See You in My 19th Life

A mixed up jigsaw puzzle that didn’t quite make a beautiful picture

I had reasonably high hopes of this one after the first episode. The characters were intriguing, the scenario showed promise, the acting was good, the cinematography on point. But all that promise was gradually gambled away by a plot that was so clunky you could hear it grinding.

This was a scenario that could have been so good in better hands but unfortunately there was zero finesse to the unfurling of the mystery. It relied totally on incredible coincidences, cringeworthy conveniences, inexplicable premises and unrealistic actions.

The unfolding of a plot is not about what happens, but how it happens and therein lies the skill. How information is revealed in such a way that characters can discover it credibly/naturally and the viewer can gradually see the bigger picture unfolding. But here, it was like the writer didn’t have the patience (or attention to detail) to complete the jigsaw properly, so cut random pieces to fit the gaps and rammed them home. Leaving characters clinging onto the edges like loose pieces that didn’t quite fit anywhere and blue sky questions sitting in the middle of muddy field explanations. It had all the hallmarks of seat-of-your-pants writing rather than well structured and planned writing.

Too much of it relied on inexplicable premises that I continued to hope would be explained, but never were. The hotel plot in the present was not really tied to the plot in the past or maybe I just missed the point. All this increasingly became the focus of my frustration leaving me very little energy to appreciate the good things, which is a shame because there were some really good things.

One thing the writer did get right (ably assisted by the director and the actors) was a cast of interesting and engaging characters. Both the leads played their parts well and created a believable chemistry. I really liked Ahn Dong Gu as the tsundere Ha Do Yoon. This type is always difficult to make sympathetic and he did very well in revealing the emotional undertow of the character. Also an honourable mention for the child actors, particularly Kim Shi Ah who totally captured the enigmatic aura of the 18th incarnation.

I really enjoyed the cinematography in this show. The clever use of angular sets and monochrome environments was notable and there were some stunning set shots throughout.

So overall, if I hadn’t been so distracted by the plot I would have really liked this show and given it a much better rating. If you’re not going to be affected by that, then go ahead and watch, there’s plenty to enjoy.

What my rating means: 6+ Some aspects of it were OK but it had serious flaws. It will pass the time but you can find something better.

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A waste of a potentially great adaptation

I know with adaptations from well-beloved sources, there is more of a general tendency to recommend seeing them as separate entities, but I think there's a legitimate argument for feeling upset when an adaptation fails to such a degree as this has to me to meet expectations.

I didn't start out with many; I'll admit that I had never heard of the story before this drama came out. I'm not well versed in Webtoons, nor comics in general (Pyramid Game and See You In My 19th Life being the two that I have readat the time of writing this) – but I fell so deeply in love with the concept of somebody remembering all of their past lives, and going back to re-enter into the lives of the people they had left behind – using all of her previous knowledge and confidence to equip her in this endeavour, I found Ban Ji-Eum to be a magnetic protagonist, masterfully portrayed by Shin Hye Sun (whom I'd seen previously in Still 17, and was already a fan of). The ending to the third episode made me weep buckets, and by then – my mind was made: I would read this comic, as a way of tiding me over until the next episodes came along.

I engorged myself on it, binging it easily within the span of a week. I fell even deeper.

Coming back to the drama from the Webtoon was a bit of a shock to the system, but I felt – if anything – even more on-board than before. There were a few pacing issues I noticed; some scenes where it felt like it didn't linger enough for me to feel connected to them, scenes where the ML, Seo-Ha would just... be in the pool. A lot of gruesome (and quite badly triggering to the two people I was watching with, who had both been in serious vehicular accidents – which is something to keep in mind if you're sensitive to crashes even in the slightest) flashbacks. All the same, I was excited for where the story was leading.

Then came the murder plot.

I'll admit, the revelations, and the resolutions of it in the Webtoon didn't feel jaw-dropping to me – but it acted there more like a periphery, and a way to keep the characters together and motivated for long enough to stay close to each other. To me, I didn't feel like the resolution to the murder plot in the Webtoon needed to be stunning – because it lead to everything else I loved about it.

