The Silent Sea

 The Silent Sea

8.5/10

The Silent Sea

Genre:                                     Episodes: 8                           Year: 2021

Mystery

Thriller

Synopsis:

In the future, Earth suffers from a sever lack of water. Water is strictly rationed creating tension between the different socio-economic classes. A team of soldiers and scientists are sent to a research station on the moon to receive samples that were left behind when the station was abandoned due to a radiation leak.

Cast:

Bae Doo Na (Song Ji Ahn)

Gong Yoo (Han Yoon Jae)

Kim Sun Young (Hong Ga Young)

Lee Joon (Ryu Tae Suk)

Lee Moo Saeng (Gong Soo Hyuk)

Lee Sung Wook (Kim Sun)

Jung Soon Won (Gong Soo Chan)

Kim Shi Ah (Luna)

Heo Sung Tae (Chief Kim)

Gil Hae Yeon (Director Choi)

General Thoughts:

This was a great show. I really enjoyed every episode and highly enjoyed the creepy atmosphere that was built throughout the show’s run. There’s so much in this drama that was made to grab attention and draw viewers in. Being a Netflix show, its reach was a little further than K-Drama’s that are only shown in Korea and on smaller streaming platforms internationally.

It's SPACE

Netflix gives a lot of people access to international content that they might not otherwise have had access to, and over the last couple of years you can really feel Netflix capitalising on Korean content. As well as being on one of the biggest streaming platforms, ‘The Silent Sea’ also had a handful of cast members that viewers would have seen before- also on Netflix. Bae Doo Na, who is the leading character of ‘The Silent Sea’ got a lot of attention when she starred in ‘Kingdom’ and ‘Kingdom 2’. The tone of both these shows are also similar- ‘Kingdom’ was a tension building zombie series, and ‘The Silent Sea’ was a tension building space mystery.

This is not her first Netflix rodeo

A lot of people who tuned in to ‘Kingdom’ would be the target audience for ‘The Silent Sea’. Gong Yoo, who plays the main male character, and Heo Sung Tae would both be familiar to those who watched ‘Squid Game’. And again, ‘Squid Game’ is a series that has a similar dark, mysterious tone. The casting of the drama was definitely a big draw card, not just for dedicated K-Drama fans, but also for newer viewers whose only experience with Korean content is through Netflix. A large budget and a large audience is a great way to start a show. Obviously I’m late to the party as ‘The Silent Sea’ aired almost a year ago now, but I still think it’s one of the better Netflix K-Dramas I’ve seen. I’ve mentioned before how a platform like Netflix gives K-Dramas certain freedoms that shows aired on Korean networks don’t have, and I think this show really hits that perfect middle ground of not being too conservative, but also not being too dark. ‘D.P’ is another Netflix release that was at its core a great show, but the themes were so dark that it wasn’t actually that enjoyable to watch. ‘Sweet Home’ is a Netflix release that I didn’t even make past the first episode- the horror themes were just too much for me. ‘The Silent Sea’ is great for me because it sort of dances on the edge of being horror, but never actually crosses over. I like being drawn in and I like being nervous for the characters and anticipating what is going to happen next. I don’t like being scared. I especially don’t like still being scared even after I’ve turned the show off.

It's the perfect amount of scary for people who don't like horror

This drama was fabulous because it was so great at drawing you into the moment and holding the viewer in these tense, highly suspenseful moments, but very rarely resorted to things like jump scares or gore to heighten the tension. Instead, there was always this slightly uncomfortable feeling that something wasn’t quite right, but it was hard to pick out exactly what it was. Things like lighting, small character expressions and music were excellent tools that this show used to create suspense and build tension. Another excellent way the show did this was to have scenes linger for slightly longer than they needed to.

