Born Again (2020)

I cannot believe how they ruined such a good cast and potential plot. The first ten episodes were exciting and really made me think "wow this could be one of my favorite dramas of the year", but no. It goes downhill to the point you have no idea what they are trying to prove or show. Unless you enjoy a psychotic guy falling in love with a girl with no values or even common sense, then do not torture yourself mentally by watching this. At the beginning of the drama I was one of those people who defended the female lead despite her playing two guys because I thought she was gonna grow and change. How could you make a vow to your fiancé that you will always love and be with him even in another lifetime and go love the person that stabbed him to death?? Not only that she made him look like a fool for saving her and loving her unconditionally; she acts like a block of ice and runs to the psychotic guy hugging him and talking to him like he's some type of angel. What is the point of this drama? To show that eternal love doesn't exist? To show that stalking someone and murdering is okay? To show that the "bad guy" can get the girl? WTH like I don't even know how someone approved this drama to be filmed after reading the script. I also don't know why the actors especially Lee Soo Hyuk would want to participate in such chaos and nonsense. I finally understand why this drama received very low ratings in Korea and now even on MDL. For your own good and sanity do not watch this drama.

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Story
The story for 'Born Again' is refreshing and unique. It starts in the 1980s, telling you an almost whole story before moving to the present day. The story presents such a compelling story for the 1980s, a serial killer named Gong Ji Chul who's signature is a yellow umbrella. As we learn more about Ji Chul, we begin to realize he is truly a monster. But what is even more amazing is that once we get to the present day roughly the year 2020, everything we know is flip on its head. The once violent serial killer who has 11 bodies of women as charges against him has only ever killed one person is a strange self-defense love induced rage of the heart.
Furthermore, the cop, Cha Hyung Bin, is one of the most upright characters in the 80s. Hyung Bin's primary goal is to protect his fiance Jung Ha Eun because she has a yellow umbrella. Hyung Bin is the perfect boyfriend to Ha Eun; her heart condition is a strain on their relationship, providing an interesting point of conflict for the two. Everything hits an explosive end on a snow mountain before Jung Ha Eun's marriage to Cha Hyung Bin.
While in the present time, Gong Ji Chul reincarnated to be Chun Jong Bum, who is a student in college studying to be a medical examiner. He has a mentally abusive family and nonempathic life. During one of his classes, his professor turns out to be the reincarnated Jung Ha Eun now Jung Sa Bin. Jong Bum and Sa Bin hit it off; the two become very close when suddenly they meet the reincarnated Cha Hyung Bin now Kim Soo Hyuk over a 30-year-old body. Things become more complicated as both Soo Hyuk and Jong Bum vie for Sa Bin's attention and affection.
Acting/Cast
The casting for this drama is magnificent. I can't honestly say I wouldn't change any of the actors. I only came to this show because I love Jang Ki Yong and wanted to see him in something after 'Search WWW:'. I at first thought this was going to be similar to one of Jang Ki Yong's previous works 'Come and Hug Me', but it was on a whole different level. There was a depth to this character that I hadn't seen him act before, and it's impressive to see him play what you think you see. But once you open your eyes to who Gong Ji Chul and by extension, Chun Jong Bum is, you understand the depth he added to both characters, and it's breathtaking. Lee Soo Hyuk had such a distinctive style playing a good to bad to awful to just pitiful person. I ran through so many emotions in one second I was like he is so perfect for her (Ha Eun), and then I was like how could he do this to (Jong Bum). I fell for his story arcs, even after finishing this drama, I don't know how I feel about him. I can't even say if I loved or hate his character, which is a first for me. I genuinely think Lee Soo Hyuk outdid himself!! But I have to say for me the biggest let down has to be the lack of emotional connection I had with Jung Ha Eun and Jung Sa Bin. I honestly felt that the actress only played the character and did not bring either female to life like her costars. It didn't overpower any scene unless you were looking for it. I also think my lack of connection with her was because her character, to me, felt two-dimensional.
Music
The music fits into every scene, able to pull emotions from me; I didn't even know I was feeling. I am generally not a crier during emotional moments, but I felt myself tearing up as well as bawling my eyes out. I have to give credit to the music composer because I've haven´t cried this hard over fictional characters in a while. Perfect score in all moments because it brought everything together perfectly.
Rewatch Value
My rewatch value is super low because of 2 important things 1) I hate crying, and I would prefer never to do it. I honestly know if I were to rewatch this show in a week or several years, this drama would have me in tears in *aggressively snaps fingers*. 2) The ending, which was the biggest disappointment in history.
Disappointment
My only problem with this drama is it's ending. Because I don't like to cry, I like happy endings. No crying is needed, please. But this time, I wanted a tragedy; I feel like Gong Ji Chul/Chun Jong Bum was cheated of his happy ending. The drama should have ended how he wanted his life to end, providing someone with an unforgettable gift. I feel that if this story had followed Chun Jong Bum's intended ending, his wish for his purpose, that it would have been more enjoyable because it would fit his character. But the conclusion robbed him; ripped him from his redemption. I understand why he said he was traveling overseas to the US. But why keep her waiting? That was when I first knew this wasn't going to give him the beautiful ending he had wanted. But when Jung Sa Bin stole his dying wish forcing him to live so that she might have companionship and love, I felt this was the biggest injustice he had ever gotten. Besides the fact that I think her character is undeserving of him, but that's beside the point. The ending killed the story.
Overall
I loved the character arcs for the leading males. There new eccentric roles are electrifying, and I encourage you to watch this drama even if the ending is terrible. This drama shows you that there are always two sides to every story as well as character. That just because someone is fighting the good fight that might mean inside they are wrong. Or that even when the law is supposed to be justice, it can make mistakes. I'll imagine a better ending for Gong Ji Chul/Chun Jong Bum, but please watch this fantastic drama even if the finish is subpar at best.

