I was let down

watching the first 2 episodes, I thought its going to be about a troubled couple finding their way back to each other which it happed at last but not in a way that I wanted to. Kim Sohyun and Kim Jiwon are great actors with great chemistry and godly visuals but their love story is incredibly boring. I dont know how to put this in words but none of the characters seem like human beings. They're all written in a very surface level .They're just some plot devices and do stuff because the writer wanted those things to happen.
Hyun woo is knight in shining armor constantly sacrificing himself for others and Hae in is his entire world. Hae in is the princess with warm heart and cold attitude. Eun seong is the obsessed villain with dark past. Soo cheol is a doormat. Dahye is the poor corrupted lonely villain getting a redemption arc. No depth . No creativity. just cliches.
There was so much potential for Hyun woo and Hae in story but they just used cliches with some aesthetic pretty shots. Im so tired of " they met each other in childhood so it was fate all along" stuff and they used that one multiple times.
Honestly, the power struggle between the villains and Queens group was quite boring too and it was taking too much screen time to the point it overshadowed our couples story.
you need alot of suspension of disbelief to watch it because nothing make sense. people are smart and cunning but they make stupid choices so Hyun woo can come and save the day like the hero he is. There are herds of supporting characters who owe something to Hyun woo so they do everything to help. Hye in is supposedly very sick and doesn't have much time left but she never looks like it even in hospital. Her very rare disease gets cured magically with only one side effect which makes the next plot twist. Very unnatural story telling.
Actors are all amazing showing a range of emotions. The camera work is great. Filming locations are so pretty .OSTs are beautiful. Fashion and hair styles are stunning so are the cars. The story is the only thing ruining it. Its a bummer. All this talent and resources should've gone to a better story

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ILLOGICAL

Haven't seen the original and don't plan to do so. I'm reviewing this as a stand alone series.
I'm a sucker for family centered dramas and the concept of being a family by choice not blood relation or marriage is interesting but nothing makes sense here. Even if I haven't seen the og I can clearly see they had a hard time putting everything in 16 episodes. Its too fast paced for its story. It looks like they had a list of all the plot points of the story and they were going through them to make sure they included everything without bothering to give them any explanations or enough screen time. Everything is eighter half baked or ignored.

San has mom is one of the most disgusting characters in kdrama I've ever seen. A whole psychopath. She comes and goes as she pleases and says and does whatever she wants without any consideration. She is self centered, manipulative and violent. My blood pressure went to the roof any time she was on screen. They never try to help us understand her character. I don't think anyone had the slightest idea about who this women was or what she wanted, not even the writers. Her presence is really over powering but we get to the last episode and there isn't any time left to make any sense of this story so the writers just physically remove her from the story where she moves to England. The AUDACITY. So what now? She has moved her living place many times and it never helped. She can comeback any time she wants. We never see her get redemption. We also never see her get the sweet sweet karma. The way they handled it is just infuriating.

San ha never gets a real confrontation nor any closure. His relationship with his parent is as broken as ever at the end. He is one of the main characters for god sake.

San has dad is a cowardly sad excuse of a man that didn't have the gut to stand up for his son or himself, never made any effort to understand his own son and just hide himself behind his ex wife or Jowons dad. They tried to glaze over his share in San has problems by turning him into a dorky goofball but I don't buy it.

jowon is such an annoying character both as kid and a teenager. I can understand kid Jowon but when she grew up she was straight up gaslighting her family members with all her nonsense and not once she was called out on it. Thankfully that habit doesn't stay in adult Jowon but now she's just bland. Im not sure if its the way the story is written or the way she is played by the actor but I know I just didn't care about her at all.

Hae joon is a weird character. He is warm, kind, friendly, popular and athletic. At times he could be very intelligent, confident and out spoken. He could say what ever he felt and thought. Other times he had two digit IQ level, completely oblivious to most simple things in his surrounding or having random outbursts of emotion that no one seem to be able to help. He was very hot and cold. Don't get me wrong I like him the most out of the main trio, he is quite charming but I think they went overboard in some aspect when writing him

Dal is fine. Seen many other characters like her in kdrama land. its quite cliche but I don't hate it. She and Hae joon were cute as a couple. Wished we saw more of them

This couldve been alot better if it was longer I think. I hated almost all of the characters behavior right from the start but I had hope that it would get better. it never happened.

