I was let down

watching the first 2 episodes, I thought its going to be about a troubled couple finding their way back to each other which it happed at last but not in a way that I wanted to. Kim Sohyun and Kim Jiwon are great actors with great chemistry and godly visuals but their love story is incredibly boring. I dont know how to put this in words but none of the characters seem like human beings. They're all written in a very surface level .They're just some plot devices and do stuff because the writer wanted those things to happen.
Hyun woo is knight in shining armor constantly sacrificing himself for others and Hae in is his entire world. Hae in is the princess with warm heart and cold attitude. Eun seong is the obsessed villain with dark past. Soo cheol is a doormat. Dahye is the poor corrupted lonely villain getting a redemption arc. No depth . No creativity. just cliches.
There was so much potential for Hyun woo and Hae in story but they just used cliches with some aesthetic pretty shots. Im so tired of " they met each other in childhood so it was fate all along" stuff and they used that one multiple times.
Honestly, the power struggle between the villains and Queens group was quite boring too and it was taking too much screen time to the point it overshadowed our couples story.
you need alot of suspension of disbelief to watch it because nothing make sense. people are smart and cunning but they make stupid choices so Hyun woo can come and save the day like the hero he is. There are herds of supporting characters who owe something to Hyun woo so they do everything to help. Hye in is supposedly very sick and doesn't have much time left but she never looks like it even in hospital. Her very rare disease gets cured magically with only one side effect which makes the next plot twist. Very unnatural story telling.
Actors are all amazing showing a range of emotions. The camera work is great. Filming locations are so pretty .OSTs are beautiful. Fashion and hair styles are stunning so are the cars. The story is the only thing ruining it. Its a bummer. All this talent and resources should've gone to a better story

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fanfiction turned to drama

the start was very good. I knew what to expect : A light cheesy comedy in fantasy genre to fill up my time. it as around episode 6-7 when it started to get boring. what I liked to see was to see him struggle in his new found idol status. The idea of
'idol" or "celebrity" is not in line with his personal beliefs ( he's a priest after all ) but he must play into it because 1. its his only way to get back to his own realm 2.other people depend on his work like group mates and company workers.

For some reason the script writers decided to focus on this power struggle of good/ evil which kinda ruined it for me. Remberary/ yeon woo cant catch a break. he is constantly fighting against devil's schemes and there isn't much time left for singing, dancing, practicing and other idol problems which made the comedy part in the first place. I couldn't care less about the antagonist or his minions. After episode 8 I skipped it to ep 11 and watched last two episodes in fast speed.

I know that I shouldn't nitpick on it for it not being realistic ( I mean the genre is fantasy , hello?) but still the idea of them winning any major awards despite having so many scandals and not being from a big company is so stupid and yet the most unrealistic part of the story is Yeon woo and Dal love plot. first of all she was a weirdo. Not any normal fan but a complete stalker. why an idol should fall in love with their deranged fan ? Second of all their love bloomed ? when remberary was in that body. It was gone the minute Yeon woo came back. They're 2 different people. So what was that ending? You're telling me Yeon woo / Dal are a thing now just because he remembers Rembrary memories?

I normally dont pay attention to OSTs much so I made the score up ??

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All over the place and sloppy

