This review may contain spoilers
Unfortunately, it really shows that this is a Disney+ production.
Lack of clues and details to build theories:Over the course of 9 episodes, there’s not a single hint that makes the viewer want to come up with theories or even guess who the villain might be.
Do you think the death of the main character’s parents has anything to do with the story? Nope.
Do you think the classical music theme matters? Not at all.
Do you think the fact that the main character lacks some social skills plays a role? Nope.
What about the male lead being stuck in the same position for 10 years because of an unsolved case — think that’s important? Nope.
Basically, any detail you think might be connected to the murders before episode 9 becomes totally irrelevant, because for 9 whole episodes, they only give you one suspect.
And surprise — in episode 10, they tell you that nope, he’s not the antagonist after all. So all your theories are basically pointless. Only if you watch a lot of K-dramas like this, you probably caught the phrase “construction company” and maybe figured out where the story’s heading.
Cast:
The producers of this K-drama clearly have no idea how to make the most of their cast’s potential. Honestly, if any other actors had done this show, it wouldn’t have made a difference — they use so little of the actors’ range that it feels like they never even watched their past performances, whether lead or supporting.
The antagonist:
The antagonist in this story apparently has super strength or psychic powers or something, because there’s no explanation or detail about how they kill. People just show up dead, and that’s it. The only death that’s actually interesting isn’t even caused by the antagonist — it’s done by a side character.And the worst death is the final one — Puzzle 8 — because you literally have to use your imagination to make any sense of how the body ended up way up there with no help at all.
P.S. For some reason, in the episodes around the second murder, there’s this weird POV shot of the main character’s hand gripping the car keys. I have no idea what they were going for with that scene — it’s just odd, and to make it weirder, they only use that POV once. Just that one scene.
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This review may contain spoilers
Disappointing and unnecessarily hard to understand.
This movie is basically just a thriller, not horror or even a mystery. You need to pay really close attention to what the characters say, otherwise you'll have no idea what's going on.1. The movie only explains the reason the main character is scared of water one time. If you miss it, you'll probably never find out why.
2. The senior who shows up to help her only explains who he is about five minutes into the movie. So once again, if you weren't paying attention, you won't know who he is or why he's there until the last 15 minutes.
3. When it's revealed that the senior is actually dead, the main character decides to go into the forest by herself instead of telling her friends what's going on (and remember, she's terrified of water and doesn't even know the area). Like... what????
4. And then there's the old lady. Nobody thinks about her at any point after her first appearance. Not even the paranormal YouTuber, who somehow knows all about rituals and spiritual stuff, but when it comes to the stone monument, she suddenly has no clue about it. Very convenient for the plot.
5. The movie has several moments that are perfectly set up for a jump scare, but it completely fumbles every single one of them. There's a scene where they discover the senior is dead, and the camera zooms in on the protagonist while everything behind her is completely dark, only for half a face to appear and that's it. Then there's another scene where several heads emerge from the water and the manager (the older brother) gets startled, and when the specter finally appears, it doesn't make a sound. So the scare falls completely flat. Another time, the senior is placing stones on the monument, and when he turns around, he transforms into the specter and starts chasing them. Once again, it's a silent jump scare with no scream, no loud noise, nothing. And that's basically what happens every time the movie sets up a scare—they ruin it horribly.
6. Why does the water specter even exist? Well, once again, if you weren't paying attention, you'll never know, because it's only mentioned once. The pond was built on top of a cemetery. One of the staff members says this at one point and that's pretty much the only explanation you get. As for the old lady's daughter, you're basically left to figure it out yourself. All we know is that she died in the pond and now lures people into building those stone monuments.
7. And finally, it feels like the director just couldn't be bothered. There are basically no flashbacks to explain anything. We never see how the protagonist almost drowned. We don't know much about her relationship with the guy who comes looking for her. We learn almost nothing about the old lady's daughter or how the old lady ended up performing sacrifices. We never find out how the senior or his wife died either.
