Dabosil

Oh wait, let me answer your questions.
1. Shot at close range and dumped-hmm, well you know K-Dramas lol. No explanation, that is shit. In dramas, as long as there's water below; 99.99 percent the guy doesn't die.
2. About the same face-they don't. Do-Jun has a different face from Hyeon-Woo, but when Hyeon-Woo reincarnated into Do-Jun, to have SJK play the role continuously and for us to have SJK there Do-Jun's face was in the look of Hyeon-Woo as we recognize him that way as a reincarnation (there's an early scene in like the first episode I think where the real Do-Jun looks different in a family portrait). But yeah, they weren't clear on that. That's why in episode 16 everyone doesn't recognize him as Do-Jun, because the Do-Jun they knew didn't look like that; Do-Jun only looked like Hyeon-Woo to us. As someone mentioned, they should have dropped more hints to show Do-Jun actually looks different to other people.
3. I think Hyeon-Woo was present during Do-Jun's accident but was not aware that it WAS Do-Jun (obviously later on he would have known so THAT is a plothole), but during the time he saw the crash he just knew it was the target he was actually supposed to hit, but not aware of who. (Since from ep. 1 he didn't actually know about Do-Jun, and now I'm assuming in order to cover the plothole that he didn't know about Do-Jun/he wouldn't know that it was Do-Jun in a later while; maybe Soonyang covered it up and didn't let anyone know that he died, but now that's a plothole because the world knew that Do-Jun was supposed to be CEO so...
in summary, in that time he didn't know, so that isn't a plothole, but the stuff around it is a plothole so well, still a plothole lol. Hope I made sense.
4. Same, Grandpa for the win, miss him. xo
3.

I agree with that; they could do more explaining especially as viewers usually forget the first few episodes (like that family portrait switcheroo thing). Tinted windows showing different faces would make sense.

Well, I assumed all the scenes we saw of Do-Jun in Do-Jun's time (including ep. 15 newspapers/magazines) were tinted with the face we know of Hyeon-Woo, but not actually his face. I'm more confused about the recognition of the MAN Do-Jun.

For the trial, the witness recognized him as Hyeon-Woo coming to the car I think, so both Do-Jun and the witness recognized him/he had that alcohol thingy so maybe he was just delirious.

No! But it sounds just right up my alley, and it's on Disney+, phew. Thank you!

Ikr; K-Drama ENDING plot twists don't work because they're subverting audience expectations for the sake of subverting and changing the known flow of the drama. It's overall good, and I've learned not to take the ending into account too seriously; or it would be quite a load of bricks dropped. Generic is boring, but doesn't go negative.

Tysm! Honestly, I don't even know my preference; but I will check those two out for sure. Thanks again!

I keep posting comments here but how does no one really remember Do Jun was he was set to become CEO? Like he was all over magazines, newspapers, etc. Even if it was 20 years ago it would be one of those 'things' people shake their heads about and say, 'Ah, you know how Jin Yang-Cheol's grandson died back then?' (I would think). Soonyang can cover all they want, but 20 years isn't like a century; plus Do Jun was recognized.

I know some people were confused about DJ and HW having the same face, but I liked how this drama avoided the trouble of having the audience like the portrayal of different character that are supposed to be the same person and needing to like different actors; plus everyone else just didn't see DJ's face as HWs face, so that SJK could just be the consistent ML. I've seen way too many of those 'face swap' dramas that just don't work with two actors. This case is a bit different, but e.g the show Altered Carbon if anyone has seen it.

So extra +1 props to an otherwise meh ending.

It was really touching, but at the same time, I didn't get it, because I thought the drama was trying to say )through Hyeon-Woo) don't be a loyal dog, esp. to an evil corporation..so is it saying yes, be a loyal dog, for someone like Do-Jun?

I'm def surprised, GOT hit harder for me because that was 8 seasons of commitment lol. But fr maybe it was a haze since I couldn't see anything for most of the last season hahahah

Alright, now idk if this is off-topic but for this tiny while does anyone have K-drama recs? (Other than the current Alchemy of Souls, I'm just not feeling the genre of strong fantasy, romance, intrigue)-looking for lighter stuff that isn't mentally taxing. I feel like that's the sort of drama I want to watch after seeing succession dramas (and speaking of which! succession hahah, oh man). Is there somehow a light drama that isn't focused on romance but still intriguing or is that a high bar?

