Wonderful World

✒Choose: Keep the Bitter Score or Live More °7.8° °VG°

♻ “Everything started with the incident that summer.” What started was a cycle of hurts followed by vengeance between parties on the periphery. Meanwhile, the 🕷 relaxed smugly in the center of the 🕸.

The opening episode is heartbreaking. Eun “Soo” Hyun is a successful writer who is married to a reporter. They have a beautiful son together, but he disappears one afternoon when he is 6, leaving a single shoe on the sidewalk. Emergency crews eventually find him, but he's badly injured from a hit-and-run. He doesn't make it. After the perp's trial in which he's released, and it appears connections and corruption are playing a hand in the leniency he's granted, Soo falls apart. Her husband falls apart. Everything falls apart.

WW is a 2024 release that is rated 86 on AWiki. It is 1 season consisting of 14 60ish-minute episodes. It is painful to watch. I could only handle 1 ep/day. The pressure doesn't start to let up until ep11 or so, when the main characters make a directional change. Like the best among us do, Soo takes her pain and attempts to channel it for good. She sets out to protect other children from suffering like her son did. Before all of that, though, she is compelled to dispose of some trash.

Her reward for taking out the 🗑 is a prison stint. She bonds with another inmate, Jang Hyung Ja. Soo's new friend is in jail because she had set fire to the room where her husband was having an affair and ended up killing several people, including an entire family, save for their 8 year old boy who survived. Jang Hyung Ja elicits Soo's commitment to contact that boy upon her release as it looks like Jang Hyung Ja will never be released: She's dying. She's too ashamed to face the kid anyway. As it turns out, this 8-year-old boy, who is now grown up, is loosely involved with disrupting corrupt men. Meanwhile, Soo's husband has been investigating🔎 connections between the man who caused the accident that killed their son and his corrupt cronies, including judges and politicians.

By the time Soo is released, her husband is on foreign assignment. The one time she accepted his visit during her incarceration was to tell him to leave her be - She had nothing left for him. On the first day of freedom Soo falls asleep on her son's grave and wakes to a young angelic looking man holding an ☂ over her. Does she know how he will factor into her future? Of course not. Right now she's an aimless wanderer. No direction. Nothing to live for. Dead inside. Yet she promised Gunwoo, her son, that she would survive and live a meaningful life. The first order of business is her promise to Jang Hyung Ja to find that boy who survived the fire.

Soo finds her cellie's 8 y/o victim; it's the boy with the umbrella. Otherworldly looking Cha Eun Woo (Rookie Historian-7.6, True Beauty, My ID Is Gangnam Beauty-7.5) portrays Kwon Seon Yul, now fully grown. Soo sees that he's not living a quiet, safe life. He also isn't pleased to get the message she's delivering. He shuns her, but they continue to meet. It's as if strange forces are drawing them together.

To err is human; to forgive, divine. Forgiveness, release, and going on with life is WW's theme. Not only are there huge things to forgive, like the killing of a family member, but also cheating, lying, general indiscretions, and everyday insults are thrown in the path as well. Mistakes are creating roadblocks all over the place. Most of the characters in WW have committed grave blunders and have also been greatly wronged. Once forgiven, a perpetrator may feel release, but the person who benefits most from forgiving is the one who is doing it. It isn't easy (not by any means!) but to hold onto anger, unforgiveness, and bitterness is to rot oneself out from within. It is the opposite of a free life. It is being controlled.

“I won't ask for forgiveness…” we hear that several times. The logic behind the statement is that the wrongdoers feel too much shame to ‘ask for forgiveness‘. So don't. Don't ask to be forgiven. However, a person that has done wrong should apologize - without excuses, qualifiers, demands, or reservations. That is what decency demands. It's what a person of good character and principles does. A mature person will understand that everyone makes mistakes. Learn from them, make it right and move on, burden free. An immature and self-absorbed person will turn an apology into an excuse fest, a look-at-me-I-am-not-so-bad-think-better of-me party. Pathetically, this doesn't work, it only shows poor character, and it doesn't make anyone like you more. Denying one's mistakes and not apologizing is a form of living in denial and lies. One can't face h/h shortcomings because s/he needs to think better of h/h self. That is a contemptible life of delusion. Let your ego go. Nobody else likes your ego; only you do. Let it go. Be free.

