plot = 9
writing/development = 5
directing = 10
mystery/killer = 1

the theme of this drama was great, the the 2 (or more) parallel worlds and the butterfly effects that ensue from the smallest of interactions, each choice and the aftermath and the way the worlds were different were really clever.
the acting from the 2 mains was amazing, I'm not a big fan of Yoon Shi Yoon's previous projects but I could see the great improvement and he finally broke away from his type castings.
I've been a fan of Kyung Soo Jin for a while and I'm glad she finally got a main main for well made drama.
the "killer vibes" were way too obvious and their "revelation" was too shallow and uninteresting.

at some points I thought this drama should've been longer, the "romance" and chemistry between brown DW and blue SK made 0 sense, well maybe it made 1% sense in the form that "I'll love and protect every you ever existed" and in some ways the miserable life blue SK lived through made brown DW have a bigger sense of "prince complex, ie I need to save you"
I wish he didn't have romantic feelings for brown SK, or I wish they gave us more eps so brown DW and Blue SK actually bonded beyond "I loved you in another world"

and in some ways with the last ep, that was blue SK finding brown DW, so like why didn't he look/find the "white" SK? what made blue SK special? since white DW was a "higher up -can't think of a title ;p" would white SK also be "happy" and well established and independent for brown DW to feel useless around?

so in some ways both brown DW and blue SK were the most miserable forms of themselves and they found "comfort" in each other but what about brown SK? was she nothing? so basically the whole doppelganger love was a fail.


now for the killer vibes it took too long for them to be literally the 1st person one suspects but that ending ep where the mom went through 4 worlds and had to suffer through loosing her son, plus killing her own counterparts was actually really clever I wish they focused more on that.

basically this is one of those "got a 12ep deal because they didn't know how to plan out their plot"..
the directing was beautiful, clever and really well done. and the ost was nice but I feel like they only had 1 song that was overused, and I never rewatch stuff ;D

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8.6? 8.9?

the story was great but there was something missing.. the process was really lacking, it didn't need 16 eps.. like the overall main mystery happens in the first 2 eps and is resolved in the last 2.5 eps.. though the side plots were not bad, I enjoyed a few and they made the younger side characters shine...
but tbh I wasn't focusing most of the time, and some things went by without even leaving an impression on me. like I didn't focus on the older cast, specifically the parents and that prosecutor who was so cold she was emotionless..

also, I felt like they over complicated things, like they didn't really have a "is he the killer or is she the killer" moments -they didn't have too many (or any) solid suspects- but then again, how did it take them so long to think "aha, this might be the killer"...
and those 3 always had their brain storming sessions, but like the mystery wasn't that complicated, I honestly don't know what they wasted their time on...

I don't know, I've been in a crime/thriller slump lately. all writers think they are too smart, and some make me believe it for a while, but then I'm not fully engaged with the story.. though I really enjoyed the ending, it had a balance between open ending and conclusion..
overall I liked the "main" actors, I'll keep my eye on them.. also the ost was nice...



my rewatch values are either a 1 or a 10 so ;)

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for a movie that's only 1 hour and a half long, this wasn't bad, but it might've needed a little more emotional substance. they didn't stress enough how "bad" the relationship between Yi Na and her dad was, tbh it just felt like common sadness, and the dad was a workaholic who tried to make excuses to leave his daughter for a couple of months because he didn't know how to deal with the loss of his wife, and basically they just needed therapy not a new house ;)
anyway it took them a few days or less for Yi Na to act "weirdly" and a few days later she went missing, so there was not much buildup.

I personally used to be a scardy cat and I don't know if I'm just older now or movies lost their fear factor, but this was heartbreaking rather than scary. especially with the background story of what started it all.

and speaking of how it all started it felt quite basic, plus it was resolved very simply and it didn't need the dramatic fight scenes.

and they only spent a few seconds on the other kids but I think that'd have been the breaking point for them, I honestly teared up on that subject but then it was suddenly over.

