Reviews

Taking this drama off my currently watching list and putting it on my completed list was a very bittersweet moment for me. I truly think I will NEVER find a drama as cute, sweet, and full of life and love as A Love So Beautiful. This drama will forever hold a special place in my heart.

STORY:
The plot follows your basic Itazura na Kiss franchise, except the girl isn't as clingy and the guy isn't as cold. This made the drama a lot more watchable because I wasn't constantly frustrated with the characters. The storyline also progressed very smoothly: it transitions from high school life to adult life (while focusing the most on high school life). I fell in love with the friend group and the teachers who supported Chen XiaoXi. Even the characters I had initially hated I grew to love because the character development is off the charts. This really is the best youth drama because it truly captured the ways how people change and grow as they enter adulthood. From the bittersweet graduation to the rowdy class reunion, this drama shows that even though friends can be separated by distance, they will never be truly separated by love and fate. The love story between Chen XiaoXi and Jiang Chen also developed really well. It was one of those romances where you can't keep a silly smile off of your face and there's always a tingle in your fingertips. Overall, what made the storyline so amazing was the romance, the friendships, and the development.

ACTING/CAST:
I am so so SO impressed with all of the leads. This was both Hu Yi Tian and Shen Yue's first main role and they did a phenomenal job. They also had adorable chemistry and the height difference between HYT and SY was the cutest thing ever. Sun Ning (Lu Yang) and Wang Zi Wei (Lin Jing Xiao) also really complimented each other and brought their character's relationship to life. Now, let's talk about Gao Zhi Ting (Wu Bo Song). I FELL IN LOVE WITH GAO ZHI TING. He was so charming, funny, and total husband material. I found myself in a constant state of distress as I watched this drama because I couldn't decide if I supported Jiang Chen or Wu Bo Song. The second lead syndrome was SO strong in this drama. The love triangle is definitely interesting to watch. Hands down amazing cast and amazing acting!!

MUSIC:
You have no idea how much I love the opening. I never skipped it once, and I always sang along to it each time I watched it. Not only is it super cute, but the lyrics also capture the essence of youth and young love. The ending song is also very good. However, when I finished the last episode and the ending song started to play I couldn't help but cry. The music is amazing and compliments the drama very well!!

REWATCH VALUE:
I would definitely rewatch it!! This was such a short and refreshing drama, and the storyline was very fresh. I fell in love with the characters, and I would definitely go back to see them again!

OVERALL:
Hands down the best drama I have EVER watched. I really hope they make a season 2 because it's being labeled as the best youth drama in China right now as well. For those people on the fence about this drama, jump over the fence!! I promise you won't regret it!! Thank you so much for creating this drama. It will forever hold a special place in my heart :)

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(long commentary yeehaw)

This drama is so tiring to watch, and that's the reason why I loved watching this drama. It made me tired not because of its literary elements, rather because of its resemblance to the reality that we have as humans. How bounded it's by realism and its relatability is how it's able to sell itself to the large population of viewers. This isn't a drama you should watch when you need an escape. Rather, this is a drama you should watch if you want to be slapped by reality.

Arguably, this drama is welcomed with mixed reactions because of our own moral dilemmas. Some are saying that this drama romanticizes cheating. However, I think that's not the case. In our reality where cheating is usually seen as black-and-white, we realize how there are different shades of gray that comes into it. While the act itself is bad, we can see more of its complexity, giving us more room to understand. However, that doesn't mean we are condoning the act. The themes that the drama has are cliche but the way it's presented made it so interesting.

The characters in the drama are complex WHICH I THINK IS ONE OF THE IMPORTANT FACETS AS TO WHY THIS DRAMA WAS ABLE TO PRESENT ITSELF MORE EFFECTIVELY. Almost every character in the drama has an interesting and complex characterization which enabled the story to tackle several issues we see in our reality. Despite being a drama, its effectivity can serve as a commentary on modern Korean society with how raw and fresh it feels.

This drama is the second drama that Kim Eun wrote. With the reminiscent style of writing and vibe, I can confidently say how this drama highlighted her growth with regards her craft. While Pretty Noona Who Buys Me Food felt like a prototype, One Spring Night felt complete and more realized.

