junhee met in university and then they fell in love, same goes with Junhee, it's gonna make sense to us why Junhee time travel to the past and met Si Heon.. But in the end, the writer makes us think that JunHee did time travel to save Minju, like for what? She's not a part of Junhee's life in the future, she's also not a threat for Junhee's life both in the past and future. Si Heon also never liked Minju in the past. So whyyyyy towards the end of the drama, the writer focused on saving Minju????? Hello, writernim???

==
Let's talk about the cast. When i watched the first episode where Si Heon, In Kyu and Minju were punished for being late. I knew right away they cast the wrong ML :p just my opinion, i have Nam Joo Hyuk in my head the moment i see Si Heon who was so friendly, cheeky and playful. Throughout the drama i was like, oh i wish it's NJH.

AHS is suitable being cold and cool just like Seo Woo Jin on Dr. Romantic (i don't watch Business Proposal, tho). Or i can say, he's kinda failed to be Si Heon, there's still Seo Woo Jin vibe on him. Therefore, as for the character, imo, there seems no contrast between ML and SML. Because SML is portrayed to be quiet and a loner.

What made me staying until the end was only for Jeon Yeon Been. Unfortunately, imho, she still looks too old for a high school student (don't get me wrong, i'm a fan of her). Compare to AHS, which all of sudden NJH popped in my mind, i didn't have any name popped up in my head as to who is better portraying JunHee and MinJu.

Speaking of JYB's acting? 8.5/10. I was in awe on episode 11 or 12 i forgot, when Jun Hee sat in Si Heon study desk, immersed in his drawing and all of sudden it took her back to the future. After few minutes, she traveled back to the past and suddenly stood then hugged Si Heon without saying a word. By the way she walked,I knew right away it was Min Ju, no longer Jun Hee, even with her gesture, she proved how good actress she is. (if you have watched 'till the end, you know which scene i talked about).

==

The director could not bring the best out of the cast (?)

In ATCY mostly i'm not satisfied with Ahn Hyeo Seop acting, he's good on Dr. Romantic 2 and 3, but not here. I know he is supposed to be bubbly and friendly as Si Heon, but still no fun...

Director should be really detailed in directing the actors to be similar to the role they take part in. Until the end of the episode, only Yeon Been is the star, even i watched on Netflix she said there was line she changed so that fit with the circumstance. Showing how immerse she is in her role as both Junhee and Minju. It takes two to tango, not only the director but also the actors who are willing to do more.

Behind the scene of every drama has been my favorite since i'm in kdrama land. Because as a viewer, i learn how the director direct the drama. For instance, when i watched bts of Vincenzo, how the director wasn't satisfied with actors' intonation and gesture, she would told the actors to perfecting certain part.

To conclude, as someone who never watched the original version, this is 7.5/10 from me.

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Im soooo Confused???

Okay so I watched this drama for 1 reason only & of course that reason was bc of Ahn Hyo-seop's beautiful face! I dont nothing bout an original so I cant compare- maybe it wouldve helped me be able to follow the story bc I have no idea what the heck was going on? I think she was able to time travel after listening to a tape inside a walkman and land in another chicks body just bc they looked alike??? Okay so I can somewhat follow that but then they threw in that he also time traveled back into time into the boys body as well??? But they never showed him ever time traveling back??? Somehow he knew it would send her back so he mails the walkman to her in hopes she would go back in time and stop the murders from occurring so they all can live in the future- Han Jun-hee, Koo Yeon-jun, & Si-heon, Min-Ju, & In-gyu...Of course changing the course of the past changes the courses and lives in the future so I get that so how come in the end there was only Jun-hee & Si-heon??? Did the plane crash really happened that took Yeon-Juns life??? My conclusion, I think? is that Yeon-Jun never existed in Jun-hee's future since her entire life wiped away? It wouldve kinda came together more if at the end if Si-heon & Jun-hee introduced themselves on the bus & it took him back to his memory of when he saw her as a little girl when she told yelled her name to him & told him to remember the next time he saw her...I think alot of extra stories & scenes got thrown into this drama that made the story so difficult to follow when it couldve been made clearer by leaving alot of them out. I guess the story is way beyond my intelligence but I do have to admit, none of it took away from Ahn hyo-seop's handsomeness & I totally enjoyed watching him! That was the very best thing bout this drama, hands down!

