Lot of potential but ultimately never lived up to its expectations.

Don't get me wrong, I don't think the drama is terrible or anything. It has its moments when it shines bright but at the same time, it's too far and few between. One of the highlights is undoubtedly the female lead. She had a lot of charm and sass to her character that it was refreshing to see. It's her character that brings the most interesting and refreshing dialogues in the entire show. The story was reasonably well-paced and give enough screen time for each and every character instead of focussing only on the main leads. The relationship between the main leads was definitely another one of the highlights as well..
And that's where my positives end.

Even though I listed so many positives it was a frustrating experience.
I have seen many reviews raving the main lead for being such a gentleman and such a refreshing character, I mean I get it where the praise comes from but at the same time, the character never had any personality. He's one of the blankest slate a character can be, so ultimately the viewers can ultimately project themselves or anyone else. This is lazy writing more than anything else.
Without going into too many spoilers, let's just say they introduce a character who is gay and never fleshes his character out and just uses him to create a conflict that ultimately does not even affect the story in an impactful way.
The second couple's story is generic and something we have seen a million times. The characters have good chemistry but the story was just basic and by the books. This is something that I have seen a lot lately if the story of the main leads is somewhat different or modern, they introduce a secondary couple with the most cliche story to satisfy a certain section of fans. I can understand why they do it because ultimately the success of the drama depends on how many audiences watch it. I don't consider it as a huge negative but I'm just stating facts for what it is...
The acting was ok overall wasn't impressed with the mail leads performance but was not hugely disappointed either.

Ultimately my frustration arises from the fact that all the negatives I mentioned above were easily avoidable if the screenplay was written a little better.

Read More

Pill that is very hard to swallow

This show is a pill that is very hard to swallow..

The initial story setup I felt was really good and had a lot of potential. Characters felt unique and interesting and show had a very promising start as well.
But as the story progressed and reached its final destination it felt unsatisfying and shallow...

I think the ending really puts into perspective what the writing was trying to do in the first place. The writers was more interested in the philosophical aspects( conveyed through dialogue and themes) rather than the characters themselves. Every story arc seems under-utilized. There are so many story threads that was unexplored or blatantly ignored.
The best example was Gu's past. They just used the past just an excuse for why he is drunk all the time. We never fully understand what happened, why was she important to him or whether she was important at all.

Acting was overall top notch special mention should be given to Son Seok-Koo. The charm charisma and the ultimate dread he brings to the role was really great to watch..

Read More

Confusing??? Really!!

This website has a bad habit of hyping up drama with no reason (rating wise). The newest example i found was this drama.
To tell everyone upfront i have not watch many Taiwanese drama, but for me whatever language of the drama may be story and execution of a drama is most important for me.
This was a drama that was average at best. I felt the chemistry of lead pair was just so and so nothing special which encapsulates the core of this drama.It was not that hard to follow (even thought it might not seem that way seeing the comments section).

Time traveling aspect of the drama is what infuriates me the most
First of all they set no ground rules for it, whatever they need whenever they need (they, refrensing the writer of this drama)when there is no structure or rules for time travel people can assume whatever they want and everything can make sense and anything will be possible. That is lazy writing!!
Additionally i dont get the sense of humour of this drama. Since the intial few episodes the drama relies on its humour to keep viewers interested (before the time travel aspect really kicks in) it was a boring and overdramatic. I never once laughed or even smiled (too childish for my sensability a personal preference i guess).
Its has its moments at times but it was too far and between

Read More

Overhyped and Shallow

I watched it during the initial run and thought it was ok (not good not great) but after some glowing reviews in this site i thought maybe if i watch it again, binge waching this time may be i will start to love it.
Sadly it was worse
It is being considered as a drama similar to Descendant of the sun. It is easy to see why, it is lighthearted on the whole, over dramatic and over the top story wise and beautiful to look at(asthetics of characters not cinematography as a whole). But what DOTS did better was it maintained the tone throughout and thus made the experiance a lot more enjoyable.
After rewatch, the scenes that impacted me most or even made me care about the characters where of Seo Ji Hye and Kim Jung Hyun. This made me realize how shallow the main couple where and meaningless their journey was. I had to skip most of the scenes during rewatch.
If the second couples journey was chiched as the main couples may be i would have rated it more (Strange!! I Know). But their journey showed me that the drama was capable of being much more impactfull, but sadly they didnt even try.....

