haven't had as much fun with a romcom in a long time
I usually don't write reviews, because most of the times my opinion is already depicted in some way or another.yet, i find this drama/comedy to be highly underrated in comparison and just wondered why. i admit, i edited this review after the final episode, deducting 0.5 points solely for the last episode (chantal_789 does have a point). up until then i still think it's a near 10 for the genre.
i've had my fill of kdramas (check my watchlist), especially comedy romances, which is one of my favourite genres and so enjoyable when done right. but a lot of times i left only somewhat satisfied or even dropped the show altogether, not even bothering with ratings. why? because the experience i'm looking for is something, i can sincerely relate to. as a very average person in a very average life, with it's very unique situations. and i believe it's the same for the majority of the audience. that means, it needs to be a mature, but light hearted enough romance to be comedic at times and to be able to resolve all day life's natural twists and turns without the need to bloat up the story, install extra drama to justify the run time or the extra good looking leads.
this show is exactly that: a very well written, acted and executed romcom on the backdrop of a good-enough crime story with a breeze of magic. and it took me by surprise, how enjoyable it turned out!
why the surprise?
* the matrix for your usual romcom is expected to be quite formualic. and it absolutely is.
* too many genres mashed up (comedy-slash-romance-slash-crime-slash-fantasy)
* the magical aspects of story lines to me are always like wild cards, because often they end up being used to cover for badly written stories or superficial characters
* lastly and strongly, the male lead to me is neither very attractive (not sure, what the people in the comment section mean by him being excused by his good looks...) nor is he depicting a very likeable character. he's definitely not one of my fav actors nor characters to begin with.
yet, as mentioned above: when done the right way, such generic settings or unlikeable characters still allow great romcoms. and here we are!
the comedy aspects are so spot on in so many ways, that this show turns out to be genuinely funny: the usual quirky sound effects are supporting, not disturbing, all the usual over reacting is contained to a matching situation and grounded in character so it's - apart from maybe in the final ep - kind of naturally funny by design and not already annoying or completely unbearable, the comedic awkwardness of the unlikely love interests is backed up by enough sincerity and authenticity, so that resolve easily happens through the context of the situations they find themselves in.
the actors easily stretch that scope of at times awkwardly silly character traits, arriving at the sincerity of their own individual personalities just right on time to ground their act into a human one and the story setting into a believable one. that only works with the right chemistry (although the male lead hides it well :D)
the female leads switching act is absolutely fun to follow. they must've had a blast while filming this!
some people seemed to have a problem with the pacing. i am easily bored and hate waiting for weekly episode releases. stuff that doesn't add up or lacks gets dropped or skipped. the shows where i did neither are 9.5 and up on my list. this one i found spot on and totally loved it like that. because - in all actuality - such a stiff and somewhat slow hearted male character gradually easing up, matched up with a situation like the female lead's one turning her rather outgoing personality all shy-ish and hesitant ('cause who in their right mind would think it'd be fair to drop a 60-year old self with all the consequences on someone they love and would possibly spend the rest of their life with!) - made it all the more believable and resolved the story in a much more natural way than a lot of comparable situations i have seen on screen. so i actually enjoyed the story running in circles at times with so many funny details - like that totally random blue knit sweater with the cat logo in ep 13. gotta love the hint!
the magical aspect is offering a supportive and fun background for some of the comedy related aspects and character development, yet is not misused to cover up unbelievable stretches to make things work. i admit, up until the last few ep i wasn't really sure, what the cat-thing was all about. but neither was the lead on her journey to understand exactly why all this had happened to her. so we kind of were put in her shoes by that, which i also really liked as a detail =^.^=
unless stuff like music or cinematography and such really stands out, i don't even realize it while watching. but in this one the music really matched the whole experience. totally fun use of recurring, very distinct themes.
so, if you're looking for a good one to laugh hard at times, but want the love story to be a believable one, the suspense not to be cheap and you don't mind some groundhog-day magic or that generic mismatch-love-triangle, dig in. and forget, that you have seen this a 1.000 times before. because you haven't :)
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highly underrated!
i hardly give 10s, but this easily tops my top list. because this is one masterfully done show!everything in this show is done on such a nuanced and subtle level, that it was utterly disarming to experience. so much so, that i was left completely in awe of it.
if you liked “call it love” and “the glory”, i definitely recommend this to you in particular. it’s kind of a mixture of both: more eerie and mysterious than the first (back stories are only slowly uncovered and it's also a whos-done-it), less clear-cut revenge, slower and more healing/genuine romance between broken people than the latter.
rarely will you come across a show, where everything - from the story, dialogue, cinematography, the way the scenes are cut, the music (or lack of it) up to the acting - is mend together so masterfully that it can create such a pain drenched, twisted and at times eerie atmosphere only for it to be genuinely saved by the tender grace of two characters. the simple truth, that innocence is not lost but being buried within us and therefore resurrectable, if we are mindful, is uncovered breathtakingly slow. so in my opinion, at it's core, this is a romance.
the trunk depicts - and very elegantly so - the difference between deeply hurting people choosing the untwisted path of wanting to love genuinely and longing for one's own return to innocence over obsession and self destruction. slowly, and only bit by bit, unraveling the consequences of the leads’ choices, light is shed on on how fated relationships can play into one's own healing process if we are conscious enough to recognize and allow them into our life.
i tend to rather dislike how the idea of fated human bonds is used in stories as it is often boiled down to the hollow idea of this one-in-a life-time-match of eternal love, that needs to culminate in a lifetime’s happy marriage to count as such. i don't deny fate. but depictions hardly match my experience of it. this one does.
