Honestly such a BEAUTIFUL romance held back by severely lacking writing. So many plot points that had actual good setup did not have payoff: and if they did, it was half baked. Something I have read in the reviews that I agree with is that far too much of the actual scenes is spent in silence, or showing us something we have seen. Personally, I love this, except for the fact that it felt like the writers did this to be excused from writing proper resolutions.
It felt like the show ran out of time - HOWEVER, I simply disagree that the show should have ended at ep. 9. At that point, NONE of the issue that have arisen are resolved; if anything, I felt that the writers needed better focus during the later half. I was genuinely pissed off at the writing in episodes 15/16. It felt like they could have used those episodes to wrap up the plot neatly, but opted towards a cheap, lazy, rushed plot convenience so they did not have to think of a good way to wrap up their OWN plot.
BIG HOWEVER: I am a huge fan of romance. This is arguably one of the best romance dramas out there. It's so real, so pure, so genuine. Yejin and Haein outdid themselves so severely with their chemistry. I was so pissed off by the writing BECAUSE I was so invested in Junhui and Jina. I genuinely wanted them to have resolutions that befit them. And I so genuinely enjoyed every single moment of their relationship. I genuinely wish we got more (with better writing). I wish their conversations actually addressed and said what they felt and wanted to say; something that would theoretically be okay, if they ever ended up saying it at all.
Despite all the WRITING weaknesses, I think this is genuinely such a good drama. It focuses entirely on our couple, maybe to a fault, but it is what carries it after all. I loved Gyengseon and Bora. I do not agree with all the criticism on Jina not "standing up for herself" because that is her character arc. I also think the drama literally makes a point that "fault" goes both ways, and I hate to read people misinterpret this and attribute Jina's character as bad.
I don't think I have ever been invested in a couple's future as much. Yes, bad writing, but I rate according to how enjoyable a drama is, and I enjoyed this romance so very much. I think the romance alone makes it worth a watch, for those who can appreciate realism for what it is. So fuck it I gave it a 10/10 and FUCK JINA'S MAMA
I just finished this and I can honestly say I enjoyed it more than some other higher rated dramas. More than anything I feel like the cast for this show was amazing, which definitely elevated what otherwise could've been a huge shitshow - mainly because of the writing, which is by far the show's biggest weakness. By far my favorite parts were the scenes showing the family/familial love, which I just found so compelling and beautiful! I wish we got more of that.
I feel like the show starts off in a very slow way that throws off most people. There's just an overbearing amount of flashbacks and focus on the past - which is definitely important in terms of exposition, but absolutely overstayed its welcome. You can clearly tell that the show was written with the past crime/scenes in mind first, and then the "present" plot. We see so much of the child actors for the first half (and honestly, most) of the show that some people even liked them more - which is an issue when the adult versions are the main cast. I think the show focused way too much on the crime/Yoon Hui Jae and that one evil twink aspect that was just so boring. I only really liked that the past scenes set up for what I mainly enjoyed about this drama, which is the dynamics between Namu/Nakwon & Nakwon/Jihye (mom) & Namu/Hyunmoo/Sojin/Stepmom. The crime aspect was just really drab.
I feel like the present scenes suffered even more from this focus - there was just not enough left to work with given how badly they wanted to make the murder the big happening of the drama. It could've been MUCH more interesting should the present scenes have focused on the evil journalists of the show, namely Heeyoung, and the media as antagonists. I feel like the writers SERIOUSLY wasted Heeyoung/Sehyoung's potential as the main bad. Huijae was just uninteresting, while the dynamics between the journalists as a "morally gray" evil and the main leads was actually palpable. Not to mention it was just more compelling when the drama focused on the downfall of the crime on the families rather than the new crimes that were going on.
Not to mention, the writing for present Namu was just ATROCIOUS. He was genuinely so boring for most of his scenes for 80% of the drama. Literally just devolved to staring at his scene partner not doing anything. I also found Muwon (Nakwon's brother) to be a waste of a character - he was boring, lowkey annoying, and really did not present much to the story. As for Nakwon, like Heeyoung I felt she had a lot of wasted potential, because while I loved her character she really did not get a story arc of her own; it would have been much more interesting if the show focused more on how the media affected her acting/industry work or something (ANYTHING).
My favorite arc by FAR was Hyunmoo and his growth with Sojin and his stepmom. Those family scenes were just SOOO beautiful, his emotions were palpable, and his character was just gorg. Similarly, I found Nakwon's scenes missing her dead mom just so heartbreaking. That's what the show should've focused on! Not boring ass Yoon Huijae and his twink! Let's see the families struggle to deal with Heeyoung rather than get a recap of the past 30 times just for the same crimes to happen! I just pray the writer improved after this.
HOOOOWEVER, I think it says a lot that despite these criticisms I finished this over a couple days without any extended breaks. Flashbacks aside I thought it was an interesting enough drama, worth watching alone for all the beautiful family-love scenes it has (AND HYUNMOO TBH). And the love between Namu and Nakwon is just genuinely so pure, so that while they don't have the most INTERESTING dynamic you can't help but love them too. So fuck it I gave it a 9/10 !
This is a cute little quirky light watch! Def heavy on the comedy though - very much that on the nose Korean humor for the most part. There were some subtle jokes that were funnier to me, most of the time being delivered by the gem that is Nara's mom. I feel like it could've benefitted a lot from having some more serious scenes, particularly during the first half (i.e. the car accident), to make it seem slightly less unserious. Somin and Haneul had a lot of chemistry that would eat soo bad in a more serious production. I did enjoy it for what it was though!
Honestly this drama is as close as it gets to k-drama perfection. For the longest time I made the mistake of not starting it because the Netflix description made it sound more like Dexter (the western show) which deterred me bc ya girl hates depressing shit, but it really wasn't like that at all!
The chemistry between Joongi/Chaewon is soo palpable and perfect - the only real drawback this drama had is that I felt like the dialogue wasn't always completely satisfying. I feel like the writers could've elevated it even MORE by thinking a bit more about what needed to be said (e.g. - Jiwon never explicitly telling him she just needed HIM, not what he thought she wanted him to be). Either way that's just me being picky for no reason. If anything it just goes to show just how pure the love portrayed in this drama is - the writers needed to step up and do it even more justice! Jiwon and Hyunsoo were just perfect. CHEFS KISS.
The acting is amazing, and the cinematography is just beautiful. The drama's biggest strength is that it never loses its pace, there's always a situation/moment to look forward to. Climax after climax (and twist after twist) that prevents it from ever getting boring. Super deserving of its high rating, and one I would def recommend! (10/10)
honestly it's crazy how a drama with almost only likeable characters (Jooik was an ick/had 0 chemistry w Jina but Soohyuk is FOINE!) can be so badly written. There's just no conflict; and a plot without conflict isn't a plot and isn't interesting. I will say it was honestly a beautiful drama, and I loved all the characters - ESPECIALLY the little girl that plays God. She had such an ethereal otherworldly feeling that she played so well. AND HER BOB WAS FYE!!! It may have taken me 6 months to finish, but I still can't say I didn't enjoy it. As a Boyoung simp I was fed, and it was pretty enough to deserve an 8-8.5. Just be warned the plot is a snooze!
Specifically, this is about the scene in ep. 14 between him and Dahyun's mother, in which he basically says she…
hii: 1. spoiler tag!
2. Dahyun lost her memory, so she couldn't have been questioned
3. The policeman had time to find Gyeyoung, but trusted his friend (the killer) to search the house for him. Even IF they theoretically got the escape route from Dahyun this likely would've happened
4. Dahyun's mother had no way of knowing her kidnapper was directly tied to Gyeoung's. She thought she killed her daughter's kidnapper and that was that - and the policeman even stated he investigated him and found no tie to his friend either way. Refer back to 2 as well! And I understand what you mean about his frustration in that no one did anything; but it's just completely misplaced in this case. Dahyun's mother went through a traumatic experience that he continues to batter and punish her for because he incorrectly assumes that if she had turned herself in, Gyeyoung would have magically been saved. And by your logic, it should go both ways! Dahyun's mother - who underwent a much worse trauma - should receive the same amount of understanding from you and Gyehoon. How could she be rational after having to kill someone to protect her daughter?
This was 3 months ago so bear with me. I actually praised the show in my comment above this one! I don't think there's much reason in arguing over poor writing, honestly. The whole plot line assumes that Dahyun's mom was being self-serving, and states she avoided jail-time, even though it was CLEAR self-defense that the cop could have vouched for. BUT AGAIN I DID LIKE THE SHOW SO PUT YOUR PITCHFORK DOWN PLSSS
okay just finished this and I actually really enjoyed it! There's several things I liked about this drama, and a couple things that I really didn't... but the last ep. just honestly gave me great vibes and made me happy! Something that I feel is pretty representative of this whole show. It tackles a very serious topic, and delves into seriously depressing situations, but manages to do so in an interestingly lighthearted manner! I really feel like this drama managed to capture the essence of the "dark comedy" in a way that does the genre justice - only held back by the subpar writing. So let me get into it!
(TL/DR: It's definitely worth a watch and the pacing does not feel slow at all. Dark parts are dark, cute parts are cute, and both are weirdly comedic. I also really enjoyed the ship for what it was! Solid 9/10 drama, pushed to 10/10 for me just bc the vibes were so right)
The biggest issue this drama had was that the writing just didn't really go anywhere. It felt like the plot, though very interesting, occurred AROUND the main characters rather than because of them. What I mean by this is that it felt like they didn't really advance the plot: things just kept happening to them. Episode after episode, we begin to notice a pattern in which it feels as though the characters are stuck in a perpetual waiting game, waiting for the next time the antagonists would strike. Basically - they don't really find things out, things are just revealed to them. I don't think this hurt the drama too much, but I couldn't help but notice how passively the characters acted in this world.
