Footnoted

I really liked your review and shared the same sentiments! Ultimately, it was a poorly written story, with very undeveloped characters, cliched tropes and random characters with no backstories to them. Alot of overacting as well across the board.

"ut instead they focused more on cliche fanfiction-like romance to make hearts flutter. But at the end of the day, even those heart-fluttery moments didn't really feel real or genuine since there was very little character to feel connected with and I wasn't even emotionally invested in their relationship. The time traveling was confusing at times and didn't really make sense. I wasn't a fan of how they kept switching between time periods and basically "resetting" everything multiple times. It got repetitive very quickly and the push-and-pull with the FL got boring." - yes and yes to all of these!

I couldnt connect to either lead - Sol's character/motivations made no sense and Sunjae was like this paper cutout to project fantasies onto, this sunshiney boy who would do anything for the girl, even die for her. Cheesy, corny dialogues. Nobody like him exists in reality lmao. I couldn't invest in their relationship as there wasn't anything to invest in, there was no depth at all. I have no idea why they liked each other. The show just kept relying on the fanservice and kissing scenes (which is usually a sign the plot is crap) to distract viewers, so many filler scenes which could have been used instead to explain the different threads. Superficial. I got worn out making sense of the constant time travelling.

I came into this thinking I was gonna get a melo story that explored different aspects of youth/cusp of young adulthood. So many things could be talked about, both leads' relationships with their families, navigating young love..Sol's disability and Sunjae's depression were completely swept aside as if it didnt happen. I've been in sunjae's place b4 - training in a sport for years and aiming for the olympics only to have it cut short by injury, it's incredibly devastating and I needed quite a bit of therapy after, but it was completely glossed over and everyone carried on like nothing happened. Oh and I was bothered by their first kiss as well, Sol was clearly drunk and Sunjae knew that and still kissed her and had the gull to act pissed after when she couldnt remb?

Im still puzzled by the popularity of this show but it seems to be within a certain demog

Phewww oh boy I agreed with every single word you wrote. I ranted about all things in this drama - writing, characters, acting, etc under another reviewer's review so I will spare you but I had so much frustration with this drama I dropped it at ep 10 and I can't even tell you what I watched, it was so mediocre and forgettable. The problems I had with it:
- til this day I have no idea why they liked each other. like none. neither had a life and spent their entire existence pining over each other. none of the impt ppl in their lives mattered. both were shallow, immature and superficially written characters and had the most cheesy inane dialogues
- glossing over fl's disability and ml's swimming career literally stopping in its trackas and the depression that followed. i cant even imagine the absolute devastation that comes withlosing ur legs or losing ur entire future sporting career/olympic dreams over an injury (I've experienced the latter and it was one of the worst times in my life, it shattered me and i took years to get over it), but it was all glossed over and never addressed again
- the amt of fanservice/filler scenes. if a drama has way too many unnecessary kissing scenes (and ew at the drunk kissing - gross) you just know it's becos it has a shate plot and is banking on shipping to carry it through. i also found the acting pretty ott and the chemistry quite forced
- unnecessary stupid serial killer plots with no explanation as to why it even had to exist
- a time travel story that had no rules and no explanation as to why the world was set up in such a manner
- useless side characters and completely underdeveloped SML - I thought his character was the most interesting with alot of potential, and the actor was very charming but was constantly sidelined for the main couple.

I came into this thinking I'd be served Someday or One Day 2024 version (best timetravel romance ever hands down) with lots of discussions around mental health, navigating youth/friendships/being on the cusp of young adulthood/navigating dif careers... but got this.. bland, illogical mediocre drama instead. Boggles my mind that this is even remotely popular anywhere

Totally agree.. and I laughed at ur mention of the writer forgetting to come back LOL! And yeah.. kdramas have taken a complete nosedive in terms of quality.. there has been nothing for months that I've liked and 2024 has been the worst so far =/ that something so low quality and bad like this can be so popular says alot

Agreed - not sure how everone thought these 2 looked okay in high school uniforms, they didnt, esp him. they looked like they were cosplaying. most fans of this drama are just shippers who self-insert into the character of sol and worship the ml

Agree wholeheartedly. MDL has sadly alot of really bad dramas rated above 7. This drama wasn't even a 7 for me.. prob near 4 or 5. I wrote essays underneath another comment but i totally agree... the plot was terrible. I literally dont unds why sunjae liked her, his depression/her disability was glossed over, what was the killer's purpose except to be a literal wedge between them, why were the timelines so confusing.. ugh i could go on. absolutely bad character development in every single character including the leads, especially the leads since tehre was so many scenes of them. both were shallow characters/shallow ppl (I literally dont understand why these 2 ppl like each other so much), very bad dialogue. Could go on all day...

