Second chance first love

There have been so many second chance first love stories and this is no different. To be honest, I was drawn in by the Utada Hikaru song First Love which I listened to extensively in the 90s and it has a special place in my heart.

This drama definitely looks like it was stuck in the 90s - young girl and young boy meet, fall in love. Tragic circumstances cause them to be apart. They meet up again 20 years later. Typical plot from 1990s Korean drama.

The only part that this show does well yet also poorly is giving equal screen time to the 90s set of actors and story, and the-now set of actors and plot. It starts off a bit jarring where they can suddenly move from the 90s to now and back again without any transition. It helps a totally different set of actors are used rather than attempting to age or de-age actors or using different colors or dressing/makeup as as some other dramas have done. Once you get used to the lack of transitions and know which era's story is unfolding, it makes for interesting and light viewing. Things develop at a good pace because you're essentially watching two different stories unfold.

I like the drama because it's easy to watch and moves fast - thank goodness for only 9 episodes! I also like the themes - lost youth and unfulfilled dreams but now they have the chance to right the past but will they? The theme is also relived through their next generation (secondary leads) who are at important junctures in their lives - will they take the same missteps?

Watch out for the mid credit and end credit scenes in the last episode! Don't miss them!

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NOT Eternal Love

One earlier reviewer put it best. This is not a love drama, it is a revenge drama. Think of Eternal Love but starting off on the grasslands and then moving on to the palace. It had the potential to be Eternal Love but it doesn't even come close. Even though I'm not a fan of xianxia, something about the pacing of this show and the growth of its characters just don't reach the level of Eternal Love. The pacing too is not as good as it doesn't explore many different locations and sub-stories.

In terms of political intrigues, there was nothing mysterious about trying to identify the real big bad or clever about the schemes. It was just evil plotting and childish too. Neither the level of court politics nor concubine politics comes anywhere close dramas such as Yanxi Palace, Empresses in the Palace, or Scarlett Heart.

In addition, the characters are not as loveable. I didn't start off liking the leads in Eternal Love but I grew to as I felt they developed and matured. I can't really say the same for this show. Except for the Princess who grew as a person, the rest of the characters didn't.

Overall, watch it if you have withdrawal symptoms from military and political dramas otherwise give it a miss and watch the Long Ballad instead. It also starts off in the grasslands and moves to court (well, sort of) but has far more destinations and sub-stories that keep the pace quick and engaging.

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Not a sports drama

I put off watching this show for 2 years until the Christmas break because I'm not interested in sports. However, as other reviewers have stated, you don't need to understand baseball or even like it in order to watch this. In fact, for a baseball show, there's surprisingly few scenes of baseball matches. This show runs along the vein of strategy-based shows where the protagonists use their brains to plot and thwart the plans of villains. It's reminiscent of shows such as Dae Jung Geum, Dong Yi, and Tree with Deep Roots (notice how I'm giving sageuk examples, simply because such shows haven't been written with modern Korea as a backdrop.) which are very machiavellian and leave you marvelling at how they put down the jigsaw pieces and everything falls into place when you least expect it. This show won't leave you warm and fuzzy (e.g., Hospital Playlist, Prison Playbook) but will leave you feeling satisfied. The acting is top rate, even from the relatively young actors. Don't put it off any further, give it a watch!

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Is this a teen drama?

I tried so hard to watch this. However, it’s a teen drama and I don’t do HS dramas. If I wanted to watch a HS drama, I would watch a HS drama. Friends told me I have to wait until epi 9 before it gets good. It’s already epi 5 and no Zo In Sung.

Contrast this with the other superhero show broadcasting now, Uncanny Counter 2, which as been action from the get go. (That show suffers from other problems but action wasn’t one of them) No need for patience till almost midway through the season. And 20 episodes? Come on, do better with the editing seriously.

This is also a rip off Fantastic 4 and other broody teenage superhero movies trying to tame their super powers. Heroes, the American TV show, especially comes to mind. This is such a rip-off.

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Best mental health drama ever

I don't know why this drama doesn't rate higher. I loved Hospital Playlist and really missed that. This has huge Hospital Playlist feels - the camaraderie between the staff, the going in-depth to understand the context and personal circumstances behind each patient. The staff strive to give patients the best level of care and address their problems not just solve the symptoms.

In addition, this show is about mental health. There's so much stigma surrounding this topic in Asia and particularly with psychiatry (as opposed to psychology).It's great to see a show treat the topic sensitively with the dignity it deserves, yet highlights why mental health is also a valid medical condition and should not be ignore or stigmatised.