Aside from this, one of my biggest gripes with the show is that the "Link" itself, connecting Gyehoon and Dahyun, isn't really implemented or explored sufficiently enough for my taste (considering it's the name of the drama!). It just felt like the existence of the Link didn't really matter - it served little purpose other than acting as a lil cheat code for Gyehoon as an ML to know how his lady was feeling (exaggeration ofc, but yanno). I would've really liked for the Link to have more PRESENCE within the plot. It just felt like an afterthought at times. Also! I thought I was getting into a cooking drama!!! That's the whole motif!!! Why were there so few cooking themes! Cutting the drama some slack here because even I don't know what I mean by that; but it felt much more like "Link: Prepare Restaurant, Love, Kill" than anything else. On a more serious criticism, I really feel like the reveals to plot lines (aka. the answers) just really weren't too satisfying. We aren't really given the reasons for WHY things happened - the writers essentially just say "it just did". For example, (no spoilers ofc) when a character sees another character in danger and then simply doesn't help, the show doesn't really give a reason as to why they didn't help. They just don't. And you just have to accept that. Basically, the motivations for why characters do things just never made sense. Mainly because they usually had none other than the writers said so!
This kind of ties into my next point that the show has several actions that are nonsensical - even for a k-drama. For example, at one point a character just... KNOWS what another character remembers just by looking at them. Even though the other character gave no signs that could've told them that. They just knew, for the sake of advancing the plot. Furthermore, there were some frustrating scenes in which some things just made no sense, such as in ep. 1 (so it doesn't count as a spoiler!) in which the FL just basically gets chased down her own street and into her house by a stalker and no one hears the screaming or the scuffling. And after that, the police see her wait for hours on end at the station to speak to them, and then when she gets up and leaves... they just let her! Of course, my main complaint I wrote in the comment underneath this one before I finished the show, but it's essentially the way in which the show treats the idea of victims fighting back. Which also brings me to my next point - characters!
I think, for once, side characters really made this drama as good as it was. THIS DOESN'T MEAN THAT THE LEADS WEREN'T GOOD!!!! I absolutely loved Gayoung (ok I started watching this bc I'm in love w her) and Jingoo. But the side characters were just SO amazingly interesting in this drama. It can't be overstated how good Dahyun's mom and grandmother were in this (Bokhee and Choonok). The actresses just embodied this comedic peculiarity for their characters - and it just worked so well. They were funny and never felt like they were intruding upon the plot with useless scenes, and their bond was just precious! It was so amazing to see this dynamic of how far they would go for Dahyun. They were genuinely just so amazing. This ALSO applies to Eunjung - my crazy goth queen. I was honestly very disappointed with how underutilized her character was in this show - she brought SO much to the table in her more prevalent scenes, and I think the twist she brought to the plot was the only one that actually had my jaw a lil bit on the floor. She had a super interesting backstory, and her motivations actually made SENSE - something that's surprisingly rare in this drama! I also really would've loved to see more of the policewoman - the cuntress herself - Minjo. She was PAINNNNNFULLY benched by the writers and given little to no screen-time dedicated to herself. Definitely would not pass the bech-del test, and I wanted to see more of her friendship with Dahyun - another missed opportunity! The villains (without spoilers) were honestly just a little bit boring. As I said, the reveals weren't very interesting because the villains themselves weren't interesting. Their motivations make little to no sense or just aren't revealed, and the plot suffers from overutitilizing one particular villain for the better part of the entire show - to the point in which he almost just becomes a regular character.
Aside from this, Dahyun, of course, I really enjoyed. Her character is funny, without being ditzy. Innocent, but not necessarily naive. Etc, etc - the first 6 episodes were really well written for her. I loved how realistic her thought processes were, and I was really baited into thinking the writers knew what they were doing with the topic of victimhood (they didn't.). Unfortunately, she does get Damsel-In-Distress'd by the writers several times. I also don't think this is a spoiler because it's literally mentioned once, but she takes self-defense tips at one point and just... never uses them! All in all though, she was definitely a standout and not at all irritating. Gyehoon as a character.... unfortunately, not so much - but this time, entirely due to the writing. He's really just kind of boring, and the writers never did figure out if they wanted him to be cold, or warm. There are several times throughout the drama in which he pulls back from Dahyun for reasons that quite literally came out of the writer's asses: they (writers) would do anything and everything to ensure the couple had "issues" - which would be fine, if they plot actually set up issues for them to have! He honestly just came off as annoying several times due to the ways in which he would randomly pull away. The reasons he would state made no sense, and usually came from a place of him blaming Dahyun, or someone close to her: something that was severely ironic considering the self-blame he grapples with. The show also treats Gyehoon as the ULTIMATE victim, at all points, no matter what. At every reveal, we are essentially plagued with every character going, "How will Gyehoon react to this?!", for no apparent reason. My main issue was that Dahyun genuinely went through much worse trauma than Gyehoon did throughout her life. However, the writers always have her worry about how HE will react to new information, and we get very little of her processing what she learns about herself, for herself. TL/DR: Gyehoon was catered to severely by the writers and kinda annoying, but he was still an enjoyable character, if a bit one-note.
This is long enough, sorry, but the OST is also pretty enjoyable! One thing I REALLY liked about this drama and thought was really clever is how the OST is implemented into the plot itself in the final episode. Basically, the show's writing is NOT great by any means. But the show itself is honestly just really enjoyable. It manages to keep you watching episode after episode, as the pacing never gets too slow. Every episode deals with an almost new situation for the characters, so it never gets boring at all. This was definitely worth the watch, and I would definitely recommend it for anyone else looking for a slightly creepy, mysterious comedy! 9/10 if I went off how I felt about the writing, but 10/10 in vibes!
Bruh I'm on ep. 14 and planning on finishing and writing a bit more but the logic in this drama/writing just straight…
Specifically, this is about the scene in ep. 14 between him and Dahyun's mother, in which he basically says she deserves to live her life in remorse........when she's just trying to apologize......WHEN SHE HAS NO REASON TO DO SO???? This lady literally defended another man from someone that kidnapped her daughter, and she didn't even have a clue that Gyeyoung was involved. I also fucking hate the skewed logic that "if she wouldve turned herself in they would've found her!!" LIKE NO??? WHAT IS THE CORRELATION??? HOW DOES THAT EVEN- what. The police officer literally said he investigated the kidnapper that died and found nothing. There's just no fucking reason to believe the investigation would've definitely found Gyeyoung like they try to portray it as.
ALSO MAKES NO SENSE HOW THE SHOW SAYS IF HER MOTHER TURNED HERSELF IN SHE'D SERVE JAIL TIME??? Bro what the fuck....... she protected a fucking POLICE OFFICERRR FROM A KIDNAPPER??????? Like there's no argument: maybe if they had been in the man's property they could've somehow twisted it to Bokhee being liable??? And pls don't get me started on Gyehoon acting pissed off at the mom.... based off some assumption.... when she's the one that went through a traumatic experience (losing her child, having to kill someone, having to think she caused another child to die). What the show just can't grasp is that Gyehoon isn't even close to the biggest victim here. Bokhee and Dahyun have both singularly led SIGNIFICANTLY worse lives, and experienced worse trauma, and he's just viewed as the grand victim. AND HE JUDGES HER??? LMFAOOO I'M SO PISSED OFF ..... liked his character till this scene
Bruh I'm on ep. 14 and planning on finishing and writing a bit more but the logic in this drama/writing just straight up pisses me off. This whole show has such a fucked up standpoint on the idea of victims defending themselves, and even though it attempts to approach the idea of "self-defense" in a """modern""" manner it still just feels so disgustingly misogynistic. There is NO world in which some of these situations could happen and what the show says would happen to the victim defending themselves is true. Actually enjoying this show a lot, but I just keep noticing this glaring flaw in logic, and keep noticing a pattern in which this show that tries to present itself as pro-victim just consistently blames its victims. Also v tired of how the show constantly goes "and here's how Gyehoon is actually the victim in all this and how he feels about it!" as if it's not another character who went through a more traumatic thing, that he is judging. Like someone PLSS punch this man???
Okay y'all so I was watching this while it was airing and after a painful bunch of college finals I finally had…
Very much not a fan of how the show depicted Yeojin's legitimacy as Cheolwoong's mother. Yeah - the conditions of him becoming her son were HORRIBLE, but I very much blame Doohak's father, and Cheolwoong's grandfather for this. They literally forced Doohak's mother to give up her child? Yeojin kinda just wanted a son. And to a psychotic extent, a mother she was. I just really didn't like how there was this theme of calling her a "pretender", even though she literally adopted and raised Cheolwoong. For better or for worse, she is his mother. Didn't like how the writers treated this theme of adoption, and how Doohak is even given a line in the last episode along the lines of "this lady pretending to be your mother was behind it all".
This line is also highly representative of the entire show. Yeojin (though definitely one of the villains) is kinda scapegoated as being the most horrible person. Even though in the last ep. she was kinda trying to talk sense into her psychotic son LMAO. The worst villains in the show are definitely - NSA guy, Manok, CHEOLWOONG, and DOOHAKS FATHER (caps for emphasis because.). I absolutely HATED how Doohak's father is constantly having his behavior excused by literally the entire show. He was literally a horrible person and hit his son like HUUUUH? YOU RUINED HIS LIFE THEN GET MAD HE'S A THUG? Anyway. The ending having us try to think Cheolwoong just turned a new leaf and we gotta forgive him bc of him shedding a few tears when Doohak got shot was.... weird? The show definitely thought we cared about him when we wanted him either dead or in prison! He is not a good person and they gave us no reason to believe otherwise!
