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I haven't watched the original...
...and this was ok, not great but also not terrible.I think the premise is interesting at the beginning and the story of her going back to 98 becomes more of a classic romcom what was ok for me.
I think it was around episode 8 when it started to go a bit downhill for me, it started to drag and felt slower at the pacing. Still, the thing I found the most annoying at that point was the overall introduction of him also as a time traveler, and mostly the fact that the story at that point is shown in a very scene by scene way and becomes confusing. Until that point you're wired to think all the time in her going back to the past, but then he's doing the opposite and instead of showing the story in a linear manner like it happened with her, and what would have made this a lot easier to follow, they keep showing things simultaneously and I got a bit confused a couple of times. Later this seems to improve again, but once they show who is the real culprit....well, I started yawning, it became so melodramatic and so cliché. Motive? who needs one when you can just introduce a psycho that just does things because yes.
It definitely got less interesting for me from that point onwards and I found episode 11 the most dragging of all, especially also with Kwon Min Ju. Sure, I felt bad for her and I could understand where she was coming from, but she was using victimism and suicide to hurt others at the end of the day. She "doesn't hate" Han Jun Hee but tries to basically hurt her and everyone else. The reason for her to get better later is weak as well. Overall I was not very satisfied on how that was portrayed and tackled.
Jung In Kyu was very melodramatic at the end of the original timeline, it was just bad in my opinion in taking the blame for something he didn't do. He certainly didn't think enough there and felt like an impulsive regreatable teen reaction and all I could think was "this is lame".
The ending is ok but also leaves many questions about all the other characters since it only shows the main two. Funny enough the main question I had is what happened to Oh Chan Hee, did he go on a killing spree and was never caught in the new timeline? As a child he already was showing an interest in Min Ju because of his brother's photos, did he try to kill her later on? Or maybe no because she was not depressed and so not an "easy" prey anymore? did he kill someone else instead? (obviously I assume even if he tried he didn't kill Min Ju because Nam Si Heon mentions her in the bus like she's still alive). Did his brother become a stalker of Kwon Min Ju? I mean, he kind of already was with the photos and all.
The moments of resolution in this drama generally felt a bit anticlimatic for me, when FL manages to get control of Min Ju's body again before the jump I was not impressed, the way they meet back again in the end didn't impress me either. Maybe they didn't have that much chemistry so it left me a bit flat? Maybe because other than the story we don't get to know much about each of the main characters nor they do share that many bonding moments? not sure if that's the reason, I can't fully pin point why.
Something that also bugs me is the fact that only towards the end we learnt that Jun Hee and Min Ju can communicate with each other, like what? shouldn't this have been a thing during all the drama then? it would have changed the whole thing in my opinion, so to be honest I do count this as a plothole, and if there was a reason only then it was possible they didn't explain it at all. Is it just to be more melodramatic? Otherwise they could have met, communicate, raise concerns and helped each other along the way, what would have made the whole story a complete different thing.
Overall I think this would have been interesting and a bit different if the series had been longer and they had also focused on the characters relationships in the new timeline, or had even introduced the idea of paralel timelines because of the change. I find it a bit unsatisfactory when shows end with a reset.
The reason why they could time travel is not really even suggested either so the whole idea of the time travel is kept superficial, I'm ok with it in general but if someone is expecting more in-depth in that respect this is not it.
The song chosen to be the one for the cassette very annoying after a while.
Generally it's an ok watch but forgettable.
I know people will tell me the original is so much better, it might be but I've also read here in the comments this one generally follows the plot of the original very close, meaning, I'm going to find the melodrama and the culprit as annoying as in this one so I'm probably going to give it a miss for now, I might watch it at some point when I don't remember this one at all.
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Overall an enjoyable ride with great acting and scenery but plot and some characters are amiss
I really struggled to decide on a rating for this show. Overall I liked it but there are a couple of things that irked me.There are two main things I really liked in this drama, one of them was the scenery and photography with such beautiful landscapes. The other one was the acting. I think most of them did a great job, but I have to mention especially Ji Chang Wook, Kim Mi Kyung and Kim Do Eun, their characters and the way they portrayed them are of the best of the show for me.
The relationships between characters were very good and I liked the banter and funny bits in this show.
I like slice of life dramas so it's no surprise that I found the plot interesting and entertaining and I thought they generally did a good job in also including the sisters' story lines, although I do wish Jin Dal's story had gone in a different direction ultimately and didn't end up with her ex, but I give it a pass; and I wish they had dwelled more on Hae Dal's past as well as the present relationship with Gong Ji Chan. Other than that I do not have complains about the subplots in this drama, they were all entertaining. I wish I could say the same of the main plot but alas, I can't.
The main plot, this is what I consider the two story lines of main leads love story and the "scandal" of FL are unnecessarily unsatisfactory. I say "unnecessarily" because they had more than enough time to explore this in detail and have a more realistic and natural progression than the one they chose.
I didn't like how the conflict with Yong Pil's father was tackled and solved. If the change of that man had happened slowly from the start of the show and they had shown the change progressively it would have had a pass but as it is, that man didn't deserve redeeming in such a quick way. He was abusive both verbally and physically to both his son and the neighbours and it had been 20 years of the passing of the wife. He never had the excuse, but with the amount of time it had passed even less so. The man doesn't even stop to think twice about how his wife would feel at the way he was acting. I don't think he deserved forgiveness in the manner it was given considering how that plot line was developed. But I wish the story with Yong Pil's father was less melodramatic if it was going to be tackled like that. The show really made me despise him a lot, and I was very annoyed when it ended like that after all the drama. The script just decided to make him think in the end but realistically a man behaving like that doesn't change that easily or quickly, more so when everyone around him is enabling him and he's playing the victim. His sense of ego was way too big to see the light in that manner but of course we were running out of time in the drama so it had to be done quickly.
On the other hand, the plot with Eun Joo was also solved too quickly for my liking, especially when it was a major plot point in the story. This again should have been solved slowly throughout at least a couple or three episodes. I do also partially agree with some of the other comments here in the fact that FL should have been more active in the solving of the issue and that her character did suffer inconsistency throughout. At some points she was shown as independent and head-strong, and at others weak and very passive. There are a few instances in which I could see or agree with that passiveness, in a way in which when you're being attacked constantly it gets to a point you just want to avoid the drama and sit still and do nothing because you are just too fed up. But if they were going more for this idea I think it should have been done better in terms of execution. Her stance changed and was ambiguous at times so it could get a bit frustrating.
