tsukkitori
Toronto
This was a pretty difficult for me to write because I keep on wavering between whether I like this drama or not as a whole. Lee Jong Suk is oe of my favourite actors and I love him a lot -- but I feel like even his phenomenal acting became underplayed because of the story. There were parts that were done well and I enjoyed but other parts that I found lacking and plotholes that as much as I tried to overlook, seemed as though things were inserted just for an ending's convenience.
The drama completely defies logic and blurs the line between reality and fiction, so it is necessary to approach it with an open mind or else you will be caught in a tangle of frustration at the story. Even though that's the whole concept of the drama and its unique plot, that perhaps is too ambitious for its own good. It feels like the drama thinks it has a very profound storyline while in realiy it's just plain confusing. There's a chance that action fans will enjoy the fast-paced storyline however. This drama is the first to do what it has done with the law-defying plot in kdrama land that is wild for even "supernatural" standards that I have seen so far. It will leave many questions unanswered and toggle many minds, and (pun intended), will leave you asking "Who and why?" for the entirety of the show. Why do the things happen? Who is making up these rules to the connection between the real world and the manhwa world? These questions will never be satisfactorily answered, which frustrated me but the journey through was wild with all the fighting scenes and world traveling. Personally, I enjoyed the whole set up of the drama and its storyline in the first half. I felt like it had the potential for both the story and the romance to develop a solid drama. But when the story kept going back and forth and wavering on its own progression, I almost lost patience for it.
The story gets just plain terrible as it tries to wrap things up but small obstacles keep appearing and preventing the story from ending as if to prolong the drama. I feel like it should have ended at episode 12 and the last 4 episodes were just filler to make a statement of a disorganized story that can go anyway because its set up of "blurring reality and fiction" allows it to do so.
Again, as much as I loooove Lee Jong Suk the romance in this one became progressively worse from start to end. It started off high for me and everything made sense about the relationship between Kang Chul and Yeon Joo, but as it progressed, their chemistry became lost and their reason for loving each other dissipated. Instead of the ditzy, playful relationship in the few beginning episodes, it sadly did not lead to the next half and lost its charm. I think that as the plot also became more far-fetched and confusing, the romance was downgraded because the wild action did not allow for it to flourish. And so, we are left with a flat romance that is there just because there needs to be one in the drama, which I was disappointed about because I absolutely loved the initial relationship. I wish they could have had more cute scenes together, but in a plotline this fast-paced and knowing no bounds, a romance just didn't work as the tone became increasingly grim. It initially worked because we were tossed into this world with so many possibilities but the set up becomes used in the most inconvenient way to toss aside its potential.The actors did do a good job in playing their roles even if the storyline was mediocre.
As good as the actors are, if the story isn't written well, their acting can only go so far. In this situation, the emotions played out were quite fitting. I didn't like Yeon Joo's crying scenes because I just felt extremely drained from seeing her run around and cry so much, even if the situations made it appropriate. It was one of the only emotions I can vividly remember her projecting, which made her kind of flat.
I would probably not rewatch this drama since it gave me so much stress and anxiety because of the plot, but go check it out if an ambitious plot with stunning Lee Jong Suk visuals is to your liking.
The drama completely defies logic and blurs the line between reality and fiction, so it is necessary to approach it with an open mind or else you will be caught in a tangle of frustration at the story. Even though that's the whole concept of the drama and its unique plot, that perhaps is too ambitious for its own good. It feels like the drama thinks it has a very profound storyline while in realiy it's just plain confusing. There's a chance that action fans will enjoy the fast-paced storyline however. This drama is the first to do what it has done with the law-defying plot in kdrama land that is wild for even "supernatural" standards that I have seen so far. It will leave many questions unanswered and toggle many minds, and (pun intended), will leave you asking "Who and why?" for the entirety of the show. Why do the things happen? Who is making up these rules to the connection between the real world and the manhwa world? These questions will never be satisfactorily answered, which frustrated me but the journey through was wild with all the fighting scenes and world traveling. Personally, I enjoyed the whole set up of the drama and its storyline in the first half. I felt like it had the potential for both the story and the romance to develop a solid drama. But when the story kept going back and forth and wavering on its own progression, I almost lost patience for it.
The story gets just plain terrible as it tries to wrap things up but small obstacles keep appearing and preventing the story from ending as if to prolong the drama. I feel like it should have ended at episode 12 and the last 4 episodes were just filler to make a statement of a disorganized story that can go anyway because its set up of "blurring reality and fiction" allows it to do so.
Again, as much as I loooove Lee Jong Suk the romance in this one became progressively worse from start to end. It started off high for me and everything made sense about the relationship between Kang Chul and Yeon Joo, but as it progressed, their chemistry became lost and their reason for loving each other dissipated. Instead of the ditzy, playful relationship in the few beginning episodes, it sadly did not lead to the next half and lost its charm. I think that as the plot also became more far-fetched and confusing, the romance was downgraded because the wild action did not allow for it to flourish. And so, we are left with a flat romance that is there just because there needs to be one in the drama, which I was disappointed about because I absolutely loved the initial relationship. I wish they could have had more cute scenes together, but in a plotline this fast-paced and knowing no bounds, a romance just didn't work as the tone became increasingly grim. It initially worked because we were tossed into this world with so many possibilities but the set up becomes used in the most inconvenient way to toss aside its potential.The actors did do a good job in playing their roles even if the storyline was mediocre.
As good as the actors are, if the story isn't written well, their acting can only go so far. In this situation, the emotions played out were quite fitting. I didn't like Yeon Joo's crying scenes because I just felt extremely drained from seeing her run around and cry so much, even if the situations made it appropriate. It was one of the only emotions I can vividly remember her projecting, which made her kind of flat.
I would probably not rewatch this drama since it gave me so much stress and anxiety because of the plot, but go check it out if an ambitious plot with stunning Lee Jong Suk visuals is to your liking.
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