A+ for atmosphere

A character would leave a hallway or walk past a door and the camera would stay focused on supposed emptiness for just slightly longer than would be normal, leaving the viewer waiting for something to happen- something has to be there right, or why else would the shot still be ongoing? It was a fabulous way of creating the feeling that something else was in the station with the team and that the team was being watched without actually having to show anything at all. The actual plot of the show was pretty slow moving. Not a lot was really going on in each of these episodes. You couldn’t really build these small moments and create this spooky atmosphere if a hundred other things were going on at the same time. I didn’t mind this payoff at all- there was enough in each episode to keep me hooked and the viewers were spoon-fed small pieces of the mystery in each of the episodes. One thing I will say about the plot, is that while technically not a lot happened each episode, I liked that the characters faced threats from different sources. As the story progressed deeper into the mystery, the threats the characters came in contact with were more varied. This certainly helped to up the tension and keep the interest in the story. The different threats were also hinted at early on so it never felt like they came out of nowhere. Right as the crew arrived at Balhae station they saw a dead mercenary and the dialogue was able to give some exposition on the group and why they may potentially cause issues with the crew. Which of course they did in the form of Gi Soon and Tae Suk.

Of all the ways you could die in this station, getting shot by a human sure seems the least cool

We also had Luna herself attacking the crew in the middle episodes in an effort to prevent them from taking the Luna Water away. And then of course there was the Luna Water itself that could instantly kill any of the crew if they came into contact with it. Having a range of threats and different types of danger kept the show engaging and suspenseful, and I enjoyed how it wasn’t an obvious enemy for the crew to go up against all the time. Much like the atmosphere in each episode built, the story built itself in a similar way, gradually upping the stakes and the tension until we made it to the final episode.

Is she a fish? Is she a human? Nobody knows!

The story itself I thought was good- we knew something had happened on the station and we knew it had something to do with the strange Luna Water, and enjoyed the gradual unravelling of what really happened at Balhae Station. I appreciated the final moral issue that the characters were faced with, and I didn’t feel like the viewers had to make too many assumptions about what happened on their own. I still have no idea what the hell Luna Water is or how Luna came to be the way that she is, but I’m not sure we are supposed to know those things by the end of the show. The lack of answers to the final issue raised by the drama is probably the show’s only weak point. I can see some people potentially being put off by the slow pace, but as I mentioned before, that was a price I was willing to pay for the creepiness in each episode. I also think the lack of explanation at the end may annoy some viewers and the science didn’t seem very science-y. The mystery substance just was and interacted with things we knew, such as people, just because the was what the show needed it to do. No reasoning and no explanation. I found this to be a minor flaw though, and it didn’t really have ay impact of my enjoyment of the drama as a whole. 

What Was Great:

Cinematic Experience:

This show is gorgeous. You can tell it had a high budget. The landscaping of the moon was absolutely beautiful and all the CGI with the space and violence and water was all very realistic. To add to the stunning cinematography, the acting was all top class.

The moon landscape was just absolutely stunning 

While the characters themselves weren’t exactly integral to the story, which was more focused on location and events, it certainly didn’t hurt to have actors of such high caliber filling out the cast. The score as well was done beautifully- the music added to the feel of what we were seeing on screen, both the setting and the characters, and certainly assisted with creating the dark, unsettling mood that the show was building. All the elements that supported the plot and storyline were absolutely top shelf, and gave the drama a clean and polished look that can sometimes be lacking from smaller budget shows. All the scenes and various locations we were shown as the story progressed felt so rich and real, and had great detail focus.

Spooky station with spooky lighting

All the areas inside the Balhae Station were populated with smaller details so that we knew where in the station we were. The smaller details all added up to build the bigger picture and add depth to the show. Each and every aspect of the drama came together to increase the foreboding atmosphere and worked together to build the tension that the plot of the drama was riding on. This show was a great experience all around, but visually it was really a cut above other K-Dramas. 

What Wasn’t:

Inconclusive:

As I've said in many a drama review- I’m not really a fan of open endings. While I understand it can be there to allow the viewer to imagine the story to go in any direction from that point, a big part of me has always felt that this is a slightly lazy way of ending a story. Sometimes I’m on board- such as the ending of ‘Inception’ where it’s unclear if the main character has made it back to his family or if he’s still in a dream.