So I do think it was solved too quickly but I'm half half when it comes to the "how" it was solved. A part of me thinks it's realistic that we don't even see major consequences other than Eun Joo reading the new's article because life be that unfair in real life too, or because we can more or less imagine how it continues. But another part of me just wishes we had seen the consequences of her actions because she pissed me off so much lol
As usual, SML romantic interest tends to be very pointless and it's not exception here. He really added nothing to the story and had he been just another friend in the group it wouldn't have made any difference to the plot. Also although I do know people in the characters ages that hasn't had a relationship ever, I still think that having more than one character like that is a bit unrealistic. At least they should have mentioned them dating around but not settling or other things like that. Especially in the case of Sang Do I think it would have worked well. Oh, but you want Sang Do be interested in FL? Easy. Make him a divorced man for example, and he had a crush for her when young and when seeing her again he gets a bit of a crush back. I don't know, there are many ways. As it is, his story line was pretty absurd.
The ending is a bit, I don't know, I'm not disappointed but also not super happy and the cameo of whoever-that-woman-was was pointless. It reminded me of that pointless ending in "Behind Your Touch" with another cameo that added nothing to anything. I'm not going to lie I did wish FL had gone with ML to Switzerland. After being apart for so long I get it was not a deal-breaker to have a long distance relationship for some more time, but at the same time she being a photographer made so much easier in my eyes to move with him for a while and work from there. Either way, it was a cliché of one of the leads going away last second and it could have been avoided entirely, but oh well.
This drama doesn't portray the typical romcom love story with fireworks, so if you're looking for that kind of romance this might not be for you. It's a slow rekindling of a relationship in a more muted and realistic way. Sure, especially FL does act more like a fangirl with the butterflies at times but the progression is more subdued.
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Very dragged and uninteresting. This could have easily been a movie.
I think the drama had an ok concept that was made so much worse by the execution/writing of that concept. The original idea was probably two pages long and basically the rest is a massive uninteresting filler.I've just finished watching it and if you asked me to explain what happened in X or Y episode I wouldn't be able to, because there is so much nothingness that it automatically got erased from my mind as soon as I watched it.
I think one of the main problems is that they decided to make FL and her younger self complete opposites and under a very specific set of circumstances with the accident so it's not something many people will relate to. I could feel connected to the lost present time FL but not to her younger self nor the dynamic they had going on later. If there had been more introspection into the first part of FL's character I would have found it more interesting. I also still don't understand how having her past self there helped her to get anything she managed to get. Her younger self is selfish, spoiled and kind of annoying. The dynamic they have later of mother-daughter also I think made it quite a lot worse because by their actions and words they pretty much worked as such and made you even believe it at times and personally it's not how I would treat my younger self... but then again, my younger self was not that childish nor it was that different to how I'm now so I think the relationship would probably be more like we're sisters or something in those lines, what I think kinda makes more sense and probably would be more true to most people, especially considering her younger self was 17, not a 6 year old.
To this we add an overabundant amount of scenes of side characters that add nothing to the main story nor are they that interesting. FL's sister appears multiple times yet I don't know much about her, also she was quite bad in the beginning yet later is just sweeped under the rug. Anthony's scenes bored me sooooo much, I don't understand what the point of him being there was. It was just a filler since his story was not even that related to hers, not even in the end. I kept thinking there was going to be some connection that justified him there but there wasn't. I don't think his story was bad per se, it's just that it's not worth 16 episodes of a few scenes per each one. He's main character but why???? He really adds nothing to the story. His arc could have been done in like one episode and done.
I always find it unrealistic when a main character starts working in a place and turns out they knew someone in there from the past, like how small is your city? Here it's not only the best friend, but also Anthony and Han Yoo Hyun. Too many coincidences and, at least when it comes to Han Yoo Hyun specifically, very sloppy reasoning.
I enjoyed the character of Han Yoo Hyun but it was very forced how his father kept him out of the business because "he's not interested" but wouldn't even give him a chance when he was the one showing an interest, it was just pushed again just to drag the story more until the last episodes. It also got tiring he kept calling FL "old woman" even when they were closer.
There is no romance here and it's only in episode 14 that Ban Ha Ni mentions having butterflies when interacting with Han Yoo Hyun... so you're just told because scenes we had none and maybe we got a few looks from him that let me know he likes her and him saying it to Anthony, but her to him? zero! She looks like a rock in that sense the whole series, even at the end when they say they're together, the chemistry is zero and I'm again being told and not shown (that kiss was appalling, especially for people in their 30s, what was that!!!!??? hahahaha). This show shouldn't be classified as a romance, it's not.
This brings me to the fact that had they focused a lot more in the romance throughout the series they would have had enough extra content to not have to have so many fillers of people walking here and there, or talking very slowly about uninteresting things and so on.
The main plot is, well, very sloppy. It was ok and interesting in the beginning but it's kind of forgotten for most of the series till the later episodes that it's brought back. Once they know what the mobile phone message with the days meant and they were doing nothing I started rolling my eyes, especially considering I was already fed up with the show at that point. They look at the phone and see D-7, they panic for 5 minutes and then they have some nice meal and go somewhere and then they show D-6, and then panic again and two seconds later they're eating beef. It was so difficult to take this seriously. Also the father gives that criptic message through the old phone "quickly quickly, you're running out of time", but considering where she had to go in the end to go back that it's nowhere related to anything she would have been able to know on her own and "quickly quickly" but the dream message was only received one day before the expire date. Bad writing, that's all.
I'm going to nitpick here as well because I was also rolling my eyes at the whole dream/past sequence, you're in a field of dead grass and you find a lily of the valley there eventhough they mostly grow in woodland, humid shaded areas? I was laughing, even more when in the tunnel sequence they find one and they're holding it with the hands (it's very toxic and can produce rashes) until I realised it was a plastic one, what fair enough, but I mean, there was no reason whatsoever really that it couldn't have been another flower the one picked for the whole idea instead of a lily of the valley...
