flaming
This review may contain spoilers
Interesting premise, decent execution despite a few shortcomings, overall a satisfying watch
SPOILERS
The premise is interesting but also tricky to execute well, and I think for the most part it was very well executed.
I really like the characterization of all of them, but especially Jiwon - she's kind, but not a Mary Sue. It's a little understated what passing on her fate to Sumin actually entails - it's not just "if you want Minhwan so bad you can marry him", she's actively trying to make sure this woman dies instead of her. Not that it's a bad thing, it's fair enough considering Sumin was so eager to see her die, but it makes it clear that Jiwon is not altruistic, her kindness has boundaries and this is reinforced over and over - if someone screws her over, she has no hesitation to screw them over in return.
Jihyuk feels a bit like there's not much to him beyond him being in love with Jiwon, but well he is her allowance so I guess he gets a pass?
Slowly unravelling the many ways in which Sumin has constantly manipulated Jiwon and the people around her to make her life difficult makes it all the more cathartic when she gets her payback.
I really appreciated the direction it seemed to be heading in after Sumin and Minhwan get married, with Jiwon thinking that she has successfully passed on her fate to Sumin but realizing that it's more complicated than that when her situation ends up mirrored to someone she is close to instead. Juran being at the risk of dying better contextualizes what passing on her fate really means and reminds us that fate is not that straightforward and manipulable. It would have significantly weakened the plot if Sumin marrying Minhwan was all it took for Jiwon's fate to be transferred to Sumin. While they did carry this arc to a decent conclusion, I wish they had focused on it more.
I do have a few gripes, mostly with the later episodes. The pacing and structure was pretty good in the first 11 episodes, and then it seemed to devolve into utter chaos. The stakes dramatically went from 0 to 100, while the plot derailed into something overdone and predictable.
Did we really need Oh Yura? She serves a purpose, not just as the one to put things into motion and then take Jihyuk's fate in the end, but also as a way to balance Jihyuk's all-powerful protagonist with an all-powerful antagonist. On the other hand, I've never liked this archetype and she felt even more unnecessary in this story. Her introduction and the escalation she caused felt like a detraction from story that had been set up through the 11 episodes before, and frankly a natural escalation from the events and characters that were already set up would have felt a lot less jarring. The final episode manages to get back on track and give a good balance of action and emotions as well as satisfyingly tie up all the loose ends, which makes up for a lot of the issues I had.
I like that it's Minhwan who gets Jiwon's fate, that after terrorizing and trying to kill the women he had power over multiple times in both lives, he's the one who ends up dead at one such woman's hands. This also means that Sumin gets to live - and be miserable as she watches Jiwon be happy and be unable to do anything about it. For her, this is a fate worse than death. Yura felt too much like a cartoon villain for her life or death to provide any emotional value, she needed to be dead because of the danger she posed and so she had to die - and she took Jihyuk's fate while she was at it and finally made herself useful.
This is a bit nitpicky, but it bothers me that the things that were set to happen over the course of 10 years ended up happening in a few months time. Obviously, they can't stretch it out for 10 years, but it might've been better to go for a more reasonable time frame to begin with, like 2 or 3 years at most. The premise is that things that are destined to happen will happen anyway, and you can only change who it happens to. To some extent it makes sense that their interference may accelerate some events, but it felt like one plot point too many getting preponed by years, especially Juran getting Jiwon's fate 10 years in advance. It also felt a little funny to see the bag and heels ten years before they were originally bought - which would mean that in the original timeline they were outdated by a decade and not nearly as expensive and trendy as they were supposed to be.
Overall, I think the show hit the mark. It has it's shortcomings but they don't hold it back from being a satisfying watch with many powerful and cathartic moments. It's also important to mention the lighthearted and heartwarming moments of friendship, family and romance interspersed in between to balance it out. All of the cast were amazing, and Song Hayoon and Lee Yikyung especially deserve their flowers for playing the antagonists so well. Park Minyoung, as usual, knocked it out of the park. All in all, a good watch.