We just kinda threw science away for that last episode, huh

Because there’s only two options and the story that we’ve sat through isn’t really impacted by which of those scenarios are true. But the ending here in ‘The Silent Sea’ was just too open. It’s unclear who is in the spacecraft that arrives for Ji Ann and Dr Hong. It’s unclear why Luna can live on the moon without the need for a space suit. It’s unclear if Luna is going to taken for more experiments and research. It’s unclear whether the moral quandaries the characters have experienced have any impact on wether the Korean government continues the research into Luna Water and if the cloning experimentation continues. It felt like the show spent all its time on uncovering the mystery of Balhae Station (which it did extremely well), but then did nothing with what was left after our characters had all the information. Is it setting up for a Season 2? I mean, probably but I don’t really like that either. Almost everyone from Season 1 is dead and any ongoing seasons are unlikely to have that same level of unsettling atmosphere and curious underlying mystery that made this series so good. Not a fan of open endings, and not a fan of banking on second seasons, so either way- not a huge fan of the way this drama wrapped up.

Recommend?

I would recommend this drama. Particularly for those that enjoy atmosphere building and the tension that comes from a mystery slowly unraveling. 

I sure hope they don't go back to Earth for a second season

Squid Game

 Squid Game

9/10

Squid Game

Genre:                                     Episodes: 9                  Year: 2021

Mystery         

Thriller

Synopsis:

Song Gi Hoon is a divorced father who is in serious debt. One day he is invited to join a game with a chance to win 45.6 billion won- if he wins 6 children’s games against the other contestants, Gi Hoon will be bale to win the cash prize.

Cast:

Lee Jung Jae (Song Gi Hoon)

Park Hae Soo (Cho Sang Woo)

Jung Ho Yeon (Kang Sae Byeok)

Wi Ha Joon (Hwang Joon Ho)

Oh Young Soo (Oh Il Nam)

Heo Sung Tae (Jang Deok Soo)

Kim Joo Ryung (Han Mi Nyeo)

Tripathi Anupam (Ali Abdul)

Lee Yoo Mi (Ji Yeong)

Lee Byung Hoon (Front Man)

General Thoughts:

Oh ‘Squid Game’. What a wild and unexpected journey. Not just in the actual show itself, but watching the traction this drama has gained has been a journey in and of itself. I have never in my life had this many people talk to me about a K-Drama before. Usually I have my two or three friends that watch K-Dramas that I am able to gossip and speculate and relive dramas with. Now suddenly with this one little show, that expanded to almost everybody I interact with.

And now everyone knows of Gong Yoo

People who two months ago would have scoffed when I told them I was super into Korean TV, people who I can’t imagine sitting down and watching a subtitled show- literally everyone is talking ‘Squid Game’ right now (well at least they were when I started writing this review a year ago). It’s amazing and wonderful, but also slightly baffling. Why this show? Why now? And I have to admit a little part of me is screaming out ‘I TOLD YOU SO YOU B*STARDS, I’VE BEEN ONTO THIS FROM THE START!’

Yup, no censorship here

And with everyone I know watching ‘Squid Game’ and a good few of them knowing I am a K-Drama addict, the question that usually follows is ‘what other K-Drama can I watch that is like this?’ And this is where I think this drama has really got its traction, because honestly the answer at the moment is ‘nothing’. Well not entirely true. The answer is ‘Liar Game’, but that drama was a different time and a different Network and doesn’t have all the super high production values that ‘Squid Game’ scored. But I think the fact that Netflix is the platform that showed ‘Squid Game’ is what really allowed the drama to rocket to fame. There have been a few other K-Dramas on Netflix that I have reviewed (and not all of them I have enjoyed), but for those who have never seen a K-Drama before and don’t really understand how the Korean networks work (which is most of the Western audience that is consuming ‘Squid Game’), they don’t quite see what an impact having the show picked up by Netflix is. For one- no censoring. Mainstream Korean networks censor the banoonoos out of their shows- knives, blood, needles. You don’t get more than an idea of nudity or sex- you get the lights turned off or the covers pulled over the actors. Of course, if ‘Squid Game’ had those restrictions placed on it, we wouldn’t have a show- just Lee Jung Jae walking around a lot of blurred out scenery. Netflix gave ‘Squid Game’ the freedom to do what it wanted to do, and that freedom allowed the writer and the production team to make a show that is widely marketable and easily consumable. Everything came together really well in this show- production value was high, the writing was tight, and the acting was brilliant.

