My brain hurts...

Don't hate me because I didn't love it. It's a personal taste thing. I liked the acting in this. I also like that this has convinced me not to go back and try to watch Some Day or One Day. I'm apparently a superficial watcher and don't want to have to think too much. It's a shortcoming, I know, but there you have it.

I love me a good destiny show, but this is the first time that I felt like the universe was trying to tell them that they should NOT be together. Together, tragedy, together, tragedy. I guess the ending had to be the way it was, but I was disappointed in the lack of payoff. Though it did border on a happy ending, which I appreciated.

And what was with her telling everyone that she was time traveling?! Her telling the murderer guy was random. I didn't get the impression that they were that close, and just why?

I actually made a flow chart to try to keep up with this while I was watching it, and even that confused me. My biggest problem was when the two versions of the ML met. That just didn't make any sense to me. Also, the random gay storyline (though seeing Rowoon and Ahn Hyo Seop together on screen was a treat!) was confusing, because weren't the two versions of the ML the same in each timeline?

I now need to find me a simple love story to watch. Since I'm WAY in the minority here, you might want to read everyone else's reviews and give the show a try.

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A good show to watch, but irritating at times

I was looking forward to seeing the leads together. I've loved her in everything I've seen her in, and he was my favorite part of Alchemy of Souls. They were extremely cute together. They had some serious scenes, and they also had a lot of scenes that just made me smile. For instance, once they were dating and they were deciding what to call one another. Their shyness with each other was very endearing. I didn't necessarily feel "chemistry" from them. Watching them as a couple, the word that comes to mind is "comfortable". I don't know if this is because they both just so extremely young, or what.
LIKED:
1)The storyline was interesting, but sometimes they used the gong sound for truth, as well as for lies, so that was confusing.
2)Kim So Hyun as Sol Hee was good for this part. Aside from being beautiful, there is something about her that men and women are both drawn to, men want to date her, and women want to be her friend. Those are my favorite type of character. Hwang Min Hyun was okay in this. He was very understated, and I did like his ability to portray distrust, fear, and loneliness. There wasn't a lot of range from him, but I think that was more because of the way the part was written.
3)I think my favorite part of this show was Seo Ji Han as Lee Gang Min. He has very expressive eyes and was able to portray a lot of emotions with just his eyes. This character was a classic example of perfect boyfriend material. He loved her so much, he wanted to be with her and protect her, but the most important thing to him was her happiness. At the end, when he was on stakeout and was watching her walk by, his face just showed every emotion.
4) I loved the gang leader. There was a sort of a gray moral code about him. Him sticking up for Sol Hee and helping her was heartwarming.
5) I liked the OST, but I especially loved the background piano playing throughout, moving from Chopsticks to classical pieces. It was very subtle and playful.

NOT SO MUCH:
1) Wow! There were so many unlikeable and irritating characters! The stalking singer, both moms, the "friend" that keeps extorting money from Do Ha, plagiarism company guy, as well as Do Ha's ex-girlfriend in flashbacks. I was especially irritated by the singer that was following him around, paying people to find him, etc. I really don't care for the trend in Asian dramas about the scheming woman willing to do whatever to get the man. They did, ultimately redeem her.
2) Again, the gong sounding at different times.
3) I also felt like they had so many characters to keep the mystery moving forward, to keep us guessing. But after the mystery was revealed, there wasn't much going on. This could have been a couple of episodes shorter.
4) I guessed early on who the perpetrator was, but the reasoning was a surprise.

So, I can definitely recommend this one, frustrations and all.

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I am exhausted!

This show was so well done and I'm glad that I finally took the time to watch it. My brain feels somewhat fried, trying to keep up with the twists and turns in the story line, and attempting to keep the past and the present sorted out. I'll admit that time travel, butterfly effect shows are hard for me to grasp. Since this show is from 2016, the whole thing is kind of grainy in its film quality, both in the present and in the past, so it was sometimes hard for me to figure out which time period I was watching. A lot of the characters looked pretty much the same in both time periods, which you wouldn't expect from a 20-year time difference.

Corruption, unfortunately, was a big part of the drama, and that seemed to be the cause of so many unsolved cases. That got a little old. Plus, working under people that you know are corrupt was very hard to watch, their efforts were stymied more often than not.

The acting was excellent, most notably Jo Jin Woong as Jae Han and Lee Je Hoon as Hae Young. Especially impressive was the fact that so much of the time they were acting alone, with just the walkie talkie, and not face to face with other actors. I felt a whole gamut of emotions watching this, excitement, fear, sadness, and hope.

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Calming/healing

First, if you are looking for full-on romance, look elsewhere. We don't get many scenes with the ML and FL, the romance is more in what he does for her.