I also feel like they could've built a beautiful bromance and connection, tbh Kyung Hoon came in the picture, said 1 thing about why he's doing this and boom they were working and solving what took him 10 or so years to solve. there was no anticipation, no foundation.

overall the acting was great and I'm looking forward to what Yi Na comes out with next, that precious baby is really talented~

ps I never rewatch stuff ;)

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Better off as a non fantasy family makjang

Before saying I hated the reborn part -which technically should be reawaken cuz he was 10 :) - I'll mention the good parts

I love love love sungminie ahjussi's acting, and I loved his character. Maybe he looked like a villain, but he was just a business man starting from scratch and also a head of a kiss*ss family. The poor guy had to deal with new business ideas in a time it was thought crazy and risky while also having money hungry family that only wanted to please him for his inheritance.
But, lol that was a long introduction, but he once he found his "reawakened" grandson, he found his match, his partner in crazy ideas and that was the most beautiful part for me
Also sungminie ahjussi's acting was 100000000x on point
That elevator scene and his fully devastated face will hunt me forever ♡
From what I gathered, he didn't have dementia in the novel, and this is the 3rd time sungminie ahjussi does it, so I think they hit the jackpot cuz each time is different yet still heartbreaking


Another good thing for me was the 80s/90s business vibe, everyone looked great but also the theme and history really enhanced the story rather than say, him awaking as a 10 year old in 2000 and being becomong an adult in 2010s and fighting his family in 2020s


I also actually really loved Sung joon and hyun min's toxic angsty relationship and I'd have loved this more from their POV, a bit like Secret makjang which is one of my favs (tho don't make me watch it with 2020s eyes)



Anyway the bad. I hated the rebornness, cuz as I said it was more like being possessed, then made complicated by double songs cuz it didn't make sense unless both hyunwoo and dojoon switched places, which might've become even more like golden spoon


I also hated the flat romance. Cuz technically reawakened dude is 30+19(?) When they 1st met and so he's a 50/60 year old going after a 20/30 year old no matter their past connection. I actually hate going back to change the past romances for this reason

The ending.. "it was all a dream" is such a old time cliche, I always remember twilight breaking dawn saying the fight between the oldie vamps and collin family was filmed and my 1st thought was ofc it's all a vision..
It's basically a cheap bow out from cleaning up the mess one makes. Ie making two Songs and making one come after the other (which were said to not be in the novel) then not having the courage to continue...
One could say he projected himself trying to remember, analyze and amend. But would one really dream of 20 years of life, remember every single detail and basically playing SIMS with a stranger? Atleast they could've hinted it with weird time skips or foggy memories xD

So basically, a normal family makjang where he would've wanted revenge for how his grandparents disowned his parents would've been enough. Like sure we needed him to know certain time stamps and events but he could've still been like his grandpa good at and even bad at business and we could've had stronger bonds between them
Also this drama got real boring once grandpa died Y_T

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OVERRATED, needed 6eps only

don't get me wrong, I love the main cast and I loved them as characters but as a plot it offered nothing new. it was just a mix of every other dramas;
the bullying happens in every school genre, the evil corrupt politician happens in every law/crime genre and the main evil spirit was like every other psychopath, like strong woman dobong soon.

the only things I enjoyed were the hugs, the unexpected familyness and the 1st big fight when the evil spirits collabed which created a good amount of angst.
afterwards it was just another repeated mess of cliches. they kept trying to kill of Mae Ok becasue she was the "weakest" link.
the bullying honestly felt like a fight club, there's no way anyone could not see what was going on. with that severity of bullying every kid would've been dead or crippled..

