I was embarrassed that I was enjoying this haha. It's your typical cliché K-drama RomCom just like those from back in the days. I don't fancy this kind of romance anymore like I used to, but it was such a sweet show, I felt like I was a teen again. If you're looking for a light, cheesy romance, then this is a good one, give it a shot.
Yoo teo is actually pretty good, never seen any of his work before and definitely should be seeing more. The drama was alright, a great time passing light drama and it's pretty short. However, it could've been better. I believe the characters could have been written better than this. I think if any show wants to tackle an important and sensitive issue like misogyny, they should do it properly or drop it and it wasn't really done right. Nevertheless, I did enjoy some parts of the drama and the cast did a great job. I'd give it a 5/10.
It's a veryyy long one, i am sorry. but i also included my interpretation of the ending if you're interested. I gave this drama an 8.5 out of 10, however I am not sure if that is the rating it deserves. Does it deserve more? does it deserve less? that is another mystery that this drama left me with. I just felt like I was given a gift, which looked from the outside EXACTLY like the gift I’ve been wanting to receive (10/10), but it isn’t really the one once I opened it…. I was so excited especially in the middle of it where everything started becoming exciting and suspenseful, but then the final episode(S) didn’t give it justice at all.
Why it deserves an 8.5 or above- The setting of the drama, the characters, and the acting was great! you could tell that it is a good quality drama. It just puts you in the mood and by the end of it you feel like you've been on a good long drive. Definitely a dark one at first, but managed to be a lovely one once you grew attached to the characters. The story itself is very interesting, and the sub stories were interesting as well. Why it deserves less- The directing in my opinion did not only confuse the audience, but confused the director as well. Because they kept introducing stuff and making it heavier, there were errors (I am someone who doesn't usually notice errors if they aren't very noticeable) The way they interpreted and closed Min seok and hyun seok ‘s story was not satisfactory at all and did not give justice to the story. If they were to add the fact that hyun seok has been abused by that nurse at the welfare who used to dress him with makeup and call him pretty, then they should’ve linked this to how min seok have been committing crimes in the 2018 or even show us that hyun seok did this as well in front of his brother, for that reason it affected him and impacted the way he kills those girls and not just throw something about his sister and not explain it or tell us the story behind it which honestly did not make sense at all to me.
I hated how the drama had so much more potential, and that they could’ve done a lot more to the story but just ended it with that he was dreaming when he was in a coma, and that he read about these people and those cases prior to his accident, so that’s why he can see those real people in his dreams. Okay, but what about his personal story? His father? His trauma? His repressed memory? This drama wanted to be everything, which is possible, but it needed a better directing for us, the audience to be satisfied with everything they’re giving us.
Anyways, aside from all that, it was a good drama, enjoyable to some extent, and the story is a great one… but in my opinion, it could’ve been better.
MY INTERPREATION OF THE ENDING:
He got into the accident in 2018, and was in a coma where he had a dream in the setting of 1998, influenced by the cold cases he read prior to his accident in 2018. When his peers were fighting with the gang, he got awakened from the coma, which hence stopped dreaming. He found himself in 2018 again, other than the fact that he solved min seok’s case by revealing that hyun seok isn’t dead but alive (which if you think of it, before getting shot, hyun seok was telling him not to trust the man calling him from Seoul, which is his doctor, and that can be because he didn’t want him to wake up from the coma and reveal his identity and catch him) Okay so other than that, he was having a hard time to adapt to his reality after the coma, which is something a lot of patients who have been through the same situation feel as well. He kept feeling that his dream was his reality, and that he needs to get back to it to save his friends. The reason why he did not feel the pain when he was bleeding is because 1) might be due to brain damage 2) He does not think that this is his reality, and he feels that he is more alive in his dreams than in his reality. So, he commits suicide to get to his dreams again in order to save his friends. Once he is there again, he was given a last chance to choose whether he get back home (his reality) or stay in his dreams… He kept feeling that he is happier in 1988. So his doctor gives him the message that “The place where you are happy is your reality” and this is when he chose to give up on his real life in 2018, and just pass away and continue living in his dreams. Signs that showed that he was not happy in 2018: In the first episode, he was shown as an outcast, and someone who has trust issues. He was also shown as a person who was obsessed with evidences. Also they mentioned something about him being a whistle blower. He apparently was not living his best life, and going back to 1988 (coma) made him a lot happier and alive than he was in 2018.
