This review may contain spoilers
W. W w w… This is the hardest drama to rate yet. Why? Because I have such mixed feelings on this show. Even though it had a ‘happy ending’ why did it leave such a bitter taste in my mouth? Was it the rushed ending? The fact that the characters have the ability to draw ANYTHING on that tablet and use it only to draw cars and medicine??? They could have literally got themselves out of any situation, why is everyone so dumb. But let’s start at the beginning shall we?This show started off really strong. What this show does well is that every episode, it leaves you on your toes. It is an undeniable fact that the story is intriguing. The plot line in itself is so fascinating and original. The idea of a parallel world that was effectively ‘fan-made’ but then the characters come to life? The characters disobey its creator and become their own person? And a real life person enters the cartoon and becomes part of the plot. The story was so interesting and I loved that so much was happening. But that was also the problem, I found that I was constantly stressed. I couldn’t enjoy it because everyone is constantly in danger. So much is always going on.
And of course I have to talk about the main couple. Once again, so many mixed feelings. I mean obviously I shipped them, but I was left feeling constantly unsatisfied. Through all the drama, they barely got to do anything as a couple. Then that rushed happy ending. That’s why it was a letdown for me.
All in all, it was hard to rate this show. I wanted to give it a high score considering the storyline was so good and intriguing all the way through. But I also wanted to rate it poorly since I couldn’t enjoy this drama, it was such a mess and caused me too much anxiety. And it left me with a rushed ending. I wanted to go somewhere between 7.5 and 8, because it doesn’t deserve such a high score of 8, but 7.5 doesn’t highlight its brilliance and originality. But if I had to choose between the two, I suppose a 7.5. Simply because I can’t look back on this drama with a positive view. I wouldn’t recommend it, it was painful and stressful and didn’t provide enough payoff at the end. It fails to repay the audience for the angst and pain they just suffered, there is too much negative with not enough positive. This drama just leaves me with contempt.
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It is definitely a drama to watch!
It's been about two years since I've watched this drama. I've just finished watching While you were sleeping and as i was looking at the actor i was reminded of the drama W. So i decided to watch it again.It was the first k-drama that I had watched and it still gives me the spark than it did two years ago.
I think the storyline is amazing. The way they travel from the real life to the cartoon life facing obstacles was fascinating and the relationship between the male and female lead is great.
Some scenes made me laugh and some made me cry and this changes in emotions through the drama really portrays how good the acting was. It has drama, action, romance as well as heartbreak.
So, I hope this will help you before you decide to watch the drama
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A drama where the story looks like a puzzle!
W is one of my favorites dramas ever! I love how the story starts rolling and you don't understand anything but has you watch more you start putting the pieces together and everything makes sense! I think the idea of a different world inside a Webtoon is pretty interesting!I think the music was amazing, it perfectly fitted in the situations and the songs were just beautiful.
The actors weren't just amazing but also very handsome. I loved the confused face of the bodyguard!
With this drama I got to know Webtoons, that are actually amazing!
Another thing I loved about this was the fact that it was full of plot twists that made me say "Really???!!!!".
It mixes romance with mystery, suspense, drama and comedy which ended up being an amazing mix.
The series has a lot of feeling that made me cry sometimes and then laugh, or say "Awww" because of the romance and in the next second scream at the characters because they've made the wrong decision.
One thing that I didn't like much in this drama was the amount of flashbacks from previous episodes, which sometimes made the drama a little tiring and I had to skip the flashbacks.
I liked the ending, it ended just like I wanted, but I think it could have showed what happened in the world inside the comics.
I have to give credit to the writer of the drama because all these puzzles and plot twists must have been hard to think of, so he must have a big IQ.
I would recommend this (and I did) but I advertise everyone to to pay attention while watching it so that they won't get confused in the end.
I would rewatch the series if I could do it with a friend, so that I could explain them the things and it would be funny to see their reactions.
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Beyond the fantasy drama
Definitely one of the best dramas I've seen in a while."W Two Worlds" is a thrilling, well acted and visually glamorous k-drama that's a homage to old film-noirs and detective stories. Filled with classic heroes and villains, cliffhangers, blazing guns and screeching tires. The slow-paced, old fashioned romance added to this nostalgic feel as did the mysterious music score.The story is very interesting, although the scenes keep jumping from real world to webtoon world and vice versa, it is not confusing at all and both leads' acting are impressive. The actor who plays the cartoonist is outstanding too.Was this review helpful to you?
