Circle (2017)

A really underrated show. Gripping, but could have used another episode or two

This was a real hidden gem for me, and probably is one because there's no "official" way to watch it. Which is a damn shame and a mistake by any streaming services because it's a gripping story. For those turned off by the sci-fi tag, it's extremely light, don't worry.

The episodes are evenly split between two timelines separated by 20 years, and it's done in an interesting and good way. It's unique, at least to me, and gives double the tension: both the Future and Past timelines play with the audience, but not in a way that pisses you off. It keeps you questioning things.

Speaking of tension, it's kept high nearly all of the time. The writers did a good job keeping the action and drama going - too good, because the show really lacks breathers. The pacing is rapid, which means the breathers are few and far between, and are so fleeting. This also means the characters are developed, but just enough to be good. For example, two of the characters pretty clearly fall in love - but it's over one scene, and how that one character even got their beliefs to get to that scene are a bit iffy. Breathers help deepen character bonds and development, and the show lacks that because of its 12 episodes.

It's a big missed opportunity - I think extra episodes, heck even just one, would help the pacing a lot. The Future timeline world is interesting but we don't get to see much of it. And we could see more scenes between the leads. Lord knows everyone wants to see those hotties be cute and romantic

Well what about the story? It's consistent, engaging, and good, but you will have to suspend your disbelief for parts of it. Some of the plot points and cases would have sent the police flying to the locations instead of the characters quietly continuing their plot, but it works. Again, only 12 episodes probably forced them to push forward with questionable moments. Each key character gets good development and no one (EXCEPT ONE PERSON) is screwed over.

The music is easily the worst part though. It's typical tense orchestra stuff, nothing really new. But the cadence of the tracks often do NOT match what's going on, and that's a big sin. There would be a rising tension leading up to a typical Nolan BWAAAA breakdown, but it'd be a character just walking up some stairs, transitioning to another scene. Or there would be said breakdown, but nothing happens, so the music continues, and there's ANOTHER breakdown. That really stinks. I really think the music ruins the immersion at times. Also...in a sci-fi esque show, there's no electronic music or anything? It feels generic.

But those weren't enough to turn me away from this show, and it shouldn't deter you either. Find a way to watch it, and it's worth it.

To summarize...
Good things
- Engaging and gripping story that doesn't lose steam
- Well done acting
- Plot is mostly consistent
- Characters are developed well enough for the plot
Bad things
- Plot is a bit "on" all the time - lack of breathers may give you fatigue
- Needed an extra episode or two for pacing
- Characters could have been developed more, aka needed more episodes
- Some plot / moments need suspension of disbelief
- Music is generic, but its timing and placement ranges from meh to head-scratching

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A pretty darn complex story to follow, and for that, I must applaud the screenwriters and director for its intelligent way of storytelling. They split the two timelines 2017 and 2037 right in the middle consistently at each episode, making the otherwise confusing plotline relatively easy to follow (don't worry, it may be slightly confusing but definitely not unnecessarily convoluted). You just have to bear patience until the last episode because they untangle the mystery very nicely at the end.

I'm not particularly fond of alien sci-fi story in particular, but this drama uses that only as a plot device to tell a bigger story than to consume itself mainly around the alien sci-fi (hope that makes sense). In that way, this alien sci-fi part could have been replaced by anything else originating from human-made artificial intelligence, and I bet the story would still have worked well. What I am trying to say is that apart from the alien sci-fi, the bigger recurring theme in this drama is definitely on the brotherhood between the two main lead characters. Therefore, the story basically revolves itself around them looking out and for each other, which I find incredibly heart-warming and endearing.

I came to this drama because of Yeo Jin Goo through and through, and I absolutely loved him in every frame. My goodness, those expressive eyes of his can contain the entire universe I kid you not! I also have to say that the story in 2017 is definitely more interesting than the one in 2037 because the situations in the New Earth involves less mystery and more back betrayal (play of politics). Nevertheless, the pacing of this show in both timelines is incredibly great and it always intensely keeps you on the hook.

I also find that some of the settings in the year 2037 looked a little unrefined and if only was given more care, would have made the overall feel of the drama a lot more polished. But of course, I do understand that they operate on a more limited budget since this show is for a television and not a large screen. That being said, I still had to downgrade my score for the whole aesthetics a little bit.

Definitely watch this and don't be discouraged by reviews which say that the story is confusing or not neatly done. As long as you pay attention, it pays off really well at the end! After all, it's only 12 episodes. :)

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One of the best science fiction dramas

So how did Circle do as a whole? Did it live up to my expectations? My answer is a resounding YES! First, it completely nails the science fiction genre. With a plot that focuses on aliens, futuristic technology with small chips that control your emotions, altering memories, and a dystopian future divided into a disease and crime ridden Normal Earth and a Utopian Smart Earth, you really couldn’t get more into the genre. It’s like they threw as many sci-fi tropes as they could into the story, and it somehow worked beautifully.
The writing for this drama was brilliant with layered characters that are so well developed. There is such an intriguing mystery that is put in place right from the get go, and it is perfectly woven between the two timelines. The pace is fast and full of suspense from start to finish as there is a constant sense of urgency.

