When the Phone Rings (2024)

What is up with Netflix?

I'm genuinely in shock. What was that ending? They spend 90% of the show in agony and having misunderstandings and then you'd think the last episode would be just them finally getting to enjoy each other???? But HE'S SUDDENLY AT WAR ?????!?!?!?!?! AND WE DIDNT EVEN GET ANY REAL,SANGWOO YOURI SCREENTIME. i genuinely loved this show until the last episode. i cant believe that was greenlit???? I begin to wonder if Netflix just fires the writers before the ending... I hope I'm not the only one that was in shock at that? How do we only get like 10 minutes of them being happy??? They could've given them a kid at least... or 2 like why make it sad again? She's almost died like 6 times and they defeated their enemy why tf is he in Argan????#?"?$(%(#

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IT’S A DUD!!! GOOD ACTING BUT STUPID SCRIPT, STUPID CHARACTERS

IT’S A DUD!!! GOOD ACTING BUT STUPID SCRIPT, STUPID CHARACTERS

Mystery thriller in the first episodes, but turned romance in the middle eps. Thrill reappeared after this slump — when the caller entered the scene again.

EARLY EPISODES

I don’t get ML’s seeming animosity towards FL. Why does he seem to HATE FL when we would learn later that he’d been protecting her and finding her as his source of comfort. And that all along he knew that she’s being treated unfairly by her mother.

So, to me, this seeming disrespect toward FL is uncalled for. Especially when he told her to take the wedding gown off. He could have said it in a more friendly and respectful manner —because FL did nothing wrong, and he knows that.

And the THREE YEARS they spent under one roof — without eating or sleeping together!! I don’t get that, really. And the reasons (given in the middle eps) were lame at best.

It seems the writer did that just to fit in the “enemies-to-lovers” trope, which is now is overused, really.

*****

Also UNINTENTIONALLY FUNNY is when FL did sign language interpretation in an event where there were no deaf or mute folks in the audience. The scene is forced — just so the two will have their first public appearance together.

🙄

JUST WHEN I THOUGHT that the story is predictable, Ep 9’s cliffhanger gave us a very unexpected revelation. I guess nobody saw that coming.

And then, ANOTHER twist soon followed (Ep 10). Wow.

*****

THE REVELATION (EP 10). When ML revealed to the whole world that he is not who they think he is, he proceeded with the drama about loving his wife. Super corny scene/script. Ok, fine.

BUT… no explanation was given as to who he really is and why he pretended to be the son of a presidential candidate??? And the media people didn’t ask why?? ALL became stupid and unthinking?? Wow. Is that realistic?? 🙄

In Ep 11 the father (presidential candidate) explained to the press “what really happened.” Okay. And this is a day or two after ML’s big revelation. I mean, hello??? What happened RIGHT AFTER ML’s revelation? No one really bothered to ask??? Not even his staff? That just seems incredible!

*****

Also in Ep 11 (penultimate ep), there’s another revelation — from the kidnapper; but he just whispered it to ML. ML was dumbfounded and teared up. What is it? And why did he look at FL?? I guess we’ll have to wait till the finale to know what it is.

But ML being the REAL son of the old rich man is not new anymore. This was revealed earlier by the professor (the mother who was arrested).

SPEAKING OF THE MOTHER, the scene where she killed the old man — that was also forced. The old man is dying!! Couldn’t she wait?? Did she really have to do that?? Stupid move from stupid character.

*****

FINALE

What?? ML disappeared (hid) from everyone — including FL?? For SIX MONTHS?!! Without giving any reason?? Another major roll-eye moment. This is as — if not more — cruel than his initial treatment of FL. Sheeez….

For whatever reason he has, SIX MONTHS is waaaay too long. Does he think his wife has no feelings??? Grrr.

Now I’m watching in 1.5x speed. Too bad, Netflix had no 2x speed.

*****

NOW, WE’VE ENTERED A REBEL TERRITORY
and we have only 30 minutes more to go.

Who watches sunsets in rebel territories??? 🙄

*****

STUPID FL RISKS HER LIFE
and stupid ML scolds her after saving her —
after not seeing her for SIX MONTHS!!!

Then, stupid ML asks, “Why are you here?”

Stupid!!! 🤣

Haha!!! Can this get any funnier???

*****

And it DID get funnier…

ML: “Can’t you see I’m holding back?”

Oh gosh. What is this, writer??? 🙄

*****

SO… we learn what the kidnapper told ML.

So what???

It was ML’s father who did that, NOT ML!!

So, why the reaction (hide from it all)???

Why didn’t he talk to FL about it?

Stupid reaction to a stupid plot twist.
Geeeez!!!

*****

OVERALL

Sorry to disappoint the fans of this series, but it’s just another makjang for me. Google makjang. So many stupid scenes. Series started okay, but it went steadily downhill and crashed at the end.

Acting from the entire cast is okay to great, but the STUPID story couldn’t save this sorry mess of a series.

Definitely not rewatching this one — ever!

🙄

ALSO: Posters for this series are duh, lazy, uncreative, unimaginative. Who did those?? High school kids??

MY RATING: 5 / 10

👎🏼

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It’s not bad but for me one of the most overrated drama in 2024

This drama wasn’t a totally failure for me. The plot twist on EP1 was good, the main couple had a good chemistry together, Yeon Seok (once again) was totally hot and the plot about the kidnapper/villain was entertaining enough. But I just can’t ignore all the cringey scenes, the bad script on some episodes, out of nowhere events and how everything feel apart completely after EP10. When I think about the drama in general, I feel it was kind overrated. But let me talk more about it.

For me this drama had a lot of cringe scenes since the beginning and this can make a lot of people give up of watching but I could ignore this thankfully to the main leads great chemistry. But I can’t lie, it was a little too cringe for me at times and I blame the script and the director for this. Speaking of another thing that I blame the script and direction for was the actors' performances.

