This review may contain spoilers
It’s not bad but for me one of the most overrated drama in 2024
This drama wasn’t a totally failure for me. The plot twist on EP1 was good, the main couple had a good chemistry together, Yeon Seok (once again) was totally hot and the plot about the kidnapper/villain was entertaining enough. But I just can’t ignore all the cringey scenes, the bad script on some episodes, out of nowhere events and how everything feel apart completely after EP10. When I think about the drama in general, I feel it was kind overrated. But let me talk more about it.For me this drama had a lot of cringe scenes since the beginning and this can make a lot of people give up of watching but I could ignore this thankfully to the main leads great chemistry. But I can’t lie, it was a little too cringe for me at times and I blame the script and the director for this. Speaking of another thing that I blame the script and direction for was the actors' performances.
For me, Yeon Seok delivered a good performance as always, but I found myself totally disappointed with Soobin. I like her as an actress but I think this was one of her worst works. And talking about their characters itself I found both male and female lead annoying and dumb in the beginning. Sa Eon should’ve been more smart actually but he wasn’t. And I expected more for Hee Joo but unfortunately she wasn’t what I thought she would be. Also I found kind funny how Sa Eon said he was in love with Hee Joo since the beginning but treated her like she was a nobody in their own home for 3 years lol and then he changed completely how he acted and started to care for her.
The secondary characters were kind ok. No one totally captivated me but I liked Sang U and Yu ri’s scenes together. Talking about the villain plot, I gotta say that it was kind well done and interesting enough for me, everything was making sense. Sure, the story itself was nothing different from what we usually see in kdramas but it was convincing enough. But gosh what happened with this drama after EP10?
What the hell was the revelation about Sa Eon’s real father? It was so out of nowhere for me and they didn’t explain nothing about it….like, why his real father abandoned him? And his father abandoned him to literally bring him back to be his grandfather later? Like…what? lol This plot twist was forced to me and it seems they did this just so Sa Eon could feel guilty for Hee Joo’s brother accident but why would he feel THAT guilty for something that a father he didn't even know he had did? Ater everything they went through, being away from her for months because of that was completely unnecessary.
In fact, unnecessary and inconsistent were two words that summed up this drama in general for me, especially at episodes 10 to 12. What the hell happened on episode 11 and 12 too? The whole kidnapping scene with Hee Joo on EP11 was inconsistent and this Argan arc on EP12 made no sense at all..the only good thing was the making out scene later lol
So yeah. Since the beginning I saw how popular this drama was and although I wasn’t feeling the same hype as others I thought it still was kind entertaining enough but then after EP10 everything feel apart and when I think about this drama in general I feel like the whole hype is not there for me. It’s not the worse drama of all but the cringy scenes, the inconsistency of scenes and characters, and out of nowhere events made hard for me to give more than a 7.5.
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Watch the episodes before reading this review it's sooooo good!!!
Mahn oh mahn this drama has got me hooked literally hooked!! Infact I am writing this review out of my frustration for waiting for the next episodes. The drama is sooo good it is a perfect mix of romance, suspense,thriller, action and what not...so stop doubting and give it a chance. It's been soo long since I have waited eagerly for each episode of a drama. Each episode ends in a insanely epic cliffhanger which keeps you on your toes for an entire week. The story is finger lickin good it is I think a romance thriller. The chemistry between the leads is literally chemistrifying ;) Yoo Yeon-seoks performance in this drama is soo gooood that I would watch this drama again just for him. The cinematography, the OST, the supporting actors, direction is all upto the mark. So When the phone rings is definitely a very good watch.I thank the korean universe for gifting me this wonderful drama to end the year 2024...
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For me: best K Drama at the moment
Extraordinary, I watched first 6 Episoden, this K Drama did captivate me right from the beginning until now. The music, the atmosphere, the Plot, the scenes and the great chemistry between the leads. Worth watchable, absolutely. So, do yourself a favor and watch it 😉It is about the marriage between a politican and his wife, she doesn‘t speak only with sing language. They live in a cold marriage and both hide their true ferlings. This marriage gets shaken up in the moment, when his wife gets kidnapped. The hidden emotions and secrets arise bit by bit. The Kidnapping Story also contains a lot of secrets, the childhood of both mainleads hold a lot of pain. We get to know them better and better, why both mainleads choosed to burry their feelings and I am stunned, when they begin to show them in captivating scenes.