And there are always new plot developments with plenty of twists to keep things interesting. It’s hard these days to deliver true plot twists that the audience doesn’t see coming, but Circle delivered them repeatedly, and I was always wondering what was going to happen. It was truly amazing.
Circle also used a unique format by dividing each episode in half with the first half focusing on the 2017 timeline (Beta Project) and the second half focusing on the 2037 one (Grand New World). I wondered how this would play out and if it could be executed well, and it definitely was.

Both timelines were equally important to the story. In 2017, the mystery is just getting go with a lot of developments happening. You’re then left wondering how things ended up the way they are in 2037, but at the same time there are still plenty of mysteries that need to be solved in that timeline. The world building was really excellent. Plus, you get double the cliffhangers since each part ends like a traditional episode. And there are some amazingly good cliffhangers!
I seriously enjoyed this drama on many levels. Circle: Two Worlds Connected immersed me in a thrilling science fiction story full of mystery and suspense. The actors were all amazing, and they completely drew me into their characters. It was a gripping tale that completely moved me. This was a science fiction story with that heart that Korean dramas are frequently known for. It exceeded my hopes for this genre and left me in awe and more than satisfied. I consider it a must watch.

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Circle (2017) - still one of the best 2017 drama I have watched. A lot has happened and it was greatly laid out and portrayed by the actors and actresses in the drama. Different twists and turns that I was not really expecting making the drama much more interesting to me. I was just amazed, though I did not fully understand everything because of the pacing between the "future" scenes and present scenes. aand daghan nangyari jud na bongga ang pa twist and turns no, wa ko kasagang. I would always recommend this drama. Another plus point - Gikwang is here (*to those who fancies him, just like me)!

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This drama captivated me from the start and that is not normal. Let me explain why. Although I do try to keep an open mind to all genres, if there isn't much romance in it, I find myself having a hard time sticking around. This drama, however, left me in a daze.

At first, It'll be hard to get a good grip on what's going on because the timeline is a little scattered. I wouldn't worry too much about that though because, by the end, everything will fall into place. And yes, I would've loved it if there was more romance. But on the other hand, I'm also glad they didn't waste any precious second diverting from the actual plot.

Major shoutouts to Yeo Jin Goo and Gong Seung Yeon, because I can only imagine how difficult it was to play multiple roles at once. But nonetheless, they did an insane job of making all of the characters they played unique in their own ways. I honestly couldn't have asked for a better cast.

There weren't a lot of soundtracks for me to base my ratings on and I've come up with two ideas as to why that is. One, not a lot of people jumped at the opportunity of making a soundtrack for this drama, which is a bummer because they totally deserved it. Two, they decided to just turn it down a notch because they wanted to put more focus on the drama itself. Whatever the case may be, they definitely took a hit for this section.

Overall, this drama is a prime example that we should never judge a book by its cover. Or at least, I shouldn't. If you're new and is looking for something to dip your toes into, I would highly recommend this one. I just don't see myself rewatching this only because I was so content with its ending. And also because there's no romance to look back on.

With that said,
Llama out.

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Even if this drama was a sci-fi drama, I feel like it takes some things from the dystopian genre as well. .As in this drama uses certain things from both of those narratives. Like the technology and all of that from sci-fi, as well as the question of what makes us human and so on. And then a government that is somehow trying to make things look like they are great, but behind the scenes it really isn't.

I have to admit that I did not expect to find a new drama that would hook me this much this soon after Rebel Hong Gil Dong. And I didn‘t really expect much from this drama at all, because it sounded very confusing based on the synopsis. And the first episode was kinda confusing as well.

The drama is only 12 episodes so the story is really compact and it does not really stray away from the main story. There are not a lot of side-stories in this drama. Or non that take us away from the main story, as in there are not many filler scenes. They used their time really well and they cowered their ground pretty well with these 12 episodes. Everything that is shows to us serve some purpose and moves the story along the story in a way.

Each episode is divided into two parts, so the first half-hour is dedicated to the 2017 part of drama, and then the second half is in 2037. And each part ends in some exciting way, or on a cliffhanger, so you have to continue watching to get some answers. And drama was very keeping you at the edge of your seat.

At first I found this leap between different years, especially when each part ended on a very exciting note, a bit annoying. Especially when I had more fun watching what was happening in 2017. But later, the  2037 part started giving me all the answers, and these two parts started connecting a bit more that I became utterly hooked on this drama.

