A drama that gets caught trying to be too cerebral

I really wanted to love this drama, I was so excited about it! I loved the cast, the OST lineup, the posters and the concept. Unfortunately I felt the writing ended up being a glaring weakness that brought the whole drama down.

It seemed to me the writer had the general premise and ending sorted out in their head, which would account for the stronger early episodes and the ending that you could see coming from a mile away, but the middle 10 or so episodes felt quite meandering. Nothing really happened, it got a bit tropey, and the dialogue was extremely repetitive and abstract in a way that made it feel like written dialogue that was made to be "deep", instead of conversations people would actually have. The contract setup was also poorly done since the contract didn't really make sense (the person she loves the most will die either way). Plus the early episodes had detailed recaps of the previous episodes that pretty much existed to clarify the terms of the contract; these recaps stopped for the most part once the plot came to halt as well in the middle section of the drama.

The actors all did a good job with what they were given. I'm a big fan of Seo In Guk, especially when he is in a darker role. However if I compare him here to his role in The Smile Has Left Your Eyes, his performance in DAYS feels a little shallow. In TSHLYE I felt like SIG deeply understood his character and was able to give Kim Moo Young some nuance. In DAYS I didn't feel that same level of understanding from the actor, the performance felt like a surface level version of a "dark, misunderstood character." This is more of a writing or directing problem than an acting one in my opinion. I'm not a huge Park Bo Young fan, but i certainly don't dislike her as an actress (more so I don't like the dramas she chooses). She has some very emotional moments here as Dong Kyung, but also moments where I feel like she falls back to her default cute persona. I felt conflicted about the leads' chemistry; I liked their early bickering but they fell in love so fast that I didn't buy them as a couple willing to sacrifice for each other. Their overly abstract and repetitive dialogue didn't help.

Unlike a lot of people I actually liked the secondary love triangle story and it was the part of the drama I looked forward to the most after a while. Again, I think this is because there was more “plot” to their story and less of the dialogue that I disliked so it felt more engaging to me.

The OST and music were all very good and some incredibly emotional. However I did find by the end of the drama they were being overused. They were added to increase emotions in the scene. A glaring example of their overuse was in one of the final episodes 3 different OSTs were played within the first 7 minutes of the episode and it was noticeable in a distracting way, which is never good for film and TV.

Overall I felt this drama missed the mark even though it had a great setup. The good thing is I feel like the only person who walks away with any damage to their reputation is the writer as this was a beautifully directed (there is some stunning imagery here) and well acted drama that runs around in a circle for it's entire middle section.

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One of the most beautiful and moving television shows I've ever seen

As soon as this show starts you know it's going to be special; the cinematography, costumes, and sets are some of the best I've seen on TV and it's quite obvious Apple put a lot of money into this. I do think promotion wise this should have been more clearly billed as a drama series (the award show designation for shows with multiple seasons), because I think a lot of people thought this was a limited series (1 season and done) and it affected their enjoyment of the show because they felt major parts of the book were going to be cut. I know it was only renewed after season 1 finished but up until then I only saw one interview with the show runner where she stated this was intended to have multiple seasons. Hopefully anyone who starts watching it now will understand as they are watching that these 8 episodes are only the first season and not the entirety of the story.

I am of the opinion that this is an adaptation and when adapting a book what works best in on the page isn't necessarily best for TV or film. I liked the changes that were made here, the most controversial being the non-linear time line. While it was a bit clunky on occasion, I felt it did add something to the show. Now that we know for sure this will be multiple seasons, this format makes a lot more sense as you get to keep some actors for season 2 instead of bringing in all new ones and making it feel like a different show.

All the actors here do a great job! I hope Minha Kim gets more work after this whether it be in Korea or the U.S. Youn Yuh Jung is excellent as always and the subtly in her performance is breathtaking. This is Lee Minho's best role yet! His standalone episode was a revelation and I hope people watch this show so we can finally stop hearing about how overrated he is as an actor, he did a fantastic job here! Also kudos to everyone in the cast who had to act in languages that were not their first language, that's not easy to do. And a special shout out to the child actors in this show who were able to handle heavy material very well.

I definitely did enjoy the parts with younger Sunja more than the 1989 storyline but I did like some of the ways they tied things together and how certain things were revealed to the viewer. I'd be interested to hear what people who, unlike myself, had not read the book thought of this.

The directing and visuals of this show were spectacular! The score was beautiful as well. I believe the visuals on their own contribute to high re-watchability.

I'm so glad I watched this show as it was an emotional journey that, while specific to Koreans living in Japan in the 20th century, has the ability to stay with everyone long after the credits roll on the first season.

