While You Were Sleeping (2017)

This is probably the epitome of pre-produced dramas (dramas that were finished shooting before premiere). Why I say this is because this wasn't subject to random audience-induced plot changes or extensions/contractions, allowing the team to stick strictly to their very well written script.

Keep your eyes open because earlier details will foreshadow later events. Everything is introduced to the audience for a reason that has to do with plot/character development later. This is my favorite type of script because the detective in me loves finding clues and remember them when a later plot twist results.

Ironically, I didn't get much sleep during the weekend I binged "While You Were Sleeping"...

Leggi di Più

I heard so many great and bad things about this drama before watching it and after watching it, I personally was neutral about it.

This drama had great character and potential, but somewhere along the way the storyline became obvious in indirect ways and it started to become boring to me. However, I watched to the very end (as a fan of the scriptwriter and actors).

Though I give this drama more of an in-between, I recommend watching this for yourself because it's not a drama any k-drama fan would regret watching! It has action, fan-service, parts where you would laugh your head off, parts you would cry, and parts where you would just fall in love with not only the main actors, but all of the characters (well maybe not all - it depends on you).

Leggi di Più

I wanted to enjoy this one

This is not a terrible drama by any means. The effects, cinematography and music place you in an almost magical, ethereal visual experience. But when I thought about it more, if you remove all that, you're left with an average story that turns out to be incredibly predictable from episode 2. I will say the first episode is one of the best first episodes I've watched for a drama but I found myself predicting everything afterwards down to the last twist.

There are a few things in this drama that became repetitive and episodic, mainly the cases and the dream part. At times things felt a bit too convenient and the lack of tension died because you knew things were going to be okay and they always were. When a MC got hurt I knew they'd recover, I knew they'd catch the bad guy of the week/episode and move on to the next one. Overall it did not feel like there was an overarching plot throughout the drama until the very end. I'm not counting the backstory because you can tell that one in one episode of flashbacks and as soon as we saw the boy in the baseball cap I knew it was the FL. It's not very well disguised and the drama underestimates their audience by making it feel like a surprise when the reveal happens when it was a bit obvious.

The chemistry for the main couple... this is hard for me because I absolutely love Lee Jong Suk, he's probably one of the most lovable actors for me. But I just didn't feel his chemistry with Suzy and honestly I think this is because I have seen LJS with much better female leads and I buy their relationship a 100%, whereas in this one I was constantly feeling the acting between the 2 whenever they shared screentime. I do not think this is entirely his fault, he did what he could with the character and his FL.

There is something defenitely off about Suzy's acting. It felt forced and not entirely honest during the entire thing. Like that one girl that tries to be quirky and funny on purpose and it comes out as dishonest and try-hard. I'm sorry if I'm being too harsh on her, but I just think she didn't do much with her character and that affected her on screen relationship with ML. That being said both characters are a little one-dimensional and maybe that's why I couldn't relate to her in particular. Her character is represented as flawless most of the time. His as well, but hers even more so.

I think this is because they both have these second hand embarrasment moments throughout the whole drama. (It got old and broke the mood on a lot of scenes.) But while LJS's character had them and the side-characters acknowledged it was cringe and unprofessional and it was something LJS's character seemed to improve on and learn from - one example is when he used his cringe to interview the child witness - for Suzy's characters it is represented as endearing and quirky and lovable from day 1 and it never serves a purpose other than to show she's cute and not like other girls.

The drama was afraid to paint her in any sort of negative light and it was counterproductive. Let her be human too. Let her be cringe and weird in the other characters eyes as well. I could not fathom why everyone saw this human disaster as a femme fatale when in fact she's just as a perfect match for her one brain cell idiot boyfriend. That would have been incredibly lovable. But the drama is afraid to go all the way. If you introduce this weird girl as a weird girl (literally in caps), don't make her cool at the same time in the eyes of everyone else. She's cringe my dudes, and that is perfectely okay. He's cringe, she's cringe, they will be cringe forever and have little cringe children. Embrase it. A perfect moment for this would have been when everyone was describing her character in the elevator as a femme fatale and this sexy badass lady, but then have her defy all expectations by making her ridiculous in front of everyone and they going like... yes this is definitely Jae Chan's girlfriend.