Hell yep.

I might've been the only one so confused about where exactly it was going to end that I was actually surprised by episode 16 because I was wondering when/if it would jump back to Do-Jun hahah. It really didn't make me squeal or anything close, but I think it kind of generally wrapped up well based on the messed up pacing that really was stretching the business part of it so so so far along, and then they quickly jumped back to Hyeon-Woo in 16. I also never got my slicked back hairstyle + glasses for Do-Jun/Hyeon-Woo; I really wanted to see the '40 year old' difference like all the other aged-up cast but okay nvm.

Mainly, I think one thing that made me feel underwhelmed was that EVEN THOUGH going back to Hyeon-Woo makes sense, they did it here in last episode when we've gotten 14 1/2 episodes of Do-Jun so it's jarring as hell.

I liked the ambiguity of the romance...because I have no idea what they would do lmao, so okay, alright, sure.

Another problem is that we've been watching so much of the Soonyang family members bicker and they're so quickly brushed off in this episode. Granted, there was too MUCH bickering, but as I said the pacing had problems, so it felt strange to have a whole Hyeon-Woo episode. They didn't do enough Do-Jun and Hyeon-Woo interactions throughout the series (as in mirroring each other's skillsets etc, in fact Hyeon-Woo's skills are never even used in Do-Jun's life, nor his knowledge of Soonyang), so they don't feel like a connected being and we don't see them as the same person.

As an addition I would say the 60th birthday scene of Do-Jun's mother's birthday was super obviously expositional; like 20 YEARS after and she sees her (ex-husband, I am presuming) and she cries again, I was expecting the acting of like contained but a sort of raspy sad voice; eh.

But generally, the time loop at least didn't leave too many plotholes and I can see that both have to cycle each other to happen.

Oh and lastly, I only recently figured out that the filter in this show has green turned on high; it has me wondering whether in places like Jin Young Ki's office which is covered fully in marble, whether the marble was actually white or like super pale green. E.g. Jeongsimjae's brick colours...

Okay, generally enjoyable, but I'm left with the feeling of exasperation at all the business stuff in the middle of the series now everything was so quickly wrapped up in the last episode, definitely could be stretched longer. But as far as K-Drama endings go, hey, it isn't terrible. I feel like writers usually write with a brilliant idea and have no idea how things are actually ending but had way too much buildup of a million elements and...oh well, I'm sure the audience won't mind, right?

+someone please tell me (*this is rhetorical) what was the significance of introducing Ye Jun in episode 13/14? They could have just said that Dong Ki and his wife don't have children, and it doesn't change anything. Girl was there for NOTHING. However, I would like to point out that regardless of how oily and annoying Dong Ki is, the actor of Dong Ki's has this amazing tonal quality that sets him apart from other people's voices.

Edit: I forgot, but my current rating now for the OVERALL drama: 8 (this is high for me, I haven't rated any drama 10 yet and to jump 0.5 levels is a tough thing under my criteria, I don't give a shit how inflated MDL's ratings are on an overall scale, srsly most dramas here have ratings on a scale between 8-10, that's two numbers out of 10)

Oh my god I forgot again but I had to mention that this drama has zero memorable music pieces (OSTs); not that it needs it for its genre, so honestly it's fine, but it's something I noticed. I think the title sequence is very generic; still better than mashed-up collages of random shots though. Also nice that the intro wasn't two minutes long.

nonono Memories of the Alhambra was...another level, for sure. Although I'm not satisfied fully, I was expecting way worse here, so funnily enough..I'm content? Thought I'm not sure what the message is exactly other than justice-as in, it feel quite empty still haha.

Oh gosh I was so excited about Knives Out: Glass Onion that I forgot about the latest episode hahaha, probably will watch it with the last episode tmr for a special Christmas treat. Happy Christmas Eve everybody.

I see what you mean; you know what, it would definitely more interesting that way too. I hope it turns out that way; thanks for the deeper interpretation.