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Masterful but painful

I seriously don't understand the low rating for this show. What is it about this website and murder/gory shows? This show has strong Lee Joon Ki vibes in Flower of Evil.

The drama is masterful - the story pulls you in with the careful telling of the story as it unfolds. It's like peeling back the layers of an onion as the characters are complex in their motivations and hidden agenda. Byung Yo Han is in his element again, this time as the conflicted murderer who cannot remember what happened. Did he do it? Did he not do it? There are a few red and blue herrings and you can probably guess the culprits. I look forward to the rest of this drama as it unfolds.

Update: I've now completed it. My original impression stands. It was roller coaster ride. It was very difficult to watch initially because the ML could never get a break but around halfway through, things starting looking up and it became bearable to watch. My advice? Binge watch. Watching each episode as it was broadcast was simply painful!

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Great premise but....

The acting on this is great. Basic synopsis is a cop with less than clear morals and has multiple personality disorder tackles police corruption. I'm dropping it not because the acting isn't great (Lee Dong Wook and Wi Ha Joon are both fantastic) or that the story hasn't got promise, and it is slightly humorous. But for me, I just don't like police corruption shows. The good guys can never catch a break and I will probably have to preserve till maybe episode 10 to see any come-uppance. The plot doesn't have a lot of twists and turns either. I'm currently watching another 7 other shows so I'd just rather shelve this for next time.

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Gritty, raw and messy

I'm reviewing this because the synopsis is sketchy and doesn't explain what the show is about. In short, it's about human sex trafficking set against the seedy drug underbelly. Ji Chang Wook fans will be disappointed because we hardly see him and I'd call him more of a supporting role here than the main lead. He's also very roughed up and not the pretty rom-com boy we're used to, so if that's your thing, look away now. He even looked better in Worst of Evil and that's a similar genre.

Overall, I find the show very messy, but maybe that's to reflect the messiness of life in this tier of society. I can't say it's my favourite genre either but I'd rate Worst of Evil much higher for more coherent editing and storyline. This one has too many time skips back and forth to explain things but the viewer has to go 'huh????' for a while first. And there were a lot of characters introduced in the first episode so it was hard to keep up.

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Bucking the trend

I'm going to buck the trend and say that I watched the Korean version then decided to watch the Taiwanese version to see what I missed. Turns out I didn't miss anything! So far, the reviewers of this remake can be classified into two camps - those who didn't watch the original and loved it vs those who watched the original and hated this. I'm going to buck the trend and say that I watched the Korean one first and liked it but after watching the Taiwanese one, I like the Korean one even more that I've actually increased its rating!

Why? When I watched the first 2 episodes of this Korean version, I found it draggy but OMG, the first four episodes of the original are even worse! The Korean remake keeps much of the same plot highlights but removes the bits I find super annoying in the Taiwanese version - the annoying attempts at comedy, the super annoying side stories and characters (gosh I really hate the colleagues). Like what's the deal with trying to inject comedy into a tragedy?

This remake just gets to the crux of the relationships between the main leads and important friends. The only thing that bugged me was the Seo Ji Won song - I loved it at first but it got very repetitive and tiring by the third episode. In contrast, the soundtrack of the original Taiwanese was fantastic and well-suited to the plot elements throughout. The Wu Bai song never got old.

In short - just want to watch for the mystery? Watch this Korean remake which has much better editing and is a professional production. Want to indulge in emotions - the sweet love story, the tragedy of love then loss, and endure annoying attempts at comedy which aren't funny - then watch the original which is raw, unpolished (for goodness sakes, mic the actors and remove all the echoey background noise!) but sentimental.

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Quirky and educational

This show starts off slow with a lot of over-acting but once you get into the hang of it, it's pretty entertaining. The drama starts off trying to be a comedy with a background of mystery. The premise is a top neurosurgeon (Jung Yong Hwa) comes in to help the police solve crimes related to the brain ailments. I'm particularly surprised by the over-acting of Jung Dong Hwan. He's such an established actor; there's really no need for over-acting.

The pacing gets better around episode 3 when the mystery and crime-solving comes to the forefront instead of being buried in the exposition of each character. Having a story of the week really helps prevent the overall series from getting caught up in the over-acting. Once the show got underway, I enjoyed the weekly lessons and brain science that the neurosurgeon character played by Jung introduced.