Finally, like I said, the showdown scene I thought was very good in that you're at the edge of your seat - UNTIL the NSA comes in. Then it falls so flat. And then making the audience think Doohak died for the SECOND time - kinda corny. I feel like the impact would've been so much better if NSA man shot Doohak and Cheolwoong took the bullet for him. This would've fulfilled this SICK (!!) agenda of giving Cheolwoong redemption, and kinda punishing the NSA guy by having him kill (or at least wound) the son of the family he wanted to keep together so bad. Hated how the payoffs for the villains were just the NSA guy killing himself and Yeojin going crazy. I honestly would've very much preferred a dead Cheolwoong, a Yeojin redemption in prison, and a NSA guy dead in a satisfying manner at least! Anyway closing this off before I write another essay and come off as a sadist <3
Okay y'all so I was watching this while it was airing and after a painful bunch of college finals I finally had the time to sit down finish and... it was okay! I have a bunch of thoughts I want to get into but, essentially, I feel like this drama is much goofier than everyone expected going into it. We have the makings of every k-drama trope ever.... mafiosos, power trips, wacky plotlines for shock-value - and of course - a love triangle... what could go wrong?
Plot-wise, honestly, the show was just plain goofy. This is a word y'all are gonna notice is highly representative of the entire drama. I feel like the direction for this show was all over the place. At first it appeared that the drama would revolve around an ex-con trying to get his life back together - except it pivoted towards a very... interesting... becoming a notorious gang-leader-1-man-army angle. Basically, the show just went from a pretty realistic premise - rich vs. poor, who doesn't love that - to borderline mafia fantasy. This could've worked - except it just felt very one note. The drama doesn't really get much done.
It felt like the plot was meant to revolve very much around Doohak/Cheolwoong's friendship, but it was just very poorly written out? The interactions between these two characters were highly repetitive - they definitely would not pass the male Bechdel test. Literally every conversation revolved around Jungshin (PLS DONT GET ME WRONG I LOVE HER); we literally heard more about her from these two than we saw her onscreen. It felt like the show thought we, as an audience, really cared about the friendship between these two - when we really just don't? The entire show, it just completely comes off as if Cheolwoong despises Doohak, so it just became very hard to get invested in us ever wanting to root for them. Rather than making us feel for them, the entire time we really just ended up hoping and praying that Doohak and Jungshin would be free from these Cheolwoong-y shackles of his "friendship". Basically, the whole show constantly tries to revolve around a "friend group" that is really just one guy hating the other guy and obsessing over his girl. Anyway, for what it's worth, it does keep you watching with it's goofy nonsensical shenanigans!
Now for the characters. Phew y'all.... this was the show's main weakness. It really just had too many characters - many of which were just pointless. First off, so many side characters just took up too much screentime for no reason. I feel like the main offenders on this were Doohak's two friend groups. We definitely could've done without either the scammers or the gangster friends. There was literally no reason for us to have to deal with two of those groups (not that I didn't like them mind you!). This sadly ended up in many characters who needed and DESERVED much more development - like Doohak's SISTER (!!!) Jungok, who the show just completely glosses over - being forgotten.
The villains were also just very very boring - mainly the NSA leader (what even was his name) and Oh ManOk; their entire personalities were just somehow knowing everything because power. Now, as for Yeojin (Cheolwoong's mother) I was actually really interested in! I feel like her character actually made for a very interesting "villain" in that she was very morally gray (maybe I'm an apologist...) for reasons that one could understand. We love a lady that's low-key a lunatic out of love (or greed??). Also, I absolutely despised Doohak's father and hated how the show constantly made excuses for him and didn't treat him like the villain he is. That man was very much one of the real villains here idgaf. This show just showed a trend of constantly minimizing and apologizing for horrible characters - even though they didn't give us any background or information that would've made us sympathize with them. Before I get into the main trio, let me just say that most if not all of the actors slayed. The issue was the writing and the characterizations they were dealt.
That said, I thought Doohak was a pretty interesting character, for the most part. I really disliked that after ep. 3 we see a drastic personality change (WHICH MAKES SENSE, BUT LISTEN) that renders him a very much Andrew-Tate-supporter, "I'm very tough", etc. persona for a few eps. Honestly, this just ties back to me wishing the show went with a much more realistic angle than it did. I would've liked it if the show leaned more on his smarts (he's literally a #1 student, which isn't mentioned enough till later in!) than his toughness. Again! I would've liked them to refer back to his initial innocence more than the did. This is a man that had his development slightly stunted after all!
Jungshin is honestly a very fun character that did not get enough involvement in a "plot" that is meant to revolve 1/3rd around her story. I loved how the show portrayed her as a character that simply dgaf - she will do anything (within her morals) to do what she has to do. Which is why it's so frustrating that, after the first half of the show, we really see much less of her DOING. Her personal endeavors are just reduced to small time lapses, even only being present because one of the men (unfortunately, typically Cheolwoong) was with her, helping her. We needed to see more of just her and her bad bitch friend Yangja by themselves!!!! All in all, I just wish that at least 25-50% of the Cheolwoong screentime was given to her instead. She was so much more interesting than he. I also honestly really loved her relationship and moments with Ms. Cha Geumok (theater owner) - another dreadfully underused actually good side character. Also saw the comment below mine say Inah wasn't suitable for her role and let me just say.... it's giving "I just watched her in Business Proposal and now I can't see her in anything else", let's not type-cast actors with literally no backing! She was great in this.
As for Cheolwoong, words can't describe how TERRIBLE the writing for his character was. He was boring, evil, and terrible all throughout the show. Despite this, it feels like the show thinks the audience feels worse for him than we really do. He's another character that isn't recognized to be as terrible as he really is; which is simply a very frustrating experience. We are given no reasons for why he is as terrible as he is, and the show constantly appears to blame other characters for why he makes terrible decisions (typically his mother, which is barely valid). Words cannot describe how grating he is. His entire personality is wanting Jungshin to a very very creepy extent. We are given no explanations to why he hates Doohak so much other than the fact he is with Jungshin; the show pretends like there is a deeper issue to it than this, but does not really delve much into it. I really really desperately wish we got more time dedicated to Jungshin/Doohak than we were (I admit it I'm a romance ho), or at the very least literally even a sliver of a reason to care for Doohak/Cheolwoong's friendship. Screen-time dedicated to the guys just gave us more and more hate for Cheolwoong. To avoid spoilers, all I will say is that the payoffs were just very unsatisfying as well. Anyway, again, I could go on for years on how terrible of a character he is (writing wise); let me just reiterate that he was wildly uninteresting. The actor did a good job though!
Last few points, the showdown scene was very good suspense-wise. Will have you at the edge of your seat for at least a couple mins, even if it fell a bit flat for me. I know this whole review lowkey sounded like hating, but it's mainly due to the fact that it became unexpected how wacky the whole show was. Real quick, let's just talk about how horrible the directing and editing were. Scenes were cut short, even if there was more to be gotten from them. Other pointless scenes were left in for no reason. Cuts were very very abrupt at times. Also, some directional choices were just plain wacky - a concrete example of this is the HORRIBLY done, very much laughably dramatic iMovie THUNDER and LIGHTNING that suddenly comes down in ep. 2 (?) - when the unexpected incident occurs. I honestly did a double take bc of how on the nose it was.
FINALLY - BIG BUT - THE SHOW IS JUST KINDA CAMP. I think at some point I just let go of my expectations and accepted the nonsensical Noire of it all. Sort of like Vincenzo, you very much should just not expected for it to make sense. Things just happen. I think this acceptance, paired with Doohak/Jungshin/Yeojin/Geumok, etc. just saved it for me. It's kinda fun! Also. The OST is actually chef's kiss. Like so so very gooddd!!
TLDR: I'm so sorry ab the long ass comment LMAO but even more shocking... I gave it a 9/10. I enjoyed it despite its wack writing! don't go into it expecting it to be realistic. it will be frustrating, but the romance was worth it for me!
Okay so this was a cute lil drama! I watched till ep. 10 while it was airing but unfortunately took a 2 month break once my semester started, so the details may be a little lost on me, but I enjoyed it enough!
What I liked: Seyeon is just a bad bitch. Honestly she was the best of the protagonists. So many bad bitch moments and she actually has rationale and was lowkey just funny as fuck in how she was. 10/10 would watch her drive a car into someone again. As for Miran, I'm not sure what the general consensus is on her, but I was literally rooting for her and don't ask me why! Won't elaborate to avoid spoilers but I frfr loved her. Jonghyeop was adorable as always (reason why I watched at first, stayed for him and mainly Eunsoo I fear...) and his performance was really good! ALSO really liked Inseong's mother. Something about her was just genuinely comforting and perfect as a lil break from everything. She was goofy enough to not feel bland and one-dimensional, but possessed all that motherly love some of y'all w/ mommy issues NEED. Other than that, there's some REALLY gorgeous settings and shots in this drama. Two main ones I can think of are this beautiful sunset they shot in the President's office, and the camping episode/scene with all the lights (also some rooftop scenes in the President's house). The child actress was actually good for once! Can't think of much else, but I liked many side characters, thought the plot did what it could w/ it's wacky limitations, and for the most part enjoyed the ship (which wasn't the focus anyway!)
What I HATED: Inseong's father. OH MY GOD. I don't think I've found a side, "good" character this annoying in a long time. Constantly yelling. Providing nothing of value. Literally acting like a weirdo in each scene he was in or whining or complaining. Was supposed to be taken as him caring but I genuinely just found him irritating and lowkey abusive sometimes (maybe an exaggeration LMAO BUT STILL.) Y'all I could not get into enough how much I hated this man. Other than him, really didn't feel like Inseong's friend needed to exist. He was basically useless throughout the whole drama, and he only had a few moments in which he really shouldn't have been used lowkey. Also his casting just threw me off, because he's so much older than Jonghyeop? So I wasn't sure how the logistics of this man that is supposed to be around his age being this much older worked. Honestly feel like he just got casted for comedy and he wasn't that funny at all (NOT TO DRAG). Ma Pi was a character I genuinely disliked at first, but he grew on me later on. HOWEVER, (and this is connected to my next point) I feel like he was another character that just didn't have to exist. I feel like a lot of his personality points (fighting, being tough, being the muscle) could've worked better for Inseong. Who is the next character I thought was weak - Inseong really wasn't particularly good at anything other than being likeable. Now this did work - I liked him! - but he just didn't add much to anything given how Seyeon and Seonju were lowkey the brains, he was just the face, and MaPi the brawn. I feel like, having had so many jobs, they should've used this point to make him more useful(?), it just felt like every time he was in peril he really didn't do much. At later points, I feel as though they noticed this, as they have him suddenly become a mastermind LMAO. Again, liked him, just think he would've had more purpose and qualities if his strengths went beyond just being a nice, kind face. Characters aside - plot was def wacky. Certain things were slow and certain things were fast, like the ending. But this might be on me bc I was shocked it ended at ep. 12, i thought it was 16 eps LMAOOO (I was like, wtf they're resolving every plot line how is this supposed to go on for 4 more eps?!)