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All over the place and sloppy

Everything is all over the place and sloppy from story to the acting to the editing. Started watching this cuz I find the split personality concept interesting but it was executed very poorly. I haven't read the webtoon but reading the comments here from people who have read it, seems like there was no fantasy / magic aspect to it and I wish they kept it like that here too. They make Ak hee a spirit that possessed Sajo instead of repressed part of him he was scared of and it was a wrong decision in my opinion. There is a shaman called Choong ta with the same condition as Sajo but the difference is the spirit who possessed her/him is from the opposite gender and ever time they switch their appearance changes too but the same rule doesn't apply to Sajo/Ak hee. I hated this character so goddamn much. their existence were unnecessary in my opinion. Anyone who comes to know Choong ta finds out There are 2 different Choong tas in 1 body and easily makes peace with it but Sajo is "insane" in other people eyes. Then both Sajo and Ak hee, separately seek Choong to help them get rid of each other, completely failing to see both Choong tas hypocritic asses hated each other but couldn't do anything for their own condition let alone other people.
In my opinion ( some might disagree ) Sajo situation should've been dissociative identity disorder where he over comes his trauma and both personalities get united in the end. Sure it could've gone a wrong route by misrepresenting the people who have it ( maybe they were actually avoiding this hence why they changed it to a spirit. Not sure tho ) but at least it was more cohesive and more enjoyable to watch. its a wasted potential. Realistically , a good king should've been something between Sajo and Ak hee in early episodes. They were completing each other in a sense. Insted here Sajo is real and Ak hee is an intruder that needs to be eliminated.
beside the character of Sajo/ Ak hee being badly handled there is another problem which is the world building ruining the immersion. By world building I mean Sajo's mind. The rules constantly change. Sometimes they are aware of the other persons actions and feelings, sometimes they're not. Sometimes Akhee is more powerful sometimes Sajo is. Its annoying. I could never be immersed in the story enough and the weird editing wasn't helping at all. there are some weird jumps between scenes that makes me believe whoever is in charge of editing it is a student trying to learn how to edit.
the love plot is insanely stupid and boring. Akk hee is an man child , Sajo is dense and Kyera is..... well, bland.
I hated Kyera too at times. she forgot her revenge too quickly. she fell in love with Sajo too quickly. there was no personality to her. with her background and abilities, she should've been way stronger.
The antagonist are more consistent in their characterization but that's not enough.
Park ji hoon and Hwang hee both do great playing their roles. Yeji struggles in some but for her first role is not horrid. its serviceable. hope she improves in future projects. I don't usually pay attention to OSTs so I went out of my way to listen to them separately and OMG they're beautiful.

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fanfiction turned to drama

the start was very good. I knew what to expect : A light cheesy comedy in fantasy genre to fill up my time. it as around episode 6-7 when it started to get boring. what I liked to see was to see him struggle in his new found idol status. The idea of
'idol" or "celebrity" is not in line with his personal beliefs ( he's a priest after all ) but he must play into it because 1. its his only way to get back to his own realm 2.other people depend on his work like group mates and company workers.

For some reason the script writers decided to focus on this power struggle of good/ evil which kinda ruined it for me. Remberary/ yeon woo cant catch a break. he is constantly fighting against devil's schemes and there isn't much time left for singing, dancing, practicing and other idol problems which made the comedy part in the first place. I couldn't care less about the antagonist or his minions. After episode 8 I skipped it to ep 11 and watched last two episodes in fast speed.

I know that I shouldn't nitpick on it for it not being realistic ( I mean the genre is fantasy , hello?) but still the idea of them winning any major awards despite having so many scandals and not being from a big company is so stupid and yet the most unrealistic part of the story is Yeon woo and Dal love plot. first of all she was a weirdo. Not any normal fan but a complete stalker. why an idol should fall in love with their deranged fan ? Second of all their love bloomed 😒 when remberary was in that body. It was gone the minute Yeon woo came back. They're 2 different people. So what was that ending? You're telling me Yeon woo / Dal are a thing now just because he remembers Rembrary memories?