This also brings me to how utterly useless that phychic was, I get they wanted to make the quirk of him being a modern one what was fine, but he would give half messages even when he knew what was happening. You can't tell people something is very serious and life and death and urgent and at the same time withhold information... he only appears twice in the show eventhough at one point he says to FL that he'll be looking for a way to make her past self back, next scene he appears that matter is not discussed.
Not sure why this is also labelled as a comedy, I only laughed once, and that is when Sung Woo is giving some food to past Ban Ha Ni and his mother, FL's sister, has a go at him. It did make me chuckle, but other than that I didn't find anything funny.
The whole drama in the company was ok but kind of cliché and I don't like how they dealt with ML's aunt in the end, she's kind of forgiven and it's not only what she has done with the company but the fact that her son never addresses the way she treats Oh Ji Eun. She had been said horrible things multiple times and yet nothing happens. In fact I don't even know the point in terms of plot of Oh Ji Eun getting pregnant since we didn't even know until that second that she had been trying nor she has a change of character at any time that makes her stronger or more confident or stopping taking that kind of treatment from her mother-in-law.
Points go for FL having freckles and having scenes when later on she has started using makeup for work but she's still shown with the freckles at times when she's supposed to not be wearing makeup, I thought it was a realistic touch I appreciated.
Overall is just boring and dragging and writing is not great. The message is there but you don't need that many episodes to tell it.
Considering as well that there isn't really a progression in terms of work, romance or much else of anything, this could have prefectly worked as a movie and it still would have given the same message.
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Entertaining and easy watch but comedy can be a bit too juvenile at times
I recommend this show, it's an easy watch, quite fast since the episodes are not too long and the series only has 12. It's entertaining, funny at times and the characters are fairly diverse and even given its short run time you do learn a bit about most of the characters what I feel even long dramas sometimes don't achieve.I think the character of Aziz stole the show though, he was very funny and one of the most sane persons in the show. I also liked the chaebol related comedy, and Baek Ma Tan was the second funniest to me in this show.
The show made me laugh and chuckle many times, but I do have to admit it made me cringe at others for having too much of a juvenile humour for my taste that had me looking like Sung Hyung Mi. If you do like that type of humour then you'll enjoy all of it though.
The pacing was generally ok but for some reason certain parts of some episodes were a bit more boring. The first two episodes are an example of this, especially the first one, mainly because I didn't find it funny when they tied Lee Sang Shik and left him in a room. Generally the bullying in that first episode was not very good taste and kind of problematic to pass it as comedy to me.
The main couple here is all right and overall enjoyable but I think the shortness of this show makes that relationship suffer. Things go from one side to the other quickly and it makes you question their feelings (especially his). I liked more the developement of the second couple, it was more interesting and entertaining to me.
Other than that the show was enjoyable and it had also cute and even good cheesy moments. So if you're looking for a light romance and comedy this is for you.
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Strong leads, social and political issues but suffers from pacing
I generally recommend this drama, it has good leads, an interesting story and some funny bits (Seol Ji Hwan's soap on tv was so funny!! as well as Scarlett's reactions to it).The story and the social issues mentioned in the drama might be more interesting to you if you have a bit of background info about certain things in Korea. I liked the gender swap roles and commentary, as well as the fact they tackled the thing of korean women changing their views on marriage in more recent times. Even in the western countries it's still frown upon not wanting to marry out of convictions and morals. As the FL said, she didn't believe in the institution of marriage, and I applaud this drama for tackling this. I don't know exactly how it's in Korea in terms of civil partnerships but I can imagine is not great, it's not even perfect in the western countries eventhough generally accepted. I would have liked more social commentary on the aspect of other women not wanting to marry because of the societal pressure of quitting their careers, as well as the family pressures (although I guess it can be seen a bit through Song Ga Kyung's character but I would have liked for it to be more clear). But overall I'm very happy this drama tackled the marriage thing, I've never seen any other drama do it.
Corruption and politics on the internet was also interesting. As usual, I would have liked more in-depth commentary but I'm still satisfied.
The sismance in this show is strong and I loved it, it was so cute and so much fun. Scarlett was great as a character and sometimes I wished she was the main one, but at the same time I think I got enough of her to not be annoyed she wasn't the main FL. Some of her fashionable outfits were so cute! and me saying that is a lot because I'm not usually into the trendy styles they wear in dramas. Her romantic story with Seol Ji Hwan was fun as well.
Talking about Seol Ji Hwan, I loved that he had a flip phone!!!
I'm usually not a lot into the OST of kdramas either, but I have to say this is one of the few ones where not only it was tolerable but there were certain songs I liked, especially the game one that Park Morgan makes and it's used at different points throughout the series.
Now, for the things that didn't make it a 10 for me.
Main thing is the pace, it dragged at times and it was a bit boring, mostly I think they spent too much time in certain scenes. That actually brings me to the second problem it had since I think that the scenes that dragged the most were the ones with the main couple. I totally get why the story is there as I mentioned before (and very glad it's there) BUT they dragged it way too much and the ending for the couple is not satisfactory to me. Their romance should have lasted half the show max, and they shouldn't be together by the end, the excuses given to continue together are unrealistic, no one is going to commit to a serious relationship "for now" well knowing it will inevitably end because they want different things. Their back and forth became tiresome quite quickly despite the cute scenes here and there. It would have been a lot more satisfactory that in the end the FL had met someone that matched her views, I would have been happy even with a tease at a new relationship.
The product placement in this drama is very on the face, and it broke the immersion for me every single time.
The adopted trope was also annoying and way too overused at this point. I can't care anymore because usually it's copy paste from one drama to another, especially in more modern times. The adoptive parents are great but the kid still mostly favours the biological ones because being adopted in Korea is a curse. In this case it made less sense considering he had foreign adoptive parents and lived in Australia, I think naturally and more realistically he wouldn't have had those views as ingrained in his mind. Either way, the bio mother passing away was an uninteresting dramatic filler as well.