I can only have praises for the acting and the casts of the drama. Most of the cast present in this drama can also be found from Pretty Noona Who Buys Me Food. With this drama, we can see their improved capabilities especially for the fresh faces like Jung Hae In. A year difference showed a lot of growth not only for the writer but for the actors as well. I honestly can't critique them negatively for the acting as I find it so compelling to the point that I really wanted to strangle Giseok and Sihoon because of how pathetic they are. ELECTRIC CHAIR!!!

I also have a lot of praises for the music this drama has. This elevated the emotions and the quality of the drama. It gave a nostalgic vibe with a spice of hopefulness and tranquility in every listen.

Overall I'm giving this drama a 9.5/10. It's not perfect in all honesty. However, the growth and charm the drama possess made it deserving of a high rating :>.

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I've been enjoying it so far, it's really funny ?

This drama is hilarious so far 🤣 I've been laughing so hard 🤣 I love the chemistry and obviously the main lead 🥲His acting is something else.I have been a fan since "May I help you" ,"Brave citizen".
I really recommend this drama if you want something funny, out of usual, with a lot of romance and unserious characters 😆
Well is not the Cinderella I've been excepting but way more better.
❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍
❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤😍😍😍😍😍

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I wasn't expecting the plot twist but also i didn't watch the original movie yet

Its a light hearted story.

I clicked on this movie by mistake but continued to watch it 😅
I stayed for the actor. Cuz i like his acting a lot 😍

The start was really good.
The cast is also good.
Its more like ... Reality instead of being cliché impossible drama track.

I liked jin goo's character a lot ... And also the girl from all of us are dead ...
The plot twist ... I didn't like it at all ... Didn't except it.
You need to be mature enough to accept everything from the plot twist till the end. Cuz things happens.

But i liked the girl's story.

Time travel... They didn't make it cliché or unrealistic.
I liked that everyone accepted their fate at the end.
I hope writers stop making dramas so realistic i wanna escape reality that's why i watch kdramas. I don't want to face reality but here we are, 2022 kdramas r all about facing reality 🙃 no thanks I'm happy in my unrealistic world ༎ຶ⁠‿⁠༎ຶ

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A simple, but very touching and sincere story

So far, together with Love for Love's Sake, this is my favourite BL series this year. The plot (best friends to lovers, miscommunication and misunderstanding) is nothing we haven't seen before, but the way it was told, i.e. past and present side by side throughout the first 7 episodes, in combination with an amazing cast, was absolutely compelling, I loved it and anticipated every new episode. A very honest, genuine, sincere love story with likable mains that had their faults but at the end I ended up sympathizing with both of them. The cherry on top for me was that there was never any doubt how much Ji and Achi loved each other despite their struggles to deal with it and admit it. They certainly deserved their episode 8 and the happiest ending ever.

This isn't a series that can be watched casually to spend the time, because many of the details are important to understand the parallels between the past and the present and to unveil why the characters would act the way they did. Ji spends most of his time in the present trying to desperately protect himself from being abandoned again, but at the same time he is the biggest Achi fanboy and can't really deny him anything despite being blunt and direct. In contrary, in the present Achi finally does what he wanted to do in the past but didn't dare to and relentlessly pursues Ji until the misunderstanding is cleared up. I loved both of them so much and I hope to see these actors again, because they did such a great job. Ji crying while admitting to Coin that he still hasn't forgotten Achi and Achi crying while watching Ji with Pear in the cinema moved me equally. The love scenes were very well done, too. The desperate longing looks, the heat, the adoration, devotion, the pure happiness once they came together, it was all there. I've lost count how many times I've rewatched the kiss from episode 4. I said this already, but I'll say it again - Ji and Achi were utterly and totally in love the entire time, in past and present, and it was transmitted believably on screen. This is what I want to see most in a BL - both mains being obviously into each other and being open and honest about it once they come together.

I would've loved to see more of the second couple instead of finding out that everybody in the hospital was into Achi, because there were some filler scenes I think could've been used better. Still, I'm giving the series full marks, because I enjoyed watching it so much, I adored the main couple and their relationship so much and because I found the way the story was told fascinating and captivating so it felt like something new I haven't seen before despite the simple plot. Also, I think the current rating for the series is very undeserving and hope more people will give it a chance.