Oof, this game was so brutal

The cast did a brilliant job at bringing the story to life. Lee Jung Jae and Park Hae Soo were fabulous at showing two sides of the same coin. Their characters were so similar and the two actors did an amazing job at showing how the pressure and demands of the game brought out different sides to their characters. Gi Hoon struggled immensely during the marble game when he was trying to fool his friend Il Nam, and Lee Jung Jae really sold that performance- it was a heart-wrenching scene for many reasons, but the way Lee Jung Jae delivered his performance was wonderful.

"I'd never betray my friend" say all the viewers from their comfy couches

While this was playing out, we also had a very similar thing happening with Sang Woo and Ali. Two friends, with one working to betray the other. Park Hae Soo certainly became a character that many hated after this scene, but he did it perfectly. His micro-expressions showed both his discomfort at having to betray a friend to his death, but also his convictions in what he was doing. Lee Jung Jae’s expressions and body language conveyed distress and guilt and confusion and gave the impression that if he could do it again perhaps he would have made a different choice, whereas Park Hae Soo very much used everything he had to portray that while Sang Woo was not unaffected by his own actions, if given the chance to go back, he would make the same choice again. This very same episode also gave us one of my favourite characters of the show and a total scene stealer- Lee Yoo Mi as Ji Yeong. She was able to give us such an endearing and loveable character in such a short amount of time. I’ve seen her in a few things before, but this scene in ‘Squid Game’ was really when I started to notice what an incredible actress she was.

'Thanks for playing with me' - and then everyone cries

While the other actors had episodes and hours of time to craft their characters and unveil their hopes and desires to the audience, Lee Yoo Mi was asked to do the same but in one episode. And she did it. Her character and her character’s journey was heart-wrenching, and most importantly, extremely memorable. The other actress I want to talk about is obviously Jung Ho Yeon- this was her first foray into acting! Ever!

His 'Hyung!' cries will haunt your dreams

She was very impressive with how emotive she could be, and she certainly didn’t have an issue keeping up with other actors who have an extensive list of credentials. It really felt like Jung Ho Yeon gave everything she had to the character, and she certainly made Sae Byeok a fan favourite. Another fan favourite was Ali, played by Tripathi Anupam. Similarly to Jung Ho Yeon, he had a very endearing character to act out, though Tripathi Anupam also gave Ali a layer of innocence which made him instantly easy to like and easy to root for. I have seen a few non-Koreans acting in K-Dramas before and they have been…not good (I mean, take a look at the guys who played out the rich villains at the end of the series). I get it, the amount of non-Korean actors who can speak Korean relatively fluently is probably not high. But Tripathi Anupam was amazing! His acting did not feel awkward at all- it felt like he was used to being in front of the camera and being in scenes with other actors. He did more than just give a passable performance- he absolutely excelled. He filled his character with heart and he had great chemistry with the other actors- particularly Park Hae Soo, which really helped to make the marble scene as emotional as was.

What Was Great:

Shock Plot:

‘Squid Game’ came at a time where hyper-violent twists where the happening thing in hot shows. ‘Game of Thrones’ was one of the starters of this trend and a lot of shows since have been using this recipe for success.

Games with a twist are the in thing right now

Having characters that people love and characters that people love to hate, and then having shocking and unexpected twists and turns seems to be a massive draw that keeps people from being unable to turn a show off. It almost seems to promote this fear of missing out in the viewers- this feeling where you have to keep watching because you can’t be the only one who didn’t get shocked by that big twist or can’t speculate on the show’s next move. Amazon series ‘The Boys’ follows a similar vein- a range of characters and big, shocking moments- often quite gory. Japanese Netflix series ‘Alice in Borderland’ had a similar idea and was also a smash hit, though not as much as ‘Squid Game’.