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Impressive Cast, Addictive Story

As someone who loves Korean dramas and the HBO show Succession, Reborn Rich felt like a KDrama version of that show with a fantasy/reincarnation twist and I absolutely loved it!

This show did extremely well with viewers in South Korea and it's easy to see why, There is the chaebol revenge plot, the reincarnation/fantasy element, re-living recent Korean history with actual news clips from the time (allowing viewers to go "hey I remember that"), and of course a cast full of familiar faces all giving strong performances. I will say give this show until the end of episode 3 if you're on the fence as the first two episodes (while enjoyable for me) are not really indicative of what the rest of the drama is going to be.

There are a few elements of this drama where you need to not think too hard about what you're seeing on screen and just take what the show is giving you without question so you don't get annoyed or taken out of the story. Think actors playing the same characters over a 30 year span but with minimal changes to their appearance or a two year real life age difference between actors playing a father and son. These things can become distracting if you let them, but if you just accept the absurdity of it early on you'll be fine for the rest of the show.

I'm sure lots of people here will watch for Song Joong Ki, and he does quite well, but for the most part it's not really a juicy role for him (although when more emotional scenes are required he can certainly deliver). Lee Sung Min gets the meaty role as the patriarch of the family, Jin Yang Cheol, and absolutely steals every scene he's in. From his voice to his posture to the way he looks at others, it's amazing! He makes a character who is quite unlikeable the best part of the show. He also has excellent chemistry with Song Joong Ki and Kim Kang Hoon who plays the younger version of SJK's character.

The supporting case is excellent as well, all familiar faces if you watch kdramas and some in roles very different from what I've seen them in previously. A warning though, if you are looking for romance this is NOT the drama for you. There is minimal romance and the female lead's role is not as large as Shin Hyun Bin's high billing would suggest, but that didn't really annoy me as her role fit in nicely to the narrative.

When I watch shows like this I know I'm not going to understand all the business terms that they throw around but this show does a good job of helping you along so you at least always know who/what you're rooting for. These business and succession plans, while potentially boring to some people, for me, resulted in both moments of great tension and moments of great satisfaction. You'll know fairly early on if you'll find this engaging or boring.

I didn't mind the ending, although I can understand why people had a problem with it, I thought it fit the drama well, but be warned odds are you may not be as okay with it as I was. The area where I did have a complaint was when there would be a scene from Hyun Woo's life thrown in as a flashback; I thought the director didn't make it clear enough what the viewer was seeing. The few times this occurred I was so confused trying to figure out what was happening until I realized I was looking at Hyun Woo, not Do Joon.

Overall an excellent drama (with one of my favourite opening credit sequences) that kept me on my toes and entertained throughout its run. A great drama to end 2022 on!

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Both heartwarming and heart-wrenching

This drama really feels split into two sections; the first two thirds that deal with a blossoming love between the two leads and the final third that is primarily focused on the Gwangju Uprising and its impact on the characters. This jarring difference works to the show's benefit in my opinion, since it highlights how terrible the uprising was by juxtaposing it against everyday life and love.

This was my first time watching either of the two leads and they both really impressed me. Lee Do Hyun was so likeable as Hwang Hee Tae. He also did a wonderful job at portraying a character who is pretending he is okay in order to reassure others around him. His work here made me super excited to watch him in other dramas. Go Min Si was equally as impressive, taking a character in Kim Myung Hee that could have been a stereotype (the poor, nice, hardworking female lead) and gave her nuance in a quiet yet powerful performance. Their chemistry was wonderful and this has to be one of the purest and "protect and them at all costs" couples I've seen recently.

The supporting cast all did a really great job with their characters and kudos to the writers for giving all these characters quite a bit of development over the 12 episodes. Props to the actor playing Hwang Hee Tae's dad because I hated that character so much. The child actors were stand outs too, playing characters far too young to be dealing with the horrors they did.

The overall setting and atmosphere was perfect. Nostalgic and simple. The use of music from the time period was absolutely perfect in some cases and added a lot of emotion to the scenes. The Rose and Annie's Song stand out in this regard.

Watching the episodes that dealt with the Gwangju Uprising was particularly difficult; just imagining that this really happened in the not so distant past and that people have to live with those memories to this day is absolutely horrible. KBS didn't shy away from showing the horrors and really pushed that 15 rating as far as I've seen in terms of violence and disturbing imagery.

