Memories of the Alhambra (2018)

Unpredictable Plot with Script that Makes You Constantly Think & Analyse (Ending Explained)

I really love this drama as a whole. I love how groundbreaking and interesting it is that each episode seemed like its only 15 to 30 minutes long. I love how unpredictable it is like literally, you cant guess whats coming and I love how it is structured to make you speculate and ask questions. The editing was made to show the future first and later flashback scenes will follow aka Christopher Nolan’s ‘Momento’ kind of storytelling. You know that a story is great when it can evoke you all kind of emotions and this drama is exactly that. It made you care for the characters, only to play you around and makes you wanting for more. And I salute the writer for her ability to engage the viewers like she did in this drama.

Aside from that, I really love the writer’s little clues here and there. She did a looooot of foreshadowing in this drama. It sure raise a lot of questions but you know whats coming with that. I mean, we after all can predict Jeong Hun’s death the moment Jin Woo asked Jeong Hun to join him at Granada (as in the train flashback scene, Jin Woo is alone and not with Jeong Hun). We also know right away that Marco is the one who hunt Se Joo the moment he made his appearance in the drama (as a blue checkered guy is the one who shot Se Joo). We also know as early as in Episode 2 that Jin Woo’s leg will be injured but his limp is cured the moment he’s playing the game. The dynamic of Jin Woo and Hee Joo’s relationship is also foreshadow since in the earlier episode on how she’s sitting in front of Jin Woo in the rain is making him feel protected and safe. Hee Joo didnt kill the enemies like Jeong Hun would (since after all she cant see Hyeong Seok's NPC), but her presence and existence is like a buffer between Jin Woo and the game and that particular scene perfectly show what would her role be in Jin Woo’s life in the future.

Jin Woo has become one of my very fave Kdramas’ lead characters ever. And I have to give credit to Hyun Bin for that. He played Jin Woo in such a depth that you literally feel his pain just by looking in his eyes. I have watched Hyun Bin for the past 15 years and I have to say that this is simply his best role to date (although Hyun Bin's Robin from 'Hyde, Jekyll, Me' is my soulmate :P). Its been a really long time that I’m this emotionally invested in a character and Hyun Bin portrayal of Jin Woo made me feel Jin Woo’s soul. Aside from his outburst in Episode 1, Jin Woo is actually a really nice, humble and level-headed guy. Its evidenced with the way he talk to other people despite their status – he actually use a polite language (instead of Banmal) to everyone even to his low-level workers. And not to mention that despite his trouble with the game, he still treat people with utmost respect and care despite he himself is facing a real life and death situations.

Now regarding the romance part of the drama, I thought it was done very tastefully and slowly -- in a mature kind of way. You could see clearly why Hee Joo falls for Jin Woo. The mixture of Jin Woo kindness (still giving her the full amount of the contract), to him touching her soft spot (playing guitar), to him still taking care of his ex-wife (despite he didnt need to), to him facing real & death situation when he falls at her hostel, to her taking care of him and Jin Woo asking her to stay... And later when she realised the length Jin Woo went through to find Se Joo. All this small details contribute to why she loves him. And as for Jin Woo, its obvious that he falls for Hee Joo's kindness and strength. He was impressed with her ability to feed her family and was also taken back by her kindness (the length she is willing to go to help him either in interpreting to taking care of him when he's sick), to her quirkiness on how she explodes when she's mad. Plus, the most important of all is how her presence made him feels safe -- even when Hyeong Seok NPC is in front of him (during the rain scene). Hee Joo is like a buffer between the game and Jin Woo. He just unintentionally ask her to stay by his side since he is just too scared to be alone. He didnt understand it either but later, he realised that he likes her for her sincerity -- the one he never get from Su Jin or Yu Ra. And he actually smile and laugh when she is around him which he never did the whole 1 year after their last meeting at Granada when the game make him question his sanity. That is why he had the urge to see her before he completed the final mission since she is someone important in his life. IMO, the romance part was dealt with many minor details and mature way thats why I ended up really liking how their relationship grows despite the horrible situation they're in -- its not too much nor too little. When you are deal with real life and death situation, your feelings intensifies which explain their relationship perfectly.

