I just finished "Nine" about five seconds ago, and I really can't describe what I feel about this drama. It had everything I wanted and then some. Since the same production team from "Queen In Hyun's Man" was behind this, I feel like I have to draw some comparisons between the two, even though they were worlds apart in everything.
Story: "Nine" is another time-travelling drama, but just like "Queen In Hyun's Man" the rules of time travel were clearly defined from the get go. There wasn't a morally selective wormhole (Faith) or a weird tumor thing (Dr. Jin). The plot was really complex and the writers kept you guessing until the very end. Just like "In Hyun", this drama also went with the idea that some higher power punished you for trying to play god and change the past, and how trying to change them can just hurt you more. I liked how that had less to do with fate coming in and more to do with karma.
The plot itself sounded a bit like a mash-up when I first read it. So we have a time-travelling hero, with terminal brain cancer. And a birth secret. And a murder. And this hero lost everyone due to some past tragedy. That all sounds *really* unoriginal. We already went through the whole time-travel thing last year, and cancer is the illness that everyone has, and don't even get me started on the last two. But somehow, the writers used all of that in a way I really didn't expect. (On a side note, "Nine" felt like a darker, more dramatic version of "In Hyun". That's not to say is was serious all the time, but it was just *more* serious).
Acting: Lee Jin Wook was perfectly casted. I don't think I could ever imagine anyone else playing Park Sun Woo. He really bought the character to life with his emotional depth and dry humor. I loved his character and the easy chemistry he pulled off with all his cast members- whether it was the familial relationship with Jun Noh Min or the romantic chemistry with Jo Yoon He. Jo Yoon He has gotten much better since she was in "Lie to Me" and she was really good at the emotional scenes in "Nine". While she and Lee Jin Wook didn't have steamy chemistry, they had an effortless one instead- sort of like two people who have been together forever. Hyungsik is a surprisingly good actor for his age, and some of his scenes made me *cry*. I'm going to give an honorable mention to Lee Seung Jun because his character was mainly used for comic relief and he wasn't afraid to seem ridiculous on camera.
Music: None of it struck me as original. It sounded like every other OST out there, but it was really well used. The music really helped establish the mood in pivotal scenes in this drama.
Rewatch Value: This drama pulled me from one emotion to the next. Each episode left me a blubbering mess, but that was mostly because I had no idea what was going to happen next. That's why the rewatch value is sort of low.
Overall: This is one of my favorites. It could have had a better ending, but overall I loved it to pieces.
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