That's my take on her, but I might be a minority here. It's fine if you disagree.

The writing is okay. I enjoyed the backstory the best rather than the episodic current events. But like I said before, the main plot line got repetitive. The villain was one dimensional while trying too hard to be protrayed as a more interesting character, the drama just scratched the surface with him. He had some interesting quirks like the paper thing and the hand washing thing, but we never explore him as a character nor his motivations. Instead of spending 95% of screen time on the couple, spend 85% on the main couple and give me more backstory with this villain. He has tons of potential with his relantionship with ML and the inspector. But the one with the inspector just got shoved as a last minute thing and I never quite grasped why he was so nasty towards ML when they were younger. Maybe explore something like jealously between them, maybe he was envious ML had a better life with his Chief of Police dad while he had to work in order to be able to pay for school or something. Just so much wasted potential.

All in all this drama is not the worst thing I have seen. I know it can sound like that in this review. But it's just so incredibly disappointing maybe because my expectations were so high after watching Pinocchio and I Hear your Voice. Both of these are miles better than this one in terms of story and acting. The one thing I will give this drama is that it is pretty to look at. A beautiful cake on the outside that is bland in flavour.

Leggi di Più

Lee song juk

This is a beautiful story. It is just like a dream. If you love to watch dreams or if you love fantasy you will definitely love it. The story started with a dream and ended with a reality. As we all know that time flows in it's own direction, this drama has the same message. I highly recommend this drama to everyone. And ofcourse you will fall in love with LEE JONG SUK for sure after watching this one. This drama has everything. It is a fine mixture of dream and reality. It has a happy ending. The songs of this drama are so good that you surely will fall in love with them.

Leggi di Più

I was so excited when I heard about this drama getting released because 1)Lee Jong Suk is my absolute favorite actor and 2)this is his last drama before military enlistment and I'm gonna miss him tons during those 2 years.
I am always skeptic when I start a drama because I have dropped tons of dramas which I was really excited to watch but in the end, all they did was disappoint me. However, this wasn't the case with WYWS. The idea was interesting, the characters were convincing, the plot was keeping me on the edge of my seat most of the time.

Jae Chan was the typical good guy, someone every girl can't help but fall in love with and, let's face it, we cannot resist him! He's good looking, he's charming, funny, smart and even his innocent side, the side which wants to believe everyone has some good in them, even though it makes him look like a dummy sometimes is charming.

Hong Ju was ok. I am one of those people that does agree with the fact that Suzy has to step her acting game up, but I hope this experience helped her with that.

Woo Tak managed to make me fall in love! He was absolutely amazing, I think Jung Hae In did a really good job with the character.

Lee Sang Yeob managed to play the perfect villain! His evil smirks were out of this world!

All in all, it was a really great drama and I'm glad I decided to watch it!

Leggi di Più

Tema central lembra Efeito Borboleta

Mais um drama antigo que já estava na minha lista e que deixava para depois. Enquanto Você Dormia traz aquele elenco bem conhecido de peso que amamos que já é motivo pra dar aquela espiadinha! O que me chamou atenção primeiramente foi o fato de 2 atores maravilhosos estarem atuando juntos. Lee Jong-suk e o Jung Hae-in. Sinceramente, comecei a assistir por este motivo e vi que a trama ia muito além e acabei gostando bastante da história.

O elenco tem Susy que está longe de ser uma atriz destaque para mim, mas aqui ela me surpreendeu e fez uma personagem bem agradável. Ela funcionou bem com Lee Jong Suk, formaram um casal bem lindinho. O romance entre os protagonistas se desenvolveu de uma forma agradável, não muito rápida, não muito lenta. A química do casal foi boa com momentos doces, engraçados e apaixonados.
Falando em Lee Jong Suk, aliás estava maravilhoso como Promotor. Depois de Big Mouth, acho que este foi um dos personagens mais bem construídos que ele interpretou. E ainda temos o maravilhoso supremo Jung Hae In que como sempre arrasou em carisma, e uma atuação clara e impecável , além de arrancar suspiros. Difícil não se apaixonar por ele e por sua atuação em qualquer drama o a cara arrebenta!

