This was an awesome first season and I can't wait for the sequel (or more precisely, the continuation). It ended on the perfect note of cresting tension.
I have to say Kamuykocha was a total scene-stealer and probably my favorite character together with my pookie Futaba despite his sparse screen time.
Speaking of Futaba, it was hilarious to watch Shujiro treat her like a princess versus how he (and his companions) treated the other inexperienced weakling in their group, whose name I'm forgetting--Shunsuke? Shinnosuke? Anyway. Futaba's innocence was worth protecting, whereas his marked him as deserving of death. It rules when sexism works in our favor for once, amirite ladies?
(We'll see who has the last laugh when Shinsuke or whatever his name is inevitably goes mask off and turns out to be a psycho hitman or a badass government spy who was pretending to be a helpless crybaby all along... This better happen at the end of S2 for maximum drama because it's my favorite cliché in the genre.)
On the opposite end of the spectrum, in the sector reserved for characters I wish I could banish straight to the MH370 crash site, we have Bukotsu. This bitch annoyed me every time he was on my screen. Don't get me wrong, I get his character; he's lashing out at the world because he feels he's been left behind and the only thing he can do is kill people, he's a relic of a bygone era, blah blah blah. I get it!!! But here's the thing. He's not supposed to turn to the camera and explain, "I'm lashing out at the world because I feel like I've been left behind and the only thing I can do is kill people. I'm a relic of a bygone era," while killing people! Has no one heard of Freud around here? Bukotsu's attention-whoring motivations should have been hidden even from himself, let alone the viewer. It's like he was running around naked and pointing at his junk the whole time.
Anyway. Ninomiya Kazunari was perfectly cast as the smug and enigmatic MC of the kodoku. This was basically the same character he played in Black Pean, where he was also very charismatic. I get the sense purely based on the casting choice for this role that Enju will be more important to the story in S2.
Kyojin and the siblings were also very fun.
Lastly, Shujiro's wife was sleeping off a cholera infection the whole time? This woman deserves a sword to decapitate her husband with and I can only hope she'll get one soon.
I've seen the first three episodes of this drama so far and I am super impressed by the overall production quality. The premise is a total cliché, but the direction, camerawork, cinematography, set design, and last but not least the great original soundtrack/music editing elevate it way beyond expectations.
The flashbacks are kept to a tasteful minimum, the music is both good on its own and used very effectively in context, the characters are good, and each episode is self-contained and tightly structured.
Han Hyojoo's performance is particularly impressive. I'm not even talking about the fact she's acting in a foreign language, which is already an amazing achievement, but about the life she breathes into her character. Lee Hana is an old-school romcom heroine in the sense of being a little strange and a bit of a loser and yet garnering the viewer's sympathies because of her emotional vulnerability and because she comes across as a real person (even if she's not a person every viewer can see themself in). I'm tired of romantic dramas (especially kdramas) playing it safe with cardboard-cutout protagonists who have no real edges or depth or sore spots in the human sense but act like idiots simply because that's what the plot demands of them. Here we get a protagonist who acts like a human being and charms the viewer with her unique mannerisms and personality.
I'm a huge fan of the original, but I don't know if PMY and WHJ fit the characters they're supposed to recreate in the Korean version. I'm willing to be proven wrong, of course, but I actually think KJH would have been a better fit for the ML role.
Can't sure right now because plot drama version much different than novel. But in novel, ML didn't go back to…
I see, thank you! I think they've changed A LOT of things in the drama because today's episodes revealed the ML remembers the "present" and also went back in time after the elevator incident.
I think this change was necessitated by Chinese TV censorship guidelines, which prohibit shows from showing regression/time travel after death. We can probably expect the protagonists to wake up in the present day at the end of the drama and address the reasons they're unhappy with their lives based on the lessons learned in their shared dream. And this wouldn't be possible if the ML actually died, ergo he has to be in a coma too, ergo he's experiencing the same phenomenon as the FL.
He said to his cousin that she was 2-3 years his junior. So, he's 20-21?
He said he was admitted to a direct-entry PhD program, i. e. a BA-MA-PhD. He's still in the undergraduate portion of the degree.
Since it looks like he graduated from High School No. 7 before the FL was a freshman (because they don't seem to remember each other from school) and high school lasts 3 years in China, he's probably a junior or senior in college. I'd say he's 3-4 years older.
In the novel he's 10 years older than her (!), but thankfully they've changed a lot of stuff for the better.
Just watched the first episode, which was very fun. I do have a question, though, and I don’t mind being spoiled. Did the older Lin Zhihua also go back in time or was it just her?
I was wondering if there was a breakup, so I asked ChatGPT (BIG SPOILER) ....
This is the stupidest comment I’ve read on here in years. ChatGPT does not know the plot of a currently airing Chinese show with no existing journalistic reviews in English.
If you’re so anxious about it, check the actual novel, which IS available in English.
This sounds messy and dramatic, AND the leads have a fateful prior connection, but it's NOT the dumb first love shit every kdrama forces down my throat but something more painful and complicated that could potentially drive conflict and relationship development, AND the drama will have 16 episodes??? Sign me up please!
I get that she's had a very hard life and loves her daughters, but she's really screwed them up and clearly doesn't understand them. I hope the drama will make her work for it instead of gifting her a sentimental redemption arc out of nowhere in the last two episodes.
I'm on ep. 26 and obviously Lady Jiang is evil for killing off her husband's concubine and scheming to kill tons of other people, including Zang Hai, but she snapped with the petition to the emperor. Marquis Pingjing's treatment of her and her son in the last couple of episodes has been so horrible I'm now kind of on their side even though they suck... End this selfish pathetic toad!
