Editorials 
you know this love/hate pairing will be iconic
first time i watch republican-era dramas, the reason is my last sentence.so far lots of underwhelming things about it:
>>>ai-slop opening, the scenes sometimes feel off in the way the actors look frozen or extra melodramatic and the scenes have the pace of a short drama, the overly edited effects...
about the ai and editing style: it's only natural to see more and more attempts like this that seem to rely less on human creativity, and more on average/generic expectations.... i heard BTS content was more impressive visually.
all of these have nothing to do with this 'era' drama,
But i still love it so far
>>>the attention to the details and dialogue are really nice.
>>>extravaganza melodrama is so fun 😅
>>>ZLH roles of hate/love are really iconic like kunning palace, i think this role will also be incredible tension! especially with WCR as co-lead. i just hope the direction gave them enough room to showcase the nuance of such a tende relationship! so far it seems still so dramatic that it doesn't leave enough room for the greyzone...and the growth of these characters doesnt look well established yet...
but one thing for sure, i know these 2 main leads will carry this show regardless!!
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to be great, it needs more than vengeance!!
updated review:I follow the main actors, that's why I was excited for this!
but what an awkward first episode! the story seemed very flat at first... it does get better somehow..
what did not help our FL is the weak initial vengeance trope... episode 1 starts the story at a random time: why her plan starts now? what does she know? why does she hate everyone so bad but has no clue what happened?
The way the show introduces the story makes it hard to relate to the characters. In my view, production neglected character development in everyday life/ instead of characters are only living in high moments.
Eventually our FL grows in her role, by now (ep8) she is great, but i'm still not sure on her character: she is smart, weary, vengeful... but is she reckless? will the story always magically put her ahead of everyone and we dont know how? Good character depiction is also a production effort: can we see enough of her planning especially when things go wrong instead of plot armour? we don't get enough transparency in what is actually going on in the FL perspective, so for the viewer her actions just look random. sometimes she panics, sometimes she drops the best ruse... ?!
WHO IS SHE BEYOND HER REVENGE PLAN?
also i can say the same thing for ML!!
There is a right balance of drama vs wit/ fun with these two main leads ( especially Xukai)
What i really don't like is the editing and scenes continuity: timelapses are not clear, and script is very revenge- plot intense, it looks like characters have nothing else to do so we don't have a lot to build around the revenge.
I am loving the cinematography and visuals so far! the aesthetic and world building is very nice but it still lacking richness ! i don't know yet if this drama will be memorable!
The ost is very dramatic and beautiful!
I'm following along for now, the story doesn't seem very complex: i am curious enough about the main couple to keep watching!
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MEANT TO BE ICONIC!
the 2024 surprise of the year!the main theme? i was skeptical... the storyline? sounded cliché... first episode? meh...
i gave it a chance because of the good local viewrship!
i was glad because this is a whole world of a story!
best thing about it?
ITS A STORY THAT DEVELOPS SEAMLESSLY
that's becoming a rare trait in kdramas, unfortunately...
this is a show taken from an original russian tv show that had 5 seasons and movies! they had all the chances on their side to make it a success , and bravo its already renewed!
the Main actors and side characters were all amazingly played! they all had their personality, deph, meat!
the drama had the perfect blend of episode cases and the ML and FL arc stories.
i also loved the jazzy music, the 'personnified' inn soo, his victory/cool sign, his logo, it was all well done to be iconic!
the things i liked less? sometimes reveals were a little overdone... the story can be predictable but its always engaging!
i'll be tuning for s2. i'll try not to watch the original in the meantime haha
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Clever plot, awesome actors, memorable story.
I haven't watched the original: but I was really impressed with the storyline. I've seen an oodle amount of shows in general that have plot twists that spiral out of control and it's just nonsense, but not this one. yay!I was scared it would happen in this show because it has multiple layers of complexity, but the story is handled with precision!
midway, two episodes were veryyyyy confusing because they were not revealling everything, but it all "makes sense" by ep 8.
IT IS A GOOD STORY! for those who like mysteries and twist hard to guess.
someone in the comments said it's not Kdrama but Ktrauma, and I can't agree more. the story is very heavy. it has a lot of existential questions and self esteem, courage, loss, death and grief. But the story wraps itself in a way that tries to answer most of these current issues in high school and life in general.
For the actors, I really thought there were two different actors from the past 1998 and the present. I was also extremely impressed an in awe in the execution of the minjoo- jun-hee dichotomy. we could feel the essence of each character even if it was played by the same person.
This show left me with an inspiring feeling overall in the end and it made me reminisce about my high-school years, about my own hopes and confidence.
I did wish there was something more after the final scene and more about this time travel system, but if we analyze all that it was, all the clues were in the show.
Clever plot, awesome actors, memorable story about a connection between two people.
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