Everything is all over the place and sloppy from story to the acting to the editing. Started watching this cuz I find the split personality concept interesting but it was executed very poorly. I haven't read the webtoon but reading the comments here from people who have read it, seems like there was no fantasy / magic aspect to it and I wish they kept it like that here too. They make Ak hee a spirit that possessed Sajo instead of repressed part of him he was scared of and it was a wrong decision in my opinion. There is a shaman called Choong ta with the same condition as Sajo but the difference is the spirit who possessed her/him is from the opposite gender and ever time they switch their appearance changes too but the same rule doesn't apply to Sajo/Ak hee. I hated this character so goddamn much. their existence were unnecessary in my opinion. Anyone who comes to know Choong ta finds out There are 2 different Choong tas in 1 body and easily makes peace with it but Sajo is "insane" in other people eyes. Then both Sajo and Ak hee, separately seek Choong to help them get rid of each other, completely failing to see both Choong tas hypocritic asses hated each other but couldn't do anything for their own condition let alone other people.
In my opinion ( some might disagree ) Sajo situation should've been dissociative identity disorder where he over comes his trauma and both personalities get united in the end. Sure it could've gone a wrong route by misrepresenting the people who have it ( maybe they were actually avoiding this hence why they changed it to a spirit. Not sure tho ) but at least it was more cohesive and more enjoyable to watch. its a wasted potential. Realistically , a good king should've been something between Sajo and Ak hee in early episodes. They were completing each other in a sense. Insted here Sajo is real and Ak hee is an intruder that needs to be eliminated.
beside the character of Sajo/ Ak hee being badly handled there is another problem which is the world building ruining the immersion. By world building I mean Sajo's mind. The rules constantly change. Sometimes they are aware of the other persons actions and feelings, sometimes they're not. Sometimes Akhee is more powerful sometimes Sajo is. Its annoying. I could never be immersed in the story enough and the weird editing wasn't helping at all. there are some weird jumps between scenes that makes me believe whoever is in charge of editing it is a student trying to learn how to edit.
the love plot is insanely stupid and boring. Akk hee is an man child , Sajo is dense and Kyera is..... well, bland.
I hated Kyera too at times. she forgot her revenge too quickly. she fell in love with Sajo too quickly. there was no personality to her. with her background and abilities, she should've been way stronger.
The antagonist are more consistent in their characterization but that's not enough.
Park ji hoon and Hwang hee both do great playing their roles. Yeji struggles in some but for her first role is not horrid. its serviceable. hope she improves in future projects. I don't usually pay attention to OSTs so I went out of my way to listen to them separately and OMG they're beautiful.

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The goods : compelling plot, great actors , great cinematography
The bads : very slow pacing. Could’ve been a movie. Not thrilling enough.
I couldn’t understand the reasoning behind characters behavior for the life of me. Everyone suffer from severe psychological issues. I wished they went deeper into characters past so we know why they are the way they are. They tried with Joo Ran character but Im still confused. How her sister died? Was she murdered? If so who killed her? How does this effect Joo Ran? What about the highschool girl? Was she really pregnant? Why she contacted the son first? Why was she acting like that? Why was Dr.Kim a psycho ? too many un-answered questions.
I dont pay attention to OSTs so I made the score up

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I started watching this drama knowing very well that is full of clichés only because I wanted to watch something light to ease my mind after stressful exam season. First 6 episodes were incredible. I actually thought we might finally get a good story even with all the clichés. They did a great job introducing the characters as they all seemed quite interesting and kept a good pace. I was invested in the story then it just went downhill .One of the reasons for that is the villain's characterization. there are a few of them and none of them ever make sense. they're just evil in a very comic and over the top way. There is no clear motivation to explain why they're trying so hard to pull Do hee down. This over the topness gets repeated a few more time when some characters somehow survive after falling down from a skyscraper ( I rolled my eyes so hard I saw my brain ) or even when they're stabbed severely.
Another reason is they didn't know what they wanted to do with the story so they tried to re-create some scenes from other fantasy dramas ( goblin,9 tailed fox, gumiho etc. ). Now I don't care about cheesy over the top scenes if the story is good but that's not what happened here. It spends so much time on unnecessary characters and sub plots . Jin star, Seok hun and the gang members were useless. Bok kyu and secretary Shin were funny at first but they got boring too. All their screen time should've been given to Noh family.
another thing is there is way too many flash backs. It seems like they didn't have enough materials for 16 episodes.
I wish post ep 6 was written differently. There was so much potential.
It certainly did serve fashion ( I'm not sure if this is a really good point tho as it seemed like an extended ad for certain fashion brands at time ) and the OSTs are pretty.

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need a lot of patience to sit through the first half

first half is both annoying AND boring but if you have patience, the second half is truly beautiful.

The goods :
1. The way this drama showed grief and how different people confront it. The lack of healthy communication was frustrating at times but very realistic and relatable. Yongpil was the first one who realized they were drifting apart cuz they were all running away and decided to put an end to it.
" why you didn't run? why you didn't try to forget?"
" but what if I did forget you?"

2. Go Mija. easily the best character in the whole series. She is the most well written character along with Yongpil. Her character has layers and I cried each time a new layer was revealed. She was so kind and brave. A great mother for her daughters and Yongpil.

3. Go Mija and Bo Mija flashbacks. tear jerkers.

4. Yongpils dad redemption arc. God knows he is one of the most annoying characters I've seen in my 12 years of being into Kdramas but I'm happy with the result.

5. Samdals family ( minus Samdal herself ) are all intriguing both in characters and their relationships with each other. I wished we knew more about the sisters pasts. Their love stories were more interesting than the main couple in my opinion. The family dynamic is very fun to watch.

