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No clear ending
Everything is fine, story, casting, places, music... but... the final ending? What´s it? Were directors out of cash? Out of memory in the hard disk? Really, really angry with a very good drama recorded at beautiful Granada with this poor ending. He was just deleted... C´mon... Any intern could write a better final ending... I will haven´t good Memories of the Alhambra. Netflix, I want my subscription money back... Just kidding : )-------------------------------------------------------------------------
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I had high expectations for this drama as its writer is the same with W. W really blew my mind from the pacing, the characters and damn the plot twists on the first episodes because I didn't really expect any of that. However, Memories of Alhambra seems so lacking in many ways. The first episode was a good start as it was really intriguing and magical. I absolutely love the AR theme, very timely and witty. It was really action-packed which is the thing that I always anticipate on every episode. But things got really repetitive and tedious when Hyung-seok keeps on showing up. I stopped watching it for awhile because the story did not pique my curiosity anymore. Episodes 4-7 were very trivial for me. The Memories of Alhambra (guitar piece) keeps on playing more than twice in an episode and it did get on my nerves at some point. The story picked up its pace again sometime later when we got back to Korea. I guess they just wanted the drama to reach 16 episodes so the scenes on Granada were very lengthy and unnecessary. I then read comments online that Hee Joo's character was also unnecessary and I began to realize that they were right. The story could really go on without her presence and help. The thing with this writer is that he writes in a fast paced manner so I did not get enough time to sympathize with the characters' feelings. Hyun Bin was great but his lines and scenes were really lacking. As for the music, it should have been more suspenseful as this drama is a thriller one. I anticipated it to have lots of sfx to really shock the viewers but it didn't. The guitar piece was overly used. It's where the drama got its title but it doesn't really have a major impact for me.
Let's jump to the finale episode which was a disappointment but I'm really glad it's open ended because if not, there would have tons of plot holes here and there. However, the ending was not satisfying at all. We mostly got scenes on the church with the characters looking at the ashes the whole damn time. We also got a flashback of everything that happened where I realized it was not a roller coaster kind of ride. The story focused mainly on Jin Woo playing the game and finding Se Ju. The story only unfolded just to reveal the past and find Se Ju. This drama should have been entitled Finding Se Ju seriously. To sum up, it was an okay drama for it is very unique and truly magical. It may be flawed on some of its elements but it is still worth watching especially if you are an avid online game user.
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Really good show
This drama was really good! It had a pretty unique idea, Virtual Games in Real Life but with a deep story that no drama has ever made before(I think) The story is 10/10,no debate. Honestly, the first 2 episodes were the best in the series. You'll know why when you finish it. The acting was top notch, same with the music. My only problem was the pacing, for some time, the pacing was very bad so I got bored easily. That's why I don't think I'd re-watch it. Other than that, it's pretty good and it's a solid 8/10!Was this review helpful to you?
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Tridimensional
Impressionada com a produção impecável desse Dorama! Todas as cenas do jogo são lindas e muito bem feitas, deixariam qualquer gamer de queixo caído e acampados na fila pra conseguir um avatar!Me prendeu do começo ao fim, a história não se limita a mistério e suspense, também tem um pouco de romance para as dorameiras. Sou fã do ator principal e acho que ele arrasou como sempre!
Com certeza indico essa pérola pra todas as minhas amigas assistirem com seus namorados, eles não vão ter do que reclamar!
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Acting/Cast: I enjoy the actors & actresses in this drama however their roles were kinda lack luster for me. Hyun-Bin as Jin-Woo had all the action scenes but very little romantic scenes with Hee-Joo. Park Shin-Hye role as Hee-Jo was very boring to me. I was hoping she would get some toughness in her role like what I've seen in Doctors but that didn't happen. Her role as Hee-Jo wasn't memorable to me but as Emma, it was. Same issue with Hee-Jo, lack of chemistry for Jin-Woo which results in lack of scenes of them together.
