StilW
This review may contain spoilers
Kind of disappointing as a serious drama and not enough lightheartedness to be popcorn fun either
TLDR: A funnish mystery/thriller with some romance thrown in.
Overall: An ok story that is brought down by the number of plot holes and/or plot conveniences required to keep the show going. The fundamental problem for me is that they tried to take a very serious tone on the drama but made the ML so OP that him not solving everything in a single episode makes no sense. Could've been more fun if the story was more lighthearted/fun but they chose the more serious angle which meant that I expect characters to make rational decisions when faced with obstacles. If you have the tools to solve a problem then there has to be a darn good reason why a character chooses to not solve it other than they were dumb for a few episodes before being enlightened by solomons wisdom.
Story: Weakest part of the show. If the ML couldn't freeze time/teleport/do whatever he wants this could've been more interesting but all I could think about were a dozen different ways for him to go about keeping the FL safe and/or stopping the antagonist. In order to stomach the story you just have to accept that he is an idiot and doesn't really think things through because as soon as you start asking why he doesn't do things you'll just go down the rabbithole.
Characters/acting: Acting across the board was great. ML in particular did a great job with what he was given and I can easily see why he is so popular.
From a character standpoint I liked the leads from the romance angle. I thought they were cute together and during the dream sequences they really showed the kind of chemistry they could bring to the table. The FL was really fun and I enjoyed her meltdowns a lot. Super enjoyable to watch. From the perspective of the thriller/mystery side of things all the human characters get a pass since they're humans and they mostly acted in ways that were reasonable.
The ML though just wasn't super believable as a character. Tons of decisions that made no sense to me even after trying real hard to give him the benefit of the doubt. As mentioned above, they really should've nerfed his powers if they were dead set on the serious route for the show. Otherwise there really isn't a good reason why he can't wrap up the mystery side of the plot in like 2 episodes tops. Just a random off the cuff list of things he could do: send the video to the police (after making copies of course), record antagonists by installing cameras/recording equipment (he can freeze time), move with Song Yi to a different country (the fact that he left her outside of hearing distance at all once he realized she was important to him and knew that people were trying to kill her was kind of baffling to me, like is your job as a teacher more important than her life?), take villains and lock them in a cell on a deserted island, more gruesome but incapacitate the villains (I'm quite sure that breaking bones doesn't kill and doing it over and over for a few months should be pretty easy with his powers, maybe a touch overkill but they are trying to murder someone so..). Some of these might be too much but when I watched the show the question I asked myself was what line do I think the ML wouldn't cross to keep the FL safe? and my answer was that it seemed like not much was off limits for him and there were definitely ways for him to go about protecting her better while still staying within his moral code. So if morals aren't the issue and ability isn't the issue then what is stopping him from just yeeting the villains out of the show all together (obv he has a restriction that he reveals later but there are so many ways around that).
I'm sure there are infinitely more creative ways for him to go about doing this that also keep everyone out of danger. The point being that playing a show straight requires characters to act toward their goals in a believable way using logic that comes from inside the story and not from clear external influences like the writing staff or director. His actions would've been much more believable if they made him an actual dumbass but from what I can tell the audience is supposed to view him as very smart, competent, and capable with his one big flaw being his emotional stuntedness. The question then becomes why is he having trouble dealing with a middle ages psycho who's only power is having money.
Didn't finish so not much else to say on the characters. Liked what I saw from most everyone on the cast but didn't get to see their full arcs.
Music: didn't finish and not a music person. Not a huge fan of the older style of kdramas either, just doesn't really vibe with me for whatever reason.
Rewatch: Didn't finish
Overall: An ok story that is brought down by the number of plot holes and/or plot conveniences required to keep the show going. The fundamental problem for me is that they tried to take a very serious tone on the drama but made the ML so OP that him not solving everything in a single episode makes no sense. Could've been more fun if the story was more lighthearted/fun but they chose the more serious angle which meant that I expect characters to make rational decisions when faced with obstacles. If you have the tools to solve a problem then there has to be a darn good reason why a character chooses to not solve it other than they were dumb for a few episodes before being enlightened by solomons wisdom.
Story: Weakest part of the show. If the ML couldn't freeze time/teleport/do whatever he wants this could've been more interesting but all I could think about were a dozen different ways for him to go about keeping the FL safe and/or stopping the antagonist. In order to stomach the story you just have to accept that he is an idiot and doesn't really think things through because as soon as you start asking why he doesn't do things you'll just go down the rabbithole.
Characters/acting: Acting across the board was great. ML in particular did a great job with what he was given and I can easily see why he is so popular.
From a character standpoint I liked the leads from the romance angle. I thought they were cute together and during the dream sequences they really showed the kind of chemistry they could bring to the table. The FL was really fun and I enjoyed her meltdowns a lot. Super enjoyable to watch. From the perspective of the thriller/mystery side of things all the human characters get a pass since they're humans and they mostly acted in ways that were reasonable.
The ML though just wasn't super believable as a character. Tons of decisions that made no sense to me even after trying real hard to give him the benefit of the doubt. As mentioned above, they really should've nerfed his powers if they were dead set on the serious route for the show. Otherwise there really isn't a good reason why he can't wrap up the mystery side of the plot in like 2 episodes tops. Just a random off the cuff list of things he could do: send the video to the police (after making copies of course), record antagonists by installing cameras/recording equipment (he can freeze time), move with Song Yi to a different country (the fact that he left her outside of hearing distance at all once he realized she was important to him and knew that people were trying to kill her was kind of baffling to me, like is your job as a teacher more important than her life?), take villains and lock them in a cell on a deserted island, more gruesome but incapacitate the villains (I'm quite sure that breaking bones doesn't kill and doing it over and over for a few months should be pretty easy with his powers, maybe a touch overkill but they are trying to murder someone so..). Some of these might be too much but when I watched the show the question I asked myself was what line do I think the ML wouldn't cross to keep the FL safe? and my answer was that it seemed like not much was off limits for him and there were definitely ways for him to go about protecting her better while still staying within his moral code. So if morals aren't the issue and ability isn't the issue then what is stopping him from just yeeting the villains out of the show all together (obv he has a restriction that he reveals later but there are so many ways around that).
I'm sure there are infinitely more creative ways for him to go about doing this that also keep everyone out of danger. The point being that playing a show straight requires characters to act toward their goals in a believable way using logic that comes from inside the story and not from clear external influences like the writing staff or director. His actions would've been much more believable if they made him an actual dumbass but from what I can tell the audience is supposed to view him as very smart, competent, and capable with his one big flaw being his emotional stuntedness. The question then becomes why is he having trouble dealing with a middle ages psycho who's only power is having money.
Didn't finish so not much else to say on the characters. Liked what I saw from most everyone on the cast but didn't get to see their full arcs.
Music: didn't finish and not a music person. Not a huge fan of the older style of kdramas either, just doesn't really vibe with me for whatever reason.
Rewatch: Didn't finish
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