When the Phone Rings (2024)

Full on tropes but are well executed.

It never promised a groundbreaking - oscar worthy masterpiece, but it was perfect on its own right.


For the future watchers and those starting the drama right now. The ways you can actually enjoy this drama.


1. Always think of the drama logic. The show is for pure entertainment, a guilty pleasure. If you are here thinking it would be a realistic drama, then you won't enjoy it. Abandon the technicalities and your personal projections.

2. It is a thriller romance, so both genres are entertwined. You will feel the angst and frustration, but you will also feel the intense chemistry of the leads.


3. Plot-wise, your questions will be answered as you go along the rest of the episodes. Any other "logic" you are thinking of, please refer to number 1.


4. Instead of thinking "how/what will I do in this situation" it should be "how/why did Heejoo & BSE do that". Then you will enjoy this more. Again, point number 1.



But seriously, as a long time drama watcher, I am easy to please. As long as the leads acting are great, intense chemistry and good communication are present, idrc about the craziness around them. So for those who are like me, you will enjoy it.

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One of the best kdrama I've seen in a long draught of mid kdramas

Don't get me wrong, every single cliche you know in the kdrama world happened in this drama:
Truck of non doom
Cliff of non doom
Chaebol paternity secret
Secret wife that no one knows
Secret wife that is the LOHL etc etc.

But it was still the best, in that the ML and FL acted out the part so well I forgot I was watching the same thing told in a different way...until I did and found myself cheering it on all the same, and the leads chemistry was 🔥, and after they started dating over the phone, I was officially won over.

Although fictional, this drama and most of the rest I've seen this year (including cdramas) have me seeing how difficult it is to be a woman from another woman's point of view. It looks to me that whatever y'all do invites scrutiny no matter how well y'all do it. Makes me want ask the women around me, 'how're you holding up? Are you okay?'

My hats off to the women who take it in strike and still step out winners at the end of the day regardless, y'all are the real MVPs. See y'all in 2025.

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BEST DRAMA OF 2024-25

This drama had me HOOKED from beginning to end. The acting? PHENOMENAL. The story? AMAZING. The chemistry?? HELLO DO I EVEN NEED TO SAY ANSWER THIS, THE CHEM B/W YYS AND CSB WAS SERIOUSLY OFF THE CHARTS.

I will say, for a romance/thriller, the thriller part was definitely mid - but since I'm not a thriller fan! It didn't matter so much to me. To be honest, that doesn't even take much away from the drama though (unless you're a thriller fan watching the drama for that bit of thriller and you expected more). The drama was a bit cringey at some points, but it really shows how in depth the actors' acting was. They all portrayed their characters SO well. YYS's acting was PHENOMENAL, but that's NOT to say CSB's acting wasn't!!! This was the very first drama I've watched of his so his acting really stood out to me.

To be honest, I wish this drama had more episodes. I don't know how I'm going to say goodbye to this drama. WILL DEFINITELY REWATCH LATER.

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The show was solid, the ending was wacky. ⚠️ SPOILERS AHEAD ⚠️

