michelleoc

Personally, I found Season 1 so much better

And this is why. Multiple corrupt police and government officials got promoted following season 1 and continued their corrupt ways. We, as the audience, already knew they were corrupt. Then, they added more corrupt people. As I mentioned in my review for Season 1, the same people tend to play the same type of characters from drama to drama. You see an actor come up on screen and you already know he's corrupt. There is such a thing as overkill on the corruption story, and I think this season surpassed their quota.

There wasn't as much police procedure in this season, just a lot of time spent on the bad guys, showing how they are always a step ahead of the police.

ML was excellent. He'd lost weight since Season 1, but he still had that "worn out" look about him. I missed him having so much interaction with the two police that he worked with in season 1. He was more of a lone wolf in this season.

I loved Go Gyu Pil and Hyun Bong Sik in their roles again this season. They are always good for comic relief.

Perhaps, if I hadn't watched this right on the heels of Season 1, I might have enjoyed it more.

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Very suspenseful

This drama had more twists and turns than a corkscrew! I must say, corruption isn't my favorite thing to watch, but I watched an episode every day on the treadmill and didn't have to fast forward at all. I would not recommend binging it. You kind of have to let things marinate after you watch an episode. It was very dark, with pervasive tones of grays and blues, which was effective to the feel of the story. A note of warning, don't get too cocky and think that you know what is going on, and who the bad guys are, because you'll probably be wrong!

Acting: Lee Sung Min as Taek Rok - I've only seen him in a couple of guest roles, and he was fabulous in this. A tired, overweight, chain-smoking, disheveled, grizzled cop just trying to move to retirement without making waves. That quickly falls by the wayside when he gets blamed for the murder of a co-worker. Then the cat and mouse game begins. There was something sad yet endearing about his character. His loneliness was almost palpable.
Jin Goo as Jin Han - he was very good. I really liked the developing bromance between him and Taek Rok.
And, I would be remiss if I didn't mention Go Gyu Pil as the dormitory manager. I love him, and he brought some levity into all the seriousness.

Somewhat of a cliffhanger ending, since there is a season 2. I hope that we get a different case rather than a continuation of the case from season 1. I'm ready to move on.

My only minor quibbles:
1) Why do the same people always play the bad guys? There are a couple of the actors that when I see that they are in a drama, I know that they are corrupt.
2) Oh, so many names to keep straight! I finally just decided that as long as I knew what was going on with the main characters, that's all I needed.
3) The psychiatrist was under-utilized. That whole storyline didn't make much sense and was never completely fleshed out.

Do yourself a favor and watch this. And, if possible, watch it in a dark room, because some of the scenes are too dark to make out faces or what is going on.

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This one had me mumbling as I was watching it

Very unpopular opinion here, but it's just my opinion -

I love Ji Sung - he is such a talented and charismatic actor. I don't know why I kept putting this one off, but now I wish I had continued to keep it on the back burner.

There was a lot to like about the show:
1) Ji Sung
2) Second couple - they were just so cute
3) The entire pain management team was fun to watch. They had the ability to be serious, but there was a lot of levity from them as well.
4) I loved the fact that the hospital politics was low, and we got more focus on the doctors and the cases they handled.