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Feels like an adaptation

Before I start, I do want to say that I have watched the original Taiwanese drama and it's one of my favorites. There's definitely gonna be some bias there but either way, my review and rating will be more about this drama as an adaptation and less about its source material (how the plot is written, etc.).

In terms of the plot...well it already has my favorite type of time-traveling where everything is a singular timeline, and it has one of the most heart-wrenching twists I'd ever seen. I do feel like sometimes it got a lot more confusing than the original did; they left out some scenes of the characters just hanging out, or having important conversations, and overall just paced it differently because they had one less episode. Either way, I sometimes wondered if I would be more confused if I hadn't had pre-existing knowledge.

As an adaptation, though, it really is just missing some of the beats that the original nailed. I felt like we got a lot less time to watch the characters come to term with their emotions. The grief of Jun-hee, the playful innocence between the trio, and the tension over the attacks...everything just felt...less. I never really felt the stakes, or felt the gut-wrenching bittersweetness of unrequited love and all the pain that comes with it.

This is partly saved by JYB's acting, which is fantastic. But I can't help but feel like we only got to see the tip of her acting chops. The acting of the ML (AHS) was pretty good also, the ML is a lot more "cool" in this one and I absolutely missed the playfulness and the life in the original. Both the leads felt mellowed out as a result of both acting and script. Since this IS an adaptation, that's fine — but I definitely just prefer the character dynamics in the original where we really got to feel how much they enjoyed spending time with each other.

I also think the OST is just okay here. In the original, the cassette song was a core part, but really so were all the other songs as well. In this one, the soundtrack really just doesn't give you the same feeling of nostalgia.

The vibe of nostalgia really is missing from a lot of this show. I think the cinematography was really good, but sometimes the different timelines weren't that clear both visually and atmospherically; I don't think this one captured the feeling of the past and all the longing that comes with it.

Overall, I still do think this was a good adaptation but I think someone going into it fresh might appreciate it more than someone who has watched the T-drama. It is pretty one-to-one, which is a double-edged sword for the following reason:

Still, although a lot of scenes were directly taken from the original, the flow wasn't necessarily done well, landing this drama in an awkward position:
- If someone watched this for the first time, I really think they would enjoy it and my 5.5 should have 0 bearing on it.
- However, if someone WANTED to watch this story but hasn't yet, I would absolutely 100% recommend the original instead.
- And if someone had already watched the original and wanted to see it adapted...this MIGHT be a good watch, but personally I'd still recommend just rewatching the original again.

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12 hours of really, really dull story telling.

It is a very unremarkable story told in a painstakingly slow manner. The characters are not likeable at all, by the end of it I was wishing all of them a gruesome end. The story could have been told in 6 hours since most of the show is just a dull repeat of the same everyday routine which only adds to the story an occasional interesting item.

The show relies mostly on time travel to resolve conflicts, You would think that this would mean clever maneuvers and interesting back and forth but no. The writing is so lazy the writer just decides to add a final single moment out of the blue to fix everything, an act that has no precedence since the characters are all uninteresting and passive. The characters are either defined by their obsession with another character or lack thereof, a complete one-dimensional cast. To top it off, the main characters are not very bright and despite having the power of time travel just dilly-dally around and wait for things to happen to them.

Save your time and pass on this one.

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Character Analyze: Kwon Minju.

I, as a Kwon Minju defender, will never understand the hate Kwon Minju gets.

— PLEASE NOTE THAT THIS IS MY OPINION and my attempt on character analyze of Kwon Minju and other characters. I just want to share about how I feel about the Characters in this drama because I have a lot to talk about. —

THIS CONTAINS HEAVY SPOILERS






TW // MENTION SUICIDE

Let me make it clear, I don't watch the OG. I absolutely LOVE the conception of this drama, I love the conception of time. Fantasy and time traveling are one of my favorites. I get the complexity of this drama, and I will never watch this drama ever again. You could say I have a Love-Hate Relationship with this drama. The time travelling part was confusing at first, but if you pay attention and don't skip any scenes, you'll get there eventually.

I especially love how they potray the characters. Jung Ingyu is my favorite, I love him very dearly. I also love how they added character complexity to Kwon Minju. Yet, some people couldn't understand her. People hated her for how she turned out in the drama.