Wi Gen "betraying" them the 1st time made no sense. she didn't talk about it and she wasn't against them but it was just used for cheap struggle.
the bully just looked like a 30 year old hurting kids and well the actor is 30 so that was a big mismatch ;/ and the whole wrap up of that part is a horrible lesson to teach kids. "take bullying, don't fight back, love and forgive the bully until they redeem themselves" ;/


the pace was slow, the evil people got too much screen time and they didn't achieve their full potential, I don't know if the writer change happened in this season, but they need a better writer.
though nothing will make me watch s2 ;(

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Corporation lab rats

The synopsis is too simple, the drama isn't complicated or nitty gritty as I initially thought. After watching squid game and alice in borederland, the fight for money seems like a fantasy death match

But in reality we all live in a twisted trap, work.
This drama used their metaphors and connected 5 different people in a really well thought out web of connections.
Character A has an intersection with Character B, Character C has an intersection with Character B, but he also meets A, D and E..
It seems complex but it was so smooth. Also it's so short yet so full of content, honestly one of the best scripts of 2022

The metaphor does revolve around money. People need it, people get inslaved by it, people hate it but people need it



As an interior designer actually it's literally like 1ep, we draw, delete, draw, calculate, delete, given weird tasks like break tiles, glue fabric, and 90% of the time it's the mood of the team leader

I wanted to be a designer cuz I love creating, I love art and I didn't want to be stuck in a cubicle. But in the end we're all lab rats of corporation.

The 2nd ep uses the metaphor of games, does life give you a 2nd chance?


I also adored the little fashion queens♡ ep5 didn't feel connected until you get to ep6 and it becomes the bow that wrapped the story together perfectly
The revelations of the last ep were my favorite, it was shocking, it made sense, it was sad and it was really well acted

Tbh I wished for more, most of the stories felt uncompeleted and eventhough the stories were like a spark of the real meaning I became attached to the characters

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I started this for Jung Gun Joo, I did not want to watch that baseball drama, and I was cleaning my ptw that I came across this. (I think I deleted like 100 shows from there, maybe even more ;p)
anyway, beside the ex's arc being a little frustrating, I really enjoyed the characters, especially Dain (that turned out to be ellie from www). and Jae Yeong who was 2nd guy's right hand man in Nokdu! he has a great voice, and he looks better in modern dramas ;p
the 2ndery couple were cute too, and the whole story was the type of noona romance I look for, it was undramatic and bright~
overall it was a nice slice of life fresh story. it kinda teaches you about letting go and moving on which gave it a feel of realness ;)

my rewatch values are either a 1 or 10, there's no inbetween~

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awkward smiles UWU

a story like this should've been a slow slice of life genre about music and friendship, something like Quartet, where a bunch of random completely different characters come together in the name of "love" for the music and make their own band, they could've preformed on their own there's no need for them to be high class..
I won't get why song ah had to "give up" her violin, there's no reason she couldn't have played for fun, it's like me with drawing, I don't do it as often as before but it'll always be a part of me...

the romance was great (emphasize on was), they started out honest, awkward, and always true to their feelings but from ep10-12 they started "drifting apart" for nonsensical reasons and the 2nd leads were just a flame for that misunderstanding flame..
the 2nd fl had her reasons, but the things she said last to song ah about how joon young was still in love with her was pure bs.. and if the ml ever knew about them he'd have competently broken his bonds with her. tbh they wasted that chance, the 2nd fl never had "redemption" or a moment of "realization" she suddenly just became normal ;/

the whole inevitable breakup needs to go away, ML "I love you", FL "let's break up"

speaking of "I love you" the amount of times joon young kept saying "I like you, I like you" or "I love you, I love you" was too sweet! though I hated song ah always getting teary eyed when a confession was coming (like girl you are not rumeo and juliet) xD


anyway, from early on I really skipped (not just fastforwarded) everything related to anyone beside the 2 mains. and the only other worthy character was Cha Young In, everyone else suddenly became the 2 mains enemies ;/
song ah was lucky to have met Cha Young In ;)

overall I loved their relationship but I hated the conflicts and the cheap fast way everything was suddenly resolved in the last ep ;)

I never rewatch anything and the ost was GOLD, I mean, chen, baek and punch?! ;3

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The good: Aesthetic, FL with great charisma and fashion sense, cute yet slightly shallow teammance, eps14 to16 were the best part so it would've been better if this was less episodic and bit more connected. Like HDL had the same bits of vibe of "helping" people but in HDL each help reflected on manwool.
And a bit of sailing ships I preferred more than romance genres. It's sad non romances have great ships but they're never the focus.