😢 Going into ep9 ain't nobody free. All I could think is: ‘What a downer! This show is so sad!’ Just in time (almost too late), there's a plot shift that allows the viewer some breathing room. Things move into the deep end, more evidence comes to light, and not everything is what it had previously appeared to be.

WW is a quality production. The acting, directing, and writing all supplement the show. Kim Nam Joo (Misty) is FL Eun “Soo” Hyun. Kim Kang Woo (Circle) plays Kang Soo Ho, Soo's husband. The intrinsically likable Kang Ae Shim from Bad and Crazy & Be Melodramatic-8.7 plays Jang Hyung Ja.

Kil Hae Yeon (If You Wish Upon Me) is Jung Myung Hee, Soo's mother i/l. This woman excels at playing a supreme b!+ch. I've seen her in Beyond Evil-7.4 & Law School-8. I've also seen her in 2 shows that are like stamps of eachother: In Something in the Rain-8.6 she plays the ultimate narcissistic mother who ruins her family. One Spring Night-7.8 is nearly the same show (same director/writer combo) except it's the father who's a narcissist and Ms Kil is a sweetheart of a mom. Both shows are good, but OSN is like the 2nd, lighter stamp. It doesn't mean much on its own, its value is as a follow-up to the heavier, gut-wrenching Something in the Rain. Regardless, this actress has a powerful presence.

Im Se Mi (Terius Behind Me, When the Weather Is Fine-9) is Han Yoo Ri, Soo's BFF and unofficial sister. Won Mi Kyung (The Hoechun Gate, Great Vocation) plays Oh Go Eun, Soo's mom. I've only seen her in My Unfamiliar Family-7.9, and she's wonderful. The screenwriter is Kim Ji Eun (Lie After Lie) and Lee Seung Young (Voice S2, Special Affairs Team TEN) directed.

The direction is competent with flashes of excellence. The color palette is dark, muted and grey, but the colors in Soo's memories are so vivid! The tempo is steady. The show never rushes and it never drags. Stopping at 14 episodes may have been the smartest thing the director did. Too many shows suffer because they don't have enough content to fill 16-20 episodes competently. The 🎶 is quite good as well. The classic, Gloria Gaynor's I Will Survive, makes an appearance and Imaginary Future & Kina Grannis do a melancholy, jazzy cover of What a Wonderful World.

🌱 Soo is able to find justice, release, and peace by the time the credits roll. This painful show ends up with a positive message that is brilliantly summed up when Soo declares this:
“Let's not live like a bare tree anymore. Let's sprout and live.” Only free people can say and do that.


QUOTES📢

In the middle of life's journey, I got lost and wandered. I've heard no matter how much time passes, losing someone precious to you will always be lonesome. But I will try to keep going. If I keep going, one day the pain will lessen. I hope all those grieving find comfort. I hope the world will be more friendly to those in pain. I hope a beautiful world will come while you overcome your pain.

When you live this long, leaving someone properly is as important as meeting someone.


〰🖍 IMHO

📣7.5 📝8 🎭8.3 🎨7.6 🎵/🔊7 🔚8.3 ▪ 🌞4⚡4.5 😅1 😭5 😱2 😯5 🤢2 🤔6 💤0

Age 14+
Mature subject matter.

Re-📺? Possible but unlikely. It is definitely worth watching once.