Now the causes for my mumbling:
1) Lee Se Young as Kang Shi Young. I have liked her acting in other works, but she really bothered me here. This character cried in every episode. She was kind of a stalker toward Dr. John and followed him around a lot. For being a resident, she had an awful lot of free time! And the strange haircut...when they first showed her at the conference from the front, I thought she had a bob haircut and it looked really cute. Then she turned around, and it WAS a bob, just with a lot of long hair underneath it. It was so distracting! Add her wide-eyed staring at Dr. John all the time, I didn't like her at all.
2) The romance. It should have been left out. I love me some romance, but the leads had absolutely no chemistry with one another. I think that this is the first time I've watched supposed romantic scenes and been uncomfortable. They acted like they were acting, and I didn't believe that they liked each other at all.
3) Do medical shows have medical advisors? If so, the advisor for Dr. John must have been on vacation when they were filming.
A woman has had her arm amputated and feels pain - she knew nothing about phantom limb pain?!?! They warn amputees about this. She thinks that he has a fever, and she checks his forehead with her hand. She checks his pulse with her thumbs.
Multiple instances of patients writhing in pain with no medical staff close to them and the side rails are down. She's worried that he's gotten this dreaded disease a few hours after contact when she's already told us the incubation period was 10 days.
They stated that the actress had not signed a DNR form, and then were yelling when he was performing CPR. And can we talk about how fake the CPR looked. Get the disease names right - it's lymphedema, not lymphadenia (maybe a translation error, I'll give a little slack on that.) There is no way they would have hired him back at the same hospital after being in prison. Him not being able to feel pain, there is no way he would have been walking around outside barefooted, at night especially.
4) The last few episodes. He leaves for three years without contact. She CONTINUES to try to reach him (have a little pride, woman!). Come to find out, he's been back for a year and following her around, then he shows up in her face and she just forgives him (she's crying of course).

I had high hopes for this, but the writing took a definite turn in the wrong direction somewhere along the line.

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All I can say is watch it!

This one took me by surprise, I admit. When I think badminton, I remember back to playing in school - basically trying to just get the birdie over the net. There was so much strength and power watching the badminton tournaments, and watching all they did while practicing. But badminton takes a back seat to the friendships and the community. I laughed and I cried, a lot.

The young ML character of Yoon Hae Kang starts playing badminton after moving to the country. He was a middle school baseball star, so starting badminton (with his dad as the coach) didn't start out well. He started out with a big chip on his shoulder, and I wondered how long I'd have to put up with that behavior. He kept his cockiness throughout, but watching him develop actual deep, meaningful friendships was such a lovely thing to watch.

Friendships, first love, separating from your parent's help, bullying, corruption. This drama has it all.

The acting was so good all the way around. I loved the friendships between the boys, but I also loved the villagers. You know, the typical quirky characters, but each person had their own story that blended in so well with the others. The sad young couple that come to live in the village for mysterious reasons - I loved their story development and how they integrated into the community. I also loved the old lady that made a playroom, and the kids would go there, because she had Wi-Fi. How the kids were absorbed in their own lives, but also cared about the elders in the village.

I do have to say that at the beginning I hated the dad/coach. He just seemed so stupid to me. But the more I watched, the more memories it brought back of me and my own parents - how they tried to be cool and fit into my world, but all it did was cause embarrassment. I think you'll feel this more, the further you watch.

I loved watching the friendships between the boys develop, especially since Yoon Hae Kang was an outsider and didn't want to be there. As he let the other boys into his life, then it progressed to the boys letting others in as well. I just can't say enough about the friendships.

I loved the BTS music and references. The actors breaking the fourth wall and looking at the camera was funny throughout, but never more funny than when the coach said he thought the boys were cooler than BTS. The boys got really nervous and said he should never say things like that, because it could be really bad (protective Army reference!), and the dad looks straight into the camera, apologizes, and runs away.

I held off watching this for the longest time, thinking it was just a sports drama. It turned out to be so much more to me.

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Didn't like the FL at all!

It's short and doesn't take too much time involvement, but while I was watching it, I kept wondering how soon before it was going to be over. Overall, my complaints were with the writing.

1) My biggest gripe is the way the FL is written. Desperate, clingy, immature - I got the feeling that she was more afraid of being alone than anything else. To try to hang onto someone that doesn't want to be with you is so sad.
2) Cha Hun's acting was really bad. His face remained emotionless, his movements were wooden, and watching him try to act was just uncomfortable.
3) FL and her best friend - he's stuck with her through NUMEROUS relationship disasters. Their relationship was cute to watch, but her having that many ex-boyfriends would give me pause before getting involved with her. She's kind of a "love the one you're with girl." Basically, I had a hard time believing in a romantic relationship between them.