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Interesting premise but too many plotholes in the world-building
This show was interesting at times and it dragged at others. It's only 6 episodes but somehow they managed to drag it at times and at others it felt rushed.As other people have mentioned in their reviews there is a flaw in the world-building of the show. There are too many questions left unanswered in terms of how society works and what things are different, especially when it comes to reproduction and what kind of things they were doing to solve the problem of the decline in male population. It gave me the impression that nothing was being done science wise to try and understand why it was happening or how to solve it. I think at one point it's mentioned how they created artificial sperm or something of the sorts? It's just mentioned in passing but it's never explained. In a society like that you would think the few males would be exploited to no end as sperm donors, and would create issues of everyone eventually being related if the pool of men is that small. The artificial sperm would obviously solve this to a certain extent but then if they're capable of making artificial one, shouldn't they also be able to overcome the decline in born males? It brings the question if the problem then it's the mother carrying the child, in which case, and considering they can make artificial sperm, maybe make an artificial uterus? Anyway, I'm getting too much into this, the show just simply didn't care in explaining anything. Even if it had been complete fantasy and surreal, some kind of explanation would have been welcomed.
The premise in terms of the world and the plot itself is interesting but it lacks enough exploration. The lack of it would have been passable if all that had been a background element and the plot had revolved exclusively about the show and the FL's character participation in it, but it does involve the bigger issues into the plot and as such it's not satisfactory as it is.
The show part of it it's also quite a big plothole in itself. It's never really explained why it exists in the first place. It's not like it's giving anyone hopes or anything if also the women usually chosen to marry those men are from rich families. Why are they pushing the marriage thing onto those men? They should be forever donors lol it wouldn't really matter much who they marry as long as they contribute to the whole population lol It's said it's the 7th time the show happens, by this time the whole population already knows it's fixed if all women chosen are from rich families and it would have lost all spectators. Sure, the men themselves would be equally popular like celebrities, but no one would care to follow a show to see who they marry, it wouldn't be them so who cares?
Someone in the reviews said this was a trying to be somewhat of a mix between Squid Game and Hunger Games, and I totally agree. I haven't even watched Squid Game although I know more or less what is about and certainly this shares the looks. The music in the last episode when the female contestants are presented was very close to the Hunger Games one, it was blatantly similar.
Acting is generally ok, some of them are better than others. Characters wise, I feel a lot of them were quite superficial and we don't learn anything from many of them, or we learn one thing and that's just their whole vibe. Almond was an interesting character in his more grey area, but it was unsatisfactory how his motivations and decision at the end is not explored more. FL's character was ok in the very beginning, then it's too silly and cliché (girl that doesn't care much about her looks, it's a black hole eating and is clumsy and can't read the room) to then being a more mature towards the end. It was inconsistent and they could have avoided that cliché phase altogether. I'm generally not a fan of the troupe of childhood acquaintances to adult lovers, here it was worse that in other shows because it was pretty much instant as soon as they recognise each other, and their childhood experience together was very brief, or at least it's only shown in a very summarised way, what doesn't help their case either way. As it happens often I was more invested in the side love story and progression of Chanel and Max than the main characters, they were more unique and they had obstacles to overcome. Sure, it's not really explored enough, but for what it is, it was better in my opinion.
Things are kind of left there and then there is an "epilogue" 4 years later. It brings many questions, especially of those that were left behind. Then we have the classic evil laugh, almost, because the evil queen has found their location HOHOHO I mean, it's not like they were super secretive in their location, they're not even covered by woods or anything. I don't know... haha Either way, I don't know if they're doing a 2nd season of this or not, and if not, what a silly way to end it.
Despite all of this and other flaws it was surprisingly passable and entertaining in a general way????!!! How is this possible really??? Maybe it's because my expectations were quite low but I thought it would be worse. I think it being 6 episodes also helped it a lot in that respect. It didn't overstay its welcome much.
My rating goes for interesting idea and for the general entertainment it provided, surprisingly.
It's generally watchable but keep expectations quite low and don't question much of anything, otherwise your brain cells will combust, mine are certainly fried at the edges and I'll move on to something else immediately before I dwell too much into the details of this and I see the back of my head and steam out from my ears lol
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A waste of time.
I can't recommend, it's a total waste of time.I'm not sure what it was trying to be but manages to do nothing right or interesting enough, and acting is generally quite forced and over the top. Only FL was better and her character was probably the most interesting of the bunch but they don't dwell much in the characters themselves. ML wanted to be a butler because he likes to serve? what? haha I'm sorry, it was lame, it would have been more believable that he said something about wanting to travel, see other places in the world or even learn other languages.
The movie is boring, slow (for what is the plot) and the writing is bad. It's difficult to make a movie in a single location and for it to be engaging and entertaining enough, they didn't succeed at all in this movie.
Sub-plots are brought to the front and back depending on what is convenient to the point they feel forgotten (like the murder "mystery"). The "mystery" is one of those that seems obvious but then it's revealed to not be what you thought just for shock value and where they didn't take you along the journey at all, completely pointless. It wasn't even shocking as a reveal though, because they didn't make me care at all about anything in this movie. The crime here it's calling this thing a suspense, romantic, mystery or amateur detective movie. It's just a mush of nothingness in my opinion.
There obviously are also unresolved questions at the end of the movie, like what happened to the mother of the kid, what happened with the will in the end, what happened to the son and wife of the man that died, they might not have ultimately killed him but they were accomplices of murder in a way and of trying to falsify a will. Why are the two kids dancing happy in the end? There is just no answers.
Also, I'm sorry but that's not kissing. If they're going to make the actors "kiss" like that might as well just not have any kissing scenes, it was weird and cringy to watch.
FL arrives in the cruise with absolutely nothing, yet she manages to have a different outfit daily.
If it had been fun and entertaining I could tolerate some of the other negative aspects of this but it really wasn't, it was a chore to finish.
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Very good but not perfect
Please be aware I haven't seen the original series, didn't even know it existed. Didn't know this was adapted from a book either, so I'm reviewing this as if it was the only thing out there.I think the best of this show are the way it's filmed, the general atmosphere, architecture, the inclusion of naginata (damn finally) and the clothing.
I have to give kudos to the architecture, atmosphere and scenery especially since, as far as I know, it was mostly recorded in Vancouver area, so to pull something like this in such a completely different place it's amazing work. But, I also have to admit that it took me out of the story a couple of times when I did recognise a couple of landscapes as someone that has been in the area as well as the fact that while certain landscapes can pass for areas of Japan, others were a bit of a stretch.