Haha I will think about it! I'm starting to see the critiques coming out more in the review section, may add to it too.
It was lovely chatting with you too, see ya ard! 😊❤️

Wait ppl said they cried in LR? 🤣 i didnt cry at all lol. Im ok with ppl watching fluff and admitting that it’s just fluff and not good. LR was like that too for me when i decided to watch it..But it's when ppl watch sth juvenile/of not great quality and act like it's a masterpiece just to justify the fact they watched sth fluffy.. like.. so many fans of dramas with this kinda genres are so mentally fragile they cant even admit to that. And see any sort of critique as hate against them personally. It’s…Very weirddd...I’d only be behaving like that if I were the production company/cast/crew. I actually avoid things on tiktok n ig so I dont have to see their posts.. now those make me frustrated and sad lmao

Yeah..bws has a chance to improve, cos he has from when I saw him on Joseon – that was dreadful. I think he’s serviceable for this drama, just not that great and certainly not amazing like his self-insert fangirls make him out to be. Yeah… the directing was very heavy handed and even both KHY and BWS have admitted separately to the director really choreographing scenes for them v well. He was very involved, kudos to him. Cos I do like directors that have a clear vision, but in this case it’s also cause of the weak acting for some actors.

Ooo same! I absolutely dislike and abhor shipping 2 actors who are real-life human beings with their own private lives, thoughts, loves, sexuality. But this alwaysss happens in kdrama-land (and which is why fandoms are so tiring to be in). Shipping characters are ok and I totally agree it’s very unusual for costars to date and then marry. There are sooo many costar pairings and only what less then 10? 5? Go to the altar. The majority are just mere colleagues/maybe friends, some of them may not even like each other and that’s okay. Their acting in a drama + promos is literally just what a % of their entire life, and it’s just a job. Do these shippers even stop to think that actors could be in serious relationships with someone else alr they have to reveal? Ugh shipping is so annoying. And shippers for LR are always in posts commenting on “oo is he talking abt KHY?!?!” when dude is referring to some general thing.
Oh I agree – kactors in particular I find lean into the shipping/parasocial rlshp and really play it up but.. yeah I see through it as well. BWS tends to do a lot of this actually, he was like that with his previous female costars as well, esp kim yoo jung but he does it pretty often here. When he’s himself like with hyeri hes actually pretty chill and normal. And in one recent interview when he was asked abt it, he was like “yeahh that’s good that ppl think we are dating aint it, I see it like ppl wanting sol-sunjae to date.” So yeah.. he definitely knows what he’s doing. Won’t be surprised the production/his agency has told him to act in this way to bring in more fans… yeah I tink he could also pretty wrapped up in his character but KHY – bless her, shes one of the most honest actresses I’ve seen out there and very clear about drawing boundaries, because other k-actresses tend to play along. She’s like nah hes like a brother/comrade to me, and I was very surprised she has given interviews saying that it’s not that her new agency doing their job, but shes not getting invited to programmes or getting much scripts (bws has like idk 100-200) =( it just made me feel very sad for her.. cos after EY she was also on running man saying she was unemployed n not getting much offers =( it’s so unfair with the better acting skills isn’t getting “Rewarded” with more work..

Yeah that’s what the production kept saying… that the writer had KHY in mind when writing the webtoon – idk if it’s mediaplaying – but I totally agree with u that it made no an iota of difference to me =/ the role was a stepdown from her snowdrop and sky castle roles. I did start to dislike bws too (besides the fanservicing) tho I know it’s not entirely his fault, at the same time excited to see the trajectory of her career as she’s joined an agency with solid big name actors.