Swept me Into a different world.
So excited to write this review since the storyline was very creative and well thought out as nothing was boring, and the story was getting more intriguing in each episode. Not mention the two beautiful actors Oh Yeon Choo and Lee Jong Suk who looked killer in their looks and acting which was simply phenomenal. It’s funny because I am not a fan of those supernatural, comic type dramas but this really changed my views so If you are a person who is like that too this a must-watch because your bound to change your opinion. For me, in a drama, it has to keep me hanging, give me the feels and the romance has to be meaningful, not cheesy, and this drama catered all that. So should you watch it....... a big yes!Was this review helpful to you?
As I was watching this Drama for the 4th time, I decided to write something. I know this will be one of the many that have been written for this one but still can't curb the urge to let out my frustration for this show. The first three times I didn’t feel this urge as was only being satisfied with the show(and also too engrossed in the plot to notice). But this time something irritated the crap out of me(Guess I grew up and my taste changed). So, I am just going to rant about the romance.
Why do you write a suspense thriller this amazing and ruin it with a sloppy romance?
First of all, the story about reality and fiction bleeding into each other is interesting. The plot was quite gripping and entertaining(almost good job Ms.Writer). Had it not made the heroine so one-dimensionally love crazy, it wouldn’t have distracted me with perpetual frustration time-to-time. The mystery plot of the show is very riveting. That’s why for the first three times I didn’t notice the flaws.
The hero in this is indeed a man with many adjectives, he is nice, kind and caring, smart, intelligent, observant, conflicted, strong-willed(the cliché hero type) but sometimes also a jerk and indifferent one to the heroine's feelings(which she only had one; endlessly irrational and idiotic love for the hero). I mean you can’t blame him completely ‘cause a bullet is always hovering over his head and he wanted to live, at least at first. So he had to take every step calculatively since he didn't have the luxury to love recklessly.
Unlike our hero, the heroine didn’t have a life besides loving the hero(honestly, I found it quite suffocating from the hero’s point of view). At times, I even wondered whether Kang Chul’s feelings towards Yeon Joo was actual romantic love or feelings of gratitude, guilt, duty, responsibility and the feeling of the only connection to the real world. It rather felt like, he was entertaining a twelve-year-old. Yeon Joo is still pubescent, living in her doll-house, trying to make her own Ken doll. She too had a hard life growing up with a rarely present father, which is, though incomparable to Kang Chul’s plight, yet difficult. But don’t worry, that didn’t stop her from remaining childishly immature. I see her caring and compassionate nature in trying to save Kang Chul but, you don’t have to be this unrealisticly desperate, girl! Never did she once expressed her disappointment and displease over Kang Chul’s indifferent, inconsiderate and sometimes downright questionable behaviour (even considering his situation), instead, she whines about petty stuff. Any normal person would’ve actually hated him for making their life into a ruin due to the involuntary involvement. Very little complain, just in the beginning and somewhere in the middle(still not enough) about continuously getting dragged into the Manwa( she was quite chipper about the fact). And some of her actions made me believe that obsession for a lover(even when he is from a Manwa) can undermine any other existing relationship. Every time she foolishly grinned while looking at Kang Chul or thinking about him, I wanted to shove a dose of reality-check down her throat. I have something to say to the writer, “Girl, why do you hate yourself and your fellow kind so much? You made Kang Chul so wise that even he said at a point in the drama, ‘How could there be only one reason for a character to exist?’. Preach! But you forgot to apply that wisdom to your own heroine.” After some time the romance started to feel overbearingly silly. And as you can tell from the rant that I couldn't move past these interruptions.
The father was cruel to be planning to dispose off Kang Chul but I can't blame him either(not everyone is delusional like his daughter), if ever your fictional creation takes on a life of its own and try to pull you into its world, wouldn’t you do the same? After all, we are not Alice and don’t wanna live in wonderland leaving behind our families, no matter how wonderlandy it was.
Phew…. Sorry for the long angsty rambling, the frustration needed some words.
