Lilac Francois
Everything about this drama is top notch, from the tight plot, beautiful writing and great acting. I wish this is a 16 episodes drama, so we could get a deeper exploration of characters and plot.
Every episode left you biting your nail waiting for the next episodes to be available. The suspense was intense and intriguing. I love the concept of how the parallel world actually work. There are so many small things that seems insignificant the first time around but it’s actually a clue to the bigger picture. So beautifully written and executed.
I love how they show and explore both world, how one single action could lead to such a different outcome. The color palate they use in each world is different, and it really enhanced the viewing experience.
The difference in each world is subtle in some aspect but significant in other stuff. The difference also shows in our characters, because they experience a different life, they have different personalities, but fundamentally they are still the same person.
This is not the first time Yoon Shi Yoon play as two different characters in a drama, I first show him do it in ‘Your Honor’ where he play as twin brothers. I think his acting here is so much better then before, in ‘your honor’ he over act a lot when playing one of the brother, while here, he played Do Won characters with subtle differences that’s more enjoyable to see. I wish they could explore more of the background story of Do Won from the other world, he seems so broken and jaded, that I want to know more about him.
Two thumbs up for Kyung Soo Jin as Han Seo Kyung. Her portrayals of Seo Kyung characters in both worlds are really good. Really love her characters in both worlds. Just wish they have more episodes so that more of the characters from the alternate world could be explored more deeply. All the other actors also portrayed their characters so well. It’s a really good casts.
The musics are really good. Love ‘I will never’ by Joe Wonsun and also ‘with you’ by Oo. All the background music also build up the atmosphere really nicely.
I will rewatched this series, I will be looking at all the difference between each world and also looking for the similarities. I would also look at all the crumbs of clues splattered across the episodes.
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Too shallow of a story, but LJS looks so good as psychopath
I think the main problem of this movie is it’s lack of focus, they try to make it more grand and complex that it actually loses all semblance of connection to the audience. It’s just a jumbled plot that doesn’t pay attention to its character. I couldn’t connect to any of the character, because non of them actually have a character, they’re just there, without rhyme or reason, all jumbled together without ever being explained.I got what their trying to go for, but it doesn’t translate because of poor writing and directing, I think. Everything is only shown in glimpses, no backgrounds that grounded them to reality and relatablity. It lack substance, and only throwing light jabs that doesn’t do anything for the overall story.
All three countries that fight over this serial killer, North and South Korea along with the US, are not explained well. It should be intriguing to see the power dynamic and political play from those three countries, but what we get is just a whitewash of the power struggle and political battle that should have happened.
All the actors other than Paul Stormare, who played the CIA agent, performed really well with what they have, which is almost nothing. They managed to expand their characters to be more than basic cops or agents. I found the CIA agent to be the worse though, he over acted a lot, the voice sounds like a dubbing and a bad one at that. He lacked subtlety and too one dimensional.
Lee Jong Suk looks so creepy as a psychopath, which is great. I really love him here. I hope he would get a great psychopath role in a future drama, so we could see him fully explore this type of character. I also like Jang Dong Gun as the NIS agent of South Korea, we got a bit of character development for his role.
I don’t pay enough attention to the music, I think I’m already distracted by the lack of focus on the character.
I might rewatch this just for LJS being psychopathic, but I definitely didn’t care enough about the story to rewatch the whole movie.
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Excessive crying that I don’t feel moved anymore
This drama has a promising story that is unfortunately unfulfilled. I wish the writing and plot would be stronger. I feel like there is a lot of things they could build on but they just choose the easy route.I know this is a melodrama, so I would expect a lot of emotional roller coaster, but I find the crying scene too excessive that I don’t even feel moved. I don’t mind crying scene every other episode or even rarer, but the crying in this series is every other minutes. Sad moment doesn’t always have to be a crying moment. It would even benefit a sad moment just by being silent or giving sad music, you don’t have to cry every time. It really annoys me towards the end, because it’s just too much.
