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Great transition to afterlife drama
There have been several similar transition to afterlife stories. I liked the formula of this drama - they have a case of the week that our team has to solve and bring closure to the deceased. That kept the delivery each episode interesting. The 'rules of engagement' (ie rules governing how they operate together eg safe zone, Dae Ri jumping into a human host for 10 minutes at a time, etc) were established early on and stayed consistent, unlike some dramas that bent the rules just to fit the plot or to create dramatic tension or because they didn't know how else to conclude the drama.In terms of negatives, perhaps the weakest point was the romance between the main leads. There was no chemistry whatsoever and they looked awkward together especially when they had to call each other cutesy names, or kiss or hug. The second couple had far better chemistry (at least no awkwardness) but I'd rather the drama just focus on the cases! Second, the last few episodes were especially draggy when they were trying to develop the romantic relationships rather than resolving things. Third, the OST was boring - they had one song and used that to death for everything - sad, happy, dramatic, etc. I'm not expecting a highly listenable soundtrack like CLOY or DOTS, but we're basically going back to the early 90s with Autumn in My Heart and their one song-one-hit-repetitive-wonders.
In contrast, the chemistry between the four 'team members' was enjoyable to watch. I enjoyed how they worked together with a mix of humour, teamwork, and goodwill to overcome the villians. Overall, it was entertaining and I enjoyed watching it but I wouldn't call it the best drama of the year or even of the genre, not even close.
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Sensitive topic handled well
S Korea has the highest suicide rate in the OCED. It is therefore unsurprising that some brave souls have decided to explore this sensitive subject. Without pontification or moralistic judgement, the show explores the motivations for suicide and takes a sympathetic look at the personal life histories, as well as societal pressures and judgements surrounding the would-be suicide victim.To achieve this sensitive exploration, the show takes a step back and relies on the introduction of the supernatural - not the Grim Reapers but a protection team that goes in and tries to stop the suicide from even occurring. How nice that Heaven would think of that (and this is addressed at the beginning of the series!) To do so, they delve into the victim's past. Although they're not allowed to change the past, they help the victim to come to terms with a turning point in their lives that caused great regret and thus led to repercussions for the rest of their lives.
The drama could very easily have been a pseudo time-travel cum afterlife show, and we've also seen many Grim Reaper shows where someone tries to help the deceased resolve his/her last wishes or right an injustice that cause them to lose their lives. However, this show is a fresh take on the genre of supernatural Grim Reaper/karma shows. Each episode or so deals with a different victim, so the show is kept fresh because if you find a certain story boring (some stories are quite draggy), you know that it'll end. Also, always stay tune for the Epilogue at the end of each episode.
I enjoyed watching the show because the ups and down kept me entertained. There were humorous bits that made me laugh, touching bits that made me cry, as well insightful ponderances by someone on the verge of death that left me reflecting for days about the meaning of life. My favourite episode was episode 7, about an old man who spent his life collecting recyclable junk. Without giving too much away, that was my favourite episode as it was extremely meaningful.
Kim Hee Sun has chosen good scripts throughout her career, and this one hasn't disappointed either.
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Great watch!
Not sure why this drama doesn't rate higher. The title is a misnomer - it really is about a taxi driver for ghosts but too bad it's up against another drama currently broadcasting which has a more famous (and handsome!) taxi driver. I guess shows with supernatural themes generally don't rate as well and also this ghost show doesn't have idols or well-known actors to prop it up.However, the acting is solid enough, the characters are fleshed out, and the stories are single episode explorations. The synopsis is predictable: ghost takes taxi but can't leave. She is inexplicably tied to him and therein lies the mystery - why or how are they tied together? Who is she? How or why did she die?
Overall it's a fun watch with some light humour, the lead characters are likeable, and the pacing is good. The whole series is short, only 12 episodes so that really helps with the pacing. Each episode focuses on one ghost passenger's story so the series moves pretty swiftly. What's not to like?
The only thing I would have liked as with any ghost story is copious crying (on my part). I have to yet to shed a tear over lmpossible love or tragic circumstances of lost dreams and what could have been. But there are still 4 episodes left so anything is possible.
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Cross-cultural love
I'm a sucker for cross-culture love dramas. Usually they flopped because the leads couldn't understand each other. Particularly bad have been some Japan-China or Japan-Taiwan tie-ups. It was pretty clear the leads didn't understand each other.Most recently there was another Japanese-Korean drama called Eye Love You which was great too because the leads understood each other. However, it soon became draggy and tried to achieve too many things, probably because it had more episodes than were needed.
In this drama, I read that FL learned Japanese for the role and it shows as both clearly understand each other and can react accordingly. This is a simple sweet and short love drama! Fast moving too. Loving it!