The plot keeps you invested most of the time, but it does suffer from being a bit convoluted at times and slightly dragging at others when it seems it doesn't know what it wants to do next, as well as that general repetition in the execution of leaving most of the action and interesting plot points to the last couple of episodes. The atmospheric shots and general vibe are amazing though and I enjoyed them a lot.
Acting was generally very good although I do have to agree with another review that Anna Sawai is the one for me that gave the most of a contemporary vibe compared with the others, but it wasn't very jarring as to be a constant reminder.
If you're looking for a Japanese production this is not it, and I do think there are things that are done in the way they did because of budget constraints. This could very well change for subsequent seasons considering the international acclaim.
The main reasons why it doesn't make it a 10 for me are:
- Echoing what I said before, the plot can be convoluted at times.
- I know they're going for the serious stern look but I missed a bit more emotion (other than the ones from John being too much the opposite at times).
- I'm never a fan of shows with the token westerner that is supposed to be the main character and that become the centre of the universe even if based on real life. While I think they did a much better job here than in others I'm still not a fan, plus this brings me to:
- The worst character for me was John Blackthorne. I'm going to assume this is a mix between what was asked of the actor and his acting. He gave drunkard vibes in his mannerisms and way of speaking. At points I was not sure what the point of him was, and I'm still not sure I get it. I also don't remember him being a ship engineer/builder so why it's that task put onto him in the end, I just don't know. I read the real life figure that inspired the book version was indeed a ship builder, but in the show I can't remember ever being mentioned.
- The fact that they decided to go with Japanese language for the majority of the show is absolutely great, but it pisses me off that the times when they're supposed to be speaking in Portuguese they're in English. At the beginning it was very confusing at times and at some point even if you're assuming it's Portuguese you really don't know anymore. We are to assume that when John is speaking to someone just because (even though he knows they don't understand him) he's speaking in English because it's his mother tongue and he's alone so to speak, but maybe he's trying in Portuguese? We'll never know.
For a show that decided to go for realism with the Japanese language it's a big disappointment it didn't go all the way. People are already reading subtitles anyway, what are a few more? I want the whole experience, not only half of it just to please Hollywood.
If you like historical fantasy, politics, power struggles, good atmosphere, retro feel and good costuming I would totally recommend. Aesthetics are on point.
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Gyeongseong Creature Season 2
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A lot worse than S1. If there is a S3 you can skip this one and not miss much at all.
While I didn't think season 1 was a masterpiece at the time since it did suffer of some plot problems in terms of explanations and execution, it is a masterpiece if compared with season 2.Season 1 had a very good setting and a motive, even if somewhat very generic and never explored enough in my opinion.
I still don't really understand the reason of creating the monsters, evolution or some powers is not worth the hassle, especially from a capitalistic standpoint, they lose more than they gain, immortality might be the only real perk here but potentially killing everyone around you when you cut your finger with the kitchen knife is not worth the immortality in my opinion.
The motives of the bad guys are never fully explained and fall into the very generic category, either just because or because wanting to save X person.
Season 2 main problem is the plot and its execution. First of all like many others have said there are way too many plotholes and I don't think they'll tackle them in a potential season 3. They had the time to show things but they didn't. Of the 7 episodes about 4-5 are just a mess of getting back to the point where we were at the end of season 1, sprinkled with some flashbacks that didn't add much in terms of explanation of the most important things. We're not even told fully well what happened a year prior, nor how the relationship of ML developed with Seung Jo, we're told a bit but not shown. This is a repetitive occurrence in this season, we're told things but not shown.
The setting in season 1 was interesting both historically and cinematographically, here it completely lost the charm it had between the warm tones and the grittiness of the hospital and changed to just dark. Someone please turn the light on!!! This is a problem in many Hollywood productions nowadays, they're recorded very dark to the point at moments you can't tell what is happening in the scene, here they used the same idea and butchered the balance it previously had.
The monsters are very underutilised. There was a reason for it to be there in season 1 because of FL's mother and the general plot, here it feels like they were put there at the end for the sake of not receiving complains there were none, but nothing more. I still don't know more about these creatures than I did in season 1, they seem to be conscious to a certain extent so why would they do what their captors want anyway. I'm a monster and instead of attacking whoever is being put there for me I would just continuously try to break free and kill who did it. Season 1 certainly had more nuance in this aspect but season 2 seems to have gone backwards.
One of the things that annoyed me the most about season 2 is how background character they made the FL. Sure, she's there in body and does some cool fighting scenes but her essence feels pretty off most of the season and she was mostly relegated to damsel in distress. I still don't understand this, she's supposed to be better fighter than ML (sure, he has caught up in the years) and you would think that having her mother's najin (what seems to be kind of special in some way) would put her at an advantage over others, yet they made ML way more powerful than her and he's the one fighting all the bad guys. We're at no point told or shown what kind of najin he was given either for this to be this way. It was disappointing, even more considering that with her memories erased at the end they made her a girly girl??????? Where is this coming from!!!? ML didn't have his memories for a big part of season 2 but he was still mostly himself in his ways and personality (although generally not so much the same personality he had in S1), but with her she lost completely everything that made her herself.
I liked ML in season 1 because it felt like it was this somewhat cocky guy that found himself in a mess and was doing the best he could in the situation but here they decided to make him a superhero basically, and the main problem is not even that he's that way but the fact that we missed and are not shown how he got to that, he simply is now.
I don't have much opinion about their romance since for me it's just base ok, but repeating the plot and dragging their love misery gets old quickly, as in, it was already exhausted in the first season so I didn't want nor needed to see more or less the same love plot in season 2.
Seung Jo was very underutilised and the background stories of the other villains were also very nonexistent here. Can't even begin with those ninja najin mutants that had their heads covered. Imagine having extra good sight and covering your eyes just because of the fashion purposes of your master. Sir, you want the job done or aesthetics? I guess it's the second.
The action parts were good, but they were also dragged for the sake of it trying to show off. It almost reminded me of when I watched Aquaman, it's an action with some sprinkles of plot in-between and here it felt a lot like that too.
