MattPeddlesden
Kent, UK
I was hooked on this one from the moment I started it. I'm a huge fan of Time Travel stories generally - but it has to be said, in all honesty, that this ends up normally with me picking holes in them because more often than not Time Travel is an abused plot device rather than something used convincingly and sensibly.
While there are indeed holes in Tomorrow With You, overall I felt the use of Time Travel was very good though.
Following narrowly avoiding a fatal railway accident Yoo So Joon finds that he can now travel through time every time he uses the subway, forwards or backwards depending on the direction that he travels. Interestingly, where many time travel stories only talk about permitting travel to the past, this one declares that one can only travel to the future and back to your "current" time, so if you travel forwards in time 2 years stay there for 4 hours and come back - 4 hours have passed in the current time. It kinda makes sense as a plot device (because time pressures in the "now" also exist in the future, you can't just come back 1 minute after you left and solve the problem) and means that you don't need to bend your mind around some of the more complex problems of time travel.
A key difference between this story and many others i've seen (all others to date in fact) is that the couple get married really early on in the story, so this immediately isn't your regular story. It's got the kind of tone about it that feels like an arranged marriage where the couple start of marrying and then over time develop their feelings and a close relationship.
The story definitely has different gears though, as it progresses it shifts into these different gears and the focus of the story shifts a little, whether it's getting together with Ma-rin in the first place, dealing with an embezzler, solving a murder or - well, the things that happen even later in the story - I felt that the shifts made sense and really gave a feeling of the story progressing. It takes place over a period primarily between 2015 and 2022 (though there are nods back to 2009 when the railway accident occurs), so over such an extended period you can see why there would need to be some sense of real progression through the story.
What kept me going through this was the relationship between Ma-rin and So-Joon, I loved Ma-rin's character and thought the extreme bubbliness was actually warranted given she's led a largely lonely life and finally finding someone she loves in this way it's like all that emotion is bursting out of her - but she's no push over, and she's not a light headed character either, she's independent and strong as is demonstrated numerous times when So-Joon asks her to change something (e.g. stop being a photographer at a location) because he's trying to prevent something in the future - but without telling her the reason, she stands her ground because it's just a really unreasonable request in any other circumstance. So-joon played by Lee Je Hoon was another good character, somewhat wooden but then again I also feel that since he's had a largely isolated life that's not unreasonable either.
The bad guy - Kim Yong Jim, played by Baek Hyun Jin was awesome, he had a real presence about him as his character - which starts as a nice guy, gradually devolves into - well, what he ends up as. Seeing his descent was really interesting and portrayed well. It's got that "joker" or "darth vader prequel" feel - the step by step slippery slope as a good guy became the bad guy. His whole mannerism with his facial expressions and general posture though, amazing. Definitely going to watch some more with him to see his range.
Finally, the conclusion - without spoiling it. I left the final two episodes (15/16) until the following day as it was already about 3am by the time I got there... and I'm really glad I did. They're emotional, tense and difficult. Seeing ma-rin go through such a rollercoaster of emotions was painful and joyous and I really think it was her character that drove these last two episodes - So Joon was doing plenty too but what Ma-rin was going through, the strength of character it showed and the emotions she experienced were the highlight for me.
This is an absolute must-watch for me and definitely going on my re-watch list.
Music was the only downside for me, and it may purely be because i was so engaged by the on-screen action that I forgot to pay attention, but nothing stood out for me. I need to dig out the OST on YouTube and have a listen, but certainly for the time being the music didn't make any specific imprint on my memory.
While there are indeed holes in Tomorrow With You, overall I felt the use of Time Travel was very good though.
Following narrowly avoiding a fatal railway accident Yoo So Joon finds that he can now travel through time every time he uses the subway, forwards or backwards depending on the direction that he travels. Interestingly, where many time travel stories only talk about permitting travel to the past, this one declares that one can only travel to the future and back to your "current" time, so if you travel forwards in time 2 years stay there for 4 hours and come back - 4 hours have passed in the current time. It kinda makes sense as a plot device (because time pressures in the "now" also exist in the future, you can't just come back 1 minute after you left and solve the problem) and means that you don't need to bend your mind around some of the more complex problems of time travel.
A key difference between this story and many others i've seen (all others to date in fact) is that the couple get married really early on in the story, so this immediately isn't your regular story. It's got the kind of tone about it that feels like an arranged marriage where the couple start of marrying and then over time develop their feelings and a close relationship.
The story definitely has different gears though, as it progresses it shifts into these different gears and the focus of the story shifts a little, whether it's getting together with Ma-rin in the first place, dealing with an embezzler, solving a murder or - well, the things that happen even later in the story - I felt that the shifts made sense and really gave a feeling of the story progressing. It takes place over a period primarily between 2015 and 2022 (though there are nods back to 2009 when the railway accident occurs), so over such an extended period you can see why there would need to be some sense of real progression through the story.
What kept me going through this was the relationship between Ma-rin and So-Joon, I loved Ma-rin's character and thought the extreme bubbliness was actually warranted given she's led a largely lonely life and finally finding someone she loves in this way it's like all that emotion is bursting out of her - but she's no push over, and she's not a light headed character either, she's independent and strong as is demonstrated numerous times when So-Joon asks her to change something (e.g. stop being a photographer at a location) because he's trying to prevent something in the future - but without telling her the reason, she stands her ground because it's just a really unreasonable request in any other circumstance. So-joon played by Lee Je Hoon was another good character, somewhat wooden but then again I also feel that since he's had a largely isolated life that's not unreasonable either.
The bad guy - Kim Yong Jim, played by Baek Hyun Jin was awesome, he had a real presence about him as his character - which starts as a nice guy, gradually devolves into - well, what he ends up as. Seeing his descent was really interesting and portrayed well. It's got that "joker" or "darth vader prequel" feel - the step by step slippery slope as a good guy became the bad guy. His whole mannerism with his facial expressions and general posture though, amazing. Definitely going to watch some more with him to see his range.
Finally, the conclusion - without spoiling it. I left the final two episodes (15/16) until the following day as it was already about 3am by the time I got there... and I'm really glad I did. They're emotional, tense and difficult. Seeing ma-rin go through such a rollercoaster of emotions was painful and joyous and I really think it was her character that drove these last two episodes - So Joon was doing plenty too but what Ma-rin was going through, the strength of character it showed and the emotions she experienced were the highlight for me.
This is an absolute must-watch for me and definitely going on my re-watch list.
Music was the only downside for me, and it may purely be because i was so engaged by the on-screen action that I forgot to pay attention, but nothing stood out for me. I need to dig out the OST on YouTube and have a listen, but certainly for the time being the music didn't make any specific imprint on my memory.
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