The bad: a bit flat characters and connections. Too easily solved and brushed past depression, bullying and suicide. Sadly it's not how real world works and sadder cuz this probably won't "teach" people to be kinder.. the bit at the end made me tear up because it is that simple to just stand up and be there for someone but no one wants to do the "extra work". It was a bit too long and I can't say I actually watched it full heartedly

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I personally prefer crime scene and the great escape more as a theme, here it's like a stiff improve acting class and the line between drama and variety shows blurs
like the ending credit with their real goofey self was way better but this too was a new sort of theme so I did still like it, though I have to say their villains were the most obvious people xD

I especially like how sehun, sejung and minyoung were in this since they're not the usual faces seen around in varieties and it was really great to see them solve cases and show their smartness
I really want to see minyoung and song jihyo act as villains tbh, I feel like they can pull off the deadly assassin character welll

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I've been vocal about my support/love for Sunho from the start, and that's not just because it was Woo Dohwan. as a character Sunho was more layered and deep. I am thankful for the writers that they didn't make the 2nd lead a one dimensional jealous narcissist just so the main lead looks like a hero (as some other historical dramas do).
Sunho was loyal, everything he did was to protect his friend and his sister, and I kinda hated Hwi for not seeing it..

and so I'll stop talking about Sunho and go to my next point. Hwi was such an inconsistent character.. it was like the writers changed him throughout the story just to fit their vision, and that took away my interest for the character.
Hwi from the start, Hwi from the middle and Hwi from the end were different people driven by different objectives. maybe it'd have been better if they added a 3rd friend?

as a "younger" audience I found myself really captivated by the idea of two young friends fighting for their vision of "my country". I'm not not a fan of historical genres, but I am slightly bored of the "fight over the crown" story every drama needs to have, even if it's based on a real story.. maybe my point is, it doesn't have to always be about real events to make a dark intriguing historical drama.
overall I was not happy with the script, and I think the writers/producers hit the jackpot only because of the great cast (and they were ALL great).
I did also dislike the forced romance between the two mains, those 2 side characters, and even Hwi's sister, I feel like they added them just to appeal to the "younger" audience, but it'd have been better off without it..
and the ending could've been better too...

the whole OST was great too, I liked how each kinda had their own background music, like the "main" teams fighting scenes ;)

my rewatch values are either a 1 or 10, and I might just look at WDH's photos so ;p



Edit: I actually did end up rewatching it in 2022 and I appreciated it more, dark historicals are rare

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Started it for Jisoo, Stayed for Amber

Amber was the only rational person in this drama, she was understanding, pure, nonjudgmental and she went after what she wanted but she didn't take hwan's bs and called him out for it, honestly I wonder how she was written by that same writer xD

everyone else just loves to inflict pain and suffering onto themselves and call it "love".
yeji loved to play the victim card "why are you back to ruin my peace", "I'm the most miserable woman on earth"
hwan was crazy enough to say "I want to ruin my life" for someone who keeps refusing him, "I want to suffer", the dude had alot of problems ;/
jin was all sad and wallowing in self pity and he diverted all his angst onto controlling others
the mom is honestly so distant she doesn't deserve to be a mom
and the dad looks nice but again yet he only used hwan as his caregiver then yeji as the substitute
yeji's mom is living through the pain that was "unshcokingly" done becasue of yeji
yeji's aunt is crazy and overdramatic
and they had the audacity of wasting time on the side side characters and their messed up romance

so basically Amber is the only normal person, she's sweet, fun loving and she's adorable and naturally cute and happy, the only time hwan genuinely smiled was when he was around her.

in the end they just added more ridiculous plot line after the other and they literally ended it with "I shouldn't have done that" ;/
yeji was wrong for accepting the marriage but she was even more wrong for fueling hwan's feelings and then she had the audacity to act as if hwan only "noticed" her good deeds while she was the one leading him on ;/
and with everything, in the last ep they were crying over how they can't be together, just to let them reunite and then go back to "we can't be together" and cry some more. it should've ended by ep31 but it should've just stayed as a noona romance with small doses of brotherly rivalry like a normal kdrama xD

this is what happens when they hire a horrible writer with zero planning skills...