Season 1 certainly had more of a plot and there was more exploration of characters, they also felt all more unique. Here they become more the generic dichotomy of superhero series/movies bad guys vs good guys. Sure, they tried to make Seung Jo more of a grey character but with his background character very erased from the plot except for a few flashbacks that don't explore enough and don't let you connect with him, he's just a villain to all effects here.
I found the character of Lady Maeda interesting in the first season, if ultimately disappointing in her, again, dichotomy of character, but in season 2 is just plain boring and very background. I couldn't wait for her to die (if indeed she has that is) but once she did I even thought it was unsatisfactory considering the amount of stuff she had done.
Funny enough, despite all its flaws it's still entertaining at times and the reason for my rating. It's watchable as an action series with nearly zero brains in the plot, don't ask questions. I think if there is a season 3 it might be worse than this one, clearly they're going for an apocalypse type setting with mass killings, what means even more action and less brains.
I think if there is indeed a season 3 you can skip the 2nd altogether, you only need to know that FL and ML found each other and that she had her najin from the end of season 1 removed. Watch the 2 minutes prologue of the last episode of season 2 and you're set.
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Entertaining and good pace generally but frustrating FL and I wish for more growth
Overall it's an entertaining drama and acting is good.Watching it now (2024) was certainly a nostalgia trip for me, I was shocked how similar their university campus was to mine. The cafeteria, the corridors, the classes, the material of the walls, pillars, railings... wow! It was bringing back so many memories.
The story was interesting in the beginning and I enjoyed the slice of life presented here, the relationships between the characters and the development of their friendship. It's not a very different or unique plot, it's very average but it doesn't make it less enjoyable.
One thing of the plot that was a bit more unrealistic was the coincidences when it comes to the ML knowing sign language and how many people around Sae seems to know it, learn it or pick it quite quickly, but could be worse.
When it comes to the characters I liked all of them in the beginning but I wish we got equal development of Keita as the others in the group, he was left more as a secondary character than anything and not much it's done with him sadly.
On the other hand, while I enjoyed the premise and start of Sae as a character, as the show progressed I grew more and more frustrated with her as well as her dynamic with Kai. Sae was very selfish and although she's called out on it multiple times by Kai (I applauded this) she really doesn't change. There is very little progression of her character in terms of personality and maturity. Kai is the naive nice guy that keeps chasing a girl that has too many issues that in my opinion should tackle before dragging him in and out of her life every time she has an outburst. Towards the later episodes it became annoying to watch and I was really hoping they wouldn't end up together, I thought it was the healthiest for both of them.
In my opinion they didn't work well as a couple nor they had that much chemistry to begin with, at points Kai seemed more her therapist than her love interest. Kai kept showing interest continuously for her, but she kept changing her thoughts for him constantly and many times she was just very stiff standing there doing nothing.
I liked more the secondary couple even though their story is not as deeply explored, but it was cute.
Sae's mother was also quite annoying to watch at times. In earlier episodes she was almost treating Sae as she was a guest in her house, saying things like that she could stay X amount of time longer in the house before becoming independent and so on. She came across as the detached mother that wants her kid out of the house as soon as they turn 18 (or university in this case). But then later on she's super clingy, wanting her to go to Germany with her, meddling between her and Kai and trying to marry her off to the guy she likes... It was weird and inconsistent and considering how selfish Sae was, the mother barely receives any of her rude answers or tantrums.
I enjoyed it for the most part because of the nostalgia, the friendships and most of the characters. It's an easy watch and I would recommend if you like slice of life.
The romance here it's not the fireworks/sparkles type if you're looking for that, it's a slower progression generally speaking.
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Basic entertainment
For those that have watched the anime, you'll be disappointed. For those that haven't, it's entertaining enough if you go with low expectations.I'm somewhere in-between. I watched the anime growing up but I was never a massive fan of it, I generally found this type of anime where fights take episodes to be a basic ok but not much more for me. I liked the world building the most. But alas, I felt the nostalgia and I didn't have anything else to watch at the moment so I decided to check it out.
I don't understand though why they decided to even make this series if they were only going to bother making 5 episodes. It's a case of if you don't have really the budget maybe don't butcher a series with thousands of fans?
I had low expectations since from the trailer it felt cheap and because usually live actions are always pretty bad compared with the original material. It happens here too as expected.
Some of the costuming, and especially the wigs, are cheap and made it look worse than it could have been. CGI was about passable. If CGI has to be immaculate for you then I would say give this a miss.
Acting was ok at some points, at others it was not great, with actors being just standing there expressionless.
Characters are very underdeveloped, I guess can't be asked more for a 5 episode series but it still was disappointing nonetheless. I also think overall it would have been better in my opinion if they had a retro feeling to the whole thing and had more accurate hair to the anime.
Points go because is generally cohesive and the story flows despite the gaps in it and in the characters development, because the action/fighting is entertaining enough and because it's generally passable as a whole.
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Entertaining and easy-watch
I came to this drama with zero expectations and I was pleasantly surprised. It's entertaining, it's an easy watch and it's more mature than other shows I've seen recently and I very much welcome it.It's not one of those overly cheesy, love-explosion dramas, so if you're looking for something like that this is not it. The relationship here grows step by step, flowing from dislike to tolerating one another to friends to love.
FL is a strong character, so if you prefer delicate/weak female characters then this drama will not be for you.
There are a few things I found to be a bit lacking but I understand because of its run time. I think overall the length was good and if it had been longer it would have dragged way too much story wise. The start felt a bit not so interesting to me but then it picked up. Last two episodes are a bit dragged and unnecessary in a way, and it's clear they're there to create the final drama.
Characters are good and more typical of romcom, so not a lot of nuances are presented in them, it's kept light.
I don't think this drama was presented as a "all men are bad, all women are good" at all, there were plenty of good men in the show apart from the main two leads, even the FL's ex was not presented as a complete jerk despite of cheating and they remain friends throughout the drama. Except for maybe a couple of comments all coworkers at the firm were also nice and welcoming.
FL has flaws and they're presented in the drama, FL's friend had also flaws and in fact she was a bit tiring with her back and forth when it came to the second ML. The first girlfriend of ML also had many flaws as did the actress FL represented legally. People be seeing a strong FL and already give a tag and run with it...
I liked the relationship of the two ML in the beginning, very healthy bromance, and I kind of wanted more of that, it was cute, but it was soon put to the side.