Let me list some of the reasons I heard WHY Kwon Minju was hated;
1. When Kwon Minju finally took over her OWN BODY back, she pretended to be/acting like Han Junhee so that Nam Siheon likes her.
2. She didn't tell the truth to Nam Siheon that she is Kwon Minju and not Han Junhee.
3. Kwon Minju won't listen to what Han Junhee said to her (It was when Junhee is inside her body and Minju can still hear her)
4. Kwon Minju hates herself.

Now, let me elaborate.

(1) When Han Junhee took over Kwon Minju's body, Minju was trapped inside of her OWN BODY. She couldn't do anything, all she could do is watch everything Junhee does, out of her will. Watching YOUR crush slowly liking someone who is NOT YOU is heartbreaking. The worse part is, Minju witness EVERYTHING. She hears her name being called by her crush, but it was never really directed to her.

Minju is only a teenager. She was overcontrolled by her emotion. Its normal for being irrational at that state. She acted as someone she's NOT for the sake of being liked. Being loved. She saw all the things Junhee does, and Junhee was loved just by being her. While Minju, wasn't. All she wanted was being loved, was that so hard to ask?

Her crush doesn't want her to exist. Her own brother said that the "other version" of her is better. Can you imagine how hurtful it is to hear all those things? No one wants her when she's herself, everyone wants Han Junhee back. The "better" version of her, the fun quirky and bubbly version of her, which is NOT MINJU HERSELF.

(2) I am a huge Nam Siheon hater.
No, he's not a green flag you are all saying. Even if you convince me, no one will ever make me like him.

All the things he said to Kwon Minju was all unecessary. When he realized that Han Junhee is no longer there, he didn't care about Kwon Minju's existence and demanded for Han Junhee to go back. It's the same thing like he's telling Kwon Minju to dissapear because Han Junhee is better, and all Nam Siheon wants is Han Junhee. He was selfish, he didn't care about Kwon Minju and only thinks about Han Junhee.

In this state, even if Kwon Minju told Nam Siheon the truth, would it make it any better? Would anyone still want her because she's back being Kwon Minju? Would it prevent Siheon to say mean things to Minju? No. It doesn't change anything no matter how you think about it. All Minju did was trying to be loved.

(3) Now, if you're in Minju's situation, would you listen to someone who literally stole a part of your life? Minju has the right to be mad, how she acts does make sense. It would be irrational if she does what Junhee says. Afterall, Junhee doesn't understand how Minju feels all this time, all the things she has been through.

When she was back, she wanted to have fun.. All she wanted was friends and have fun.

(4) Before I get those people saying "Minju should've socialize more." or "Minju should atleast try, she doesn't try." or "It's her own fault for feeling like that."

Okay. First of all, Fuck you.

There are many things that we couldn't understand, on why she doesn't try or why she feels the way she feels. She's also broken home. Maybe she did try, Minju wants to be loved, she just doesn't know how. It shows how she acted/pretended to be Junhee. Now that she knows "being" Junhee can lead her to be liked, she did it. She followed everything, she observed how to be Junhee in all those time she's trapped in her own body. She would be crazy to think that people will still like her if she acts like the way she used to, she hates herself that much.

By the way, I love the plot twist being Minju killing herself instead of being killed. It's sad, but it what makes it so great. Also, Jung Ingyu was there and took the blame.

AND SPEAKING OF JUNG INGYU!

I love him so much.

Unlike Nam Siheon and anyone else, Jung Ingyu is the only one who accepted both Kwon Minju and Han Junhee. He even backed down the moment he realize that (both) Junhee/Minju is into Siheon. He still likes Kwon Minju the way she is, and he accepts Han Junhee as a friend. Not to mention that he's the only one who understood why Minju pretended to be Han Junhee, and he didn't make a big problem out of it and go with the flow as how Minju would've want. When Minju was at the edge of killing herself, he tried his best to confront her. He loves her so much that he prioritize Minju's happiness over his, he didn't care if Minju likes Siheon, as long as Minju is happy he would bare with it. His love for Minju genuine, even the moment Minju killed herself, he took the blame and went to jail so that Minju isn't forgotten or just remembered as "someone killed themselves" and sound miserable. That is a BIG sacrifice.

Overall, i gave this a 7/10 just because I hate the ending and I also hate Nam Siheon.

NOT because it ended with Junhee and Siheon. The ending was too bland. They had so much potential to make this drama an angsty one. For them to meet again is too cliché, they could've ended things better.

That is all from me, thank you! ^^

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