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For a moment there I was hesitant whether I should express my feelings frankly or filter them for the sake of diplomacy and respect for those who liked it. In the end, I decided for complete honesty, and for this I apologize in advance.

What an utterly stupid movie.
The premises are interesting enough: two "love swindlers" meet, and their carefully planned arts of seduction are put to the test by the experience of the other. Up to this point, everything's fine: two very good looking people are thrown into some funny situations, keeping the viewer entertained for the duration of… a quarter of an hour.
After that, all the inconsistency of this plot come to the surface. This should be a romantic comedy, but where is the romance? Unless we are to think that beauty were the one and only prerogative to love and be loved, there is absolutely nothing likable about those two. They are cynical, spoiled, prejudiced and irritating. If you expect a character development, a little something to make you empathise with one of them or both, you'll be disappointed. There is no characterization whatsoever here: why are these two disillusioned? No idea. Are they going to change, feel deeper, be taught some valuable lesson by the encounter? No.
All we see is 2 handsome people displaying all their weapons, from beginning to end. The point of a romantic comedy is to satisfy the comedic and the romance. In this movie, the comedic is repetitive and the romance non existent, since who cares about two bad people who stay bad?

I suppose the acting saves the day. Son Ye Jin is unusually feisty and plays her role very well, given the little material she was given to work with. This was my first time watching Song Il Gook on screen, but I know he's played serious roles before, so I guess he did a good job too in portraying a funnier character. Since there is no true soul in this movie though, I can't imagine they had to work hard on identifying with their characters.

Music… can't remember, I'm afraid.

No way I'm ever going to rewatch this movie, I'd rather have my foot be hit with a hammer.

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Started quite good. Ended quite bad.

So... This series was never a favourite of mine but I enjoyed watching it when an episode came out.

I'm going to start by the things (or rather, thing) that I liked: the cast. This is - personally - the only good thing in this series. Khao and First are, as usual, very good in their roles, but I particularly want to put Neo's and Louis's acting in the spotlight because they are the ones that impressed me the most. Especially Neo whom I'm used to see acting as the funny character only here to make jokes. In The Eclipse, he shows that he is more than just the funny guy in a series and I'm happy for him. I hope that he will be cast in other serious roles. As for Louis, even though I expected a bit more from his role (like an antagonist, or something) - but it's not his fault -, I really liked his acting in this series.

Now, the thing that I didn't like - or not so much... the plot. Well, it started out with an ok plot - not great, but interesting: a curse and the mystery behind it. But then, it rapidly went down the drain. First, I expected something bigger than just Akk doing all those things by himself. Also, the things in question were not exceptionally frightening. I kind of hoped for Thua being the mastermind behind this curse, it would have been more interesting plot-wise and character-wise. Second, the three guys who protest all the time are annoying and they should have been suspended from the school a long time ago already! I mean, I live in France and our education system is probably different from the Thai's one but... wearing a uniform is not something the school is responsible of, right?... So why demonstrating in front of the school instead of the Ministry of Education? Also, even though they have the right to demonstrate to show their displeasure, if they don't agree with the rules of their school and don't abide by them, I think they have the freedom to change school! I'm a teacher, we have rules, and if a student don't abide by the rules, they are punished and that's how schools work in most countries. So even though, the Suppalo's rules are old-fashioned, the students have to respect them or they have the right to go to another school of their choice.

To finish, I'll talk about the editing that was horrendous, especially episodes 11 and 12. In episode 11, we have a scene in which Thua exposes the truth in front of everyone and Akk and his friends were quite unhappy with this "change of personality" - even though, he was always a bit dodgy in my opinion -, and the next part of the episode, they all are reunited around a table talking about Wat's short film as if nothing happened a few minutes before. That was SO WEIRD. Especially from Kan's perspective because I would have expected him to talk about what happened with Thua (as they were already a thing) but nothing. It was so weird... Also, in episode 12, not only was the whole coming out thing a bit too rushed (Aye could've waited a bit before telling Akk's parents that they were together), the teacher joining the boys on their little trip to Akk's house was also very akward. I sometimes even felt like there was supposed to be a thing between her and Wat and that weird me out.