6. Samdalri island and its beatiful beaches and gardens.

Now the bad;
1. Our female lead Samdal. I dont know why she and her collogues were so dumbfounded that she fell into a scandal given the fact that she's both unprofessional and a BRAT. Samdal is unlikable from episode 1 to the very end. She is an immature girl with a big ego who constantly throws tantrums.

2. Alcoholism. Samdal developed a horrible drinking habit after going back to samdalri and I think its an irresponsible portrayal if none of the other characters in the drama mention it in a bad light. She wasnt just sad, she was Addicted.

3. Samdalri people and their big mouths. small villages where everyone know each other have their own problems for sure ( gossips, lack of personal space, fear of being judged etc etc) and this has been touched upon in few other dramas but it doesn't make watching them any less insufferable. Yongpils friend had nothing else to talk about other than Samdal.

4. Second male lead. What was the point of his existence?

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started watching this cuz I love me some second chance / revenge stories and I'm happy that I did. The story flows steadily as we get to see our FL find strength and allies while the antagonists get closer and closer to their doom. Revenge doesn't happen over night and its entertaining to watch Jiwon use her knowledge from future to lure Soomin and Min hwan to get her past fate.
Song Ha yoon and LeeYi kyung both do an incredible job playing their roles as Soomin and Min hwan. You know one is a great actor when you hate the character they play with passion. Never felt any pity for them ....like EVER. I wanted them gone in a sense that I wanted Jiwon to succeed in her revenge plan but at the same time wanted them to stay cuz watching them was entertaining. There are some interesting side characters and I wished we saw more of them as I think their stories were a bit rushed such as Yang Joo ran, Mr Lee, Eun ho and Yeon hee. all in all these are the strong points that made this watch enjoyable for me but now let me talk about small issues that kept me from giving it a 10. These might sound a bit childish but I couldn't ignore them while watching.
1. Yura . I understand the point of her characters existence and her roll in the "fate" aspect of the story but god she's hard to watch . I was not enjoying the chaotic evilness she brought to the story at all. we already had strong antagonists. competing with them cant be easy but Yura is in no way an interesting character at all. she's a cliche of all stuck up, rich brats from kdramas ever. the actress doesn't help the situation eighter. She is pretty awkward on screen. Also the addition of this character gave it a Makjang feeling ( search the term if you don't know the meaning) but everything became extreme all of sudden.
2. Music. OSTs are something I normally don't pay attention to. Here they use some bts songs to reveal a plot twist ( trying to not give out spoilers ) but the way they went about it was ..... something. Cuz why they decided to play spring day and dynamite SO LOUDLY?? them talking about it was enough. Im an Army so of course I was giggling and kicking my feet but that was just weird.

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MID

personally wished for more fantasy and less mystery. I know kdramas have a habit of mixing as many genres as possible in one and I knew this is gonna be one of them but still .... this is a bit disappointing. I wish the drama focused more on Sol hee and her powers rather than the story of all toxic lovers who were obsessed with Do ha. I felt like the story was to grim for a romcom but not deep enough for a mystery. the suicide case should've stayed as one instead of turning to a murder case. it took all the attention that should've been given to our main leads and gave it to finding who's the real killer and in the process it hindered any good development our leads could've gotten. I was more invested in side characters. although the ending is a happy ending I don't understand how Do ha's trauma is supposed to be gone when it should've gotten worse. To be betrayed and be kept in the dark for so many years it cant make your mental state better surly. the chemistry between the main is lukewarm at best.
its not unwatchable per se .... but a forgettable one definitely.
on a side note: I wish kdramas tone it down a bit with their product placements. Especially when they go out of their way to give characters a line to talk about the said product. its annoying.

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Anemoia; nostalgia for a time or place you never have experienced.
I saw this word on the internet a while ago and instantly thought of reply1988. I was born in 2000 and never lived in korea but watching this always makes me feel nostalgic. Simpler times, simpler problems, the sweet innocence of youth, joyful shared experiences, warm families and honest friendships. I've watched way too many kdramas in my life time to be considered healthy and I consider this one as my all time favorite for its insane re-watchability. the story telling is incredible and the actors do amazing job playing their characters. there is no filler character as they all add something to the story and it has great pacing
watched the other 2 of reply trilogies after this one and that was kind of a mistake. if you want to watch all of them I suggest to watch 1988 one the last as its the best one out of the three. reply1988 is the only one which take the "who could be the husband' mystery seriously and the actors are way better. I'm not gonna lie I was suffering with a huge 2nd lead syndrome first time around but made peace with it real quick.

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