I did think second ML had more charisma and more depth in his character than the ML, I find this tends to happen in this type of romcoms, they want ML to be perfect so they give more realism and nuance to the friend, what is a shame.
A couple of things that irked me a bit were that the turning point of the show is a gay scandal (I get it, it's Korea afterall, but...) and the trope of "you're not like other men/women".
That being said, I have to applaud this drama for tackling a bit certain aspects of patriarchy and abuse in a country where sexism, gender inequality and domestic violence are high. Sure, it could be better, and it could be sooooo much more in-depth, but considering they're walking a fine line and that it's not the main plot of the drama, it's still commendable.
I think the ML and FL were a good fit together. Not so much the second couple, but mostly because of the way they decided to portray that relationship than the characters themselves. Do Won Joon didn't seem that much into Shin Na Eun, and she was into him but the way of showing it was anticlimactic and a bit of a mess.
Overall I would recommend, it's easy watchable, not long and it's entertaining.
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The cliché of amnesia as plot device
The good thing for me in this drama was the music, as someone that has listened to Hikaru Utada for decades. That's where it ends.The cinematography (landscapes, mood, light, colours) was good and I enjoyed some of the scenes purely because of it but it's not enough to recommend this drama to anyone.
The story is based on the very cliché amnesia trope, I was hoping I wouldn't have to see that plot device used again ever but here I am. Everything else is pretty much destroyed for me because of that, everything becomes absurd and ridiculous and very easily solvable but they keep hammering their heads against a wall in veeeery slow motion, because the show is quite slow (and I say this as someone that enjoys slow shows/movies when they're done with grace and purpose). This show could have been a film, would have been better.
I get they're trying to appeal to the nostalgia of that type of shows, amnesia trope was so overused in late 90s and early 00s in everything so I had my fair dose of it and got very tired.
Something that also irked me was the zero resemblance of the main character with her younger self, I could kind of see it or imagine it with him, but her younger self was just complete opposites and made no sense.
I liked more the little story they showed of the son with the dancer.
Overall I regret wasting the time watching it, but it also brought me down memory lane with the music. That being said, I still would have preferred to spend my time listening to the music alone than watching it (because it's not like they used all her music for the show either so it did get a bit repetitive in that aspect as well). So, unless you like amnesia as a plot device I can't recommend.
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Pleasant ride that got bumpy
I like a good romcom and slice of life, it's of the genres I enjoy the most, but I very much dislike melodrama, and this show at points wanted to cross the line for the simple fact of having something to tackle in the plot. This was not necessarily bad and compared with other dramas I think it's was done quite ok, but there are certain elements in the execution of those situations that were lacking for me.But first of all I would like to talk about the positives:
I liked the characters and I enjoyed that they were generally rounded and each had their own positives and negatives.
I know that Seok Ryu has received a lot of hate for her personality or the way she acted in the romantic moments. For me personally the only thing I disliked the most is the way how they made her roughhouse his brother and ML. I get they wanted to portray that closeness and with ML specifically that almost sibling kind of relationship but it was certainly a bit jarring and unrealistic for her age. Otherwise I could relate with her in many aspects both in her family dynamics as well as ending up being used in work environments because of working well and being a perfectionist. I totally get her. I also understood her reasons for not telling her family about the cancer considering how they treated her and the expectations put on her, she couldn't be weak and she didn't want to disappoint. This kind of upbringing just basically ends up giving you anxiety. When you become that level independent that you don't ask for help even when you're physically suffering it also takes effort to warm up to people around you, even those that technically you knew for your whole life. She might have been best friends with Seung Hyo, but that doesn't mean he actually knew the ins and outs of her that well. For that reason as well it totally makes sense from writing a character like her that she would need the time to get into the relationship fully, the weariness of something potentially going wrong or how much you can trust the person you like. I think overall her relationship with Seung Hyo and how it starts is very realistic and it's a breath of fresh air in terms of romantic developments in dramas because most times it's either love at first sight head over heels for someone, or if someone is shown as more reserved and initially distant is the guy, because it looks "cool" in society for guys to be that way.
I also loved the storyline of Seok Ryu quitting what she did previously and searching for what she wanted to do now and her growth to get there. That thing at the end when she's using her previous skills in programming for her restaurant was chef's kiss for me. That feeling that even the so called mistakes can come in handy at some point in the future. As someone in a complicated situation right now, it warmed my heart a bit.
Many people has also called Seok Ryu selfish for not telling about the cancer to anyone, both characters in the series like ML himself as well as viewers, but let me flip it, isn't it selfish to expect anyone to tell you they have cancer? It's their life and their privacy. I think it's selfish to be angry at someone for not satisfying your need to know and process it the way you want when it's the other person the one actually suffering. He was putting his emotions and his right to know above her pain (although this doesn't make his feeling not valid obviously). Also she tried to contact ML multiple times during that period and he never picked up the phone. I don't think anyone owes anything to a friend or family member that only wants to know the news if you're ill but they're not part of your life for the rest of it. There are so many times people can reach out to others before they understand they're ultimately alone and they have to deal with things alone, and FL be like that here, her independence and reluctance to reach out is because she has been burn out many times already. It's difficult in that situation to rely on others and open up. And this applies to her parents as well since they have repeatedly proven, especially the mother, that they only care about her success and her doing the expected thing.
It's a bit more difficult for me to say what I liked about Seung Hyo, I think his overall journey was interesting between what he wanted to be versus what he ended up doing because of his injury. His personality was frustrating at times and there are certain things that at points annoyed me a bit, like his jealousy. Yet, most of my complains about his personality added to the authenticity of his character and the realness of imperfection, but that doesn't take from the fact I do think he had some things to tackle that are a bit of a problem.
I really liked how the ex story line was tackled. Not only because finally we have a drama where the main characters have exes (sure, there are others but seriously I can't even remember the last one), putting an end to the overused troupe of 30+ years old character that has had no relationships ever and is waiting for the ML/FL of the drama, but also because of how the whole story line was presented on both sides. I enjoyed that Seung Hyo's ex while had certain intentions of getting him back she was not immature about it. Sure, she created a situation but was straightforward to ML about it, didn't beat around the bush and didn't get in-between the main characters, she stepped to the side in a mature way as soon as she realised the situation. I also really liked the flashbacks and the differences between what it was like and what kind of relationship they were looking for at that time compared to the present time. I liked her, and as someone that likes pottery I did enjoy her bits, I almost wish we got a main character in a drama whose main job is making pottery.
