This is a drama that I dropped after episode five, with no intention of ever finishing it, then actually went back to finish it anyway. Initially I liked the premise, but the show lost it's charm quickly. I think it was just too over the top at times for me to take it seriously, with super silly comedic parts, lots of dramatic tears, and a plot that tried to do way too much. Once I gave in to the style of the show, it started to become more watchable, but I never really fell in love with the story.
One issue is that I think there are too many main characters to focus on, making the story initially confusing, and it took way too long to set up all the relationships. It didn't help that I didn't find the characters lives very interesting until much later, and I think the cast is partially to blame.
I had a lot of problems with the overacting, and almost every cast member is guilty of it. Kim In Kwon and Kim Soo Ro are both charming in their roles, and I love their bromance, but they barely have screen time compared to the rest of the cast even though it's their story. Instead we have to rely on Rain and Oh Yeon Seo, who also have good chemistry, and are super cute eye candy, but their overacting multiplies by a million when they are together.
The only person I recognized in the main cast (and that was barely) is Rain. Rain looks so physically different that I didn't realize it was him, and I can't forgive his hairstylist for it. I loved Rain's cuteness in Full House, so I thought that would be a good sign. He has a lot of charming and adorable moments, but his dramatic moments were pretty bad. On the other hand, I did not remember Lee Min Jung being in Big, because I tried to block that show from my brain forever. She is equally unimpressive in this. She does share a few cute moments with Rain (very tame romance), and the cast playing her family (which I loved), but her dramatic moments were mostly a bore. Little Lee Re was the opposite, and made me cry several times. She was a much stronger actress than most of the adults. She should probably give her drama mom some lessons.
Oh Yeon Seo was hands down my favorite cast member, and I think she stood out as the only one able to handle the comedic and emotional scenes. Lee Ha Nui on the other hand was my least favorite. She is gorgeous, but her acting is comedically bad. I often laughed while she cried, making it hard to sympathize with her. Her character was also annoyingly arrogant, which doesn't help. Together they had a little bit of chemistry, but since it was so obvious that the show would stay far away from anything that came close to resembling a lesbian relationship, they never seemed like two people who actually loved each other. Then there's Choi Won Young as the one note bad guy, and the perfect bad acting match for Lee Ha Nui. I think I mentally skipped all of their scenes together. I would rather watch Lee Tae Hwan stand there... that would've been much more captivating
The other problem is that the story is super ambitious... unfinished business and revenge, 2 love triangles, gangster rivalries, family drama, family secrets, celebrity scandal, a chaebol war, oh and the whole afterlife thing... and it takes a long time to get it all straight. The writers do a good job of making all the pieces fit together eventually, but It wasn't until the halfway point that the story started getting interesting to me. There were a few moments when the writers managed to get me in the feels too, in spite of my not being that into the story, and I did tear up more than once. The fact that this drama did get more interesting as it progressed, instead of getting worse, is impressive though, and having a pretty good ending made me not regret watching it till the end. I also think it might even be better to watch it again after knowing all the characters, and the plot twists.
My favorite part of the show may actually be the soundtrack, which had a lot of tracks that I really liked on it. The Moonlight track in particular, which grew on me like the show did.
Overall, "Please Come Back, Mister" was not bad, but it's not good enough for me to recommend either. I don't think those who dropped it like I did are missing anything. I also understand why those who like the beginning episodes, and kept watching, gave it such high ratings. If you do decide to watch it, and you love the first 4 episodes, you will probably really love it by the end. Otherwise, I recommend lowering any expectations of greatness. I'd say don't take the story too seriously, trust that everything will eventually make sense, ignore minor plot holes, and give in to the bad acting moments.
For me it was the perfect filler drama to watch while waiting on episodes from more intense on air dramas - Oh, and Rain is often shirtless, so that's a definite BONUS. At the heart of this drama is a lighthearted look at how we live our lives, and how we effect those we leave behind when we go. Sometimes we may need to yell at the screen about what a stupid way to die that was, then relax and watch a drama like this, in order to remind ourselves what is truly important.
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