About Time

About Time

3/10

About Time

Genre:                                                    Episodes: 16                                   Year: 2018

Romance

Melodrama

Synopsis:

Choi Michaela has the ability to see how long people have left to live as a clock that counts backwards. She herself has only three months left to live when she meets Lee Do Ha, a man who causes her life-clock to stop when he is near her.

Cast:

Lee Sung Kyung (Choi Michaela)

Lee Sang Yoon (Lee Do Ha)

Kim Hae Sook (Oh So Nyeo)

Kim Dong Joon (Jo Jae Yoo)

Im Se Mi (Bae Soo Bong)

Han Seung Yeon (Jeon Sung Hee)

Ro Woon (Choi Hwi Jin)

Min Sung Wook (Lee Do Bin)

Kang Ki Doong (Park Woo Jin)

Tae In Ho (Park Sung Bin)

General Thoughts:

This drama basically took everything that has ever annoyed me in all the K-Dramas I've watched, and condensed it into one package. This has got to be one of the most stupid, pointless, and irritating dramas I have watched ever. Not just in my K-Drama watching career. I mean, ever. Even the weird shows my baby cousins watch that are just people playing with toys make more sense than this sad excuse for entertainment.

I swear this drama caused me actual physical pain

I feel bad saying it, because I know it sounds harsh- but it isn’t. This drama is just unbelievably bad, and everyone involved in its making needs to know so that they can never make some something like this again. From what I can tell, this is the writer’s first ever drama, and that’s really where all the problems start.

Whine on

I usually say that I find dramas that are character based more emotional and interesting than those that are plot driven. ‘About Time’ is an example of a drama that is trying to be character driven but just fails. There is nothing going on in the plot, and the characters can’t make the show interesting because they basically just suck. Well no, to be fair it’s really only Mi Ka that sucks, but seeing as she takes up 98% of all screen time, it does often feel like she’s the only character in this show. Essentially what this drama had was a great premise and no idea what to do with it. The idea of the heroine seeing lifespan as ticking clocks was cool in a creepy kind of way, and was ripe for all sorts of adventures. But not long after the start of the show it became evident that the life-clocks were no more than a quick gimmick to get people to tune in. There was no plan for what happened after. The life clocks were largely ignored as a whole, and were only used as a plot device to get Mi Ka and Do Ha into contact with each other, and then provide an excuse for them to separate. The life clocks were given no thought whatsoever. The reason Mi Ka and So Nyeo could see them was never explained, nor was it ever explained why Mi Ka was able to take time from Do Ha’s clock and add it to hers.

This could have been super cool, instead it was just super annoying

Then, of course, no explanation was given at the end when neither of the leads died, and Mi Ka suddenly stopped seeing life clocks. It was the central point of the show, and it was just swept under the rug, as if we haven’t just watched hours upon hours of this girl running away from this guy cuz she doesn’t want to steal his time. Then poof she can’t see the clocks and suddenly everything is fixed and they live happily ever after. Um, what? The addition of Mi Ka being a musical actress was kind of bizarre, and while I get that it was a part of her character and whatnot, I felt like the musical was squished into this drama in an awkward way that Do Ha’s super lame business plan just didn’t fix.

Everything about the musical was kinda cringey

His big business plan for his father’s multimillion dollar company is…a musical? It just didn’t make sense, and frankly the to-and-froing with the Chinese investor was confusing and boring. Thank goodness the writer at least had the good sense to keep the business/Chaebol side of things to a bare minimum.

