This review may contain spoilers
Makes you think about what is truly important in life
'Hi Bye, Mama!' is a very thought provoking drama that gives stimulating feelings regarding life as we know it and makes the viewer really think about what is truly important in life, and to appreciate every second you are on this planet. This drama was really helped by the amazing performances of the cast, which helped encapsulate some of the things that perhaps people take for granted.Now, after reading that, you may wonder why the score isn't a 10/10 for all score rankings. The first criticism I have of this drama is that I feel it could have been condensed down easily. Perhaps instead of 16 episodes, it could have easily been finished in 12. The episodes didn't feel long (which is actually quite a strength considering, before starting this, the stretching of air time was a big potential worry for me). All in all, episodes didn't feel long, but the story was stretched out.
Another criticism I have, albeit quite a minor one, was the story involving the ghosts, specifically the baseball player. It felt quite irrelevant in the end, they were building it up for so long, just for some small screen time by the end.
Like before, the biggest strength of this drama is by far the amazing cast and each of their respective performances. In second, I would say the production value. The directing, the camera shots of the actors and of the nature, were purely amazing. They really know how to set out the scenes for each perspective mood they wanted to make the viewers feel. Thirdly, I would say the characters, nearly all of them likeable, and easy to like.
I would suggest to everyone, no matter what genre you usually like to watch, to watch this. Do not miss out!
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This review may contain spoilers
Heartbreaking but a tad too repetitive
Seriously, I basically cried every other episode. Honestly, this drama could'dve used less crying and faster plot, but some of the scenes worked super well, and it made me miss my mom like crazy.The moral of the drama is honestly really powerful and really moving. You can expect that it would be about grief and moving on and living life to the fullest — and the entire time I felt like it was impossible to see a happy ending for everyone, and that was sort of how it went.
I was honestly a huge fan of the sideplots too. Even some of the ghosts that I thought were annoying at the start quickly grew on me when they were tied into the main story.
Ultimately, there were some things that could have been stronger. The reasoning behind why Yuri had to go back up was weak, and there was an exorcist character that basically had a role for two episodes and then disappeared again. The same could be said for Pilseung, who I really thought could have a bigger role as well.
Still though, I was really worried they would turn this into a full blown melodrama romance, and I am so glad they didn't. It was a lot more about family and friendship, which I loved. The sismance was something I loved to see, and the way everyone acted was honestly super mature and respectful of boundaries and of each other — it's something you don't see a lot in any drama, and how realistic this was only made it all that much more heartbreaking.
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Missed opportunity to make a great drama
This drama had all the ingredients of a great show. However writing isn't impressive and the plot was especially disappointing towards the end. It is still a worthy watch for anyone who is interested in a drama about family and importance of daily life (living everyday to the fullest and without regrets). Beware: if you decide to watch this, keep a box of tissues with you ;)Things I liked:
- Kim Tae-hee's work as Cha Yu-ri (wow, she nails this role. Hats off to her)
- Beautiful cinematography
Things I didn't like:
- Heartbreaking ending (one could think of multiple ways to end this better than how they wrote)
- Quite a few scenes were repeated across two episodes
- Some filler moments were quite silly
Bonus:
- The main background score (the one that comes on when Yuri come back to life) is fantastic
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Unexpected
I'll be honest I normally dont watch dramas like this. I feel no need to. However the main female actor had me hooked from the start. Her bubby character fit her so well. Not to forget the fact that the child actor also acted very well. In fact I don't think there was a poor character story or poor actor in this series. Everyone was well thought out and the actors portrayed them well. It was some of the best acting I've seen. The emotions the actors portrayed slammed straight into my heart strings. It was very good. One of the best child actors. Normally child actors lack expressions this one did not. The casting crew must be so proud of their acting choices. The writers and producers did a good job as well.The ending was decent too. Overall it was a good series.Was this review helpful to you?
I'm not crying you are
This drama exceeded all of my expectations..I signed up for an emotional roller coaster but I didn't know what I would end up feeling.
