Few Scary Scenes, Story Disappointed

WHAT I LIKED:
-> Acting: This is probably the best part of the movie. Sung Dong Il delivers horror very well in this film. His scene in Hyun Joo's bedroom scared me, not just because of the jump scare music but because he had this creepy expression on. Other actors did equally well. Choi Myung Goo is a seasoned actress and did her breakfast scene extremely well. She made my skin crawl. I've seen Jo Yi Hyun in Hospital Playlist and My Country, she's done well here though her character wasn't very demanding. Kim Kang Hoon is on a roll, with Mr. Sunshine, When the Camellia Blooms and this movie as well.

-> Cinematography: The scenes were shot very well. The CGI was not excellent, but not subpar either. The costumes and props were all on point.

WHAT I DIDN'T LIKE:
-> Plot: The story itself was a good idea for a horror film, but there were so many plot-holes and unexplained happenings that I was just turned off and this is the reason for my low rating. To think that the demon can *SPOILERS AHEAD* not only shapeshift into other humans, but can also possess them, levitate objects, hover, spew blood, make people turn onto each other and so much more. It's basically a variety of demons and poltergeists rolled into one. The demon can also handle crosses and can apparently mimic an exorcism, reciting Latin verses without flinching. But the later on he died on a cross.... huh. Our experienced priest, samchon a.k.a. Jong-Su thinks that the elder daughter is the demon, while in actuality he has been actively going round pretending to be each member of the family at will. I didn't get why he would make such a statement because obviously the demon could just go take someone else's shape. Which it did! The arrival of the other priests from Manila was such a stupid thing, since all they did was die like flies. The fact that Jong Su would end up doing the exorcism was predictable. The BIGGEST HOLE in this movie was the fact that the demon pretty much roasted a daughter alive in the basement and NO ONE CARED. No one looked for her, no one missed her, and when they discovered her they did not look much shocked. The final hug scene between the family was weird because the mom never asked 'hey where's my other daughter btw?'
-> CGI: There were a few moments where it was done badly, like the cracks on the car after the crows hit it, and Jong Su's weird mask-like face after he was possessed. It was just a turn off to look at.

->Beginning and Ending: The exorcism was predictable, down to the death. It was boring. There's a reason why everyone says 'show, not tell'. The reasons why the family decides to move into a new house are shoved into a few dialogues in the car. I wanted to be shown how Jung Su's actions had bothered each of the family member. It could have been just a few flashbacks and it would be enough. The last ten minutes of the movie were so disappointing. It was so predictable and boring. I wish they had stuck to the idea of a spirit that can change and mimic faces and carried that throughout, instead of having a possessed girl jumping around, vomiting blood, laughing like mad in your face. Please, enough with the cliches.

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Somehow I feel a fleeting nostalgia when I see the ending credits in the last episode, the behind the scene pictures of the staff with the actors, and the group photo in the end. A lot of hard work went into this drama, and it shows, but I wish that it had not disappointed me with the unsatisfactory plot. In my opinion, the drama went a bit downhill after Episode 11 i.e. after the first strife. I felt like the rest of the story was just an add-on or filler. There was a lot of angst, a lot of swords running straight through people and then failing to kill, a lot of unnecessary sub-plots like that of Hui Jae and Bang Gan. While the acting of the main leads, and almost all the secondary actors was amazing, I felt Se Jong's portrayal of Hwi was lacking; Hwi didn't look broken when he heard from Seon Ho that his sister was dead, he continued to fight in the army while knowing he didn't have a sister to go back to. Hwi's tactical brilliance and his insight in predicting the moves of his opponents didn't sit well with me, considering we've never seen Hwi as a tactical genius in the past, we've only seen his brilliance with weapons like the bow and the sword. Hwi continued to have this innocent look in his eye, despite the mountain of sorrow he's buried under. He didn't lose his humanity, he didn't become cruel or hopeless, and for some reason I couldn't understand that. I also felt like there was no chemistry between Hui Jae and Hwi, and I skipped almost all of their scenes together. However there are moments I enjoyed the show, especially the scenes with Jang Hyuk. The fault is not in the actors, but how the characters and story is written. The actors did a superb job with what they were given. Hats off to Woo Do Hwan for really shining forth with his facial expressions and dialogue delivery.