The casting is okay. I like Yoo Seung Ho, whose playing as Kang Hyeon Jun, the second male lead. He potrays a lot of subtlety in his acting, giving his character deeper layers. He looks vulnerable but strong, weak but mad, a lot of conflicting nuances that really portrays Hyeong Jun troubled mind.
Not a fan of Park Yoo Chun. I have seen him in two other series, ‘the girl who see smells’ and ‘three days’, he always plays the same character, some kind of police officer. His acting feels flat, without layers, when I think it really needs them in this series. Han Jung Woo have a very troubled past and are still troubled, but you couldn’t see any of the vulnerability, unless he’s crying, which as I mention happen every other minutes.
Younger Jun Woo, portrayed by Yeo Jin Go, gives me a much stronger impression than Yoochun. He feels fragile, meek, but underneath you could feel his steel and determination. I have seen Jin Go in a few other series and also as ‘Hwayi: a monster boy’, and he’s always good.
The female lead is okay, not enough layers, too much crying but doing an alright job. None of the other supporting character gives me any lasting impression.
The music is good, adding to the mood but nothing memorable.
I’m not going to rewatch this drama, I have enough crying for a while after I watch this drama. There’s nothing I really remember or want to revisit about the plot.
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Mediocre romance series
It has a good premise, but lacking in execution. It feels like it’s going around in circle and just keep on going. I think it could be done in 10 episode instead of 20. It would probably make the pacing better and more enjoyable to watch.I don’t like the female lead, Im Yoon Ah. I’ve seen her previously in K2, and I really hate her there, her acting is so one dimensional and just crying all the time. She’s the same here. I quite like the male lead, but I also think he’s character about lacking, but he’s good looking. All the other actors I found to be quite lacking also, which is unfortunate.
I managed to finished watching the whole show by mostly fast forwarding every episode. I probably only watch around 20 minutes of each episode. I’m determined to know the ending, but I just cannot handle all the meandering and crying in every episode, it’s too boring.
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The story is so cliche, but it’s entertaining and mostly funny. Most of the story really doesn’t make sense and unrealistic. I wish they would take the spy special agent part of the story more serious and realistic since Park Hae Jin is really great for this kind of story. It’s just too over the top and weird most of the time.
I love the bromance between Hae Jin and Park Soo Wong. They have such an amazing chemistry together. Their relationship looks natural and cute. It should be the main focus and main relationship. I really dislike the romance between Hae Jin and the girl, I don’t see why he could fall in love with her, it doesn’t look natural and it’s unbelievable.
Don’t get me started on how bad I think the girl acting is. Her acting is soooo... over the top, unnatural and full of big eyes that doesn’t relay any emotions other than making her look crazy idiotic. Oh and don’t forget all that high pitched screaming. Please just delete her.
The music is ok, nothing that I particularly like.
I would rewatch some scene, especially the interaction between Hae Jin and Soo Wong, but I would definitely skip anything with the girl in it.
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A definitely must watch series if you like thriller, crime drama and political drama. All of those aspects are perfectly blended in this show. Nothing is cliche and nothing is black and white. A really well made series with wonderful casts.
The story is so well paced that there’s not a time the viewer would feel bored. All the episodes would keep you at the edge of your seat, bitting your nail from the suspense. There are so many twists and turns that is unexpected along the way, it feels like a roller coaster ride. A lot of scheming and back stabbing. It’s so hard to guest what will happen and who are actually the bad guys and who is the good guys.
The cinematography is well done, I like the color palate of the show. There are some scene that annoys me because they seem to use a handheld camera because the whole scene seem to sway a lot that it makes me quite dizzy just by looking at it. I don’t mind if they do it on purpose to show conflicting emotion, or feeling unstable, but some of this scene don’t seem to have any meaning, it’s just them talking. But it’s only a minor flaw compare to all the greatness of this show.
You will be very invested in each character. None of them are perfect, they all have their good side and bad side. Everyone could be the bad guys.
What I like the most is that Hwang Si Mok as the main protagonist is not perfect and know how to play the game. You would not survive in the real world if you just want everything to go your way, there are something that you would need to let go or turn a blind eye on if you want to achieve something bigger.