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A one of a kind in kdrama

To be honest, I actually do not like the acting of Lee Soo Hyuk and the female lead. But Jang Ki Yong deserve something big for his acting in this drama. He performed well as a man who only loves one woman, as a son of a serial killer who is being mentally controlled by the father and as the love rival of Lee Soo Hyuk who was also enemies in the past life.

The story is an uncommon one that can only be found in those Thai dramas. But, Jang Ki Yong has saved the whole drama. Not telling that other characters are bad but Jang Ki Yong was the perfect fit for his character in Born Again.

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Honestly it wasn't that bad, this kdrama is more something to watch in the background, or when you can't find anything else to watch. There are times were the writing is messed up and the characters are irritating. But I kinda like these dramas!! Its an interesting story you can follow without being too invested in the characters, it wont have you thinking about it a week after its finished haha. Overall i'm not mad at it, i'm glad I watched this. Even through some bad writing I still felt somewhat invested in the characters and wanted to know how the story ended. (and the ending is somewhat satisfying).

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Give it a chance

Born Again was undoubtedly confusing and long and detailed and made me consider turning it off multiple times. However, it was still a very interesting and very good idea for a drama. The two male leads were total smoke-shows and I was throughly impressed with their acting skills. Unfortunately, the female lead didn't really sell it for me. Her emotions didn't seem as real and as candid. They seemed a bit put on and a bit muted. They weren't as raw as the male lead's. I won't say any more bad things about her though, as she still did a very good job and I even felt a bit of chemistry between her and Ji Cheol at the end there. I thought I was gonna have a good cry on at the ending so I was left a bit disappointed there. However, it's a good thing that the ending wasn't sad otherwise that would have been my second one in a row. Blame The Smile Has Left Your Eyes lol.
Anyway, in conclusion, it was a good drama with good acting. But, unfortunately, it wasn't a great drama with great acting.
Still, though, you might as well give it a go.
I don't think it will be a disappointment.

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Gets confusing but stick with it!

Watching this drama was a bit like riding a rollercoaster - it veered from intense and thrilling to the 'flat' bits and confusion!

I was really enjoying it until one particular scene that just threw the story into the realms of being totally unbelievable.

Fantasy, supernatural etc dramas, still need to have a sense of reality in terms of a storyline being possible and that one scene in this, I felt shifted that. If one character hadn't done something to themselves at a crucial point, which just didn't fit with what happened next, this would not have been the case. That aside and the story would have been excellent, although the way some of the characters think (or don't, more to the point), is sometimes infuriating too.

I was gripped, and besides being very irritated by the number of times people can be in pain or passed out, whilst everyone in the vicinity appears to be completely oblivious to the fact, was able to stayed engrossed whilst watching.

The main characters are all so deep and multi layered. I did find Jung Ha Eun to be somewhat delusional on occasion and Jung Sa Bin had a tendency to be gormless at times when her usual intelligence was called for.
There are some truly psychopathic characters in this drama that are very easy to hate. Considering that, the writers did well in managing to not make it so bleak as to be unwatchable. It was balanced by very touching, kind and warm scenes too.

I had no idea how it would end until the final episode played out and it was not a disappointing, but as is often the case, for some reason they decided to add a tiny scene to what would have been a great ending, which made it less clear - at least to me . The positives of this drama do outweigh a story that became confusing and (as mentioned before), overdone at times.

The cast though are excellent. I loved Jang Ki Yong and Lee Soo Hyuk's portrayals of their dual roles a lot.
I also thought the music score suited the episodes really well too.

Worth watching.

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Morally I just don't understand it...

This is a confusing mess... starting from plotline ending with the characters itself.

