alex
Canada
Falls flat.
This had a strong start. The set up we get before the time jump was actually very interesting (and I know is based on a true story). Once we get to said time jump… the only interesting characters are ones we already knew- Bok Soon & the King primarily. Their son, wonderfully played by Yeo Jin Goo, is the only semi interesting new addition to our centered cast.Lee In Jwa is the most irritatingly boring sageuk villain I have ever seen. He’s certainly hateable (as all villains should be) but not because he’s well written. He’s simply just annoying.
Our lead/heroine, Baek Dae Gil, has nothing going for him. The female lead, Dam Seo, is also useless. There is certainly potential for good story in both these characters but the writing, casting, (and possibly direction of these actors), fails them miserably.
The story itself- pointless. It’s literally just them going in circles trying to take down Lee In Jwa. Incredibly repetitive and plain boring.
If I don’t care about the leads, or the villain, or the story, why am I watching?
Minor characters Seo Lim & Cutter were nice only because the actors themselves I know and like.
Actors Yoon Jin Seo and Yeo Jin Goo are truthfully the stars of this show for me. Absolutely great performances (when they are given the chance to shine). Actor Choi Min Soo was good too. Apart from that, I have no other positives to list. This is 24 episodes total, and honestly nothing warrants that runtime (especially when the only good part of the story was the set up). By episode 17 I had to stop myself. I tried to push through hoping it would loop back in quality, but unfortunately it looped back only in it’s tedious plot.
I think it reminds me of Gu Family Book. I absolutely loved the set up of that series as well. We again meet the parents of our eventual lead characters in a very intriguing set up, then time jump to uninteresting everything.
I don’t recommend- even if you like some of the cast, it’s not worth it.
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Good concept, slowly slips.
It’s a very interesting idea! To show two separate lives our FL could have lived based on one initial choice. It was exciting at first, but as the episodes went on her hometown life became quickly boring and repetitive (meanwhile her life in Shanghai maintained interest). I do like Li Xue Yi as an actor and his character here was nice enough at first, but he became very dull. It might be because we start off with him and the FL already together- it’s a little more interesting to watch a relationship develop (like the FL’s relationship with Xue Yu Ming does). But, I lost interest in that as well eventually- unfortunately.By halfway through I wasn’t really sure what else could come from this. Both realities seemed to reach their peak (proposal & dating), so I didn’t have the desire to continue really. It was enjoyable enough and I am not dropping due to it being bad, I think it just lost it’s charm.
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Not really worth the time..
I want to start off by complimenting the editing/directing style of this show in general. It stands out from all the other chinese dramas I’ve seen in a creative and stylish way (visually).Now. So sorry to Ling Chao but he is my biggest negative to speak about here. He was dreadfully boring. Anytime we were focused on him I lost complete interest in what was going on.
The other characters however were wonderfully interesting. Xiao Tu(FL), Yin Zi Han(SML), Jiang Juan Juan, and Jia Si Wen all had such unique (and differing from one another’s) characteristics and personalities. They certainly carry the story as it’s pretty drawn out and flat (to be honest). The four of them make it enjoyable- to a point.
I definitely don’t think it should have been 24 episodes. Not enough happens to warrant that much time to tell the story they have laid out. Makes it a mostly boring watch. I rarely drop dramas, but by episode 18 I decided I had had enough.
And I can’t not say it: once the leads start dating (episodes 16&17) they are soooooo awkward- but rightfully so! They’ve viewed eachother as siblings for 20 years!
Overall it was decent enough but I wouldn’t recommend. There’s far better youth-romance cdramas out there [ watch Wait My Youth(2019) or A River Runs Through It(2021) instead of this please ].
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Arang and the Magistrate
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Excitement turned dread.
Honestly the positives mentioned below are mainly my thoughts for the first 6 episodes of this show. Once we hit episode 7 it began to lag a lot and lost most of it's charm.It was soooo much fun at the beginning- surprisingly so. I was not expecting much to be honest, the rating on MDL is a little lower than most dramas and I haven't seen it be talked about elsewhere.