On the other hand while I do think FL's ex was quite toxic with his stalker behaviour, I did very much enjoy that their breaking and parting was not one based on typical drama and that it was acknowledged that there were still feelings there, because they just don't disappear from one day to the other. On the other hand though, I didn't like the ex much as a person. He was quite toxic with his stalker behaviour, not taking 'no' for an answer and he was very selfish in his incapability of understanding of FL's situation in the past and everything she was going through. He's the type that you tell him you're very unhappy and he tells you "just be happy then". Taking out his stalker behaviour what is crossing the line, I think his past incapability to relate or understand what the FL was going through was quite realistic as well as his automated and emotionally removed actions and responses when dealing with her cancer and her depression after.
I enjoyed the family dynamics sporadically here and there only and I also liked the relationship of the Lavender group in concept if somewhat repetitive at times with their bickering and I would have liked to see deeper or more development. I think generally it was presented quite superficially. FL's mother and ML's mother's arguments and fights were kind of boring for me and never funny.
I overall also enjoyed a lot the relationship of Mo Eum with Dan Ho and towards the end it was adorable, BUT I didn't like how Mo Eum approached her crush for him and she was very pushy and at times it felt she was crossing the line.
In things I didn't like:
- First and foremost the use of illness to excuse behaviours. It's used at least twice that I can recall and I found it quite problematic even if plausible in certain family dynamics, yet I wished for more growth.
I didn't like Seok Ryu's parents, especially her mother. I think her father was a bit of the funny airhead of the family what is ok, and I liked the insights about what he would have wanted to do in his life and what he ended up doing, but he clearly has an alcohol problem and it's never tackled at all, it's seen as the most normal thing. Points for realisticness I guess in a society where it be like that, but it's difficult to let it slide that much as a viewer.
But Seok Ryu's mother is so bad in my opinion and she never really changes in any way. The best part of her is that quirk of playing drums when angry, it was funny but everything else about her was so irritating!!! I absolutely despised that everything she had done (and by extension the father too, even if because of being an accomplice of the mother) is pushed under the rug once they know she had cancer. The mother learned absolutely nothing and she only cares about showing off and her position in the group of friends. It was not enough in my opinion, 30 years of treating your daughter like that and being the main cause of the way she is doesn't disappear because of a cancer pity party, but that's what they did. It's not even how she treats FL alone either, she treats her husband terribly as well, and spoiled her son so much that she wasn't really allowed to complain when he got into that problematic supplements business. Yet there is zero reflection or change in her, she was annoying to watch and it was annoying there wasn't any growth at all. Yet at the same time as much as I disliked it I have a feeling if they had tried to make a redemption ark it would have been pretty bad and full of excuses as usual because parents do no wrong in Korea, so maybe it's actually better they left her as she was. The father at least had a tiny bit of growth. But I still hate that the catalyst was the cancer, it was lazy and overused and overly dramatic.
Equally frustrating it was when illness (or potential one in this case) was used with ML's mother to sweep under the rug all the problems and miscommunication that had happened in their family dynamics. It was lazy in my opinion. I think if they were going to invest that much time in ML's mother as a character then there should be more direct resolutions than that. Hinting at illness for drama only is lazy writing again, and in this case the diagnosis in the end didn't even make sense seriously, it was weird. There is also never a resolution in the relationship between ML and his mother other than a couple of sentences, I think she mentions the necklace thing, that's pretty much it. It's just forgotten with the same thing of the potential illness and her falling in the woods.
- As mention previously Seung Hyo's behaviour at times was edging on problematic towards the middle of the show and although it brought a realistic and complete character I can't help but wish it was tackled more directly. I certainly think that in the course of the show Seok Ryu changed and grew more than Seung Hyo personally.
- FL's brother is not very explored but also I feel like he did the things that were expected of him in the end and they're showing me he has changed but not sure if because of the execution or what but it was hard to believe when he had spent most of the drama being a spoiled piece of work. It was unsatisfactory to me, as it was the introduction of that last minute romance with Na Yun, it felt forced even though it had already been hinted.
- As also said Mo Eum being so persistent with Dan Ho was bad, but also was they took so long to tell us Yeon Du was his niece. Mo Eum's relationship with Yeon Du was also pushy. I know that it's a big thing in Korea being with someone that already has kids and whatnot but it still baffles me, so the reaction and initial disapproval of Mo Eum's mother was kind of annoying.
- Special mention to the specific situation of FL's parents being annoyed at her towards the beginning for cancelling the wedding to the point of trying to push her to marry the guy against her will, calling him against her will, wanting to send her back to the US and the mother later trying to make her date and ultimately marry the ex. All that is obviously forgotten with the cancer but what did I watch seriously. They were treating her like she was 10 so many times, telling her what she could or not do.
- Somewhere between the resolution of the cancer/FL's ex plot and the end I found it a bit dragging at points and I do think they could have used those moments to explore deeper other things that were lacking, like anything written above.
- Generally I'm not a big fan of the childhood friends to lovers. I do think here it was decently well because they had lives and other partners in-between but as a concept I find it too overused.
- Some of the product placement was very on the face.
I would say if you don't want any drama avoid this since at points it has more drama than romcom. If you don't like long episodes and slice of life avoid this. If you want an explosive love at first sight this is not it either.
If you like the opposite of the above then watch it, it's enjoyable although bumpy ride. At points you love it, at others it gets a bit too dramatic and at others it drags a bit before you get another loving bit. It be variable like that.
Acting is good and the main actors did great for me, but when it comes to the main two actors I might be a bit biased since I've seen them in other stuff and I generally have liked all that I've watched of them. So if you want to watch because of any of them I would say to give it a go.
I think Yun Ji On is a bit stiff at times and I can't tell if it's the character that is supposed to be that way for certain or also his acting a bit. I think all the parents did good acting but certainly my favourite was Jo Han Chul.
I rarely rewatch dramas but I probably wouldn't this one if only to not have to relive Seok Ryu's mother as well as the more overly dramatic moments.
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