6
At least it wasn't as bad as Eun Hui
Whenever you see TV Novel in the title of a drama here, make sure to not have the slightest expectations, it's really helpful. One particular feature of these "TV Novels" dramas is having single digit IQ characters and this drama was no exception to the rule. At the end of the day, it's done purposely because it's easier to digest and provoke. The cast was barely average, however, it's hard to stomach when almost every single character was selfish and trashy without proper character building and motivation. The love square seems to be identical to most of the other TV Novel ones, two good vs two baddies. Speaking of which, the two main lead were such a bad pair with no chemistry. Lee Min Woo looks older than his real age and this only made the age gap much worse.Was this review helpful to you?
Were they even trying?
The entire drama and the main couple's relationship was built entirely around bonding over their each others trauma. Not necessarily bad but it felt it was purposely designed that way to manipulate the viewers' emotions forcefully. This was pretty obvious from the very beginning with how they portrayed and handled the female lead's boyfriend. You would fell for their trap if you were a newcomer. The music choices were odd and mostly cheap, in addition, the dubstep soundtrack was completely unfitting. Anyway, if it wasn't for the forestry scenery then the drama wouldn't have had much to offer. Throwing in two attractive leads together isn't enough anymore.Was this review helpful to you?
Weak
Good concept, nice first episode and a decent selection of cast. However, for a thriller/mystery drama, the writing was unbelievably moronic to the nth degree. Blatantly mocking the viewers every step of the way. Every minute decision was deliberately stirred away from any sense of reason for the least optimal result possible. It even failed to deliver something with its climax, the whole last few episodes were the weakest in general.Was this review helpful to you?
Man!
It had an interesting concept and I liked the first chunk of episodes but that was such a poor storytelling. It irks me to no end how this was utterly wasted after a good start. Also, it doesn't make effort in building the world nor in setting up concrete rules. Logic is completely neglected and everything is made up along the way. The later parts were just not good.Was this review helpful to you?
Hot mess!
The drama's biggest problem is that it's overly ambitious with its concept. It wrote itself in a corner that was impossible to get out from. Which resulted in making the whole thing a convoluted mess. Right from the beginning within 2 episodes, you can tell this had a really poor world building, it didn't even care, shamelessly! The whole thing was unbelievable edgy especially the antagonist, he was the definition of edge lord. Let's just hope that we do NOT get a second season of this mess.Was this review helpful to you?
!
It was doing well and heading in a good direction until they decided to reveal too much and kill the mystery halfway. It also got pretty predictable at that point. Everyone got pretty sloppy and started to slip left and right, also killing any creativity it built earlier. It was a matter of waiting for it to just finish. It also tried so hard to set itself up for a season 2 which is just distasteful. First half was good, second half was bad.Was this review helpful to you?
Decent tear-jerker
It's pretty clear what you are getting yourself into and it delivers just that to a certain extent. I personally found it unnecessarily long. Which is why it took a more melodrama route than a familial/drama route. Which is also why it took some time to get to the point. It does nothing new, however, it remains a decent tear-jerker. That final scene on the motorcycle was a nice touch.Was this review helpful to you?
Yikes!
This is the worst "I fell in love with the organ recipient from my deceased lover" type of drama. They pushed the subject of "cellular memory" way too far, making the girl a clone of the donor. The fact that Kam Woo Sung looks older than his real age and Choi Soo Young looks younger than her real age, made the entire thing worse than it already was. The relationship was too iffy regardless of that. I watched four dramas from the same writer and it seems she has a consistent record in fucking up the later parts of her projects. Good to know.Was this review helpful to you?
Too empty....
One of the most boring love squares ever! There was no need to even have it. It would have been infinitely better to spend the time in developing each couple individually since Bo Ra & Dae Ro were the weakest part in the drama. Speaking of which, you can't even count Bo Ra & Dae Ro as main characters, they are more like support characters throughout the entire run. Meanwhile Ah Ri and Joon Soo are the real leads. Speaking of characters, the adults' story was dull and uneventful. The same thing can be said about the other side stories. The drama just feels too empty. Too much time was wasted on Ah Ri's life that there wasn't any room for any development elsewhere. I wanted to see real development between the step sisters. Anyway, the drama had a decent start but there are just too many shortcomings.Was this review helpful to you?
MY EARS!!
Things were kinda fine until the events started to loop endlessly in a corporate setting. This is exactly how most of these daily dramas die and wither away. This drama is manufactured specifically to trigger the viewers by having constant intense shouting with every other sentence, boosted OST playing every 2 seconds to accompany the shouting, unbearable archetypes like the intense hatred and favoritism of the stepmother for one daughters over the other, and the stupid amnesia. The male lead character became absolutely dull after he had the accident, in fact, the entire drama turned for the worse after that.Was this review helpful to you?