Ah, the illusion of choice

Heck, even ‘The Hunger Games’ is a toned down version of this sort of story! The timing of ‘Squid Game’s release couldn’t have been better- a few years earlier and it possibly could have been criticised for its violence and gore, and a few years later and it could have been too late to the party. While I would certainly call this show a violent one, I also wouldn’t say it is outrageously so. While a lot of that would depend on personal preferences, I did find that ‘Squid Game’ had enough in it to shock the audience, but it wasn’t so gratuitously violent that I couldn’t watch. Personally, I don’t like horror, and I don’t like lots of visual gore. I found that this drama hit a balance where it had the shock of the moment, but it don’t linger on it. This served to keep the intensity up in every scene and every episode, but by choosing not to linger too long on the actual aftermath the show reduced the risk of turning away viewers who, like me, don’t want to see every gory detail. The writers new that the premise was shocking, the plot was shocking, the situations the characters were in were shocking, and that sometimes even the characters themselves were shocking. They knew they didn’t have to rely on long, drawn out shots of blood and bones and brains to get that reaction out of the audience- it was well balanced.

Character Moments:

Speaking of being well balanced, you can have a shocking show with big twists and big deaths, but without engaging characters to back them up it doesn’t become as much of an addictive watch.

The characters are everything

Think the later seasons of ‘Game of Thrones’. When the characters' development dropped, so did peoples’ enthusiasm for the show. ‘Squid Game’ did a great job at inserting quiet character moments into the show, so that when the big twists came there was maximum impact.

Strong female characters are always a big win

Would Ali’s death have hit as hard if we hadn’t seen the family he was trying to protect and get back to? Would Sang Woo’s betrayal have had the emotional reaction from the audience that it got if it hadn’t spent time showing Sang Woo and Ali having small, quiet moments of bonding and camaraderie? Moments in the show were able to hit hard and get an emotional response from the audience because it spent time setting up the relationships between the characters. As each episode went on we knew a little bit more about the characters and a little bit more about their stories. The premise of the deadly games is what got people tuning into the show, but it was the interactions between the characters and watching the hard choices they had to make that kept people watching. 

What Wasn’t:

Stale Pale Males:

Old, rich, white men were behind it. Wow. What a surpri- oh wait no. It wasn’t a surprise really. Aren’t old, rich, white men always the ones behind everything pulling all the strings? I was hoping for something a little more innovative from the writer I will admit. It’s not a BAD idea per se- it’s just not entirely new.

Why are all rich men just such *ssholes

The rest of ‘Squid Game’ was so new and exciting and felt like something that had never been seen before, so for the whole thing to be an illicit gambling den for the wealthy and powerful men of the world just felt…kind of like a safe play? Sure, this is the outcome that made the most sense- the games obviously need a huge amount of money behind them to be run, but it also felt like it was an answer the writer didn’t have to reach far for. I don’t know, I was just hoping for something a bit more…well, more. 

Recommend?

Yes- I can’t not recommend a K-Drama that has broken so many barriers and done so many things for Korean Dramas moving forward. The fact that it’s a really riveting show with an addictive plot is another great reason to watch. I will say though that if you do not like violence, this show is not for you.

See you all for Season 2

365: Repeat the Year

365: Repeat the Year

8/10

365: Repeat the Year

Genre:                                     Episodes: 12                         Year: 2020

Mystery

Synopsis:

Ten people are called together by a mysterious woman and are given the chance to go back one year in time. After returning to the past the group realise that this may not have been the gift they first thought, as mysterious events start to put them in danger.

Cast:

Lee Joon Hyuk (Ji Hyung Joo)

Nam Ji Hyun (Shin Ga Hyun)

Kim Ji Soo (Lee Shin)

Yang Dong Geun (Bae Jung Tae)

Yoon Joo Sang (Hwang No Sub)

Lee Yoo Mi (Kim Se Rin)

Ahn Seung Kaun (Ko Jae Young)

Lee Sung Wook (Park Sun Ho)

General Thoughts:

Boy am I just loving these smaller episode count dramas! 12 episodes was exactly the right amount for this little show- any more and the plot would have been stretched too thin and we would have got a lag around the halfway point, any less and there would have been too much crammed in there.