Lee Joon Gi and Shin Min Ah have fantastic chemistry, which I also wasn’t expecting. I love Shin Min Ah and am… neutral on Lee Joon Gi. I like him sometimes (My Girl, Flower of Evil), sometimes not (Scholar who walks the night)- but I think it's all on direction or the script because here his character has such personality (opposed to his usual more serious roles). He really shines here, and I believe Shin Min Ah heightens that as well due to their chemistry and ability to goof with eachother convincingly.
Yeon Woo Jin is great as always too. Had an interesting character arc overall.
Hwang Bo Ra is sooooo cute in hanbok! I had never seen her in a sageuk before but I think it really suits her.
The character Dol Soe was insanely annoying, and it would have been an improvement to have him omitted from the show entirely.
I didn't care for the heaven/hell characters, or the villains (except when Yeon Woo Jin was involved with them), so it mainly became a continued watch for the characters I did like and not the story.
The plot is initially fun, plain and simple. When your lead characters are so likeable it's easy to make a simple story like this enjoyable.
It definitely would have benefited from being the standard 16 episodes instead of 20 though. It became very drawn out. I feel like they packed all its appeal in the first chunk and then we were stuck with the rest slowly occurring.
It got to the point where I was struggling along, fighting to finish, so during episode 14 I finally decided to drop it. It's a real shame because I was having so much fun with it at first.
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Bad and… bad.
This is one of the messiest shows I’ve ever seen. It constantly changes it’s focus and villains, not in a serialized way where there’s a different focus each episode but in a confusing way where we spend multiple episodes following a story only for it to be gone soon after. New characters are always being introduced too. I felt like I was being dragged all over the place- it would always seem to finally find it’s story only to jump into something completely different.The DID is completely a subplot that adds very little. From the way the show was advertised/promoted it seemed very much like that would be the main point but it wasn’t really. I have only ever seen DID portrayed absurdly (in soap operas for example) so I have no idea how to judge it’s accuracy, but I have seen other people be very upset with it’s depiction here. You’d think they would have done some sort of research on the condition especially with having Ryu Su Yeol constantly visiting a therapist about it in the series, but I doubt it.
The cast makes it semi enjoyable but not enough to warrant the overall watch honestly.
Han Ji Eun is a definite stand out, I hope to see her in more leading roles. That’s all I can take away from this honestly.
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A 16-episode piece of artwork.
[ Original date written: Dec. 24th 2020- slight edits/additions made now ]This became my most favourite drama EVER before it was even half way through airing.
Right away I noticed and appreciated it's use of colour tones. When we're shown scenes in Ae Ri's timeline, it has a bright yellowey colouring. When we're shown Seo Jin's timeline, it has a darker blue-ish gray colouring. This is brilliant for 2 reasons: 1. To separate the timelines from one another ensuring viewers don't get confused, and 2. It represents the two characters' situations. Ae Ri is the one with the ability to change things for the better, thus the warmer tones (hope). Seo Jin is in a constant state of stress, hence the colder tones (grief).
Now, I strongly suggest you don't look up spoilers for this drama, as there's a lot of crazy plot twists I think you should experience first hand.
I have only one flaw with Kairos, but it's small enough to not change how I feel about the rest of the drama. [ SPOILER ] I was disappointed in how they essentially copy-pasted Do Kyun's death. His future death in episode 14 was great. But when it came to his past (and permanent) death, I felt it was dumb and honestly lazily written. They not only had him die the same way again, but they removed him saving Hyun Chae from the equation. By doing this it completely erased the emotional impact from the situation.
Again, not bad enough to lower my overall love for the show. It is my favourite k-drama, my favourite asian drama in general, and my favourite show in general. Nothing has been able to top it in the 3 years since it’s aired, and I doubt anything ever will.
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