On top of that, the movie is completely inconsistent about how technology works. Sometimes phones and other devices work just fine, other times they don't. For example, we see the specter cut off phone calls at one point. If that's the case, then why doesn't it interrupt the call where the protagonist learns that the senior died in a hospital? The answer is simple: because the plot needed that information to get through. It's convenient for the movie, so it happens.
8. The ending is hard to understand for a lot of reasons, mainly because the ghost creates illusions, so you never really know if what you're seeing is real or not. Keeping that in mind, you can pretty much come up with whatever ending you want since everything could just be an illusion. For anyone who didn't get the ending, Gi Tae doesn't actually manage to save the main character when she drowns trying to grab the paddle. The ghost makes him think he saved her, then traps him in an illusion where they're back at work. It takes her appearance and tricks him into walking toward the water, which is what we see at the end. The whole movie was basically an illusion, including all the horror and fear.
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"Predictable and most of the time boring."
The K-drama is okay, but my problem is with the main actors, who I honestly think are pretty mediocre in terms of acting. On the other hand, the supporting actors are 10 times better than the leads. The actress has this terrible acting trick where she almost blinks, and she does it in every single scene. The main actor has just one expression for everything, and the only way to tell if he’s happy, angry, surprised, or confused is by how wide his eyes are.The romance in this K-drama feels like something out of Wattpad; they’re adults in their 30s acting like teenagers. Honestly, the romance is useless and ruins quite a few episodes, so for me, it’s -1 point.
Aside from all that, the story is simple and even predictable. There’s no memorable OST, mediocre acting, pointless romance, and it’s only good as background noise. By episode 8 or 9, you can figure out the whole plot.
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"People say it gets better with each episode, so give it a chance."
People say that the kdrama gets better as the episodes go on, and I hope that's the case. Unfortunately for me, the first episode is what makes me want to continue watching a kdrama, and that didn't happen here.First of all, I hope you watch the first episode so you can better understand what I'm about to say.
This kdrama has one of the worst first episodes I've seen; nothing makes sense:
1. They make two characters who are completely different physically change clothes, and surprise! They fit perfectly.
2. The protagonist runs a red light and almost crashes three times. YES, 3 TIMES and there's no confrontation with another driver.
3. She asks for information from her husband's secretary who disappeared, and the secretary responds saying, "you should call him." OMFG, how did she not think of that? It's not like they spent the whole day together and she didn't notice that she called him on her mobile.
4. They break into her office and a policeman she apparently knows appears and asks if anything was taken or if something has disappeared. Then our protagonist looks at him, says they didn't take anything, sighs, the policeman turns around, and then she says, "something disappeared, *sigh* *takes 3 seconds* my husband disappeared." What the hell is this, a Wattpad story or what?
5. The supposed suspect in the case escapes and decides to meet with our protagonist. Where do they meet, you ask? In a café? NO. In a crowded place to blend in? NO... Under a bridge, UNDER A DAMN BRIDGE WHERE IT'S OBVIOUS THEY WILL ATTRACT ATTENTION BECAUSE THERE'S NO ONE ELSE AROUND (surprise, they get found).
6. And the stupidest thing I've ever seen, the person who finds them initiates a chase that lasts 10 seconds, where the person chasing the suspect FOLLOWS TRAFFIC RULES AND KEEPS A HUGE DISTANCE BETWEEN HIM AND THE PERSON HE'S TRYING TO FIND... And wait, there's more. Turns out the protagonist has an idea, to overtake the motorcycle and make it crash into her car... the pursuer goes flying (remember they are near a cliff), falls, the protagonist checks on... next scene, the guy from the motorcycle is fine, no injuries or scratches, standing on his two feet without pain talking like nothing happened and to top it off, he runs off to get his motorcycle. The protagonist could have killed him with that stupid idea, but seriously, it's the worst first episode.
7. Honestly, the first episode has a lot of talking and nothing is explained, literally nothing, and there's no desire to continue because unsurprisingly it's a kdrama about investigating a character's past and that's it, that's all.
If someday I have nothing to watch, I hope I take this back, until then I'll look for another kdrama that's more appealing.
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