Anyway, I enjoyed watching the series even though I would definitely not rewatch it as once was more than enough.

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This show is the wake up call that begs us to be more skeptical.

This whole documentary just made me angry. The idea that some people can get so easily manipulated simply by the virtue of a person claiming they have holy guidance makes my blood boil. Rape, torture, murder, abuse, suicide - all because some random person claimed they are Jesus reincarnated. At the same time, it shows how clever these cult leaders were, how well planned their schemes were and how they selected the victims - they did not target everyone. That's why it's so important for us ask questions and rely on more than trust and belief.

I’m not going to lie, the level of religious freedom in Korea was always fascinating for me. On the first glance the idea of all the religions being able to rather peacefully coexist in one country, where no one is truly judged by their religious beliefs sounds like a utopia. With this level of acceptance and “no questions asked” comes a big danger though: the country becomes a breeding ground for cults. How many reincarnated Jesuses can there be in the small country of South Korea at the same time?

The documentary presents a rather uncomfortable question: what to do with victims who become perpetrators? How much can be forgiven based on the brainwashing they went through, and how much responsibility should they take for their actions? The leaders were evil, we can all agree. We wanted them to be punished and suffer as much as their victims did. What with the members? Logically speaking you know they are the victims, but it’s impossible not to feel any resentment towards them.

Some people may say it was unnecessarily detailed, unnecessarily graphic, unnecessarily descriptive, but I strongly disagree. Did this documentary make you feel uncomfortable? Angry? Sad? Scared? Good, then it did its job to present the reality of the victims. Saying it was unnecessarily detailed is like saying it was unnecessary realistic - they used real footage of the events, they used real photos, videos and recordings, they used real testimonies - it was not shown for a shock value, it was shown because it was the reality of what happened. The reality was just that shocking, awful and evil.

If I were to complain about one thing production wise - some footages were shown a few too many times, especially of JMS in the first 3 episodes. They kept showing the same videos of him preaching, and that I felt was a bit too much and truly unnecessary. Showing it once would be enough.

TW: I don’t know… feels like anything you can think of: rape, dead bodies, suicide, self harm, abuse, child neglect, child abuse… They show real photos and videos from crime scenes and recordings from victims, even the reenacted interviews are detailed and based on the real statements from real victims. It’s a lot.

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Top notch

I had high hopes for this and I am glad i didn't get disappointed. Although i would say that I thought that this would be more wuxia oriented rather than political but the storytelling is great, the flow is good. The pacing is good, kinda slow but only cause there is so much going on so the plot and characters have to develop accordingly. The characters are interesting to watch. It resembles Joy of life a quite a bit but it is own story. The acting is great. There are a lot of familiar faces, so make it easy to watch. They keep me captivated, I don't have any urge to fast forward or anything.

Zhang Ruoyun is a treat to watch, like his charisma is wow. He is smart and cunning, knows how to turn things his way. His interactions with other characters are fun to watch, there are many hidden messages in them. The dynamics between him and his father is funny and sweet at the same time. They clearly understand and care for each other just have different ways of showing it. There seems to be a lot of gray characters, makes one wonder how that will play into the story. No ones motive is clear expect Xu feng nian's, well most of the times. Lovely chemistry between the cast. I have to say that Xu feng nian and Jiang ni are so refreshing to watch. Both have done so much for each other but Jiang ni less conniving/scheming about it tho. I love seeing Qing Niao on screen is so pleasing and satisfying to watch. She's quite captivating to watch, glad she got good amount of screen time.

Money definitely went into this, the production is big. The beginning is quite light and comedic but I wont be surprised if this turns heavy later on (which it did). There's a balance in the plot, it has a bit of everything. I would say that this is more focused on the political and power struggle. One thing i didn't like was how it was advertised to be very wuxia oriented but there are barly any fighting scenes. Other than that i would recommend it. Glad that this didnt end up in a cliff hanger and was tird up nicely. Hope they announce Season 2 soon.

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This drama caught my attention from the get go. A team of grim reapers who're on a mission to save people who wanted to kill themselves. It was such an interesting premise that I can't help to go look for the original webtoon ahead of the drama airing to familiarise myself with the story.

