Reviews

Rewatching this in 2023 (Relationship between Narumi and Mizuho)

i watched this back in my high school days and I don't think my opinion of it changed much but I got to understand it more now that I am in my late 20's and I must say that the writer of this show is a genius when it comes to psychology and complexity of people's emotions. The show rather explores the realism of human emotions. It isn't just a light romance nor a mystery drama.

Something about Narumi Hikaru is different and quite misunderstood. His emotions cannot be read. and we only get an occasional glimpse of them that might make us wonder, but that is exactly why Narumi is such an interesting and unpredictable individual.

He grew up as a secluded individual, with a cruel mother who gave him no proper attention a mother should give a child and we can say that how he views women in the future is distorted by his mother. It is highly possible that Narumi's image of someone who sleeps around comes from the urge to kill the emptiness and loneliness he felt over the years which is why he needs a constant presence of a female figure. Another possible explanation is that what he does is some sort of a punishment, punishing other women for the crimes of his own mother.

However, what he has with Suga Mizuho seems different from other girls and no, this isn't a trope of a woman who's different than every other. On the contrary, our female protagonist isn't a special individual and the drama doesn't undervalue other women to show her distinction. Just like other students, she cannot resist Narumi but she yearns for him in other ways. She is not there for pleasure but Mizuho's main reason for not being able to stay away from such an individual is her wish to understand his pain and get closer to him by learning about his troubled past. Through Narumi, Mizuho also seeks to learn more about herself as Narumi is the only person that can make her act out of character causing her heart to waver.

At first, the show makes readers hopeful that it will follow the trope of a woman with an ability to change a man who falls in love with her and she changes his whole life, but that wouldn't be so real wouldn't it? But still , Mizuho has a much bigger impact on his life than we think. She replaces lust with careful physical touch, mostly spending time at his house to sleep next to him, eating warm meals with him or to keep him company so he doesn't feel lonely. Mizuho gives him a comfort of a friend rather than a lover and Narumi finds comfort in her gentle presence. She is not just a potential romantic partner but also a genuine friend.

A great way his slight change was portrayed in a contrast of his room which seemed dark and messy at first representing a turmoil in his mind, which later turns bright and clean during her presence when they cuddle on the floor in a deafening silence as he isn't alone anymore.

The series continues to give us hope in Narumi and his different view on Mizuho until one day, when he catches her looking at the tapes of his past. Mizuho's curiosity towards Narumi, coming from an urge to help him heal, brings an end to their growing relationship.

But the readers are made to misunderstand his reaction to Mizuho's discovery. First time watching, Narumi's reaction might seem toxic and terrifying but it actually comes from the fact that this image of a healthy and playful individual he portrayed is now smeared by truth of his past. Narumi doesn't hate Mizuho as he claims nor he would ever go that far to hurt her but he in fact, hates himself. Unable to bear the fact that she saw his vulnerable side he does what he does the best and pushes her away. What Narumi was saying were impulsive lies triggered by his inability to understand that the feelings Mizuho harbored towards him are not those of fear but pity she feels out of love towards him. As much as she couldn't read him, he also was unable to fully understand her feelings until the very last moment. I truly think that Mizuho holds a special part in Narumi's heart but he cannot reciprocate it like a healthy partner.

If you are watching this show, try to see it from a different perspective. It's main message might mean a lot more if you see it from a standpoint of growth. Mizuho, who is mostly calculative and cautious, a cold woman that doesn't open her heart to anyone and cares for no one grows to genuinely care about another person and finally gathers courage to confess her feelings to the one she loves despite her knowledge that he is not capable of love.

And our old Narumi wouldn't be as troubled as he was in the final scene but would say goodbye with a fake smile like he usually does. But this time, it was different. It is visible that her presence left something in him and at that moment he did not hide his tortured self in front of her as she held him tight in her arms.

At the end of the show, Narumi, who was always the one to walk away first now stood still while Mizuho turned away from him and we are left to guess what his gaze meant as it lingered on her walking away.

A fantastic execution of two troubled people leaving an important impact on each other that changed the trajectory of their life.

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Generic Hospital 2

It was probably one of the most generic medical dramas out there. Looking back at it, it was soulless and lacked a defining identity. They really cheaped out on the dynamic between some characters. More on the dynamics, every patient had some kind of a dynamic between them and one of the cast but some of these were off and just didn't translate well into the screen. I didn't like what they have done with the character Jung Ha Yoon and her storyline in general. Both Kim Do Hoon and Baek Hyun Woo were very lacking and limited in character. The final conflict and wrap up were quite underwhelming and unfavorable.

