laura

Don't have high hopes, just try to enjoy the ride if you can.

I had to fight my way through this k-drama, because for the life of me, I did not want to watch it. It was painful to get through, but I finished it. So here we go:

The plot was all over the place. :( I had high expectations since the writer worked on Strong Girl Bong-soon and the director on Meteor Garden, but apparently that level of quality was a one-time thing. The premise had so much potential: they freeze them then thaw them out in the future! I was so excited to see how they would navigate the modern world. But after maybe one episode of acclimation, they had zero problems. Not once did they seriously mess something up because they were from the past. They barely showed it. Occasionally they threw in an old-fashioned phrase, but mostly they just said they were from the past without ever showing it. Such a wasted trope.

And the ending? D: Wow. They froze Go Mi-ran again, widening the age gap from 8 to 11 years. They should have frozen Ma Dong-chan instead, so they would not be so uneven in age, experience, and workplace hierarchy. They could have made Mi-ran a fulltime producer instead of an intern, or even a chief because fo her unique skillset with hit shows. Instead, they made everything more unbalanced. Then she suddenly wants to go abroad to study after he waited three years for her? Come on. The YouTube channel felt like a band-aid solution, and they did not even get married. Completely unsatisfying.

As for the acting: I love Ji Chang-wook, but this was easily his weakest role I've seen... the army must have drained him completely. Ma Dong-chan was a painfully bland character, like a wet tissue, and even Ji Chang-wook could not save him. He abandoned his girlfriend of 20 years based on an unconfirmed assumption, had no real relationship with his mother, and barely any meaningful connections beyond his niece. Criminal underuse. This character might honestly be worse than Noh Ji-wook. Lucky that he is so pretty.

Won Jin-ah, on the other hand, was the saving grace of this drama. She played Go Mi-ran beautifully. Her character was interesting, grounded, and genuinely enjoyable to watch. Her relationship with Nam-tae was adorable, and their bond surviving 20 years apart was one of the few things that worked fro me. She was a good daughter, a good sister, and had a far better reason to be frozen than Ma Dong-chan ever did. Her only mistake was falling in love with him.

The supporting cast, though? What a mess. Overacting, overreacting, tonal whiplash, and so much cringe I had to look away. The show could not decide whether it wanted to be serious or comedic. Na Ha-young’s storyline was treated with heavy seriousness, while Byung-shim's was played for absurd laughs, and neither approach worked. There were no real consequences, no emotional payoff, and they just sent Na Ha-young's character away when things got inconvenient.

My favorite part of the drama was Nam-tae! He opened his own bakery. I love seeing good people get good endings. :D

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Watch for the visuals, not for the plot to be fair

How is this K-drama about law when the victim is prosecuting his attacker? Someone explain it to me.

That said, if you squint and ignore all the bullshit, it is a good weekend watch. Not something to think about or ponder what is going to happen, because around episode 6 they reveal the villain. This is very much a turn-your-brain-off show, something to consume as visual sustenance.

Nam Ji-hyun and Ji Chang-wook are both hotter than burning oil, and their chemistry is smoking, so at least there is something to watch. Choi Tae-joon, Kwon Nara, and Kim Ye-won are also really pretty, which makes it worth a watch for the visuals alone.

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An excellent K-drama, even with a very weakly written female lead

This was a brilliant action and political thriller, and I am genuinely glad I watched it. The forced romance kind of ruined it for me. I think Anna and K2 should have stayed friends, though I do see the potential of pairing two very attractive people together. Still, Anna’s character should not have been so childish and clueless if they were meant to make her the love interest, in my opinion. Almost all of their romance scenes were cringe, except for the last one where they are traveling.

But the fighting scenes… wow. Just wow. Nearly every episode has a fight scene, and each and every one of them is so good. The choreography, the acting, everything. They even used good-quality fake blood and were not afraid to show it. It was incredibly satisfying to watch K2 annihilate everyone.

Jang Se-joon and Choi Yoo-jin’s love story was really bittersweet, and honestly so much better than the main couple. Now… if they had put K2 and Choi Yoo-jin together... well. Alas.

The villains were truly evil, the good guys were flawed, and everyone had their own motivations. No one felt like they were written in just for fanservice or to move the plot forward and then disappear. Anna’s character was especially bad, in my opinion, but I guess they did not have much to work with when her entire backstory is growing up with nuns in the Spanish countryside. Even with Yoona playing her, there was not much material to elevate. She shines with interesting female characters, but even she could not improve this one.

Song Yoon-ah, on the other hand, made Choi Yoo-jin’s character phenomenal. She played her so well. Easily the most lovable evil villainess I have seen in recent years. She had depth. I would have loved to see her as the main love interest—or honestly, as a main love interest in general.

Ji Chang-wook played K2 masterfully. He had a solid character to work with, and his fight scenes are always superb.

Overall, an excellent K-drama, even with a very weakly written female lead.

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This might be the best K-drama I have watched in a long time

This is what I have been missing in K-dramas recently. The slow burn is actually slow, the characters are not one-dimensional, and the story is interesting without going overboard with secret organizations or ridiculous twists. All the side characters have their own motivations and feel just as real as the main couple.

I will admit taht after the first fight and the way Saet-byul jumped Dae-hyun, I had my reservations and was a bit doubtful about this drama. D: But I should not have been. It was silly at times, serious at others, and it never failed to entertain me. Those weird visual effects even made it feel like I was reading a manhwa, which honestly worked in its favor.