All in all, I give the drama 9.5/10. It is not perfect but it was interesting as hell and full of unpredictable plots. I would love it more if the writer actually explain how the characters die because loss of blood when they were killed in the game but I guess she just lump sum it up as part of the 'fantasy and mysterious’ part of the game when Emma made the reality and game world collide when Marco stabbed Se Joo with real knife. But aside from these minor details, this drama has become one of the most nerve-wrecking Kdramas in my book. Its rare for me to have palpitation when I watch Kdramas but this drama is one of a rare case and it will always be special in my heart because of that. :D

~ SPOILER ~

Explanation on the Ending:

ITS OBVIOUSLY A HAPPY ENDING. WHY?

I know that many people are really dissatisfied with this drama’s ending. I personally thought the writer trying to be creative with her ending but kind of backfired as many people got confuse with the game concepts and thought that the bug cycle was repeating themselves over and over again now that Jin Woo is still stuck in the game.

On the surface, the drama ended with a bittersweet note with a glimmer of hope at the end. However, after a second viewing, I have to admit that it is after all a clear cut happy ending. I realised many small details that the writer gave to us – that it was clear that despite the ending is ambiguous, the writer aimed for a happy end to both of our main leads. First of all, lets clear the confusion regarding the concept of the game world.

1. At first, I thought that Emma, while one of her features is to delete bugs, is a bug itself as she’s the reason why the game world and the reality world collide when Marco stabbed Se Joo with real knife. I mean, if she’s not there, the whole mess of the game become real wouldn’t happen as Se Joo will just bleed after the stab and probably recover after he go to the hospital. Jin Woo wouldn’t be in that mess and the only one suffers is only Se Joo with the stab wounds on his stomach.

2. Marco is Se Joo’s bug thus he do not need to be deleted for Jin Woo to reset the game. Plus, Jin Woo can't see Marco anyway unless he made an alliance with Se Joo. Bear in mind that Se Joo is the one who create this game and he set the rules. Among the rules are those who gave Fatima the Key to Heaven will win the game and become the new Master. And he also put one of Emma’ s features is to delete bugs and once bugs are deleted, the game will reset. And that is exactly what Jin Woo did; level up, get the key, kill the bugs and hand over the key to Emma and Emma reset the game. Now, why Jin Woo is a bug and need to be deleted? It is because he played the game while the game is in error state. Had other testers of the game made a duel and killed their opponents like Jin Woo, they will be in the same position as Jin Woo as well.

3. Jin Woo made sure he killed all of the bugs and also sacrificing himself in the process to end the game’s sinister elements. Since he already do this and reset the game to zero, there are no more evil cycle of one has to sacrifice themselves to save the others. Once Emma reset everything, it is a new game without bugs/errors/glitches. J One lost all the data and build the game back from scratch that is why it took them another 1 year to release the new game as they have to rebuild everything. The good thing about the whole thing is that is game is finally safe to be played unlike Se Joo’s original game which mix game world and the real world. The writer made it clear that the evil part of the game was buried once and for all when Jin Woo sacrificing himself at the end.

4. It was obvious that Yang Ju finally delete Emma from the new game when we hear that he regretted of keeping Emma where Emma in the end reset the whole game and delete all their hard work for the past 1 year. So no Emma, no more error in the game. There is no more Emma so the features of her to delete bugs and reset back the game is no longer there as well.

5. Regarding whether Hee Joo can see Jin Woo or not, she can see him as she is wearing lenses. All game users can see Jin Woo if he made an appearance that is why the guy at the restaurant insisted that Jin Woo is not NPC but an advanced user. But why there's no name for Jin Woo in the new game? It is because Emma has deleted everything including Jin Woo's game name 'Zinu' that is why he is without name. ‘Instance Dungeon’ is to make one become invisible from the enemies and hide themselves. Se Joo did hide himself for 1 year as Marco is there to hunt him so he keep using the instance dungeon feature to remain safe. Jin Woo in the other hand just use the feature to save himself from getting deleted by Emma. So if he didn't use the instant dungeon feature, other game users can see him. The problem is getting him out of the game and I believe that is Se Joo's task to do that.