And I have to say that the webtoon was also very well written. I like how so far the drama's writing stayed pretty close to how the webtoon was written. While I do notice that there are some details from the webtoon that ended up portrayed differently in drama, it doesn't really affect the main story much. And I love how the drama still retain the qualities that made the webtoon well loved.

I also really loved the casting, especially with regards to Kim Heesun and Lee Soohyuk. It really felt like Gu Ryeon and Park Joonggil had literally come out of the webtoon to real life!

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Picture this. A beautiful, nicely decorated cupcake is sitting right in front of you. Its sweet smell is hypnotizing you, and that icing is just calling out your name, telling you to take a bite.
And you do.
Only to spit out a stale piece of rotten, bland bread.
That's the only way I can describe Heirs.
It had a promising cast, promising writers (the same as Secret Garden), and a great budget. But once the episodes began rolling, you got a taste of the dry product.
Anticlimactic plot, the drama missed some sparkles, the romance was roll-eye worthy, and the humor was cheesy.
Bland, irrational characters. I never understood why two guys were vying for the annoying, wimpy Eun Sang. Kim Tan was as 1-dimensional as it could get. And why the hell did Kim Woo Bin's character turn against Kim Tan? I never fully comprehended that.
Incredibly sucky acting (I'm looking at you Lee Min Ho), perhaps Kim Woo Bin and Kim Tan's biological mom were the only rescuable ones. Oh, and they also wasted Choi Jin Hyuk's acting.
And to top it all off, as unoriginal as it could get. It was obvious they wanted to recreate an entertaining mess a la Boys Over Flowers, but they sort of missed out the entertaining factor.
I usually try to find a positive point in this drama, but even the OST was annoying.
Pass this drama.

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I stuck with this series because of the acting. Gulf did an amazing job with Type and Mew, when his character wasn't creepy or crying, was pretty fun. Mild's Techno was wonderful, I much preferred his interpretation of the character than the one in Love By Chance.

Having watched now both T/T and LBC, and read a bit here and there about the other storylines of the novels, it seems that virtually every storyline in this story universe has some element of sexual assault in the backstory or conflict (even Ae/Pete, which is a wholly consensual relationship, is triggered by a sexual assault and blackmail that Pete is trying to deal with). These plot device assaults are not dealt with well, the effects on the characters come and go as suits the storyline, and there are no consequences for rapists. When characters we are supposed to like commit assaults, it's treated as part of the romantic development rather than called out for what it is.

This is particularly badly done in T/T. Type has a traumatic, really major sexual assault in his history. In the entire series, the only scene in which this history was used in a way that felt realistic and important is when he recognizes Tar's trauma, which occurs in the last episode.


Tharn is gross. Just awful. He has zero respect for Type's boundaries. He sexually assaults him multiple times: in the shower; while he's sleeping; tells Type to "watch his ass" after they become friends again and after Tharn knows about Type having been kidnapped and raped; pushes him into a wall and threatens him when he thinks Type is flirting at a bar... just horrible. He agrees to have sex with Type even when Type explains that he is offering because a) he feels like he owes Tharn and b) he's afraid Tharn is going to do it at some point anyway so he wants to get it over with. When someone tells you they don't think they can say no to having sex with you because of factors that don't have to do with their immense desire to have sex with you, going ahead and having sex with them is rape. The writing completely ignores the coercive element of their first time. No, in fact, afterwards, Tharn tells Type that even though he said they could do it just once, it wasn't going to be just once, and then proceeds to continue to pester him until Type gives in again, which basically marks the start of their "romantic" relationship.

These constant assaults are not treated by the writer or director AS assaults, never problematized or called out. They are also really confusingly shot and plotted, to the point where at the beginning I thought we were seeing Type's fearful dreams/worries playing out (which would have been MUCH better, in that we would have understood more Type's reaction while being able to continue respecting/liking Tarn)


On top of the outright assaults, Tharn is horribly emotionally manipulative. We can, of course, dislike Type's homophobia. But given that it's routed in trauma, and that Tharn knows this, a realistic and compelling storyline would have Type moving through his fears and overcoming his prejudices while Tharn gives him some emotional space to process these changes and reconsider his worldview.