This drama was great. The chemistry was spicy. The thriller aspect kept you going because it kept giving you new information and I really loved that because just when I thought I'd figured everything out something new would come up. The side characters were good, they were necessary but I never really felt a great attachment to them because the romance was the centerpiece of the show and it was what they focused on most of the time. I do feel like some of the drama was just done for drama's sake, like the bad guy shot his dad, but then like his dad lived and I was like; "Really, we couldn't have just killed his dad." Or we see our ML get shot but then it turned out to be a dream or she ran off a cliff, but she didn't run off a cliff.
Then he was going to be in negotiator but nothing actually happened to him and he ended up Morroco in a dangerous position But that really didn't amount to anything. I don't make some fake outs but they did that alot in this drama. They kept trying to scare the viewers into thinking we wouldn't get a happy ending, and I wasn't crazy about that. Also when the villian whispers something to our ML we already know what it is cause they revealed it earlier so there's no shock factor. I really think they could've held onto to that final secret till the end so we'd be surprised as well as Hee Joo. All that being said I loved the chemistry between these two actors. The scene at the end was so lovely. It wasn't vulgar or inappropriate and it was just very well done. I wish we could have seen their future. I would have LOVED to have seen them with children. I would have loved to have seen their wedding day. If the big Morocco scene that didn't amount to anything and the scene where he was talking to the man who raised him would've been cut we could've had a scene in the future where she even calls him on the 406 phone and have a cute back and forth to end it wouldve been better. One thing I really didn't like was the mother. She went from TERRIBLE mistreatment of her daughter to just changing in an instant because she thought she was dead. I don't know. I thought that was a bit much. This woman caused her daughter so much pain and suffering and then she just like NEVER owns up to it. Even at the end she's just like; "I did it all for you." When she's crying and she didn't, she did it for herself. This whole idea that she did it for her daughter is crap! I didn't like how they made it seem like this whole time this woman was truly just wanting what was best for her daughter, cause I don't believe that at all. The sister easily could have been removed. She didn't really have any crucial role in the show. I mean, the whole idea of the arranged marriage was big enough and then they could have found other ways to reveal that he wasn't actually the son of the 2 people without the sister. The sister just didn't really add anything to the show. There are things that she revealed that could have been revealed by anyone else. Plus you just don't really care about the sister. I understand the reasons that they had her in it. But they were reasons that could have been easily changed. Her entire character could have been taken out in my opinion. She just didn't have that big of impact. So yeah, there were just some things that could have been done better. But it was a really great drama. You could definitely tell that they were depending on these 2 actors to carry the show and they did. Their chemistry was intense, and sexy and vunerable and it just worked. If I find out that they're dating or they get married I will not be shocked because their chemistry was very deep. I'll give it that. The thriller aspect was also very good.I liked how they drug out the villain and they didn't kill him too easily so it didn't feel lackluster.At the end, I think the way they ended his story was perfect.So yeah all in all a solid drama and one I recommend and enjoyed greatly! 😊

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This review is just my personal opinion, don't take it personally.

Warning the review will have many spoilers and will be extensive. Now let's continue.

I really don't understand people who didn't like the drama, who were too harsh and there really wasn't a compelling reason for it. You may not like it for a lot of reasons but the reviews were very harsh and had no real basis for the drama to be criticized in this way.

In my personal opinion it is a DRAMA that everyone should give the opportunity to see, I loved it, it made me return to the world of dramas, I firmly believe that it was a drama that brought something new, fresh, with top-level performances, a chemistry that is rarely seen today and is a very special drama I would say that of the 1000 dramas that I have seen in my life, this drama will always remain in the top 1 and I will always see it again, because it is a drama that penetrates very deeply.

The plot begins with a marriage of convenience, who in three years of marriage have never spoken or done things together in front of the public because the protagonist, Hee Joo, had to remain hidden due to her selective silence.

Although their marriage lacked all affection, it was peaceful. As long as neither of them interfered in the other's lives, everything was fine, apparently. I say apparently because the drama is like an onion, it has many layers that you will discover that what you thought was not true and each peel you took out gave you a different background.

Baek is not an easy character to analyze, he does not even fall into the category of a typical cold man who becomes sweet when he falls in love, nor does he become a tsundere. His past is too tragic, one day he witnessed something he never wanted to witness and suddenly his life changed forever, but for the worse. He was taken to a family with secrets that were too dark and totally lacking in affection. He had to be someone else's replacement, live a life that was not his nor did he want it to be his, where he could not express himself or have the same tastes. It was just a tool, which forced him not to know how to express his feelings correctly.

Here comes her dealings with Hee Joo initially, since even though he was in love with her since childhood and her silence gave him calm when he couldn't stand being in noisy places and with hypocritical and false people, he couldn't prove that he loved her because his initial plan was to save her (her family) from her prison, and then gain ground and power to destroy him family and then commit suicide. That's why he couldn't express what he felt and he held back too much.

Hee Joo, on the other hand, was between a rock and a hard place, she had to stay silent and pretend that she was mute because she had to protect her real father from her own mother and she didn't trust anyone either. Their hopes of being happy were. But everything changes when she is kidnapped by 406.