And now the for ending, the writer purposely tell us about the 'Instance Dungeon’ and how a user can use it to hide themselves. And later at the end, it is shown that Jin Woo after all did use that feature to save himself. But why is he helping in killing low-level NPCs for other game users just days after the game was released? It is not actually a 'Master’ task to do that and he knew the game is now free from bugs and no one is getting killed for real. But he did it anyway. Why? He did that as a call of help to alert everyone that he is after all still alive but somehow still stuck in the game. He clearly let them know that he is still alive by helping the other game users. Now that Hee Joo knew that he is alive and hidden, it is only a matter of time for him to be saved just like how he saved Se Joo the year earlier. So, technically, it is only a matter of time before he can get his happy ending.

I am pretty much disappointed with the ending but upon second viewing, it wasn’t really that bad like I initially felt. The writer for surely aimed for a happy end, it just that, its not in-your-face type of ending like other dramas.

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I started watching it by accident and absolutely loved it. The concept is intriguing. Gamers will find it riveting but non gamers will be awe struck. The visuals were beautiful and animations extremely realistic and convincing. Everybody would go bananas if a game like that would hit the market. For sure! Very interesting to see the interactions of a different culture that I have not been exposed to. I found it absolutely exquisite and intriguing. I had quite a crush on Yoo Jin-woo for a couple of weeks!
The constant replaying of the previous scenes were at times necessary but mostly unnecessary in my view. I skipped them quite often which is something I dont like doing as the series is so beautiful ,that I am scared I will miss a scene and I would like to watch each series without intervention to appreciate it optimally.
I enjoyed Ko Yoo-ra's antics especially in the end when it was said that she only marries rich guys. It was SO funny!
The main characters are very attractive and they play their roles very convincing. The end was a bit disappointing but I understand that a second series is probably planned. I will definitely be watching season two. Cant wait!

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As a fan of Park Shin Hye and Hyun Bin's work on Secret Garden, I came into Memories of the Alhambra with a lot of optimism, enthusiasm, and excitement for the show. The show's premise was very new and exciting, as the show started, with the story line of a man trying to find the genius inventor of an artificial reality world. The concept was interesting for two reasons. One, this vision of the world being changed through the emerging technological advances of AR is more realistic than fictional, especially when one considers the huge explosion of Pokemon GO! and it's use of AR technology in making fictional creatures real. Two, this concept of having a show revolve around AR isn't commonly used in the tropes of Korean Drama. From my knowledge, only W (which was created by the same screenwriter) had anything close to this concept. The concept of AR created the basis of interest for this show.

However, as the series went on, the story line started to experience a drag in story and, at times, character. One key instance of the story dragging was the show's annoying use of flashbacks. At one point of the series, an entire episode was a flashback with the focus on Hyun Bin's character and the reappearance of Chanyeol's character. Park Shin Hye's character (and, in retrospect, a majority of the female characters) were ultimately useless by the time the show ended. Their characters were so stereotypical and narrow-minded that it made the show unbearable to watch at time.

The one thing that destroyed this series was the lack of story and explanation. For example, Se-Joo's (played by Chanyeol) return to reality leaves a lot of questions that are never answered in the finale. Se-Joo, during his escape from the Ghost of Marco, somehow encases his physical self into a different dimension. An 18 year old kid, who invented an advanced AR Game, somehow broke the laws of physics and was able to hide himself into a different reality. Ultimately, the nail in the coffin for Memories is the finale. Hyun Bin's character disappears and, after hearing of his appearance during simulated fights, Park Shin Hye's character ultimately finds him, or rather, his silhouette, a silhouette that is in the shadows and flickers like a glitch. This open ending in the fate of Jin Woo was insulting. To close off a show, in this type of manner, made the viewer's 16 hours of dedication to the show a waste.

While these are one of the many reasons to why the show was a story-line disaster, the show had some bright notes. One, as stated previously, was Hyun Bin's superb acting. Being able to act as though you're sanity is on the brink of collapse and being able to draw empathy from the audience is a trait that is only available through hard work. Hyun Bin's superb acting, alongside Park Shin-Hye's likeable acting, made this show bearable to watch.