PLEASE don't make Lee Hosoo's realization at the end of the second episode a fakeout and have Miji convince him she's Mirae at the beginning of next episode... PLEASE no... This isn't a secret she needs to keep from him, so delaying the moment of truth would just waste valuable screen time on a nonsense subplot.
I do think it's most likely based on LHS's character and knowledge of Miji that he will stick to his guns, but I'm just saying the beginning of next week's episodes will be a test of the screenwriter for me.
I like this drama so far, though the tone is a bit unusual; it's both a romantic comedy and a preachy story about alcoholism somehow. It's good that the drama doesn't (quite) play binge-drinking for laughs and mostly finds its comedic material elsewhere, but the fact such a heavy topic is explored in such close proximity to rough caricatures like Han Geumjoo's shrewish mother and bumbling father confuses the matter somewhat.
That said, I like the main couple. Both of them are good characters, and Seo Ui-joon's lurching between yearning and resentment is fun to watch.
Like a lot of other viewers, I found HGJ a bit frustrating in episode 4--I just couldn't understand what she was crying about for so long when her ex was such a blatant and unworthy scumbag; surely after a few months without him she should begin to feel liberated?--but I think that chapter of the story is over now and we'll finally move on this week.
True to Love made the same misstep by lingering a bit too long on its FL's disastrous past relationship and her exaggerated patheticness after getting dumped, but thankfully it also moved on just in time.
1
I have to say Kamuykocha was a total scene-stealer and probably my favorite character together with my pookie Futaba despite his sparse screen time.
Speaking of Futaba, it was hilarious to watch Shujiro treat her like a princess versus how he (and his companions) treated the other inexperienced weakling in their group, whose name I'm forgetting--Shunsuke? Shinnosuke? Anyway. Futaba's innocence was worth protecting, whereas his marked him as deserving of death. It rules when sexism works in our favor for once, amirite ladies?
(We'll see who has the last laugh when Shinsuke or whatever his name is inevitably goes mask off and turns out to be a psycho hitman or a badass government spy who was pretending to be a helpless crybaby all along... This better happen at the end of S2 for maximum drama because it's my favorite cliché in the genre.)
On the opposite end of the spectrum, in the sector reserved for characters I wish I could banish straight to the MH370 crash site, we have Bukotsu. This bitch annoyed me every time he was on my screen. Don't get me wrong, I get his character; he's lashing out at the world because he feels he's been left behind and the only thing he can do is kill people, he's a relic of a bygone era, blah blah blah. I get it!!! But here's the thing. He's not supposed to turn to the camera and explain, "I'm lashing out at the world because I feel like I've been left behind and the only thing I can do is kill people. I'm a relic of a bygone era," while killing people! Has no one heard of Freud around here? Bukotsu's attention-whoring motivations should have been hidden even from himself, let alone the viewer. It's like he was running around naked and pointing at his junk the whole time.
Anyway. Ninomiya Kazunari was perfectly cast as the smug and enigmatic MC of the kodoku. This was basically the same character he played in Black Pean, where he was also very charismatic. I get the sense purely based on the casting choice for this role that Enju will be more important to the story in S2.
Kyojin and the siblings were also very fun.
Lastly, Shujiro's wife was sleeping off a cholera infection the whole time? This woman deserves a sword to decapitate her husband with and I can only hope she'll get one soon.
The flashbacks are kept to a tasteful minimum, the music is both good on its own and used very effectively in context, the characters are good, and each episode is self-contained and tightly structured.
Han Hyojoo's performance is particularly impressive. I'm not even talking about the fact she's acting in a foreign language, which is already an amazing achievement, but about the life she breathes into her character. Lee Hana is an old-school romcom heroine in the sense of being a little strange and a bit of a loser and yet garnering the viewer's sympathies because of her emotional vulnerability and because she comes across as a real person (even if she's not a person every viewer can see themself in). I'm tired of romantic dramas (especially kdramas) playing it safe with cardboard-cutout protagonists who have no real edges or depth or sore spots in the human sense but act like idiots simply because that's what the plot demands of them. Here we get a protagonist who acts like a human being and charms the viewer with her unique mannerisms and personality.
I think this change was necessitated by Chinese TV censorship guidelines, which prohibit shows from showing regression/time travel after death. We can probably expect the protagonists to wake up in the present day at the end of the drama and address the reasons they're unhappy with their lives based on the lessons learned in their shared dream. And this wouldn't be possible if the ML actually died, ergo he has to be in a coma too, ergo he's experiencing the same phenomenon as the FL.
Since it looks like he graduated from High School No. 7 before the FL was a freshman (because they don't seem to remember each other from school) and high school lasts 3 years in China, he's probably a junior or senior in college. I'd say he's 3-4 years older.
In the novel he's 10 years older than her (!), but thankfully they've changed a lot of stuff for the better.
Whether she’s wronged or not, how she feels about marriage and how they came to the decision to register their marriage is none of our business.
People act way too familiar with this man for no reason. He’s just living his life. Leave him alone!
If you’re so anxious about it, check the actual novel, which IS available in English.
I do think it's most likely based on LHS's character and knowledge of Miji that he will stick to his guns, but I'm just saying the beginning of next week's episodes will be a test of the screenwriter for me.
That said, I like the main couple. Both of them are good characters, and Seo Ui-joon's lurching between yearning and resentment is fun to watch.
Like a lot of other viewers, I found HGJ a bit frustrating in episode 4--I just couldn't understand what she was crying about for so long when her ex was such a blatant and unworthy scumbag; surely after a few months without him she should begin to feel liberated?--but I think that chapter of the story is over now and we'll finally move on this week.
True to Love made the same misstep by lingering a bit too long on its FL's disastrous past relationship and her exaggerated patheticness after getting dumped, but thankfully it also moved on just in time.