Music: By far the best part of this drama was the music. Ailee's song "Is You" & Yang Da Il's song "I'm Here" were my favorite two osts from this drama but every other music played in this drama I've enjoyed listening to as well.
Rewatch?: Not worth rewatching for me because of the slow story progression, lack of romance & chemistry between the leads and I wasn't fond of the writing.
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One thing I have to criticize the writer is - again - the way she writes her female characters. This is something that ruined W for me, and in Memories of Alhambra made the romance feel forced and unnecessary. I couldn't help but sigh at the waste of Park Shin Hye's time for this show.
I still enjoyed it, however. I'd reccomend it for those who enjoys a drama packed with suspense and action, and that will leave you with questions after every episode, this might be for you.
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This show should not be advertised as a romance
Listen, the concept was so out there I just HAD to watch it. And it was a cool concept! But the story itself? If you want to watch this for the romance...don't. This isn't a romance, this is the chronicles of one man's descent into madness and it would've worked better to advertise this as a psychological thriller. The Granada setting is severely underutilized (we only go to the Alhambra once despite it being in the title), which disappointed me because it's such a beautiful area. Hyun Bin is fine af but his character is a yellow flag that only turns more and more red as time goes on (and seems intent on dragging everyone down with him) and the writers are out here making no effort to make it better, all the while Hee-joo is losing sleep over this man? Girl no. This is one of those "I don't ship the main ship with each other, I ship them with therapy" stories.Super cool idea and okay execution (the internal logic of the game was slipping a bit by the end there) but I loath to see the 'romance' praised when this dude took advantage of her family, was snappy to her 90% of the time, always left her out of the loop, literally skipped town on her birthday and never seemed to show true remorse for any of this. On the bright side, I can now name a classical guitar piece ('Recuerdos del Alhambra' is VERY much the main theme of this drama) and recognize it in under 5 seconds!
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So Much Potential
I really enjoyed the first half of this drama, it was well acted, well paced and the story was interesting and not the usual genre I sway towards. I just wishes it hadn't gone on so long, I think 3 or 4 episodes shaved off would have helped the drag towards the end. It took me a while to get through but I had watched the first half in about a week. The setting in Spain was beautiful and different, I enjoyed the parts set there the most.I liked all of the actors and hope to check them out in other titles.
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I maybe liked it better than most people, but . .
I ended up being one of those people who is REALLY unhappy about the ending, otherwise I would have rated this higher. On the plus side, Hyun Bin was fantastic. The female lead was meh. I didn't feel like the script really served her well. I liked the aspects of her character where she was hard working, a problem solver, and tenacious. But, gosh, so much crying. Many of the secondary characters were useless. If you are a Hyun Bin fan, you will be very rewarded, but I wouldn't recommend getting engaged in the story. Lots of it doesn't make sense, but none of that bothered me. The ending was so bad that I assumed I had miscounted and there was another episode. Again, focus on Hyun Bin. :)Was this review helpful to you?
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Same problem
"I was unable to finish the drama because the Spanish representation seemed like garbage to me. It's impossible for the protagonist to enter the hospital with such an attitude and not get kicked out, not to mention the portrayal of the police. I was interested because it featured Granada, but I couldn't get past the first two episodes because the people who were supposed to be Spanish delivered their lines without any emotion, which took me out of the series itself. Perhaps the story is cool at its core, but I'm sorry, I can't recommend it."Was this review helpful to you?
Interesting concept, but did not grab me
I started this based on a recommendation of a KDrama to watch on Netflix. The concept of the show was intriguing.But right off the bat, the unlikable ML was a bit of a turn off. Based on many reviews it's the initial episodes that are what grabs your attention. But by the first dramatic turn, I found myself not just disinterested about what was happening to the ML, but genuinely turned off by the show as a whole. The beautiful European backdrops did not make up for what I felt was a dull show overall.
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