Kyungs
Indonesia
This review may contain spoilers
Valuable life lessons might not come in the best form
'Regretful youth' seems to be the strong premise behind "18 Again". The drama, which is adapted from the infamous American Movie "17 Again", is a lightly-plotted one filled with struggles, family warmth, worthwhile life lessons, and a bunch of jokes (that came off as either purely funny or, most of the time, being more cringe-worthy). Starting off, it must have been a brain-digging ideas to adapt a 2-hour movie into 16 one hour-long episodes. That's almost tenfold of its length. As a consequence, while giving direct moral lessons, a big chunk of the middle part came off as being filler stories, specifically subplots.
A bit of the plot: The journey follows a regretful 37 year-old Hong Daeyoung (who was about to divorce his wife Jung Dajeong) instantly turning into his 18 year-old self out of the blue. While he's at it, he attended his twin children's school. Other than the school's dynamics, the series also follows Dajeong's journey on becoming an aspiring announcer, a dream she put off while being pregnant with the twins at 18.
First of all, I didn't watch the original movie prior to watching 18 Again as I wanted to learn things thoroughly and not comparing to 17 again. However, things took a whole detour after the first few early episodes and only get back up after the two-thirds of the drama. Yes, it has too many subplots. I claim that the main plots are: Daeyoung as Uyeong, Dajeong's work life, and the twins school life. They were pretty much well-written and relatable although most of the times one of them outshines the others in an unbalance way. Things like Sia and Siu lying to their parents about school life could not be more realistic. The story telling is thorough but they might bring the viewers to gain some subjectivity other than making the viewers having more objective view. However, the gap between those subjectivity might help viewers realize on valuable things that humans have ever regretted before. Some simple things they wished they had done, even as simple as being a good son to their parents.
For the subplots, I found Ye Jihun's family plot to be heartwarming while being too coincidental had it happened in a more realistic approach. Seo Jiho's is an interesting character but it felt like he's gone in the middle for some reason. The geeky-adventure of Deokjin and Ms. Ok is lightly funny but adds nothing to the drama's whole weight. The elevator scandal is good. For the others, I found a lot of them to be unnecessary: Choi Ilgwon's whole story of admission scam and problems, the two random employees in Deokjin's company, Aerin's hateful friend, Si-u's barely-appearing girlfriend, and for the worst: the random stalker. I found the stalker plot to be underwhelmingly executed as they had been teasing it since the very early stages of the drama. The reveal was misleading too plus it adds nothing to the drama. Another thing about the story/writing, I found the tear-jerker scenes to be beautiful (although I'm a hard person to cry), especially Sia's bank scene, 2002 World Cup, and Siu meeting dad. In contrast for the lighter comedic scenes, I found most of the jokes to brings me second-hand embarrassments especially when it comes to Ko Uyeong acting as a dad/wife/friend in an 18 year old form. Some people might find the jokes funny, but those are not for me.
For the characters, they seem to be as what they are designated to be except the ones I have mentioned above. The main characters are amazing and their acting are top notch, especially Lee Dohyun for embodying a middle-aged man. At times, Dajeong might seem too angelic but (i'm not sure why) her character just seem so humane. Also love the twins. I found Jiho's character to be interesting and easy to relate to but most times he isn't present in the drama. Jaseong's character development came off as too instant at times that I was shocked one or two times of him showing a more friendly side. Dajeong's seniors and colleague Yumi's character development also seem a bit too delayed at the end. For the others, I might just say they are what they are shown, with the complaints from the plot still stands.
Other additional elements to the drama actually added some value to the drama. The music might be too repetitive with that one soundtrack but it served its purpose. There's not many special effects but they are necessary and didn't devalue the drama. The settings of places and timing are greatly consistent.
Overall, 18 Again is a nice ride of emotions with great acting, decent storyline, not-for-everyone jokes, and valuable life lessons. However, as just how life goes, those valuable life lessons might not come in the best form.
A bit of the plot: The journey follows a regretful 37 year-old Hong Daeyoung (who was about to divorce his wife Jung Dajeong) instantly turning into his 18 year-old self out of the blue. While he's at it, he attended his twin children's school. Other than the school's dynamics, the series also follows Dajeong's journey on becoming an aspiring announcer, a dream she put off while being pregnant with the twins at 18.
First of all, I didn't watch the original movie prior to watching 18 Again as I wanted to learn things thoroughly and not comparing to 17 again. However, things took a whole detour after the first few early episodes and only get back up after the two-thirds of the drama. Yes, it has too many subplots. I claim that the main plots are: Daeyoung as Uyeong, Dajeong's work life, and the twins school life. They were pretty much well-written and relatable although most of the times one of them outshines the others in an unbalance way. Things like Sia and Siu lying to their parents about school life could not be more realistic. The story telling is thorough but they might bring the viewers to gain some subjectivity other than making the viewers having more objective view. However, the gap between those subjectivity might help viewers realize on valuable things that humans have ever regretted before. Some simple things they wished they had done, even as simple as being a good son to their parents.
For the subplots, I found Ye Jihun's family plot to be heartwarming while being too coincidental had it happened in a more realistic approach. Seo Jiho's is an interesting character but it felt like he's gone in the middle for some reason. The geeky-adventure of Deokjin and Ms. Ok is lightly funny but adds nothing to the drama's whole weight. The elevator scandal is good. For the others, I found a lot of them to be unnecessary: Choi Ilgwon's whole story of admission scam and problems, the two random employees in Deokjin's company, Aerin's hateful friend, Si-u's barely-appearing girlfriend, and for the worst: the random stalker. I found the stalker plot to be underwhelmingly executed as they had been teasing it since the very early stages of the drama. The reveal was misleading too plus it adds nothing to the drama. Another thing about the story/writing, I found the tear-jerker scenes to be beautiful (although I'm a hard person to cry), especially Sia's bank scene, 2002 World Cup, and Siu meeting dad. In contrast for the lighter comedic scenes, I found most of the jokes to brings me second-hand embarrassments especially when it comes to Ko Uyeong acting as a dad/wife/friend in an 18 year old form. Some people might find the jokes funny, but those are not for me.
For the characters, they seem to be as what they are designated to be except the ones I have mentioned above. The main characters are amazing and their acting are top notch, especially Lee Dohyun for embodying a middle-aged man. At times, Dajeong might seem too angelic but (i'm not sure why) her character just seem so humane. Also love the twins. I found Jiho's character to be interesting and easy to relate to but most times he isn't present in the drama. Jaseong's character development came off as too instant at times that I was shocked one or two times of him showing a more friendly side. Dajeong's seniors and colleague Yumi's character development also seem a bit too delayed at the end. For the others, I might just say they are what they are shown, with the complaints from the plot still stands.
Other additional elements to the drama actually added some value to the drama. The music might be too repetitive with that one soundtrack but it served its purpose. There's not many special effects but they are necessary and didn't devalue the drama. The settings of places and timing are greatly consistent.
Overall, 18 Again is a nice ride of emotions with great acting, decent storyline, not-for-everyone jokes, and valuable life lessons. However, as just how life goes, those valuable life lessons might not come in the best form.
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