The premise is interesting but also tricky to execute well, and I think for the most part it was very well executed.
I really like the characterization of all of them, but especially Jiwon - she's kind, but not a Mary Sue. It's a little understated what passing on her fate to Sumin actually entails - it's not just "if you want Minhwan so bad you can marry him", she's actively trying to make sure this woman dies instead of her. Not that it's a bad thing, it's fair enough considering Sumin was so eager to see her die, but it makes it clear that Jiwon is not altruistic, her kindness has boundaries and this is reinforced over and over - if someone screws her over, she has no hesitation to screw them over in return.
Jihyuk feels a bit like there's not much to him beyond him being in love with Jiwon, but well he is her allowance so I guess he gets a pass?
Slowly unravelling the many ways in which Sumin has constantly manipulated Jiwon and the people around her to make her life difficult makes it all the more cathartic when she gets her payback.
I really appreciated the direction it seemed to be heading in after Sumin and Minhwan get married, with Jiwon thinking that she has successfully passed on her fate to Sumin but realizing that it's more complicated than that when her situation ends up mirrored to someone she is close to instead. Juran being at the risk of dying better contextualizes what passing on her fate really means and reminds us that fate is not that straightforward and manipulable. It would have significantly weakened the plot if Sumin marrying Minhwan was all it took for Jiwon's fate to be transferred to Sumin. While they did carry this arc to a decent conclusion, I wish they had focused on it more.
I do have a few gripes, mostly with the later episodes. The pacing and structure was pretty good in the first 11 episodes, and then it seemed to devolve into utter chaos. The stakes dramatically went from 0 to 100, while the plot derailed into something overdone and predictable.
Did we really need Oh Yura? She serves a purpose, not just as the one to put things into motion and then take Jihyuk's fate in the end, but also as a way to balance Jihyuk's all-powerful protagonist with an all-powerful antagonist. On the other hand, I've never liked this archetype and she felt even more unnecessary in this story. Her introduction and the escalation she caused felt like a detraction from story that had been set up through the 11 episodes before, and frankly a natural escalation from the events and characters that were already set up would have felt a lot less jarring. The final episode manages to get back on track and give a good balance of action and emotions as well as satisfyingly tie up all the loose ends, which makes up for a lot of the issues I had.
I like that it's Minhwan who gets Jiwon's fate, that after terrorizing and trying to kill the women he had power over multiple times in both lives, he's the one who ends up dead at one such woman's hands. This also means that Sumin gets to live - and be miserable as she watches Jiwon be happy and be unable to do anything about it. For her, this is a fate worse than death. Yura felt too much like a cartoon villain for her life or death to provide any emotional value, she needed to be dead because of the danger she posed and so she had to die - and she took Jihyuk's fate while she was at it and finally made herself useful.
This is a bit nitpicky, but it bothers me that the things that were set to happen over the course of 10 years ended up happening in a few months time. Obviously, they can't stretch it out for 10 years, but it might've been better to go for a more reasonable time frame to begin with, like 2 or 3 years at most. The premise is that things that are destined to happen will happen anyway, and you can only change who it happens to. To some extent it makes sense that their interference may accelerate some events, but it felt like one plot point too many getting preponed by years, especially Juran getting Jiwon's fate 10 years in advance. It also felt a little funny to see the bag and heels ten years before they were originally bought - which would mean that in the original timeline they were outdated by a decade and not nearly as expensive and trendy as they were supposed to be.
Overall, I think the show hit the mark. It has it's shortcomings but they don't hold it back from being a satisfying watch with many powerful and cathartic moments. It's also important to mention the lighthearted and heartwarming moments of friendship, family and romance interspersed in between to balance it out. All of the cast were amazing, and Song Hayoon and Lee Yikyung especially deserve their flowers for playing the antagonists so well. Park Minyoung, as usual, knocked it out of the park. All in all, a good watch.
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