Han Yeo Jin as the female lead gives a really strong performance as a no nonsense police officer. She does her investigation throughly but without she still care and warm to the victims.
The other prosecutors and police officers are really great and unique character, each with their own story which are developed well through out the show. It keeps you guessing until the last moment on who is the real bad guy behind all of this. Just remember, nobody is perfect.
The music is nothing special, but it matched the show really well. There’s no ost that I remember from this show.
I think this show deserves so rewatch, because I’m sure you would be able to pick up a lot of different things during the rewatching that you may miss the first time around. There are a lot of subtle hints and nuances given through out the show that would probably make you think ‘ah... so that’s what happen’. I’m definitely going to be rewatching this show to see all the things that I may have miss the first time around.
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It’s a cliche story of changing live with someone else and try to solve some problem in the mean time. It’s such an interesting premise, how different the twins are, but I don’t think they use it to it’s full potential. There’re a lot to be explored, in their personal live, but they just focus on the cases handled by Han Kang Ho while he impersonate his brother Han Soo Ho.
I feel like even until the series end there are a lot of issues unresolved in their personal live. It feels too shallow, since they just dealt with day to day issues from the court house. There is the standard main case that they need to solve along with the other cases, but it’s uninteresting and not explored enough. Even though it’s suppose to be the main case, but they did not even explore the players involved.
I’m usually quite impressed with the acting in Korean drama, but unfortunately I’m not that impressed here. None of the side characters are explored deeply, they feel ignored, the story only focus on the main character and that is not even fully explored.
Yoon Shi Yoon playing double character of Han Kang Ho and Han Soo Ho is doing an okay job as Soo Ho, but I think he’s acting too over the top for Kang Ho. I know they’re supposed to different, but he could play it more subtly, I mean it’s a good job that he even have different posture for each character, but the face expressions for Kang Ho feels so forced. I wish he act it like Lee Da Hae in Nice Witch, where she also have to play a twin with 2 different personalities.
I quite like Lee Yoo Young as Song So Eun. She’s a strong heroin with deep empathy. I wish they give more time for the development of her personal life, not just her career in the judicial system.
There’s suppose to be a main villain if you could even say it’s the main since it’s really underdeveloped and underused. All the other characters are not explored so I couldn’t comment on how good their acting or even castings are.
The music is so so, nothing to remember.
I’m not going to rewatch this.
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Very disappointed with this star studded drama
I have quite a high expectations with this drama, especially with their cast that are full of highly regarded actor and actresses. The story is unfocused and just keep on dragging. With such wonderful cast, the acting of the main character feels so bland and uninspiring.There are no chemistry what so ever between the ML, FL and SML. I don’t even understand why they would try to make a love triangle that just doesn’t have any fire.
They should have focused just on the live as Hwarang, because when they focus on that, that’s when I find the story to be interesting. They really need a better writer. I find myself keep fast forwarding all the romance scene between the FM and either of ML and SML. Her acting is so bad, I cringe, I’m sorry if I sound like I bash her. This is my third time watching her drama. She has the same problem, no chemistry what so ever with ML in Black, I don’t remember her at all in Reply. I really wish they drop this awkward romance and instead focus on the character and relationship development between all the members of Hwarang.
The attempt on palace politics is just plain boring and cliche. They didn’t even bother to clearly explain the background story, the real reason why all of this is happening. It feels so shallow, like we just look at a book by the summary page. Nothing is explored, they spend most of the run time trying to develop the romance that is really awkward between a lot of the character.
The ending feels so rush and anticlimactic while the whole story feels dragging and shallow. It have so many plot holes the size of Jupiter with how obvious they are.
Gosh, I don’t want to keep on ranting but his is really bad. I better stop here before I keep on bashing this show...
Definitely not going to watch it again. And the music... I didn’t like their attempt on trying to mix modern music on ancient period drama, the latter part ost is nice, but the beginning is just... no.