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Hot, except when it wasn't

I thought Mysterious Love was much better than this one. The script/story were so ridiculous, I spent an inordinate amount of time writing down things I couldn't believe about it. Suspension of disbelief is one thing, but the characters kept doing such stupid things it was irritating. I could feel brain cells dying...

ACTING:
Tsao Yu Ning as Jin Yan - let's be honest, he doesn't have to do much more than stand, stare, and look hunky, which he has down to an art form. He's basically the same character from Mysterious Love.
Yilia Yu as XiXi/An Yue - I thought she did a good job differentiating between the two characters.

CHEMISTRY: Hot, but it seemed like they were together less than they were in Mysterious Love. These two are seriously good together, they chemistry is definitely chemistry-ing!

For me, I was there for the main couple and was disappointed in the relatively small amount of time they spent together. First, there was the convoluted storyline involving a lot of people. THEN we had the second couple which was just WRONG! They got entirely too much screen time and I didn't care about them at all. In fact, there was a triangle, and, in my opinion, she ended up with the wrong guy!

I won't try to steer anyone clear of this drama but be prepared for a festival of eye rolling.

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Wow! What a convoluted story, and not in a good way.

My rating on this was all over the place. I can pretty much suspend disbelief when I watch a drama, but this was like watching a telenovela, with over-the-top characters, consequences for evil too long in coming, and don't even get me started on the "is this my fate? Is it your fate? What do I have to do to correct my fate? Maybe if I try this..." It's fate, for the love of Pete, you're not supposed to be able to figure it out! My rating started pretty high, the story was interesting, and the acting was fun, for the most part. However, when Ha Ye Ji showed up in episode 12 onward, my rating fell like a rock. It was like they had determined that they didn't want to finish the story at 12 episodes, so let's add another random psycho to the mix. The only reason this drama even got the rating from me that it did is that it redeemed itself in the end with a wedding (can we just talk about how stunning her dress was?), and children, rather than the usual hurried final 15 minutes.

I love Park Min Young, but have you ever noticed how, in addition to the ridiculous amount of product placement, they continually show her hands? It's like they are their own version of product placement. Granted, her hands are beautiful, but come on. I hope that in future roles she gains some of her weight back, because even after she went back in time, she looked entirely too thin. Her character in her original life was pathetic, and in her new life, there were so many times I wanted to tell her to grow a spine. Why continue to say the guy is your boyfriend when he obviously gives you the creeps? I guess it gets back to her trying to make fate work in her favor.

Na In Woo as Ji Huyk. I've never seen this actor in anything else, but BOY was his character boring! Bad hair, bad glasses, bad suits, pretty much one expression throughout.

Chemistry between leads - for me, I didn't feel the chemistry at all. I did appreciate that they took time to talk to one another, that they supported each other, and they planned things together. That said, I didn't believe the romance. Kisses were okay (not dead fish kisses), but to me, this relationship didn't bring the heat.

Now, for chemistry, I thought Lee Gi Kwang as Chef Eun Ho and Choi Ghu Ri as Hee Yeon were precious together. I LOVED her energy. I would have liked to have seen more of them.

STANDOUTS - Lee Yi Kyung as Min Hwan and Song Ha Yoon as Soo Min. Oh, my goodness, they brought the passion, the pathos, the greed, and the degeneration into insanity. His anger was scary, honestly. And I normally don't like actresses that scream, but her out-of-control screams here were excellent. The cat and mouse game they played throughout the drama was very entertaining...what will they do next? Just when you think someone can't sink any lower, they prove you wrong.
Oh, and I loved the BTS songs and BTS references. Very cleverly done.

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Interesting concept

I really liked the idea of the typical villain suddenly becoming the FL in the story. I thought that was well done. The ML was a little bland. I was concerned at the very beginning because the acting was so bad, but once the premise was explained, they settled into their roles. What happens when you suddenly don't have purpose? Maybe my memory is just bad, but I don't think I've seen this done before. It was good that this wasn't a long, drawn-out drama, so it didn't feel that a lot of time was wasted. I watched it on YouTube, so the sound cut out a lot, but thank goodness for subtitles!