All in all, this is just a nice, light watch. A lil bit serious, lil bit funny (Seyeon queen), and very very wacky. It's not anything from another world, and I would def watch this if you weren't feeling anything in particular or wanted to get over some other amazing drama (me w/ Tomorrow With You). It's def deserving of an 8.5-8/10!
Enjoyable..? The standouts are definitely Dahee and Eunwoo so far. I would've liked to see much more of an emphasis on Miho's strength than we got. They kinda just made her run around and use her magic on 1 (ONE) thing. As for Eunwoo this role just fit him way more than anything he's been in! True Beauty was a mess, but I felt like his performance here was genuinely good and believable. Steady improvement yay!
Now in risk of sounding like a hater y'all... Namgil was NOT right for this role at all. Van was a flat, uninteresting, boring character. The lack of expressions and emotion just didn't hit at all. I wasn't crazy about the casting in the first place, but maybe it was limiting writing? In general I just found the delivery of the character SEVERELY lacking. Sungjoon was good though!
The CGI was def inconsistent. Fights were a bit awkward at times and could feel repetitive. Super anti climactic final showdown and episode that just sets up for the next season. Contrary to what I saw in the reviews, I much preferred the first couple of eps before the plot tried to get all convoluted and complicated. There just wasn't enough time to make anyone care all that much about these random baddies.........
Rated this an 8.5 because Dahee>>>>> but lowkey convincing myself for lower. We'll just have to see how the plot goes. Praying it's Dahee/Eunwoo focused bc lord... the rest were just NAWT it
(edit: just realized this is only for the first 6 eps which I enjoyed more so nvm y'all 8.5 deserved!!)
this was defo a nice watch! since it's a shortish drama there's not all thattt much to say other than that LMAO but the actors were all real good! 8.5ish deserving or so... Jihoon served fs
SO much to say about this drama! but right off the bat, I have to say that it definitely deserves higher than an 8.0 rating - NO reason why this drama should hit the 7s LMAO. Ima get into it a bit y'all, but this was definitely an unexpected 10/10 for me - someone who doesn't even like the fantasy genre, and ESPECIALLY time travel dramas!
The standout in this drama is most defo the palpable romance and relationship between Marin and Sojoon (obviously, they're the main couple, but listen!!). I think a feeling this drama got down REALLY well is the desperation two lovers have in being with one another - that sheer sense of everything feeling pointless if we are not to be with the one we would do anything for. This ESPECIALLY shocked me because, honestly, at first? I didn't think that I was going to feel the romance at all. As you see on the symbiosis above (so it's not a spoiler!) the characters get married VERY quickly - in the first couple of episodes. I typically dislike when characters get married in general, as I feel it is simply a plot device to push the relationship forward, but I specifically hate it when a show rushes the BUILD-UP (the best part!) of a relationship and skips a few steps to marriage - which is what this show did! (( albeit intentionally)).
During the first few episodes, I was especially annoyed at how QUICKLY everything seemed to progress in literally the last 10 minutes of one episode (a recurring weakness) - we literally get a time-lapse of some "moments" they shared and are quickly shoved through their wedding with little to no development whatsoever. This definitely impacted the emotional investment I had on the entire ordeal - I would have liked to see more of their moments pre-marriage; HOWEVER, it is important to understand that this is the entire point of the relationship. Sojoon marries her, not due to love, but in hopes of changing both of their futures - it is through this need to protect, that he begins to truly fall for Marin. The only issue I had with this in the first few episodes was that the characterizations were sliiiiightly inconsistent. Sojoon seemed truly in love out of nowhere at times, yet went from this to acting like he held no feelings for Marin whatsoever from one second to the next. Similarly, it felt like Marin's character was written in a VERY over the top manner. She went from acting completely rational and normal one second, to ditzy and head-over-heels in love when it came to Sojoon. I appreciated that this quirk, however, was quickly addressed in one line later on (inconsequential so I'll semi-quote it, "When Marin is normal, she's really normal. When she's weird, she's really weird) - it describes her character so perfectly. WITH THIS SAID, the first few eps definitely feel like whiplash for these reasons. We have the marriage occur out of nowhere, character's feelings all over the place, and the time travel is confusing asf initially! What Tomorrow With You does so perfectly, though, is turning what feels like whiplash into something that feels so right - which is why I want to give the writers some credit (slack?) and wonder if this confusion is all intentional, and a representation of a convoluted time-line in which a seemingly inevitable fate is morphed into something so gorgeous.
Like I said before, I was actually surprised in how their relationship was defined by intentionally greasy, OVER-THE-TOP (CAPITALS) cheesy/cringey moments between Sojoon and Marin - IN A WAY THAT WORKS (I WAS SHOCKED TOO). I think this is what Jehoon and Minah just excelled at; making every toe-curling, "i can't believe they just said that", moment feel so natural. Small pecks, embarrassing PDA, and matching pijamas that initially feel superficial quickly become really heartwarming moments that end up reflective moments on both character's individual anxieties regarding their issues in the drama. Marin's desperate attempts at bringing Sojoon to the present, mentally, through these small moments; Sojoon's inability to freely enjoy himself during these moments, and detach them from the doom that awaits them in the future. As Marin says regarding her philosophy on images - "It is not just about what you see, but the unspoken things that an image tells you.", these fleeting moments of love are representative of so so much, as we as an audience ourselves wonder if these two were really never meant to be. They're just so pure in how they love each other - and the feelings of both characters as well as their frustrations in coping with the perpetual helplessness their relationship is plagued by shine through. A sense of blissful melancholy just coats over every moment they spend together. They're so cute and perfect. EVEN IF THEY GAVE ME SO MUCH HORRIBLE ANXIETY!!!!!!! I was just really shocked by the way a drama which had a rushed marriage managed to portray such a perfect progression of "fake" feelings becoming real.
The acting was literally sublime. Jehoon is AMAZING at (now idk if this makes sense) but his micro-expressions. The little faces he makes when reacting to other's lines - the actions and quirks he brings into every Sojoon moment - it's just all so good. Genuinely one of the best actors out there, in that he understands how to make moments feel real - just natural. Similarly, Minah matches his natural energy so well. Their chemistry never felt forced - perhaps this is why it was so hard for me to distinguish (in the beginning) when certain things were "fake/real" feelings! ALSO SIDE SIDE NOTE - THESE CHARACTERS ARE SO HORNY?? LIKE DAMN. THEY WERE GOING AT IT LIKE DOGS Y'ALL. I've literally never seen so much natural(? LIKE NOT FORCED/NOT PRIORITIZED) sex/allusions to sex happening (not even in Nevertheless y'all.), also there was a not at all graphic but somehow really graphic gay sex joke that was kinda tasteful! a true serve.
Anyway I have to hold myself back from writing pages on them, but the couple really was so perfect. The definition of small moments being everything. REAL QUICK on the technical side, I absolutely LOVED the use of single-take (? I think this is the name) shots used in their scenes - the camera followed the couple from, for example, one point really far away to another without any cuts. It really allows you to take in their words, and the scenery, in a way that feels so natural. If I could change anything, it would definitely be to give it at least 1 more episode. I definitely felt like the ending, while I saw what the writers were going for, needed more time to be the PERFECTION it deserved.
ANYWAYSSS The OST is chefs kiss. "With You" by Kim Feel is the definition of perfection. The side characters were amazing (I particularly wanted more of Seyoung!!! Queen). I wish the colors were a bit less muted, but it was still really beautiful. It will be confusing in the first few eps, which I suspect is why the scoring is so low, but like the reviews say - it is SO important to stick with this drama. It's so good and deserving of so much more. I MISS THEM AND I KNOW THERE'S MORE I WANT TO SAY THAT I'M FORGETTING BUT LET ME STOP Y'ALL!! SOJOON AND MARIN YOU WILL ALWAYS BE PERFECT, THIS SCORE IS BULLSHIT 11/10 WATCH NOW!
Okay so I literally started watching this just because they had "Still love you" on the OST (which I wish they used the original but whateverrr) and I wasn't disappointed at all. I've seen a lot of comments say this drama is too sad/not feel-good enough and I just have to disagree. The entire point of it is to find YOUR hope, your reason, to keep going - despite all the (maybee slightly) exaggeratedly horrible hardships the characters have faced. To me, this drama was just really heartwarming and beautiful in so many different ways - but it also had some weaknesses which I kinda wanna get into! That said I'm going in between 9-10/10 ratings wise! (but will probably end up scoring 10/10 bc i'm weak minded and feel guilty giving any less)
First off, what drew me in from ep. 1 is how beautifully produced/shot the entire show is. The colors can go from being extensively monochromatic to vibrantly beautiful from one shot to the next - it's literally amazing. Ofc, all Netflix dramas tend to have high production values, but I really appreciated the focus that seemed to go into aestheticism in this drama. CGI/special effects wise I was also pleasantly surprised! Might be because I just watched another fantasy drama w/ the worst GCI ever (Hwayugi my beloved but......), but the CGI in general just amazed me. I also found myself appreciating the smaller things, like how the weird-reaper-teleportation sound, sounded? Even sometimes slightly depending on who teleported - it's attention to detail like that that just gets meee. I did realize that in later episodes the CGI wasn't used nearly as much (maybe I'm misremembering, memory bad) but something tells me that might be because of one dream sequence in episode 3.... (THE BUILDINGS?!). All in all, I was even pleasantly surprised with how the action scenes looked! Kind of wish I got to see more of them (wanted to see Ryeon/Joonggil have an emotional fight scene SO BADDD) but this drama wasn't aiming for that, so I don't hold it against it at all. It was just so visually gorgeous.