My only problem with this drama was the end. Not necessarily what the end was but how the writers got to said end point. It felt like the writers knew what the ending had to be and had the characters make dumb decisions to get them there. The "let's split up" scene felt like writers forcing characters apart instead of a decision that two intelligent characters would have made. I was still moved and emotional at the end of the drama but there was a nagging feeling in my brain that it didn't have to be this way; if the writer's had a better path to get to the end point this could have been avoided.

The first two thirds are very rewatchable, however the final third not so much since it was hard to watch even for a first time.
All in all this beautiful drama is one I won't soon forget. The way it combined a heartfelt love story with terrible real life events was pretty close to perfection for me.

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Extremely entertaining, but an ending that might ruin it for you

I was pretty skeptical about this drama when I started it, but once I figured out what type of lens to watch it through I had a great time with Big Mouth! First off you have to throw away what you may know about the prison system or legal system and just go with the flow this drama introduces as the writers are not overly concerned with realism (I saw someone mention to think of the city in this drama like Gotham and that helped me get in the right mind set) . I also didn't get too caught up in trying to figure out who Big Mouth was, I was simply along for the entertaining ride. Therefore I wasn't super disappointed when Big Mouth was finally revealed like I know some viewers were since I hadn't really been endlessly speculating on the topic.

Story
The writers of this drama certainly know how to keep the audience engaged! Plot twists and red herrings galore will keep the audience glued to the screen. Without getting into the spoilers, there are some really clever plot points and clues placed throughout the drama that I believe will stick out more upon a rewatch. I did find that I some points I was a bit confused as to what was going on but that never really kept me from being engaged. The big problem with this drama is the ending, where the writers undermined what they had been building for the previous 14 episodes. Some will feel this ruins the whole drama, but for myself those last two episodes can't take away all the fun I had watching up until that point.

Acting/Characters
This is a very well acted drama; certain actors play it straight while others go full camp with their characters but somehow it all worked!

This is Lee Jong Suk's first drama back from the military and it was a great one to remind everyone that he's an amazing actor, though he definitely shines more in the earlier episodes when Park Chang Ho first goes to prison. The character of Park Chang Ho and subsequently Lee Jong Suk's acting unfortunately fall victim to the writing in the final few episodes. Although on the plus side Chang Ho's suits when he wasn't in prison looked great!

I know some people really don't like Yoona as an actress but I thought she did a really good job playing Go Mi Ho. Go Mi Ho made some questionable decisions throughout the drama (especially near the end), but I thought Yoona portrayed her in a way that made the audience sympathetic to her. Also no character fell harder in those final two episodes than Go Mi Ho, it was almost unbelievable to watch. I felt bad that was the script Yoona was handed after doing so well for the rest of the drama.

The supporting characters all did a great job. Yang Kyung Won in particular was a highlight any time he was on screen. I found it hard to believe he's the same actor who played the guy who was always wearing a beanie in Vincenzo. Also, GIVE KWAK DONG YEON MORE TO DO! The character of Jerry felt a little wasted and almost pointless to me, especially because I know KDY is a great actor and could have handled more.

Music
I don't really remember any of the OSTs, but I do remember the opening and the score. Both were pretty dramatic and matched the vibe of the drama. I did find some music cues to be kind of abrupt and funny, like a character turns their head and all of a sudden you hear someone slamming the piano keys.

Rewatch
I think a rewatch could be fun to see the clues that were missed on the first watch through, but I have a feeling the ending probably will feel worse with a rewatch.

I do think this show fares better when it's watched week to week as anticipation and speculation enhance the mystery (this is how I watched it). I think it could be a little much as a binge. Overall Big Mouth is a really entertaining drama whose last two episode will bring the drama down for many viewers but for me were simply 2 bad episodes in an otherwise great drama.

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A pleasant way to pass the time

As someone who has been watching dramas since 2012, this drama felt like a throwback to dramas pre-2013. I know weekend family dramas tend to be more "traditional" and this was no exception so if you are newer to Kdramas you might not like it as much or might find it a bit old fashioned. I enjoyed this as something to watch over a long period of time, I took some breaks while watching but always came back to it.

There's nothing groundbreaking here in terms of writing, directing or acting but everything is at an adequate level or higher. My main reason for watching this drama is because I adore Kwak Dong Yeon and his and Park Se Wan's storyline was the highlight for me. Both of them hold their own with the more veteran, well known actors here. Some story lines were less interesting to me but they all tied together nicely with all the characters having some connection to each other or the hotel.

Not much rewatch value to this in my opinion but I don't think that is the purpose of this drama. The OSTs weren't very memorable and the score was a bit overdramatic.

Overall I enjoyed this drama for what is was and if you are looking for a family drama to help pass the time and you don't mind some of the old school tropes you should give this a try.

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