Charming92
Greece
Innovation and uniqueness strike again in Kdramaland and the results are as invigorating as ever. 'W' might not be the absolute masterpiece we expected it to be, but despite its few minor -or major- flaws, it was a blast to watch, fun, completely unpredictable and it promises 16 well-spent hours of exhilarating suspense, stimulating romance, intelligent comedy and eventful drama.
Let's start with the plot. The drama is quite ingenious. The story centers the crazy life of a webtoon character, and how, in order to complete his story, he needs the help of real life people. You can guess what is happening between real life and webtoon characters... Crazy right? The show is a fantasy romance drama so get ready for a high ride cause the plot is so unpredictable that it touches the side of nonsensical many times. The CGI was beautifully made and it made my jaw drop many times.
Best thing about this: unpredictability and singularity.
The drama fluctuates in a constant climax, the suspense is kept at high rates throughout the show, it never stops being funny, it never stops being interesting, it is always fulfilling and the most important, not a tedious moment. The romance has a very relevant role (while it didn't have to), and you won't miss your fluffy rom-com scenes in midst of all the craziness of the main plot.
However, even if, i thoroughly enjoyed W and its wonderful idea and writing, there were 2 things that kept me from giving it a 10, and the more i watched, sadly, the more discontented i felt.
1. The failed and forced romance. Not that the main leads shared no chemistry, on the contrary, i enjoyed their moments quite a lot; it's just the romance, in such an erratic script felt like it didn't belong. It felt utterly forced to the point that i started asking myself, 'do they really need to be together?', 'Just move on with the plot.', 'They aren't working together, it's all in vain.' W proved that while a good romance and chemistry is essential for a drama to work, it definitelly isn't necessary if the plot is strong enough.
2. The convenient writing to the point or ridiculousness and irrationality. First half, everything's makes sense, there is a continuation, a reason, an end-game. I won't stay at how the plot had some convenient back and forth, at least every time it went back it tried to stay original and not repeat same patterns. The main problem came in the 2nd half. In order to close potential plot-holes, and to make everything work out in such a messy and abnormal plot, the writing started being incosistent and making no sense. Conducive situations, newly introduced plot twists that were totally illogical just to make the script work. Were they bad? No, not at all, they were all surprising and thrilling. Did they bug me? Yes, and that is why the overall rating goes down to 8.5. This is apparently a drama that you need to switch your logic off, sit back and get ready for the wonderful ride without asking too many questions. If i could sum the writing up in a phrase i would say 'Too ambitious for its own good'.
Moving on to the acting, the outcome was overall satisfying but not perfect.
I'm no fan of Lee Jong Suk, but he was pretty charming here, his acting was almost excellent, even if he overplayed his 'look at my cute smile' card a lot.
Han Hyo Joo gave a wonderful performance, she was in charge of comedy and drama, and her character was very essential to the plot. I can't deny that she overacted a little during her comedy scenes, not that it was cringy but it was obvious. Stiil, she aced all her dramatic scenes, which makes me want to see her in a melodrama soon.
However, the performance that was the most memorable and i would like to call impeccable is Kim Eui Seong's. His character was completely indispensable to the plot and his performance was spectacular.
My personal favourite was Lee Shi Eon, who was absolutely adorable and funny in every scene he appeared.
Even if this wasn't the perfect gem that i expected, i would really recommend this to every drama fan. It is innovative and unpredictable. Such combinations are rare in kdramaland, so do not turn a blind eye on this one, it's definitely not brilliant but it came really close, certainly worth a watch.
Let's start with the plot. The drama is quite ingenious. The story centers the crazy life of a webtoon character, and how, in order to complete his story, he needs the help of real life people. You can guess what is happening between real life and webtoon characters... Crazy right? The show is a fantasy romance drama so get ready for a high ride cause the plot is so unpredictable that it touches the side of nonsensical many times. The CGI was beautifully made and it made my jaw drop many times.
Best thing about this: unpredictability and singularity.
The drama fluctuates in a constant climax, the suspense is kept at high rates throughout the show, it never stops being funny, it never stops being interesting, it is always fulfilling and the most important, not a tedious moment. The romance has a very relevant role (while it didn't have to), and you won't miss your fluffy rom-com scenes in midst of all the craziness of the main plot.
However, even if, i thoroughly enjoyed W and its wonderful idea and writing, there were 2 things that kept me from giving it a 10, and the more i watched, sadly, the more discontented i felt.
1. The failed and forced romance. Not that the main leads shared no chemistry, on the contrary, i enjoyed their moments quite a lot; it's just the romance, in such an erratic script felt like it didn't belong. It felt utterly forced to the point that i started asking myself, 'do they really need to be together?', 'Just move on with the plot.', 'They aren't working together, it's all in vain.' W proved that while a good romance and chemistry is essential for a drama to work, it definitelly isn't necessary if the plot is strong enough.
2. The convenient writing to the point or ridiculousness and irrationality. First half, everything's makes sense, there is a continuation, a reason, an end-game. I won't stay at how the plot had some convenient back and forth, at least every time it went back it tried to stay original and not repeat same patterns. The main problem came in the 2nd half. In order to close potential plot-holes, and to make everything work out in such a messy and abnormal plot, the writing started being incosistent and making no sense. Conducive situations, newly introduced plot twists that were totally illogical just to make the script work. Were they bad? No, not at all, they were all surprising and thrilling. Did they bug me? Yes, and that is why the overall rating goes down to 8.5. This is apparently a drama that you need to switch your logic off, sit back and get ready for the wonderful ride without asking too many questions. If i could sum the writing up in a phrase i would say 'Too ambitious for its own good'.
Moving on to the acting, the outcome was overall satisfying but not perfect.
I'm no fan of Lee Jong Suk, but he was pretty charming here, his acting was almost excellent, even if he overplayed his 'look at my cute smile' card a lot.
Han Hyo Joo gave a wonderful performance, she was in charge of comedy and drama, and her character was very essential to the plot. I can't deny that she overacted a little during her comedy scenes, not that it was cringy but it was obvious. Stiil, she aced all her dramatic scenes, which makes me want to see her in a melodrama soon.
However, the performance that was the most memorable and i would like to call impeccable is Kim Eui Seong's. His character was completely indispensable to the plot and his performance was spectacular.
My personal favourite was Lee Shi Eon, who was absolutely adorable and funny in every scene he appeared.
Even if this wasn't the perfect gem that i expected, i would really recommend this to every drama fan. It is innovative and unpredictable. Such combinations are rare in kdramaland, so do not turn a blind eye on this one, it's definitely not brilliant but it came really close, certainly worth a watch.
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