The second couple, Geum-bi and Dal-sik’s storyline had real ups and downs, and they were not just shoved together so the writers could get rid of the second leads. The fact that the real second leads Yeon-joo and Seung-joon did not end up together, and that they did not look for a girlfriend for Ji-Wook was refreshing. Even Dae-hyun’s family storylines were genuinely interesting. Yeon-joo’s family was clearly there so the audience could have someone to hate, but every drama needs characters like that. Eun-byul’s character development was also really well executed! She acted her age in the beginning, and you could actually see her grow up by the end. :)

They managed to braid all these different stories together into a really lively world. I loved how the story came full circle, with Saet-byul working at the convenience store again as a part-timer after Dae-hyun had been running it for nearly two days straight. The structure almost feels chiastic, though I am not entirely sure. And at the end, where they panned to the production crew and showed all the ending for the side characters... I did shed a tear, I won't lie.

And that ending, with Dal-sik “writing” their story… wow. Suddenly it made sense why they only shared one chaste kiss. Ji Chang-wook can play incredibly passionate characters, yet they don't even properly kiss with Kim Yoo-jung... maybe because of their 12-year age gap? Who knows.

Overall, this was such a feel-good drama for me.

Kim Yoo-jung played Saet-byul so well. She can express so much with just her stare and those adoring eyes. I loved that she was not the angelic, flawless female lead so many dramas push nowadays. She is strong, has her own ethics and morals, and while she initially seems suspicious or rough around the edges, she is actually a saint. Taking care of her little sister, staying strong after losing both parents, navigating life on her own, and still giving everything for her sister… and then falling for Dae-hyun at first sight and holding onto that love for ten years. Admirable. I hated that she removed herself from his life so he could be better off, but luckily Dae-hyun waited. She needed that time to find herself. :D

Dae-hyun was such a sweet character. I loved watching him on screen. He was a bit like a blade of grass, always bending with the wind, always listening to his parents, being the perfect son, and constantly indulging Yeon-joo while they were dating. But when it really mattered, he stood up for himself and for Saet-byul. He is an honest man with steel-like morals. And while he was only so-so at fighting, Saet-byul was more than good enough for both of them. Even if Ji Chang-wook is the king of action, he deserves to chill sometimes and let others handle the fights. :D

Honestly, this might be the best newer K-drama I have watched in a long time.

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Do you believe in magic? Do you believe in yourself?

Do you believe in magic?

Did no one else watch the scene after the credits? Because that is what ultimately made this a 10 for me instead of a 9.5. They revealed that the entire thing was a musical on a stage. It was all a performance, played for an audience, us, and what we watched was the story through the eyes of the audience itself. In a theater, people are far more willing to suspend reality and let their imagination fill in the gaps between sets, props, and limitations. Seen that way, everything suddenly made sense. What we watched felt real.

Seeing everyone bow at the end, the audience clapping, every performer smiling, it was beautiful. Not just a perfect ending for the drama, but for the whole project itself. And it finally answered the big question:

Do you believe in magic?

After watching this, I do. At least a little more. :)

At first, I was not convinced and even considered dropping the drama. That would have been a huge mistake. This was such a refreshing watch. I was intimidated because musicals usually only work for me if I speak the language, but they performed everything so well that the emotions carried through the acting, movement, and staging alone. Nothing was lost.

I loved how we first saw Ri-eul as someone cool and mysterious, almost bigger than magic itself, only for the story to slowly teach us that magic is only real if we believe in it. His parallels with Na Il-deung were surprisingly strong, and sadly very realistic. Far too many Korean teenagers are victims of the education system. Thankfully, Il-deung chose his health and dreams after learning what happened to Ri-eul. In a way, Ri-eul saved him too. :D

Ri-eul’s relationship with Ai was especially compelling. He helped her stay afloat through hope, only for her to realize in the end that she had to believe in herself all along. That is what this drama is really asking us:

Do you believe in yourself?

The characters themselves are intentionally clichéd, which makes sense, especially after the end-credit reveal. While they did not reinvent character archetypes, they absolutely reinvented the story.

Ai, the classic smart and poor girl, does not become a high-powered lawyer or professor. She becomes a magician. Someone who helps others smile, one person at a time. She helps people believe in magic, and in themselves, even if just for one night. She was a wonderful character, and Choi Sung-eun played her beautifully.

Ri-eul’s backstory was tragic, but expected. No adult clings to magic this desperately without a reason. His character was built with care, and I even briefly believed he might have committed the crimes. D: Instead, I chose to believe in him. Seeing him disappear without resurfacing was bittersweet, but I like to think he is still out there, teaching people to believe in magic, one person at a time. :) Ji Chang-wook played him masterfully.

Il-deung’s character, the smart, rich kid crushed under impossible expectations is familiar, but the asphalt versus dirt road and flowers metaphor made it resonate deeply. Watching him choose his mental health over his parents’ dreams was genuinely satisfying. Hwang In-youp was charming enough to make Il-deung likable even at his worst, which was absolutely the right casting choice.

In the end, being a musical worked entirely in this drama’s favor. The acting was strong, the symbolism rich, the metaphors layered, and the pacing excellent. I am genuinely glad they did not stretch this into a 16-episode drama. It was perfect exactly as it was.

Annarasumanara

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