Juelin
United States
This review may contain spoilers
Not completely horrible but not great either
Even good actors and an interesting plot idea couldn't save the drama. It had all the right tools but no oomph.
Han Ri Ta and Do Ha were the most boring two characters. I get that Do Ha was supposed to be a sad person who just wanted to die, but in the very least the writers could've given him a personality and more facial expressions. Han Ri Ta wasn't any better. They were one depressed person falling in love with another depressed person resulting in slow and longwinded conversations about what sad lives they had, which got old very fast.
The most mindbogglingly stupid thing in the whole story was Han Ri Ta's reasons for killing Do Ha. She created a bad situation by killing his father forcing both of them to become fugitives. But, instead of having faith in him to deal with it and moving forward together, she just decided to kill him to end it all because she didn't want to deal with it anymore. Were we supposed to believe this was love? They were portrayed as star crossed lovers, but her motivations were shallow and self-serving .
The villain was one of the most terribly written villains I've seen in a long time. Firstly, the evil dad wanted to kill Do Ha for "disobeying" him, why? Because he brought a girl home and fell in love with her. That's it. Furthermore, the evil dad's ghost spend 1500 years chasing after Han Ri Ta's reincarnations just to kill them as revenge for killing him because he was a terrible father. This was basically a giant recurring temper tantrum, being evil for evil's sake, not for anything substantial or meaningful.
Some plotlines randomly disappeared. Firstly, making FL a firefighter and ML a celebrity was never going to work. There was no situation where they could consistently be together to move the story forward. As a result, nobody ever worked because they needed to spend time together for the story's sake. She was a firefighter for a total of two episodes and he quit being a celebrity altogether except occasional fangirls chasing him when it was convenient, although he was supposed to shoot a super special historical drama at the beginning of the show, which went nowhere.
The finale wasn't well thought out either. There was no point bringing Jun Oh back, unless he and Young Hwa were going to end up together. The giant plot hole why Jun Oh and Do Ha looked identical was never explained. The writers left it as pure coincidence, which was some very lazy writing, especially because Do Ha and Young Hwa future reincarnated selves looked the same. This was a waste of a great story idea, because Jun Oh looking like Do Ha could've been a plot device to give Young Hwa a happy-ish ending too. But Young Hwa did not get her happy ending, neither did Do Ha. Yes, their souls were reincarnated at the end, but they were reincarnated as different people who probably did not remember their past lives. Young Hwa was unique because she was the closest version of Han Ri Ta and because there was still Do Ha's unfinished business. After the curse was lifted, there was no more unfinished business. Do Ha's soul left and Young Hwa continued on with her life without her true love. I thought this ending was rather tragic.
Overall, the drama started out with an epic bang and fell completely flat with shallow characters and villains acting like cartoon bad guys. There were moments where it tugged at my heart strings, but the badly written plot and characters' stupid decisions made the drama a chore to watch. This was definitely not Kim Young Dae's best work.
Han Ri Ta and Do Ha were the most boring two characters. I get that Do Ha was supposed to be a sad person who just wanted to die, but in the very least the writers could've given him a personality and more facial expressions. Han Ri Ta wasn't any better. They were one depressed person falling in love with another depressed person resulting in slow and longwinded conversations about what sad lives they had, which got old very fast.
The most mindbogglingly stupid thing in the whole story was Han Ri Ta's reasons for killing Do Ha. She created a bad situation by killing his father forcing both of them to become fugitives. But, instead of having faith in him to deal with it and moving forward together, she just decided to kill him to end it all because she didn't want to deal with it anymore. Were we supposed to believe this was love? They were portrayed as star crossed lovers, but her motivations were shallow and self-serving .
The villain was one of the most terribly written villains I've seen in a long time. Firstly, the evil dad wanted to kill Do Ha for "disobeying" him, why? Because he brought a girl home and fell in love with her. That's it. Furthermore, the evil dad's ghost spend 1500 years chasing after Han Ri Ta's reincarnations just to kill them as revenge for killing him because he was a terrible father. This was basically a giant recurring temper tantrum, being evil for evil's sake, not for anything substantial or meaningful.
Some plotlines randomly disappeared. Firstly, making FL a firefighter and ML a celebrity was never going to work. There was no situation where they could consistently be together to move the story forward. As a result, nobody ever worked because they needed to spend time together for the story's sake. She was a firefighter for a total of two episodes and he quit being a celebrity altogether except occasional fangirls chasing him when it was convenient, although he was supposed to shoot a super special historical drama at the beginning of the show, which went nowhere.
The finale wasn't well thought out either. There was no point bringing Jun Oh back, unless he and Young Hwa were going to end up together. The giant plot hole why Jun Oh and Do Ha looked identical was never explained. The writers left it as pure coincidence, which was some very lazy writing, especially because Do Ha and Young Hwa future reincarnated selves looked the same. This was a waste of a great story idea, because Jun Oh looking like Do Ha could've been a plot device to give Young Hwa a happy-ish ending too. But Young Hwa did not get her happy ending, neither did Do Ha. Yes, their souls were reincarnated at the end, but they were reincarnated as different people who probably did not remember their past lives. Young Hwa was unique because she was the closest version of Han Ri Ta and because there was still Do Ha's unfinished business. After the curse was lifted, there was no more unfinished business. Do Ha's soul left and Young Hwa continued on with her life without her true love. I thought this ending was rather tragic.
Overall, the drama started out with an epic bang and fell completely flat with shallow characters and villains acting like cartoon bad guys. There were moments where it tugged at my heart strings, but the badly written plot and characters' stupid decisions made the drama a chore to watch. This was definitely not Kim Young Dae's best work.
Was this review helpful to you?