For me, Yeon Seok delivered a good performance as always, but I found myself totally disappointed with Soobin. I like her as an actress but I think this was one of her worst works. And talking about their characters itself I found both male and female lead annoying and dumb in the beginning. Sa Eon should’ve been more smart actually but he wasn’t. And I expected more for Hee Joo but unfortunately she wasn’t what I thought she would be. Also I found kind funny how Sa Eon said he was in love with Hee Joo since the beginning but treated her like she was a nobody in their own home for 3 years lol and then he changed completely how he acted and started to care for her.

The secondary characters were kind ok. No one totally captivated me but I liked Sang U and Yu ri’s scenes together. Talking about the villain plot, I gotta say that it was kind well done and interesting enough for me, everything was making sense. Sure, the story itself was nothing different from what we usually see in kdramas but it was convincing enough. But gosh what happened with this drama after EP10?

What the hell was the revelation about Sa Eon’s real father? It was so out of nowhere for me and they didn’t explain nothing about it….like, why his real father abandoned him? And his father abandoned him to literally bring him back to be his grandfather later? Like…what? lol This plot twist was forced to me and it seems they did this just so Sa Eon could feel guilty for Hee Joo’s brother accident but why would he feel THAT guilty for something that a father he didn't even know he had did? Ater everything they went through, being away from her for months because of that was completely unnecessary.

In fact, unnecessary and inconsistent were two words that summed up this drama in general for me, especially at episodes 10 to 12. What the hell happened on episode 11 and 12 too? The whole kidnapping scene with Hee Joo on EP11 was inconsistent and this Argan arc on EP12 made no sense at all..the only good thing was the making out scene later lol

So yeah. Since the beginning I saw how popular this drama was and although I wasn’t feeling the same hype as others I thought it still was kind entertaining enough but then after EP10 everything feel apart and when I think about this drama in general I feel like the whole hype is not there for me. It’s not the worse drama of all but the cringy scenes, the inconsistency of scenes and characters, and out of nowhere events made hard for me to give more than a 7.5.

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Horrible k drama writing, again

The first 4 episodes were pretty enjoyable, the writing and acting were average to good. Setting up what could be an entertaining show. 7 to 8 stars.

Then it got worse every single episode from that point on. The writing is dreadful, each storyline gets dumber and dumber. Hee Joo becomes a female superhero who exits deadly situations over and over with nary a scratch, she should been installed as a character in squid game so that we know who the winner will be. The male lead goes from uncaring and calculating to an emotional, jealous, idiot.

It's comical to read people saying all the unexpected twists are great and they can't wait for the next reveal. Almost every twist has been a detriment to the story since episode 4. There's 1 thing i can guarantee and that's the next twist will be stupid and unnecessary and just a lazy plot device to scrap out another episode. Ep 11 leaves us going into the finale with a 'twist' that'll be dumb just like every other one. For those of you who watch the finale you'll see that the last so called twist was the dumbest of all.

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Rewrite my review because it was deleted!?

What the!? I was shocked when I found out that my review of this drama was deleted!!!

I just asking who needs to be responsible for the last minutes on episode 12!? Is that PD-nim!? Writer-nim!? Broadcast Station!? Or OTT!? Who!? How come the fact of sensitive issue was twisted like that!?

I respect all the actors and actresses who already gave their best to portray their characters in this drama, that's why I gave 9.5 for the acting. But for the story and the overal rewatch!? Of course I'm gonna left 1.0!!!

We just need confirmation from the MBC or Netflix regarding the twisted of sensitive issue about g3n0c1de that's happened because of Isnotreal! But seems like someone deleted the review about that!? Because for sure the rating goes down hill from 9.0 to 8.2!? And they can't accept that!?

Hello MBC or Netflix. WE DEMAND CLARIFICATION!!!

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Started out well but...

I enjoyed first 6 episodes despite of lot of cliche filled scenes and unrealistic story line because the actors carried it out well but then I did not care anymore.. There is a limit to unbelievability after which it becomes exhausting.

1. How can a spokesperson of a president hide his wife for years. Anyone during three years would have spied on him and within few days would find out Hong Hee Ju coming out of his apartment daily. At one point he also challenges press to find dirt on him and still the press did not find about his wife. That too when his wedding became mysteriously private and his wife was not seen with him for years. First thing any journalist heck even an intern would do is check about his wife. Thats ridiculous that they did not till ML reveals.
2. How is the kidnapper able to so easily kidnap her in the temple so easily. Both FL and ML and the whole world knows about the kidnapping, they are roaming around without a security even after FL and ML get hurt one after another in different incidents clearly executed by the same kidnapper. ML keeps talking big about protecting FL and all she does is run around alone multiple times and ML does not care. where was the body guards he employed who were shown for one episode!
3. He is the spokes person to the president and he uses all his time and resource to work on personal matters. President is not in the picture. Only time he comes is when he literally gives his vehicle to ML. Only when romance is needed they remember about some speech of his so that FL can also be with him. And again using the same platform to announce his missing wife. I see everyone commenting that they were crying seeing ML cry but I am sorry at this point i did not feel any damn thing for ML or FL .
4. What was the point of FL sending pictures of her leg ? what was she thinking. It was obvious that ML will either suspect her (which he did not somehow that makes him stupid) or suspect an affair with the caller and if ML had really no feelings for her as she thought, he might have come back with a vengeance for having an affair behind his back. Did she really think he will give divorce immediately knowing she is having an affair?

Overall still a good one time watch may be if we watch at one go and all the actors including ML and FL did so well . But i lost interest after watching 10 episodes. Definitely not worth 8..9 .

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