marieljanina
If you've read the synopsis of this drama, it will be pretty evident what it's about. Yes it's based on the film 17 Again where a middle-aged man goes back to his younger teen self.
STORY:
As mentioned, the story line is based off of the film 17 Again starring Zac Efron. If you've watched the original film, you might like this. It does follow the main storyline as the film with the dad (Hong Dae-Young) being an aspiring talented basketball that ends up giving up on his dream as his high school girlfriend gets pregnant. They have kids, he ends up living a mediocre life with his girlfriends, now wife, then ends up getting divorced. He later on ends up going back to his teen self by some sort of magic. This basic plot of the drama stays true to the film plot as well. The only thing is they of course had to make an almost 2 hour film into a 16x1 hour long episode. So of course, they had to add A LOT to make up those hours. And how they filled those hours were both good and bad.
THE GOOD: I like the little snippets of Dae-Young and Da Jung's past that gives the viewers a little bit more of an insight as to why they're divorcing. It helped show the viewers why some marriages fail and of course also showed the good bits towards the end. And all the silent acts of Dae-Young that his wife didn't know about.
The build up of the love story of the daughter Shi Ah was also added which was decent compared to the film. How she changed from how she felt towards her dad at the beginning towards the end was also very moving since it was like Da Jung's where she didn't know that her dad did stuff for her without her knowledge. This helped build up her character as well as their relationship to a happy ending.
Dae-Young's relationship with his father was also expanded and seriously this part of the drama touched me the most. From how they had a broken relationship to the hidden acts that Da Jung did for her father-in-law, to finding out about Dae Young's mum and his close similarity to his father as he grew up. And eventually to how their relationship gets rekindled in the end.
THE BAD: They added a love triangle with Ji Hoon as the 2nd male character and honestly I didn't enjoy or care for it much. It was added to build some tension but I skipped most scenes of him and Da Jung as we know he was never gonna get picked anyway. The story of him, his brother and his niece was a nice added storyline though and that I enjoyed as it did add to his character and changed him from being a playboy to actually being a fairly decent guy. Deok Jin's love story with Ms. Ok had to be dragged until the very end of course so it just seemed unnecessarily long. For some reason they also added a stalker which was literally just for unnecessary tension for nothing, It didn't really add or takeaway anything to the drama. It was literally a filler.
CHARACTERS & ACTING:
Lee Do Hyun did an incredible job playing someone with a middle aged man's brain. Both his funny scenes and emotional scenes were great. And since I've only seen him in Hotel de Luna, seeing his funny side in this drama was refreshing. On the same level, prepare the tissues for when he brings his A game to an emotional scene.
Yong Sang Hyun was also great. Since he sort of became a 2nd act and only appeared in the important scenes, he really had to bring it and that he did. He definitely added emotional weight to those scenes where he was lingering around Da Jung and in the flashbacks.
Kim Ha Neul was fab too. She didn't have a lot of mum scenes but when she did, she did them brilliantly. Her chemistry with Do Hyun was great as well and not weird at all. Of course, the viewers know that it's Dae-Young in Do Hyun's body but even then it could feel weird if the chemistry wasn't right. But it worked with them since the two worked well alongside each other.
The supporting cast were also great especially Shi-Ah and Shi-Woo as the kids. I appreciated Deok Jin's geeky side too since I'm a Marvel fan :D Special shoutout to Han So Eun (young Da Jung) as she really did great to add emotional weight to Da Jung's character and her young romance with Dae-Young. The chemistry between her and Do Hyun has really made me want a drama with them two as the main leads :D
OST:
The OST for this drama was amazing, although Hello got a bit overplayed. Still I saved it on my playlist cause it's one of those as soon as you hear it, you know straight away which drama it's from and the scenes even play out in your head. There are a couple others such as The Only One and One Person that also stood out to me. Overall great originals that definitely made certain scenes even more emotional.
WOULD I RECOMMEND:
Yes. It's a light, heart-warming drama that will touch you. It's not just about a love story of a wife and husband but also a lot about family and the relationships between father & son, mom & daughter and father & daughter. This drama will teach you a lot about the importance of communicating with your loved ones. And the importance of cherishing the moment before it's too late.