Now the meat of it, the plot itself! Unpopular opinion i guess, but I always find myself wishing dramas had MORE episodes. I see people say dramas drag on too long, but I just find it so much more satisfying when you can see that the directors/writers had enough time to develop what they wanted to. Which I believe is something this drama struggled with SPECIFICALLY in the last 2 episodes - there was just so much ground to cover that flew by way too quickly. This isn't to say the pacing was bad at all throughout the drama - which is why I think they would've benefitted from having 2-4 eps total, because I really felt like there was just so much more meat on the bone for this drama - so much more to see.
If getting more episodes was impossible, I think an episode that could have DEFINITELY been cut was the old military man one. I don't think I've ever sat through so much forceful propaganda in my life - IM NOT SAYING IT WASNT CUTE.... BUT IT JUST WAS SO UNNECESSARY!! The stakes just were not high at all, and the message for this one just seemed to be "fight for your country even though they treated you horribly!" (gross simplification ik, but yall get me). All in all, while I did mostly enjoy it, it just brought nothing to the overall narrative whatsoever. This slot could've been used for background on characters that came in WAY too late into the show (but I won't get into bc no spoilers!). Similarly to the episode that dealt with the Japanese comfort girls, actually. I think, at least for this one, the idea WAS there - I loved the concept of an episode that dealt with the all too real issue of sex trafficking in Korea. But the way it was done was just painful. They tried to tie in way too many things to the episode (to put it vaguely, Rowoon's random involvement), the stakes were once again VERY low, and the narrative ended up feeling overly patriotic to me (again, enjoyed the story, it was just very much go girl give us nothing!). These two episodes could've easily been cut, and used to provide further background and story to the actual core characters. The rest of the episodes I very much enjoyed. One thing I believe this drama can't get enough props for is just how well developed some/most of the individual stories were - the lore ran SO DEEP!!! The reporter, the couple, and the siblings episode in particular were just chefs kiss - a little bit extra, sure, but just so beautiful. And I better not see any slander on the Kong episode! I love how they handled the concept of pet-human bonds - I think people would've taken it more seriously if Hun was the risk though. Also I did NOT know Cha Hakyeon was in this and as a simp starlight this was EVERYTHING!!
This is already wayy too long, I'm not even gonna get to get into each character extensively :() ... but I really loved the main trio + Joonggil. Like I said throughout, we deserved more time for them to be developed individually THROUGHOUT the drama, rather than all at the end when there was essentially no time left (Throwing this in there, the last 10 mins were such a waste of time. Felt like an epilogue that was taking up the valuable time of conversations we never got to see shared). Still their slayage was palpable, Heesun/Jion/Rowoon/Soohyuk are fine as ALL hell (and the brother in the siblings ep..... FOINEEE)
This is defo worth a watch. As a romance wh0re I kinda feared for my life going into it that I would drop it, but the plot and characters hold up so very well. The worldbuilding in general is amazing - to the point where I think this is my favorite depicted afterlife in a drama! (sorry Goblin/HotelDelLuna/whatever). Give it a watch!!! Now!!! (9-10/10)
It felt like the show ran out of time - HOWEVER, I simply disagree that the show should have ended at ep. 9. At that point, NONE of the issue that have arisen are resolved; if anything, I felt that the writers needed better focus during the later half. I was genuinely pissed off at the writing in episodes 15/16. It felt like they could have used those episodes to wrap up the plot neatly, but opted towards a cheap, lazy, rushed plot convenience so they did not have to think of a good way to wrap up their OWN plot.
BIG HOWEVER: I am a huge fan of romance. This is arguably one of the best romance dramas out there. It's so real, so pure, so genuine. Yejin and Haein outdid themselves so severely with their chemistry. I was so pissed off by the writing BECAUSE I was so invested in Junhui and Jina. I genuinely wanted them to have resolutions that befit them. And I so genuinely enjoyed every single moment of their relationship. I genuinely wish we got more (with better writing). I wish their conversations actually addressed and said what they felt and wanted to say; something that would theoretically be okay, if they ever ended up saying it at all.
Despite all the WRITING weaknesses, I think this is genuinely such a good drama. It focuses entirely on our couple, maybe to a fault, but it is what carries it after all. I loved Gyengseon and Bora. I do not agree with all the criticism on Jina not "standing up for herself" because that is her character arc. I also think the drama literally makes a point that "fault" goes both ways, and I hate to read people misinterpret this and attribute Jina's character as bad.
I don't think I have ever been invested in a couple's future as much. Yes, bad writing, but I rate according to how enjoyable a drama is, and I enjoyed this romance so very much. I think the romance alone makes it worth a watch, for those who can appreciate realism for what it is. So fuck it I gave it a 10/10 and FUCK JINA'S MAMA
I feel like the show starts off in a very slow way that throws off most people. There's just an overbearing amount of flashbacks and focus on the past - which is definitely important in terms of exposition, but absolutely overstayed its welcome. You can clearly tell that the show was written with the past crime/scenes in mind first, and then the "present" plot. We see so much of the child actors for the first half (and honestly, most) of the show that some people even liked them more - which is an issue when the adult versions are the main cast. I think the show focused way too much on the crime/Yoon Hui Jae and that one evil twink aspect that was just so boring. I only really liked that the past scenes set up for what I mainly enjoyed about this drama, which is the dynamics between Namu/Nakwon & Nakwon/Jihye (mom) & Namu/Hyunmoo/Sojin/Stepmom. The crime aspect was just really drab.
I feel like the present scenes suffered even more from this focus - there was just not enough left to work with given how badly they wanted to make the murder the big happening of the drama. It could've been MUCH more interesting should the present scenes have focused on the evil journalists of the show, namely Heeyoung, and the media as antagonists. I feel like the writers SERIOUSLY wasted Heeyoung/Sehyoung's potential as the main bad. Huijae was just uninteresting, while the dynamics between the journalists as a "morally gray" evil and the main leads was actually palpable. Not to mention it was just more compelling when the drama focused on the downfall of the crime on the families rather than the new crimes that were going on.
Not to mention, the writing for present Namu was just ATROCIOUS. He was genuinely so boring for most of his scenes for 80% of the drama. Literally just devolved to staring at his scene partner not doing anything. I also found Muwon (Nakwon's brother) to be a waste of a character - he was boring, lowkey annoying, and really did not present much to the story. As for Nakwon, like Heeyoung I felt she had a lot of wasted potential, because while I loved her character she really did not get a story arc of her own; it would have been much more interesting if the show focused more on how the media affected her acting/industry work or something (ANYTHING).
My favorite arc by FAR was Hyunmoo and his growth with Sojin and his stepmom. Those family scenes were just SOOO beautiful, his emotions were palpable, and his character was just gorg. Similarly, I found Nakwon's scenes missing her dead mom just so heartbreaking. That's what the show should've focused on! Not boring ass Yoon Huijae and his twink! Let's see the families struggle to deal with Heeyoung rather than get a recap of the past 30 times just for the same crimes to happen! I just pray the writer improved after this.
HOOOOWEVER, I think it says a lot that despite these criticisms I finished this over a couple days without any extended breaks. Flashbacks aside I thought it was an interesting enough drama, worth watching alone for all the beautiful family-love scenes it has (AND HYUNMOO TBH). And the love between Namu and Nakwon is just genuinely so pure, so that while they don't have the most INTERESTING dynamic you can't help but love them too. So fuck it I gave it a 9/10 !
The chemistry between Joongi/Chaewon is soo palpable and perfect - the only real drawback this drama had is that I felt like the dialogue wasn't always completely satisfying. I feel like the writers could've elevated it even MORE by thinking a bit more about what needed to be said (e.g. - Jiwon never explicitly telling him she just needed HIM, not what he thought she wanted him to be). Either way that's just me being picky for no reason. If anything it just goes to show just how pure the love portrayed in this drama is - the writers needed to step up and do it even more justice! Jiwon and Hyunsoo were just perfect. CHEFS KISS.
The acting is amazing, and the cinematography is just beautiful. The drama's biggest strength is that it never loses its pace, there's always a situation/moment to look forward to. Climax after climax (and twist after twist) that prevents it from ever getting boring. Super deserving of its high rating, and one I would def recommend! (10/10)
1. spoiler tag!
2. Dahyun lost her memory, so she couldn't have been questioned
3. The policeman had time to find Gyeyoung, but trusted his friend (the killer) to search the house for him. Even IF they theoretically got the escape route from Dahyun this likely would've happened
4. Dahyun's mother had no way of knowing her kidnapper was directly tied to Gyeoung's. She thought she killed her daughter's kidnapper and that was that - and the policeman even stated he investigated him and found no tie to his friend either way. Refer back to 2 as well! And I understand what you mean about his frustration in that no one did anything; but it's just completely misplaced in this case. Dahyun's mother went through a traumatic experience that he continues to batter and punish her for because he incorrectly assumes that if she had turned herself in, Gyeyoung would have magically been saved. And by your logic, it should go both ways! Dahyun's mother - who underwent a much worse trauma - should receive the same amount of understanding from you and Gyehoon. How could she be rational after having to kill someone to protect her daughter?
