demontaerae

i would die for this kind of love story ?

rewatch value 100%

all the characters are well written and quirky in their own typical kdrama way i literally GUFFAWED at each episode and cried hard and loved deeply

soundtrack is BOMB ASF where is the petition for eclipse to be a real kband 🫵🏼

im sol x ryu sunjae is the new romeo & juliet the it couple who would die for each other i stan hard and the actors deserved all the awards praise and recognition from it 💕

i also love men who were written by women and i love wooseok’s portrayal of sunjae. he has his moments of insecurity but he shows sunjae’s bright and dedicated personality very well!! and hyeyoon perfectly encapsulates the essence of sunshine and loyalty through sol 💝

i already can’t wait to watch it and experience it again ☺️

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they really tried

they really tried to make me feel sorry for a rich conglomerate family 😹😹😹😹

soundtrack was top notch 🙂‍↕️
storyline was cray but made sense as a whole in kdrama terms lol but i do feel like they kind of left off the exiled son plot and randomly patched it up in the last ep ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

the ending was beautiful i joked they would do an “up” montage and they lowkey did 😅 i wish they added more to the losing a child plot bc i feel like it would’ve been more powerful in terms of why they were slowly drifting instead of instances here and there to remind us that it happened. losing a brother and losing a child must’ve been hard for haein and i would’ve loved to see the complexity in that, especially since she was also sick herself.

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started out great

love their friendship but i hate how they act like they’ve never kissed a person before when they share those intimate moments JEBAL you are 33…

first half was super good and i enjoyed the drama building up and even the supporting characters’ budding romance with the kid but i took a break for like 4 months bc i didn’t care to finish the last 4 episodes 😅

it just wasn’t giving at a certain point… like the ex-boyfriend coming to take her back was so random and i feel like no one really took her illness that seriously… and the mom losing her memories or whatever HELLO this random ass side plot just to get her and her husband back in love… super random. kind of annoying at times. silly and fun but also wish there was more to it. it seemed like nothing was really important tbh

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predictable and confusing but entertaining

there are definitely parts of this series where it makes no fuckin sense lmaoo but i wanted to add first and foremost: i can’t believe that the gay man died to house a hetero in his body and live his hetero romance im sickkkkkk😭😭😭

the 5 minutes of gay representation eliminated by what happens next and i absolutely don’t think it’s okay 😀 they could’ve made him a straight man why did they erase his identity AND kill his partner 😭

ANYWAY. other than that i predicted pretty much the flow of the story but there were some twists/turns about it. there are some times where it’s not believable bc how the characters act are so out of whack to reality but we have to suspend some belief in order to enjoy our time-traveling shows lol.

i’m sure there were some loopholes but i don’t remember them much now—should’ve wrote them down on the spot.

but i did enjoy this, though not as much as i wanted to. i didn’t really like the turn of events where the girl returns to her own body and completely ignores the fact that she’s a murder target and someone in her school legit got brutally murdered as well—all bc her crush is finally paying attention to her. and i also didn’t like the fact that the male lead turns his back on the girl once he finds out that she’s back to her normal self. they were friends before all this body swapping happened so it’s sad to believe that he would not care about her after the person he had a crush on left her body (sorry i forgot their names already; i’m reviewing a couple weeks after i finished).

i also don’t understand why the brothers would have swapped ?? what is going on with that town!!!! lmfao

overall enjoyable if you don’t mind being confused and annoyed lol

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Great in the beginning but fell short halfway through

This was a decent series in the first three episodes. I saw them setting up the plot for the long run, but due to unfortunate circumstances and casting revisions (therefore slight plot changes?), it didn’t deliver in the end. I am a little over halfway done with the last episode as I write this and I just can’t wait for it to be over with tbh.