STORY:
As mentioned, the story line is based off of the film 17 Again starring Zac Efron. If you've watched the original film, you might like this. It does follow the main storyline as the film with the dad (Hong Dae-Young) being an aspiring talented basketball that ends up giving up on his dream as his high school girlfriend gets pregnant. They have kids, he ends up living a mediocre life with his girlfriends, now wife, then ends up getting divorced. He later on ends up going back to his teen self by some sort of magic. This basic plot of the drama stays true to the film plot as well. The only thing is they of course had to make an almost 2 hour film into a 16x1 hour long episode. So of course, they had to add A LOT to make up those hours. And how they filled those hours were both good and bad.
THE GOOD: I like the little snippets of Dae-Young and Da Jung's past that gives the viewers a little bit more of an insight as to why they're divorcing. It helped show the viewers why some marriages fail and of course also showed the good bits towards the end. And all the silent acts of Dae-Young that his wife didn't know about.
The build up of the love story of the daughter Shi Ah was also added which was decent compared to the film. How she changed from how she felt towards her dad at the beginning towards the end was also very moving since it was like Da Jung's where she didn't know that her dad did stuff for her without her knowledge. This helped build up her character as well as their relationship to a happy ending.
Dae-Young's relationship with his father was also expanded and seriously this part of the drama touched me the most. From how they had a broken relationship to the hidden acts that Da Jung did for her father-in-law, to finding out about Dae Young's mum and his close similarity to his father as he grew up. And eventually to how their relationship gets rekindled in the end.
THE BAD: They added a love triangle with Ji Hoon as the 2nd male character and honestly I didn't enjoy or care for it much. It was added to build some tension but I skipped most scenes of him and Da Jung as we know he was never gonna get picked anyway. The story of him, his brother and his niece was a nice added storyline though and that I enjoyed as it did add to his character and changed him from being a playboy to actually being a fairly decent guy. Deok Jin's love story with Ms. Ok had to be dragged until the very end of course so it just seemed unnecessarily long. For some reason they also added a stalker which was literally just for unnecessary tension for nothing, It didn't really add or takeaway anything to the drama. It was literally a filler.
CHARACTERS & ACTING:
Lee Do Hyun did an incredible job playing someone with a middle aged man's brain. Both his funny scenes and emotional scenes were great. And since I've only seen him in Hotel de Luna, seeing his funny side in this drama was refreshing. On the same level, prepare the tissues for when he brings his A game to an emotional scene.
Yong Sang Hyun was also great. Since he sort of became a 2nd act and only appeared in the important scenes, he really had to bring it and that he did. He definitely added emotional weight to those scenes where he was lingering around Da Jung and in the flashbacks.
Kim Ha Neul was fab too. She didn't have a lot of mum scenes but when she did, she did them brilliantly. Her chemistry with Do Hyun was great as well and not weird at all. Of course, the viewers know that it's Dae-Young in Do Hyun's body but even then it could feel weird if the chemistry wasn't right. But it worked with them since the two worked well alongside each other.
The supporting cast were also great especially Shi-Ah and Shi-Woo as the kids. I appreciated Deok Jin's geeky side too since I'm a Marvel fan :D Special shoutout to Han So Eun (young Da Jung) as she really did great to add emotional weight to Da Jung's character and her young romance with Dae-Young. The chemistry between her and Do Hyun has really made me want a drama with them two as the main leads :D
OST:
The OST for this drama was amazing, although Hello got a bit overplayed. Still I saved it on my playlist cause it's one of those as soon as you hear it, you know straight away which drama it's from and the scenes even play out in your head. There are a couple others such as The Only One and One Person that also stood out to me. Overall great originals that definitely made certain scenes even more emotional.
WOULD I RECOMMEND:
Yes. It's a light, heart-warming drama that will touch you. It's not just about a love story of a wife and husband but also a lot about family and the relationships between father & son, mom & daughter and father & daughter. This drama will teach you a lot about the importance of communicating with your loved ones. And the importance of cherishing the moment before it's too late.
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