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Rarely does a movie move me to tears like this one dead. It perfectly encapsulates the horrors of the Korean War as felt by the innocent civilians of the North, and how those horrors continued to shadow over the rest of those victims' lives. The movie is titled so because the main character Yoon Duk Soo's entire lifespan becomes on large ode to his father and his last words to him as a boy. The movie in that sense captures the concept of filial piety and absolute dedication that Asian cultures typically have toward their parents and family members. I do hate the fact that Duk Soo never really gives himself any thought, and selflessly plods on, job after dangerous job, doing perhaps more as a substitute father than what his real father would have done for the family. But that is how his trauma and guilt manifests itself. He was a boy then and he had been given such a big responsibility at such a young age. It was never his fault that Maksoon slipped and was lost. This is a great movie to watch if you really want to cry.

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Great to watch during a pandemic actually

I loved how short and meaningful this was. It is just a story of three youths becoming each others' page turners, but therein lies the true worth of the story. Each character uplifts the other and makes them shine in a different way. The drama depicts the difficulties youth face in choosing what they want to be in the future, in dealing with parental and peer pressure, bullying and yearning after approval from others. There are a couple things you will have to overlook and chalk off as fantasies of dramaland if you really want to enjoy this; things like Yoo Seul's sudden blindness after a car accident, and Cha Sik's quickly improving talents in piano. I'll also admit that Kim So Hyun wasn't the best in portraying a blind character, considering I've seen D.O do it in My Annoying Brother and So Hyun can't even hold a candle to that performance. She often looks up right into the eyes of another character while speaking to them, which made it very hard to believe that she was blind.

Nonetheless, the music is amazing of course, so is the message behind the story and the general pacing of the drama. i would give it a go if you're in a drama slump or stressed with the current global situation.

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This is a surprisingly solid watch, despite the fact that after episode 8 I started watching most of the episodes in 2x speed. I really liked this. It was short, sweet, light with a nice message (you need to have someone with whom you can talk about your problems, and you need to have a proper conversation to connect with people and clear misunderstandings). I don't know why some people complained about the last episode being too jarring. True, the last episode seemed a little rushed to wrap up the series, and yes it's a happy ever after ending but I think given that the whole series is very light and lacking in angst, that a tragic ending would have disappointed us all. The characters did a great job, and while I was skeptical of Hwang Jung Eum's acting, this character has suited her really well. She's acting her age, and has the right attitude to fit the character.

I think my main problem with the series was the colossal pile of nonsense that the main villain Won Hyung is. I mean, he's just salty because his father didn't pay him attention, so he murdered, betrayed his best fried, plotted treason, and escaped from hell to wreak more havoc? That's a bit of an overkill, right?

Regardless, this one really surprised me with how much I liked it. I definitely recommend it if you want to take your mind off of any tensions in your life.

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Very rarely do I finish a drama and immediately feel a longing and yearning for it, as if a dear friend has departed. I have just finished watching this drama and I am filled to the brim with this feeling. Words cannot explain how this drama conquered my heart and colored it with so many emotions. This is one of those dramas that live up to the hype and go above and beyond. There are plenty of other reviews here on MDL that word it better than I ever could, and I hope they manage to convince you to give this one a try. Don't be daunted by the 54 episodes, the political tag, or the numerous characters. I guarantee you that in just three or four episodes, you will be able to follow the characters and the story easily. I used the help of a recap blog to memorize character names and faces, as well as a character map I found on Google Images. That little effort is worth it, because this drama is an experience you must undergo. It is truly phenomenal. I enjoyed every minute of this drama. I fell in love with Su Ge-Ge and Fei Liu's friendship, with General Meng's cute facial expressions, with Nihuang's grace and undying love, with Jinyang's sense of justice, and even Gao Zhan's wise, caring presence. I want to watch this all over again!