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If you’re going to make a time travel drama then you have to include the out of time person element in the drama. You need to show some kind of adjustment period to the new time. There are almost none other than a few line here and there. They spend several episode being crime of the week type to introduce the character and how they get along. They should also have used these episodes to show us how the main character adjusting to all the new rule in this modern time. How he get to know the current crime scene procedure, how to use the computer, what new science used to find suspect, and all that stuff. Unfortunately they take the easy route, by just mentioning a few line in every episodes, which is a lame thing to do.
If they are not going to use the fish out of water aspect of time travel than they shouldn’t bother making this a time travel drama. They should just stick to standard crime drama, which is good enough, but it could be so much more.
The main case that needs to be solve is interesting and quite clever, there are quite a few twist that makes this an interesting case. However I didn’t see the point of why there’s a need to time travel to solve this drama. It could be just your standard crime drama and it would still be interesting, especially if they delve deeper into the victims, which they didn’t do here, since it’s supposed to happened 30 years ago. It could be an even more interesting crime story instead of this half baked time travel story.
The acting is really good, everyone portray their roles very well. My favorite is the second lead, Yoon Hyun Min playing as Kim Seon Jae. He give a really good performance as a misunderstood, arrogant and smart detective. There are layer and depth to his character.
I wish the main lead, Park Kwang Ho played by Choi Jin Hyuk, give off more out of time element. He didn’t look like a person out of time at all, everything workout too perfectly, but he did an awesome job looking like a father and older brother to the other character that I would not mention. The other casts also give good performances.
The music is okay, no song that really grab my attention. The costume and set design of the old time is not old looking enough in my opinion, especially considering it’s supposed to be in 1986. The clothing and hair style looks more like a 90’s fashion, in my opinion.
Overall this is an enjoyable crime drama, but not so good time travel drama. I probably would watch it again in the future, but not sure. I would recommend this to those who loves crime drama but I would not recommend it to those looking for time travel, lost in time drama.
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Better child actresses, should keep on using them
For me this drama is totally ruined by Han Ga In very bad acting. I have no idea how she could be chosen as the FL. There’s only one expression on her face through out the whole season, wide eyes stupid surprised expression. This matter become so obvious because she’s acting agains Kim Soo Hyun and playing the older version of Kim Yoo Jung. How could a child actress outperformed the older and more veteran actress. It’s so awful.Kim Soo Hyun as ML and Yeo Jin Goo as the younger version of ML is acting very well. They portray all the conflicting emotions and layers of the character. Kim Yoo Jung as FL younger version also give a really wonderful performance. So overall, the acting in this drama is really good.
The story, hmmm... this could use a bit of improvement, cause I feel like there’s some unnecessary twist and it also rush through the last few episodes while dragging on some of the middle part. Some conflict felt like an afterthought because it’s not been explored further.
The music is good. I don’t think I’ll ever rewatch this because I cannot stand the FL cringey acting.
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Memories doesn’t have any power
This is a great story about a detective with a superpower that make him able to see the memories of anyone he touch. He could definitely see whose the bad guy and whose the good guy, but memories it self doesn’t have any power... you still need to gather evidence and all the usual stuff. It’s such a struggle to keep being a good guy if you could see all the dark side of everyone memories. These struggles are conveyed wonderfully by this drama.When I first start watching this, I think that it’s not that interesting, the first few episode feels like your typical villain of the week set up, you know, like CSI, but it’s actually just a set up before we got to the main plot of this drama. There are so many subplots and twists that you could never guess where everything would go. When you think you already have everything figured out, it turns out to be another red herring, or it’s just part of a bigger picture that’s still covered in shadows.
It’s beautifully written and there’s no obvious plot hole, but the pacing is a bit uneven. There are a few episodes that feels like there’s too many things happening while there are episodes where it feels dragging. I wish they give a little bit more hint, because the conclusion for me feels a bit too out of the left field. But overall, I’m very satisfied with the stories.
The acting is top notch. Everyone portray their role wonderfully. I really love Dong Baek, our ML portrayed by Yoo Seung Ho, he have such a complex character, sometimes I really want to punch him, but other time I want to cry with him. He’s so miss understood and it’s understandable why a lot of people hate him, but once you know the real him, you could see what he show the world is not who he really are.