I don't think it's 'worth the hype' per se; (I wasn't actually that aware of 'hype', just general popularity), but it's a nice sort of 'male lead is soaring through his business revenge' thing. For some people following the business plot is difficult, but rest assured, even if you don't really get the content of the talks themselves, the steps they're taking are clear. To be mindful, though; This drama isn't romance-focused (actually, it's more like romance is the dipping sauce), and most of it is about the eventual acquisition of a company and the steps to doing that. However, it is also not a workplace drama, so I would summarize it as a melo-business drama? Thinking about it, it's mostly comprised of the male lead is selling and buying shares and investing and the grandpa looking hella intimidating and cool, though they frame it a lot more interestingly than I put it because there's some story to the conglomerate family with bickering and whatnot (so there is also a lot of rich family feuds). Also, although this is a revenge drama, the revenge isn't correlated with action, so don't expect to see the male lead hop on a motorbike and race down the highway to catch some dude. There's emotional justification and backbone to the story, but I would say you have to be invested in his goal. There are some plot holes along the way (as reincarnation dramas do) but this isn't actually on reincarnation the process (the weird whatever fantasy thing that caused it to happen which is just nonexistent here, let's call it a god of justice and move on), but the stuff he does IN his reincarnation. It isn't too far-fetched, so as long as you stay within the loop of drama logic you should be fine. I say all this because I took a look at your watchlist and I think you would potentially like it, but I'm not sure.

Oh man, thanks for reading through, first of all.
And I like your conclusion. I will say though, when looking at this not through Do Jun's eyes, he wasn't really a competent father (and seeing how he treats his wife, he was highly traditional in the sense that their household just went by him completely). However, the grandfather played the character beautifully.
I think one thing that was nice was how the slush fund kind of brought a lot more 'gray area' to Do Jun's arc.

Warning: very long post above, but please do discuss with me!
Edit: Looking back, I have quite a few run-on sentences and unplaced commas so do bear with me..it was sort of just the flow of thought.

Later edited to make more sense

I actually just caught up to the recent three episodes as I didn’t get to them right away over the last weekend. Looking through the comments, I’m quite surprised by people's reactions. The only thing I would relate to is the more negative tone; I was still enthusiastic about this drama last week after the 11th episode aired but after finishing the 14th episode, it dawned on me that there are just two more episodes left and that I don’t have any idea of where this is going. By that, I don't mean it’s the ‘Ooh, where is it going?’ type of reaction, just absolute confusion about the plot direction. Out of these three, I think the 12th episode was pretty good, while the other two were not as good as anticipated. While the plots have still been enjoyable, I’m at a loss with the pacing. There are certain areas I think this drama hasn’t done well, which I will say below.

To get the obvious out of the way, romance. Tbh, by now I really don’t give a shit (and I don’t even mean the romance plot, I mean the discussion over it; it’s so funny to go so deep into it when there are like three scenes in the recent episodes). This isn’t to say the romance couldn’t be improved. Looking at how the romance plot has developed, I prefer an ultimatum: Go all in or out. Some comments suggested that there were a lot of scenes that didn’t make the cut; that’s an absolute shame. HOWEVER, most people don't know the behind-the-scenes stuff and it's also wrong to presume the need for people to understand the circumstances; I judge the show based on what the show looks like. I’m definitely against hate against the actress, which is unfathomable, especially given as the role she plays isn’t much at all, but I think they should have cut out a lot of the 'university scenes' as looking back, there was no impact at all. By 'university scenes', I mean their interactions at school and the coffee shop, etc. I remember that there was a scene where he brought her over to a 'party' and his chauffeur had been spying on them. I assumed that she was going to be in a lot of trouble for being close to Do Jun but that never surfaced. I AM glad it didn't turn out that way because I hate those sorts of plots (and it would contrast greatly with his revenge plot) but that scene went nowhere. Back and forth they trust and don't trust each other to no end or purpose. With these few episodes I can at least understand the prosecutor and art gallery plotline for the female lead to be part of, but can I say I was hella shocked when Do Jun pulled out the ring from his drawer-I did not think they had enough scenes to even justify a (confirmed) relationship. In fact, only then, in my head, was I like, 'Oh, they’re together?!' in that scene. Rather, I can absolutely see how he finds her admirable and how she provides a buffer.to his moral compass, so the scenes where they first meet in the first episode, and the scenes in the prosecutor-related plotlines are okay. This maintains the baseline of admiration and connection to a past world, leaving romance hints for the audience, but doesn’t leave them shocked because of all the absences of romance in between. Finally, with chemistry, chemistry is definitely subjective; however, so-called ‘chemistry’ is like a general agreement of people mostly believing two people have it. There are obviously a bunch of factors to it, which is why it can’t be explicitly defined. Usually, people generally agree on chemistry versus no chemistry as a collective, and some people disagree. (Majority to minority)-where in that case there’s some sort of basis that most people can see and the few cannot see (and this can't be really pinpointed in absolute). For example, people mostly agree that the main leads in 'Crash Landing on You' had explosive chemistry, but I know there are also people who couldn’t see it; that’s fine. Whether or not you see it doesn’t matter; however, I believe romance as a plot is more than chemistry and needs 'plot-understanding', where it makes sense for them to be together in the plot. I’m a firm believer in the fact that good writing can produce at least 'script chemistry' for even two actors with zero chemistry (given a basis for decent acting) because it can be understood. In this case, not only do most see no chemistry; there's also no basis for the relationship. I also think that in this show, romance isn’t necessary. In K-dramas, there are a lot of shows with unnecessary romance lines. It isn't hate against the actor but annoyance at the firm idea of needing a romantic partner who you know won’t contribute much. I love romance as a genre too, but I don’t like it when you can see it as a 'writer's note', as a clear tool. Basically, I want good writing...that’s the basis of the argument. I raised the question in a previous post; Is it necessary to have a female lead to attract audiences? Are female leads correlated with a romantic partner? Perhaps one can be a female lead and not a romantic partner, and that can be encouraged. Additionally, as to getting in people to watch, at least for me, it was not romance that got me to click.