This is a drama about loss, healing and found family. The beginning credits, camera work and music are reminiscent of a Japanese drama - slow, peaceful. I think you probably need to be in the right frame of mind to really enjoy this one because there is more happening emotionally than physically, and that's what moves the story forward. The use of flashbacks was very effective, allowing us to see what brought Yoo Ri to where she is.

All of the actors did a very good job, but I was especially impressed with Kim Bo Ra as Yoo Ri and Sung Byung Sook as her grandmother. To be honest, I didn't even recognize Bo Ra. She usually plays secondary, somewhat irritating characters. This was a very mature role for her, and she did an excellent job conveying her emotions. Byung Sook as the grandmother was warm, wise, and she has a sweet, soothing voice.

I love a good story about found family, and the melding of these scarred people into a family was lovely to watch.

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A better romance than a lot of romances!

Someone on MDL recommended this as a good romance. Wait! It doesn't have a romance tag, and it's a drama about zombies! I'm so glad this was recommended to me and that I watched t.

The two main characters are friends from high school and get married so they can get an apartment in a new apartment community. We saw the progression of their relationship in each episode and I loved watching it. You could see how and why they started liking each other and they always had each other's backs.

Park Hyun Sik as Yi Hyun - this actor is very gifted in the way that he shows his affection for FL's that he plays opposite of (Soundtrack #1 is another great example). He bulked up for this role and was excellent as the detective that always wanted to do things the right/legal way.
Han Hyo Joo as Sae Bom - Strong FL, she had a strong sense of justice and didn't take anyone's BS. Her relationship with the little girl was so sweet.

All of the actors did a great job, and there were so many actors that I have seen in other works. I have to say, this drama had a plethora of unlikeable characters. Just when you think they can't be any more self-serving or terrible, they surprise you and do something worse. This drama talked a lot about the class system, determining your value by what you had. Disasters bring out the best and the worst in people and boy, did it bring out their worst!

The music was very good, suspenseful when needed, and otherwise blending into the background. I also appreciated the graphics at the beginning of the episodes.

This drama wasn't about zombies as much as it was about "What would you do?" Though it made me a nervous wreck to watch it, I really enjoyed it.

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Not worth my time

Where do I start? The acting is pretty bad in this show. Add in the obnoxious dubbing and it was painful for me to get through. The female lead's character was absolutely horrible through the first 8 episodes or so - she was either stalking him, trying to seduce him, or pretending to get mad at him and stomping off. How she could think she could magically fix his psychological problems is beyond me - I thought her behavior would make it worse. The concept for the show was interesting, but again, I felt that the actors were wooden. The female lead did redeem herself in the last couple of episodes, which brought my rating up a star. But what was with the ending?!? After forcing myself to get through all the long episodes, the ending was rushed and abrupt.

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Relatively quick YouTube watch

I happened upon this drama accidentally, and before I knew it, I was completely sucked into it.
Liked:
-Short drama
-Cute main couple
-for the most part, good, supportive communication between the leads
-side couple that didn't take up much time
-a couple of slow, sweet kisses
-ML's smile
-no evil ex
-no evil parents
-actually, I really liked the storyline of his mother and what she was doing for him.
-cute ending
-watching this just made me smile

Didn't like:
-I don't know if it's because it's on YouTube or what, but the sound was funky, with the music being out of place and overpowering
-the translation left a lot to be desired. Mixed up personal pronouns, sentences that made no sense.
-the FL was a little hard to stomach at times. She seemed to be scheming a lot. And toward the end she told a lie that was just mean and uncalled for.

This is a show to watch if you want to just turn off your brain, not be troubled by unlikeable people and/or angst, and just go along for the ride.

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I was annoyed a lot watching this

This was a cute friends to lovers story. I liked watching them getting to know one another, but wow, the repeated scenes in such a short drama, getting different points of view, I know, but come on! I liked watching the leads together and even though the editing was pretty choppy, I liked watching the progression of how they came to like one another.

However, I hated the evil girl/triangle story. For being such a short drama, she got too much time in the story. I didn't like the bullying or how the FL never told the ML what was actually going on. Learn to communicate! I was also bothered by the fact that the evil girl started these terrible rumors, which everyone believed, and they spread like wildfire, but there were no consequences for the evil girl. Also, if everyone is very vocal in trash talking the FL, there is no way the ML wouldn't have heard anything.

The time jump was necessary but confusing in that the characters looked pretty much the same and hadn't aged at all.

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If you've ever developed second lead syndrome, this one is for you!

I watched this last night on YouTube, and at just seven episodes it's a quick watch. It was very cute. You don't necessarily get attached to the characters much, because each male gets the opportunity to be the male lead - Rowoon, Zuho, Dawon and Chani each get to win the girl. Ultimately, it's up to you to decide who she should be with. Clever, actually. It doesn't happen often, but I hate when I'm watching something, and I think that the FL should be with the 2ML.