I swear you wrote everything i felt about this drama. I don't have the talent to put my feelings into words, but by just reading your review, i felt satisfied because 1. they're in words 2. someone else feels the same about this drama :') i enjoyed reading, thank you and keep writing reviews ^_^
Glad you are liking it too! I watch this on Kocowa and they do not list the episode count, but asianwiki lists…
Yep and on here its 20 episodes. but i remember it being 16 here, so i think they did extend it by 4 episodes. I also think i am going to love this more towards the end... i have a feeling that they will do a strong major twist.
I am glad that i am not the only one who disliked this drama. I've been watching Korean dramas for like 10 years, and this was the most overrated drama ever. i don't even know how i managed to watch 16 episodes of this. i only rated it 4.5 because of junho's acting.
I came across this movie before. Although it looks interesting, the scoring and some comments put me off. I am actually a big fan of horror movies, but rarely do i find good ones. The rite is one my personal favorites. I dislike almost all of the horror movies produced in America because they focus on jump scares more than the story and the graphics are too cheap for me. but the rite, Exorcism of Emily rose were great ones. I love the feeling of creepiness the movie gives me more than just the jump scares. After reading your review, i decided to watch this since it sound like we have quite similar taste in horror movies.
I won't lie, it has a lot of depressing moments, BUT also tons of beautiful and deep feelings. The emotions are…
Depressing from episode 1 till episode 16. Just stating the truth in here, before anyone starts hating on me. If you're not a big fan of melodramas, then this will be very depressing for you. If you watched innocent man, and you found it depressing, then this is 100x more. i liked innocent man a lot when i watched it, but i didn't like this one. Give it 4 to 5 more episodes, if you're not enjoying it then drop it. Good luck on your midterms ^_^
This guy is a real talent!! he should be more on screen.
He should be appreciated more. not just anyone can pull this kind of character and the crying scenes like he did. (Referring to his character in secret forest)
I am really enjoying this show!
A very smooth and easy watch.
I normally find it hard to like female lead's character in Korean dramas ( since they usually portray her as the stupid, poor, innocent girl), actually it is very rare but in this case i really adore her character the most. Strong, very direct with whatever she wants & likes and extremely cute. Although I've seen her crying a lot during this show and i usually hate it when female lead in a drama cries a lot, but for some reason that didn't annoy me here.
The drama was alright, a great time passing light drama and it's pretty short. However, it could've been better. I believe the characters could have been written better than this. I think if any show wants to tackle an important and sensitive issue like misogyny, they should do it properly or drop it and it wasn't really done right. Nevertheless, I did enjoy some parts of the drama and the cast did a great job. I'd give it a 5/10.
I gave this drama an 8.5 out of 10, however I am not sure if that is the rating it deserves. Does it deserve more? does it deserve less? that is another mystery that this drama left me with.
I just felt like I was given a gift, which looked from the outside EXACTLY like the gift I’ve been wanting to receive (10/10), but it isn’t really the one once I opened it…. I was so excited especially in the middle of it where everything started becoming exciting and suspenseful, but then the final episode(S) didn’t give it justice at all.
Why it deserves an 8.5 or above- The setting of the drama, the characters, and the acting was great! you could tell that it is a good quality drama.
It just puts you in the mood and by the end of it you feel like you've been on a good long drive. Definitely a dark one at first, but managed to be a lovely one once you grew attached to the characters.
The story itself is very interesting, and the sub stories were interesting as well.