While Hyun Bin and Park Shin-Hye brought interest to the show due to their star power, their brilliant acting is not enough to save Memories of the Alhambra from being a slight disappointment. The lack of storytelling and explanation ultimately destroy what was once a promising show into a show that ends with the slap of disappointment.

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This show is so trippy I totally got hooked by the very first episode. And even though it starts out becoming entertaining because of the mystery aspect, there's a lot of depth to the story which I loved. It's the story of trying to overcome your trauma and for once the characters act like people who have suffered trauma. Both physical and emotional. Hyun Bin plays Yoo Jin Woo a tech hotshot with two broken marriages, who is rude and overbearing. Through chance he gets involved in the life of a hostel owner in Granada played by Park Shin Hye who happens to be the older sister of a genius game designer played by Chanyeol. To give out anything about the plot would be a spoiler tbh so I'll just talk about the other details and things that I liked. First off great acting by all the cast. The cast was picked well even the supporting cast you fell in love with. The shots are beautiful and the script is good for the most part. The concept is unique and the execution is not bad. The only thing that felt somewhat anticlimactic was the ending. But Hyun Bin is so handsome and just gorgeous! I could have watched a hundred more episodes. Especially that one episode where he's completely desperate and goes to his office to start the server and encounters the real side of his boss who once kicked his own son out for monetary gain. That scene the way it was shot, just heartbreaking to watch. And then all the sadness regarding the constant struggle between the friends only because of that one awful person. And especially jinwoos secretary, he was my favorite character! Even when he started playing and their banter, and Hyun Bin says "do you like me" lol and he responded with "I have a gf" I was laughing and crying! So it's the kind of show you really get emotionally invested it. That end if it was second season bait I'm fine with that but on it's own I think a proper conclusion would have suited this one more. But hey that's just personal preference and it didn't change my actual viewing pleasure of the show at all. I wish Chanyeol had a proper role considering he's a good actor! Regardless, I was not disappointed with the show at all and in fact would have happily watched more episodes. Another thing I want to mention is I love the subtleness of the love story. It didn't feel forced because the characters started to feel love when they actually developed a rapport and as a viewer you don't feel cheated because it feels natural. Also, the love story is not too fluffy which I think is perfect for someone like me to enjoy. The mystery part is more prominent. And it's a good mystery, really well done. Overall, a unique dark drama but darkness wise it wasn't as dark as The Smile Has Left Your Eyes or Children or Voice or Save Me. It was mild comparatively.

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I'll put this out there - this drama had SO much potential.

I started off on this one a little skeptical, because fantasy elements in Korean dramas always tend to be a little corny. I held that skepticism until about midway into the first episode, when the plot started to reveal itself, and things actually started to get really interesting.

While the genre of VR gaming has already been vastly explored, this was probably the first high production AR drama to hit the scene. Augmented Reality (AR), for those who are unfamiliar, is a technology which shows computer generated images projected into the real world. Think Pokemon GO. As you can imagine, this sets up some rather amusing scenarios where a person swings around randomly and everyone else gives you weird looks as they can't see what you're seeing. This drama starts off as just that - a rather light hearted take on VR, which not only tries to be funny, but looks silly in the process. As a result, I could not take the first episode seriously and almost dropped it as soon as I began, but things take a turn for the serious rather quickly.

And this is where the problems started arising. The drama, while it made some very interesting plot twists and smart little ideas, seemed like it had no direction. The plot twists, and smart ideas almost felt like the end goal of the writer, only put in there to entertain for the shock factor, just for the sake of it. There was no balance of light-heartedness and seriousness. This then gave rise to a bevy of problems including some major plot holes, pacing issues, and lack of character development - not to mention some ridiculous technologically impossible feats.

All in all, the plot started out a little silly, got really interesting, and ended up really silly because they couldn't fix their mess.

Don't want to talk too much about the other topics really - the actors are top grade, and the musical variety, while small, did the job. The production quality/value was superb - the fact that this was partly shot in Granada speaks volumes.

It's just a shame the plot completely lost itself. If it weren't for the rest of the factors, this would definitely have gotten a much lower score in my books.

