Just finished watching this and I have got to say my thoughts are mixed. The story follows the trend of psychological disorders and in kdrama world maybe brings something "new" since I have only seen dramas about con men/women, switched bodies, but never on multiple personalities. This could look innovative, but it is something that on USA or UK television has been used and used, so the story was nothing new to me. The general plot is your usual kdrama plot: rich chaebol family with a secret, conspiracy, past wounds, etc. When it started off like this, I expected it to be executed in a certain way and was excited, but moving forward despite my curiosity to find out more, I was not satisfied and felt like something was missing. This is because:
1) It may sound absurd, but for my taste I love when there is one or more evil characters on a drama - they make things more fun and the main leads' reunion at the end more earned. This didn't happen over here. We had great material: the cold halmeoni, the calculating uncle and Do Hyun's mom... not to mention Cha Ki Joon (the cousin) or Chae Yeon. Every time one of them appeared on screen, I expected them to make a smart move and surprise me, but all they did was utter the wrong words. Seriously, I REALLY expected some serious threats to make the whole situation more anxious and interesting! This was a big let down. Maybe as a melo and makjang fan who has probably seen a lot of things whil pure evil enemies, was waiting for something more. Ok, but this can be forgiven because what is important here, is the DID and the road to recovery. Let's say the seemigly "bad people" including Do Hyun's father were only a backstory to that.
2) There were too many flashbacks and at some point it was confusing. Ok that they could help us viewers understand the backstory more, but do not let the footage be longer than 5 minutes! On the last episodes it was really TOO long, and could have been told through another telling method. In my opinion, a shorter FB gives a mysterious tone to the narration and makes the audience would want to look out for more. The FB's almost told everything we still needed to know, dragging the whole thing.
3) And this brings me to point 3. I honestly felt that up from episode 15 to 20, the writer just wrote stuff to "fill" the episodes, since they had them. I felt like 16 episodes would have sufficed. This is why the long flashbacks and long scenes with the main leads with basically 5 minutes or less of screentime for the secondary characters that as I wrote above, could have been given more 'evil' things to plot, instead of just walking away emotionless as they did. I don't like stories that drag out too much.
4) This may sound silly, but I was REALLY disappointed by the romantic part. I had watched Ji Sung and HJE in "Secret Love" and loved them because they portrayed a sweet yet bitter kind of romance. Here the romance was also messed up because of the personalities and the "triangle" between Do Hyun, Se Gi, and Ri Jin (quadrangle if we also add Ri On or pentagon with Chae Yeon). Don't get me wrong, I think they had the chemistry but somehow, when they kissed they seemed uncomfortable. Their kisses were just too simple and lasted FOOOOOREVER, I felt like sighing everytime. Bear with me, but if they are potraying something that has romance in it, to make me feel the whole thing, the romantic part has to be done in a way that I could enjoy, and here it was partially done so I feel a bit let down.
5) And maybe last point. I think the writer focused too much on the psychological part and the overcoming of the past. Like I said above, the romance is important when I watch something. If the ulterior plot besides the romance is not played in a way where it compensates for the lack of it, then even if it's well written like in this case, it leaves me with nothing much but a story about things I have studied in school (yeah, I was a psychology student). Had it been more evil touches and conspiration, I would have been more forgiving on this part. But since it didn't happen, I can just say I really appreciate how the writer explained this disorder and was creative about the personalities and what happens to people who suffer of DID, I can just compliment him/her on this aspect.
Finally let's talk about the cast and acting. I have already mentioned that I first saw Ji Sung and Hwang Jung Eum on "Secret" two years ago. They did not disappoint me. I find both of them good actors, JS was really good at playing seven different personalities - it really felt he was a different person each time. HJE was also good but when she shouted I didn't like it. They were good together, you could tell there was already a friendship between them, but I felt that one of them (maybe JS) was restraining themselves while acting. Maybe I'm wrong, but that's how I perceived it. Nothing to say to the other actors, they were ok and no one stood out more for me to comment about them.
Musically speaking, the only song that remained in my head is the main one with the rapper and the female voice. It is a good song with nice lyrics about the drama, and I'm surely not going to forget it soon. The other songs were ok.
This being said, I will give the whole drama a 7.5/8. Even if I complained, didn't mean I haven't enjoyed the whole thing... ;) I think it is worth the watch.
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