Starting off with cast. I don't think they could have cast anyone better for Yu-ri than Tae Hee. She embodied the caring mother and beautiful wife to perfection, going far beyond with her performance. 5 years passed since she had a main role and came back swinging. As much as I could go on talking about her I have to applaud all the other cast members as well. I found myself falling in love with all of them, in some dramas once we go into side characters and side stories it can get dry and sometimes I feel like skipping through. BUT in no way did I feel like it in this series, the cast had such great chemistry they all melded together so well it was seamless all their interactions were just right. I don't know how they managed to make it seem like they were really related, it felt like I could see the parents in Ha-jun and those little details made it very easy to love this drama. But to speak on Dong-mi ( the bff ) she amazes me with everything she does I'm waiting to she her in a main role.
The story was what I expected jumping in having seen trailers and reading some reviews, but I was sobbing all throughout the 16 episodes. I personally am super close to my mother, seeing their relationship had me thinking of my mom and what it would be like, so I couldn't help but cry. I was always relating some aspect of my life to this drama thinking about my story and what my impact is. Just thinking about how my mother would feel losing me makes me tear up. All I can say is that the writers and directors did everything right. The resolution hit the spot of satisfaction and that's all I could've asked for as the series ended.
Music isn't a really big factor for me personally and I don't mind the absence of it in dramas. But the songs they used in Hi,Bye Mama! were fantastic and really added to the scenes it plucked my heart strings every time they came on, and I was ready for water works
Would %100 recommend!
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the most heartwarming drama
after ending every episode i feel soo sad and heavy hearted and after completing it i completely understood the meaning of the whole drama and it's amazing i instantly went to my mom and hugged her i felt the most happiest moment in this drama is1) the day she became mom
2) she went to heaven with all the secure feeling that her daughter will be happy
i feel soo happy when she called her mom for the first and and she still remember her even after soo many years. even though she saw her mother when she was just a small kid in kindergarten
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This review may contain spoilers
I started with drama with good hopes, since it was the much awaited return of queen kim tae hee and I adored lee kyu hyung in Prisons playbook. With our current global situation, I needed a feel good drama with comedy, and this did its job. It became a routine for me on the weekend to watch this drama, a routine I crave so much. However, I did not realize how much I love this drama until the second to last week of its run. When I realized that it was ending, I was really disappointed. This drama was just so darn funny, and puts into perspective how beautiful everyday interactions are. Now just to tell ya, it's about to get real. During the run of this drama, my family was heavily impacted by covid-19. It got to the point that I wish it was I who had the virus, and not my mom. Every night, I would pray that my mom would be alright, and that if anyone had to go, it would be me. Now in this last weekend of this drama, my mom has made a full recovery and those strong feelings went to the back of my head. However, seeing how it was the mom's prayers that brought Yuri back with borrowed time, and Ganghwa pleading it be him instead of Yuri or his daughter brought back those feelings. I felt like my desperation is real and common, and warranted. With the two lasts episodes, I felt validated and understood, and in these trying times that lack warmth and proper interaction, it was something I desperately craved. Though there were aspects that I wished were developed further, I am very thankful to this drama for allowing to cry and move on to a new day, with lighter heart. Basically, if you have a guardian figure that you love, you'll appreciate this drama a whole lot. Sorry for the spoilers! Was this review helpful to you?
Always crying, crying, crying over and over to the same fucking problem. The beginning was great, it has a good character introducing, and it has interesting story telling ( IN THE BEGINNING) but when as long as I watch it, ot became cringyyyyyy.
Let me talk about my favorite character in this drama, Cho gang hwa, this man is fucking degenerate and simp who's still inlove with his deadass "EX" wife but when his wife came back to life his life is ruined and.... even become MORE DEGENERATE and selfish. He even forgot that he remarried.
Lastly, I rated as 5 not because of him. The last few episode was just ruined it.
