Gong Yoo And Bae Doona Were My Main Reasons For Watching…

In all honesty I sort of feel as though opinions on this show are greatly divided and I can understand why.

I’m a big Gong Yoo fan. I love his works and typically trust his project decisions just as Bae Doona is a brilliant actress and I’m often blown away by her performances. But I often struggled to warm up to their characters. The drama rarely gave us opportunities to really grow to any of the onscreen main leads and supporting cast? It’s hard to explain fully but there were never real moments which were particularly emotional or really made you fall in love with the characters.

As a non sci-fi fan I can’t really say that I’m overly familiar with this genre but I do know that a lot of the storyline did strike a slight chord with me as a bit same-old. I liked how the series helped to show you elements of the world that the series was set in but apart from that it did feel a bit boring.

The pacing was also very slow. I get that the intention was to make you wait and see what would happen but it did turn me off a little during scenes to actually engage in the storyline.

Overall I wouldn’t say this is a bad drama per say but mediocre. I know that South Korea is still pretty new to this kind of genre and I guess we have to take that on board as watchers, but I’ve certainly seen better takes on this genre by South-Korean directors in recent years.

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Alice In Blunderland…

There’s a lot of things to say about ‘ Alice In Borderland’ after finally getting round to watching it but I’m trying my best to keep this spoiler-free so I’ll start off by saying some things I thought the show did well and not so well;

STRENGTHS
Setup- Whilst I’ve never had the opportunity to read the manga before I’ve heard from friends that ‘ Alice In Borderland’’s manga is naturally a lot more in-depth than the series. Nevertheless not having a personal bias towards the original series, I have to say that the setup initially did grip me.

Intriguing characters- Admittedly I’ll be brutally honest by saying that there were some characters who were far more interesting than others but the series did present a wide range of players in the series from our main leads to side characters also.

Tension- A lot to keep you on your toes.

FLAWS;
Storyline - Often could become too weighed down.

Characters- Our main leads never had enough opportunities to be explored in more depth.

Acting- Could vary too much from moment to moment
Ending - Evident cliffhanger with season 1 and hinting at season 2 but felt too incomplete.

Overall not a bad drama but a slight yawn-fest also.

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Angsty Fantasy

Tomorrow is what I’d define as all bark and no bite. This isn’t to say it was bad. I liked a lot of the messages and I thought it was very positive to see a Korean drama addressing a lot of different issues like suicide, depression and anorexia. ( Especially for those who have known these issues directly or indirectly.)

I also have a lot of positive things to say about the cast. Rowoon has always been of a mixed bag actor for me but he really surpassed all my expectations as the ML. I didn’t really know the main actress Kim Hee Sun from other projects but her acting was also fairly decent here as the main female alongside the other unfamiliar face Yun Ji On who delivered a good performance.

Maybe my big problem came from the narrative building. There were a lot of issues tackled but the plot was messy. One moment we had a big issue seemingly built for the main lead but they rarely took it further after the first episode and entirely forgot about it until the ending. The character arcs were also messy. I like how we got insights into their backstories like with the female lead but it rarely felt connected or helping to bring about a big sense of impending doom or obstacles for the main leads.

The filming was pretty and all but it didn’t always make sense with helping to bring to life the world of the characters. I understand that while the webcomic is a lot more straightforward in its art style and approach, the screenplay could’ve probably taken a leaf from that and focused on better building of the setting and characters early on.

Overall I think Tomorrow is a good fantasy with a good cast and a lot of drama fans will probably be fascinated with LSH’s appearance ( only supporting). My big problem came from the writing and I think a lot of watchers have shared their own issues here with it. I’d say give it a go but be prepared for some messy writing moments here and there.

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Sweet But Not Heavenly For Me…

First I’m going to be really honest and just say this wasn’t for me. Don’t get me wrong. The storyline and process of healing was something I could relate to a lot after losing a relative myself and it did strike a chord with me how the actors were perfectly able to captivate us into the storyline.

So why did I drop it? Well it didn’t really hook me. Normally I love healing tales and storylines but the characters didn’t really make me warm up to them. Of course that’s my personal opinion. It was a good show even from the episodes I saw, but I doubt that I’m going to carry this one forward.

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