A história gira em torno de três personagens que podem ver o futuro através de seus sonhos. Já imaginou sonhar com o futuro? E mesmo tendo esses sonhos ser incapaz ou capaz de alterá-lo? Quem gosta de uma loucura de viagem no tempo e do conceito de efeito borboleta, no qual ao alterar um único detalhe, o futuro pode ser alterado, é um prato cheio!

O tema central é o bem contra o mal, nada muito inovador, mas as reviravoltas do enredo e como eles utilizam essas habilidades dos sonhos para tentar fazer o bem, torna a trama não tão clichê. À medida que a história progride somos surpreendidos pelas conexões entre o presente, passado e futuro. A história te leva a uma série de acontecimentos que ocorrem cronologicamente, e monta um quebra-cabeça que prende a atenção.
O que mais me impressionou é que os temas abordados ao longo da história traz reflexões importantes do quanto as nossas decisões, escolhas e ações podem influenciar e afetar nossa vida e a de amigos ou familiares, ou mesmo de alguém por quem você passa na rua.

Enquanto você Dormia não é um dorama leve, pelo contrário, é aquele tipo de dorama que te deixa tensa a cada episódio. Uma tensão boa, mas ainda sim tensão mas que são aliviados com cenas cômicas e romance e um elenco protagonista e secundário competente. A trilha sonora foi perfeita, cada música se encaixava perfeitamente em cada cena De um modo geral, é um drama agradável que nos mostra como cada decisão, por menor que seja, afeta a todos

Leggi di Più

Very creative, surprises at many turns, cute and believable romance

10/10 is my rating. This was a 2017 South Korean television series that consisted of 32 episodes (each episode is only ~30 minutes). Depending on where it is viewed after 2017 it may be collapsed to 16 episodes. There are three central characters who are able to see future events involving the trio in dreams. The primary male lead, Lee Jong-suk, plays prosecutor Jung Jae-suk, the other male lead is a police officer, Han Woo-tak (Jung Hae-in) and the female lead Bae Suzy plays Nam Hong-joo who is a reporter. Between the three they work together to change future events to avoid tragedy and to solve cases. I avoided watching this because of the title and I thought it was just a re-make or new interpretation of the American Movie by the same name. The two are not related at all.

spoiler 🚨 This series combines elements of all your favorite crime shows as a backdrop to an engaging story of friendships, family, and love. I enjoyed this movie from start to finish. It is a legal drama/romance that is exciting and engaging the entire way through. It also has a paranormal aspect with the dream element. This one definitely moves to the top of my list and I would recommend anyone who is a crime show fan to watch this one. The romance in it was also heartwarming and believable. This is one of my new favorites.

Leggi di Più

this was ok

I think this series could have ended around episode 10! In fact, I wasn't keeping track and thought it was going to finish soon after ep 10!

Here are some things I remember, bc even though I finished this one a few days ago, nothing really stands out to me about the story.

1. I didn't care for the leads romance. Mr Giant crab and Suzy... I didn't feel any enjoyable chemistry as the story progressed.
2. Woo-tak was my favorite character and I wished he had ended up with the girl at the end. Also, how we only saw his abs that one brief moment! And how his big secret was that he was color blind!
3. That scene where the two leads were locked in the burning trailer thing. I mean, wouldn't you grab a chair and just try to smash the barred windows open? They both just sat there in the fire ready to die. That was ridiculous. I actually paused this part and had to complain to my husband about how dumb that was.

I would still recommend this one to my friends. I enjoy kdramas that have light romance and a mystery.

Leggi di Più

This is the kind of one watching drama
Just once
First 2 EPs. Were brilliant
Then it goes down the hill for me

It gave me the feeling that the events were irrelevant to each other

If it was one big crime case it would be much more better and the story will be more solid for me

But the many different cases gave me the feeling that the writer just want to fill the drama

It's not on the same level of my expectations
And what frustrated me a lot, I found the romance in it was cold
Only very few times it was heart warming
And the kissing scene at the last ep. When she tried to support him wasn't really in it's place

But The scene where the ML was crying for the death of his assistant was really brilliant and so normal

Just one question was bothering me

They showed us when someone rescued your life from death you dream with his future

The FL saved the ML
So he normally should dream with her
So why she dreamt with him????