There’s a comment I saw below that said something like ‘Don’t say it should be an all-male cast because that is sexist’. While I disagree with the premise it was arguing against, I also disagree with the statement itself. First, I suppose by 'all' it refers to the main cast. It is true that the main cast of this show is predominantly made of men, especially as the show itself puts women in subservient positions in general. That isn’t really a criticism of the drama, but I did think that the obvious roles of the women (all the wives, the chairman’s wife etc) were just to be there as background characters, because all the there men have wives. Additionally, I thought they were trying to display a certain undertone of traditionalism and conservatism at play? Not sure now as there's no direct symbolism, but anyways, that’s how it flows. The female lead is a prosecutor but we don’t see that she has a huge effect on the story. She serves the role of the prosecutor against the conglomerates but all her efforts are basically stopped by Do Jun at some point, which means she's just there for the ride. Meanwhile, the eldest grandson’s wife is half calculating but I have no idea how her character is supposed to develop towards the end. It seems her thing with Do Jun dropped and I don’t know what the writers are trying to do with her. I think there's a sort of danger in her relationship with her husband and that raises a bit of suspense, but it hasn't gone anywhere at all and her resolve and presence have been absolutely diminished recently. With regards to the chairman's wife, I liked her murder plotline but she wasn’t really developed enough. There were enough hints that she was more than meets the eye but in the end, she got on her knees, had breakdowns, etc, though it was her seemingly calm reserve that made her dangerous-seeming separated her from the rest of her children (who had frequent outbursts). Therefore, objectively looking in, the female characters definitely do not have a huge impact. However, I do think that women need to be the storyline because it would be bland to look at just men sitting around in every scene; that’s essentially the purpose of Rachel, who we know nothing of but brings contrast visually and tonally in scenes. It would be objectively more boring if it was only Mr. Oh and Do jun in every scene at their office. Objectively, this show IS about men making business deals and doing shady corrupt stuff (outside of the reincarnation premise).

This doesn't extend to only female characters; I think there were a lot of sudden revelations dropped which had taken me aback. Suddenly introducing Dong Ki’s daughter to no apparent conclusion, the chairman’s loyal side guy's loyal-or-not -loyal quick plotline, and Do Jun's father breaking his consistently supportive and 'nice father' demeanor seem to be random bombs exploding. I can understand them on the drama level, but looking at it it’s very strange to have this all at once. It isn't that they can't have these scenes, but the fact that they completely deviated from what we expected of them. The difference between this sort of revelation and the 'Oh, this is unexpected' sort of reaction to unveiled mysteries is the fact that these breaks in characters had no previous basis. There has to be better writing or integration into the plot instead of them being side characters you’re suspicious of once in a while. The only one I felt could work was the chairman's side man (I can't remember his name, sorry) having his outburst, because this had parallels to Do Jun's past as a loyal servant. I thought they would touch on that, but it wasn't explored, and that was strange given what we know about Do Jun.