Thanks for allowing me to comment here! ❤ Maybe I should do a standalone review idk but I don’t think the larger review section is actually “safe” and I have to be blocking ppl left and right 😆

Omg! I had the exact same sentiments watching this show, it felt exactly like WWWSK, including the fan hype/unhinged shipping that both dramas attract. It's very telling a drama is not great when:
- fans cant critique the drama at all or stand anyone doing so. they are just focused on shipping the 2 actors and praying they date in real life. 2 human beings with their own personal lives outside of acting in a drama, who more than likely are just normal colleagues with nothing much in common as people. Exactly the same with LR when it's quite obvious both dont know much about each other means they dont talk about alot of personal stuff and both are pretty awkward when not playing into the fanservice (and even when doing so, esp khy)
- The main couple's "chemistry" or "visuals" is the main focus of the drama. WWWSK at least had both or at least the visuals, but sorry LR had neither for me.
- the relationship of the main couple is 90% of the drama and behind the scenes clips focus
- there is absolutely no plot and lazy writing, hence they have to use the 2 points above to cover that up. I totally agree in that a good drama has the plot carrying it and not 2 actors with the director giving so much of instructions behind the scenes like this director did. He might as well have been sunjae with the amt of instructions he was giving bws.

the time travel plot made no sense after awhile, nobody can tell me why the serial killer is there or what he wants, sol is disabled and not talked about ever after again like it never existed. sunjae swam for like 4 episodes, injured his shoulder and it was never brought up again either. until now i still have no idea why he liked her - cos of her blindingly yellow umbrella? and yes of cos the trope of the ML crushing on the FL lead anyway had to bebrought in, lazyyy af writing. also the writer needs to be so fr, nobody is pining after a girl from HS for 15 years who in the OG timeline completely ignored him. Especially not a singer surrounded by many frankly more attractive and interesting women all those 15 years. how is this even a hit is beyond me. the quality of kdramas have really taken a nosedive that something like this can be remotely popular.

Directing: Ok Can I say this.. I’m not sure if ppl noticed in the behind the scenes. The directing was IMPECCABLE. Super detailed directing in a kdrama that I have yet to see in a long time. I truly think the director was the key to all the “chemistry” and the acting – esp from BWS as I don’t believe he’s a good actor (see below). Director was giving all sorts of directions for how to approach the scene, how one should look, the exact actions, where to put hands, where the head should go, the choreography etc. everything! He would usually execute sunjae’s movements in particular, so it’s rather telling. KHY is usually more involved and would give her own suggestions/take. A good actor imo doesn’t need a director to be so exact/specific in the execution of a scene, and this is why I don’t think this will be repeated anytime soon for bws, cos he hasn’t performed that well with previous directors who don’t direct/instruct so much. This director deserves an award fr.

KHY: I actually have no idea why she took this role =/ It’s almost a repeat of her role in EY. I don’t understand actors/actresses who are near 30/over 30 (same for bws) and are still okay playing highschool roles, like..? I think she’s a very talented actress actually but in both EY and LR she hard carried the show only for the male actors to become even more famous/popular than her, you’d think she/her company would have gotten a clue. It happened in EY with Rowoon, LJW and heck even one-expression-only kim young dae having better careers than her, and it’s happening now with bws. I’d have to say without her driving the chemistry and hardcarrying the acting, bws wouldn’t even be able to give the performance he did. She needs to move away from juvenile roles like that and take on more serious/”adult” roles. She will constantly be overshadowed in these kinda dramas.

BWS: Hmm where do I begin.. okay he seems a nice guy offscreen, how much of it is real or not nobody knows. But.. wow did he really hit his lucky stars with this one – especially with the director and in KHY, cos I don’t think he’s a good actor at all =/ I’ve actually watched a lot of his previous work for other ppl – Namsoon, soulmate, record of youth, 20th century.. and he was bland in every one of them or managed to stand out cos the other males were bad (20th century). Even his villain character in namsoon wasn’t that enticing. I first saw him in Joseon dating crew and he was TERRIBLE in there, horribad. The ugly wig didn’t help and I actively avoided seeing his stuff after. I kinda understand why he was cut in a lot of auditions before. Some of his expressions in LR were abit off and tbh whilst he may be enjoying all these fanfare and popularity now.. Idk I don’t feel it will last long and tbh it will only be detrimental to him when he tries to be taken seriously as an actor down the road. No actor worth their salt wants rabid kpop fangirls following their career everywhere and shipping them with ex costars. A lot of ppl I suspect are also projecting sunjae 100% onto him, so sunjae=bws. I don’t admire him cos just one slightly wrong move and his fangirls will turn their backs on him. He’s also ageing out of the youth romance type of genre – he looked abit too mature in quite a lot of the LR high school scenes – and needs to try his hand at other stuff. No matter what he picks next I feel it’s gonna be a disappointment cos I’m not sure he’s gonna get such a good director again, and his acting cant really elevate the script or character.