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This review may contain spoilers
Answer it!
I decided to watch this out of the blue as I heard mostly good things about it and I am glad I did. I don't usually watch thriller or suspense drama tags but I personally found that the storyline evened those scenes out well for a mainly romance watcher like me.I think that the ML and FL had fantastic chemistry and were just generally stellar, they had me pulled into the drama in the first episode. Their love story is very interesting as it was uncovering and realizing a hidden love that they already had for one another (not related to school life or years of separation), I haven't seen a drama focus on a love story like that before so it was very intriguing.
PROS: well as mentioned great chemistry and acting, I liked the OST (Yeon Seok's Say My Name is very pretty), I think it presents strong moral value - love overcomes past mistakes, giving second chances and choosing forgiveness over living in the past. I was never bored, held my attention all the way through.
CONS: I didn't love the ending for the second couple, I felt their love story was too rushed instead of showing a proper love confession and proposal. They were very cute so I was disappointed we didn't get a bit more for them. The most controversial thing I heard before watching this drama was that the last episode was disappointing. I agree it could have been tied up better and was a little unnecessary but I wasn't utterly disappointed in it. Could've been better but I will still take it.
All in all, a striking story and enjoyable watch
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A drama where classic and modern danced eternally in a beautiful and intriguing way
*THIS REVIEW MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS*I ALWAYS LOVE marriage contract & stand-in bride's trope
First of all, i started this without any expectation, i watched the trailer in early November and thought "hmm this is interesting", i mean it's so rare (or maybe none) to have a young presidential spokesman as the main character and a girl who's suffering from selective mutism who works as a sign language interpreter. Both also comes from a prestigious & prominent family (which is again, quite rare). Also, both MC looks so gorgeous, stunning and handsome/beautiful in that trailer so it quickly gets my attention. I wasn't familiar with the ML, apparently he's well known but not as popular other popular actors. I watched Chae Soobin's dramas before (i am not a robot, a piece of your mind & rookie cops) and i quite like her but not much, just enough. I came to know later after watched the trailer that Yoo Yeonseok was in Hospital Playlist (and i haven't watch hosplay at that time yet). Teaser by teaser, trailer by trailer made me excited even more. I can sense a dark romance, wattpad-coded vibes from this drama. And i love it! It's been so long for kdrama to have this kind of vibes (i don't even remember the last kdrama who had this similar vibes).
When episode 1 & 2 aired, i knew my guesses were right. IT'S SOOOO WATTPAD-CODED & HAS A VERY FANFICT FEELS. From the character visualization, the way the director shoots a scene, the chemistry, the sexual tension between the main leads, etc. What makes this drama leaning towards wattpad-coded more is they way YYS & CSB portrayed the characters. See i'm a fool of an arrogant, alpha, dominant, cold, demanding, charismatic, bad boy-kind of male lead, but mostly from what i've read from novel, webnovel, comics, or even some short dramas, made me cringe, not only what the ML said but also the way they acted it's so random and out of place i can't feel the emotion. But here YYS successfully portrayed Baek Sa Eon, just like a live action ver of a character that's coming out straight from webtoon/wattpad without getting cringe. I also shocked by CSB, i always knew she's pretty but here she's elegantly beautiful, fragile yet strong-willed ver of FL that you usually read in webtoon/manga/novel. Both are so suitable for each other, they're sooo good together.
The story itself maybe not new/fresh but since i never watched this kind of romance thriller story, i still find it interesting and arguably very good. I like how it is so fast-paced and has no filler scene, with decent/good character development, and slow burn romance. Some plotholes and mistakes did happen, but i can overlook that as i enjoy how the drama's going and how both the MC took my attention fully. It always has plus minus from a makjang soap opera kind of drama, the writers are trying to sell you something unrealistic that's supposed to be fun and like a guilty pleasure, and i like how the story execution and brilliant performances of the lead actors that elevated the quality of this drama that is filled with cliche and common tropes. I also loved how the romance progression makes perfect sense within the genre we're in and the characters were dealing with and what makes it better is that YYS and CSB have given so much life to our trashy romantic fantasy plots and made it fun. It's like watching the stories you read come to life and in a non-cringey way.
