porkman

Halfway through episode 4, and I'm putting this on hold. Most of the elements here just don't click at all and 80% of the show feels like filler. The only parts that I genuinely liked were those of the grandma raising the FL during her childhood (which were very brief), and some of the FL's actions that are pretty entertaining. I can't get myself to be bothered with the past lives side plots or most of the side characters. They are simply not engaging or compelling enough. Even the genie's scenes are mostly unfunny. And given that the 2 main characters are unempathetic and busy trying to screw each other up, I cannot foresee myself being even slightly convinced by the upcoming romance.

I thought humans succumbing to moral corruption given the prospect of wishes was an interesting enough topic to expand on, but it is still not kicking off. The test subjects appear to be your run-of-the-mill obnoxious side characters, and I don't see any room for moral complexity or ambiguity. Disappointing that this is KES's standard right after The Glory.

Some that come to mind:
- Mr Queen
- China does a ton of historical fantasy, some that are actually good amongst the generic idol dramas. I liked Eternal Love (multiple timelines) and Scarlet Heart from 2011 (not sure how the korean version fares)
- Splash Splash Love (short and lighthearted)

I don't really find his character to be badly written, but he is quite generic and typical. I would definitely prefer his character to be re-written to be more interesting.

Not sure if I'm loving the timeskip -- I wanted to see Youngrye wandering around exploring her other options and how she ended up in a totally different field (that she didn't seem to be interested in before). I'm also slightly concerned that the bus conductor backdrop seems to be completely gone, since it was the drama's biggest discerning factor overall.

I truly don't wish to be mean, but he is honestly severely miscast in this role. I think he would look perfect as a hooligan/gangster who changes his ways after he falls in love lol.

Other high quality dramas (including similar historical fantasy ones) have proven that it's possible to integrate multiple genres and plotlines smoothly in one show, keeping everything engaging and not leaving loose ends. This one didn't quite live up to that standard, and that's fine -- it was an entertaining watch nonetheless.

The writers clearly didn't bother to think of some explanation to how he traveled to the future, and even shamelessly said they didn't care at the very last scene lol.

Overall, I would say I liked the production values and entertainment aspect of the show. While the cooking competitions became slightly repetitive, they were well-executed. However, the plot was clearly more of an afterthought to the cooking scenes. It felt like events simply happened for the sake of it. The romance was also severely underdeveloped, feeling one-sided for most of the show, which resulted in much of the last episode feeling quite artificial and unconvincing. I rated it 7/10.

The early reviews suggest that it is overly ambitious and suffers from a weak/nonsensical second half. I'll still watch and judge it for myself though.

Several plot points don't even make any sense -- the last competition was pretty nonsensical (a royal competition doesn't need impartial judges?). I think when the show strays away from the cooking, its quality nose dives because the flaws in its narrative become way too apparent.

Ngl, I kinda expected such a reaction when I watched the latest episodes. I personally think this is blown way out of proportion though.

Last 2 episodes were great! I finally see where this story is going -- very bold indeed, and many parts would probably offend some sensitive viewers.

I think the show has pretty much established that it doesn't have much of a plot.

I'm slightly disappointed as I don't find it very engaging so far. The suspense and impact is surprisingly lacking, we see two major events happen but the aftermath is barely being portrayed. That is not to say it's bad -- it isn't, but it also isn't really living up to expectations for me.

A great heartfelt movie that breaks the mould of stereotypical korean romcoms. I can see myself rewatching this again.

This seems to be an incredibly ambitious project. Everyone involved may be big names but they're taking pretty big risks imo on a drama centering on politics. Hope it pays off.

Well, I thought the same thing for JJH's last drama (Jirisan) and we know how that turned out.

As much as I'm looking forward to this, it kinda feels like it will be either great or absolutely horrible, with no in between.

I can't tell if this was for viral marketing or if it actually happened. I never really paid attention to billing in dramas, I thought it only mattered for films.

It does give me hope though that this is actually good. Cos I imagine actors would be AVOIDING to be top billing if the script sucked 😂

The typecasting is on a whole different level for MDS though. Like it makes perfect sense to capitalize the success of The Roundup IP, but at this point I can barely even differentiate MDS's other movies anymore. What's worse is they're all not great in quality.