At first he said cruel things about her because he really thought it was someone else trying to blackmail him like it had always happened to him since he started his political career. But she took it very badly, because she still held out hope that her marriage would change, the fact that he would say that the kidnapper would notify her when she was dead. So all her anger towards him explodes and she takes 406's place to extort him and get him to divorce her, because she really thought Baek wanted to kill her. So she tries everything to get him to agree to give her a divorce and yes, she is clumsy during calls because she had never extorted anyone before, she didn't have a structured plan in her head so as not to be emotional. She would get angry and show her more emotional side when he refused to give her a divorce because she didn't understand why a man who apparently didn't love her, who she thought was a hindrance to her life, would find it so difficult for him to agree to a divorce.

This changes when he really finds out that yes, she had indeed been kidnapped and got hurt. From there the entire plot and secrets are resolved little by little, with an exact rhythm.

Nothing seemed out of place nor was any character put in as filler. Each character had a key role in the story and they fulfilled it perfectly.

Actually I am happy that most of the negative reviews were not because there were no +18 scenes like in the novel because I think we all understood that it was for a general audience and with a single look you could already see that desire among them. And that was a great job by both Chae Solo and Yoo Yeon, since their chemistry came naturally, it didn't feel forced. Even behind the scenes they still maintained that chemistry.

Although I know many are disappointed about the ending, some say it must have had 16 chapters and others say the last chapter was unnecessary. I don't agree with any party. Although in chapter 11 we were given a lot of information, if you were attentive to the drama the information provided did not feel confusing or too much, because they had already given us clues and even more so with the appearance of his stepsister. The last chapter was full of pain, drama, crying (honestly it's the first time he cried when a male actor cries, but Yoo Seok gave such a top-notch performance, you really felt his pain like his).
The fact that he disappeared and went to a war zone, which is actually how he started and it was his vocation, being a soldier fit. Because? Because even if he hadn't done anything, he was the son of a monster who took away his childhood, a brother and his dreams from the person he made who would change his mind and want to live again. Could you live happily, pretending that nothing happened when you know that your own father ruined the life of the person you love so much? I think in real life, if this happened, the guilt would simply be so great that you couldn't even continue or consider continuing with that person.

That is why leaving a war zone where his life was chaotic and he could die was a self-imposed punishment. Even for him, not being by Hee Joo's side was a real hell. But Hee Joo, who was a more coherent and understanding person, did not blame him for anything because she understood that both were always tools of the others. They were the same in many ways.

I liked seeing a protagonist who will not wait, but at a certain crucial point, she realized that she had to make her own decisions and actions. And she was also launched, she expressed her love for him without limitations. It was gratifying to see how the family paid for all the damage she did and it was a moment of commomevor when her stepfather finally accepted her as if she were a daughter, and her mother caressed her, telling her to happy always live. Also the last conversation with her sister, telling her that they will stop torment yourself about a past that they couldn't fix and be happy, because she was worthy of being happy just like her.

That she baptized him and gave him such a beautiful name with such a special meaning was simply beautiful.

Here she shows us two things, you don't need to be a damsel who needed to be saved by a prince. They both saved each other and could continue to work to make their relationship okay. You know it may sound cliché but it is beautiful to have a person who does not judge you, nor point you out and is with you through thick and thin. That type of healthy relationship is the one I like to see the most. And second, monsters are not made, they are born. And his 'mother' was also a monster incurring another monster because she never felt regret for the children her son had killed.

Overall the plot twists were surprising because you didn't really know what was going to come out next, so it kept that suspense until the end. The performances were first class, the characters had a very interesting psychological background and the music, although it was little, was good enough.

A review made me laugh where it said that if she fell off a cliff, she should have broken several bones and I agree but how many male characters have we seen who have been hit hard and look like Terminator because they are still standing as if nothing had happened? Too many times.

For me this drama is a 10/10 and I will continue watching it until I get hooked on another drama, although it left me with a very high bar when the phone rings. Furthermore, it is a drama that I will always carry in my soul.