I would say that if you like the genre to definitely give it a try as it still invokes interesting thoughts, but all in all it was a little disappointing.

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This reminds me of W or of Korean Odyssey where they all had so much POTENTIAL and it was just so interesting. And then IT JUST WASN'T.

I'll list a few good things to start: Hyun Bin (superb actor), beautiful sets (Spain is beautiful!) and the intrigue of the AR gaming world and the potential dangers of it, the thrill and suspense of how Jin Woo tries to work out what's going on...

Now the not so good:
I like Park Shin Hye as an actress... so I blame weak writing. Her character, Hee Ju just CRIED so damn much, so weak, and such a NOTHING character. And then the romance was contrived and fake and did not work at all in this story line. I literally came from nowhere and the kisses were like 'why? why right NOW?? There are people coming to kill you omg!" So many plot holes, where things just didn't make sense.

I wasn't moved to tears when I should have been because I didn't KNOW the characters, there was literally zero character development and I didn't feel like I could relate to anyone. And I think any story/piece of fiction needs to strike a chord or tug at the heart strings, or make the reader recognise or relate to the situations or the characters... but this misses it entirely! I felt like I didn't know any character, or understand their motivations or how they felt or ANYTHING.

I don't mind a sad ending, but this just wasn't worth it for this ending.

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Where to start? We were really so excited to see this. We have been gaming for more than ten years, I, for one, love Spain (I have a gihugic painting in the living room of Sevilla that I spent a year painting) and as I had literally just finished watching Crash Landing on You, I was even more stoked to see what the talented actor Hyun Bin could do. There also have been reviews that were interested in a gamer’s take on it. I went in relaxed, hyped by the positive reviews, and with an open mind.
I really did.
OMG.
First off, I’m going to nerd out, zero shame. I don’t think a gamer was involved in the writing of this at all, other than the occasional verbiage they toss out. If there was, I’m pretty sure he or she is a troll, or had such a bad experience PVPing right when they began that they ragequit. There are so many things that are just not happening in the gaming world. Simple things. Like for instance, when you just start a game, the first NPC you fight isn’t going to take 50+ times to kill. I don’t care how much of a noob you are. Even the most complex game gives you breathing room to adjust to the controls and idiosyncrasies before it really starts challenging you. Yes it takes more to level endgame than it does in the beginning- BUT you don’t get XP by killing low level NPCs unless you’re low level too. It just doesn’t work that way in ANY game I know. The scene where he drives by in a car and guns down the NPCs the newbies are fighting with in the starting zone? Yeah, I don’t know if even trolls bother to do that. It’s just beyond obnoxious. Now I could see if he was legit concerned about the noobs and trying to keep them safe, but it didn’t present that way and certainly wasn’t in his personality to do so.
That brings me to the show’s personality archetypes. There are only two people in this entire show- the secretary, and the little sister that we nicknamed “Total -harm” (i think her shirt actually said totally charming but it was partially covered in a way that made it adorably apt)- that aren’t either utterly unlikeable or completely frustrating.
I don’t even think the leads in this could truly engage with their characters because, while I could tell they were trying, so much of it felt stilted and one dimensional.
The ML is pretty much a Trump-type stuffed into a supermodel’s body, which to me is just the devil incarnate- if the devil weren’t even remotely intriguing and was just off putting instead. I told myself, however, that no matter how much I might want to punch the ML at first, Kdramas have a tendency to give the guy layers (Secretary Kim etc) and let you see past the surface to the decent person underneath. But…. halfway through, and I was still wanting to punch him. Two episodes from the end, and I am stymied with the feeling that if he hadn’t been stuck in circumstances entirely beyond his control and didn’t need her to soothe his wounded ego, he would still be same a$$**** that yelled at her so viciously in the beginning. And that scene… where he just unloads on her, gets the phone call where he finds out she’s intrinsic to his business goals, and then turns around with that smile on his face? I got totally creeped out. ( I’m going to need a Hyun Bin palate cleanser after this. I don’t want to hate him) The FL, adorable as she is, spent most of the time crying and being helpless. (UGH, put your big girl panties on and kick some gaming ass, why don’t you?? It’s your BROTHER) I’m sorry but if a game- or anything else- ate my sister, whatever-it-was would be in for an entire world of hurt.
And really, this was a Netflix original? Did there need to be SO MUCH product placement?
We desperately stuck with it however. The guy that I watched this with was determined to stick with it too, because he felt he deserved an explanation for the bizarre twists the show kept throwing out. We just needed to know how it ended. We knew by then, even if it somehow managed to validate everything into something shiny and glowy and new, it still wouldn’t get back the fourteen hours of growing frustration and annoyance we had spent watching it. BUT WE DID. And….
Everyone is entitled to their own feelings and opinions. This is ours. If we want to signify something to each other that should have been good and disappointed us completely, we use this as a reference now. Just saying.