What we get instead is that every time Type concedes something, Tharn pushes the next boundary without asking and then gets mad/withdraws affection when Type is upset. On the very day that Type admits they are something more than friends, Tharn convinces him to go out into public and then kisses him IN PUBLIC without asking. On what planet would you expect the traumatised, recently severely homophobic guy who is struggling with his sexuality and only hours ago was willing to admit that maybe, just maybe, there's something more going on between you than being fuck buddies is suddenly ready to be outed at a bar? None. Actual people who understand relationships would not make that move and if they did, they would understand that THEY were the ones who did something wrong.


What does Tharn do? He gets mad, sulks, leaves for days and doesn't come back until Type apologizes.


The Tar storyline is also terrible, but I'm going to leave it here. I can't honestly recommend the show, although I can understand if you just want to kind of close your eyes/mind to the flaws and try to enjoy the fluffy parts, because that's clearly what I did. The characters are so inconsistent that when they are not being awful, they are pretty cute and likeable, so the fun fluffy scenes are there. Still, I'm not sure if it's worth it. I feel sort of gross for having watched it to the end.

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An impressive collection of talent badly underutilized by a troublesome script & production misfires

One of the recent additions to the literature genre is The Recipe Blog. It is characterized by insufferably long backstories rife with unnecessary details, long personal digressions and endless teases that it is about to get to The Big Reveal of, y’know, The Actual Recipe. [scroll scroll scroll “Where is it?!!! Aaaarghh, back to the Google search…]

It is easy to imagine the producers of “Jirisan” concocting this show much like the reader of a recipe blog: imagining the beautiful final product, struggling to get through the preliminary preparations, getting to the list of ingredients, then finally running out of patience, throwing them in a bowl haphazardly, giving it a few stirs, tossing it in the oven and going to have a very large glass of whiskey. It’s not that “Jirisan” is an hopeless, ugly mess that doesn’t merit a meal, but it needed a skilled chef at the helm to blend all of the elements together in to something that comes close to approximating the sum of its exceptional parts.

And the parts, in isolation, are a murderer’s row of impressive quality.

The supporting cast is Grade AA+++: Go Min Si as the fresh, novice ranger. Oh Jung Se (OH JUNG SE!!!) as the lonely veteran ranger. Jo Han Chul, Sung Dong Il and Jun Suk Ho are all terrific character actors. The mountain is a gorgeous setting to the show and viewers are treated to some outstanding drone shots of the scenery.

Jun Ji Hyun is the star and is every bit the talented actor needed to anchor a big budget drama. It’s not an award-winning role, but Yi Kang is a a solid lead character - enough complexity and development, a dry sense of humor and the tragic backstory. She is highly guarded personally but has a good development arc as the show progresses.

The other lead is Joo Ji Hoon who stands out more as an actor and his character, Hyun Jo, is the most intriguing of all. Joo Ji Hoon is really as complete a package as there is in the industry - all the physical attributes and a wonderful actor. He is warm and outgoing and understanding of Yi Kang and also exasperatingly driven to stop the killer that has escaped capture. Every time the show puts Hyun Jo in the spotlight, the energy of the show picks up noticeably.

All these various individual qualities, unfortunately, don’t mesh into a scintillating vehicle for entertainment. The chief culprit is, ironically enough, The Culprit. The murder mystery is flat out not particularly suspenseful and “Jirisan” never works out how to generate any measurable amount of tension. A fair amount of blame goes to a script that incorporates so many multiple timelines that anyone outside of a quantum physics practitioner is likely to struggle to make sense of. It also doesn’t help that the present day storyline has both main characters incapacitated to a certain degree and, as a result, incapable of interacting with each other. The show also starts out on a bizarre and awful sequence involving a rescue amidst a embarrassingly badly rendered cgi rockfall. The OST promoted a solo BTSer effort but it is wholly forgettable. And there’s little things like frequent splatters of blood that don’t look anything like actual human blood.

At no point (other than the opening sequence) is “Jirisan” tedious or unpleasant. But this production desperately direction and editing that made it’s little multiverse more accessible and the interaction between the cast members more meaningful and resonant. As it falls short on those areas, it’s very much a middle ground of a show - with some fine actors and a couple of intriguing main characters that are very much in search of a better blend between them.

Is it recommended? Kind of. Maybe? Not really or at least not strongly at all.

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