In order of ~lite&trite~ to ~heavy&serious~ you may also like:

Modern Day -
A Witch's Love 7.8,
Love to Hate You 8.9,
Touch your heart 8.2,
Law School -8
It's Okay Not To Be Okay 9,
Love Struck in the City 7.3,
Hospital Playlist 9,
My Liberation Diary-8.9,
Anna-8.1,
My Mister 9.5,
Blood Free-8.5
Mother-8.8

Action/Crime/Sci-fi -
K2 8,
Private Lives 8.1,
Why Her?-8,
Tunnel 8.5,
Signal 8.6,
Flower of Evil 8.9,
The Man from Nowhere 8.9,
Squid Game 8.4,
Kingdom 8.3,
Sweet Home 8.4

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Refreshing performance by Eun Woo

I really like the fact that Eun Woo got to act in a drama that is not about teen romance, I feel like people may think he cant act that well just because they always give him similar roles.Here he shows how he s capable of acting outside of the usual "teenager who likes girl" role. I cannot imagine how annoying it must be for him to hear he s handsome all the time and nobody giving him credit for his acting and not his looks, it must be exhausting.
I hope we will be seeing him in more mature roles like this one in the future (i know he also appeard on the island but that show s so bad i cant even count it)

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The Series should've been titled "Serious World" instead of "Wonderful World"

I really wanted to like this drama, but it was just taxing. Finishing this was extremely tedious, and this coming from one of Cha Eunwoo's fans is quite something.
Story: the story was pretty simple, it's pretty much what the synopsis in MDL reads. given that there are not many "events" happening or not many plot twists in every episode, this story tried to bank heavily on the 'emotions' quotient. But that was both its boon and bane. It truly revealed the acting abilities of the actors, all of whom played their characters with such perfection that it was very good to see mature, serious performances like these on screen. But on the other hand, the more the series tried to invest in emotions, the slower it got, and hence, more boring. If there is a pause of a minimum of 20 seconds between one actor's lines and another 20-second pause before the next actor speaks their lines, then you know something is wrong here. And then every crying scene (and there are PLENTY) lasts for a minute at least... its just a bit too much. In the middle of all this slow slow emotion-building exercise, the story gets lost completely, and we are left to watch just people crying. So yeah, in terms of the story, nothing really happens.
Pace: In case I haven't said this enough, this drama is SLOW. It starts off slowly, builds up slowly, but by the 6-7th episode, picks up pace. But then again, he decides to slow things down and it becomes a slow burn again by the 9th episode; episodes 10-12 are painful to watch. I ended up watching the last 2 episodes at 1.5x speed, and they made so much more sense at that speed.
Acting: Really lovely acting by all the actors. This was one of the most understated roles that CEW has ever played. Funnily, its not like he has done anything different in terms of how he acts, but it was more like his brand of acting got cast in a sombre, no-nonsense role, instead of being cast in the same old brooding lover boy role. But either way, it was only the acting of all the actors that made the series watchable.
The OST was quite nice, especially the cover of "What a Wonderful World."

Overall, if you want to watch it because of CEW, you can, but otherwise, not watching it won't be a loss either. If at all you want to watch it, watch it on 1.5x or 2x speed, that's a better alternative. But on an ending note, this drama deserves praise for being quite liberal thinking... full 100 points to showing strong, independent women; grey areas of marital relationships; dicey family relationships; and people who are not completely good or bad. These nuances made the drama quite watchable. If it had been a little faster, it would've been one of the best dramas I've watched this year.

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still thinking about it

huh...so how can i start?
i finished watching the drama today and i just feel empty 😭

first, i was loving Gwon Seon-yul and Eun Soo-hyun, but then hated (not much) Gwon Seon-yul THEN i was disliking BOTH and THEN ENDED UP LOVING THEM SO MUCH. congrats to the scriptwriters for giving us so many plots!

one thing is that i wish they ended up being in a relationship of mom and son 🥺 by the end i noticed that they never hugged each other...really wanted this to happen so muchhhh!!

now the story was, how can i say, not confusing but very complicated. at least everything got connected, even tho it was a bit complicated (can't deny that i liked, i love mysteries)

aaaah, i can't stop talking about Eun Soo-hyun and Gwon Seon-yul...they suffered the whole drama, i was getting crazy cause everything bad was happening to them and their family! 😭
I'm sad that they didn't ended up really close 6 years later, both of them kind of completed each other somehow

focusing on acting, CHA EUNWOO!!! MY BOY PROVED (EVEN THO HE DIDN'T NEED IT TO) HOW HE IS SUCH A GOOD ACTOR!! he was a.m.a.z.i.n.g, can't belive he made me hate (then love) his character. Kim Nam-Joo, wow, her acting is impeccable, never saw her before but now I'm totally gonna follow her work! she made me feel the emotions that Eun Soo-hyun was feeling :(
Kim Kang-wo and Im Se-mi were really good too. I knew Im Se-mi from true beauty and she's wonderful.