I LOVED the casting, the “OG” crew with Mr. Choi and Hyeonju and the two knifers. I believed they were an important part of why I cared about anything in the show - the “found family” trope was strong, especially since it could be traced to one person (Mr. Choi + his ride or dies + his granddaughter, later adding Woojin + Gunwoo). I knew they wouldn’t all survive and I was ready for it, but not in the way it panned out.

The knifers had been in this business for YEARS. They were actively planning on taking down the guy who brought the downfall of their organization years ago. It’s hard to believe they would be so careless as to leave personal items behind to trace their loved ones or look at a busted door alarm and not be super vigilant since you’re in the MIDDLE of an organizational takedown. I knew they’d have to fight, but there’s just no way they’d be ambushed due to these details.

And of course with everything that had happened with Saeron, her scenes were cut
to show her minimally and only up to what was important to the initial plot, but I feel like because of that, it lacked any luster after Mr. Choi died. Her character had a fierce personality and she was learning the ways of that “career path;” it’s hard to believe that she’d let these deaths go so easily and fly off to Rome by herself (not even inviting the 2 main leads who her grandfather wanted to go with after this mission). Her disappearance caused the plot to be lost a little in the overall revenge, especially because she was so important from the get-go. This started with Mr. Choi and even if they got other people involved with him to help bring him the revenge that was deserved, it didn’t make as much impact as if it were Hyeonju who helped end things.

Even the introduction to Mr. Oh’s granddaughter felt like too much replication of the plot (with her wanting to help her grandfather and randomly being a great archer, etc.). It wasn’t the fix that this show needed, and I don’t think anything other than having Hyeonju finish it would have helped in my opinion.

Even the ending where Gunwoo was buddying up with the criminals who pretended to be homeless & stole their IDs was completely out of character. He has a high sense of justice and even if they needed his help to take down the bigger evil, I don’t believe he would be so casually joyful with them because of the things he’d done to the weak/people with disabilities.

The original casting was amazing though; I love Dohwan and watched this for him! I love the camaraderie of Woojin + Gunwoo, the budding of Hyeonju’s character opening up, the knifers’ loyalty and expertise.

The fight scenes were so fun to watch and really well choreographed. I was on the edge of my seat when the knifers had their last fight, and every time the 2 main leads were able to show off their boxing/fighting skills as well.

This series had great potential and it’s so unfortunate that Saeron had to be edited out so much, and that this was her last project fulfilled. Her scenes were powerful and important. I hope since there are talks of a second season, it makes more sense in terms of plot and consistency overall.

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intricate weaving of love becoming selfless

tl;dr i might just kms idk

-`♡´-

i enjoyed the story a lot, i loved how in the end the father that hae jo found was not the one who created him but the one he wanted to see the most even if he is a 시발개새끼, at least he found some closure and so did his pos father 😒

i enjoyed seeing the dynamics and growth of the 3 main cast as well as their increasing fondness for each other and how they reach maturity within themselves thru their adventures and struggles. and how hae jo still had lots of people around him who cared for him and would CARE FOR him like family would.

since the beginning i was dreading any scene with snow LMAO but they did wrap it up nicely given there was only 10 eps. lots was happening but it didn’t feel too rushed and i think the amount of episodes was just right

i also didn’t mind the fact that they didn’t expand on john na’s character LOL the air of mystery was fitting but i need to let y’all know i’m a #greysanatomy girlie so i love him a lil more than yall do 😜

the emotion was so raw and we got to see the perspectives of hae jo’s lover, mother figure, father figure, work partner, rival, and how they ended up making a found family situation which i always personally love to see 🥹

i love how it ended with hae jo’s smile and even though he has regrets and wants more out of life he knows that he’s lived a beautiful life and he’s loved endlessly 😣💕