The acting wasn't as cringy as I was afraid it would be. I thought the guys did a better job than the girl did. She spent a lot of time pouting and pursing her lips to be cute.

Because it was so short, there wasn't much opportunity to show how clumsy she was. They spent quite a bit of time at the beginning basically warning the whole school to stay away from her for their own safety, but then that wasn't really addressed.

Since it's an older show, it was fun to see actors/actresses that I've since seen in other roles (mainly the teachers talking in the office).

It's cute and it was fun to watch on the heels of a drama that I was very disappointed in.

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Getting friend zoned

This was a short, four episode drama. Whenever I watch older shows, I get stuck on the fashions and the graininess of the camera work. This is a good show to watch when you don't want to make a big time commitment, or if you need a break from heavier shows.

Everyone in the world knows that the ML likes the FL, except, apparently, the FL. She's a little dense that way. For how short the drama was, there was certainly a lot of drinking going on.

"I don't know how I feel" is a phrase that I never like to hear in a drama, right up there with "I THINK I like you". I couldn't quite see what the FL's confusion was regarding her feelings.

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Short, sweet and to the point

I didn't particularly care for the character of Woo Ri. I think because the series was so short, it was hard to flesh her out. She definitely had self-esteem problems (loser boyfriend!), but once she ran into Park Jun Seok, she found herself again, and I think she was able to remember what she used to like about herself.

I'll be honest, I watched this for Kim Young Dae, and he didn't disappoint. There is something very charming about him, and I'm sure he doesn't want to be pigeon-holed as an actor, but he should always play the nice guy male lead. He's a natural at it. For anyone that has not seen him in Sh**ting Stars, watch it!!

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Oh, how I wish they'd ended the drama with episode 19!

A complicated, convoluted, interesting, fast-paced story with lots of characters, CGI, stunts and color. It was beautifully filmed. I loved the color palettes used, the juxtaposition of the lights and darks to represent good and evil. The scenery was beautiful, the stunts and CGI were really good and I was all in until the end of episode 19. I will come clean and say that I’m not a historical drama lover and I don’t go out of my way to watch action/fantasy. Give me a good romance and we’ll call it a day. I loved how we got a bit of 21st century in the way they talked at times, as well as with the hair and makeup for the cast. THANK YOU for not putting all the men in the giant, ridiculous hats. The hairstyles were pretty much current, without all the extra, complicated ornamentation that they tend to use in historicals.
THE CAST was really good overall, but the standouts for me were:
Lee Jae Wook as Uk. Played immature very well, and I really liked watching him grow into his powers. He’s gorgeous to watch and he’s subtle. I am fascinated by him for some reason, I've liked him in everything I've seen of his. PLEASE make him a ML in a true, honest-to-goodness 21st century romance!
Jung So Min as MuDeok. She did amazing things using only her eyes and facial expressions. I could totally buy into her role, and becoming more human as she went along. She was able to change from being the master to the servant in such a way that you weren’t pulled out of the drama. I have liked her in all the roles I've seen her in, she's very natural.
Hwang Min Hyun as Seo Yul. For the first few episodes, all I could think of was Che Eun Woo every time he was on screen. That eventually went away, and I loved his acting. This was another part that required subtlety, using eyes and micro expressions. My heart hurt for his character. Strangely, I cried for him.
Shin Seung Ho as Go Won. Initially, he was kind of a caricature, larger than life, obvious makeup, stiff hair that looked like a football helmet. I thought, “Oh, I’m going to hate him.” His character was wonderful, and I liked the bromance between him and Uk.
Jo Jae Yoon as Jin Mu. I think I’ve only ever seen him as a bad guy, but boy, does he do it well! With that silver hair and that ice stare of his, he was creepy.

