This review may contain spoilers
A Whole Convoluted Mess… But Somehow Romantic
I went into When the Phone Rings expecting a tense psychological thriller mixed with romance, and while it definitely had moments that pulled me in emotionally, by the end I felt like the entire drama was one giant convoluted setup just to bring two emotionally repressed people together.
The strongest part of the drama was honestly the emotional tension between the leads. Their relationship carried the show. Watching two people who barely knew each other slowly open up, communicate, and realize how much they actually loved one another was compelling. The chemistry worked, and I think that’s why so many people stayed invested even when the plot started unraveling.
But the writing? Whew.
The drama introduced SO many huge twists:
* illegitimate children
* replacement identities
* corrupt family dynamics
* childhood murders
* basement imprisonment
* revenge plots
* kidnappings
* political power games
…only for the ultimate takeaway to basically be: “we should have communicated better.”
The biggest letdown for me was the antagonist. The show wanted him to feel terrifying and psychologically complex, but the more they explained his backstory, the less sense his motivations made.
We’re told he was a child serial killer who murdered other children from an orphanage while being secretly locked away in a basement (already a wild setup that raises way too many questions). Then his grandfather attempts to kill him by drowning him in a boat… but somehow doesn’t even confirm he’s dead. The caretaker discovers he survived and just lets him go? Go where exactly? Did nobody think maybe a homicidal child should be monitored?
Then years later, after surviving abandonment, attempted murder, and isolation, his entire obsession becomes ruining the life of the replacement grandson.
That’s where the writing lost me.
A true psychopath/revenge-driven villain would logically want revenge on the ENTIRE family system that abused and discarded him — especially the adults responsible. Instead, he hyper-fixates on another traumatized child who literally watched him get drowned and was powerless to stop it. The show tries to frame this as emotional betrayal, but it just didn’t feel believable to me.
And don’t even get me started on how many times this man escaped situations he realistically should not have escaped from. The police and security in this drama were basically decorative.
Also: the female lead got kidnapped SO many times that eventually I started laughing every time it happened. Ma’am. Please. Stay inside. Learn self-defense. Hire security. Something.
The final episodes especially felt messy and overly dramatic for the sake of emotion rather than logic. The war-zone reunion scene had me genuinely laughing because it was filmed like the most romantic thing ever while I was still trying to process how we even got there narratively.
Overall, I think this drama survives mostly because of the emotional connection between the leads. Their chemistry, longing, and eventual honesty with each other gave the story heart. But structurally, the plot became increasingly ridiculous the more you thought about it.
Would I say it was terrible? No.
Was it addictive? Absolutely.
Did it make complete sense? Not even slightly.
Rating: 7/10 — entertaining, emotional, chaotic, and held together almost entirely by romance and vibes.
The strongest part of the drama was honestly the emotional tension between the leads. Their relationship carried the show. Watching two people who barely knew each other slowly open up, communicate, and realize how much they actually loved one another was compelling. The chemistry worked, and I think that’s why so many people stayed invested even when the plot started unraveling.
But the writing? Whew.
The drama introduced SO many huge twists:
* illegitimate children
* replacement identities
* corrupt family dynamics
* childhood murders
* basement imprisonment
* revenge plots
* kidnappings
* political power games
…only for the ultimate takeaway to basically be: “we should have communicated better.”
The biggest letdown for me was the antagonist. The show wanted him to feel terrifying and psychologically complex, but the more they explained his backstory, the less sense his motivations made.
We’re told he was a child serial killer who murdered other children from an orphanage while being secretly locked away in a basement (already a wild setup that raises way too many questions). Then his grandfather attempts to kill him by drowning him in a boat… but somehow doesn’t even confirm he’s dead. The caretaker discovers he survived and just lets him go? Go where exactly? Did nobody think maybe a homicidal child should be monitored?
Then years later, after surviving abandonment, attempted murder, and isolation, his entire obsession becomes ruining the life of the replacement grandson.
That’s where the writing lost me.
A true psychopath/revenge-driven villain would logically want revenge on the ENTIRE family system that abused and discarded him — especially the adults responsible. Instead, he hyper-fixates on another traumatized child who literally watched him get drowned and was powerless to stop it. The show tries to frame this as emotional betrayal, but it just didn’t feel believable to me.
And don’t even get me started on how many times this man escaped situations he realistically should not have escaped from. The police and security in this drama were basically decorative.
Also: the female lead got kidnapped SO many times that eventually I started laughing every time it happened. Ma’am. Please. Stay inside. Learn self-defense. Hire security. Something.
The final episodes especially felt messy and overly dramatic for the sake of emotion rather than logic. The war-zone reunion scene had me genuinely laughing because it was filmed like the most romantic thing ever while I was still trying to process how we even got there narratively.
Overall, I think this drama survives mostly because of the emotional connection between the leads. Their chemistry, longing, and eventual honesty with each other gave the story heart. But structurally, the plot became increasingly ridiculous the more you thought about it.
Would I say it was terrible? No.
Was it addictive? Absolutely.
Did it make complete sense? Not even slightly.
Rating: 7/10 — entertaining, emotional, chaotic, and held together almost entirely by romance and vibes.
Was this review helpful to you?