Our FL, SunMi, played by Lee Se Young is such a strong woman. She have great confidence on her own ability, she also have such a strong moral code and a very intellectual mind. Her chemistry with Dong Baek is great. The two side kick of Dong Baek, played by Co Chang Suk and Jang Eui Su also have a really great chemistry with our ML and help build his character.
The music is ok, I love the ending theme song, not really paying attention to the other music. Cinematography is also good, since this is adapted from a webtoon, some of the scene reminds you of reading it in the webtoon, very nice.
I think you definitely need to rewatched this drama, because you would want to recheck what you miss during the first time watching it. There are so many plot twist and side characters that could be important shown in the beginning that you may not pay attention to but are actually quite important. I will start rewatching this after I finish this review ;)
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A must watch for medical drama lover
This is one of the best medical drama out there in my opinion. I love everything about this series. The stories, characters and casts are great.I love the fact that the story focus on 4 young doctors and a nurse that just start their fellowship program in the Doctor Heli program. We see those doctors grow through out the story and overcome their weakness and find confidence in themself.
I love how they focus more on the cases and the patients. There’s almost no hospital politics that I mostly found boring and tend to be exaggerated. The focus on the patients and their families is a welcome change.
It’s been a while since I watch dorama, been watching Kdrama lately. I must say that I forgot how dorama is not as exaggerated as Kdrama, they play your emotion with more subtlety, there are almost no crying your heart out loudly, less shouting and all those over the top performances. I found I cry more due to the subtle emotion manipulation, because it feel more grounded and real.
Everyone have different personalities and need to adjust to be able to work as a team. Really love Aizawa Kosaku, played by Yamapi, he’s so looks like a cold and rude doctor, but he actually have a really warm heart. Saejima, the nurse also have a really interesting character development. They are the two character that have the most background story, but they also explore the other 3 character background, just not as deep.
I would give the cast/character 10/10 if they flesh out shiraishi character more, I feel like she’s the most one dimensional character here. Not sure whether that’s the writing or the acting that make this character flat, while the other character feels more layered.
Love the music, especially the instrumental background music, really build up the mood. I also love the soundtrack at the end of each episodes. I would definitely rewatch this drama, mostl likely more than once.
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The story is very interesting and done well, I just think there are a view unfinished thread. The first one third of the story focus on the prison, but they never seem to bother showing us what happen to the prison by the end of the story. I also think the second half of the story focus more on the crime solving than the medical aspect of it. It’s not bad, but I wish they give more time for the medical side of it.
I have to give the show praises for the use of realistic looking organs and operations. I really like the medical aspect of the stories, especially how our male lead grow as a doctor and his relationship with the people around him. How he start to realize what it means to be a doctor and the real reason he become one.
Go Kyung Pyo as Kang In Gyu give an okay performance, it looks a bit force when he try to show that he’s a bad guy, I think he should stay being the nice guy and develop more acting skill before attempting another bad boy role. He looks and act really well when he’s being nice and sympathetic, but all the evil glare and wild eye look just come unnaturally. In Gyu character was developed really well through out the show. We could see he’s transformation from being a doctor for revenge to being a real doctor. I quite like he’s bromance with Lee Joo Hyuk, played by Kim Ji Han, I wish they explore it more. I also like his complicated relationship with Go Jung Hun and Go Ji In.
Jo Jae Hyun as Go Jung Hun is good as usual, despite all the scandal. It’s sad that his character has to leave the show early, because it’s definitely noticeable. They gave him a good enough ending, but I think the story would benefit more for having him and his character stay until the end. Jung Hun is such an interesting character because he’s such a good doctor but he definitely a mess of a father.
Jeon So Min as Go Ji In is nice, I like her more on the first half of the show, because she’s such a badass but the writer seems to forgot that aspect of her by the end of the show, which is a shame. I wish they give her more development through out the series, but I like her again by the ending.