The acting was uneven. As much as I adore Lee Jong SuK(dem lips doe) and his acting, but here he seemed a little robotic in some of the scenes. He is a wonderful actor with a large pallete of expressions on his face, and I love his crying scenes the best, he cries like a little boy(of course besides Jingoo and my BAE Kim Soo Yun). Still, a little inadequate here. Han Hyo Joo is a bundle of talent, in fact, one of my favourite actresses. I love her work. She gets under the skin of the character she plays. Maybe that’s the reason I hated her(character) in this drama. Their chemistry is the only saving grace of the romance. Kim Eui Sang was so convincing with both the shades of character; the worried father and the creepy antagonist. Lee Shi Eon is as always. He has a certain way of acting, which I don’t mind but gets slightly repetitive sometimes. The other actors are good too, especially, the lawyer, he is excellent as a villain.
Ahh…. The soundtrack, all the songs are alright except for one, which I am going to take to my grave. Basick INKII- Illusion, this song gives me the same hair-raising feels as Auditory Hallucination(which is also in my ‘list of songs I’ll take to my grave’). I have loved many songs but these two put me into a trance. I feel my insides are levitating.
Rewatch…. I have this tendency to repeat my favourite shows until they're ragged and then some. But this time it has put me off for good. I am not coming back into this rut again. The bads made me forget about the goods of the show.
So, that’s that.
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Finally a fantasy drama that doesn't forget about the "fantasy" part
Finally writing this after rewatching the show and I can say it's just as good as I remembered. W stands out to me because it's probably the only fantasy/romance drama that actually develops the plot in a satisfying way, since most of the time the fantasy element only works as a set up or to make the romance a little more interesting, but it's not properly explored. So, as a fantasy fan, I was delighted, but not without some criticism.The plot is very original and quite gripping. Who hasn't thought of entering the world of a beloved book or movie, being able to interact with their favorite characters? But I like that in this drama, this encounter is portrayed not as just fun and games, but the fl also gets into a lot of trouble because of it. The writers do a good job in building the suspense, making you anticipate every episode. There's also some good action scenes and the worldbuilding is pretty great, although there's a point where things get a bit messy. They start to create so many rules regarding the manhwa and how the other world works it feels like they are taking things out of a hat. There's also some minor plotholes, however they didn't bother me that much.
Even though I really enjoy the plot of this drama, I have to say the romance was kinda meh. Since they spend so much time developing the fantastic story, the romance is left aside and it's honestly hard to believe the two leads would love each other so much, specially Kang Cheol, when they had almost no proper establishment of their romantic feelings. The leads also lack chemistry in some scenes because the acting on both parts is simply unconvincing and comes across as very artificial. I love Lee Jong Suk but damn, it almost felt like he was being held at gunpoint in certain fluffy parts.
Outside of that, Lee Jong Suk has a very consistant acting. At first I was a bit bothered that his character seemed so perfect, but in the context of the drama that makes perfect sense, considering he was a fictional character created to be that way. I was actually quite pleased that Kang Cheol showed his intelligence many times, cause in some dramas the ml is only said to be smart but never shows us that. His arc is interesting, a simple fictional character that develops a will and conscience and tries to break free from his pre-determined fate. Yeon Joo on the other hand is very annoying. It enrages me this habit that Kdrama writers have of making the fl always inferior, even if they have a prestigious job they're not actually good at it, just like with Yeon Joo. She's a doctor but she's not really that good of a doctor, like c'mon! She doesn't need to be a genius, but being as dumb as she is she would've never graduated med school in the first place. The way she just stares like a gawking fish in most situations is pathetic.
Sung Moo, though, really deserves some attention. He had the best arc by far, and the actor who played him did a fantastic job in conveying every emotion, I think he even stole the show from the protagonists at some points. The soundtrack is nothing special, though.
All things considered, I think every fantasy lover and people who prefer a more plot-focused story will like W, just don't go into this expecting an unforgettable love story or anything of the sort.
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A gripping watch and good bland of romance and thriller
It a drama that keeps the viewers on their toes. The twists are really hard to predict. The chemistry between the leads is amazing. And Lee jong suk is a charming male lead with a traumatic past. Even in very serious situation they managed to get some humor in the drama. I personally liked the couple so much I gives you the feeling of something left to be desired. The Father of Han hay joo did a amazing job playing both the positive and negative characters.The first episode may look a little slow but it's picks up after that and amazing till the end . So it worth of your time. It does seem a little confusing at times but it's fun trying to figure out what will happen
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Webtoon Travelling Gone Wrong
I think this had a great premise and it started pretty strong. The drama roped me in pretty fast but then made me lose interest just as fast as well. I finished it out of curiosity about how everything was going to be tied together, but it didn’t clear up my questions and what I saw was wrong. I first watched this when it was aired, so I may not recollect the exact events of the drama. However, my feelings about the drama are still applicable.STORY (spoiler in 3rd paragraph)
As we know, this story is about Oh Yeon Joo getting dragged into the webtoon where she meets the protagonist of the webtoon, Kang Cheol. They start to develop feelings for each other and soon realize that this webtoon hopping is a lot more dangerous than what they thought.