This was 3 months ago so bear with me. I actually praised the show in my comment above this one! I don't think there's much reason in arguing over poor writing, honestly. The whole plot line assumes that Dahyun's mom was being self-serving, and states she avoided jail-time, even though it was CLEAR self-defense that the cop could have vouched for. BUT AGAIN I DID LIKE THE SHOW SO PUT YOUR PITCHFORK DOWN PLSSS
(TL/DR: It's definitely worth a watch and the pacing does not feel slow at all. Dark parts are dark, cute parts are cute, and both are weirdly comedic. I also really enjoyed the ship for what it was! Solid 9/10 drama, pushed to 10/10 for me just bc the vibes were so right)
The biggest issue this drama had was that the writing just didn't really go anywhere. It felt like the plot, though very interesting, occurred AROUND the main characters rather than because of them. What I mean by this is that it felt like they didn't really advance the plot: things just kept happening to them. Episode after episode, we begin to notice a pattern in which it feels as though the characters are stuck in a perpetual waiting game, waiting for the next time the antagonists would strike. Basically - they don't really find things out, things are just revealed to them. I don't think this hurt the drama too much, but I couldn't help but notice how passively the characters acted in this world.
Aside from this, one of my biggest gripes with the show is that the "Link" itself, connecting Gyehoon and Dahyun, isn't really implemented or explored sufficiently enough for my taste (considering it's the name of the drama!). It just felt like the existence of the Link didn't really matter - it served little purpose other than acting as a lil cheat code for Gyehoon as an ML to know how his lady was feeling (exaggeration ofc, but yanno). I would've really liked for the Link to have more PRESENCE within the plot. It just felt like an afterthought at times. Also! I thought I was getting into a cooking drama!!! That's the whole motif!!! Why were there so few cooking themes! Cutting the drama some slack here because even I don't know what I mean by that; but it felt much more like "Link: Prepare Restaurant, Love, Kill" than anything else. On a more serious criticism, I really feel like the reveals to plot lines (aka. the answers) just really weren't too satisfying. We aren't really given the reasons for WHY things happened - the writers essentially just say "it just did". For example, (no spoilers ofc) when a character sees another character in danger and then simply doesn't help, the show doesn't really give a reason as to why they didn't help. They just don't. And you just have to accept that. Basically, the motivations for why characters do things just never made sense. Mainly because they usually had none other than the writers said so!
This kind of ties into my next point that the show has several actions that are nonsensical - even for a k-drama. For example, at one point a character just... KNOWS what another character remembers just by looking at them. Even though the other character gave no signs that could've told them that. They just knew, for the sake of advancing the plot. Furthermore, there were some frustrating scenes in which some things just made no sense, such as in ep. 1 (so it doesn't count as a spoiler!) in which the FL just basically gets chased down her own street and into her house by a stalker and no one hears the screaming or the scuffling. And after that, the police see her wait for hours on end at the station to speak to them, and then when she gets up and leaves... they just let her! Of course, my main complaint I wrote in the comment underneath this one before I finished the show, but it's essentially the way in which the show treats the idea of victims fighting back. Which also brings me to my next point - characters!
I think, for once, side characters really made this drama as good as it was. THIS DOESN'T MEAN THAT THE LEADS WEREN'T GOOD!!!! I absolutely loved Gayoung (ok I started watching this bc I'm in love w her) and Jingoo. But the side characters were just SO amazingly interesting in this drama. It can't be overstated how good Dahyun's mom and grandmother were in this (Bokhee and Choonok). The actresses just embodied this comedic peculiarity for their characters - and it just worked so well. They were funny and never felt like they were intruding upon the plot with useless scenes, and their bond was just precious! It was so amazing to see this dynamic of how far they would go for Dahyun. They were genuinely just so amazing. This ALSO applies to Eunjung - my crazy goth queen. I was honestly very disappointed with how underutilized her character was in this show - she brought SO much to the table in her more prevalent scenes, and I think the twist she brought to the plot was the only one that actually had my jaw a lil bit on the floor. She had a super interesting backstory, and her motivations actually made SENSE - something that's surprisingly rare in this drama! I also really would've loved to see more of the policewoman - the cuntress herself - Minjo. She was PAINNNNNFULLY benched by the writers and given little to no screen-time dedicated to herself. Definitely would not pass the bech-del test, and I wanted to see more of her friendship with Dahyun - another missed opportunity! The villains (without spoilers) were honestly just a little bit boring. As I said, the reveals weren't very interesting because the villains themselves weren't interesting. Their motivations make little to no sense or just aren't revealed, and the plot suffers from overutitilizing one particular villain for the better part of the entire show - to the point in which he almost just becomes a regular character.
Aside from this, Dahyun, of course, I really enjoyed. Her character is funny, without being ditzy. Innocent, but not necessarily naive. Etc, etc - the first 6 episodes were really well written for her. I loved how realistic her thought processes were, and I was really baited into thinking the writers knew what they were doing with the topic of victimhood (they didn't.). Unfortunately, she does get Damsel-In-Distress'd by the writers several times. I also don't think this is a spoiler because it's literally mentioned once, but she takes self-defense tips at one point and just... never uses them! All in all though, she was definitely a standout and not at all irritating. Gyehoon as a character.... unfortunately, not so much - but this time, entirely due to the writing. He's really just kind of boring, and the writers never did figure out if they wanted him to be cold, or warm. There are several times throughout the drama in which he pulls back from Dahyun for reasons that quite literally came out of the writer's asses: they (writers) would do anything and everything to ensure the couple had "issues" - which would be fine, if they plot actually set up issues for them to have! He honestly just came off as annoying several times due to the ways in which he would randomly pull away. The reasons he would state made no sense, and usually came from a place of him blaming Dahyun, or someone close to her: something that was severely ironic considering the self-blame he grapples with. The show also treats Gyehoon as the ULTIMATE victim, at all points, no matter what. At every reveal, we are essentially plagued with every character going, "How will Gyehoon react to this?!", for no apparent reason. My main issue was that Dahyun genuinely went through much worse trauma than Gyehoon did throughout her life. However, the writers always have her worry about how HE will react to new information, and we get very little of her processing what she learns about herself, for herself. TL/DR: Gyehoon was catered to severely by the writers and kinda annoying, but he was still an enjoyable character, if a bit one-note.
This is long enough, sorry, but the OST is also pretty enjoyable! One thing I REALLY liked about this drama and thought was really clever is how the OST is implemented into the plot itself in the final episode. Basically, the show's writing is NOT great by any means. But the show itself is honestly just really enjoyable. It manages to keep you watching episode after episode, as the pacing never gets too slow. Every episode deals with an almost new situation for the characters, so it never gets boring at all. This was definitely worth the watch, and I would definitely recommend it for anyone else looking for a slightly creepy, mysterious comedy! 9/10 if I went off how I felt about the writing, but 10/10 in vibes!
ALSO MAKES NO SENSE HOW THE SHOW SAYS IF HER MOTHER TURNED HERSELF IN SHE'D SERVE JAIL TIME??? Bro what the fuck....... she protected a fucking POLICE OFFICERRR FROM A KIDNAPPER??????? Like there's no argument: maybe if they had been in the man's property they could've somehow twisted it to Bokhee being liable??? And pls don't get me started on Gyehoon acting pissed off at the mom.... based off some assumption.... when she's the one that went through a traumatic experience (losing her child, having to kill someone, having to think she caused another child to die). What the show just can't grasp is that Gyehoon isn't even close to the biggest victim here. Bokhee and Dahyun have both singularly led SIGNIFICANTLY worse lives, and experienced worse trauma, and he's just viewed as the grand victim. AND HE JUDGES HER??? LMFAOOO I'M SO PISSED OFF ..... liked his character till this scene
This line is also highly representative of the entire show. Yeojin (though definitely one of the villains) is kinda scapegoated as being the most horrible person. Even though in the last ep. she was kinda trying to talk sense into her psychotic son LMAO. The worst villains in the show are definitely - NSA guy, Manok, CHEOLWOONG, and DOOHAKS FATHER (caps for emphasis because.). I absolutely HATED how Doohak's father is constantly having his behavior excused by literally the entire show. He was literally a horrible person and hit his son like HUUUUH? YOU RUINED HIS LIFE THEN GET MAD HE'S A THUG? Anyway. The ending having us try to think Cheolwoong just turned a new leaf and we gotta forgive him bc of him shedding a few tears when Doohak got shot was.... weird? The show definitely thought we cared about him when we wanted him either dead or in prison! He is not a good person and they gave us no reason to believe otherwise!
Finally, like I said, the showdown scene I thought was very good in that you're at the edge of your seat - UNTIL the NSA comes in. Then it falls so flat. And then making the audience think Doohak died for the SECOND time - kinda corny. I feel like the impact would've been so much better if NSA man shot Doohak and Cheolwoong took the bullet for him. This would've fulfilled this SICK (!!) agenda of giving Cheolwoong redemption, and kinda punishing the NSA guy by having him kill (or at least wound) the son of the family he wanted to keep together so bad. Hated how the payoffs for the villains were just the NSA guy killing himself and Yeojin going crazy. I honestly would've very much preferred a dead Cheolwoong, a Yeojin redemption in prison, and a NSA guy dead in a satisfying manner at least! Anyway closing this off before I write another essay and come off as a sadist <3
Plot-wise, honestly, the show was just plain goofy. This is a word y'all are gonna notice is highly representative of the entire drama. I feel like the direction for this show was all over the place. At first it appeared that the drama would revolve around an ex-con trying to get his life back together - except it pivoted towards a very... interesting... becoming a notorious gang-leader-1-man-army angle. Basically, the show just went from a pretty realistic premise - rich vs. poor, who doesn't love that - to borderline mafia fantasy. This could've worked - except it just felt very one note. The drama doesn't really get much done.
It felt like the plot was meant to revolve very much around Doohak/Cheolwoong's friendship, but it was just very poorly written out? The interactions between these two characters were highly repetitive - they definitely would not pass the male Bechdel test. Literally every conversation revolved around Jungshin (PLS DONT GET ME WRONG I LOVE HER); we literally heard more about her from these two than we saw her onscreen. It felt like the show thought we, as an audience, really cared about the friendship between these two - when we really just don't? The entire show, it just completely comes off as if Cheolwoong despises Doohak, so it just became very hard to get invested in us ever wanting to root for them. Rather than making us feel for them, the entire time we really just ended up hoping and praying that Doohak and Jungshin would be free from these Cheolwoong-y shackles of his "friendship". Basically, the whole show constantly tries to revolve around a "friend group" that is really just one guy hating the other guy and obsessing over his girl. Anyway, for what it's worth, it does keep you watching with it's goofy nonsensical shenanigans!