love in and of itself is eternal by nature. but it's not exclusive or single minded. it just doesn't flow as humans wish. its nature is to be left free so it can flow towards you in it’s own time and way. we can’t control or force it, but despite knowing that, it’s the most common human thing to try bend the will of the one’s closest to us towards what we want. making them stay by our side by whichever means possible, so we’re not lonely, is the first step towards that. much later, tainted by pain, anger and our own history with each other, we are no longer able to see what we once loved in our counter parts. or ourselves. but cynically enough we seem unable to let go, so love would find us again, clinging to that one person beside us. now merely a stand-in, a reminder of the beauty we once found in each other and deep down long for, we choose to sacrifice everything for it, despite knowing it's an illusion.
one massively complex matter to work through! but the trunk manages brilliantly.
it very distinctively shows, where boundaries lie within a loving relationship to be able to keep alive and around what we love within each other. and they apply to any kind of emotional state we are in. orbitting around the fl, an excellently written and acted character, who perfectly balances her strength with vulnerability, it understands exactly where a person ends and another begins and what it needs from one side to the other to keep a relationship in whichever state a healthy one. deeply hurt and despite her own impactful history on relationship/marriage, with the smallest of movements, the least words said, the fl knows exactly how to stay herself in every situation she's placed in, simultaneously creating a surrounding where others are put into place or shown what belonged to them before it was taken from them. to pull this off with a character, that's anything else but perfect, is nothing other than stunning to watch. the stage being cleaned up like that is much different from doing it by trying to control it. hence, the tango - a perfectly matching metaphor.
the development of the show is slow, there’s only a few brawl-ish scenes and there’s no real suspense. so it mainly runs on subtleness. so you do have to like that. but, and in defense: it never ran boring as i have experienced it with other slow-burners.
last, i should mention that for asian standards it should be quite mature in terms of nudity/bed scenes. not so extraordinary for western standards, though. as a western raised watcher i think the physical aspect of a relationship has equal impact as the emotional ones towards the quality of the bond between people and is an important aspect to recognize underlying dynamics of couples - exactly as is shown very excellently by comparison of all couples depicted. so in my eyes it’s a necessity to understand the message carried throughout the story.
masterpiece, no less. so, enjoy!
ps. and one tiny hint towards expectations, because the plot summary is indeed rather misleading: the trunk acts more like a metaphore than as the keeper of the big secret to be revealed. so keep an open mind and you won't feel betrayed!
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dumb story to justify generic fighting scenes
let's keep it short. i really like the first part (shark: the beginning) and gave it a fairly high rating. this sequel though is not worth more time than skimming through it. the acting is up there, but the rest is just dumb and hollow. maybe that's why the former writer/director opted out?if you're into some mean fighting scenes, depending on your favoured style: john wick, nam gi jun, cha tea shik, most awesome ji hyuk or even the k2. all of these run on well choreographed close combat scenes, but also offer an actual story and character depth. if you're here for wi ha joon, save it and go for his jung gi cheol in worst of evil, although also much more gory. if you're into standing-up-against-bullies, rewatching weak hero class in all installments is better time spent. or just man up for digesting d.p.
(re)watch value here is literally 0. but mdl doesn't allow less than 1, so...
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excellent and unique story about time travel and time paradox... BUT
time travel stories are one of my favourite genres and i can confidently say, this one is one of the better ones out there - mindbenders like tenet being the bar. so, if you like the genre, definitely go watch it - even though the ending might need some extra untangling.for this review, i think it is important to point out, that when watching sci-fi or time travel, personally, i don't mind, having to dive a bit into some physics or rewatch certain scenes to be able to check for plot holes or because i didn't get it completely the first time around. so it's kind of part of the fun (discovering plot wholes is not, though ;)) same with this series: (despite it not really tackling the whole theory thing in detail) with some confusion along the way, i did have to rewatch, but it still earns a higher rating on my list. because, from a very unique perspective, grid takes us on a journey to face an underlying, yet easily overlooked, side effect of a reality, where time travel would be an actual thing. and not in a forseeable manner, which speaks for the quality of the approach.
starting out, we follow a time travel time line with a certain goal, that then experiences complications, followed by more time travel. even if kind of formulaic, since well written, executed and acted, that alone makes this already up until ep 8 an enjoyable show, but also not outstanding. so far the story is stylish, consistent, understandable and gripping.
however, meanwhile and without the audience realizing a more unexpected culmination of the show is building up to a turn of events and revelation of the underlying message in the last two episodes.
yes, i did rewatch the last ep a few times to understand the plot fully but do not rate it as a deal breaker in and of itself. yes, it is a really well played surprise. and yes, i think it is crucial to leave the ending open like that to deliver the core of the message. so, generally speaking, story telling wise, well done.
BUT... no, i don't think the audience's confusion in the end is justified as it's not an effect of potential knowledge gaps or creative thinking challenge. or in other words, it doesn't motivate to consciously decipher the message or the scientific grounds. it's simply due to messy execution on creator's side. in addition, when we want to follow through with the show's revelation in all consequences, it kind of opens up a pandora's box. but then it just doesn't. like, the idea is total fun, but the moment the turn of events in the final ep happen - this very second - the story ACTUALLY becomes super unmanageable, since in reality the possibilities explode to, like, a gazillion, in the blink of an eye :) BUT... the creators choose to ignore :/
my take: respect, for the idea, consistency and effort to have given it a good run. it's a well enough ride, to confidently recommend it to genre-savvy fans. even though it does fall too short to be up there with the mindblowing, excellent ones.
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