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Better than Tale of the Nine-Tailed 1938
The opinions on this show are really polar - people either really love it or really hate it. I don't get the hate. I rate this as an in-between. This show is entertaining but not something I'd want to rewatch. But it's tonnes better than Tale of the Nine-Tailed 1938 which I wouldn't even call a drama. I'd call that a series of comedy skits - strung together pieces of acting that don't have a cogent storyline or plot. It's just watching famous actors say stupid lines with a nice backdrop for scenery. And that got a 8.8, go figure.This is similar - famous actors and very nice scenery (ep1 in Dubai), however, has a semblance of a plot. The hate probably comes from the fact that there's no young love and young idols to swoon at, and has an anti-social theme. I do notice that fantastic anti-social dramas that feature blood, gore and murder tend to do very poorly on this platform. However the humour is on-point. I love the clever in-jokes eg the digs at the whole Marvel vs Netflix universes and copyright! Maybe I'm also partial to shows set in the countryside.
The only downside is that everything quite verbose and it makes my head hurt. Thankfully the entire season has dropped all at once. I wouldn't be wanting a second season but I enjoy binge-watching this.
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Tried so hard for what could have been. Wasted opportunity.
I tried so hard to like this sageuk because of PHS. I think he's a talented actor and love sagueks, what else other reasons could there be? However I've started and stopped this drama 4x already. The first few episodes were very promising - mystery, underdog, and dashing king. The side plots (the 'forensic pathologist' friend) were also hilarious to watch and the supporting actors were likeable.However by about episode 8, that was it. Nothing new was happening and the plots were going around in the same circles. The mystery hadn't progressed and none of the mysteries were getting any closer to being solved. We already knew who did it (but not the why, but do we really care anymore?) The romance was half-baked - there was no chemistry whatsoever. Instead, we have the villains plotting and way over-acting with a lot of yelling and overly dramatic evil "I want to rule the world"-esque lines.
I totally throw in the towel at epi 14. Even watching at 1.5x speed AND online shopping for groceries on the side didn't help. This series should have stopped at episode 10 or 12. But instead, they have to drag it even beyond the normal 16 and even go on to 20. Please save 20 episodes and above for sageuks with lots of conspiracies, complicated side plots, engaging characters with nuanced motivations, and plotting where the real Machiavellian villain is unseen right up to the end or plot development that span several decades; but certainly not this rubbish.
I love sageuk and don't give up any without a fight. This is probably only the second time I'm dropping a sageuk in my entire kdrama watching history. Since I'm so close to the end, I may finish it one day when it's finished broadcasting but only because it's on Amazon Prime which I'm subscribed to anyway.
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Another noona dongseng drama
I have not enjoyed a single noona-dongseng drama, although some have been better than others. The best was probably Something in the Rain with Jung Hae In and Son Ye Jin, another popular noona. That explored the social issue of noona-dongseng couplings. However, this drama has nothing to recommend it. The premise of why they have to break up isn't fathomable to those of us who are non-Korean, as I believe it involves some kind of social taboo (e.g., Autumn in my Heart). Gee it's sad that they can't be together but why? The characters are uni-dimensional but perhaps the highlight for me was watching her close friendships and supporting one of them through a major life transition. I watch it purely for Jang Ki Yong ( just as I watched equally boring Song Hye Gyo's previous noona-dongseng drama purely for Park Bo Gum) and that's the only reason I'll finish this.Was this review helpful to you?
Masterful but painful
I seriously don't understand the low rating for this show. What is it about this website and murder/gory shows? This show has strong Lee Joon Ki vibes in Flower of Evil.The drama is masterful - the story pulls you in with the careful telling of the story as it unfolds. It's like peeling back the layers of an onion as the characters are complex in their motivations and hidden agenda. Byung Yo Han is in his element again, this time as the conflicted murderer who cannot remember what happened. Did he do it? Did he not do it? There are a few red and blue herrings and you can probably guess the culprits. I look forward to the rest of this drama as it unfolds.
Update: I've now completed it. My original impression stands. It was roller coaster ride. It was very difficult to watch initially because the ML could never get a break but around halfway through, things starting looking up and it became bearable to watch. My advice? Binge watch. Watching each episode as it was broadcast was simply painful!
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Sweet cross-cultural story
I've watched several cross-cultural dramas in the past with Japanese, Taiwanese, Chinese casts. This is by far the best. It probably works very well because Chae Jong Hyeop seems genuinely to have a good command of Japanese. It's hard to act and relate to your co-star if you can't speak the same language.The story itself is cutesy and not very well developed but I liked the innocence of their love story. Don't expect too much from the drama in terms of plot or character development but it's a warm and light hearted show - good for a dinner time show.
If I wasn't learning Japanese and Korean, this show would have far less appeal for me and I'd give it a miss. But this show uses easy Japanese and Korean so it was great for me!
One thing I will comment on though, perhaps it's me being too jaded but I felt he was just slightly stalker-ish. She seemed to be resisting him but he was going full throttle. I felt quite uncomfortable with it but maybe that's considered a full-on courtship.
