Nine: Nine Times Time Travel (2013)

This drama never had a dragging moment! This is a sheer masterpiece of epic proportions. I recommend it to everybody. This ingenuity and creativity that went into this story and its characters were evident from the moment 'go'.

I admit, I was confused when episode 1 started, but it was a delicious, intrigued confused. By episode 2, no one is confused, just on the edge of your seat. By episode 14, there were some outcomes you'd expect in the story, but it was not all predictable. As I said, this drama never dragged ... and I was expecting it to since most 20 episode dramas have a tendency to drag the last 4 episodes. "Nine: Nine Times Time Travel" was a marvel from beginning to end, and at the end, the beginning was even more of a marvel. This was a perfect fit. Watch it and you'll see what I mean... but I warn - no skipping the drama to the end. It's more poignant and magical to see it as a whole.

The actors... were superb in their casting. Especially Lee Jin Wook - he carried this drama (not alone, but) the best. His acting was top notch and of course, he is handsome and gets even more so as the drama progresses. I think it's his character adding to his hotness. I love his suit scenes (which is every scene).

Joo Yoon He was also great and very pretty. Their characters made a really fitting and cute couple. I could see them living together forever lol. Her character did get annoying somewhere in the middle of the drama, but that really wasn't her fault. This actress did a great job.

The brother, the best friend, the villain, the dad.... every single cast member did a remarkable job. And of course, the production team. The best friend was so funny, he livened up even the serious moments. He was the best in this show imo.

Can't praise the workings of this drama highly enough. Go watch it.

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Unique fantasy time-travelling romance drama

I loved how the romance was not dragged on for too long. I also love a female lead that is open and honest about her feelings. The brother's acting was questionable - more so his ability to perform crying scenes. Which is unfortunate because he had quite a few crying scenes so that was kind of yikes. He would smile while crying but in a completely inappropriate way in terms of the context of the scene. Overall, I really enjoyed the whole fantasy and supernatural element to it. I think it is a pretty unique story and concept that you don't see much in kdramas. I was pleasantly surprised with how much I ended up enjoying this drama.

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Great spin on a time travel story

This one is a real mind bender. Plot-wise this show was consistently excellent. The story was creative, well paced, and expertly balanced its substantive existential concerns with the borderline soapy family drama. I liked how the writers handled the logistics of time travel. Even with the limited screen time afforded to it I was able to buy into into the romance. I read the ending as ambiguous enough to support multiple possible interpretations, which suits the vibe of the show well. The one downside was the acting was a bit patchy at times. Lee Jin Wook was generally good in this but there were also times when he was too stiff and expressionless. Jung Dong Hwan's performance as the villain was fine initially but got so bad in the later episodes of the show it was hard to watch. His constant slack jawed/bug eyed mugging was embarrassing. I can enjoy hammy overwrought acting under the right circumstances but his clownish performance just annoyed me and was out of sync with the rest of the show.

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follow the wormhole

one of those dramas that I wanted to watch an episode every day、but not all at once、 so as to draw out the enjoyment。 very suspenseful and with good tempo and movement between different strands of the story so no time to get bored〜however this was not a true sci-fi time travel drama more the idea of circular lives。 some aspects I dislike： the huge change in atmosphere between the next to last and final episodes I found strange and the ending is clever and intriguing but not totally satisfactory because it does not fit convincingly with the pretty definite ending to the previous episode； the relationship between ML and FLー I did not like his treatment of her or her taking it： I guess it is meant to be funny but for me verges on SM and falls flat： luckily for most of the drama the romance theme was in the background so did not affect the overall enjoyment I suppose they must have love interest to keep the audience ratings。still a very good drama〜 when K drama gets it right it is really good。

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Fascinant voyage dans le temps ! Celui-ci ne dure que le temps de 9 bâtonnets d'encens...

Ce drama m'a accrochée, emportée, tenue en haleine, captivée, et même après l'avoir fini, j'y repense souvent, tant l'histoire est passionnante, parfaitement ficelée et d'une logique implacable.      Logique qui nécessite quand même l'acceptation d'entrée de jeu que nous allons assister à des déplacements temporels, mais une fois admise cette hypothèse de départ, tout est construit comme une mécanique sans une faille, enfin, je n'en ai pas trouvé quant à moi, et pourtant je suis très critique pour ce genre d'histoire !!   
La force du drama (de même que dans QIHM, écrit et réalisé par la même équipe) c'est de ne pas manipuler de douteuses données scientifiques mais de tabler d'entrée de jeu sur la magie, et sur le pouvoir des objets magiques, dont la maîtrise échappe complètement aux pauvres humains tentés de jouer à Dieu.  
Sun Woo se battra contre l'implacable force du Destin...
Les acteurs... non, l'acteur, Lee Jin Wook, est absolument remarquable, de justesse, d'émotion, de finesse, et il va entrer dans mon top 10 (si je le refais un jour ...). je me demandais tout du long pourquoi il me plaisait autant, c'est que c'est un acteur "sans retouche", si vous voyez ce que je veux dire, dont le charme et la beauté ne semblent rien devoir à autre chose qu'à la Nature, et cela lui donne un aspect authentique et réel assez rare pour être souligné.       
J'ai trouvé un très léger bémol : le sur-jeu insupportable du "méchant"(je ne pouvais plus endurer ses grimaces à la fin   ) et aussi un peu celui du meilleur ami, ou de l'héroïne, celle-ci dans la tradition de l'héroïne "rentre dedans" insistante, et bruyante, tout au moins au début, après elle devient très très bien !  
La musique, je l'ai à peine remarquée, ce qui est un très bon signe, peu de chansons, très discrètes, et Dieu merci sans les paroles !!!  

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This is going to be a short review, as it has been quite a while since I finished watching it and I kind of forgot to review it.

Just as the title says, Nine Times Time Travel is an intriguing time travel tale.

The concept of using incense sticks to travel back 20 years into the past is unusual, but what captured my interest the most is the fact that the timelines of the past and the present parallel. Ever since Park Sun Woo (the lead) time travels for the first time, the two timelines are now made parallel. Any change that occurs in the past takes immediate affect in the future.

But I guess what I disliked the most is the poker face of sort that Sun Woo always put up. It's kind of expressionless but at the same time, he can express so much.

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Time travel stories can be head scratching fiasco, but Nine kdrama is gold standard that it all lies within exact execution and writing. Nine is a drama that does it all---scifi, bit of magic, romance, melo, suspense, mystery, and it juggles it all well.

Nine has romance that is oh so good yet oh so painful, omg that pining! Samchun sniff. Kdrama male leads need to pine more! Lee Jin Wook's smiling eyes charmed my socks off, and his chemistry with Jo Yoon Hee sizzles. Ok ok Park Sun Woo is a jerk. All writer Song Jae Jung male leads are probably like that. But she loves torturing her heroes to the brink, and in the course of following the tragic sacrifices Sun Woo got into for his loved ones and the heroine, and you find yourself again hopelessly rooting for that jerk.

I appreciate how the story amidst all the angst ended with a positive outlook. Despite trying their best not to, our OTP fell for each other again, even in another time, and they probably will, again and again. Sometimes you keep on trying to change something but the path is already laid out. As Sun Woo said, why concentrate on what awful things happened in the past, or worry about what more godawful things will happen in the future. All one can do is be decent, make good choices and stand by them, love whom we love, pray and live our life without all those excess burdens, hope for the best, and enjoy the ride.

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