Now for the characters. Phew y'all.... this was the show's main weakness. It really just had too many characters - many of which were just pointless. First off, so many side characters just took up too much screentime for no reason. I feel like the main offenders on this were Doohak's two friend groups. We definitely could've done without either the scammers or the gangster friends. There was literally no reason for us to have to deal with two of those groups (not that I didn't like them mind you!). This sadly ended up in many characters who needed and DESERVED much more development - like Doohak's SISTER (!!!) Jungok, who the show just completely glosses over - being forgotten.
The villains were also just very very boring - mainly the NSA leader (what even was his name) and Oh ManOk; their entire personalities were just somehow knowing everything because power. Now, as for Yeojin (Cheolwoong's mother) I was actually really interested in! I feel like her character actually made for a very interesting "villain" in that she was very morally gray (maybe I'm an apologist...) for reasons that one could understand. We love a lady that's low-key a lunatic out of love (or greed??). Also, I absolutely despised Doohak's father and hated how the show constantly made excuses for him and didn't treat him like the villain he is. That man was very much one of the real villains here idgaf. This show just showed a trend of constantly minimizing and apologizing for horrible characters - even though they didn't give us any background or information that would've made us sympathize with them. Before I get into the main trio, let me just say that most if not all of the actors slayed. The issue was the writing and the characterizations they were dealt.
That said, I thought Doohak was a pretty interesting character, for the most part. I really disliked that after ep. 3 we see a drastic personality change (WHICH MAKES SENSE, BUT LISTEN) that renders him a very much Andrew-Tate-supporter, "I'm very tough", etc. persona for a few eps. Honestly, this just ties back to me wishing the show went with a much more realistic angle than it did. I would've liked it if the show leaned more on his smarts (he's literally a #1 student, which isn't mentioned enough till later in!) than his toughness. Again! I would've liked them to refer back to his initial innocence more than the did. This is a man that had his development slightly stunted after all!
Jungshin is honestly a very fun character that did not get enough involvement in a "plot" that is meant to revolve 1/3rd around her story. I loved how the show portrayed her as a character that simply dgaf - she will do anything (within her morals) to do what she has to do. Which is why it's so frustrating that, after the first half of the show, we really see much less of her DOING. Her personal endeavors are just reduced to small time lapses, even only being present because one of the men (unfortunately, typically Cheolwoong) was with her, helping her. We needed to see more of just her and her bad bitch friend Yangja by themselves!!!! All in all, I just wish that at least 25-50% of the Cheolwoong screentime was given to her instead. She was so much more interesting than he. I also honestly really loved her relationship and moments with Ms. Cha Geumok (theater owner) - another dreadfully underused actually good side character. Also saw the comment below mine say Inah wasn't suitable for her role and let me just say.... it's giving "I just watched her in Business Proposal and now I can't see her in anything else", let's not type-cast actors with literally no backing! She was great in this.
As for Cheolwoong, words can't describe how TERRIBLE the writing for his character was. He was boring, evil, and terrible all throughout the show. Despite this, it feels like the show thinks the audience feels worse for him than we really do. He's another character that isn't recognized to be as terrible as he really is; which is simply a very frustrating experience. We are given no reasons for why he is as terrible as he is, and the show constantly appears to blame other characters for why he makes terrible decisions (typically his mother, which is barely valid). Words cannot describe how grating he is. His entire personality is wanting Jungshin to a very very creepy extent. We are given no explanations to why he hates Doohak so much other than the fact he is with Jungshin; the show pretends like there is a deeper issue to it than this, but does not really delve much into it. I really really desperately wish we got more time dedicated to Jungshin/Doohak than we were (I admit it I'm a romance ho), or at the very least literally even a sliver of a reason to care for Doohak/Cheolwoong's friendship. Screen-time dedicated to the guys just gave us more and more hate for Cheolwoong. To avoid spoilers, all I will say is that the payoffs were just very unsatisfying as well. Anyway, again, I could go on for years on how terrible of a character he is (writing wise); let me just reiterate that he was wildly uninteresting. The actor did a good job though!
Last few points, the showdown scene was very good suspense-wise. Will have you at the edge of your seat for at least a couple mins, even if it fell a bit flat for me. I know this whole review lowkey sounded like hating, but it's mainly due to the fact that it became unexpected how wacky the whole show was. Real quick, let's just talk about how horrible the directing and editing were. Scenes were cut short, even if there was more to be gotten from them. Other pointless scenes were left in for no reason. Cuts were very very abrupt at times. Also, some directional choices were just plain wacky - a concrete example of this is the HORRIBLY done, very much laughably dramatic iMovie THUNDER and LIGHTNING that suddenly comes down in ep. 2 (?) - when the unexpected incident occurs. I honestly did a double take bc of how on the nose it was.
FINALLY - BIG BUT - THE SHOW IS JUST KINDA CAMP. I think at some point I just let go of my expectations and accepted the nonsensical Noire of it all. Sort of like Vincenzo, you very much should just not expected for it to make sense. Things just happen. I think this acceptance, paired with Doohak/Jungshin/Yeojin/Geumok, etc. just saved it for me. It's kinda fun! Also. The OST is actually chef's kiss. Like so so very gooddd!!
TLDR: I'm so sorry ab the long ass comment LMAO but even more shocking... I gave it a 9/10. I enjoyed it despite its wack writing! don't go into it expecting it to be realistic. it will be frustrating, but the romance was worth it for me!
What I liked: Seyeon is just a bad bitch. Honestly she was the best of the protagonists. So many bad bitch moments and she actually has rationale and was lowkey just funny as fuck in how she was. 10/10 would watch her drive a car into someone again. As for Miran, I'm not sure what the general consensus is on her, but I was literally rooting for her and don't ask me why! Won't elaborate to avoid spoilers but I frfr loved her. Jonghyeop was adorable as always (reason why I watched at first, stayed for him and mainly Eunsoo I fear...) and his performance was really good! ALSO really liked Inseong's mother. Something about her was just genuinely comforting and perfect as a lil break from everything. She was goofy enough to not feel bland and one-dimensional, but possessed all that motherly love some of y'all w/ mommy issues NEED. Other than that, there's some REALLY gorgeous settings and shots in this drama. Two main ones I can think of are this beautiful sunset they shot in the President's office, and the camping episode/scene with all the lights (also some rooftop scenes in the President's house). The child actress was actually good for once! Can't think of much else, but I liked many side characters, thought the plot did what it could w/ it's wacky limitations, and for the most part enjoyed the ship (which wasn't the focus anyway!)
What I HATED: Inseong's father. OH MY GOD. I don't think I've found a side, "good" character this annoying in a long time. Constantly yelling. Providing nothing of value. Literally acting like a weirdo in each scene he was in or whining or complaining. Was supposed to be taken as him caring but I genuinely just found him irritating and lowkey abusive sometimes (maybe an exaggeration LMAO BUT STILL.) Y'all I could not get into enough how much I hated this man. Other than him, really didn't feel like Inseong's friend needed to exist. He was basically useless throughout the whole drama, and he only had a few moments in which he really shouldn't have been used lowkey. Also his casting just threw me off, because he's so much older than Jonghyeop? So I wasn't sure how the logistics of this man that is supposed to be around his age being this much older worked. Honestly feel like he just got casted for comedy and he wasn't that funny at all (NOT TO DRAG). Ma Pi was a character I genuinely disliked at first, but he grew on me later on. HOWEVER, (and this is connected to my next point) I feel like he was another character that just didn't have to exist. I feel like a lot of his personality points (fighting, being tough, being the muscle) could've worked better for Inseong. Who is the next character I thought was weak - Inseong really wasn't particularly good at anything other than being likeable. Now this did work - I liked him! - but he just didn't add much to anything given how Seyeon and Seonju were lowkey the brains, he was just the face, and MaPi the brawn. I feel like, having had so many jobs, they should've used this point to make him more useful(?), it just felt like every time he was in peril he really didn't do much. At later points, I feel as though they noticed this, as they have him suddenly become a mastermind LMAO. Again, liked him, just think he would've had more purpose and qualities if his strengths went beyond just being a nice, kind face. Characters aside - plot was def wacky. Certain things were slow and certain things were fast, like the ending. But this might be on me bc I was shocked it ended at ep. 12, i thought it was 16 eps LMAOOO (I was like, wtf they're resolving every plot line how is this supposed to go on for 4 more eps?!)
All in all, this is just a nice, light watch. A lil bit serious, lil bit funny (Seyeon queen), and very very wacky. It's not anything from another world, and I would def watch this if you weren't feeling anything in particular or wanted to get over some other amazing drama (me w/ Tomorrow With You). It's def deserving of an 8.5-8/10!
Now in risk of sounding like a hater y'all... Namgil was NOT right for this role at all. Van was a flat, uninteresting, boring character. The lack of expressions and emotion just didn't hit at all. I wasn't crazy about the casting in the first place, but maybe it was limiting writing? In general I just found the delivery of the character SEVERELY lacking. Sungjoon was good though!
The CGI was def inconsistent. Fights were a bit awkward at times and could feel repetitive. Super anti climactic final showdown and episode that just sets up for the next season. Contrary to what I saw in the reviews, I much preferred the first couple of eps before the plot tried to get all convoluted and complicated. There just wasn't enough time to make anyone care all that much about these random baddies.........
Rated this an 8.5 because Dahee>>>>> but lowkey convincing myself for lower. We'll just have to see how the plot goes. Praying it's Dahee/Eunwoo focused bc lord... the rest were just NAWT it
(edit: just realized this is only for the first 6 eps which I enjoyed more so nvm y'all 8.5 deserved!!)