The ending (especially the war part) felt quite random & silly (at least explain why BSE needs to go there TT) but i understand they wanted to make the ending closely like in the novel and they gave us so many sweet moments of BSE HHJ so i forgive the scriptwriter
Overall i'm very satisfied with this drama and this easily in my top 3 favourites drama of all time (i'm a kdrama sucker, i followed kdrama since autumn in my heart era and up until yesterday i'm only obsessed with 4 kdrama : boys before flowers, princess hours, moon lovers scarlet heart ryeo, alchemy of souls, but right now i can easily add when the phone rings as my new obsession)
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we needed this!!
recently, Iwas so disappointing about Kdramas since 1 year the genres are so focused on revenge, blood, politics, slow burn etc.. but than When the phone rings appeared and now I am totally happy again.. I wish the episodes would be 16, not 12.. but 1 sentence is enough to describe; mind blowing, excited and passionate! I am a big fan of male lead.. For him Istarted to watch but to be honest both male lead and female lead are rocking…story is really so interesting, at leats the start point is good.. waiting for more episodes 😍😍
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This review may contain spoilers
Extremely Boring Drama
It was a series that started very well in the first three episodes but gradually lost its pace in the following ones. I fast-forwarded through it to finish, especially since there were so many unnecessary scenes in the final episode that I wished they had ended it at episode 11. Half of the series was filled with the couple’s dream sequences, and there were hardly any substantial scenes. Even though they tried to salvage it with a last minute make love scene, sorry, it didn’t work. The writer wasted a beautiful subject with a trashy script. In the history of K-dramas, I’ve seen less terrible finales than this one, so my rating will be low.Was this review helpful to you?
"The call from 406 to 604 "
If you like arranged marriage, hot couple with 100/100 chemistry and most importantly a male lead who would let the world burn for his wife this show is for you :)Story:
in fact, the story has a cliché
base with some creative points. We've already seen series about two people in love but drifted away because they can't speak their true emotion out and stuck in misunderstanding, but that phone calls were the point and watching how they develop their feelings and relationship through the phone was interesting.
The story also gives the wattpad vibe: hot and cold daddy who is madly in love without showing his true emotion +arranged marriage
Actually it was adopted from a romance novel that turned out into a webtoon and it's obviously have its spice of cliché(but it's worth-watching).
(and god bless the director it's more logical than the novel) I didn't get bored till the last moment.
Talking abt the last episode it can be like two things:
A bonus for us to watch our couple in an action-romance scene that is very hot
a what the hell is happening
(You can choose one of them...
Anyway the ending won't change)
Characters:
YES! finally the male lead we craved for a long time.
Beak sa oun is HUSBAND MATERIAL 10/10. he was madly in love with his wife, protective and possessive. he was caring so much for his wife that it felt so real.
I felt a little hatred when he said that sentence to the kidnapper but later I found no one could really care abt Hee Joo more than him.
Hong Hee Joo showed 2 sides of her character:
the one was the shy, silent and obedient girl
and the other was the fierce Hong Hee joo (Sa Oun's favorite)
she only needed to be loved and her husband's love gave her enough confidence to develop.
The second couple were cute too and wish we could see more of them. (But the first couple were something else)
MR. KANG was MY LOVE. He was one of the cute and wise charachter in this series. A family teacher for Sa Oun and a cutie pie for us ^-^
Chemistry:
The romance really touched my heart. I could really feel the love between them. The look at love was amazing in both.
Kisses were legendary and on another level. If we had any awards to the best kissers it would belongs to Beak Sa Oun and Hong Hee Joo defiantly.
flows:
drama after drama(read it as trauma after trauma) it became JAJINGNA CHINCHA...why you don't let them sitting 10 minutes with peace and without any accident?
romance scenes were less than we expected (the true ones)
if you search for logic specially a logical wrap up it's not for you.
overall:
Come on!
watch it for the attraction.