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had potential but fell flat

loved the main cast!! but there were sooo many characters to hate lmfao the balance among characters that i liked and disliked was not good or i’d have given it a higher rating. i was too annoyed with some characters in every episode to fully enjoy myself

there were also lots of plots happening and i know the point is to show growth and character development but i feel like i didn’t get enough from hyejun and jeongha. i wish we dived into their relarionship more before we showed hyejun getting busy and them distancing from each other. we barely get any indication from either of them that their relationship is being affected by hyejun’s fame/schedule bc neither of them really discuss their issues w each other like a normal couple 😖just a couple sad glances and sighs here and there. a missed call and scenes with haehyo stepping in bc bro is so jobless 😭😭 it’s so frustrating that they don’t talk things out but i might just be biased bc i hate when couples don’t properly communicate w each other lmfao

anyway it was a decent series and i absolutely love the brotherhood of the 3 main male leads. i wish jeongha had more support from women so she could have her own people to lean on without having to be too independent, but i know it’s part of her character. it would’ve been nice to see her open up to her friends too and learning how to count on other people without getting the ick from what her mother has been like

this was my first park bo-gum exposure and i’ll be tuning in to his next projects!! officially a fan now hehe :p

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truly a must watch masterpiece

showing every step, every stage, every process, every moment of grief, every iconic and flop era of a woman’s life is not easy to do but this series created such cohesive and beautiful stories following many women over the course of a few generations and it’s astounding to see the value of a woman’s love and the choices she can, will, won’t, should, and doesn’t make. it showed so many sides of women through adolescence, young adulthood, and beyond. it celebrated the character behind the man and what it takes to be the backbone of your family as well as the sacrifices you make and the ways in which you need to step up. i can’t rave enough about this story and its characters and the twists and turns and the grief OH THE GRIEF!!!!! it’s so beautiful and haunting and so full of life in every turn. just a wonderful story overall. i can’t wait to rewatch it again.

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women with autonomy >>>>

first and foremost thought i wanted to jot down for this review: i love how the women all made their own decisions. no matter right or wrong, this series showed multiple aspects of women in these circumstances with their thoughts, decisions, logic, and ultimately their actions. whether it was a reaction or a preemptive move, it was always the women leading it through. the men were merely a tool, which i thought showed a lot about what this kind of series was about, even if i struggled with it when it came to solving this mess.

as soon as jin became aware of the women’s actions and their plans (or lack thereof), i realized how much i’ve been conditioned to watch a man take over and “save” the day, not giving any thought as to whether the women were capable of completing what they finished, what they’re able to get away with, etc. it would’ve been SO much easier to let jin take the reign, call his men, and clean everything up, but the series challenged us to let the women keep their lead role to drive the plot on their own. jin was there to help them, steer them in the right direction, give his resources, and ultimately give them safety, which was so so important to show that there are men who are more than willing to help women in need.

and i loved that jin acquiesced most of the time, to show that yes he’s capable of much more, without the need of the women to do anything further once he was filled in on what was happening, but he gave them space to do what they thought was right, even if he possibly didn’t agree with it (aka when he let hui-su run out of the hospital to confess—it may have gone better than what ended up happening if he put his foot down and locked them up, took away their autonomy and took care of things on his own). i think this was a very important part of the series that people may even overlook because they want the women to get away with it, to achieve that satisfying justice.

in terms of plot, it was definitely wild. it had that wow factor to reel you in, but it never made the theme of domestic violence any smaller. it highlighted the lengths people would go to on both sides—being the victim and wanting to escape by any means necessary, and seeing the abuse but not wanting to shake the status quo, or to hurt your loved ones who are the abusers.

the misconception that violence should be kept in private was challenged, the sad reality that people do protect abusers was shown, even those who are in positions to challenge it (like being in law enforcement and being a public DV advocate). and i also liked that they showed that there were people in law enforcement who were trying to do right by the victim (jin-young’s partner? or fellow officer idk). there were so many points to this series that i feel like i could write an essay on it 😅

all in all, there were many thought-provoking ideas in here but it never shied away from what was the root: domestic violence is never easy to run from either due to family circumstances (eun-su’s mom staying to keep her family together) or power play (jin-pyo’s family always being aware but never confronting jin-pyo because of their careers/status). society teaches us that we should not interfere with personal affairs, that this is something that just happens to people. but it’s never that. domestic violence doesn’t just happen—it is being done by someone, it is being committed.