Any way if you need a light drama but not a remarkable one
This one is for you definitely

Leggi di Più

Well I've been putting these for a long time cuz I'm never into main stream dramas. I finally gave it a chance after seeing some clips online and even till I finished the drama I did not see th reason for the hype for this drama. For me it seemed like an average drama. Yes Lee Jong Suk being there is amazing the supporting cast did their job well but nothing makes it staand out from other drama. I am not saying the drama was bad, it was far from that. The drama held it's ground but nothing made it exciting. Here are some points why it was in the lower ranga.

1. The Plot
Nothing made it stand out. It seemed too average for me. A typical plot you find everywhere. The Korean writers should really stop this "I-met-you-when-you-were-small-and-already-fell-in-love-with-you-back-then troupe. I'm getting sick of it. Couldn't they have own childhoods before they met?

2. Acting
By any chance I am not saying the acting was bad, it was ok. This was after all what pushed Jung Hae In to the top but personally I felt his acting in Prison Playbook 1000000X better. There his emotions were clearly seen and he did a better job at portraying his character. Here I felt his character was two dimensional.Lee Jon Suk- This actor is really typecast-ed waaay too much. i did not see a difference between his character here from Pinocchio or Doctor Strange. IT's as if it's the same character that is being played over and over again with different families and careers. I don't know if his new role is better cuz if he keeps this up I wold most probably not watch his dramas anymore even. Last but not least Suzy. I never understood why she had so much criticism for her acting. Well one major reason maybe cuz I've only watched her in Dream High and I passed off her bad acting saying it's her first time but now I think I understand. Her acting chops really need to be improved. Rather than being just pretty it would be great if she can actually get some acting classes and improve herself. She managed the whole cutesy act well without making it cringey but that was all. All the other time her acting was far more suited for a very small supporting role than a female lead.

That being said I won't say I hate the story but rather it seems like cliche plot that has just been over-hyped due to the leads. Will I watch it again? Nope. I rather over-watch Prison Playbook to get my dose of Jung Hae In.

Leggi di Più

"While You Were Sleeping: A Riveting Blend of Dreams and Destiny"

Lee Jong Suk and Bae Suzy shine in the captivating K-drama "While You Were Sleeping," where dreams become a mysterious bridge connecting two seemingly unrelated lives. Lee Jong Suk takes on the role of Jung Jae Chan, a rookie prosecutor, while Bae Suzy portrays Nam Hong Ju, who possesses the unique ability to foresee future events but often finds herself powerless to alter their course.

The narrative unfolds as the two characters become neighbors, and their destinies intertwine in unexpected ways. The chemistry between Lee Jong Suk and Bae Suzy is palpable, adding depth to the emotional journey of their characters. The inclusion of a ruthless attorney, Lee Yu Beom, and a life-saving intervention sets the stage for a complex web of interconnected dreams and fates.

The brilliance of "While You Were Sleeping" lies not only in the stellar performances but also in its ability to keep viewers hooked with its unpredictable plot twists. The drama skillfully navigates between the realms of dreams and reality, making every episode a compelling piece of the puzzle. Lee Jong Suk's portrayal of the rookie prosecutor brings a refreshing energy to the series, while Bae Suzy's depiction of Nam Hong Ju adds a touch of vulnerability and strength.

"So good, so good, soo good..." This sentiment perfectly captures the essence of the drama. Despite its premise involving dreams, "While You Were Sleeping" keeps the audience wide awake and on their toes with its intricate storytelling and character development. It's a binge-worthy experience that seamlessly weaves together romance, mystery, and the supernatural, leaving viewers eagerly anticipating each twist and turn.

In short, "While You Were Sleeping" is a must-watch for K-drama enthusiasts, offering a perfect balance of heartwarming moments, suspense, and a touch of the extraordinary. Lee Jong Suk and Bae Suzy's on-screen chemistry, coupled with a well-crafted plot, make this drama a delightful journey that lingers in the hearts of its audience long after the final episode.

Leggi di Più