Doomed By Design
I've never seen a drama that purposely go out of its way to avoid doing anything interesting with its scenario this hard. It took three full episodes just to do a basic introduction as stated in the synopsis, only then, the story somewhat started. Earlier in the second half, the drama reached a point where things were about to get interesting but it suddenly hard pressed the reset button on everything. The writer was genuinely not even trying, she worked on The Beauty Inside (2018) previously which was decent but what is she even doing here?
Subsequently, themes of death, mortality, grief and fate were poorly injected and remained half-baked. The unusual romance was justified by using a blend of these themes but it didn't make sense or click. Even then, it created a big disconnect when it reached its highest moments. However, it wasn't as bad as the secondary couple romance, which gave us a despicable characterization of the characters Joo Ik, Hyun Gyu and Ji Na. Their relationship didn't fit the story, narrative and themes. It had no thoughts put into it and adding it was a mere useless filler. Even as a standalone independent relationship outside the context of this drama, it failed for a multitude of reasons. At least the character Ji Na served as the FL's friend.
Subsequently, themes of death, mortality, grief and fate were poorly injected and remained half-baked. The unusual romance was justified by using a blend of these themes but it didn't make sense or click. Even then, it created a big disconnect when it reached its highest moments. However, it wasn't as bad as the secondary couple romance, which gave us a despicable characterization of the characters Joo Ik, Hyun Gyu and Ji Na. Their relationship didn't fit the story, narrative and themes. It had no thoughts put into it and adding it was a mere useless filler. Even as a standalone independent relationship outside the context of this drama, it failed for a multitude of reasons. At least the character Ji Na served as the FL's friend.
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