This review may contain spoilers
When the Phone Rings: Don’t Bother Answering.
So I just finished watching this drama.. When the Phone Rings.. and honestly, I’m pretty upset about it! The show started off looking really promising.. it had all the right ingredients like mystery and drama that made me think it was going to be something special. But wow.. I was so wrong.
The whole thing just dragged. A lot of scenes felt like they were only there to stretch the runtime. I kept watching, hoping it’d get better by the end.. but nope.. it didn’t!
What really annoyed me was Saeon not realizing that his own wife was the one calling him.. like, seriously? The clues were so obvious, but they dragged this out forever. It was honestly painful to watch.
And don’t even get me started on Hong Hee Joo.. this girl has the luck of a superhero! She falls off a cliff.. gets into a car accident.. and somehow survives without a single fracture? Just a bit of blood on her forehead, like she bumped into a wall instead of falling off a literal cliff! That scene was laughable lmao. Instead of checking where she fell, everyone’s running around the forest like they’re searching for a lost kite.
The characters? Ugh.. they were just as bad. Baek Eui Yong who’s supposedly running for president, is one of the weakest, most clueless characters I’ve ever seen in a drama. This guy can’t even speak confidently, let alone act like someone who could lead a nation. Then there’s Sim Gyu Jin.. don’t even get me started on her. She had years to plot her revenge and actually succeeded in killing the person responsible for her "child’s death".. but instead of escaping with her kid after she found him and moving on, she decided to kidnap Saeon’s wife. Why?? Saeon didn’t even do anything to her. Also if she wanted revenge so bad, why not go after him directly? Her choices made no sense and just made her whole character feel so forced and unnecessary.
And Hee Joo’s mom? Girl, what was that logic.. “keeping her daughter quiet for her own good”? What kind of twisted parenting is that? It just made me hate her even more, haha.
But the final episode? OMG, the worst part of the whole show. The infamous war zone storyline. Fake Saeon left for a literal war zone because the sunsets reminded him of his wife.. like, let me repeat that: he risked his life for sunsets! As if there aren’t sunsets in safer places, lmao. And then they shoved in this random subplot about Paltima and Izmael (obviously meant to be Palestine and Israel), and it was so out of place.. not to mention super offensive. It turned what could’ve been a decent drama into political propaganda.. Vilifying Palestine in a way that was honestly shocking and disgusting. Just unacceptable.
I was going to give this show a 5.5 before the finale.. but after that last episode, I wanted to give it a zero. Since that’s not possible, I gave it a 1.. and even that feels way too generous.
This show ruined my mood. It’s hands down the worst drama I’ve watched so far in 2024 and early 2025. The whole thing was a mess.. bad storytelling mixed with harmful propaganda. Save yourself the frustration and just skip this one!
The whole thing just dragged. A lot of scenes felt like they were only there to stretch the runtime. I kept watching, hoping it’d get better by the end.. but nope.. it didn’t!
What really annoyed me was Saeon not realizing that his own wife was the one calling him.. like, seriously? The clues were so obvious, but they dragged this out forever. It was honestly painful to watch.
And don’t even get me started on Hong Hee Joo.. this girl has the luck of a superhero! She falls off a cliff.. gets into a car accident.. and somehow survives without a single fracture? Just a bit of blood on her forehead, like she bumped into a wall instead of falling off a literal cliff! That scene was laughable lmao. Instead of checking where she fell, everyone’s running around the forest like they’re searching for a lost kite.
The characters? Ugh.. they were just as bad. Baek Eui Yong who’s supposedly running for president, is one of the weakest, most clueless characters I’ve ever seen in a drama. This guy can’t even speak confidently, let alone act like someone who could lead a nation. Then there’s Sim Gyu Jin.. don’t even get me started on her. She had years to plot her revenge and actually succeeded in killing the person responsible for her "child’s death".. but instead of escaping with her kid after she found him and moving on, she decided to kidnap Saeon’s wife. Why?? Saeon didn’t even do anything to her. Also if she wanted revenge so bad, why not go after him directly? Her choices made no sense and just made her whole character feel so forced and unnecessary.
And Hee Joo’s mom? Girl, what was that logic.. “keeping her daughter quiet for her own good”? What kind of twisted parenting is that? It just made me hate her even more, haha.
But the final episode? OMG, the worst part of the whole show. The infamous war zone storyline. Fake Saeon left for a literal war zone because the sunsets reminded him of his wife.. like, let me repeat that: he risked his life for sunsets! As if there aren’t sunsets in safer places, lmao. And then they shoved in this random subplot about Paltima and Izmael (obviously meant to be Palestine and Israel), and it was so out of place.. not to mention super offensive. It turned what could’ve been a decent drama into political propaganda.. Vilifying Palestine in a way that was honestly shocking and disgusting. Just unacceptable.
I was going to give this show a 5.5 before the finale.. but after that last episode, I wanted to give it a zero. Since that’s not possible, I gave it a 1.. and even that feels way too generous.
This show ruined my mood. It’s hands down the worst drama I’ve watched so far in 2024 and early 2025. The whole thing was a mess.. bad storytelling mixed with harmful propaganda. Save yourself the frustration and just skip this one!
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