Aw yeah, this show sure don't mess around

As it was the plot moved along at a consistent pace and each new episode revealed something further about the plot the characters or both. Mystery dramas have a lot of places where they can trip up- more so than other genres, as so much banks on the main mystery remaining unknown but not so completely random that it’s impossible to guess before the reveal. ‘365’ hit a nice balance of dropping enough clues that the final reveal was understandable, but not so many that the twists were easy to guess.

It would be a lot easier to solve this mystery if everyone didn't act so d*mn sus

I find that a lot of K-Drama mysteries tend to have maybe two or three solid twists up their sleeves and the rest of the show will play out in a rather straight forward manner. Not here. Almost every episode had some sort of twist in it. The scales of the twists were different, but each one unpacked a little bit more of the story and the characters and helped paint a more complete picture of the overall narrative. It really felt like we were learning along with Hyung Joo and Ga Hyun what was going on, which is a good place to be. This often meant that Hyung Joo and Ga Hyun were voicing our own speculations and were exploring ideas that we as the audience also thought might be possibilities. It very much felt like we were on the journey together with the two leads rather than just watching them solve a mystery on their own. The mystery at the heart of ‘365’ wasn’t perfect, but it was complete enough that we had a truly engaging and thrilling story to follow, and the conclusion felt well earned and satisfying. There were of course an abundance of red herrings, but as the writers left most things up to speculation, the red herrings felt more like a storytelling technique rather than a blatant attempt to mislead the audience so that they could pull out a ‘gotcha’ moment later (though there were still one or two of those moments also).

As if the main mystery lady is gonna tell you all her secrets

I also appreciated that the writers didn’t try to cast too much doubt over Hyun Joo and Ga Hyun. There was a short while there where Sun Ho was trying to frame Hyung Joo that cast a little suspicion over him, but apart from that we always had two characters that we could rely on and cheer for. Because the other resetters had so much doubt surrounding them, it could be hard at times to really like them, as we didn’t want to commit fully to liking a character only to find out that they are a murderer.

I'd trade a cheaty boyfriend for working legs any day of the week

Having our two leads remain outside the realm of suspicion let us simply enjoy their character moments, the relationship they were developing, and their small victories leading up to the final confrontation. For the acting I think everyone did a pretty great job. I’ve seen Lee Joon Hyuk in a few things, and despite him never really grabbing my attention, I don’t think I’ve ever been let down by his performance either. I think Hyung Joo is the most charismatic role I’ve seen him in (I think he was supposed to be super cool in ‘You Who Forgot Poetry’ but I was so-so on him in that), and he really made the character of Hyung Joo quite endearing. Moments where I think he really stood out were when he realised his mentor was a murderer, and when Ga Hyun died protecting him. Lee Joon Hyuk just burst through those scenes with an emotional intensity I just did not expect from him, and he really blew me away in those moments. His grief felt so raw and so real, and made your heart just ache for him. Lots of actors can look super cool running and catching criminals, so I was impressed to see Lee Joon Hyuk bring something else to his character as well. He also introduced a bit of a cheeky playfulness to his character that I’ve not seen him do before, and it was actually quite sweet- it made me curious to see how he’d go in a more rom-com role (again ignoring ‘You Who Forgot Poetry’ because while that counts it also sorta doesn’t).

There were lots of solid female roles in this show which is awesome

Nam Ji Hyun has been in lots of things and she’s a great actress. I think this role was stepping outside her comfort zone a bit as she usually plays typical rom-com style heroines. There were times I found her character a bit too blunt and brash, and I’m unsure if this was Nam Ji Hyun’s acting or just the way he character was written, but as the story progressed and Ga Hyun’s relationship developed with Hyung Joo, Nam Ji Hyun settled not the character more and Ga Hyun became a lot more likeable. 