Uhh...
Oh god! It's an amnesia drama, the most intense kind too. It feels like the humans who worked on this dram come from an alternate reality or a parallel universe. This drama by far had the highest concentration of "buffoonery" in any makjang out there. Zero chill, ridiculous over the top and a "bruh moment" every other scene. All in all, not in a good way because this is the only thing the drama had going on for it, that is to throw as much makjang elements as fast as possible. The writer/director were speed running any% no-loot the human brain tolerance to "bullshit receptivity". Anyway, wouldn't recommend.Was this review helpful to you?
NAH.....
The drama must have a big identity crises since it couldn't decide between being a family drama or makjang, constantly switching even within the same episode. Right from the beginning, EPISODE 1, when one of the family members took picture of Ji Na's necklace and, for absolutely no logical reason, put it on the internet, I could already smell the fuming hot garbage the writers are about to create. Guess what? I was 100% correct. This drama tips heavily on the baboonish side of the makjang scale.Although Uhm Jung Hwa did a great job, but it's impossible for me to view her as an evil character. I didn't like how she suddenly became evil for no reason from episode 12. We were initially presented by a strong independent Yoo Ji Na (Uhm Jung Hwa) but 15-20 episodes later the writers made her turn to a bag of dirt and completely ruined any build up she had.
The drama had a strange pacing, it changes weirdly every handful of episodes with the biggest change came from switch between episodes 30 & 31 which created a big gap and disconnect in the story. Speaking of switching and change, I think the switch of the female lead ruined the drama.
Jang Hee Jin is absolutely a great actress but she just didn't fit well in this case. They even went on to replace/recreate all of the flashback scenes.
Another form of change/switching came with the love interest which shamelessly switched three times. It was straight up disgusting watching Hae Dang being with one man while sobbing/begging/crying/caring/dreaming/lusting/bitching/loving/chasing/pitying/thirsting/craving/running around for another man. Despicable and uncomfortable to watch! On the other spectrum, Jung Hae Jin was absolutely the only "good" part about this drama and nothing else.
After being the nastiest humans ever to walk the earth, suddenly everyone became angelic and have the highest morale of any other human for the ending. Great writing! It feels like their budget was small, it was mostly filmed indoor between 2-3 family houses with very limited number of outdoor scenes. I feel sorry for this cast to be involved in this atrocious project. The drama that followed it after finishing serializing "Man in the Kitchen (2017)" was much better than this. Can't recommend this, barely 3/10 for the cast's sake.
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Amazing...
I absolutely love this director, it's been 10 years since his last project, I really hope he comes back to direct a modern drama. Yang Dong Geun and this director are the perfect match. I'mma say the obvious, they don't make them like this anymore. This is the earliest performance I've seen from Gong Hyo Jin so far and it's amazing, vibrant and full of life. The OST was straight up a certified banger! It's had been 1 eternity since I rated a drama 8.5 and it's well deserved.Was this review helpful to you?
Great love story.
What's love? This is a mature story about people falling out of love, searching for love and are afraid of love. Great character writing and smooth exchange of dialogue. The subtle comedy was done wonderfully. The drama had a unique sense of direction at times where it expands beyond the conventional realm of drama, it even steps into film territory briefly with film-like shot compositions and witty dialogue. This is the type of drama where whether the couple came back together or not is irrelevant, their love story is what made it worth it. The drama isn't perfect by any means, but it succeed in delivering a well made package. Although I wish if they merged Mi Yeon and Yoo Kyung into one character/story instead of giving each a section in the drama.Lee Ha Na, this is her first acting role in drama or film and she absolutely nailed her performance. She even outshone Son Ye Jin every now and then. I find her, as an actress, is better fit in casual roles like this one over action ones like in "Voice". It would be nice if Voice would just end with season 5 and Lee Ha Na would move to bigger and better projects.
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To polish a turd
They tried to sprinkle in some fake scripted bland romance in the beginning but they forgot to add the chemistry to the mix and develop it gradually, so it ended up being too delayed to care about. The same thing can be said about the mystery once it dwindled, like it lost its mojo in a heartbeat. The trend continued until the end without ever recovering. To put it simply, the story was dead on arrival from all angles and salvaging it was near impossible. As if that wasn't enough, we had to endure it for 18 episodes. Which leaves us with the saddest part, the cast, specifically the leads. What a fine collection of disappointing soulless performances. I guess FL was kinda passable to a certain degree but the other trio boys were a lost cause.Was this review helpful to you?