Speaking of sudden revelations, in regard to the plotline I felt that starting from episode 12 there should have been more connections to his reincarnation. Although I never expect them to do any 'fantasy elements', as I am aware that reincarnation is a tool, I realized how surprised I had been by the plot developments. As I mentioned with sudden surprises, though the chairman's wife being behind the car crash is good on paper, it wasn't executed very well. By the end of episode 14, when he opened the safe to find the slush fund information, I realized I felt unfulfilled because it seemed like this key element to his eventual murder in the first episode had landed on him by coincidence (and that throughout he hadn't been actively searching for the reasons. It only dawned on me after episode 14 that I was a bit wary throughout because he wanted to find out who murdered him; but that would take a long time to get to and wasn't some sort of big past murder, simply a command by a person within a very tiny period-as in, it wasn't really something to investigate, or something uninvestigatable up to a certain moment. I think something like actually investigating the meaning of the Micro project Files (we know this already, but looking into the significance of this and that) seems more interesting. There were monologues throughout the episodes of deviations to his known timeline etc which seemed dangerous and leading somewhere, but they don't lead anywhere; Do Jun is absolutely safe in his persona and the only worry for him is his Soonyang quest. Going along the flow of the recent episodes, it felt that they did execute the continuous flow of the business plot well; but then his opening the locker seemed like a rude awakening.

Lastly, I think this show lacks the mystery (suspense) vibe. Going with the aforementioned, he needs to find out who killed him; throughout I was expecting them to scatter clues, but no. There’s also no tension to suspicion about his role or any sort of challenge to his knowledge.

There are also some other plotholes like people in the comments also mentioned that he could help out his family more; I understand the plot limitations because his mother's death is a tool but they could drop hints of him helping behind the scenes; that’s just bad continuity and logic. There’s also a suspension of belief with how Soonyang Motors would actually agree with Do Jun to do a whole ad campaign on Apollo without him having a good justification. In other scenes, he gives okay reasoning but here he had zero reasons at all; On the surface, he gambled with that crazy amount of whatever marketing funds his grandpa gave him, which would make him the same as Dong Ki and his plans with Soonyang card based on (luck from the five elements inside your body superstition).

Thinking about it, I have to say I wish there were more flashbacks or correlations to his previous self. For example, he never used the skills in his past life for his current life (that doesn’t include knowledge of real-life events) etc etc.

If I had to conclude everything above, this is how I would write the 11-14 episodes. I know this would probably deviate from the comic and original web novel I know nothing about, but just for the drama's sake-

Dojun wakes up from his car crash with his grandfather. However, without needing the 'delusions' plotline to flesh grandpa out, grandpa just dies, but only Dojun knows (or maybe everyone knows, but wants to hide it). In which case his funeral will be announced way later. Later on, Dojun finds old footage or things from his side guy which tell him about his grandpa's wish (for example, the will footage is maintained). Let's throw the chairman's wife's plot out of the window. We can maintain the side guy's loyalty plotline but give him more screen time and interactions with Dojun so Dojun can relate to thinking of how much he has served the family and gets nothing, and also remind him about his goal. Meanwhile, Dojun has to investigate the car crash killer. As we will know in episode 16 of this imagined plotline, the car crash killer is the same person who killed Do Jun in the previous life, and then maybe there's some sort of clue to that. Perhaps the Micro Project is also found along the way, but then there would already be some basis for him finding out about his murder, rather than a sudden 'Miss me? I'm THAT file'. The details like Miracle and his stuff with Soonyang I can't say, but that's how I think it would seem to flow more smoothly toward the end.

-
Not to say there aren’t any good points or else I’d be dropping the show. Firstly, I’ve watched so far along now. Secondly, I enjoy the business plot, but as said its current pacing makes it feel like the ending isn't actually nearing when it is, so I expect a rush. I am also invested in Soonyang as a company. I had higher ratings for this drama starting off, but now I just feel like watching an average drama. I don’t think it’ll have a bad ending, but it won't be memorable.

And, I still need the hair-and-glasses-from-his-past life look!

I know this is an ultra-long rant; I really do want to have a discussion, thanks for reading through if you did.