The standout in this drama is most defo the palpable romance and relationship between Marin and Sojoon (obviously, they're the main couple, but listen!!). I think a feeling this drama got down REALLY well is the desperation two lovers have in being with one another - that sheer sense of everything feeling pointless if we are not to be with the one we would do anything for. This ESPECIALLY shocked me because, honestly, at first? I didn't think that I was going to feel the romance at all. As you see on the symbiosis above (so it's not a spoiler!) the characters get married VERY quickly - in the first couple of episodes. I typically dislike when characters get married in general, as I feel it is simply a plot device to push the relationship forward, but I specifically hate it when a show rushes the BUILD-UP (the best part!) of a relationship and skips a few steps to marriage - which is what this show did! (( albeit intentionally)).
During the first few episodes, I was especially annoyed at how QUICKLY everything seemed to progress in literally the last 10 minutes of one episode (a recurring weakness) - we literally get a time-lapse of some "moments" they shared and are quickly shoved through their wedding with little to no development whatsoever. This definitely impacted the emotional investment I had on the entire ordeal - I would have liked to see more of their moments pre-marriage; HOWEVER, it is important to understand that this is the entire point of the relationship. Sojoon marries her, not due to love, but in hopes of changing both of their futures - it is through this need to protect, that he begins to truly fall for Marin. The only issue I had with this in the first few episodes was that the characterizations were sliiiiightly inconsistent. Sojoon seemed truly in love out of nowhere at times, yet went from this to acting like he held no feelings for Marin whatsoever from one second to the next. Similarly, it felt like Marin's character was written in a VERY over the top manner. She went from acting completely rational and normal one second, to ditzy and head-over-heels in love when it came to Sojoon. I appreciated that this quirk, however, was quickly addressed in one line later on (inconsequential so I'll semi-quote it, "When Marin is normal, she's really normal. When she's weird, she's really weird) - it describes her character so perfectly. WITH THIS SAID, the first few eps definitely feel like whiplash for these reasons. We have the marriage occur out of nowhere, character's feelings all over the place, and the time travel is confusing asf initially! What Tomorrow With You does so perfectly, though, is turning what feels like whiplash into something that feels so right - which is why I want to give the writers some credit (slack?) and wonder if this confusion is all intentional, and a representation of a convoluted time-line in which a seemingly inevitable fate is morphed into something so gorgeous.
Like I said before, I was actually surprised in how their relationship was defined by intentionally greasy, OVER-THE-TOP (CAPITALS) cheesy/cringey moments between Sojoon and Marin - IN A WAY THAT WORKS (I WAS SHOCKED TOO). I think this is what Jehoon and Minah just excelled at; making every toe-curling, "i can't believe they just said that", moment feel so natural. Small pecks, embarrassing PDA, and matching pijamas that initially feel superficial quickly become really heartwarming moments that end up reflective moments on both character's individual anxieties regarding their issues in the drama. Marin's desperate attempts at bringing Sojoon to the present, mentally, through these small moments; Sojoon's inability to freely enjoy himself during these moments, and detach them from the doom that awaits them in the future. As Marin says regarding her philosophy on images - "It is not just about what you see, but the unspoken things that an image tells you.", these fleeting moments of love are representative of so so much, as we as an audience ourselves wonder if these two were really never meant to be. They're just so pure in how they love each other - and the feelings of both characters as well as their frustrations in coping with the perpetual helplessness their relationship is plagued by shine through. A sense of blissful melancholy just coats over every moment they spend together. They're so cute and perfect. EVEN IF THEY GAVE ME SO MUCH HORRIBLE ANXIETY!!!!!!! I was just really shocked by the way a drama which had a rushed marriage managed to portray such a perfect progression of "fake" feelings becoming real.
The acting was literally sublime. Jehoon is AMAZING at (now idk if this makes sense) but his micro-expressions. The little faces he makes when reacting to other's lines - the actions and quirks he brings into every Sojoon moment - it's just all so good. Genuinely one of the best actors out there, in that he understands how to make moments feel real - just natural. Similarly, Minah matches his natural energy so well. Their chemistry never felt forced - perhaps this is why it was so hard for me to distinguish (in the beginning) when certain things were "fake/real" feelings! ALSO SIDE SIDE NOTE - THESE CHARACTERS ARE SO HORNY?? LIKE DAMN. THEY WERE GOING AT IT LIKE DOGS Y'ALL. I've literally never seen so much natural(? LIKE NOT FORCED/NOT PRIORITIZED) sex/allusions to sex happening (not even in Nevertheless y'all.), also there was a not at all graphic but somehow really graphic gay sex joke that was kinda tasteful! a true serve.
Anyway I have to hold myself back from writing pages on them, but the couple really was so perfect. The definition of small moments being everything. REAL QUICK on the technical side, I absolutely LOVED the use of single-take (? I think this is the name) shots used in their scenes - the camera followed the couple from, for example, one point really far away to another without any cuts. It really allows you to take in their words, and the scenery, in a way that feels so natural. If I could change anything, it would definitely be to give it at least 1 more episode. I definitely felt like the ending, while I saw what the writers were going for, needed more time to be the PERFECTION it deserved.
ANYWAYSSS The OST is chefs kiss. "With You" by Kim Feel is the definition of perfection. The side characters were amazing (I particularly wanted more of Seyoung!!! Queen). I wish the colors were a bit less muted, but it was still really beautiful. It will be confusing in the first few eps, which I suspect is why the scoring is so low, but like the reviews say - it is SO important to stick with this drama. It's so good and deserving of so much more. I MISS THEM AND I KNOW THERE'S MORE I WANT TO SAY THAT I'M FORGETTING BUT LET ME STOP Y'ALL!! SOJOON AND MARIN YOU WILL ALWAYS BE PERFECT, THIS SCORE IS BULLSHIT 11/10 WATCH NOW!
First off, what drew me in from ep. 1 is how beautifully produced/shot the entire show is. The colors can go from being extensively monochromatic to vibrantly beautiful from one shot to the next - it's literally amazing. Ofc, all Netflix dramas tend to have high production values, but I really appreciated the focus that seemed to go into aestheticism in this drama. CGI/special effects wise I was also pleasantly surprised! Might be because I just watched another fantasy drama w/ the worst GCI ever (Hwayugi my beloved but......), but the CGI in general just amazed me. I also found myself appreciating the smaller things, like how the weird-reaper-teleportation sound, sounded? Even sometimes slightly depending on who teleported - it's attention to detail like that that just gets meee. I did realize that in later episodes the CGI wasn't used nearly as much (maybe I'm misremembering, memory bad) but something tells me that might be because of one dream sequence in episode 3.... (THE BUILDINGS?!). All in all, I was even pleasantly surprised with how the action scenes looked! Kind of wish I got to see more of them (wanted to see Ryeon/Joonggil have an emotional fight scene SO BADDD) but this drama wasn't aiming for that, so I don't hold it against it at all. It was just so visually gorgeous.
Now the meat of it, the plot itself! Unpopular opinion i guess, but I always find myself wishing dramas had MORE episodes. I see people say dramas drag on too long, but I just find it so much more satisfying when you can see that the directors/writers had enough time to develop what they wanted to. Which I believe is something this drama struggled with SPECIFICALLY in the last 2 episodes - there was just so much ground to cover that flew by way too quickly. This isn't to say the pacing was bad at all throughout the drama - which is why I think they would've benefitted from having 2-4 eps total, because I really felt like there was just so much more meat on the bone for this drama - so much more to see.
If getting more episodes was impossible, I think an episode that could have DEFINITELY been cut was the old military man one. I don't think I've ever sat through so much forceful propaganda in my life - IM NOT SAYING IT WASNT CUTE.... BUT IT JUST WAS SO UNNECESSARY!! The stakes just were not high at all, and the message for this one just seemed to be "fight for your country even though they treated you horribly!" (gross simplification ik, but yall get me). All in all, while I did mostly enjoy it, it just brought nothing to the overall narrative whatsoever. This slot could've been used for background on characters that came in WAY too late into the show (but I won't get into bc no spoilers!). Similarly to the episode that dealt with the Japanese comfort girls, actually. I think, at least for this one, the idea WAS there - I loved the concept of an episode that dealt with the all too real issue of sex trafficking in Korea. But the way it was done was just painful. They tried to tie in way too many things to the episode (to put it vaguely, Rowoon's random involvement), the stakes were once again VERY low, and the narrative ended up feeling overly patriotic to me (again, enjoyed the story, it was just very much go girl give us nothing!). These two episodes could've easily been cut, and used to provide further background and story to the actual core characters. The rest of the episodes I very much enjoyed. One thing I believe this drama can't get enough props for is just how well developed some/most of the individual stories were - the lore ran SO DEEP!!! The reporter, the couple, and the siblings episode in particular were just chefs kiss - a little bit extra, sure, but just so beautiful. And I better not see any slander on the Kong episode! I love how they handled the concept of pet-human bonds - I think people would've taken it more seriously if Hun was the risk though. Also I did NOT know Cha Hakyeon was in this and as a simp starlight this was EVERYTHING!!
This is already wayy too long, I'm not even gonna get to get into each character extensively :() ... but I really loved the main trio + Joonggil. Like I said throughout, we deserved more time for them to be developed individually THROUGHOUT the drama, rather than all at the end when there was essentially no time left (Throwing this in there, the last 10 mins were such a waste of time. Felt like an epilogue that was taking up the valuable time of conversations we never got to see shared). Still their slayage was palpable, Heesun/Jion/Rowoon/Soohyuk are fine as ALL hell (and the brother in the siblings ep..... FOINEEE)
This is defo worth a watch. As a romance wh0re I kinda feared for my life going into it that I would drop it, but the plot and characters hold up so very well. The worldbuilding in general is amazing - to the point where I think this is my favorite depicted afterlife in a drama! (sorry Goblin/HotelDelLuna/whatever). Give it a watch!!! Now!!! (9-10/10)