Abyss is one of those shows thats premise is full of potential. Unfortunately, throughout episodes one to twelve, this premise is explored nowhere near as much as it should be. The "abyss," which is a magical ball which essentially grants the user power over life, is seldom used, or explained, which is a shame as 45% of the drama's description talks about it and it sets you up for a more heavily paranormal story. In the final 4 more episodes they use it more and in episode 16 (the last episode) its value and relevance literally disappears. The abyss itself is poorly explained as the story goes along and is quite confusing. The information dump in the last few episodes is really jarring.

The story as a whole, though not atrocious, is exceedingly meh for a crime drama. One of my main gripes with this show was that though it sets you up for a romance, crime and paranormal story. The paranormal and romance elements are very short, and I understand that it is a crime drama but the long crime scenes that do exist usually only add superfluous information or have seemingly no relevance to evolving the plot.

From episode 1 of the show, as soon as the villain was introduced I was 100% sure that he would be involved in Seyeon (Park Bo Young's) death, and they gave out the name of the secondary villain way too early. I think the show was relying on this imaginary suspense that really wasn't there. I'll admit I don't watch a lot of crime dramas so I don't know if this type of bland story is the norm (or better) than most but for one of my first crime dramas I was unimpressed.

I will wholeheartedly admit I started watching this drama because of my love of Park Bo-Young in her other dramas, even though I had watched other dramas with Ahn Hyo-Seop I had never found his portrayal interesting enough to seek out all of his works. I feel like the role Park Bo Young played in this drama is very similar to a lot of others she has played but that's definitely not a bad thing. She's great at it and she fits the character well (except, I don't really agree with the asessment of her beauty as plain, but that doesn't have much to do with her) and Ahn Hyo-Seop and her had really great chemistry. I was honestly surprised, their relationship was really pure and sweet, and it was interesting to see evidently how long they had both been interested in each other, even though the first few episodes stated otherwise. In the last few episodes especially, their relationship was really wholesome and fluffy, even though I think the timing of some of their relationship moments was an odd juxtaposition to the other events occuring.

The side characters were honestly, at times. a lot better than the mains, probably, because the actual script was written so that they were placed in more extremist situations and experienced a large range of emotions. I thought Han So Hee (Heejin) was really good, and I went through the experience of initially disliking her, to liking her, to disliking her again, to liking her again, like the script writers probably wanted me to feel. I think the strongest of all of them was probably Kwon Soo Hyun (Ji Wook) because I got bad vibes from him from the get-go. He was genuinely convincing in every scene he was in and I think he did a very good job of delivering every inch of the meh script. Personally, I thought the person who did the weakest job was Lee Sung Jae (Young Cheol). I don't know if it was because I found his scenes the most boring out of all of them rather than suspenseful or if it rested more in his blase delivery but I enjoyed him the least. He wasn't bad though and suited the purpose of the show.

The music wasn't very memorable, but it worked well with the show and I found myself nodding along sometimes. My favorites were "Into the Abyss," "Stay" and "Fallin'." Though, I think there could've been overall better music placement it served its purpose well.

In conclusion, I feel like I probably will rewatch this show but not for the best reasons. It's on Netflix, and it's all-round easy to access so I can see myself rewatching the more light-hearted episodes or the last episode. I can also see myself wanting to rewatch the cute romance moments or some of the more heartwarming moments. I don't see myself ever wanting to rewatch the entire show because the mystery aspect isn't the kind where you discover new things and go "aha!" every time you rewatch it but more like you watch it once and there's nothing new to uncover. I would recommend this show if you like Park Bo Young and if you're interested in watching a crime drama for the first time because this is a pretty basic, easy to follow, way to start. However, if you're looking for a show about the paranormal or romance which Abyss promises this really isn't the drama for you.

Read More

Cute

It's 2021 so I'm 2 years late with this review but I realised, upon reading the other reviews, that a lot of people had different thoughts than I did. I also needed to rant a little bit so they're quite a few spoilers.3

To get the good out the way:
I like this drama quite a lot! The main male lead and female lead really only like each other and the female lead is very cold to the male lead but once they're engaged (which is a few episodes in) he pursues her single-mindedly. Even when he loses his memory as a result of amnesia he only likes her and is not swayed by other women. I also loved Feng Ping's character. She was very smart and perceptive despite being a little too untrusting sometimes. This brings me to all the things I don't like about this drama.

What I didn't like:

Amnesia Arc
The amnesia arc lasted around 7 episodes (!! way too long for a 30 episode drama) but the problem is they didn't need it at all. The male main lead is still invested and interested in the female lead even without his memories of meeting her. Despite being a playboy before having met her he does not want any other women. He doesn't treat her coldly and the female lead doesn't change her standoffishness or coy attitude so they are the same as before. It just provided more ammunition for the annoying side characters (which we will get to). It further hithered the story because though the two had become slightly more playful with each other they had never kissed or anything of the sort so no real relationship progress had been lost. It just dragged on the slowness of their relationship even further. Then immediately after he got back his memories they started kisses and sleeping in the same room and though I was happy it felt a bit random. In the comments of the drama I saw a lot of people saying the main couple had no chemistry but I really think the issue was with how their relationship evolved. It grew very inconsistently and slowly.

The Pacing
Another reason I think people didn't enjoy the main couple was because of the pacing. The main couple barely got any time with each other compared to secondary couples, schemers and the generally annoying people. There were several episodes where the main couple would get 5 minutes of screen time and the secondary relationships would get almost the entirety of the episode. In fact, one of the secondary couples (who knew each other for just as long at the leads) got married in the last episode despite blatant issues and underlying toxicity in their relationship (which the drama never properly addressed). I would have much preferred to see the main couple get married than to see that problematic relationship further come into fruition.

Almost Every Character (Except the Main Leads & Their Friends) Was Extremely Annoying:
I understand villains are not supposed to be likable and that if I despise them that means the writer did a good job at making a nefarious character but rather than disliking the "villains" in this drama I found them annoying and pitiful. The female second lead, Lu Qiao, gets shot down by Jia Nan (male lead) numerous times but continues to pursue him and attempts to ruin the female lead's life despite liking Jia Nan's brother. Her actions are encouraged by the beyond irritating housekeeper. Jia Nan's brother is also incredibly selfish and obsessed with a woman whose true colours have been repeatedly shown to him.
The male second lead, An Yue Sheng, uses Her Nan (Ji Nan's sister) as fodder for the feelings he still has for the female leads(Feng Ping) and treats her terribly for the majority of the drama. Her Nan has no self respect where this man is concerned and proceeds to allow him to walk over her. She cries at home whenever she sees him with Feng Ping. Ahn Yue Sheng despite being so obsessed with Feng Ping he refuses to see that *he* was the problem with their relationship and treats her condescendingly.

With the exception of Jia Nan, A Jiu and Feng Ping's friends, everyone in this drama is unnecessarily critical of Feng Ping and has some sort of poorly reasoned problemed with her. It is excessive to say the least.

To summarise, though this drama had many flaws I thought it was pretty interesting. The mystery behind Feng Ping is handled well, the aforementioned annoying characters make you quite emotional and when Jia Nan and Feng Ping make even the slightest bit of relationship progress it is a time for celebration.

Read More