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If you are looking for something special, then this is the drama for you!
I'm that type of Drama trash that gets fed up easily with repetitive stories, romances, love triangels and the same poor woman/man meets rich man/woman. That's why I'm always out there searching for something new, something special, something I've never seen before and this was that kind of drama for me! I'm a gamer as well and the concept of an AR game like that made me drool.

I'm not a fan of the synopsis which is presented here though... If you are looking for romance, then this might not be the drama for you as it focuses more on action and fantasy/sci-fi. But I tell you... All the scenes regarding these genres were outstanding! I couldn't take my eyes of the TV. The effects were fantastic, the fights were epic and the locations and scenery was beautiful. If you are intrigued, give this drama a shot!

Story:
The story had me on the edge of my seat every episode while I binge watched it. That's all I needed to enjoy this drama to the maximum. The ending could've been a bit different but in my opinion it's not that bad. You could read in between lines as it is an open ending.

Acting/cast:
Hyun Bin was one of my first drama crushes to be honest... I might be a bit biased but I enjoyed his performance so much! He had a lot of difficult scenes in this one and he made me cry with him. Park shin-Hye did a good job as well :) Not her fault that she had to cry so much folks. She made it belivable and I cried with her.

Music:
I love 'Memories of alhambra' as my mother used to play it on guitar as well when I was little. Brought back memories haha. The way they combined it with the unpleasant event in the story got me goosebumps everytime it played. There was another prominent OST which I remember hearing a lot. it was soothing and fitting the atmosphere. Excuse me while I search for 'Memories of Alhambra' on YT.

Rewatch value:
OMG YES! There are way too many epic scenes, fights, effects, beautiful scenery and other things for me to not watch this at least 5 more times.

Overall:
I came for something extraordinary and that is exactly what I got :) The story had some 'holes' for some people but they also forgot that an AR game like that is not possible (yet) and therefore it made this whole drama fantasy/sci-fi genre. I didn't need a scientific explanation for everything as long as I enjoyed the whole thing. The ending left me thinking and I could easily imagine how things actually turned out. The ending is open and people saying it's bad is actually them wanting to see more from this drama, like scenes which should've happened afterwards. They happened in my head and in my heart though.

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I just wanted to write what I was thinking... Whoever's going to watch the drama, enjoy.. ^^

Cast, acting and game effects are really so good. You must see all of these perfection..
And here is my opinion 'all' about the drama.. I was watching the drama so fondly until the last few weeks. In fact there was an original story... But when the truth started to come out, I started to have disappointments. There are unanswered questions in my mind.. I couldn't like the facts that I met while I was waiting to see what was going to happen. It has to be the second season, or it should be given a special section.. -_-
..yes, I gave the drama 10 points, and that's just because the story is orginal and acting is really good... and I just wanted to write what I was thinking... that's it..^^
Whoever's going to watch the drama, enjoy..... ^^

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I should have known after my experience with "W" (written by the same person) not to get my hopes too high, and this drama started very strong, but by the end I felt extremely disappointed. I felt the same way about "W"... that this could have easily joined my list of favorite dramas, and there were so many elements to the story that I loved, but there were also too many things that could have been better. I can't say that I disliked "Memories of the Alhambra" but I can say that it didn't quite live up to the hype.