Phew loads of things off my chest!! Happy that I could critique this drama somewhere safe!! I hope u are having a great day wherever you are and happy to discuss and dissect all these more if u are open to it :D

Hey there! OMG. I loveddd your review!! Gosh I’ve been looking for someone, anyone who feels the same way I do about the absolute disappointment that this drama is and found your review. Was nodding throughout! I will stan you anyday over sunjae!! I loved how you put together everything so eloquently and even replied the rude haters so politely and elegantly. Thanks for putting your thoughts out there, I loved reading all of it and your replies :D

Overall I found this to be a bad drama, incredibly overrated and overhyped. I was intrigued in the first 2-3 eps and after awhile it was just repeating itself over and over. It’s so forgettable I’m actually having a hard time recalling the scenes to write this… how did kdramas become so mediocre and bad that these sort of things are popular? I truly don’t get it.

Could I just let things off my chest? I have got a lot of feels pls bear with me!!

Target Audience: The plot of this drama sadly attracted the most rabid type of kpop like delusional fangirls and twitter stans. No offense, 99% of them are girls in their teens/20s who don’t seem to have dated before/socially awkward, and married older kpop stans who probably feel empty in their relationships and watch kdramas and fantasise about kdrama men. This is why the discourse on social media and the comments all sound rabid, unhinged and absolutely delusional. It’s also why shipping is such a big thing for this drama. It’s honestly to me, not a good sign when a drama attracts this sort of fans. And they keep defending the low ratings, like duh it’s low cos which normally adjusted adult in the genpop with a fulfilling meaningful very busy life will go crazy over this kinda drama?

Plot and writing: I absolutely agreed with all your points on the plot. There was literally nothing going on here and it could be done in 8 to 10 eps, 12 max. I initially thought it was 12 and was shocked to see it was 16. I dropped it at 8. Another hint the plot is crap is the number of kissing scenes put in here. Whenever a kdrama focuses on the main couple and keeps talking about the “chemistry” and the kissing/bed scenes whatever, you know it’s because the plot is a steaming plate of shate, that’s why they have to resort to this tactic to keep a certain kind of TA’s attention. It was giving WWWSK throughout. There were so many kissing scenes, many of which I felt were completely unnecessary – only the pool one in ep3 and the one in her house I felt were relevant – and forced filler fanservice scenes that did nothing to enhance anything about the storyline. Oh and i have to add that I wasnt comfy at all with the drunk kissing or kissing when she wasnt in a great emtional state, the one at the pool made me feel really uncomfortable and im disturbed that ppl are glossing over it and not bringing it up.

The plot had so many holes and the timelines made no sense. I was so confused after awhile, the writer did so badly building the rules in her fantasy world and it was never properly explained to the audience. Like why does sol’s watch move back an hour each time? What is grandma hiding? And pls, why did sunjae remember everything all of a sudden?? Like…what?? Also the killer plotline, cliched af and so absolutely unnecessary and was literally served as the only “conflict” between the leads – lame af. Also I have no idea why does sunjae like sol? Love at first sight? Sorry theres nothing about her personality or visuals that gives love at first sight. He acts so coldly towards her then suddenly it’s revealed he has a crush on her all along!! Wow!! So romantic!! It was never clearly explained why he was into Sol.. cos she gave him sweets and was holding a yellow umbrella? Wtf? So freaking dumb and incredibly lazy writing from the writer. The second ML was completely wasted like what was his purpose even? And the side chracters – the bro and best friend.. plssss why are they even in the story?

The entire plot is so bad and the writing so juvenile, it’s like reading bad wattpad fanfics. There are wayyy better written fanfics than this as well, come on. How did TvN even pick up this up? It’s the worst fantasy/time travelling drama ive seen to date. Even memories of Alhambra was soo much more engaging than this.

Visuals: Yes I agree that some of the cinematography was beautiful and pretty dreamy. But on the visuals of the cast.. ok I’m probs in the minority but sorry to say, I don’t find either lead attractive =/ The choice of leads, combined with the picks for the rest of the younger cast, the storyline and the fact that TvN did minimal promos for it gives B-list/C-llist low budget drama =/ A lot of fans are hyping up both their looks now because of the massive projection from the characters but sorry I don’t see it at all. Quite a lot of the styling – clothes, hairstyles - in some scenes also didn’t look good/looked sloppy on both of them.

