alphajay9
This review may contain spoilers
The Importance of Challenging Moral Narratives Around Suicide
For those looking to start Tomorrow there are a few key points to bear in mind. Mainly, despite moments of lighthearted comedy for catharsis, this is a heavy show. It does (thankfully) have a happy ending but it will make you angry, frustrated, and cry at the awfulness of society and the harmful individual choices that people make.
While I think that the pacing in the first five episodes and episodes 9/10 is too slow, leading to a bit of a rushed ending, I'm willing to overlook it in my general rating because of all of the rare things that the show does right (only knocking off half a star)
My top positives:
1) Chemistry between ML and FL but no forced romances for side characters (both also had incredible acting)
2) Great Found Family Dynamics in the Risk Management Team (the main trio)
3) Promotes Understanding that one doesn't need a tragic backstory to empathize with those with suicidal ideations
4) A happy ending in a story about suicide prevention (it shouldn't be rare but it really is)
5) Good challenge to the "red string of fate" idea and the reality that it can be instrumentalized to make people stay in abusive relationships ('i.e. they're my fated one I have no choice')
6) Great soundtrack (opening credits)
7) Amazing fashion
My Top Negatives:
1) Rushed story arc for ML and FL that should have been spread out across a few episodes/better integrated earlier
2) Too many flashback montages for characters who only premiered in one episode, at times verging on trauma porn
3) Overdramatic acting by Rowoon's character that occasionally pulls one out of being immersed in the scene
4) Final villain needed to be integrated better throughout the story since their existence actually drives the overarching plot of the drama
Overall, I can totally understand if the show is not some people's cup of tea and can agree that magically 'solving' suicide/mental health crises , if it was the point of the show, (spoiler: it's not) is pretty simplistic.
However it is important to bear in mind that the entire premise of the show is that the main leads aren't really "people" but grim reapers who change the thoughts people have about themselves. Notably the Red Light doesn't mean people won't ever commit suicide again or fall back into old harmful patterns it just means they are not in immediate danger.
Rather than the aftermath, the show's focus is on what drives people to suicide and is a social commentary on stopping the prevalence of those things (the root causes) rather than outlining a proper mental health intervention. So it's more a show against bullying, structural debt, sexism, sexual harassment and assault, fatphobia, mistreatment of pregnant women, etc, than a show about how to "solve" trauma, insolvency, anorexia, and the psychological trauma of miscarriages (among other issues.) That, in and of itself, is incredibly subversive.
SPOILERS FOR FINALE BELOW:
This isn't a show about interventions and its not a show romanticizing suicide like 13 reasons why. Its a show about changing the prevalent negative moral narrative around suicide as 'something a weak person or sinner brings upon themselves,' because such narratives make it impossible to ask for help. This is something the show, for all its flaws with pacing around the character development of the main characters, does incredibly well.
It is super crucial that ultimately the person that Koo Ryeon has to save in the end is herself: it's her process of reconciling that all of the horrible things she said to herself (that she internalized) were not her fault and that she has nothing to make up for (isn't going to hell again). The fact that Joong Gil apologizes for making her think her suicidal ideations were selfish and acknowledges that he acted more to preserve his pride than to protect her is an incredibly subversive depictions of suicide in popular culture. I am also incredibly satisfied that Koo Ryeon and Joong Gil reconcile but they are not automatically "married" or lovers because of their past lives. While I think they have clear romantic tension, and are close by the end, they have to build their relationship from the ground up and neither she nor Joong Gil have to keep reliving their past lives for all eternity. If they enter into a relationship its because they CHOOSE each other, not because they had no alternative.
I am content with the ending of Ryung-Gu and Choi Jun-Woo (and how much their relationship has progressed) and like the hopeful ending that the RM team will be reunited in the Afterlife.
While I think that the pacing in the first five episodes and episodes 9/10 is too slow, leading to a bit of a rushed ending, I'm willing to overlook it in my general rating because of all of the rare things that the show does right (only knocking off half a star)
My top positives:
1) Chemistry between ML and FL but no forced romances for side characters (both also had incredible acting)
2) Great Found Family Dynamics in the Risk Management Team (the main trio)
3) Promotes Understanding that one doesn't need a tragic backstory to empathize with those with suicidal ideations
4) A happy ending in a story about suicide prevention (it shouldn't be rare but it really is)
5) Good challenge to the "red string of fate" idea and the reality that it can be instrumentalized to make people stay in abusive relationships ('i.e. they're my fated one I have no choice')
6) Great soundtrack (opening credits)
7) Amazing fashion
My Top Negatives:
1) Rushed story arc for ML and FL that should have been spread out across a few episodes/better integrated earlier
2) Too many flashback montages for characters who only premiered in one episode, at times verging on trauma porn
3) Overdramatic acting by Rowoon's character that occasionally pulls one out of being immersed in the scene
4) Final villain needed to be integrated better throughout the story since their existence actually drives the overarching plot of the drama
Overall, I can totally understand if the show is not some people's cup of tea and can agree that magically 'solving' suicide/mental health crises , if it was the point of the show, (spoiler: it's not) is pretty simplistic.
However it is important to bear in mind that the entire premise of the show is that the main leads aren't really "people" but grim reapers who change the thoughts people have about themselves. Notably the Red Light doesn't mean people won't ever commit suicide again or fall back into old harmful patterns it just means they are not in immediate danger.
Rather than the aftermath, the show's focus is on what drives people to suicide and is a social commentary on stopping the prevalence of those things (the root causes) rather than outlining a proper mental health intervention. So it's more a show against bullying, structural debt, sexism, sexual harassment and assault, fatphobia, mistreatment of pregnant women, etc, than a show about how to "solve" trauma, insolvency, anorexia, and the psychological trauma of miscarriages (among other issues.) That, in and of itself, is incredibly subversive.
SPOILERS FOR FINALE BELOW:
This isn't a show about interventions and its not a show romanticizing suicide like 13 reasons why. Its a show about changing the prevalent negative moral narrative around suicide as 'something a weak person or sinner brings upon themselves,' because such narratives make it impossible to ask for help. This is something the show, for all its flaws with pacing around the character development of the main characters, does incredibly well.
It is super crucial that ultimately the person that Koo Ryeon has to save in the end is herself: it's her process of reconciling that all of the horrible things she said to herself (that she internalized) were not her fault and that she has nothing to make up for (isn't going to hell again). The fact that Joong Gil apologizes for making her think her suicidal ideations were selfish and acknowledges that he acted more to preserve his pride than to protect her is an incredibly subversive depictions of suicide in popular culture. I am also incredibly satisfied that Koo Ryeon and Joong Gil reconcile but they are not automatically "married" or lovers because of their past lives. While I think they have clear romantic tension, and are close by the end, they have to build their relationship from the ground up and neither she nor Joong Gil have to keep reliving their past lives for all eternity. If they enter into a relationship its because they CHOOSE each other, not because they had no alternative.
I am content with the ending of Ryung-Gu and Choi Jun-Woo (and how much their relationship has progressed) and like the hopeful ending that the RM team will be reunited in the Afterlife.
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