i was thoroughly entertained with the story and moved by the characters all the same. the craziness of the events didn’t faze me because there are so many cases of domestic abuse that it could well be just as crazy if not crazier than the stories told in this series. the fact that there were multiple victims of domestic violence in close connection with eun-so in her family life as well as her work life depicts how common it has become—it is EVERYWHERE. i feel like the crazy plot twists just shows how wild it could get if passersby become like eun-su in the beginning and become desensitized whenever they see violence in domestic settings.

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it had so much potential but the plot fell flat

- slow pacing; didn’t care much about what was really happening until halfway through the series when she was remembering her first life; didn’t care for the conglomerate family sabotage subplot
- really only started paying attention when she sought her sister and her mother bc those relationships felt more real to me, especially bc she’s been rejected by family before. i didn’t care so much about her and seoha’s childhood romance which i thought was meh to begin with but i understand they had a special bond bc he was struggling w his family and she was there for him and they ended up being in an accident together, but i didn’t see how or why he was so important to her tbh he seemed like just a kid who wanted her to be a kid but that’s it ig idk
- also thought it was kind of weird they had the child actor juwon have proximity scenes with adult actor seoha but i felt like that could be removed and it wouldn’t hurt the story 😬 i already get it, he’s thinking of her as she was when he lost her. we don’t need the visual lol
- the buildup to remember her first life and the rage that brought on her curse to remember everything did not meet my expectation once she realized it and decided off-screen that she was going to let that go 😕 i don’t expect her to be angry and kill mingi but i thought it deserved a little more theatrics since we spent an entire episode remembering her rage and thirst for revenge.
- so the ending felt flat to me
- i know chowon is supposed to portray the younger sibling but it didn’t seem like she grew or matured from her sister’s death—i would’ve loved to see her character further developed.
- ending was super weird LMAO it didn’t feel natural at all, acting weird around her when it’s their first time meeting oh lord cheesyyyyy but at least they went full circle to the first episode. i thought it was cheesy at the beginning too so that’s that lol ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
- the POTENTIAL for a complete 180 would’ve been like this: if all along it was jieum and mingi who were lovers and he died by seoha’s hands. so she realized too late that she was in love with the enemy and that her true love was waiting for her 😭 i would’ve loved to see that kind of plot lol but i guess this isn’t the style of kdrama for me, but i DO love time travel plots. maybe i wanted a bit more angst regarding her first life and how she’s processing it and what that means moving forward when she decides to let go of not just her current relationships but ALL her past lives. we took too long with the subplot of juwon’s accidental murder which didn’t even end up mattering all that much imo
- even the subplot with the mom from her past life would’ve been more interesting but i feel like they added yeon ok for that circumstance only and she was a pretty useless character overall
- the second lead romance would’ve been cute if it was written better idk i feel it was lacking depth and i didn’t see any chemistry between the two at all
- overall it was a bland kdrama and i wouldn’t recommend it even to anyone who rly loves time travel romances 😞 it just wasn’t satisfying enough to justify watching the full series

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mid ending

i’m sad it ended this way bc it felt like they were trying to close the door once and for all and left a lot of things still up in the air. the baby winning seems like a decent finish but leaves so many unanswered questions. nothing really happens, no one gets caught or punished for what they did on that island so we’re left pretty unsatisfied. no sense of justice except for the “good” guys getting the money, fixing up a motel, or getting word from your long lost daughter. all in all, there was more they could’ve added and a lot of open doors they should’ve given an answer to if the writers wanted. not sure why they chose to go this way 😞 like after all his searching the guy finds his brother and then BAM. he gets a baby and the prize money. that’s it???? ALL HAT WORK? YEARS OF DEVOTED SEARCH. just for that. none of it makes sense imo i was left pretty bored at the end.

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