It's almost like he wanted people to get the wrong idea...

While I feel like there were a lot of emotional scenes that Ga Hyun was a part of, I don’t super recall Nam Ji Hyun having any wow scenes the way that Lee Joon Hyuk did. The supporting cast were all great as well- Kim Ji Soo did a wonderful job at being mysterious but not completely inhuman and unrelatable, and I thought Lee Yoo Mi did such a fantastic job at making the switch when her character revealed her true, slightly crazy nature. She did both the sweet innocence and the obsessive manipulator roles so well, and did a great job at making these different faces of the same character, rather than having it seem as though Se Rin had just become a completely different person. Yes, Se Rin had changed dramatically, but Lee Yoo Mi kept certain expressions and actions that tied both of these personalities together into the one character, and I thought she handled it excellently. The editing I found could be a little heavy-handed. Most of the time it was perfectly fine, but there were a few moments where I thought it took away from the show rather than adding to it. In the first timeline we see play out where Sun Ho dies, I thought that the scene shifting to black and white with the blood remaining red just felt a bit…tacky? It felt like it was supposed to make it look cool and emotional, but I thought it came across a bit cheap.

Mmm no thanks

Perhaps if the entire show had these black a white moments for really intense scenes it would have worked better, but having it as a once off just seemed a bit odd, and I didn’t love it. There were a couple of other editing choices that I questioned at the time, but I can’t remember them now, so they can’t have been that bad.

What Was Great:

Character Layers: 

There were so many different aspects to all of the characters. Even though we were shown so many different parts of each characters’ life, there were still ways that the writers were able to turn something around and surprise us.

The room of doom

Except maybe for Hyung Joo and Ga Hyun, but I liked that they were safe and unsuspicious. Each of the other resetters had so much going on. Even just from our first character that got a bit of depth- Yeon Soo. At first I thought she was going back in time to avoid marrying her husband. Then I thought her husband maybe was violent to her. Then there was the question of whether it was Yeon Soo who was the hit-and-run driver or her husband. There was so much to unpack from just this one character alone, and we had so many!

I thought we were gonna run out of characters they were killing them off so quickly

 I liked how the impending sense of doom was a catalyst for the characters to reveal their true colours- when they thought their lives were in danger, suddenly everyone was a lot more willing to throw someone else under the bus. Jung Tae, who seemed the most suspicious and disloyal at the start actually ended up being one of the most caring characters- he was trying to make life better for his sister, and even ended up getting his protective nature taken advantage of by Se Rin. Se Rin who had seemed so sweet and innocent then ended up being a compulsive liar! I wondered early on if maybe Se Rin’s sister wasn’t actually dead, but to find out that she lied about everything in her life was a big surprise, especially when she became so emotionally manipulative by putting her physical safety at risk to get what she wanted. But I also appreciated that she wasn’t just a one-dimensional liar either. Her lies served a purpose- she wanted people to pity and care for her, and she wanted to get closer to Young Woong. Similar to Jung Tae, Se Rin also wasn’t just purely good or purely evil. While she was definitely off the rails, in the scene where she hurt Ga Hyun it was evident that she regretted harming her, and actually truly cared for Ga Hyun. While it may have seemed like Ga Hyun was wasting time and energy on a girl who was lying all the time, her efforts weren’t totally wasted, and Se Rin definitely knew that she could trust and rely on Ga Hyun.

I was most suspicious of No Sub just because he seemed the least suspicious

Because the mystery was so interwoven with the characters, there was a lot of thought and depth put into the resetters backstories so that they could further enhance the drama’s puzzles. It gave us a very rich selection of characters that were so vastly different from each other and very engaging to watch on screen- especially as they were forced to start to interact with each other and delve into each others’ secrets. 

Partners:

Hyung Joo and Ga Hyun just made a delightful little pair! It was really sweet to see how they came to trust and depend on one another as their futures became so entangled. I liked that the writer didn’t really tie them together romantically, but there were enough hints there that laid the groundwork for a possible future romance. While I love a good loveline as much as the next person, sometimes it's a nice little change to have our leads not be romantically involved.