The story depends a lot on fate and fateful relationships, something which we, as viewers, don't exactly feel from the get go. More times than not, the leads seem to be 'prisoners' to the feelings induced by fate rather than their own choices in the matter. The plot rushes the natural development of chemistry, forcing us to believe there's a strong connection there because of 'fate'. That irked me at the beginning of the drama, but thankfully later on the relationships does progress more naturally.

The female lead is something else...besides being idealistic, she's also fearless (in a naive, too trusting way) and misleading. Her 'feelings' and 'actions' doesn't seem to match. I can't see where her 'attachment' to certain people comes from. The more story progresses the less I can relate to her. Although the male leads have their own problems, the maddest one seems to be the female protagonist.

There's a lot of black and white and somewhat forced search for the grey area in between.

Since we're dealing with a 'crime plotline' the drama doesn't shy away from being equal amounts of creepy and confusing. But we're not only dealing with a creepy plotline but also with a bunch of creepy characters. The morality in this drama is 'somewhere in between'. There are times when the characters or the 'atmosphere' of the scene assumingly tries to guide into feeling sympathetic towards the characters but I can't help finding the whole situation creepy and rather a bit distasteful. I went into this drama expecting a lot but I feel like i fell into a black hole.

So if you're going for the adorable romance, this is definitely NOT IT. Frankly, Lee Soo Hyuk's character is the only reason I held on. The ending was...I guess it was something to be expected, judging by the way the drama was going. Compared to the overall drama, the ending was even something one would expect out of a kdrama. It doesn't make it good or bad necessarily since the build up to it was...questionable and confusing. It just is.

Advice: try watching episode 1-2, if you don't particularly like it or 'hope' for things to get better - they don't. So, if you feel something's off, know that's it's gonna be off and more from now on so move on to somewhere else.

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The dramas main flaw is the story line. I think if had some minor tweaks it could have been a great show. With that said it wasn't your typical love triangle and I genuinely didn't want any of the male leads to get the girl.

I loved the character of "Gong Ji Chul / Jong Bum". They did such a great job with both sides of him. I really liked the emotionless version and his sincere desire to know how to feel. That is where I began to find fault with the female lead, her concern for him was patronizing much of the time and seemed to devalue who he was.

Other than that - they all actually did a good job to me.

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When I watch the beginning of this movie, HonestlyI was totally disappointed and my heart hurt so much because of the cast characters especially Jongki ruled as Chun Jong Bum. He nailed his rule and potrayed it well. As a watcher he never failed me to make me cry in every episode and hoping he had happiness while watching the latest epispde 15 he made me more cry and I wonder Why did this director or writer of the drama let him suffer her too much? Why he is not being love by the people around him not even one. That makes me painful while watching this drama hoping that the final episode he get atleast the only wowan who tried to love him, help him, taught him, trust him and the wowan who understand him in many ways that was all I've been hoping while waiting to air the final episode. And thankfully it made out that way the ending that Ive been always wanted and hoping for. I just wanna say thank you director for making this movie atleast consulting as I viewer of this drama Im very grateful for the ending you've made giving Chun Jong Bum what he deserve like love "He deserve to be Love" even theres so many spoiler about this movie ended up bashing because they dont get what they want but not all of your viewer felt the same thing. As a viewer of this drama the ending made me Happy and grateful it feels like the thorn of my heart while watching the first episode to episode 15 went away when you gave him that ending he deserves. Thank you for being so considerate you make him to fell like a human again??
This story really affects me because The actor (Jongki ruled as Chun Jong Bum) of this drama potrayed it well he makes me feel the story was real his eyes looks so real that you can feel his pain. Hoping to give us another movie like this that make us thrill, excitement because we cant predict the ending that we thought unlike the other movie that we can predict it while watching least of the episode and the movie who give me hope. I've learned so much through this movie even I shed so may tears but its all worth it because you gave me the ending that I was hoping for. THANK YOU?

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I started this drama casually without much expectations and as I was more episodes, I started loving it and felt like this is the one, one of the best drama I have ever seen. But towards the end, it all went downhill. Ending episodes ruined it all. I have never dropped a drama but this one urged my like nothing else. Sa Bin is a perfect example of clownery. I would definitely not recommend anyone to watch this trash. Honestly, I am so fed up and I have never seen such nonsense in my life. And to all the peple who are saying "THIS IS UNLIKE OTHER TYPICAL CLICHÉ ROMANTIC DRAMAS AND HAS A REALISTIC ENDING". First of all, the ending doesn't even make any sense like ffs. Just because Ji Chul had an unrequited love and Hyung Bin was happy with his lover before their deaths doesn't mean any injustice was done with Ji Chul or Hyung Bin needed to suffer. Also, they romanticized the stalking. Stalking ain't even funny fr. All the cast members did an excellent job with their acting but it was an injustice for them to be assigned to this kind of clownery.

P.S.- I am not experienced in writing reviews, this was my first one. I wrote this because I have never felt this bad about a drama before.

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