This drama was one of the first dramas that I have watched that is directly looped into it being a webtoon crossover. I was quite excited about the drama, but I was left quite disappointed. If you do not want spoilers for the plot, please don’t continue beyond this point of the “story” review.
First off, the romance was mediocre. The writers have to make it believable for me to feel like their love was intense. The writers of the story could have made the plot more intense. These are two characters from two completely different worlds. They are "enemies" without knowing. They have to sacrifice so much for one another after falling in love. Yet, Yeon Joo pointed out in one of the later episodes that they never got to do much as a couple even though they were married. And we find this true, why do they love each other so much? Why did they get married? Their so-called “romance” is just kind of weird/off. I would have been fine if it was just her one-sided crush on Kang Cheol (as her ideal character) and Kang Cheol relying on her for survival (as a character). I think that would have made more sense/I would have bought that.
The whole appearing and disappearing aspect do not make sense to me. Even when Kang Cheol seemed to have controlled it, he did not have control at the same time. When we thought that Yeon Joo had control over the webtoon world, she did not as well. It had a mind of its own, yet I don’t think that point was well put together. Or it could just be me not getting the message of how all of this came to be, like the two worlds never collided, but only the “author/killer” was the one who could jump in-between (apart from Kang Cheol and Yeon Joo), but without being a “character/human”. Then how the dad lost his face just because he drew himself as the killer. What was that about? Like what are the rules and the consequences of these two worlds? In the later episodes, the Webtoon world doesn’t stop running or stop at the end of the chapter. Instead, the story continues because the “killer” is “writing” it now? I’m just going to stop there because I’m just confusing myself even more. Someone please comment and explain to me!
What made the drama feel off was that I feel like it was trying to include too many genres into one but didn’t know how to blend it. It was a cute romantic comedy at the beginning of the show. Then it turned into a mystery suspense type of drama.
I wished that the writers could have focused more on the father-daughter relationship that the two had or expand more into it. They were disconnected for so many years and she lost him so fast afterward. Instead, they made him run all over for Kang Cheol and trying to save him.
ACTING/CAST/CHARACTERS (minor plot spoilers)
I have always enjoyed Han Hyo Joo’s acting, but Oh Yeon Joo’s character kind of annoyed me. It made me questioned Han Hyo Joo’s acting even though I have seen plenty of her other works and enjoyed them. Oh Yeon Joo was poorly written with no depth in her character. She is supposed to be a surgical intern, which I assume would be smart and hard-working. Half of the time, we see her sleeping and slacking off. She acts like an office intern that grabs coffee instead of doing other menial things in the hospital. She can come off as a clutz and is kind of slow. How Yeon Joo approaches issues and her decisions to tackle them feels like I am reading a fanfic novel from a teenager. The writers did not think her character through.
Lee Jong Suk has always been an okay actor to me. He has yet to impress me or disappoint me. I think Kang Cheol was a well-written character (a lot better than Yeon Joo). Kang Cheol’s background story in the webtoon was just as interesting as him finding out that he was a webtoon character and overcoming that obstacle. I think if they focused on that more and less of Kang Cheol and Yeon Joo, it would have been more interesting.
Honorable mentions to KIM EUI SUNG and LEE SI ON as they were support roles that drove the show!
MUSIC
I think the music was well coordinated with the scenes even though there weren’t many songs that stood out to me.
RE-WATCH VALUE
I wouldn’t re-watch during my free time. My sister watched this and didn’t enjoy it as well. It confused her and I don’t even know if she finished it.
OVERALL (plot spoilers)
I didn’t feel much with the drama. Not even with all the sacrifices that each character made. I was irritated with the whole rewriting aspect of it. It got old kind of fast like the writers couldn’t think of better methods for the characters to overcome things. If the first re-write didn’t work, the second one probably wouldn’t as well. And there were enough loopholes between the two worlds already. I’m surprised I never threw the towel early.
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I have already rewatched it for like three times and loved it each time. I personally think it should have a rating of 9 or above. A must watch drama for everyone.
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