Jung Yong Hwa hasn't acted in a lot of dramas over the years, and in this drama, he's as prone to over-acting as the other leads. I can't say that this drama is his best work (I still like Heartstring because the role reflects what he does best - being a kpop idol) but I do enjoy the wide variety of drama roles that he attempts. I got to give him credit for trying new things and sometimes they work out (Three Musketeers, the Package), and sometimes they don't.

In short, don't take the drama too seriously. Watch this drama for a light laugh and take it with a huge pinch of salt.

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Wasted potential

The main premise was good, that she was able to see the future. There is so much more that could have been done with that, for instance, trying to find out how she developed her 'power', trying to 'solve' the power, or more interestingly, trying to prevent an undesirable future from happening. However, the actual execution was a total disaster. There are way too many Kdrama tropes and plot holes to count.

The first few episodes were so boring that I nearly gave up. However, after they got together, it was fun for a few episodes as it was funny and sweet as a rom com. The last 2 episodes were a disaster. Why did they suddenly need to insert a mystery? Surely they should have put far more clues and plot points in earlier episodes to suggest some mystery? It's as if the writers changed halfway or they suddenly wanted to improve their ratings.

The whole drama was Schizophrenic at best - romance, comedy, fantasy, mystery, and office drama. I'm only giving this an 8 because I enjoyed the middle episodes. Thank goodness this ended at 12 episodes. I would have given up at episode 4 if I wasn't a Disney Plus subscriber.

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Trope and juvenile

This is a juvenile drama and should be watched as such. It is trope and adolescent to be crushing someone. It is very innocent (or naive depending on your viewpoint) and pure as some reviewers have commented. It is refreshing even compared to some other teen dramas which nowadays focus on difficult themes like bullying or the stress/pressure of academic excellence or suicide ideation. However, I couldn't help but get vibes of paedophilic grooming especially in the first episode with the 14 yo Sang Zhi and developed a strong 'ick' factor.

I seriously don't know how this drama can rate so highly compared to real meaty dramas. I watched hoping it would get more 'adult' and meaty but finally gave up. I really liked Zhao Lu Si and her portrayal of a high school student was spot on. Young love is pure and juvenile and one has to be in the right mood for it. Unfortunately, I'm not.

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Love and hate are two sides of the same coin

I have a masochistic relationship with this show. I hate what it does to me yet I can't stop watching. The show is about a couple who are in an abusive and messed up relationship. Things go so badly wrong yet they stay together because of their messed up pasts. They don't want to be together yet they don't want to be apart. They have no one else and so they stay together. They miss each other but don't want to see each other. They love each other for all the wrong reasons and their love often turns into hate. It is often said that it's worst to have no feelings for someone than it is to hate because hate is an extreme (though unhealthy) form of love.

Similarly, I am abusing myself by watching it. So many times I've wanted to stop because the show was so messed up - not because the story didn't make sense (ok, at times it didn't) but because this love-hate dynamic is confusing. And I hate the show for what it did to me - despite wanting to tear myself away from the show, I couldn't stop myself from watching. Why? I already know the ending thanks to some of the reviews here and I know I'm going to be sad yet I still want to finish it. That's the power and the lure of this show that no show has had on me recently.

This show is a study in contrasts. The show is an examination of internal strife and conflict and is tantamount to self-abuse. It is a tortured love. Love it or hate it, it's worth a watch to decide.

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Disappointed

I tried so hard to like this show. I like Jang Na Ra, I like Jang Hyuk, and I like spy/thriller/action. I even like comedy. What I can't stand are family shows (the 50 or 100 episoder type). I thought I could tolerate the little kids altho I'm not usually a fan, but the daughter was cute enough. However, after 4 episodes, I am throwing in the towel because there are just too many better shows out there (Black Knight, Good Bad Mom, True to Love) which I love far more than Jang Hyuk and Jang Na Ra's chemistry.

As usual, this show was trying to be too many things, often a fault with underperforming shows. To me, the greatest fault was in emphasising the family drama angle. It was cute in the first episode but soon got tiresome by the second episode. While the spy/thriller angle was there in the background, it was never interesting enough for me to want to know more or to get to the bottom of the overarching mystery (there was none).

It tried to be a Mr and Mrs Smith remake, and if it had the same spy pacing as that movie, maybe it could have worked. Right now however, I'd rather watch spy-thriller only dramas than this mixed genre. Maybe I will come back to this one day when I have nothing else better to watch because I have Disney subscription anyway. But for now, it will languish in my list of dropped shows.

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