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I'm rather surprised that this drama did not have any boring bits for me, and that it was actually a solid watch. The drama focuses more on the plot and the mystery, rather than any character growth, though there is a certain complexity to some characters. I like that the drama did not delve deep into too many things, and only lightly touched issues like stalking, mental health, bullying, cheating, depression, dealing with death etc. The drama continued to keep its focus on the central mystery i.e. the fact that one by one, the people who have undergone 'reset' are dying.
I think that the biggest flaw in the drama is the fact that it does not provide any plausible explanation for the 'reset', the very backbone of the drama itself. I find it rather stupid that you can just drive down a certain route, off a cliff and magically end up exactly one year in the past with your memories of the future intact. At one point the drama showed Miss Shin ingesting a mysterious liquid before reset but that never came up again. The main villains clearly lacked motive. They just seemed to be doing bad things because they were bored.
Despite these annoyances, I did like the drama. It isn't super amazing, but it's pretty good.

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I was pleasantly surprised by how entertaining this was, despite my prior reservations that it would be nothing more than light fluff, lacking any serious themes. The drama has a sweet romance, an interesting story and some deep messages regarding friendship, sportsmanship, mental health, sports injuries, the importance of truth in journalism, the dangers of cyber-bullying, and the misunderstandings that can swallow up love and leave behind pain.

The acting was superb, and I loved the humor as well. Li Yubing's facial expressions were everything! I found myself chuckling quite a few times. Tang Xue's personality needed some getting used to, but I loved the little moments of growth and maturity she showed. Her friendship with her roommates and Little Liao was adorable. I loved every moment they showed of speed skating, figure skating and ice hockey. The cinematography and the filming was beautifully seamless. I especially loved Li Yubing's interactions with his coach. They were so endearing.

There were a few things which bothered me though. I did not like the interactions between Zhou Ran and Bian Cheng at all and I found their motives for acting they way they did so weak that it seemed just a waste of time to pay attention to them. Bian Cheng was just a hot mess, and his facial expressions did not convey his feelings well enough. His obsession with Tang Xue was just cringey to watch, and Zhou Ran was such a trope that it was hard to take her seriously in any way. There was absolutely no need for the ML and FL to have love triangles. I was also put off by Yu Yan's unhealthy attachment to Tang Xue which no one saw fit to correct. Li Yubing getting beaten up by the opposing team's goons was expected and a little boring. The drama did lose its momentum towards the second half, but not enough to make it entirely boring.

Overall, this was a solid watch.

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This actually started out amazing. The story was very interesting, though not scary, and it quickly became clear who the main characters were up against. By the time that Jin Hee was kidnapped, the drama went downhill really fast, to the point that I didn't want to watch the rest of the episodes and was not curious about the ending at all. Jin Hee and her husband don't act like a married couple, but more like distant acquaintances who just happen to share an apartment. He wasn't losing his mind when he heard that his wife was kidnapped.
The kidnappers had been doing this whole kidnap-beat-kill routine for a while, but they magically forgot to take away Jin Hee's bag which contained her cell-phone with the tracking app. That was so outrageous that it just put me off everything. The kidnappers kill everyone they kidnap but they let the private investigator go for some reason?? And didn't anticipate that he'd go and rat them out to the police?
Shaman Jin Kyung went down very easily, for a powerful shaman. The whole crumpled, twisted body thing was creepy the first time but it just made me bored the second time. Sung Dong Il did a good job in the first half of the show, but somehow I just couldn't continue to see him as an evil guy towards the end. And what is up with that end? All that So Jin can do is curse and kill folk, so how the heck did she manage to somehow unite the Inugami in her own body and drag it out of the Forest app? I don't even know what happened in the last episode and I am not the least bit curious.
I also wonder how Chairman could kill people after looking at their picture once, but he didn't do it immediately with So Jin? Why does he lose his energy when he does it? how come his power is different from So Jin's?
Too many potholes and such a lost potential. The acting was good though.