What I loved about the story is the main plot revolving around the augmented-reality videogame. It's hard to go to into it without giving away too much, but I loved the world they created, the unexpected twists in the story, and the mystery element that intrigued me to the very end. I also loved Hyun Bin! He was great as reluctant hero Yoo Jin Woo and always plays the charming jerk role so well. He is one of my favorites, and it was great to see him as a leading man again. Unfortunately, I can't say the same about the leading lady.

Park Shin Hye as Jung Hee Joo is probably the thing I hated most about this drama. I can blame the writer for making her character so pathetic, but I really think a better actress could have made the role work. Even though I have liked her in other roles, in the drama she seemed out of her league. She had zero chemistry with Hyun Bin in my opinion, and he really seemed to be trying much harder to make their romantic storyline work while she basically cried and looked slightly surprised most of the time. He had much better chemistry with his assistant than with her, he even had better chemistry with the little sister, and since romance becomes a major element in the story it definitely added to my disappointment.

The rest of the cast, in general, was good but there were times when the side character stories seemed more like filler, made the story drag, and didn't hold my interest. Some of it made sense and added to the story, like the scandalous love triangle between the two bffs, and the father played by the always brilliant Kim Eui Sung, but most of the side stories just didn't live up to the excitement of the game world. I didn't care at all about Jin Woo's second wife or Hee Joo's friend zoned guy pal. I would have much rather learned more about the development of the game. I liked the show much more in the earlier episodes when there was more focus on just the game world.

I was also impressed by how this drama looked visually. The Spain locations were great, and the virtual world elements looked impressive and believable. I liked the incorporation of the Spanish guitar too which made a beautiful melody so creepy, especially if it happens to be raining while you're watching.

The rest of the soundtrack was just ok in my opinion.

Would I watch this again? Probably. The game world alone was entertaining enough to watch again, although I would be tempted to skip through all of Park Shin Hye's scenes where she isn't the mysterious Emma. Since the story jumps around in time so much it may be interesting to watch again knowing what's actually going on.

I also have to give a shoutout to the genius product placement! There were the usual blatant moments, of course, but the way some brands were incorporated into the story was pretty brilliant.

I also understand why people were disappointed with the ending but I was more indifferent. Parts of the end actually made me tear up, and other parts made me roll my eyes. It seemed more like a set up for a sequel than a real ending anyway, but I think they did their best to give most of the characters some kind of closure, even if I didn't care about some of them.

Overall, this is a drama where there may be plot holes, lapses in logic, an overuse of narration, and a love story that lacks chemistry, but it makes up for it in originality and intrigue. I was excited every week to watch the latest episode all the way up until the end, which honestly felt like it came too soon. So I would still recommend this drama, even with its flaws. It's another ambitious story that may not have lived up to its full potential, but it definitely stands out among other dramas.

I really hope to see Hyun Bin as a leading man again soon, with a better leading lady. I also look forward to the next sci-fi drama by this writer, because it may not have been as good as it should have been but it was certainly extremely memorable...

*cue Spanish guitar and thunder* o.O

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This drama has so much potential. It has a unique concept and a great storyline. It shows cinematic views, amazing soundtrack and talented set of actors. This is one of the most intense drama that I've watched. I remember looking forward to weekends so I can watch this. I cried, laughed and feel for the characters. Hyun Bin as ML was exeptional. You can see that he's one hell of an actor. His character has one of the best development and Hyun Bin as an actor was given a great opportunity to show different emotions. However, Park Shin Ye suffered from a poorly written character. I don't think it's the actress fault, it's not because she lacks the skill in acting. It's just how her character was written.

Memories of Alhambra ended with many questions left unanswered. This has the kind of ending that would like the viewers to think and conclude on their own. But it's impossible to do that with the many plot holes subjected for the sake of keeping the story interesting. There was no conclusion at all. No closure. It's like you're riding a fast car with a breathtaking view, but you never reach your destination. You go round and round (so many flashbacks and repetitive scenes) but the car just broke down, and left you stranded. That's how it feels. I'm not expecting an over the top happy ending. I know from the way it started, it might not end well. But atleast a decent ending that the characters and the viewers deserved should have been considered.

So if you're looking for a unique storyline with great cinematography and superb acting, you may give this a try.

But if you're looking for romance and happy endings, this one isn't for you.

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