Tomorrow (2022)

List of Triggers/Themes listed at the end of Review

Completed - 6/2/2022 - 8.25

“Tomorrow” is an ambitious drama that wants to tackle serious social issues and how they contribute to suicides, and also put a fantasy spin to it. I quite like the general plot of the drama but I feel that the execution leaves room for improvement.

What I Like:

1. Plot - I think the idea of having grim reapers not just escorting the dead, but also trying to save them is a very interesting concept. It’s also interesting to see the behind-the-scenes operation. I heard complaints about how this drama makes it appear that it’s too easy to dissuade suicides because of a few words. With that, I would like to say that this is the whole concept of the drama, so maybe you shouldn’t watch it if you don’t even like this general plot. Why force yourself to watch it if you can’t even get past this? Do I believe suicides could be dissuaded this easily? Absolutely not. However, as the Jade Emperor said, and I paraphrase, it’s not that victims can be talked out of committing suicides with a few words, it’s more like NO ONE has ever said those right words to them in the first place. Living is hard, and if you don’t have the support system and kind words from people who care about you, it’s easy to give up. Do I think the execution of the drama is great, no, I don’t. More in the next section.

2. Impactful Cases - There are a few very impactful cases shown in this drama. I was taken back by the first case regarding bullying. It was hard to watch and I question if this is the tone set for the rest of the drama. Luckily, the drama just started with a BANG. I personally enjoyed the first ⅓ of the drama and those 4 cases (see my list of cases at the end of the review if you are interested). They are nicely developed, about two episodes per case, and provide enough background for me to feel for the victims and be glad that their issues are resolved.

3. Acting - This is my first drama of Kim Hee Sun’s and I love her in this drama. She is able to portray Goo Ryun (FL) very well, showing her sassiness, bossiness, badassness, heartbreak and often with very quiet subtle facial expressions. Rowoon’s acting has gotten better as well. He has come a long way from his “Extraordinary You” days. I do not personally find his comedic moments incompatible with the drama, but just enough to lighten the mood. Looking at Yun Ji On’s biography, I noticed I’ve seen quite a few of his dramas and he looks familiar, but I can’t recall any of his previous roles. I think I will remember him moving forward after “Tomorrow”. The handsome Lee Soo Hyuk didn’t really have that big of a role in this drama. I wish I could see more of him, and more when his character is not so ‘cool’. I enjoyed his Joseon scenes more as he is provided more opportunity to shine.

4. Outfits/Appearance - Kim Hee Sun has quite an eclectic wardrobe. I love her pink hair and her orange/reddish eye shadows. She looks amazing in suits, high boots, tight leather jeans or casual wear. But let’s not forget our Jade Emperor. What flashy attire she has! I don’t think I’ve ever seen Kim Hae Sook wear such fancy clothes, as she always plays the mother or grandmother roles. All the grim reapers look good in their fitted back suits.

What I don’t like or have mixed feelings:

1. Blaming the victim - The Risk Management team, or our FL mostly, likes to use reverse psychology and blame the victim tactics to start their ‘counseling’ sessions. I personally have a problem with it, especially when I noticed this right off the start in the first case. I do not believe that is the way to go, no matter what good intentions you have.

2. Half-baked Cases - For a 16-episode drama, it covers many 12 different cases. I feel that some of them are too short and not enough time is invested in developing the story. The drama tries to tackle too much. Some cases are resolved within an episode and then you move on to the next one following a similar formula of how they tackle it. I think it’s best to reduce the number of cases and then really spend quality time in executing the select few.

3. Over-the-top/Unrealistic scenes - There are few scenes where I went “Huh?”. When it’s time for the war veteran to be escorted, it was a little over-the-top to have the whole Escort team + RM Team + Jade Emperor to be present. Do they do this for all war veterans? Because each one of them deserves such respect. I know it’s for TV, but it’s a little too much for my taste. A suicidal puppy? On the other hand, ther court scene in ep 11 is one of the most laughable and unrealistic court scenes I’ve seen. They really dumb it down to move the plot forward.