I normally dont pay attention to OSTs much so I made the score up 😁😬

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The goods : compelling plot, great actors , great cinematography
The bads : very slow pacing. Could’ve been a movie. Not thrilling enough.
I couldn’t understand the reasoning behind characters behavior for the life of me. Everyone suffer from severe psychological issues. I wished they went deeper into characters past so we know why they are the way they are. They tried with Joo Ran character but Im still confused. How her sister died? Was she murdered? If so who killed her? How does this effect Joo Ran? What about the highschool girl? Was she really pregnant? Why she contacted the son first? Why was she acting like that? Why was Dr.Kim a psycho ? too many un-answered questions.
I dont pay attention to OSTs so I made the score up

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This changed my mind about Park Shin Hye

I had seen heirs, memories of alhambra and Dr.slump and Park Shin hye acting was the weakest point of all said projects in my opinion. Nevertheless I Iove fantasy and liked the synopsis enough so I picked this up and Im pleasantly surprised with PSH acting as Kang Bit na. every single actor here do their jobs perfectly. ( minus the actress playing Aron. the facial expressions were too much)

Justitia is responsible for sending murderers to hell but a wrong judgment in regards to human judge named Kang Bit na forces her to pay a huge price in return. She is banned to earth in Bit nas body where she has to find 10 unapologetic murderers and send them to hell. this new job has its own complication as Han Da on gets involved.
Han Da on is a detective with a painful past. His version of justice clashes with justitias greatly for obvious reasons. As time passes they get to understand each other more.

The judge from hell has interesting themes: demons, angels, revenge, justice etc. The visuals aspect of it is top tier and every episode is just as interesting with no dragging or fillers. I also loved the styling of characters too. The twists can be seen from a mile away. Han da on character is a bit bland for a main character. The romantic aspect of it is bit rushed but I think it makes sense when its just 14 episodes so Im not really complaining. its not the greatest kdrama ever made but its still worth watching.

Also they dont explain what happened to real Bit na?

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I started watching this drama knowing very well that is full of clichés only because I wanted to watch something light to ease my mind after stressful exam season. First 6 episodes were incredible. I actually thought we might finally get a good story even with all the clichés. They did a great job introducing the characters as they all seemed quite interesting and kept a good pace. I was invested in the story then it just went downhill .One of the reasons for that is the villain's characterization. there are a few of them and none of them ever make sense. they're just evil in a very comic and over the top way. There is no clear motivation to explain why they're trying so hard to pull Do hee down. This over the topness gets repeated a few more time when some characters somehow survive after falling down from a skyscraper ( I rolled my eyes so hard I saw my brain ) or even when they're stabbed severely.
Another reason is they didn't know what they wanted to do with the story so they tried to re-create some scenes from other fantasy dramas ( goblin,9 tailed fox, gumiho etc. ). Now I don't care about cheesy over the top scenes if the story is good but that's not what happened here. It spends so much time on unnecessary characters and sub plots . Jin star, Seok hun and the gang members were useless. Bok kyu and secretary Shin were funny at first but they got boring too. All their screen time should've been given to Noh family.
another thing is there is way too many flash backs. It seems like they didn't have enough materials for 16 episodes.
I wish post ep 6 was written differently. There was so much potential.
It certainly did serve fashion ( I'm not sure if this is a really good point tho as it seemed like an extended ad for certain fashion brands at time ) and the OSTs are pretty.

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Forgettable

born as a psychopath Lee Se Na is on a mission to ruin Dr. Noh family by revealing her family members secrets one by one. Dr.Noh is a family counselor and also has the most toxic family anyone could imagine .
As the episodes goes by you ask yourself :" just how many lies is too much lies?"
Se Na plans backfires as the family gets united to defeat her and protect each other.
I think they did a decent job in the thriller aspect of it but Im not sure what comedy is doing in genre tags. Nothing funny was happening on the screen.
what I don't like is that the characters were all very lazily written. Lee Se Na, DR.Noh and writer Hong are the most unconvincing gas lighters ever but they're all surrounded with gullible men so everything just plays out.
the word " gaslighting " is said multiple time and I read in comment section it was the original name .I'm happy they changed it
I'm proud of Yeon woo acting career after momoland but I'm not sure if this was the role for her. she was doing good in the first half when we didn't know much of Se Na but later on ,she just didn't fit. Especially in the scenes where she is talking with Noh Yong Won. It was hard to watch. I also hated the dancing in fire scene. I think it was supposed to be an emotionally charged scene to move the viewers. I cringed.
I also hated the ending for writer Hong. Yes she did confess to her wrongs and stopped being obsessive and gaslighting family members but she didn't get enough flack for ruining so many people lives in my opinion. I don't understand why everyone was so forgiving towards her.
The ending felt very bittersweet indeed. I'm still not sure about the family massage that was pushed but that's up to personal interpret
this is the type of series you watch to pass time and forget it in a month. Its not meritless but forgettable. The cinematography is stunning.