It's worth-watching for sure.
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SUCO DAS FANFIQUEIRAS KKKKK
gente me ouçam bem: essa história é um lixo do começo ao fim, tudo dela sôa mal, e o problema não é nem uma questão de gosto, eu adoraria que eu fosse só alguém chatão que não curtiu a história, mas não há história, fizeram o bolo jogando tudo que achavam conveniente, se esqueceram de bater a massa, nem se quer untaram a forma direito, deixaram o fogo no alto, e esqueçeram ele ligado. a atuação não é nem de longe ruim, mas você se pega por vários momentos transitando entre estar imerso, e perceber que os atores tão tentando com todas as forças tirar água dessa pedra, o vilão é um lixo, digo no sentido ao pé da letra mesmo, seu único papel é ser ruim, e você consegue ser ruim nesse papél, quanta medíocridade. (a explicação do pq a mina não fala, sôa mais como uma desculpa pro título da história fazer sentido, pra falar a real: essa é uma daquelas obras que realmente parece que o próprio foi escrito antes mesmo de terem ideia do que ia acontecer na trama)fico pensando em como surgiu: gente precisamos criar uma história pra alegrar o coração de mulher carente que só se importa pra cenas que nos sonhos mais sonhados sente que poderia acontecer consigo, precisamos ter uma pitada de mistério, um homem que liga muito pra sua esposa mas não mostra, e uma mulher que gostaria que ele ligasse pra ela, mas não liga, hum... que tal fazer uma história sobre ligações? o nome vai ser quando o telefone toca. são poucas as vezes que eu vi uma narrativa se prender tanto ao título dela, e olha, de fato, faz total sentido, quando o telefone tocar, um personagem aleatório vai cair de berço como um vilão nada com aura, quando o telefone tocar o protagonista vai meter uma de cu doce e abandonar a mulher que ele jura amar sem nem falar com ela, quando o telefone tocar, ela simplesmente depois de uma porrada de tempo sem ter contato com ele, vai possuir magicamente a solução para encontrá-lo, quando o telefone tocar, você vai se lembrar de agora em diante dessa desgraça de drama.
precisam parar de fazer atores bons se unirem pra atuar em porcaria, os coitados precisam do cashê que é alto então por isso se sujeitam a qualquer coisa, mas se conseguirem se esforçar um pouquinho, eu sei que dá pra sair algo bom.
When the phone rings é perfeito pra você assistir de cabeça desligada, pelos atores, (pra falar a real, essa é uma trama que caberia em 1 filme de 2 horas, mas conseguiram alongar pra mais de 12) qualquer pessoa que der 10 pra essa obra, não apenas gostou dela, como também desligou o cérebro completamente, eu não sou ninguém pra julgar o gosto dos outros, mas se tu gosta de lixo, obviamente tu é rato, vivendo pelos bueiros atrás de qualquer migalha de comida mofada, se valorizem gente, tanta coisa boa pra assistir e defender, e vocês perdem seus preciosos tempos lutando pelo idefensável?
when the phone rings é algo que eu diria que precisa ser assistido, só pra que as pessoas percebam o que é um dorama realmente RUIM, tudo fora do ponto, até a cabeça dos seus fãs, repito: se você se arrepender de ter assistido, basta ver as análises positivas da história, só esse entretenimento deve bastar pra pagar a conta. 🤣🤣🤣
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so good so far
I’m only on episode 2 and I’m addicted. the plot and the plot twists are really good. the casting is great Aswell the chemistry is there. I love the plotline romance meets mystery meets action. this popped up on my Netflix and I added it to my watchlist and started watching it last night. it’s great so far and I love it. the acting is great and I personally love romance/action plotlines especially in kdramas. there are 12 episodes in total and I can’t wait to watch all of them. for some reason the setting reminds of penthouse- it could just be me but it gives that vibe.Was this review helpful to you?
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the oppa was hot, but the plot was not
they really need to stop making webtoons into dramas. usually webtoons are more cheesy, ridiculous and brainlessYoo Yeon Seok did a great acting job portraying a toxic cold ml with a "secret soft heart", the fl was plainer than white paper and the overall dramatic events were too cheesy to continue
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