But the drama's version was something else, truly. It felt like, rather than lending itself to the romance plot, leading to answers that were good enough, and that made sense – I feel like it took over, and that the answers didn't give me nearly enough for me to believe in its motivations.

Seo-Ha's mother getting more of the spotlight as another reincarnation who remembers, I feel like was another change that added absolutely nothing to the story. The actress has her own charisma, but I didn't feel like she portrayed a character who had life experience enough to have been married with a kid, and the story behind why she was there was another addition that didn't make a lot of sense to me.

All in all, it felt like a definite downturn at this point. And for me, it didn't pick itself back up – it just kept digging itself into a grave.

One of my favorite plotlines in the entire Webtoon involved a plot turn that came in towards the end, involving Ji-Eum's first life. A lot of pieces that had already been lain down beforehand suddenly fell into place, and made it so that it didn't matter to me I'd already (accidentally) read spoilers, and knew what was coming. I really felt the deep tragedy, and the heartbreak of her past, and it changed the rest of the story in an interesting way for me, that flipped expectations for the reincarnation fantasy romance story-type, and made me love the characters even more.

I should have felt surprised when they dropped that storyline, exchanging it for something so much worse, but at this point, it felt like it was just another disappointment. By connecting the characters in such a flimsy way, it felt like it was leaning right back into the exact anticipated, tired cliches that the Webtoon was trying to avoid. I think the saddest thing is that this was the point of no return for my opinion of the drama – I feel like if they had set it up well, and nailed this one part of the plot – I might have come around to the drama as not being great, but not being so terrible either. Instead, it felt like I was served a kick in the teeth.

I don't normally feel so bad when I feel like a story's gone bad, or it disappoints me somehow. As a writer, I know how hard it is to write – I know there can be a million different expectations to live up to, and how impossible it can feel to live up to every single one – especially when it comes to adaptation, where there are people who will love the original more, no matter what.

But I also feel like it failing at being an adaptation is its own valid critique. When there's already a fully fleshed out story, and there are many people who are just looking for a faithfulness to the essence of the story; the most familiar story beats – I feel like there's less leeway there I'll give to an adaptation that changes it so much, and ends up making a huge mess of it in the process over an original story that makes a mess of itself.

On what I did like: most of all was its potential, but second of all was the strength of the OST. Standouts to me being (from the top of my head): Star by Colde, I'll Embrace Your Past by the lead actor Ahn Bo Hyun, and DOWN (Juicy Juicy) by JO YURI. This side of production, I loved.

I feel like the Seo-Ha that Ahn Bo Hyun played was almost a different character entirely from his more expressive, grumpy shut-in Webtoon counterpart – but I did love to watch the moments where he was completely bewildered and rendered speechless by Ji-Eum's shamelessness, and while I don't feel like he was perhaps the right casting choice for the Webtoon, I feel like he had enough of his own endearing charm he brought to the role to largely not be included in my other, weightier and more substantial grumblings.

The child actors were all outstanding, and they all (I felt) brought something very special and unique to the drama; I've seen a lot of their other projects, too, and there's a lot of incredible skill there already. A lot of the supporting cast, in fact, were very very good. Cha Chung Hwa is always phenomenal, no matter where I see her – and I have my eyes on Ha Yoon Kyung (having already noticed her in Extraordinary Attorney Woo) and Ahn Dong Goo, as the second leads. I feel like they both brought a lot of depth and warmth to their roles while still feeling like their Webtoon characters.

If I were to revise this story myself and offer constructive feedback as a writer, I would've focused more on what the main characters want, and what they might lose. I would've had less accident flashbacks or pool scenes, and focused more on the development of relationships. I would've gotten rid of the "consequences" to knowing, and simplified where it didn't need to be that complicated. The scenes which fleshed out the relationships that Ji-Eum had with people like her niece, her mother, and her sister from a previous life were beautiful additions, and I would have leant a lot more into that.

While I don't feel very encouraged to pick up the future dramas of these writers – I do genuinely hope that they will improve from here. There was something almost magic to me about this drama, and it's always the "almost" that gets me.

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