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need a lot of patience to sit through the first half

first half is both annoying AND boring but if you have patience, the second half is truly beautiful.

The goods :
1. The way this drama showed grief and how different people confront it. The lack of healthy communication was frustrating at times but very realistic and relatable. Yongpil was the first one who realized they were drifting apart cuz they were all running away and decided to put an end to it.
" why you didn't run? why you didn't try to forget?"
" but what if I did forget you?"

2. Go Mija. easily the best character in the whole series. She is the most well written character along with Yongpil. Her character has layers and I cried each time a new layer was revealed. She was so kind and brave. A great mother for her daughters and Yongpil.

3. Go Mija and Bo Mija flashbacks. tear jerkers.

4. Yongpils dad redemption arc. God knows he is one of the most annoying characters I've seen in my 12 years of being into Kdramas but I'm happy with the result.

5. Samdals family ( minus Samdal herself ) are all intriguing both in characters and their relationships with each other. I wished we knew more about the sisters pasts. Their love stories were more interesting than the main couple in my opinion. The family dynamic is very fun to watch.

6. Samdalri island and its beatiful beaches and gardens.

Now the bad;
1. Our female lead Samdal. I dont know why she and her collogues were so dumbfounded that she fell into a scandal given the fact that she's both unprofessional and a BRAT. Samdal is unlikable from episode 1 to the very end. She is an immature girl with a big ego who constantly throws tantrums.

2. Alcoholism. Samdal developed a horrible drinking habit after going back to samdalri and I think its an irresponsible portrayal if none of the other characters in the drama mention it in a bad light. She wasnt just sad, she was Addicted.

3. Samdalri people and their big mouths. small villages where everyone know each other have their own problems for sure ( gossips, lack of personal space, fear of being judged etc etc) and this has been touched upon in few other dramas but it doesn't make watching them any less insufferable. Yongpils friend had nothing else to talk about other than Samdal.

4. Second male lead. What was the point of his existence?

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MID

personally wished for more fantasy and less mystery. I know kdramas have a habit of mixing as many genres as possible in one and I knew this is gonna be one of them but still .... this is a bit disappointing. I wish the drama focused more on Sol hee and her powers rather than the story of all toxic lovers who were obsessed with Do ha. I felt like the story was to grim for a romcom but not deep enough for a mystery. the suicide case should've stayed as one instead of turning to a murder case. it took all the attention that should've been given to our main leads and gave it to finding who's the real killer and in the process it hindered any good development our leads could've gotten. I was more invested in side characters. although the ending is a happy ending I don't understand how Do ha's trauma is supposed to be gone when it should've gotten worse. To be betrayed and be kept in the dark for so many years it cant make your mental state better surly. the chemistry between the main is lukewarm at best.
its not unwatchable per se .... but a forgettable one definitely.
on a side note: I wish kdramas tone it down a bit with their product placements. Especially when they go out of their way to give characters a line to talk about the said product. its annoying.

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a good romcom

This year wasn't great for us romcom lovers but this one actually does the job. perfect amount of drama, romance and comedy. It was entertaining from the beginning to the very end. The main couple are very interesting. they both seem kind of selfish and sketchy at first but as time went on I understood them better and my heart goes for them. Dysfunctional families is the main core in this drama so everyone was just trying their hardest to heal past wounds. There are also moment of laughter in between with 2nd couple antiques. All in all I liked it.
just a few problems that I had :
Shin Min al and Kim Yong dae have 0 chemistry. I've watched both of them before in other dramas and they do good jobs but the pairing wasn't right in my opinion.
Also, the story with the pregnant sister annoyed me so much. They were so beyond selfish its mind boggling. They don't want to know who the biological father is because they don't want to shatter their own selfish delusion of having a family. Did they even consider the other man? Does he know he MIGHT have a child somewhere? what if this child gets into an accident and need help with donation and stuff? Are they going to tell the kid the truth? if yes when? And the biggest what if, WHAT IF he gets a cold feet again?

I normally dont pay attention to OSTs so I made the score up.