Read More

Fizzles out in the end

Drama had a great start. I liked how they approached the story, their approach somehow felt fresh and unique although we have seen this kind of story many times.
Story and had enough depth to make it intresting throughout its run. Acting was top notch including the child actors and i thought the drama was perfectly casted.
But the last few episodes really disappointed me. I thought initially the writer took a brave approach in handling the relationship between the three leads. But instead of going through with it they coped out for a happy ending in the end which made the entire journey of the three leads bitter sweet.
Character of Kai which brings supernatural elements to the drama was rather hit or miss for me. It would have worked much more if that aspect of the story was treated more as a mystery. I understand the purpose of his character and how important he is to the story but most of the scenes involving him and Ra Mi Ran (in the end)made her emotional journey a little less impactful. I wanted the character to deal with her emotions on her own terms and come out of it stronger and braver
Humour of this drama was self aware and good. It would have worked much better if it was cut down to 16 episodes. But still it was enjoyable overall

Read More

Fun but overlong

I'll make the review short..
The majority of what is wrong with this show stems from the fact that that the show is too long for its own good. Each episode is almost 70 - 90 minutes in runtime. It being a netflix show, i dont know why they had to stretch each episode to reach this runtime. The series would have been much better if the episode count was reduced to 16 or the by reducing the episode length.
To fill the runtime there are many unnecessary jokes and setups for comedy which works sometimes but not nearly enough. Whatever emotional aspects or urgency the story tries to bring fizzles out in the end due to this..
I was on board with the romance aspect of the story, i think the charm of the characters and actors worked well and the chemistry was really good. The over the top nature of the story never bothered me (When was Korean Dramas not over the top?).
Story was not perfect dont get me wrong but still i was not bored by it but at the same time i wont be rewatching it any time soon...

Read More

A lighthearted and heatrwarming Melodrama

The main romance, which is the core of the drama was executed very well. It never drags as the writer constantly tries to introduce new characters which bring new story lines with them. It is also to be noted that all the characters introduced are fully fleshed out characters rather than being introduced just to create conflict between the main leads. The mystery aspect of the story was treated really well. The main couple had very good chemistry and Son ye Jin was brilliant in her role.

Main issue with this drama is that the secondary romance felt forced. I never felt any chemistry between them. I felt that it was introduced just to pad the runtime.
Final episode was a disappointment to say the least. Too much happens in just this one episode and I felt it was rushed.
Comedic elements felt a little repetitive (it follows the same pattern and usually revolves around the second couple)
Perormances were good overall although i felt Lee ha Na's performance to be awkward. I felt she was trying too hard to be naive and childish that it goes a little overboard.

Overall this drama was ligh hearted in its approach which was surprising.

Read More

Maintaining the chemistry

First things first, despite the fact that this series is as formulaic as they come, it wasn't inherently awful because it was, for the most part, enjoyable. The male lead is the key justification. Both the serious and humorous portions of his performance were good, making the watch enjoyable. But how long can you hold something with just one thread?
Because there are no other compelling characters, watching each episode of the show eventually becomes tedious.

I'm going to talk about something that I've recently seen in a number of shows. when the man and woman finally start dating. The chemistry we had felt up until then fully changes into cringe. I felt uncomfortable as I saw the leads' interactions.
The awkwardness I experienced while watching the protagonists interact once they started dating is not unique to this program, but it does continuing the trend. This is very definitely caused by the lack of proper writing . I cut out a good number of shows as a result of this.(Hometown cha cha being one).
Why bother finishing the story when the sole element that was keeping you interested is no longer there?

Read More

Could have been better

Drama had a Strange start, it was intresting but not entertaining(If that makes any Sense). But the show gradually grew on me. Lee eun jung character arc was one of the few time that made me feel something for a character in a korean drama personally after a long time.
Then why a rating of 6.5
For a drama that is trying to ground itself in reality it was too focussed on giving satisfying ending for every character.
Love story of the side characters especially the Screen writer lady was rather uninteresting. Of all the 4 main characters as in the poster 2 of the characters (Lee hyo Bong and hwang han joo) were under developed (especially Lee Hyo Bong) felt was just used to pad the run time more than anything else

Read More

Bittersweet ending?

Its been some time that i was this invested in a story, and was this keen on binge watching and finishing it as soon as possible.
This drama had a fresh approach to the tried and tested storyline by having a unique twist. But what really drives the story to its excellence is acting by the leads especially the female lead. Its a kind of performance that can make any average story charming.

Writing in this drama is really good, especially in how it handles sexuality( to a certain extend ) and there were some really smart choices in story telling that i really enjoyed. Story was simplistic enough and never felt too draggy.

Then why a low rating ?

Straight out of the bat i will say that i was majorly let down by the final episode. I felt all the good writing and execution felt flat in this final episode. The major reason i feel is beacuse it felt rushed. Its almost like they wanted everything to fell into place within the final episode and in doing so a lot of character decisions felt unearned. By character decisions i mean the sudden soul change in the final 10 minutes without dealing with any consequences it may bring up. I can easily understand why people are frustrated by it. When you spend this amount of time rooting for a character and understanding someone and suddenly writers decide to just do something that feels like an afterthought.( we are supposed to assume a lot to make the finale work in my opinion which i think is bad writing)..
If they could have drawn out the last episode to something bigger (2 episode maybe?) they could have made this work. Some of the storylines introduced for jokes felt unnecessary and avoidable. Politics involved is simplistic, but a bit stretched in my opinion. Music was just meh overall. (Overusing one song mainly)

I dont want to be someone reactionary with the rating i did really enjoy it overall....

Read More