Kind of makes our heroine a bit of a home wrecker

The one Chaebol aspect that did get focused on a lot was the arranged marriage. At first Soo Bong seemed like an interesting second lead, as she didn’t take issue with Do Ha seeing Mi Ka as she was under the impression that their marriage would still be going ahead. I must admit, that giving Do Ha a fiancé didn’t make Mi Ka look that great. Sure, Do Ha didn’t love Soo Bong or anything, but Mi Ka didn’t know that. The excuse for being near him was fair enough, but to start developing feelings for a guy that was going to get married is always a low move. It’s not even like Do Ha and Soo Bong disliked each other- they had a fairly good friendship, and until Mi Ka’s appearance Do Ha was pretty keen to get married to Soo Bong. It really felt as if Soo Bong was the one getting screwed over in that equation- which is probably why the drama decided to make her the classic spurned lover who is all but evil and will do anything to get what she wants. Even Soo Bong’s ‘I’ll break him if it means I can have him’ attitude was kind of interesting because, unlike most K-Drama villainous second female leads, it meant she knew exactly what she was doing. Her boring wind up (complete with attempt at revenge suicide) was honestly a bit of a let down for her character, and meant that Do Ha and Mi Ka didn’t actually have to do anything about the problem of the crazy fiancé because Soo Bong sorted out all her issues on her own.

Why would you even keep meeting up with the girl whose fiancé you stole? That seems like a poor plan

While I initially liked So Nyeo, the older lady Mi Ka was friends with, by the time the drama came to a close I honestly did not understand why she was included in the story at all. At first she’s just a cute friend for Mi Ka, but then it’s revealed that So Nyeo can also see life clocks, and she’s presented as a source of wisdom for Mi Ka, as she’s lived her whole life with the clock issue and should supposedly know some helpful hints.

Yes, yes, run away from your problems- that'll fix everything

Only when Mi Ka’s course of action is to ditch Do Ha and find a nice quiet corner to die in, So Nyeo thinks this is a fab plan. So much for her previous position that love and happiness are the most important. In fact, that was an issue I had with this drama as a whole. It kept presenting the idea that love was worth the risk, only our heroine never actually risked anything for love. She spent the whole drama running away, so when she was rewarded at the end with a miracle where everybody lived I was a little miffed. Because Mi Ka did absolutely nothing to earn that happy ending. I was so fed up and annoyed at this drama that I was out for blood- I wanted one of the two leads to die. Morbid? Probably, but still. I wanted Mi Ka to have to live with what she chose. I wanted Do Ha to ignore her and get on with his life, and for her to die regretting that she hadn’t tried to make things work. Because d*mn that girl was annoying and it made me mad that she gets out of the whole thing thinking she made the right calls, cuz she didn’t. Unlike the plot and the characters, the acting wasn’t too bad. In fact, it was pretty good. 

It did feel a bit like Lee Sang Yoon did most of the work- but maybe that's just because Mi Ka was a sucky character

Lee Sang Yoon is always delightful and loveable, and he brought his usual charms to Do Ha, and made him a sweet and likeable man. I’ve always thought Lee Sung Kyung is an acting powerhouse. She brought the emotions in the sadder scenes really well (even if I had emotionally checked out of the drama episodes ago), and despite thinking that Mi Ka is the stupidest most annoying person on the planet, Lee Sung Kyung at least made me believe that the character herself felt like she was making the right calls.

Sadly the chemistry didn't pop as much as I thought it would

Mi Ka felt a little less sporadic due to Lee Sung Kyung’s great performance, but even her amazing acting couldn’t make such an irritating character likeable. Unfortunately good acting alone isn’t enough to make a compelling story. 

What Was Great:

Smaller Roles:

There were a couple of characters sprinkled throughout the show that brought me actual enjoyment. I wouldn’t go as far as saying that the drama was worth watching for these characters alone, but when they were on my screen at least I could think that this drama wasn’t all bad. One such character was Do Ha’s secretary, Woo Jin, played by Kang Ki Doong.

This man is delightfully hilarious

I thought Kang Ki Doong was delightful as one of the officers in ‘Smart Prison Living’, but I honestly found him so charming and hilarious here. He truly made the role his own, and brought all his cute quirks to set to make a character that was just completely fun to watch. Kang Ki Doong has a kind of nervous energy that can make submissive characters so funny when paired with quiet comebacks and comments. Woo Jin rapidly became by favourite character, and I adored any interactions that went on between him and Do Ha. The noona romance between Mi Ka’s younger brother and her best friend was also an aspect of the show that I found fun to watch. While I don’t really like Ro Woon that much (I saw him on some variety show somewhere and he just seemed so full of himself), I will admit that he’s on his way to becoming a pretty decent actor. He nailed the role of the cheeky younger brother, but could also bring in a more serious vibe for the scenes that called for it. I’ve seen Seung Yeon act better than she did in this drama, but I still thought that she had good chemistry with Ro Woon, and enjoyed watching to see how their romance would play out.