ost, soundtrack: 10/10 love it.

just two things that i didn't liked much: i wish they could show how Kim Joon ended up like. what happened to him 6 years after? like, he was the villain, why they didn't show then? plus, i couldn't understand much how Kim Joon's secretary accepted to stay on Gwon Seon-yul side...the explanation was so...poor?

anyways, to finish this review, the protest made me so emotional, it reminded me of a real case from korea. Kim Nam-Joo represented the courage of a mother that never gives up! I definitely won't forget about Eun Soo-hyun and her hard story, she suffered a lot. not only because the death of her son, but also her mother's amnesia, her husband Kang Su-ho betrayal with her sister Han Yoo-ri and all the consequences of her actions (killing Gwon Seon-yul's dad, etc)

i will definitely recommend to someone! now, i need to watch more dramas like Wonderful World 🥺

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Over indulgent writing ruins an otherwise good story

God this is frustrating. From the start of this story I was so invested, it seemed like it was mature, grounded, ballsy and intense. There were so many emotions going through, the tragedy, the drama, and it kept going that way for a while making me think that it was going to be a heavy exploration of its themes, something unique.

Nope! Just throw in a really evil corrupt politician who was actually behind everything and he absolves everyone of their crimes and just allow characters whom were on a collision course to shake hands and just resolve all issues to go for the bad guy!

What a load of absolute rubbish, you can have a happy ending but this is so un-earned it's unbelievable.

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Revenge in slow mo? ;)

I had zero expectations starting this drama. I thought it was a romance between an older woman and cha eun woo ;););) boy was I so wrong!! lol

So it’s basically a revenge drama- a young boy dies and the mother kills the person who did it. But there is so much more layers underneath this onion of a story… I do like all the twists and plots; I do like the storyline and how it unfolded; I do NOT like how the bad guy always seems to win until the very last 20mins of the final episode, then the writers rush through his downfall; I do NOT like all the slow motion scenes, walking here and there, crying, crying and more crying, repeat this and that scene… could have done with a lot lot less of those.

Cha eun woo as a villain!! Well … initially a villain then a great guy. He did well for this drama 👏🏼👏🏼 give him a chance- ep11 showed his true acting skills! Some reviewers are saying the FL is too stiff and robotic- that’s prob because of all the Botox 😅 I liked the husband though- he looks good 😍

All in all pretty well worth the watch. I did forward quite a lot when they talked too slow.. haha.

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Cha Eun Woo's best role so far

In "Wonderful World", Soo Hyun is a famous writer that suddenly loses her son in a car accident. The killer didn't show any remorse and didn't even pay for his crime, Soo Hyun lost her mind and in a moment of rage, kill her son's killer and goes to prison.
When she gets out, Soo Hyun finds out that the person she killed wasn't the real culprit and the truth involves a conspiracy. There's also Seon Yul, who's connected to all of that.

I don't think what Soo Hyun did was wrong. Her son was dead and the culprit wasn't even sorry, all she wanted was an apology and in return, she was humiliated. I think I would do the same thing, it's a human reaction, that man needed to die.
We learn in the following episodes that the man is Seon Yul's father and that he approached Soo Hyun to get his revenge, but let's be honest, there was nothing to but avenged, his father was the wrong one. Even that he was following orders, Seon Yul's father was the person that eventually killed Soo Hyun's son, he was still alive when the car hit him. I understand Seon Yul's motives, when he lost his father, he basically lost everything and he needed someone to blame and that was Soo Hyun.

The drama's message is really beautiful, that we need to learn to forgive and move on, instead of holding on to the pain, because that way, we only hurt ourselves.
The acting is flawless, specially Cha Eun Woo's, he is glowing in a totally different role, something he never did before, since he was focused on romantic comedies.

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