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Hmmmm....

Granted I watched this years ago, when I was first getting into K-dramas. At that time, I only knew who Park Seo Joon was, and I watched it for him. I struggled with this one because it didn't seem to know what it wanted to be, it slipped from slapstick comedy to melodrama in the blink of an eye. Which wouldn't be too bad, but it was back and forth between the two for most of the show.

I loved the bromance aspect of it. I didn't buy the romance much.

Since I seem to be in the minority, if you haven't watched it, and are considering it, give it a go. There's certainly enough eye candy to keep a person happy!

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Just wow!

Let me start by saying that this is not my go-to genre. It's kind of hard for me to rate, because usually I rate on my enjoyment of a series. I, truthfully, can say that I didn't really enjoy it - wait, before you jump down my throat, hear me out. I didn't like the way it made me feel. It was dark and depressing, with the barest hint of clever repartee to lighten the mood slightly every so often. So, bottom line, the show achieved what it set out to do. It was so well written, and the acting was absolutely top-notch. I felt uncomfortable while watching it, watching morally/mentally gray characters. It raised a lot of questions while watching it: Where is the line between right and wrong? Is it hard to keep trying to straddle that line? Does absolute power corrupt absolutely? Do we ever really know those around us?

Most of the actors I had seen in other works, and they all seemed to be different versions of themselves than I had seen before. The sign of good acting.

If I didn't have to have a minimum word count, my review would consist of these two words - Namkoong Min. Always brilliant. I do have to make a complaint about the makeup on him. It looked like they went overboard on the self-tanner. His skin was so much darker than everyone else, it really bothered me. And I could have done without the sleazy moustache.

So, my suggestion is that you watch it, but be prepared to want to give up your daily life until you've finished it. It's just that good.

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I'll admit I cheated and watched only episodes 3-5!

The subject matter for the first story - just no. The ending of the third story - nope. So, the second story it is.

The chemistry between the ML and the FL was fire seriously! I'm really liking Ryeoun as an actor. I would have liked for the second story to be longer, maybe eight episodes, so we could get more of a back story for both of them. There was the typical teenage drama, but I enjoyed watching them together. I, personally, like the friends to lovers trope, and this would have benefitted from more episodes as well.

I'm hoping that these two actors work together again in the future.

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This was cute, but uneven in my ability to enjoy it

The first half of this show had me on the irritated side. 1) Everyone saying, "Eh?" all the time. I know it's a Japanese thing, but it was so prevalent here I felt like I needed to turn it into a drinking game. 2) SFL - she was a mean human being with no redeeming features. I was seriously disappointed in the lack of repercussions for the terrible things that she did. I understand that the writers wanted to wrap this drama up in a cute, happy ending bow, but this character was just too mean. 3) ML going around asking everyone, "Are you captivated?" 4) At the beginning, even the FL was working my last nerve. The bowing, the lowered eyes, the apologizing for everything. Again, I realize it's part of the Japanese culture, but there's a point where it gets to be too much. 5) the FL's extreme reaction to the scar on her face. I get it, it's teenage land, where hormones run amok, and all emotions are way over the top. The scar wasn't bad enough to warrant that much angst.

I persevered, however, and I liked the last half so much more than the first.

1) The FL grew through her experiences. Strong theme of the importance of loving yourself.
2) The supportiveness of friends, and people apologizing to those they have hurt in the past. (Still not enough to forgive the SFL, however. Maybe a lot of scenes were cut that would have made her change of heart forgivable?)
3) Her parents were lovely. I loved the scenes after the ML and FL were caught in front of her house in the middle of a school day.
4) I'm still not sure, in my heart, who I think the FL should have ended up with, but I loved how both of them wanted what was going to make her happy. I also loved how they grew to respect and like each other.
5) I absolutely loved the parts of episode 7 where the ML was trying to come to terms with his feelings and had no clue how to express them! I rewatched that, multiple times.

For the most part, the show is fluffy and enjoyable to watch, I was just hoping for a little more.