4. Leads story - I would like to see character and relationship development throughout the drama. I feel that I don’t see enough of the main characters interacting with each to develop a supposedly strong bond. Their background stories pop up every so often and not enough due to the focus on the cases. I hope to see snippets of the Joseon storylines throughout the drama and not just in the end. I am actually more interested in their previous lives than any of the suicide cases.


Below is a list of themes/triggers that might prevent someone from watching. I hope by listing them, you can skip episodes that are too much for you, but not completely write off the drama. However, suicide is the main theme and cannot be ignored.

Ep 1-2: Bullying with verbal and physical assaults
Ep 2-3: Exam failure
Ep 4-5: Survivor’s Guilt and loneliness
Ep 6: War veteran/PTSD/regrets
Ep 7: Body Image/Eating Disorder/Bulimia
Ep 8: Criminals - to save or not to save; physical violence
Ep 9: Dog passing away
Ep 10-11: Sexual assault with physical violence
Ep 12: Miscarriage with guilt and depression
Ep 13: War Comfort Women with physical/sexual/verbal assault
Ep 14: Suicide/wrist cutting
Ep 15: Stress of being a Celebrity

Read More

The best drama I've ever watched

This drama made me open my eyes to life, I was so moved by each story in each episode. It was so exciting to see the characters develop and learn about their pasts.
I cried in absolutely every episode, the shock was great already in the first episode, and only increased over time.
I had Alchemy of Souls in my top 1, but Tomorrow definitely took that place, it completely won my heart, I would give anything to watch it for the first time again.
I'm sad because not many people talk about him and he deserved all the recognition in the world.
The ending could have shown a little more, I had some doubts related to what happened next and an extra episode would be my dream, closing with a flourish.

Read More

Encounters and Solutions

I anticipated a good drams when I saw the Trailer but I never expected such an intense content. I am thoroughly enjoying this drama. Through out my life, I have encountered people with problems similar to those in the drama. We never know what is going on in someone's life at any one time and we should be cognizant of our surroundings, Society, in general, places a lot of inequalities upon us each day, but it's how we navigate them that make us stronger and sometimes we need some intervention from an outside source. This drama has very intense stories and I wonder how the cast themselves felt about doing each episode. The main cast is strong and amazing in their projection of each character but even the other cast members who are involved in each episode are very good. I hope that most people who watch this drama can take away a renewed perspective of being kind and helpful to one another.

Read More

An excellent show, but difficult to recommend

I don’t know how to review this one. On one hand the production value is top tier, the acting is very good (the main cast is excellent, but the supporting cast has been hit-and-miss), and the story is solid, but it requires a lot of effort to watch because it deals with very negative subject matter. Don’t get me wrong: mental illness, suicide, suicide prevention, etc. should be exposed in all forms of media, but that doesn’t necessarily make for good entertainment. In fact, trying to make it entertaining might be the problem with this show.

To be clear, the subject matter is treated respectfully, and I think the production means well, but there are simply too many limitations on what can be done within a 60 minute episode. So while the problems are realistic, and sensitively portrayed, the solutions are superficial, and hollow. The reality is that heartfelt words, and appeals to supernatural/spiritual “faith” are rarely ever (probably never) enough to deal with mental illness severe enough to drive someone to suicide. So while I appreciate that this show promotes awareness of many deep issues within not just Korean society, but worldwide, it ultimately falls flat despite being an otherwise excellent show. Thus, difficult to recommend.

Read More

There will come a moment when you realize it was all for today.

"Even so, you should live."- A quote that summarizes this drama. A lesson that is taught by this drama.
*might have mild spoiler*
I have been a Korean drama fan for more than 10 years now and I must say i have rarely come across such a beautiful concept that deals with healing and comforting the people on the edge of the night, people who have given up.
Not too many humans understand or even tries to understand what goes on in a mind of someone who decided to give up on their life. People call them cowards, people blame them for leaving the loved ones. But how many really try to understand them with compassion? Can slogans like "talk to someone" even help people who have given up on the world?

The drama "Tomorrow" raises these questions. Tomorrow asks humans to be more compassionate. Tomorrow comforts the soul of the people who have been there in past, who are going through it now and who may face it one day.
Tomorrow does not give a solution. Tomorrow give a chance to look at the brighter side when all seems dark.