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Unexpectedly interesting
When I started this show, I had thought to myself, "Not another romance sageuk" and "Not another show about King Jeongjo." I was wrong on both accounts. Although I traditionally watch sageuks for court intrigue, which this drama lacked, but I didn't miss it. I traditionally also don't like romances and this was the only place I felt that the drama was let down. Will they be together or not? It was a long a tedious question that I couldn't bother whether they answered or not. However, something about the pacing made this drama work, and the actor who played Lee Deok Hwa as King Yeongjo did a fantastic job, as did Lee Joon Ho as Yi San. Not bad for a former boy band member in his first sageuk outing.For me, the highlight of the show was seeing the relationship between Yi San and his grandfather, whom he concurrently feared for himself and his loved ones, yet was also in awe of. No other rendition of Yi San (in my memory) has showed this fragile side of the man rather than the master who had to constantly juggle and negotiate Noron and Soron politics.
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First impressions - Only for hardcore period drama fans
I am a sucker for period drama and especially those that are based on historical figures or events. This show was sponsored by the Korean government cultural bodies so as you can imagine, would be quite realistic at least from a sets and costume point of view. They do state that it is somewhat historically accurate (as compared to a lot of other period dramas) but still to be taken with a grain of salt for dramatic purposes.I love the character development and plot development so far, but it's really early days. Comparing this to My Dearest which is broadcasting at the same time, this drama is really only for historical buffs or diehard period drama fans, especially of war dramas. It doesn't have the emotions, flair and sympathy that My Dearest evokes with the on-going love story set within the tragic backdrop (at least so far).
There are some nuances of unusual relationships (son - mother and gay vibes; being gay is still not openly accepted in S Korean society today). So if that's not your cup of tea, you might want to give this a miss. In those days, it was perfectly normal for full blood siblings to marry (to maintain the purity of royal blood) so it was a different time and societal norms were different.
Trivia: Ji Seung Hyun has a role in both My Dearest and this. I am starting to feel that he does a better job in period drama than modern drama.
Will update my review again at the end.
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Very very dense
This will be a quick review as I'm struggling. I want really to like this show because it has a stellar cast. However, it is very very dense and needs your full attention. Even though my grasp of modern Korean history is so-so, it still didn't help me in this show.The first episode just drops you in and you don't really know what's happening and who everyone is. However, I can see the bones of a good story unfolding. One does need patience. I will update the review again at the end.
Update: It was still very dense at the end. Too many side characters and trying to keep track of each character's dynamic agenda and ever-changing allegiances was tiring.. It felt like the show's writers tried to keep it true to history (interspersed with historical segments), yet it was not meant to be historical (as the beginning caveat clearly states).
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Disappointing
This show had a lot of promise. It had an interesting premise and also good actors. The leads have all had successful dramas under their belts so i was looking forward to a story of revenge, mystery, and a bit of sci-fi thrown in. I loved watching Lee Ji Ah kick ass, it was a refreshing change from the majority of her other roles.The show started off really promisingly in the first 4 episodes. It was fast-paced, filled with mysteries to uncover and revenge to boot. However, by episode 6, it started to become draining to watch. The actors, both lead and supporting, were all stalwarts with many solid roles under their belts. Puzzlingly, they (the actors playing Yoo Ra and Jang Geun Mo and Mother Director in particular) started to waaay overact - their growling and menacing looks really annoyed me while their maniacal laughing really grated on my nerves.
I held off watching as much as i could because I had Taxi Driver 2 to distract me. Since that's ended, I thought I'd hold my breath and speed through to finish this drama. However I'm not really sure I can stand sitting through another 6 episodes or so. This is one of those dramas that suffers from being dragged out to make 16 episodes, when 12 would probably have sufficed (the main mysteries are solved before episode 10). I'm gritting my teeth and hope I make it to the end. I'll be back with an update if that happens.
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Mature love
This drama is not for everyone. It's for a more mature audience who understands love, loss and guilt, and self-imposed loneliness. I have been following Seo Hyun Jin through all her shows and her choice of dramas to act in have never failed me. She always chooses quality dramas, writers and directors, and this drama didn't disappoint. And of course, there is also a stalwart like Yoo Jae Myung and both of them portray a fantastic father-daughter team who learn to cope with each other's sense of guilt and loneliness.In terms of place compared to other mature love dramas with similar themes of lost love, I found this more watchable with better pacing.
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An low budget Squid Game
I can't help but compare this to Squid Game in terms of the game show form of a thriller. More accurately, this is like Squid Game meets Survivor meets Lord of the Flies.I don't know why this has such a low rating. The show starts off slow but that's because they're figuring out the rules. Once they have, then it's about competition and strategy - betrayal, alliances, and backstabbing are inevitable.
This show is about the experience of humanity and what it means to be human - in all its raw ugliness or stark beauty. There's never a dull moment but full attention is required to watch the show. It is a highly intelligent show but only after much reflection. It's probably commentary on the state of politics and society at large -about the failure of democracy, the down trodden and the different classes of society. But for now, I'm just going to take it at face value and say it's a bloody (literally) awfully good show.
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