Additional: I do not consider this drama one of those dramas where there are illnesses and loss of consciousness like the queen of tears. While they have their clichéd points, they balanced suspense, politics, and romance all too well. It is not unusual to actually see politicians make agreements and hide things that are too serious. In reality.
For me, drama is an invitation that gives us the opportunity to see how things work and the resilience on the part of some actors. Love does not save you from regrets, that is something that has been shown very well, but from looking for a person who will help you grow as a person. Also that revenge, no matter how justified it may be, never ends in something good. The most hopeful message it gives us is that no matter what happens, you are the master of changing your life and leaving the past behind. That although a father or mother (I mean the mother of the protagonist) can make mistakes when trying to choose the best for you, but that does not mean that they do not love you. To be honest with ourselves and act according to what we feel and think. And even if you think that no one in this world loves you, there will always be people who love you even if you are not able to see it.

I make another clarification about this drama. Chae Soo and Yoo Yeon Seok have won the award par excellence for actor and actress and the award for best couple. They deserves it well for his great effort, and if you don't like it, perhaps he will reconsider watching this drama Chae Soo in his speech she use sign language to thank the public, that shows the effort she has put into learning sign language and she also invited other people watching the drama to study sign language because she said it was an important language to learn. That not only shows what a great actress she is but the quality of person she is. No actor or actress made a speech with sign language. Made history. You may not like it but you can't give a low rating regarding the performances. They gave the best job of all their careers.

when you say this drama is overrated, think carefully about why they won this award. The rating has dropped a lot and understanding that perhaps this drama is not for you, but you cannot deny that they implemented a main character who most of the time had to use sign language, which is rare to see. I honestly don't think this drama is overrated, it offered many things not seen before and the performances were and will be first class, you can put a 1 in the story, but you can't put a 4 in acting because they acted very well. Although I didn't like the Queen of Tears at all, because I was a true Makjang in a time when these dramas are no longer fashionable, I never lowered my rating in terms of performances, because although I didn't like the story, the Performances were also very good and there was no way to deny it.

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not totally enemies to lovers?? MY FAV

WOW!!! YAY!! This is over omg. The beginning eps of this had me HOOKED holy jee. The enduring plot, the plot twist of heejoo being able to talk, WOWOWOWOWO!!! Omg and the TENSIONNNN AND YEARNINGGGG!! Much needed… esp over the phone & sa eon flirting. I LOVED IT. COLD GUYS W WARM HEARTS>>>>!! Omg these two went through it … my lord. the first half of the show i liked better. but then the whole murderer shit was batshit crazy. like HOW COULD U LET HIM GET AWAY WITH ALL OF THAY. and i don’t understand the president dad guy letting him out. and like UGH! how does he keep getting free. the mom is FOUL!!! but i love how each of the enemies all have a morally gray backstory that made them into the monsters they are currently… my golly. but awesome story!!

HATED. Absolutely HATED sa eon leaving like😭😭😭😭😭😭😭after ALL YALL WENT THRU. and you LEFT??? What the eff… that was so unrealistic to me cuz he would not keep her out of his sight. disappearing is stupid . ugh. i hated that. but afterwards was cutie. minus points for that god damn. but beginning backs it up.

NOW TO THE MAIN EVENT: YURI AND SANGWOO. oh my god. this side couple was EVERYTHING TO ME. I KNEWWW they were gonna be together from the beginning. ugh they rly compliment each other sm. love yuri she was so cutie. omg watching the progression of the couple… so cute. i replayed the CRUMBS this drama gave me of them like 30 times. no joke. WHY ARE ALL THEIR MOMENTS JUST PLOT FILLERS??? LIKE???!???? ugh. i rly rly wish they had more cutie scenes. CUZ jumping from flirty and cutie to ENGAGED is crazy😭😭😭no kiss no nothing. UGH PLSSSS IM STARVING FOR MORE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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Best show ever for the first 10 episodes

I was absolutely hooked on this show from the first episode. Even my husband who doesn’t care for Korean shows was hooked. The actors were phenomenal. The story was thrilling, fast paced and kept you guessing. It was so intense that it was almost stressful to watch. Loved everything about it. I’d say it’s the best show I’ve seen in a long time.
And then.. the ending just got weird. It’s like the writers of episode 12 didn’t even read the scripts for the first 10 episodes. Episode 11 was a bit out there, but they could have saved it. Episode 12 seemed to change the original story line and none of it made sense. Major cliffhanger events from episode 11 were completely ignored in episode 12. The events in episode 12 referenced a history that was never really mentioned in the previous episodes. Who got shot? Who died? How the hell did they end up THERE?!?! How is he involved with those groups? None of it made any sense. This would have been an easy 10/10 until the very end.