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tkem's twin

I think the future world would've been more interesting, the power and the struggle, the need of the people who pay to time travel as if it was a drug to relive and change the past they can't touch......
right now, Jin Gyum world is just another boring world against an evil corporation with flashy guns and nothing more...

in train they had such different lives in each universe so each decision made a huge difference, and though they were so unlike their counterparts they treated the "travelers" like the same person.
here they are not showing anything beside 1 universe and 1 parasite (ie alice). so even if they say "the past is not the same person" we can't really relate. they feel like the same people following the same exact pattern with minor changes because of alice's existence.


Alice is using this Jin Gyum world as a dumping ground for their evil corporate scheme to gain money and power while they ruin time and space quantum by adding more and more universes, tbh I feel like if a project like that exists they would ban time traveling just becasue it ruins the balance of the world..


it's like Alice now doesn't care if they are exposed in this universe, and they are practically just living in a different universe, but why is everything Alice does is in one universe? why aren't they moving through different ones? why when they choose to go back in time do they all end up in that one universe?

are there only 2 worlds? one where alice is created, and one where alice messes things up? so each past change doesn't result in a new universe it's just building on that 2nd mutant world?


I'm sad that I dropped a kim hee sun drama, the actors all did so well but the plot was as bad as tkem.. it's sbs and their writers' fault..

I've lost interest after that old lady mom coming back, the drama lost it's footing when they chose to make it full of romance cliches (between mom and son) instead of trying to write a decent time traveling drama, or even a revenge drama, and by ep11 I didn't even care anymore, but to hear that the writers made the fl feel "disappointed" that she really looks like the ml's mom? the heck?!

honestly, I've been keep track on this and I'm 100% glad I dropped this, it's so obvious the writer had no solid plan and just used one ridiculous move after the other and called it a "shocking twist"


I did not watch this past ep11 but I read a full rant from a friend I trust and I wish this never existed ;)

circle was lower production but better writing. also watch woman of dignity if you watched this for kim hee sun, like me ;)

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the thing I appreciated the most was the diversity. they had 2 couple who already knew each other and 2 that "met" as the movie started. one was divorced, one was in an abusive relationship, one left the country cuz of the work stress, one left the country over a heartbreak, one was in a interracial relationship, one was disabled, one was raised outside the country, 2 had stubble❣ and so it gave a nice worldwide view of things.

people are different and that's what makes us all shine.


I didn't appreciate the meeting between Lee Jae Heon and Min Jin Ah, kwriters always think they need to bicker before falling in love and 2 seconds later LJH turned out to be a sweet person. Kang Ji Ho and Lee Hyo Young also started that way but it was more understandable cuz KJH was the "rough" ragged yet clumsy type while LHY was more head strong.


the things I loved
the google translator scene between Chen Du Ling and Yeom Hye Ran xD
the "accidental" eavesdropping between Han Oh Wol and Kim Rae Hwan, kdramas never use eavesdropping for good xD
Han Oh Wol and Kim Rae Hwan was really really sweet I wish it was longer ;(
the ending between Kang Ji Ho and Lee Hyo Young
Kim Kang Woo and Yoo Yeon Seok in stubble❤❤❤❤
the smooth transitions between characters at times, like they all "knew" each other but they weren't friends or anything


the things I didn't like
it had too many couple too little time
some of the "tension" and conflict was boring
the bickering
it was too short ;(

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