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Lukewarm Blood

The drama was based on cases but these cases quickly became quite repetitive after the first one. It was obvious they were reskinning the same thing over and over. Even the overarching story progressing in the background was going through something by echoing the same points. Rinse and repeat until the last few episodes where things started to actually change and progress again. The female lead Min Da Hae had the weakest presence on screen, barely a functional character, let alone a lead. Her romance was boring and annoying. Remove her and give Kim Jae Hee double the roles, at least she got more dynamic with other characters too. Some scenes and ideas were enjoyable but these were few and far between.

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Strong beginning, bad ending....

This show started strong in the first episode and the second gave a glimpse of what could be an outstanding show. But the writers missed it.
While Sea was really good acting a nearly blind person, he was not so great with the fluffy moments. Jimmy did grow in his acting but he could only do as much as he was given from the script.
The problem is the writing, the 180 turn from "enemies" to "lovers" was much too fast, the character development did just happen over night. Mhok should have much more struggle with his trauma and a spoiled brat does not turn 180° overnight also.
The side characters all did a good job
Production value and music was very good, but that does not help with the storytelling. The last two episodes are strange and the "happy ending" was too much. Day should have stayed blind, they should not have seperated in that way they did because Day was back to his spoiled brat days only thinking about himself.
The premise of the show was very good but they butchered it for "fan service" to make the show fluffy.
It's still enjoyable to watch when you don't expect exceptional story-telling.

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Redundant Love

The drama feels like it was made by someone who watched a lot of 2000s Korean drama and wanted to replicate a one just like it. It's a Korean drama but it always felt it was missing something. Anyway, the drama itself had an awful set up that stretched it thin even if this were to be a satire. The characterization of these characters wasn't appealing, you had no one to root for or like. The drama delved into love and sacrifice, but more often than not, it went all in on the melo, way too much. It ended up overshadowing any chance for a more subtle, nuanced take on the intricate web of human and familial relationships which is what the drama needed more than anything else. They tried to do that a little bit later on but it was too late anyway. The visuals were passable but they couldn't quite make up for the gaps in the story.

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A Labor of Love

Another labor of love. Sure, it has a ton of production issues. And the story is a bit lame, but the effort is still there. Its sincerity is real. There is surely nothing deep about this series and the acting is quite stilted and one dimensional. They are all in desperate need of acting coaches to create a greater range of emotions for all of them as they seem to be relying on their past experiences to get through this series. Perhaps I am overrating this series a bit. And admittedly I have a soft spot for productions who operate on a shoe-string budget as this one does. Parts of this series have some well written dialogue in them as well. But also admittedly, this schtick of theirs is wearing thin even for me. The production is simply awful. Editing, sound, and cinematography need a lot of work. And investment needs to be made in acting coaches for all of them to deepen their ranges. Sincerity and good story telling can go only so far; now you need greater technical skills. It might be better to save money for one big production with a good story and intensive acting classes and better production equipment and better-quality acting than all of these little productions that only highlight what is wrong and not what is right.

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Not That Cold of a Winter

It wouldn't have been an old drama if they didn't give us the ending as an introduction at the very beginning. The even took it a step further to narrate to us that this is how it ended exactly. It kinda took away from the show when the ending is spelled out to you this blatantly. Anyway, this is a less than average love story between the trio leads without anything interesting going on. I had a few ideas at different points were the story could've taken a better direction but none of that happened. The male lead Son Chang Min didn't do a good job playing this shy and innocent kid at the beginning. It was too weird and awkward. They wanted to show a big contrast to his transition later on but they could've done it in better ways. On the other hand, Jung Sung Mo did pretty well for his character, I even think it's better than most of his modern roles. Anyway, the drama as a whole felt super limited and they didn't do much with what they had.

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"Fashion", allegedly...

Whatever they did with that introduction with the military stuff and other nonsense was just bad and embarrassing. They could've cut to the adults without giving backstory and it would've been fine. Anyway, the story itself was very slow, everything was moving at a snail's pace. I wasn't a fan of the love story here, it was just a girl who fell in love with the first man she saw after spending 10-15 years in isolation on a men-less island. You may expect the usual empty shots and over-dramatic reactions from older dramas in this one, while they weren't necessarily bad but I've seen these elements done better from the same era in mid 2000s. I found the last few episodes to be an unnecessary big wild stretch. It was done that way because they had nothing prepared beforehand for the end.

