hgs47
This review may contain spoilers
So much potential, but utterly wasted by trying to do too much
If there is one phrase to describe the show, it would be "wasted potential". Honestly, up until episode 12 or 13, i was planning to give the show a solid 9/10. The writing crew and director clearly knew how to tug on the audience heart strings and watching Hyunwoo and Haein come to terms with the very real possibility of Haein dying just as they finally reconcile brought tears to my eyes. Kim Soo-Hyun and Kim Ji-won have such amazing chemistry and Kim Soo-Hyun continues to prove he is one of the best actors at subtly showing how the character is feeling with microexpressions.
BUT. There is a MASSIVE but here. The show throws any potential out the window the second we hit episode 14. For reasons that I can't even begin to guess at, the writer team seems absolutely married to keeping the character of Yoon Eung-Seung involved until the very end. Up until episode 14, it felt like he was an omnipresent threat lurking in the background. He gave stakes to the relationship between Hyunwoo and Haein, because it meant Hyunwoo didn't have infinite time to win back Haein. If he waited too long or screwed up too many times, she would fall for Eung-Seung. But once it became clear the Haein will always choose Hyunwoo every time, the bit got old. MASSIVE spoilers head - having a murder framed on Hyunwoo, and then sending him to the hospital TWICE after he gets out of prison in the span of two episodes was just too much. We spend more time trying to unspin the various webs of lies that Eung-Seung has spun for Hae-in and dealing with the drama of the murder case and all the "random" accident Hyunwoo has at Eung-Seung's hands that the relationship between Hyunwoo and Haein is left to the side. It ends up being very hastily cleaned up at the end of episode 16 and you can feel how rushed it was. The writing team needed to realize that once you wipe a character's memory, it becomes incredibly important to have them build back those memories over a decent time span so the audience can experience the highs and lows of how confusing and terrifying it is to not even know who you are. But instead, because of this weird Eung-Seung second plot, Hae-in basically magically recovers most of her memory after reading her journal and a few random interactions with Hyunwoo.
And just to put the "missed or mishandled plot hooks" cherry on top of this cake, there is an entire subplot about how the traumatic event that started their spiral into divorce was due to a miscarriage, and it's never addressed. Both characters independently seem to want to address the hurtful things they did or said to cope, but not once do they have a face-to-face conversation about it. It doesn't help that by the end, Hae-in doesn't even remember what she did because of the stupid memory loss plot line.
TL;DR - fantastic first 2/3rds of a series, only for it to come crashing into a brick wall right at the finish line. It truly feels like had they just rewritten the final 3 episodes to avoid Eung-Seung, the show would have been an easy 9 or 10 out of 10.
BUT. There is a MASSIVE but here. The show throws any potential out the window the second we hit episode 14. For reasons that I can't even begin to guess at, the writer team seems absolutely married to keeping the character of Yoon Eung-Seung involved until the very end. Up until episode 14, it felt like he was an omnipresent threat lurking in the background. He gave stakes to the relationship between Hyunwoo and Haein, because it meant Hyunwoo didn't have infinite time to win back Haein. If he waited too long or screwed up too many times, she would fall for Eung-Seung. But once it became clear the Haein will always choose Hyunwoo every time, the bit got old. MASSIVE spoilers head - having a murder framed on Hyunwoo, and then sending him to the hospital TWICE after he gets out of prison in the span of two episodes was just too much. We spend more time trying to unspin the various webs of lies that Eung-Seung has spun for Hae-in and dealing with the drama of the murder case and all the "random" accident Hyunwoo has at Eung-Seung's hands that the relationship between Hyunwoo and Haein is left to the side. It ends up being very hastily cleaned up at the end of episode 16 and you can feel how rushed it was. The writing team needed to realize that once you wipe a character's memory, it becomes incredibly important to have them build back those memories over a decent time span so the audience can experience the highs and lows of how confusing and terrifying it is to not even know who you are. But instead, because of this weird Eung-Seung second plot, Hae-in basically magically recovers most of her memory after reading her journal and a few random interactions with Hyunwoo.
And just to put the "missed or mishandled plot hooks" cherry on top of this cake, there is an entire subplot about how the traumatic event that started their spiral into divorce was due to a miscarriage, and it's never addressed. Both characters independently seem to want to address the hurtful things they did or said to cope, but not once do they have a face-to-face conversation about it. It doesn't help that by the end, Hae-in doesn't even remember what she did because of the stupid memory loss plot line.
TL;DR - fantastic first 2/3rds of a series, only for it to come crashing into a brick wall right at the finish line. It truly feels like had they just rewritten the final 3 episodes to avoid Eung-Seung, the show would have been an easy 9 or 10 out of 10.
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