I must say Heo Sung Tae as Kim Hyung Beom give a very good and memorable performance. He has only little on screen time but when he is he stole the show.
The music is good, giving the show a mood that it needs. I really like ‘I Swear’ by Salt&Peper.
I will rewatch this show, but I probably watch the first half of it more. I really like it as a medical drama, not so much as a crime solving drama.
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Are you ready for the end of your life?
I think that’s the main question this mini series would make you ask yourself. If you know that the end is near, what would you do? What matters the most for you? Is there outstanding issues that you need to deal with? Are you accepting it and prepared for it?Even though the theme is bleak and gloomy, the series actually deals with this issue with such a positive and warm view point. You would appreciate all that their trying to convey with a smile. It doesn’t mean that you wouldn’t cry like a baby... but it does makes you appreciate live.
The cast couldn’t be better. Amazing acting all around, but the main female and male lead definitely stole the show. They have wonderful chemistry together, you would believe the love they have for each other.
Choi Woo Shik as Park Dong Su is perfect at portraying his love for Jang Mi Su, played by Kyung Su Jin, you could see how it pains him to see her getting ready for death, but you could also see how he loves her and how happy he is to be by her side until the end. He teach her how to appreciate live and enjoy the moment, not just waiting for it to end.
Su Jin portrays Mi Su struggle to accept death and trying to get her affairs in order so well. You could see her turning a new leave on her view of death. It’s such an emotional moment that you couldn’t help but shed a few tears.
The other supporting characters are not explore much since this is basically a movie length mini series, but they give enough reference and background to add to the stories of the main characters. Each casts are playing their role nicely.
The songs of ‘It’s You’ and ‘You are My Everything’ are really fitting for the series and build up the ambiance of the story nicely. Love it.
Would definitely watch it again and again. It would make me appreciate my live more and be thankful for all the things I have and took for granted, such as being able to grow old with your significant others, being healthy to enjoy a good vacation and eating good food.
Would recommend everyone to watch this.
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This review may contain spoilers
This drama makes you rethink about your life. What have you done for the people around you and what have you done for yourself. It makes you evaluate whether you have been happy and whether your closest friends and family are happy because of you.Spoiler
It’s a really great drama with good acting. I’m not giving it a higher score because there’s one plot point that I really dislike, which is the fact that Seo-woo can see ghost and would continue on seeing ghost if Yu-Ri didn’t die again. I personally didn’t see a problem of her seeing ghost. I think she would be able to live a normal life once everyone around her is aware of the fact and could teach her how to differentiate them. So for me the incentive of needing to die is not strong enough.
End of spoiler
I really like the plot that Yu ri comeback to live 5 years later, instead of a shorter period. Here we could see the conflict of the living already moving on with their live and how they need to adjust to the fact that their beloved came back to live. It makes you wonder what would you do if you are in the same situation, as Yu Ri or her family and friends. Both have their own problem to deal with.
I think the pacing could be better. There’s to much build up on the first half that they rush through the ending. The ending feels lackluster compared to the beginning. It doesn’t have the sense of urgency, it just feels like a series of plot point needed to be stitched together to give an ending. I wish they give more time to develop the third act.
The casts are great. Especially Lee Kyu Hyung as the main male lead, he potrays Jo Gang Hwa, Yu Ri’s husband, so well. We could really feel the conflicting emotions and thoughts that run around in his head. I also really like Shin Dong Mi who played as Go Hyun Jung, Yu Ri’s best friend. She’s like the big sister to everyone, keeping her cool, but also conflicted. I’m not a big fan of Kim Tae Hee as Yu Ri, especially in the later half, because I think she didn’t convey enough of her resolve, she just look lost and crying all the time. She’s better in the first half I think, when she doesn’t have to play such heavy emotions.
The sound tracks are good, nothing stand out for me, but I really enjoy it and it brings more ambiance that fits the series. Good cinematography, not much of a scenery, but it fits the feel of the show.
I would rewatch this drama. It would always makes me rethink about my life and makes me reflect on what I have done along the years.
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