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Weather and workaholics

I refuse to believe, that there are that many dedicated news reporters assigned to the weather who attend press briefings with the rapt attention and critical eye like it was a major political scandal. I don't know if this is a correct representation of how seriously Korea takes its weather, or if there was a lot of artistic license in how they portrayed it. It's mostly people looking at whirling bits of data on screens, and just not that interesting to watch.

I didn't mean to watch back to back dramas with Song Kang, he is not my favorite of the apple cheeked young actors currently making headlines, but he did bring some ???? during the romantic parts er....part. He has good shoulders. And I have no objection to how many times he would like to show those bare shoulders on screen.

It was hard to imagine the two of them together, even while watching them be together. The workplace dynamic was anxiety inducing, he's a poor pennyless guy that is homeless and Ha-Kyung offers him a place to live then tracks him down repeatedly and forces him to move in with her. She's also his boss at work who could fire him. At one point she calls him a kid and he angrily retorts that he's an adult and also her man, as he battles for respect.

They're both such workaholics that there is not a lot to them beyond some childhood trauma and the weather. He does have a lot of positive energy, he's thoughtful and helpful. But she is just her job, she's on call and even when she's not she's always thinking about the weather.

There are several discussions where she talks about how she's drawn boundaries between her work and personal life, which is just not true. she's much more severe and petty towards Si-Woo than anybody else. Which just because she's hiding her affection by being horrible to him doesn't make it a better boundary.

I know South Korea is dealing with low birth rates, and I don't feel like this series really helped that cause. For woman who did have children it was mentioned several times that having kids and taking maternity leave ended promising careers. One woman tells the female lead that she should not get married and have kids. Another debates getting an abortion because she doesn't think they can afford to raise one. While her partner fretfully looks up baby related costs to see if he can budget it in.

It was interesting to see Ha-Kyung's ex-fiance and his new wife have to deal with the repercussions and aftermath of some of their decisions. And how both main leads really learned a lot about themselves through the process of being cheated on, and what their exes found lacking in their relationships both with them and with their new partners.

I didn't connect with this drama and it makes it seem like being a forecaster is one of the worst jobs to have, which isn't that fun to watch for 16 episodes.

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Pearl Dragon On Top!!!

Honestly Pearl Dragon is a pretty old drama which was in 2012 but I honestly recommend it because at first I was hesitant of watching this but then I realized this drama is absolutely BOMB!, like it's a must watch even though it doesn't sound good I definitely love this drama I always watch it and I 've re-watched this like a thousand times, even though this drama is pretty old since it was made like a decade ago but even if it's old it doesn't mean it sucks, I'm so surprised that I didn't find this earlier but I hope yall can watch this because yall are missing out. Song Yang and Yang Jing Ru are soooooo good looking in the drama, I hope yall watch this because you guys are missing out on the fun

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An underrated gem. It's a well-written story with lovable characters.

38-year-old married couple raising a toddler were considering a divorce because they are burdened by years of their weary marriage life. But one day, Ban Do (So Ho Jun) and Jin Joo (Jang Nara) wake up to find themselves in their 20-year-old selves, the time just before they meet, with the memories of their 38-year-old. They can choose new love, but if they do their beloved son will never exist, except in their memories

A fun and fresh second chance romance with a fun fantasy twist. Right off the bat this is a fresh, entertaining easy show to binge. The drama is really funny, but it also gets emotional in the right way. Because of their present memory when they go back to the past, it was interesting to see what they’re going to do to change or not to change their fates, and seeing them considering the consequences their decisions.

For me, Jin Joo is the best-written character among all. Jin Joo shows how lonely parenting can be without making fun of it. Her mannerisms bring a lot of depth to every scene. Her relationship with her mother is one of the most grounded representations of mom-daughter relationships.

I also enjoyed both second leads' romances for both Ban Do and Jin Joo, especially Jin Joo and Nam Gil (Jang Ki Yong) together is so swoony. Their scenes made me feel a bit nostalgic with the 2017 kdramas' camera shot style, where they show us all the angles. Second lead romances usually bring syndromes, but here, the ending for everyone is wonderful and hopeful. A very good show! It deserve a praise for the well-written characters and consistent story.

-Jan 2024, Yovita
Find me on Instagram: @kdramajudge

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Skip to episode 11

Story idea/concept (8)
The idea is not groundbreaking, but the shopping concept is interesting.

Script (5)
The writer for some unfathomable reason stretched out the setup over 10 episodes, and then had to hurriedly wrap up the show.