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It was close

I really enjoyed this series and waited each week for new episodes to release. The actors did their job well, the story was engaging and had some unexpected plot twists. The last episode was a bit of a letdown for me. It felt very cheesy and forgettable. It felt like 2014 daytime TV. I honestly preferred their relationship earlier in the series. Overall, I don’t think the show was a waste of time, but I do wish it had more of a serious undertone.

To add more to the review, I thought not only the main actors did well, but I thought the actors playing the parents did a great job. Maybe better than the main pair. I thought Chae Soo-bin could have done better; or maybe it was just the writing or directing of her character Hong Hee-joo; it felt very one-dimensional, even with the very clearly two-dimensional portrayal according to the storyline.

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It's better than I expected

I'm afraid that this is ONE OF THE BEST DRAMAS of 2024 or even as a whole.

The episodes kept us so immersed 🤤
The actor's deserve a raise for portraying the emotions so well,😭
they did justice to the characters.
Yoo yeon seok, the man you are. Damm he's so good at his work😵‍💫❤️‍🔥 and Chae Soo Bin she killed it, so good. Impressive acting all around, I never felt like they were acting or trying too hard. They perfectly embodied their characters. In the beginning the tension and angst was so palpable.
The chemistry btw the leads is just top tier 🫠💕
The second leads were also cute 🥹💓
Everything about this drama was just perfect and nothing else. 🫡
The last episodes were so intense and dramatic. Their love is so swoon worthy.
I don’t give a crap about the commotion people are causing in the comments because they are cry babies or can't grasp simple plots.

I personally loved it and totally worth every hype it got. Whoever is reading this, please watch the drama you will not be disappointed!

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An overall entertaining experience for what it is

I just want to preface this: I am by no means an expert on dramas. I don't write reviews, nor am I overly critical on what I watch. If I like it, I like it. THIS one got me to write a review only because it had the potential to becoming one of my top dramas (I mean honestly speaking it still is but I'll get to that).

My ratings for dramas usually stem from my overall enjoyment and how invested I am in the plot and characters, as is with most people. WTPR had me interested from episode 1 and I was glued to my seat since then. Full send binge all the way through. It didn't feel like a chore to watch. It wasn't the most groundbreaking thing but I thought the concept was fresh and I absolutely loved the leads and their chemistry. Piece of Your Mind put Chae Soo Bin on my radar and I loved her role in this one as well. It had over-the-top drama cliches and tropes but I didn't mind it all cause it felt like an exaggerated soap opera where so much was going on I was just like "yeah give me more of this unrealistic train wreck, I'm locked in." The acting and production were great and I completely understand why Yoo Yeon Seok got nominated for an award cause one of his scenes is in my top 5 performances for me out of all the dramas I've seen.

Now the reason why I mentioned this HAD the potential to be one of my top dramas is the conclusion... I have no clue why it went down the route it did but man, they absolutely overcooked it in my opinion. It's like when you're cooking and following a recipe and then you suddenly start deviating from the recipe. You start adding in ingredients that you FEEL would elevate the dish but it just ends up becoming worse. Some people might have differing opinions on this but I think it's completely fine to leave loose ends with the plot as long as it doesn't shake up the pacing and narrative too much. It wasn't horrible by any means, but it just ended up feeling emptier than it should've been cause it felt like they were shoving the drama out the door.

In the beginning, I felt that this heavily benefited from the 12 episode format but now that I've finished it, I think the standard 16 would've been way better with the route that the writers and producers decided to take in closing it out. I appreciate that it didn't drag out, but in this case the runtime felt like a double-edged sword. With that being said, I still rate this so highly because I enjoyed the hell out of it (but also I'm basing this out of how I've rated the ones I've seen, so others might not consider this to be as high as 9/10). Do I wish some things could've been done differently? Clearly. Would I recommend this one? I would. For what it presented itself to be, I got more than I bargained for.

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