The plot line of the show is most unique and a beautiful combination of fantasy and reality. The drama shows the world of grim reapers who work on different departments of the afterlife that deals with various assignments related to the dead souls.
The story follows two grim rippers who are working in risk management team, a unique team of grim reapers who work to save souls instead of reaping them. Which eventually make them a laughing stock of whole afterlife and everyone looks down upon them.
However, they are doing the hardest of all works. They are saving the people on the edge. People with high risk of committing suicide. The goal is to prevent as many souls so that they do not end up in hell while trying to escape their living hell. The director of afterlife (The Jumadeung) is the famed Jade Emperor of Chinese/Korean history who personally assigns these team.
And along comes another soul Joon Woong (Played by Rowoon) who had a failed life and recently went into coma trying to save a beggar. So now Joon Woong is given two choices. Either work with Risk Management team and wake up in 6 months with a guaranteed high paying job that he will love in real life, or wake up after being in coma for 3 years. Surely, Joon Woong chose the first. However, he already had harsh encounter with the other two grim reapers who were his senior in the Rick Management team when he tried to save the beggar. The two seniors did not like him for not thinking his actions through and being immature. They have no faith in Joon Woong's ability. He is inexperienced and the two seniors has experience of several hundred years of being grim reapers.
So the story shows journey of this risk management team who goes on saving lives, one case at a time while also slowly wrapping up the intertwined stories of these three leads, the two badass grim reapers and a half dead soul.

Even though the plot is working on suicidal people, the story is not always dark and gloomy. Rather Joon Woong's innocent and honest personality and the other two's irritation at him made the show pretty lighthearted.
I loved that they explored so many possible social economic reasons for having suicidal tendencies instead of just saying it is caused by mental illness. Love how they show that impact of society is far more dangerous than just be summarized as result of depression.
I am always intrigued by the shows and movies (whatever language it may be) if they have elements of mental health awareness. So needless to say I was already biased towards the plot. And as the story progressed, I must say it exceeded all my expectations.
All the cases that were shown from bullying to body shaming to poverty and depression, every single story and how they saved the people were remarkable. And the stories only kept getting better and better. My personal favorite is the 13th episode.
However, the audience must keep in mind that this show is about suicide prevention and not mental health treatment. Even the show mentions this exact message in one of the episodes. So audience must not confuse the two.

Korean Dramas have progressed a lot in past 7 years. The cinematography was just as amazing as most other Korean shows. And I will never have any doubt on any show/movies by MBC productions (a Korean production house).
The actors have done a commendable job. Kim Hee Sun who played the team leader Koo Ryun and Rowoon who played Joon Woong (the soul in coma) have already proved themselves as topnotch actors with multiple awards under their belt.

Things I did not like:
One of the main point I did not like was how the story of the Main lead (The team leader Koo Ryun) was wrapped up. The plot made us wait for her story to come together at the end but it was simply not well handled.

One more point I did not like was the less amount of screen time given to Lee Soo Hyuk who is an amazing actor but always somehow end up getting side tracked by the leads in most dramas.

Read More

Beautiful meaning

It needs to be played in schools idk, be used as a school material... Especially episodes 7,10,13 almost destroyed me :') and the fact that episode 13 had the lowest rating (according to wikipedia) says a lot about our generation........ :/
My review needs to be at least 300 words long so Im gonna add a few more things without spoilers :3. What I actually liked about this kdrama was how it depicted the place women had in the past, and sadly still have today.... it was a little bit hard to watch at some points, but i thing it showed very well the harsh reality women and especially s3xu@l @ssult victims had (and still have) to go through after .... I liked the stories and I think some episodes (especially 13 and 10) can be very educational since to this day people (if we can call them people :/ ) blame the victim and not the murderer (since as they said in the kdrama "r@p3 is the murder of the soul") .... overall it was a cute kdrama with a nice meaning, funny and sad moments, love (romantically, material, platonic, towards values, towards your country)... i don't know i think it was a very good kdrama. Also the osts rock !!!!! And i really liked the vibes the characters had with each other.