Directing (8)
Was ok
Pacing (7)
Was weakened by the script writers choices

Acting (8)
Male lead always has the same facial expressions in every show I’ve seen him in, with limited range, but the other actors carried the drama.

Wardrobe (8)
Was well done and ok overall.

Sets/Locations (8)
Typical of Kdramas, thank goodness the product placement was not irritating as they can sometimes be in Kdramas

Skip to episode 11, in my opinion that’s when the show finally finds direction. Everything that happens prior is rehashed in subsequent episodes anyway so you don’t really miss much, because the male lead is highly irritating in the early episodes.

Episodes 1 to 10 should have been covered in 3 episodes, episodes 11 to 16 should have been spread out to 13 episodes.

Rewatch Value (2)

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It was so Funny until it wasn't

Watching this after finishing 'Till the End of the Moon' to satisfy my curiosity because I noticed when Bai Lu does goofy/bubbly acts in that drama it's really funny and brings a smile to my face, so I thought to myself that "this girl.... this actress would probably be able to do well in a comedy-drama and would be able to pull off a funny role" which she did in here and surprisingly it's her first drama series too.

The story, for the most part, is really funny, and when I thought it would get stale over time or get repetitive, an unprecedented joke would come out of nowhere, catching me off guard and making me burst out laughing. This is something you're not supposed to take seriously because you'll never know what the characters or even just the background characters might do next, it's unpredictable, well... some jokes are predictable, but once in a while there's that one joke that would catch you off guard because there is no build-up. The body-swapping plot really disappointed me because it was just something that was used to create a story between the two, but it was never really taken any deeper. I'm watching, right? Body-swapping happened, then 10+ episodes in and it was like the writer forgot that that plot device existed in the story because it was hardly given any attention at all, The character just moved on with the lives of the body that they have and never even bother to figure out how to even get back to their original bodies... the characters were just like "we may or may not get back to our original bodies, who knows????" no shit of course, because you guys are not doing anything or trying to investigate things. Also, since they managed to pull some plot twist "oh gods existed in this world actually" thing, that could've been used to explain the body swapping thing, but then again it mostly ignored throughout the show. And what's up with the last 3 episodes??? Things were going well and they just had to stick the landing till the end, I was fine if you didn't bother explaining the intricacies of some other stuff, I can get behind that, but NO, NO, NO! it's like the Writer went to snort a line of coke and set everything on fire at the end. It feels like I was watching 'Till the End of the Moon' and 'W- Two Worlds' and some other dramas smashed into one (if you've stuck watching till the end, you'll know what I mean) and what I can't even believe is that the writer even managed to get everyone on board with it, the actors... I can understand because a job is a job, you'll take any role to survive in the industry.

Regarding the Characters, I give ML and FL props for acting out the opposite gender because it was actually convincing, but what disappointed me is that when the swapping happened they never really touched upon what's it like to be in an opposite gender's body, the difficulties of being man or women, those kinds of stuff, discovering the body parts, it's a minor thing, but it would've been cool if they've touched upon it more instead of just brushing it off. I was wondering why ML got the most character exploration and FL was just like "I'm an orphan and a chef... that's it" without knowing they were actually saving up FL's convoluting back story at the last 3 episodes and by that time I was fine if they didn't bother with it since the romance was already going well. The side characters are good, each of them played their roles very well and some of them are really funny as well. Them adding the cousin into the mix was a waste for me, i think the story and dynamic of the characters would've been fine without her, I think they just needed something to make FL turn to ML instead of 2nd ML, but the writer could've used 2nd FL as well, ugh!! Never mind, let's move on... ML and FL's dynamic is actually good, but I've never really felt their chemistry that much, not until they started developing feelings for each other, even then it was not tickling my heart, maybe it's just me, I don't know.

I don't even know why was I even surprised by how this drama turned out to be at the end when it already gave a hint just from the poster alone, but still, it satisfied my curiosity that Bai Lu CAN actually pull off a funny role in a comedy-drama. The short skits at the End of every episode are 10x funnier and way better romance than the actual drama itself.

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Glamorous cast, crazy stunts, $$$ production

It feels like a collection of famous actors visiting because there are 12 reincarnations. "Let's see how many famous people we can have for this drama." Just for the actors' appeal it's a must watch. Every single actor can act! Then there are the visuals/crazy stunts/production quality all top notch. Impressive for sure!

I can't say the story has much depth as it revolves around the concept of "suicide is condemned therefore you have sinned."
That's how Korean Dramas are these days, pretty on the outside touching only the surface of society issues.

Just watch it for the actors and the stunts. It's entertaining overall.

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