Characters/writing: There was a lot to keep track of, but I didn’t really feel like anyone was a throwaway. The writing was necessarily confusing, with all that was going on and I felt like I needed a flow chart for the towns, the characters, and the convoluted love stories (past and present). I loved how the characters called each other by their first names.
Chemistry: I can see why romance is third on the list of tags. If asked, romance wouldn’t be the first word I would use to describe Alchemy of Souls. However, the romance was wonderful from the standpoint that the leads had absolutely no idea how to go about being in a relationship. Their foreplay was arguing, and they did it well. Kisses – just wow. I also really liked the chemistry between MuDeok and Seo Yul, and MuDeok and Go Won.
Music: Fabulous OST. From the haunting opening song, the powerful instrumentals that sound like they are making use of Taiko drums, to the vocal tracks, the music fit perfectly. BIG Naughty’s Love Letter, is beautiful and dreamy. Gummy whispers her way through Raindrops. Car, the Garden’s Scars Leave Beautiful Trace fit perfectly with the Joseon feel of the drama. Jeong Sewoon, Just Watching You – I think he could sing the dictionary and I would be enthralled.
Rewatch value: This is low for me, because romance wasn’t the driving force.
Ending: RANT and SPOILER!! From a romance standpoint, episode 19 was wonderful, because after all the darkness, bloodshed and evil, we got an episode full of sweetness and light. This drama could have ended on episode 19 and I would have been perfectly happy. But noooo, you had to go there, you couldn’t let people be happy! The ending was set up specifically for a second season, which really irritated me. I hate open endings, I hate cliffhangers, and I hate being forced to watch another season of a drama that pretty much tied things up. So, I’m thinking season two will create more of the same problems that our main characters have already gone through. Of course, I have to watch it just to see what happens, and I’ll try to reserve judgment.
Should you watch it or not? I’d say definitely, especially if you are into historical dramas, fantasy and action.

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It should have been called Love to Play You

If you don't want to take the time to read my long-winded review, I can recommend this show if you want over-the-top characters. Sometimes the characters seem like caricatures of real people, but that is for comedy effect. This rom-com could actually be called a rom-com. There was romance and a lot of comedy, which is refreshing if you are trying to cleanse your palate after a serious show.

There were a number of things I liked about this show:
-Yoo Teo as Kang Ho. I enjoyed the way the actor played the part (doppelganger for Ok Taec Yeon, so what's not to like?!) as well as the way his character was written. I liked him almost from the start, he was wound a little tight, granted, but quickly redeemed himself.
-Kim Ji Hoon as Won Joon. Him and his beautiful head of long hair! I liked the way his character struggled to straddle the line between manager and friend, not always being successful. When, in the last episode, he said to 2FL "Are we still in our same life?" that gave me all the feels.
-Kim Sung Ryung as Soo Jin. I love her in everything I see her in. With her distinctive voice and the way she always plays slightly off center, I always enjoy her performances. I loved the character she played here - being the underdog and then standing up for the underdog. She seemed like the kind of woman that never had a woman friend before, and was glad of her friendship with Mi Ran.
-That it was only 10 episodes. It wasn't long and drawn out, with tons of filler.
-The playfulness of Kang Ho and Mi Ran in later episodes. Their chemistry was fire.
-The director that didn't speak throughout the whole show.
-The last episode was cute. This made me rate it a bit higher than I was planning to.
-The lawyers in Mi Ran's office, including the ex-boyfriend. What a misogynistic bunch of Neanderthals, but they redeemed themselves in the best way at the end.
However, there were some things that I didn't care for:
-The character of Mi Ran. Throughout this show, I didn't like her. First, her saying that she'd been with 100 men. I struggle with this in romances (for the women AS WELL as the men). Romance is about finding that one special someone. I've heard that you have to kiss a lot of frogs to find your prince, but that doesn't mean you have to sleep with them. Her reasoning for sleeping with them was lame, and as a potential partner, I'd insist upon a clean bill of health before I got too close. I was hoping for some hate turned to love (tricks played on one another, etc.), but that wasn't the case. She found out early on that he wasn't the way she thought he was, but even after he confessed his feelings, she was still playing him. She continued to talk about a 3-month (maybe a year) relationship limit, and her not wanting to get married made me feel like she wasn't totally committed to him. They were awfully cute together toward the end, but I still felt like she wasn't willing to totally trust and invest in the relationship.
-The massive amounts of drinking done.
-It is possible to portray a woman being strong without her being a b*tch and beating people up all the time. I felt like she needed to get some anger management counseling.
-Why, oh why, do they need to bring in an ex-girlfriend all the time?!?!

I really struggle with shows where one of the main characters is not likable. That affects my enjoyment of the show in a big way.

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A very hypnotic, relaxing watch

I can't get over how much I enjoyed this show. I mean, c'mon it's a reality cooking show, for heaven's sake! That said, I've been recommending it to everyone. First, I'm fascinated by the Korean culture. What got me watching K-dramas to begin with was their culture - I love the way they interact with one another and their respect for each other. And the food, of course!

I've watched the previous iterations of the show and enjoyed them for the most part, but there was just something different here. I looked forward to the episode every week and just watching them cook made me so relaxed. There was no stress or drama (for me at least)! Bacalar was a beautiful place and we got to see a little of it through their eyes.

I also loved how people recognized Woo Shik from Parasite. They were impressed and then went back to eating. I DID love the one older woman that was ARMY, with her eyes trained on the kitchen door to catch a glimpse of Taehyung. That was pretty much the only fangirling moment.

I hope they can do another season of this someplace else, perhaps in upstate South Carolina?

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