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started watching this cuz I love me some second chance / revenge stories and I'm happy that I did. The story flows steadily as we get to see our FL find strength and allies while the antagonists get closer and closer to their doom. Revenge doesn't happen over night and its entertaining to watch Jiwon use her knowledge from future to lure Soomin and Min hwan to get her past fate.
Song Ha yoon and LeeYi kyung both do an incredible job playing their roles as Soomin and Min hwan. You know one is a great actor when you hate the character they play with passion. Never felt any pity for them ....like EVER. I wanted them gone in a sense that I wanted Jiwon to succeed in her revenge plan but at the same time wanted them to stay cuz watching them was entertaining. There are some interesting side characters and I wished we saw more of them as I think their stories were a bit rushed such as Yang Joo ran, Mr Lee, Eun ho and Yeon hee. all in all these are the strong points that made this watch enjoyable for me but now let me talk about small issues that kept me from giving it a 10. These might sound a bit childish but I couldn't ignore them while watching.
1. Yura . I understand the point of her characters existence and her roll in the "fate" aspect of the story but god she's hard to watch . I was not enjoying the chaotic evilness she brought to the story at all. we already had strong antagonists. competing with them cant be easy but Yura is in no way an interesting character at all. she's a cliche of all stuck up, rich brats from kdramas ever. the actress doesn't help the situation eighter. She is pretty awkward on screen. Also the addition of this character gave it a Makjang feeling ( search the term if you don't know the meaning) but everything became extreme all of sudden.
2. Music. OSTs are something I normally don't pay attention to. Here they use some bts songs to reveal a plot twist ( trying to not give out spoilers ) but the way they went about it was ..... something. Cuz why they decided to play spring day and dynamite SO LOUDLY?? them talking about it was enough. Im an Army so of course I was giggling and kicking my feet but that was just weird.

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Anemoia; nostalgia for a time or place you never have experienced.
I saw this word on the internet a while ago and instantly thought of reply1988. I was born in 2000 and never lived in korea but watching this always makes me feel nostalgic. Simpler times, simpler problems, the sweet innocence of youth, joyful shared experiences, warm families and honest friendships. I've watched way too many kdramas in my life time to be considered healthy and I consider this one as my all time favorite for its insane re-watchability. the story telling is incredible and the actors do amazing job playing their characters. there is no filler character as they all add something to the story and it has great pacing
watched the other 2 of reply trilogies after this one and that was kind of a mistake. if you want to watch all of them I suggest to watch 1988 one the last as its the best one out of the three. reply1988 is the only one which take the "who could be the husband' mystery seriously and the actors are way better. I'm not gonna lie I was suffering with a huge 2nd lead syndrome first time around but made peace with it real quick.

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Its a bore

In short, the episodes are way too long, its filled to the brim with redundant tropes and its boring.

In long, I'm sorely disappointed with this so before get into the bad stuff let me mention some positives;
1. The actors. I think they're easily the strongest point if LND.
2. There are parts that hits you in the feeling. Mostly the ones involving Seokryu and her family. The family dynamic was an interesting one as a whole.

Now this series might have some good points but those positive points can be seen in many other dramas which aren't this boring. So many things are thrown in the mix here which had little to no pay off. For example the plot with their exes. None of them add anything meaningful to the story so why are they there? Or the plot twist about Dan ho and his kid? Or Mo eum mother disagreeing with her relationship so passionately just to change her mind so easily. Or even her moving to north pole. None of them had any impact whatsoever so why were they included?
The episodes where so long you could feel them trying to stretch out the story thin to fill up the run time and it was annoying. The slow burn wasn't a satisfying one. It was painfully slow. I used the skip button alot in later half of it.
The comedy bits are stale too honestly. Every woman was bickering and shouting over stupid misunderstandings that could've been resolved in minute had they talked it out but all the parents here are NOT comically immature.
This could've been a more enjoyable watch if it was shorter and had less overused tropes.

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This series had me at the edge of my seat since episode 1. I was waiting impatiently for mondays to watch the new episode and rewatched every episode again while waiting. It has the perfect amount of comedy, romance and thrill. I got second hand embarrassment so many times watching these 2 losers being madly in love. I was giggling and kicking my feet just to cry my eyes out in the next scene. A rollercoaster of emotions. The story is not perfect. It has some issues especially in regards to the villain and Im Sol family but I don't care to be honest its still a 10 in my eyes. One of the best I've seen.
Kim Hye Yoon ( as Im Sol ) , Byun Woo Seok ( as Ryu Sung Jae ) and Song Geon Hee ( as Tae Sung ) have found themselves a new fan. I will be paying close attention to their projects from now on.
Kudos to writer Lee Shi Eun and all the people in production. Its just perfect.
The OSTs are beautiful too

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