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This actually turned out way better than my expectations. This is not a chase thriller, as some might be misled by the synopsis. This drama portrays what happens after a crime is committed, and what happens before it; how people live with the traumatizing experience of having a loved one murdered, and what leads people to commit such murders. This drama explores all kinds of relationships; the unusual and unexpected, the toxic and painful, as well as the healing and blossoming ones. It shows how human actions save us and doom us, and human choices make all the difference.

I utterly loved the acting, the characters, the pacing and the story itself. I watched most of this without speeding it up, which is really saying something. There are no painful cliffhangers, but each episode still compels you to watch the next and keep watching. There are very few cliches and pretty much no product placement. I thoroughly enjoyed this drama and recommend it to everyone.

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I only finished the last 3 episodes at 2X speed mainly because I was too in love with Yang Se Jong's acting in this drama. That, and the two main clone characters were the only reason I continued to watch a drama which rapidly deteriorated towards the second half, after a promising beginning. I don't know how he did it, but Yang Se Jong beautifully managed to play three roles with their distinct personalities and it was so majestic to watch. You could immediately tell which one was Sung Joon, which was Sung Hoon and Dr. Lee (and it's not because of the different hairstyles.) I could write so much on his acting skills here but I'll keep it short.
Lee Sung Hoon's pain, anger, disappointment, fear and his loneliness were all palpable and moving. I felt for him right from the beginning, even when he was presented as a villain, because I could tell there was something more behind his anger and malice.
Let me highlight my main problems with this drama:

BLAND CHARACTERS:
The other characters aside from the clones were unfortunately too bland, annoying or unlikable. I could not stand Prosecutor Choi's creepy smile (which was the only expression she had by the way) and ended up speeding past her scenes. I couldn't feel anything for Detective Jang or Soo Yeon. The actually villains were just greedy, selfish people without any other side to them. It was boring to watch other characters except the clones.
GLARING PLOT HOLES:
I'm always after a well-developed plot so this was very painful. There were too many questions I was left with. The sheer amount of times a character got hit by a speeding vehicle was ridiculous!
Why was there a need to create two clones of Dr. Lee?
Why does one clone have all of Dr. Lee’s memories but not the other?
What exactly did Sung Hoon do to Sung Joon that he lost all of his memories? Why doesn't the latter even care about it?
What the heck is wrong with prosecutor Choi? She is heartless and imo the real villain in the drama.
Why didn’t the researchers try to retrieve Dr. Lee's organs right after they were stolen?
Why are human organs treated like candy you can just steal from one another?
Why wasn’t there better security at the lab (back in 92) considering it was illegal experimentation? How were they able to casually take out all the organs of a top doctor and walk out with them? No, but how is it that Dr. Lee’s organs did not reject the bodies of the new recipients?
The "vaccine" seems to be some all-purpose miracle cure that can cure all kinds of cancer, tumors, ageing organs and so forth.
Characters keep fake dying and returning back to life.
What kind of security team (at the research lab) doesn’t have guns or any other weapon?
Dr. Han Yu Ra always being overseas during critical times e.g. daughter’s death and husband’s death. She’s pretty clueless about a lot of things.
Mi Rae stopped being curious about her mother at one point and doesn’t seem much bothered that her mother was involved in illegal experiments on convicts or kept such huge secrets from her.
Mi Rae is a reporter but has also studied medicine, and doesn't look like she's playing the part of either? I mean, are reporters usually this naive, extremely trusting and kind?
The chairman is selfish and greedy, yet his surprised that his daughter is selfish too? That was messed up.
Detective Deuk Cheon got shot in the gut but is already up and walking in the next episode.
The last few episodes were so rushed that I feel angry Sung Hoon didn't get more time to work out his feelings. Dang.
Sung Joon is totally fine in the last episode and it's not even clear whether he got the bone marrow vaccine or not? At least insert a dialogue to make it clear.