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This review may contain spoilers
Tears.. Lots and Lots of Tears
So much crying. To be fair when I was first watching the trailer for this drama I wasn't sure if I had just zoned out and misunderstood what I was listening to but I thought that this drama was different from what it actually ended up being and because of that I was incredibly confused watching the first episode.The drama is pretty good. You grow attached to a lot of the characters even the ones that I was unsure if they were even gonna show up for more than one episode. I liked watching the story play out and seeing how it takes a toll on each character emotionally and mentally. Although a lot of the reactions are not necessarily unexpected it is still nice to see it play out and share that experience with the characters. One of the characters that I was not expecting to actually feel bad for was the step mom. One of the moments where I realized that I genuinely felt for the character was near the end where she finds out that Cha Yu Ri was actually alive and you could tell that she was feeling bad for what she would only describe as taking her husband and child from her. However no one else saw it this way because they know, as well as the viewer, that thats not how it played out at all. So as all the characters are apologizing to her because they feel bad for not telling her the truth before but also because they understand what she might be feeling given the information. I truly felt bad for the character in that situation.
I'm terrible at writing reviews so I don't have any nuanced closing statement so I will put in my one "gripe" with the show which is arguably not really all that bad but is something I have to mention. There is a lot of crying in this show. Like I knew this show was gonna be sad, but wow I don't think I have ever experienced a drama where at every episode there was going to be a scene where one or more characters were going to be crying to their hearts content. It was to the point where I could imagine that they had to make sure these actors and actresses were properly hydrated considering the amount of tears that would be rolling down their faces at any given moment. I for one as a viewer am all for sad and emotional dramas. I consider myself an emotional person in the sense where I am more than happy to cry tears of joy or sadness while consuming media. I'm not one who does it often but when I do it means that whatever I was watching was pretty good and so it heavily skews the way I personally grade shows. That being said this was the first time that I felt that I couldn't even cry even if I wanted to because of just how exhausted I was from all the crying I had done watching this show. It also doesn't help that I was watching this show in the span of like 3-4 days, I feel like if I had watched this weekly maybe I would have felt differently. The show is really sad though and a lot of the scenes where characters are crying are justified and don't feel forced, its just that I don't think my body had it in me to cry anymore. This gripe I had with the show is hardly a criticism for the show and it was more just something I couldn't write a review without mentioning.
tldr: very sad, very enjoyable show but expect tears, like a lot, like get some water so you don't pass out from dehydration bc you cried so much a lot.
also my rewatch score is low mostly because I don't like re-watching shows
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This review may contain spoilers
This drama makes you rethink about your life. What have you done for the people around you and what have you done for yourself. It makes you evaluate whether you have been happy and whether your closest friends and family are happy because of you.Spoiler
It’s a really great drama with good acting. I’m not giving it a higher score because there’s one plot point that I really dislike, which is the fact that Seo-woo can see ghost and would continue on seeing ghost if Yu-Ri didn’t die again. I personally didn’t see a problem of her seeing ghost. I think she would be able to live a normal life once everyone around her is aware of the fact and could teach her how to differentiate them. So for me the incentive of needing to die is not strong enough.
End of spoiler
I really like the plot that Yu ri comeback to live 5 years later, instead of a shorter period. Here we could see the conflict of the living already moving on with their live and how they need to adjust to the fact that their beloved came back to live. It makes you wonder what would you do if you are in the same situation, as Yu Ri or her family and friends. Both have their own problem to deal with.
I think the pacing could be better. There’s to much build up on the first half that they rush through the ending. The ending feels lackluster compared to the beginning. It doesn’t have the sense of urgency, it just feels like a series of plot point needed to be stitched together to give an ending. I wish they give more time to develop the third act.
The casts are great. Especially Lee Kyu Hyung as the main male lead, he potrays Jo Gang Hwa, Yu Ri’s husband, so well. We could really feel the conflicting emotions and thoughts that run around in his head. I also really like Shin Dong Mi who played as Go Hyun Jung, Yu Ri’s best friend. She’s like the big sister to everyone, keeping her cool, but also conflicted. I’m not a big fan of Kim Tae Hee as Yu Ri, especially in the later half, because I think she didn’t convey enough of her resolve, she just look lost and crying all the time. She’s better in the first half I think, when she doesn’t have to play such heavy emotions.
The sound tracks are good, nothing stand out for me, but I really enjoy it and it brings more ambiance that fits the series. Good cinematography, not much of a scenery, but it fits the feel of the show.
I would rewatch this drama. It would always makes me rethink about my life and makes me reflect on what I have done along the years.
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