Read More

We are the only ones who can save ourselves.

It only takes a few words to give your loved ones the will to live again. The weight of your words can make someone happy or want themselves to die. I think a maximum of people want to commit suicide in their life, some give up on this urge, some don't. The show told us that our words matter the most to our loved ones. That's why we should always be there for our loved ones, listen to their problems, be there for them, comfort them if you can't then contract a psychologist.

Choi Joon Woong reaction after seeing Jumadeung.

Love the Jumadeung office elevator.

Director expression why the RM team wanted to go to the past to buy chicken.

Choi Joon Woong childish behavior upon seeing luxurious cars in Jumadeung then becoming disappointed that they were riding an old car was cute.

Loved Park Joong Gil & the fighting scenes.

Loved episode 6 ending scene in which all the escort team came to show respect to the freedom fighter, even the director also came.

Laughed at the scene where Lim Ryung-gu gave the interview in episode 7, also slapped Koo Ryun gave to the interviewer.

Choi Joon Woong & Lim Ryung-gu arm wrestle was ridiculously funny.

People are too much obsession with maintaining a thin figure. Sometimes it may lead to health sickness even excess dieting can lead to death. Fat shaming, loneliness, work pressure or not getting work can also lead to suicide cases. People love to fat shame others without any reason. The number of people doing this is high. Saying something hurtful to someone is easy, but helping them is hard. We should come forward to help people.

Poor Direction had to sign hundreds of documents.

Laughed at the time when Choi Joon Woong hugged & kissed Lim Ryung-gu in his sleep, the reaction he gave afterward is hilarious.

Loved how Park Joong Gil punished the rapist.

It’s cute & funny at the same time as Choi Joon Woong wanted to hug Koo Ryun & Lim Ryung-gu both, but they kept on pushing him, but in the end he did it, their expressions were priceless.

Loved how Director & Park Joong Gil twisted the truth.

Laughed how Lee Ryung-gu stopped Ryu Cho Hui from eating Choi Joon Woong food, but then his expression while tasting it.

Read More

Episode 6 will forever live in my heart

This show is hard to watch in a good way. It's one of the most touching shows I've seen and it's very heartfelt.

The premise is quite simple, the team of grim reapers try to dissuade people from commiting suicide in order for them to live their predetermined life spans while investigating why this person would want to their their own life.

It touches a lot of sensitive social topics so I'd caution any person who's sensitive to these subjects.

Episode 6 was my highlight, I cried all the way though maybe because I'm sensitive when it comes to old people and veterans but oh god, it was wonderful.

I loved it, I'd recommend it to anyone who's looking for a meaningful, fun, tearjerker TV show.

Read More

I found this drama very intriguing

This is one of those dramas where I couldn't wait for the next episode. I loved the concept of the Grim Reapers trying to prevent suicides. Most of the issues they tackled were very real and hard hitting. They handled it well though. I did wish that they would have inserted some reference as to the help these people needed once the walked them off the ledge. There was enough comic relief to keep me from totally losing it, mostly, but know you will need your box of kleenes for this series. I am dissappointed there most likey wont be a second season due to low watch ratings but at least it felt complete when it ended.

Read More

What saves people is not your powers but the weight of your words

This show had my attention hooked from the first episode. From the various perspectives, plotlines, and time periods, the grim reapers come into contact with the living, it does not shy away from exploring the sensitive and vulnerable aspects of the living and dead.

I have viewed many series that explore the themes of suicide, but this show has left a lasting impression. From the visual effects, ost, and film direction, the episodes did an excellent job of capturing the characters' struggles, especially from a psychological lens.The scenes can be seen shot from various angles giving a raw perspective to the audience. Therefore, some scenes can be difficult to watch for some people.

The main aspect of the series include the red thread of fate. The thread is impacted by the choices that people make and influences their connections with how their lives echo onto the next life. Tomorrow is a series that not only informs but highlights that everyone needs an open ear, and a supporting hand and that "What saves people is not your powers but the weight of your words.” -(Director)

Read More