Memories of the Alhambra
Memories of the Alhambra tells the unique and suspenseful love story of Yoo Jin Woo and Jung Hee Joo.Strong spirited Yoo Jin Woo is the CEO of an investment company with a degree in engineering and a knack for developing video games. He has an adventurous and competitive spirit. Suffering after his best friend betrays him, he takes a business trip to Granada, Spain in search of the mysterious inventor of an innovative augmented-reality video game. He ends up at a hostel that Jung Hee Joo owns.
Hee Joo is a former classical guitarist who came to Spain to further her studies. After the death of her parents, she takes on various jobs to support herself, including running the old hostel .
Love me a good romance drama.
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This review may contain spoilers
The questions I have:Episode 7: If the game was started in Spain. How the hell he was able to crawl to the outside world like US or Seoul in korea?? This thing does not make any sense and talking about the AI games in seoul I think that's the whole new game engine used to build.
Episode 9: Something is quite strange in here.. How can his Ally die from the NPCs. I mean from the starting of the game, If a person dies from any NPC then that person will be logged out. and afterwards he can log in again and fight back. Alright talking about (Jeong-Hun), He can kill both (Mr.Yoo) & (////) if he wants because of the Allay partnership. But why they've changed the whole meaning here and No explanation about it that if you level up you can die.
Episode 12: I'm actually loving the Sweet Bitter Relationship and i really like (Mr.Yoo) being Honest in every way. That's exactly how a relationship should be, just be honest with you prtner no matter what.
Episode 16:.. No how could you.. What the hell No Nooo Atleast let them see each other. For God sake. I was actually going to cry that they're are gonna meet each other. what the hell is going on here.. I'm really pissed off now.
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This drama presents a new challenge for me to not stop watching it. It's incredibly enchanting. The plot is so unpredictable and full of startling events. The idea of the story is so fresh and it pursues me to know more about virtual game.The acting of the casts has made me involve into the story. Hyun Bin and Park Shin Hye have really made me fall in love with. Their acting is so perfect. Each character in this drama has strong mindfullness.
The setting of this drama can be another great poin for me. When they chose Alhambra palace, so I think the story can be so intriguing spiritually. And I am not wrong. The combination of the spiritual and historical value gives the strong plot of the story. A new technology of virual game is really something new I can get from this drama also.
Finally the twist of this drama is so perfect for me. I love the end of this story. And I bet so many viewers will fall in love with beautiful view of Granada and enchanting Alhambra palace.
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Interesting Take on Gaming
Memories of the Alhambra was a very interesting series that definitely kept me on my toes.As you watch, you think you start to understand what's going on but then the series will take a turn.
I think the acting and chemistry between the actors was great. They really helped draw you in since there is a little bit of everything emotion wise.
When it comes to the gaming part, this show takes a different approach than other gaming related shows and I think that's what makes the show so great. Memories of the Alhambra does a great job of appealing to gamers and non gamers alike so this show truly is for everyone.
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This starts off strong with a mystery and dynamic game play and strong conflict between the leading characters. Then the motives and story for the humans gets muddled and isn’t as interesting as the game. And then it gets worse when the editing jumbles up time periods in an attempt to make more plot and give depth to the story.
It’s a missed opportunity if only someone could make the second half as strong as the first. And let’s not even start on that ending....
Sigh.
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mostly i can say its OK to watchbut i still find it frustating to watch from male lead to choose still to conceal the fact there is something wrong with the game and he could prove it by "alliance" feature that make other people see the thing he see, what afraid to dragging other with life on the line you can always make sure to do preparation before going to do quest right ........but still doing it alone with failure and not entertaining anymore
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When I first tuned in to Memories of Al-Hambra, I was blown away by the visuals and the AR set up. It was a wet dream for a video game enthusiast like myself. From the get-go, it's clear to viewers that no expenses were spared for the production.
Unfortunately, my love did not extend to how the plot progressed. As with this writer's dramas, the more you watch, the more do questions pop up. And when you get to the end, you are just a confused mess. If I could identify the point where things go haywire, I would generously put it at episode 10. The first 6 episodes were drawn out, yet managed to remain enjoyable and relatively logical for an illogical setup. The plot did pick up at episode 7, but I found myself reading recaps after 10. Things started to get repetitive and it's because of the drama's biggest flaw: it's centrality to one character, Jinwoo.
Now, if you are familiar with video games, a lot of them share the same idea where you have one protagonist who goes on a quest and the game basically follows them. The drama followed this format, where everything revolved around Jinwoo and all characters were to some extent, plot devices; Jinwoo is always in action while others just react. I didn't really care for this aspect of the drama. I know it received a lot of criticism, but I actually found it refreshing. However, for a 16 episode drama, it could get quite boring. Imagine watching 16 hours of a character being pushed around, then fighting, then receiving moral support, then upgrading, then fighting again.. you get the gist. It's not a narrative that suits a drama of such length, which is one of the primary reasons why it lost me.