Why it deserves less- The directing in my opinion did not only confuse the audience, but confused the director as well. Because they kept introducing stuff and making it heavier, there were errors (I am someone who doesn't usually notice errors if they aren't very noticeable)
The way they interpreted and closed Min seok and hyun seok ‘s story was not satisfactory at all and did not give justice to the story. If they were to add the fact that hyun seok has been abused by that nurse at the welfare who used to dress him with makeup and call him pretty, then they should’ve linked this to how min seok have been committing crimes in the 2018 or even show us that hyun seok did this as well in front of his brother, for that reason it affected him and impacted the way he kills those girls and not just throw something about his sister and not explain it or tell us the story behind it which honestly did not make sense at all to me.
I hated how the drama had so much more potential, and that they could’ve done a lot more to the story but just ended it with that he was dreaming when he was in a coma, and that he read about these people and those cases prior to his accident, so that’s why he can see those real people in his dreams. Okay, but what about his personal story? His father? His trauma? His repressed memory?
This drama wanted to be everything, which is possible, but it needed a better directing for us, the audience to be satisfied with everything they’re giving us.
Anyways, aside from all that, it was a good drama, enjoyable to some extent, and the story is a great one… but in my opinion, it could’ve been better.
MY INTERPREATION OF THE ENDING:
He got into the accident in 2018, and was in a coma where he had a dream in the setting of 1998, influenced by the cold cases he read prior to his accident in 2018. When his peers were fighting with the gang, he got awakened from the coma, which hence stopped dreaming. He found himself in 2018 again, other than the fact that he solved min seok’s case by revealing that hyun seok isn’t dead but alive (which if you think of it, before getting shot, hyun seok was telling him not to trust the man calling him from Seoul, which is his doctor, and that can be because he didn’t want him to wake up from the coma and reveal his identity and catch him)
Okay so other than that, he was having a hard time to adapt to his reality after the coma, which is something a lot of patients who have been through the same situation feel as well. He kept feeling that his dream was his reality, and that he needs to get back to it to save his friends. The reason why he did not feel the pain when he was bleeding is because 1) might be due to brain damage 2) He does not think that this is his reality, and he feels that he is more alive in his dreams than in his reality.
So, he commits suicide to get to his dreams again in order to save his friends.
Once he is there again, he was given a last chance to choose whether he get back home (his reality) or stay in his dreams… He kept feeling that he is happier in 1988. So his doctor gives him the message that “The place where you are happy is your reality” and this is when he chose to give up on his real life in 2018, and just pass away and continue living in his dreams.
Signs that showed that he was not happy in 2018: In the first episode, he was shown as an outcast, and someone who has trust issues. He was also shown as a person who was obsessed with evidences. Also they mentioned something about him being a whistle blower. He apparently was not living his best life, and going back to 1988 (coma) made him a lot happier and alive than he was in 2018.
I also think i am going to love this more towards the end... i have a feeling that they will do a strong major twist.
Anyways i am LOVING it so far!
I am actually a big fan of horror movies, but rarely do i find good ones. The rite is one my personal favorites. I dislike almost all of the horror movies produced in America because they focus on jump scares more than the story and the graphics are too cheap for me. but the rite, Exorcism of Emily rose were great ones.
I love the feeling of creepiness the movie gives me more than just the jump scares.
After reading your review, i decided to watch this since it sound like we have quite similar taste in horror movies.
If you're not a big fan of melodramas, then this will be very depressing for you.
If you watched innocent man, and you found it depressing, then this is 100x more.
i liked innocent man a lot when i watched it, but i didn't like this one.
Give it 4 to 5 more episodes, if you're not enjoying it then drop it.
Good luck on your midterms ^_^
He should be appreciated more. not just anyone can pull this kind of character and the crying scenes like he did. (Referring to his character in secret forest)
A very smooth and easy watch.
I normally find it hard to like female lead's character in Korean dramas ( since they usually portray her as the stupid, poor, innocent girl), actually it is very rare but in this case i really adore her character the most. Strong, very direct with whatever she wants & likes and extremely cute. Although I've seen her crying a lot during this show and i usually hate it when female lead in a drama cries a lot, but for some reason that didn't annoy me here.