This review may contain spoilers
Flawed....but still entertaining
Oh, Miss Night and Day...what opportunities you had.
The premise of MNaD is very entertaining -- a young woman gets transformed into the older "ajhumma" version of herself during the day allowing her to get a "senior person" job at a cute prosecutor's office. And of course there's a *drumroll* serial killer! And an opening title sequence that is suspiciously close to ripping off Sailor Moon! The drama delivers through the first half...maybe even two thirds...of the show. And then it just kind of starts to unravel. At that point you've invested 12 hours into the show, so might as well finish it, right?
Major spoilers ahead, but here are my thoughts:
- The cat. What was with that cat? We follow the cat and follow down a well to get transformed...then we try to find the cat...then we just drop the cat plot point? Was the cat the guardian spirit of her dead aunt? Why expend all that time trying to find the cat in the first half of the show and then just have it pop up twice in the second half to enigmatically walk around? Was it the mechanism that turned young Female Lead into her ajhumma self? Was it like Luna in Sailor Moon -- hence the Sailor Moon title sequence and the cat in the logo? I have questions.
- Casting decisions. I liked the cast just fine. My biggest issue was the young FL and old FL had drastically different acting styles. Young FL was very wooden and had about two expressions. Old FL was very dynamic and expressive and much more entertaining to watch. It was hard to believe that the two actresses were representing the same character because they portrayed it so differently. There also wasn't much chemistry between the young FL and the Male Lead...but I chalk that up to her wooden-ness.
- The plot. I love a good serial killer story and K-dramas seem to love them too. I always get a bit concerned when a serial killer plot line pops up, though, because it never seems to get wrapped enough. MNaD fell in line with the incomplete villain arc. I thought at first we would have a decent resolution, then when the villain was chasing young FL she (the villain) starts exhibiting symptoms of psychosis and possibly some kind of illness? Um...what's that? Is she sick? Why is she trying not to fall over? It was oh-so-perfectly timed to allow young FL opportunities to escape. Ok, that's great and all...but without an explanation of her apparent illness, it seems like a plot hole devised to allow young FL to escape a situation she otherwise wouldn't be able to escape. Oh no -- she won't have time to untie herself to escape the drug needle...except the villain falls over RIGHT THEN allowing FL time to escape? Convenient. Oh no -- FL is on the ground unable to escape and villain is coming at her with an axe...but then villain sees the ghost of FL's dead aunt and has a full blown conversation with her allowing FL time to recover and get the upper hand? Convenient.
- The romance. In my opinion, don't watch the show for the romance. It has one...and it starts out strong. But by the time they realize their feelings for each other it feels stale and weird. I think it boils down to the lack of chemistry. The relationship between the second female lead and second male lead was much more interesting and entertaining in my opinion. The failed romance between young FL and the idol doing his military service was also kind of weird. I dunno...this would have been a fine drama without the romance.
So those are several paragraphs of me complaining. I mean, I liked the show enough to finish it. I **have** quit a drama on the next to last episode before (*cough* looking at you, My Demon) so I liked this well enough to see it to the end. It's light, fluffy, with a few dark twists...it's worth a watch for the fun premise if nothing else.
The premise of MNaD is very entertaining -- a young woman gets transformed into the older "ajhumma" version of herself during the day allowing her to get a "senior person" job at a cute prosecutor's office. And of course there's a *drumroll* serial killer! And an opening title sequence that is suspiciously close to ripping off Sailor Moon! The drama delivers through the first half...maybe even two thirds...of the show. And then it just kind of starts to unravel. At that point you've invested 12 hours into the show, so might as well finish it, right?
Major spoilers ahead, but here are my thoughts:
- The cat. What was with that cat? We follow the cat and follow down a well to get transformed...then we try to find the cat...then we just drop the cat plot point? Was the cat the guardian spirit of her dead aunt? Why expend all that time trying to find the cat in the first half of the show and then just have it pop up twice in the second half to enigmatically walk around? Was it the mechanism that turned young Female Lead into her ajhumma self? Was it like Luna in Sailor Moon -- hence the Sailor Moon title sequence and the cat in the logo? I have questions.
- Casting decisions. I liked the cast just fine. My biggest issue was the young FL and old FL had drastically different acting styles. Young FL was very wooden and had about two expressions. Old FL was very dynamic and expressive and much more entertaining to watch. It was hard to believe that the two actresses were representing the same character because they portrayed it so differently. There also wasn't much chemistry between the young FL and the Male Lead...but I chalk that up to her wooden-ness.
- The plot. I love a good serial killer story and K-dramas seem to love them too. I always get a bit concerned when a serial killer plot line pops up, though, because it never seems to get wrapped enough. MNaD fell in line with the incomplete villain arc. I thought at first we would have a decent resolution, then when the villain was chasing young FL she (the villain) starts exhibiting symptoms of psychosis and possibly some kind of illness? Um...what's that? Is she sick? Why is she trying not to fall over? It was oh-so-perfectly timed to allow young FL opportunities to escape. Ok, that's great and all...but without an explanation of her apparent illness, it seems like a plot hole devised to allow young FL to escape a situation she otherwise wouldn't be able to escape. Oh no -- she won't have time to untie herself to escape the drug needle...except the villain falls over RIGHT THEN allowing FL time to escape? Convenient. Oh no -- FL is on the ground unable to escape and villain is coming at her with an axe...but then villain sees the ghost of FL's dead aunt and has a full blown conversation with her allowing FL time to recover and get the upper hand? Convenient.
- The romance. In my opinion, don't watch the show for the romance. It has one...and it starts out strong. But by the time they realize their feelings for each other it feels stale and weird. I think it boils down to the lack of chemistry. The relationship between the second female lead and second male lead was much more interesting and entertaining in my opinion. The failed romance between young FL and the idol doing his military service was also kind of weird. I dunno...this would have been a fine drama without the romance.
So those are several paragraphs of me complaining. I mean, I liked the show enough to finish it. I **have** quit a drama on the next to last episode before (*cough* looking at you, My Demon) so I liked this well enough to see it to the end. It's light, fluffy, with a few dark twists...it's worth a watch for the fun premise if nothing else.
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