Another reason though would be character development. I actually love Jinwoo's character. As he is the protagonist, the writer obviously took her time to flesh him out. He was flawed, charming, and quite heroic. I really liked his change throughout the drama. You can see his vibrancy, that energy he was bursting with, just being drained away as the plot progresses. Kudos to Hyun Bin who did an utterly fantastic job in his portrayal of a complex character of this sort; it's why I kept tuning in. I wish I could say the same to other characters, or perhaps, the other? " main" character: Hee-ju. The writer herself said that the story was centralized around the male lead, and that she added Hee-ju because of Park Shinhye's casting (I read that a while ago, so apologies if I am wrong, but it explains a lot). For the entire drama, all Heeju did was cry, run, and offer moral support. Hell, Secretary Seo had more of an active part than she did. It was so obvious that her character was an afterthought. She existed for Jinwoo and only for Jinwoo. It was such a shame, because Hee-ju had so much potential as a character, for she was caring and passionate.
Overall, Al-Hambra is a good drama. It had fantastic music, beautiful ambiance, and a great performance by the actions. However, the story would leave you unsatisfied and confused. It's like a cheat day where you are just biting into the cake you've fantasized about, but it's taken away before you eat it. Yes, that's the perfect analogy. Props to me.
Would I rewatch this? Yes. I would definitely watch until episode, say, 8. I do think you should give it a try though; it might end up to be your cup of tea. Just don't raise your expectations.
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The story had great potential in the beginning and then went downhill because it lacked clear direction, meandering towards interesting concepts but never fully exploring them. At the end you're left with a nagging feeling that this could have been so much better than what it ended up being. I'm still upset by how big of a letdown it was.
The cast's acting was on point but I kind of see where critics of Park Shin Hye come from; there's nothing overtly wrong with her acting but there were moments where I was taken out of the immersion because of her. I still like her though.
The music is phenomenal and doesn't deserve this show.
Rewatch value... none. I went into this with high expectations because W is one of my all-time favorite dramas and this had the same writer. I was so ecstatic, expecting another masterpiece that would blow me away. Instead I wasted half the show playing games on my phone because I was bored. Rewatching this would be like dragging me backwards through hell for the 9th time :'(
Verdict: don't bother. The romance might appeal to some but there are a ton of shows out there that have way better writing and characterization. If you're looking for a twisty and interesting sci-fi kdrama, the following are much better alternatives:
- Are You Human? (Seo Kang Joon. nuff said)
- Duel (hot doppelgangers ahoy)
- Circle (flashbacks with actual purpose)
- I'm Not a Robot (heavily more romance than sci-fi, but I'm recommending this because the romance is so much better than this show)
- The Gifted (Thai drama of students with powers)
- W: Two Worlds (my one and only love!)
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Without giving any spoilers, one of the logic holes is that in this AR game you fight with swords, and you can fight Non-Player Characters (NPCs) with your sword on the game. Well the only technology introduced in the drama was a set of lenses that transpose the game's graphics into the real world, but when a player fights with an NPC and the player's sword clashes with the NPC's sword, that collision of two virtual objects is felt by the player, i.e. its as if literally two physical swords clashed. What is the technology behind this? It is never explained or addressed.
If they had only said something like 'the lenses connect to the users cranial nerve system (CNS) and can simulate physical forces by sending signals to the CNS which will ultimately result in a real life-like experience for the users.' I would've been happy, sure the technology to achieve that hasn't been discovered, but its certainly plausible and feasible from a futuristic perspective, but none of that was ever approached by the drama.
There are other aspects in the drama which are simply not explained (which I won't enter into details so I don't spoil the story), but what's important is that up to the very end of the drama, the notion of this being a sci-fi drama is kept. At no point is it acknowledged that something impossible has happened, rather they call some of that stuff 'bugs' which is the computer science term for faults in the LOGIC of a PROGRAM which implies sci-fi, and yet nothing was ever explained.
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The idea of the story is integrating a game universe and real universe, which somehow weirdly unique.
The story began with a jaw dropping starts. The story progresses steady but too slow. I really love the core story, but the tempo kills the excitement of watching this.
The problem is that there were too many unnecessary details and time shifts to explain minor incidents that happened before rather than explaining what will happen and what happened with the core story.
Acting
Hyun Bin potrays Jin Woo perfectly. The suffer is so real and I am amazed how great he was potraying this character.
On the other hand, Park Shin Hye started awkwardly. Jung Hee Ju seems to be so awkward and out of places. But it started to get better as the story progress.
The other cast did their job great, especially the "bugs".
The chemistry between the leads is great, but not the best.
Ost
The only great ost is Is You by Ailee. The rest are average.
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This drama is controversial. You know, before you make a history-based story/script, you should learn the real history first. Then, when you put it to your story, you HAVE TO put that history-line to your story as it is. You should NOT falsely rewrite the history onto your script. If you don't know the truth or what the world know about that history, then DON'T write it. It makes controversy, makes many people mad, and people will unite to prosecute the actors, actress, director, writer, etc.
It's just same as this drama. On 13th episode, there are lines tell you about one of most believed religions in the world, Islam. I bet, the writer has not done the research about Fatima, Muhammad, Islam, and the history of Granada itself. Once again I tell you, reader. If it has to do with, race, religion, ethnic, history, and so on, you can not take it a joke. Don't even rewrite their history falsely. If you want to create novel, script, or anything that has to do with them, then you HAVE TO research it, do interview with scientist, professor, etc., and make sure yours is legit enough to be published. If you CAN'T, then just find another theme, genre, or whatever it's called. I feel sorry for Park Shin Hye who had to do the lines. I hope people/netizens out there don't blame her. It's the writer's fault.
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