Characters: Focusing on both leads. Sol – was absolutely terribly written. What 34 year old behaves like that? She’s impulsive, has no plans for anything, rushes around, gets into trouble allll the time and seems to spend all her time with this guy, pathetic. I didn’t like KHY’s portrayal of sol tbh, and it reminded me a lot of her portrayal in EY – which is a way better drama. I was so sick of her eyes wide open shocked expression in literally a few scenes in every darn episode, crying all the time, her voice is also very grating and with the “sunjae-yaaa” that she does drove me nuts! Sunjae – what is his appeal even? His loser/golden retriever schtick I don’t find remotely attractive or interesting and wouldn’t date someone like this in real life (cos I have and find it incredibly offputting). He’s always “saving” her from some crap that she got them into in the first place. I also don’t find it realistic that a singer would be single for 15 years pining after this not-remotely outstanding woman from highschool who in the OG timeline didn’t even care abt him, like…pls bffr. Even men not in the entertainment industry would have dated so many more interesting/attractive ppl by then. Take away these 2 characters and what does the plot have going for it?? Like you said, any 2 random actors could have played this and it wouldn’t have made an iota of difference.

Chemistry: I’m one of those that didn’t quite see it and found it quite forced actually. When they weren’t trying to like each other, they were actually more natural – like in the high school stuff. Still, it’s not giving amazing chemistry by any means, I’ve seen way better. I think a lot of people are projecting/self-inserting and thinking the chemistry is amazing as a result.

I didn't see any chemistry either. It felt very forced/manufactured and there seemed to be alot of playing to the cameras in bts clips to encourage shipping - when a production has to do this, you know they have zero plot to talk about. The actress/FL is super annoying, she was like this in EY as well and knetz pointed out her grating voice back then. Shocked they are glossing over it now. Her sunjae yaaaa drove me nuts, together with her O_O shocked pikachu look and her constant crying. She's a good actress so i have no idea why she picked this drama. ML is mediocre and only elevated by his FL and the directing. Writing was so bad. I have no idea why this is so popular but i note that its most overzealous fans give off vibes off unhinged delusional kpop stan twitter fangirls.

I actually think he's improved his acting here. The character is stoic but he is not stiff and expresses quite alot through his body language n eyes, a huge improvement over his previous webtoon outings where you could tell how green he was. Im enjoying him here and tbh the eye candy doesnt hurt 😆

Just wanted to say what an absolute gem of a show this was and i was so sad when it ended. The episodes are short enough yet super meaningful, beautiful, gentle and warm. Lee Na Young brings to life the quirky quiet thoughtful nature of Ha Kyung in a way that leaves me wanting to see more of her and her world. The episodes have alot of depth and are meant to be pondered upon and quite a few were really touching and made me cry (ugly cried at the last ep ngl). Shoutout to ha Kyung's hair too! Wish there were more of such shows in kdrama land, i definitely would start watching way more kdramas.

Yeah watched ep 2 just now and it's abit too fast forwarded for me on the romance end, just not quite feeling it.

Yes finally a short enough series for me to wanna watch haha. Cant wait to find out!! 🤟

It is! The writing is subpar - notice the screenwriter hasn't had much prior experience writing dramas. This was adapted from a webtoon and I wonder if the OG source was any good.

same! I wonder what happened to her - it looked like suicide but then again maybe not? It was filmed in the dark for a reason Ig! I do suspect those 2 men had something to do with it, and also with the random women in the video clips/photo and the owner of the jewelled encased phone. Agree - I dont find her to be the best actress =/ but am hoping she improves as the character starts to heal from her depression (if she ever does). So excited for this week!

Ahh thanks for ur perspective! I forgot yoon kyung is in this, love her and I'd probably check out her scenes at some point. I dont feel the chemistry as well - I think it's probably the writing to blame cos I think the actors are doing fine (just saw 50 mins of ep 2). Still dont get the romance either, and unfortunately it's the spine of the show. It just falls flat cos there's no compelling backstory that makes me wanna root for them.

Same! Like I know it's fantasy hence the past life stuff, but fantasy doesnt mean it has no logic/grounding in reality. I'm exactly the same - this drama hinges entirely on their romance but the lovestory isnt convincing at all. They spend 30+ mins with the child actors (kudos to them) explaining her past lives but they literally only met for awhile in her previous life and it wasn't even this epic, amazing romance but a literal maybe/maybe not crush between 2 kids. And she's supposed to be so captivated she spends her 19th life running after this man? like be serious, they didnt even know each other well lol.

Yup pacing is draggy. I actually paused several times in the first ep cos it was boring me (a sign that the content isnt getting my attention). I will leave the watching to u guys 😂 and spend my time watching sth else. Love SHS though and will still check out her clips!

Same haha i usually try to watch at least 4 to 5 eps usually but even for this it's quite a drag 😅 I'll see how, thanks!