In short, don't watch it if you're looking for an action thriller with a good plot. The drama had little to no cliffhangers in the second half and I had to drag myself to click the next episode.

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WHAT I LIKED: The acting was amazing. The characters are all lovable, especially all the ones excluding the main couple. The color palette was so pleasing to the eye, as well as the furnishings, the clothes, the ambience was all fitting to the story and a joy to look at. I loved everything involving books, as a book lover myself. I loved the interactions between the founding members of Gyeoroo, especially Eun Ho and the President. I also loved the sisterhood between Ms. Go, Ms. Seo and Kang Dan-i. That was my favorite part of the entire drama.

WHAT I DIDN'T LIKE: The plot weakened towards the second half of the drama. Gyeoroo allowed Kang Dan-i to resign for something that wasn't even her fault in the end, and was even on the verge of firing her, and then she was referred to a small, shady publishing company for who knows what reason (I can't believe Ms. Go would do that!) , then rehired to Gyeoroo when the President was reminded that they have a "special recruitment policy". I mean what?? Couldn't you think of that right after she'd resigned and y'all were missing her?

Kang Dan-i never speaks of her past life as married woman, and after one scene of her videocalling her daughter on the phone, there is no mention of the daughter again. I found it very disturbing, considering that she laments her divorcee and mom status when thinking about dating again. The story focuses solely on her struggles to reenter the workforce, and her experiences as a wife and mother do not factor in at all in her growth. I get that the husband was an utter jerk and deserved a nice beating, but a complete omission of that aspect of her life didn't sit well with me.

I found Eun Ho's character and his relationship with Kang Dan-i hard to swallow, and not just because of a meh chemistry. Eun Ho is that perfect man that shouldn't even exist in kdramaland; rich, handsome editor, professor and successful writer who is down-to-earth, responsible, friendly, kind, and sensitive, who has suffered a one-sided love for his noona for twenty years, is ready to buy expensive clothes for her, furnish a room in his house for her, will wash dishes for her and cook food for her, help her here and there at her job at Gyeoroo, is ready to stand up for her whenever possible, and will rush to her when she's hurting (Except when he didn't keep in touch with her enough to know she had been divorced a year ago and was pretty much homeless?) What's more is that Dan-i just seems to take and take and give back very little. Sure she saved him from an accident when he was little, and she helped him out with some problems involving his parents a long time ago, but for a woman who wants to write her own story and not be a Cinderella, she does get rescued by him in the first few episodes. She's older than him but at times he was the mature person between the two, especially when it came to expressing love.

Both Dan-i and Eun Ho (as individuals) seem too nice to be believable. I did like her interactions with Ji Seo Jun, and of course I loved the dog! I think that the Seo Jun - Hye Rin pair seemed just a tad forced in the last episode.

The only thing that kept me going was the support characters and their hilarious interactions.

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I'm going to keep this short (since other people have said it better); if you're looking for a thoroughly entertaining historical drama with great acting and plot, this is the one for you. Don't let the length of the drama keep you away. Yoo Ah In has done a phenomenal job in this. He perfectly portrayed Yi Bang Won's passion, his indignation, his wounded heart, his clever mind, and so much more. He has complete mastery over facial expressions. It was so satisfactory to watch. Other male leads i.e. 'flying dragons' are just as amazing.
The only thing I didn't like was Lee Sung Kyung's poor acting which ruined everything that had to do with Boon Yi for me. Lee Sung Kyung does not know how to use her eyebrows or her mouth to express her emotions and it is truly a shame. I don't know if she's improved later in her career but her acting in this drama wasn't it. I did not like Boon Yi's pairing with Bang Won as there was no chemistry there at all, but I'm still glad that romance was never the center of the drama.

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