All I can really complain about is how many women were missing in this drama. And sure, Han Jung Yeon (and Byul) played a leading role, and it was such a great, interesting role that you really rooted for. She was great. And then Park Min Young and one other one, who was Human B’s assistant, were great supporting roles that brought something to the story.

But what I mean is that there were not a lot of women in the background of the show. I would have liked to see more women have more responsibility. Because you saw too much of men in such places, running around as body-guards, scientist or police-officers, but very few women.  And that’s not something I want to see in 2037.

That didn’t really ruin the drama for me, since I was very hooked on the fast-paced story that took place during these 12 episodes. It was just kinda annoying seeing mainly dudes running around.

Even if the show uses a lot of elements that you can find in a lot of other sci-fi shows, this show really manages to be its own story. It didn’t go overboard with the tropes, as I could not really figure out where the story was going. It kept me on my toes.

It kept me guessing. There was always something happening that I did not expect and made me feel excited about the next episode. And I just had a lot of fun watching it and I felt like they did a really good job, from the writing to the acting, in making this a damn good sci-fi drama.

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This was my first sci-fi drama, I was looking for a sci-fi drama for so long and thenn circle appeared and I was really excited AND DIDN'T DISAPPOINTED AT ALL.
Loved everything in this drama, specially their acting, woooah It was my first time seeing Yeo Jin Goo in a drama and woaaah that boy really knows how to do!
The story plot was fantastic, I was expecting an alien / clone topic to be so wonderfull, every , and I say EVERY episode was a plot twist, I couldn't predict at almost everything in this drama, and it was amazing .
I normally don't like to rewatch dramas, but Circle will be an exception sice it "short" (12 episodes) and it realy deserves a rewatch.
For the people reading this that didn't watched it already I highly recommed it to you, specially if you like a strong and coerent plot with lots of plot twist and unpredictable story!

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I have not written a review in a really long time but after finishing this drama I felt I should write one. This drama is nothing I have seen so far in the K-drama land and it was simply amazing! I am actually really glad it had 12 episodes (no more, no less), because it was just a perfect length.

If you are postponing watching the drama because of the synopsis, let me assure you that the story is nothing like the synopsis. If the plot was written there, then there would be no surprises when you watch the drama. Throughout the drama, I was constantly guessing what is going on and how will the two plot lines come together. To be honest, most of the time, I was wrong in my guessing :D That is why I loved the drama, because it was really unpredictable, kept me on the edge all the time and never stopped me guessing the plot. One great script-writing there!

The acting was very good, even though there were some actors which did not portray their roles as believably as others, but such actors had just minor roles so it did not bother me that much. The main cast did an admirable job and I am going to stalk everyone's future works from now on :)

The instrumental music was very fitting for the drama. There was only one memorable vocal OST song.

I am not sure whether I will rewatch the drama since I know all the plot twists now but maybe I will watch it later just to see some details I could have missed while watching it for the first time.

Overall, it was a spectacular drama which deserved to put on my "Worth to mention Dramas" list. So far, the best finished drama of 2017!

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Escrevei em português, para os falantes da minha língua que visitarem poderem ler algo sobre!!
 Circle: Two Worlds Connected é bom do início ao fim, e eu acho que vale 100% a pena assistir. Mas, por quê? Bem, primeiramente queria dizer que eu não tinha conhecimento do cast e decidi assistir ás cegas. Me assustei um pouco quando descobri que alguns atores são também cantores, eu me assustei por quê eles pareciam atores profissionais em um nível que até um tempo atrás não se achava nos cantores coreanos.
 A história começa, e pronto, você já está cativada por Kim Woo-Jin e KiM Beom-Gyoon. É tiro certo, sendo impossível não se derreter pelo relacionamento entre os dois. Algo que eu gostei muito, por quê normalmente os doramas são apenas concentrados em romance-romântico e sinceramente eu já estava cansada disso. Um dos motivos de eu ter achado Goblin chato foi por quê senti falta de o diretor explorar mais a "magia", "fantasia" e "ficção". Então sim, Circle é realmente ficção científica.
 O decorrer da história vai se tornando emocionante e não há como não se envolver quando há pistas e revelações sendo jogadas na sua cara em cada episódio hahaha, sem contar a atuação de todo cast que não deixou a desejar sem um pouquinho.
 Enfim, sobre a música eu acho que não coube muito no estilo da história...mas ela faz meu estilo, então tirarei apenas -0,5 décimos!! Recomendo para todos brasileiros e portugueses que assistam esse dorama, sem dúvidas o diretor Min Jin Ki-Nim fez um grande trabalho inaugurando a chegada do gênero Sci-Fi nas novelas coreanas aka doramas!!!! ?????
 Termino, enfim, esta review com uma saudade já adiantada de todo cast e uma salva de palmas para os staffs, diretor e todos envolvidos nessa obra de arte!!! Foi bom conhecer vocês, personagens..?????????

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