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A drama I didn't know I needed

I don't watch shows until they are completely available to watch. I've been burned too many times by sad/terrible/rushed endings. I skulked around daily under the comments for this show, reading everyone wax eloquent about how wonderful it was. That's normally the kiss of death for me. If everyone thinks it's the best thing in the world, I'm usually meh about it. Then, add to that my aversion to time travel movies (they always raise more questions than answers for me) and that this sounded exactly like Back to the Future, I wasn't holding out much hope. My hand is raised here, I admit it, I was wrong.

I won't reiterate the storyline, but I will say this didn't reach out to me as a romance so much as a family/friend-fest. I didn't even feel that the focus was so much on the school aspect of it, but the kids themselves, which I loved. This show had so much heart. I laughed a lot, I cried quite a bit, and I vacillated back and forth between "hurry up and show me what's going to happen next" and "slow down, because I really want to savor this." The story was great, but the characters themselves, and the actors portraying them, were what kept me coming back for more. I really liked the direction they took with two people going to the past, one to save a life and one to end a life.

Ryeoun as Ha Eun Gyeol. This was a teenager that was old for his years, by necessity, as he was the mouthpiece for the whole family. That's a lot of responsibility to have from a very young age. Ryeoun was excellent, and I felt his wonder at meeting his younger father and finding him completely different than he imagined. Most of the scenes that made me cry involved Eun Gyeol. He was trying so hard to make things right, time after time. I could feel his desperation, as well as his sense of being unsuccessful. This story arc spoke a lot to destiny - are certain things that happen in our lives fixed? If you change something in one direction, does the river of destiny re-route itself to make it happen anyway?

Choi Hyun Wook as Ha Yi Chan had the gangly puppy/bouncy behavior going for him, moving from one thing to another quickly. If you are going, you run, if you are talking, you yell, if you don't know how to react to someone, you put them in a headlock. He was very immature, which was a perfect foil for Eun Gyeol, who had to switch places and become the father in the past. I did struggle with the length of time that he liked Sy Keong, so when he switched to Cheon Ah, it was kind of sudden and didn't necessarily flow well.

Seol In Ah as Choi Sy Kyeong/On Eun Yu. I had difficulty with this character. First, her voice is so distinctive, I kept flashing A Business Proposal when she talked. Other than that, my difficulties were more character related. Eun Yu was a totally repressed young woman, being driven by her mother's wishes. I don't feel that she would have been able to have the personality change that she did in the past. And, to me, there was something not always very nice about her, like she thought she was better than everyone else. And we didn't get to see any difficulties with her adapting to the past.

Shin Eun Soo as Yoon Cheon Ah. She was the standout for me. Eyes wide with sadness, living in silence, being betrayed by those that were supposed to take care of her, the character of Cheon Ah had a strength about her. I was so glad they didn't make her a doormat. It is really hard to act without using your voice, and Eun Soo was wonderful.

Go Doo Shim as Lee Chan's grandmother - she was terrific. She surrounded herself with students, cared for everyone and kept everyone fed. I love how she didn't baby Lee Chan, but was raising him to be a responsible adult, supporting him in every way she could.

The band mates were fun to watch, full of pen-up energy, running here and there. It was like they were all amped on caffeine, then I remember that's what it was like as a teenager. The Master was mysterious and brought levity to a lot of the scenes. I loved when he'd throw random English words in. Cheong Ah's step-mother - don't even get me started.

The soundtrack was very good and, of course, went along with the theme of the show.

BONUS - the lengthy BTS reference was a hoot!

Small nit-picky things:
I would have liked to have seen Yi Chan and Cheon Ah together for a longer period of time in the past, and watch their relationship develop.
So much bullying by so many people. And what about Yeom Byung Ho and his mother? They made a big deal about them and then they disappeared.
All the past band members, in 2023, thought Eun Gyeol "looked familiar". Did everyone get amnesia or something?
It was very vague as to whether his father remember him from the past as well.

Bottom line? Watch it!

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