#whoops

Then the drama did something truly delightful- even if it was only for a short time. It teased a love triangle between Woo Jin, Sung Hee and Hwi Jin. Yes, yes, and more yes. It was hilarious. Woo Jin and Sung Hee actually had really cute, awkward chemistry together, and before I knew what was happening I was shipping them. Add in the hot headed younger guy who gets insanely jealous and the whole situation was just delightful.

This love triangle > whatever stupidity is going on in the main storyline

I was pretty sad that we only got to see such a small amount of Woo Jin and Sung Hee together, and can’t help but wish that the drama had spent less time focusing on the leads not being together, and more time focusing on the beautifully hilarious situation going on with the side characters.

What Wasn’t:

Noble Idiocy in Overdrive:

I hate noble idiocy. I hate it. With the fire of a thousands suns. I don’t think I have ever sat down and watched some noble idiocy and thought ‘yeah, you know what, that seems like a logical and fair plan’. Except maybe ‘7 Day Queen’, but that was countered out by the amazing communication that went on between the leads.

Boy, save yourself a lot of energy and just walk away now

The leads here had very poor communication skills. Well, Do Ha’s weren’t bad, but Mi Ka seemed almost obsessed with keeping secrets and trying to do things on her own while leaving Do Ha out in the dark. She told Do Ha pretty early on about the life clocks, as it was her way of trying to convince him to let her stay with him. Then they fall in love in the span of about two seconds. Not long after this Mi Ka realised that she’s stealing Do Ha’s time and naturally decides to break up with him. Break Up 1- I don’t love you anymore so I’m leaving. Obviously a lie, and not a very good one, and in no way going to hurt Do Ha less than the truth. Break Up 2- You are stealing my time, and I want to live so I’m leaving. Slightly more believable, but still going to hurt Do Ha. The problem I have with this lie is that it then makes Do Ha look like a bit of a clown for continuously following Mi Ka around and asking her to stay with him. I guess the writer assumed that because we knew the truth we’d give him a pass, but if he actually was shortening her life it’s completely her call whether she wants to stay in the relationship or not, and following her around is totally not cool. Break Up 3- I’m stealing your time and I don’t want to live if it means killing you so I’m leaving.

If you're going to break up do it properly and f*ck off for good!

Finally the truth. Took us long enough to get there. The problem at this point is that Mi Ka still doesn’t feel the need to talk things out with Do Ha. She can only see things from her own perspective and don’t even give him a chance to explain what might be on his mind. She makes all the decisions in the relationship, and disappears whenever she likes.

I'm kinda bummed she didn't die so that he could get a new (better) girlfriend

Even during their brief reconciliation after she told him the truth, she was lying to him and plotting ways to run off on her own. It was exhausting and exasperating, and took up almost all of the drama's screen time. Cliche though it may be, what I was wanting from these two characters was for them (mainly Mi Ka) to realise that it is the happiness of a life, not its length, that is the most important, and for them to spend their days giving and receiving as much love as they can before their potentially tragic ending. What we got was Mi Ka constantly finding excuses to run away from Do Ha before being given a magic, unexplainable happy ending where the life clocks don’t matter and they both get to live. Like, what was the bloody point then? Answer- there was none. Also, on a side note, Mi Ka's Mum was just as stupid and annoying as Mi Ka. I mean, what kind of useless woman doesn't get a job to support her children, spends her daughter's savings, and then whines about her daughter getting mad about it. I guess it explains where all Mi Ka's annoyingness came from- it's hereditary.

Recommend?

Not even if I was dying and the only way to live was to get someone else to watch this drama. 

Don't let the pretty pictures you see online fool you- this drama sucks major donkey balls