Absolutely stellar. I can't wrap my mind on the vision required to write scripts with such depth and to follow it up with the task of extracting the performance required from the actors and capturing and presenting it in such a flawless fashion seems such an inhumane task to me. Absolutely love how each character retained their personality while at the same time more layers were gradually presented. Works like these are the reason I keep coming back to kdrama.
Good action choreography and direction. Actors playing the protagonist and Antagonist were great. FL looked convincing as a badass and the fight sequences looked legit because she was good enough to seamlessly takeover from the double. But the story suffered from a lack of depth not withstanding the effort put into the world building. Felt like most of the eggs were put into realizing the cracking premise, and not much elsewhere.
Can you tell me how will i know which are the side plots so i can skip them?
Side plots - Love tracks featuring the secondary leads (1 love triangle and 1 one sided pursuit). My suggestion would be not to altogether skip them as that might disrupt the flow, but rather skim through them and skip ahead when it becomes too annoying and cliche - you will be missing next to nothing in terms of the main plot.
No half measures, a fully committed and unapologetic execution of a WTF concept. And a sensational OST to enhance the bizarre and refreshing experience. Absolutely loved the jump cut flow of the screenplay - the lack of bridges between plot points and characters' evolution render the feeling of a visual chapter flip in a comic book. The VFX is top-notch and personally found the style reminiscent of Scott Pilgrim vs the World.
P.S. Recommend not to skip the soundtracks during the end credits.
14 episodes in and I can't take this anymore. This drama is so unbelievably tacky, stuffed with a nauseating dose of cliches. I'm annoyed that i did not give into my initial instincts and drop this way earlier.
This drama is worth it just for the leads' insane chemistry and the refreshing main plot, such easy flow between their performances when they share the screen. Please make sure to skip the side plots as much as possible - they absolutely leech the joy out of this drama - I wish someone would just edit them out for me.
Absolutely one of the best kdramas I've watched - Can't believe that a creation crafted with so much passion and studded with so much detail is so criminally under-rated. I'm glad i found this hidden gem. Stellar actors with excellent chemistry and brilliantly structured character dynamics make this a sumptuous treat. There were times where i was having trouble with the pacing but every scene is so vividly and precisely presented that you can't help but pay attention.
After suffering through a boatload of cringe and what seem like an infinite plot redirections, you finally get to 4 episodes that are quite engaging near the end and the final 2 episodes were 90% fillers.
Jang Hyuk's character is an absolute cringe fest at times and he comes across as a bad fit during these scenes, but comes alive during the slow, warm and fuzzy portions especially in the second half. Jang Na Ra fits like a glove into her character and is probably one of the saving graces along with the half decent core story line, which even though is a convoluted mess has enough emotional stress points to sway us through to the end.
Thanks for recommending 'Into the Ring' - it was such a surprisingly refreshing drama. Loved the funky treatment to a serious subject. The entire cast was excellent and had great overall timing and chemistry. This is the first drama i've watched with either of the leads and they were super cute and charming, and thankfully the romance for the most part felt non-cliche.
Nana (FL) was super-adorable and had stellar comedic timing with her reactions, and Park Sung Hoon (ML) got the balance right staying measured for the most part and molded himself perfectly around the vibrant and infectious female character and never got overzealous trying to extract more performance than required, which in my books is a tougher job than it appears. I'll probably take a look at their filmography for more.
The directors needs to be applauded the most because it's such an excruciating job to get a funky storyline look cohesive on the screen and we've all seen umpteen number of dramas fall through after great starts, looking absolutely clueless after the halfway mark and wondering how to build on their exciting premise. This drama really is - as you mentioned - a hidden gem.
The final quarter of this series was very very well done. The actor who plays Mo Wan Soo (Lee Kyu Han) absolutely killed it - excellent screen presence and body language. The team that worked on the character sketches definitely need to be acknowledged - complex characters played out beautifully by the director (Han Cheol Soo) and aided by strong performances from Im Soo Hyang and Bae Jang Ok (Absolutely loved her performance in 'LIVE' as well) who play the characters Mo seuk Hee and Han Jae Kook respectively. IMHO the lead male's acting was very bland and unfortunately for him, it blatantly stood out among the higher calibre performers he often shared the screen space with. I expected them to go overboard on the final episode which too many Kdramas are guilty of doing, but pleasantly surprised that they kept it mostly sensible and avoided cringy final exchanges. Special mention - the background soundtrack was consistently good throughout and whenever they needed to pull their socks up for the critical scenes, they absolutely nail it.
And they could have completely avoided the romance part, i guess they just wanted to have all their bases covered for the mass audience.
Kim Sun Ah is absolutely slaying it. I just can't look past this for the best performance of 2018. Portraying a depressed, disturbed individual is not so much about the facial expressions, but more about the whole body language aligned in unison to convey the range of emotions. An incredible performance that this gem of a series deserves. Cmon MDL community, more love for this series please.
Finally something close to Signal, no not another time travel mystery series, I'm hopeful that this is a well written and acted mystery series. Best of the currently airing lot. So far. Fingers crossed.
Pranav, it is a shame that you cannot express yourself without being vulgar.
I'm sorry if my choice of words display any vulgarity. It's just a honest unadulterated opinion and I don't think there is intolerable profanity in my comment. let's just agree to disagree here. Cheers.
8.8 rating out of 12.000+ users. Unbelievable, am i only one that dropped this series after 4 episodes? I usually…
He should not have blindly trusted Park Hye Ryun (Screenwriter - previous works Pinnochio & I Can Hear Your Voice) and jumped into this project. As a major star i think he should start exploring more unconventional story lines, the same Love/Fiction is starting to get too one dimensional, but the same can be said about kdramas as a whole.
P.S. Recommend not to skip the soundtracks during the end credits.
P.S. The female lead is just drop dead gorgeous.
P.S. Best 1st episode of any series ever
Jang Hyuk's character is an absolute cringe fest at times and he comes across as a bad fit during these scenes, but comes alive during the slow, warm and fuzzy portions especially in the second half. Jang Na Ra fits like a glove into her character and is probably one of the saving graces along with the half decent core story line, which even though is a convoluted mess has enough emotional stress points to sway us through to the end.
Nana (FL) was super-adorable and had stellar comedic timing with her reactions, and Park Sung Hoon (ML) got the balance right staying measured for the most part and molded himself perfectly around the vibrant and infectious female character and never got overzealous trying to extract more performance than required, which in my books is a tougher job than it appears. I'll probably take a look at their filmography for more.
The directors needs to be applauded the most because it's such an excruciating job to get a funky storyline look cohesive on the screen and we've all seen umpteen number of dramas fall through after great starts, looking absolutely clueless after the halfway mark and wondering how to build on their exciting premise. This drama really is - as you mentioned - a hidden gem.
And they could have completely avoided the romance part, i guess they just wanted to have all their bases covered for the mass audience.