The power of friendship

While not all platonic relationships feel deeper than romantic ones, I thought that in this case, it made sense for Ga Hyun and Hyung Joo to be a bit too preoccupied with everything going on around them to be distracted by romance- it just wasn’t a good time! The chemistry was definitely there, and Lee Joon Hyuk and Nam Ji Hyun had a comfortable and relaxed rapport that was such fun to watch. Even in their dire circumstances they were still able to care for one another, and their desire to protect the other really showed how solid their friendship had become over the course of the year that they had repeated together.

Detective Duo (plus Pup) are on the case

 They were a great detective duo, and they worked really well together. Rarely did they go off and do their own things without informing the other, and they always had an underlying respect for each other in everything they did. When Ga Hyun went out herself to try and catch the apparent bad guy (which at that point they thought was Jung Tae), Hyung Joo was concerned for her safety, but he also never babied her or treated her as if she were the most fragile flower in need of constant supervision. When Hyung Joo realised his work partner who he had gone back in time to save had been the one who was the murderer, Ga Hyun never blamed him or criticised his decision to save his friend- she simply comforted him and worked with him toward a solution. It was a lovely partnership, and they were an easy pair to cheer for. I really loved that the drama went out of its way a bit to show that they always formed this sort of bond. In the original-original timeline (where they all die) Hyung Joo becomes a consultant on Ga Hyun’s comic and they become good friends that way. In the year they are repeating, they are obviously connected and become close through the reset. And in the final timeline where Hyung Joo goes back to save Ga Hyun, she recognises him for being the one to catch Sun Ho and once again invites him to be a consultant on her comic.

This scene was pretty sad...

We aren’t given much more on how the current timeline goes, but we are given big hints that the two once again strike up their friendship- and by having Sun Ho previously explain their deaths (and thus reveal how close they were in another timeline) it gave a sense of security that they could still be the wonderful team they were together even if Ga Hyun didn’t remember their big adventure. 

What Wasn’t:

Just For the Lols:

Unlike how layered the rest of the characters were, our two main villains, No Sub and Sun Ho were a bit one-dimensional. So much build up was going on in the show as to who was behind the deaths of the resetters and why they were dying that it was a bit disappointing when the two people behind the whole thing said that they did it ‘just because’.

Why is he evil? Because being evil is fun. Duh

What a let down. It wasn’t enough to ruin the whole mystery of the show- it just would have been nice if maybe these two characters had more reasoning behind destroying so many peoples’ lives. And yes, yes, I know that a lot of actual criminals do commit crimes ‘just because’ or ‘for fun’, but as characters in a drama telling a story, I just expect there to be a little more story behind their motives! No Sub was at least a little believable, because I honestly wouldn’t put it past a rich old man who discovered he could go back in time to just mess around with people as a way to whittle away the time, but I did expect something a little more from our murderer. No Sub was the mastermind behind the whole ‘game’ so it kinda made a little bit of sense that he was only doing it for fun, but as Sun Ho was a police officer, and a detective no less, I was kind of expecting him to have a pretty darn good reason for going around killing people. Accidentally hitting someone with a car and then discovering he had a taste and a talent for killing people and framing them as accidents seemed a bit random for a guy who had otherwise lead an upright and honest life. 

WHAT’S IN THE BOX:

While I found most of the mystery elements in this drama above average, one thing I could not stand (and cannot stand in any drama ever) is withholding information from the audience even though the characters know. In this case, the characters were our leads, Hyung Joo and Ga Hyun.

Or in this case- WHAT'S IN THE BOOK

Because these two were our eyes and ears into this world and we were getting everything from their experiences and perspective, I felt kind of cheated whenever the show revealed a piece of information to either of them without showing it to the audience also. This mainly came in the form of one of them opening an envelop or a box, or receiving a phone call after which their eyes would widen in shock and the audience were left wondering what had been revealed. Because of course WE wouldn’t be shown what was on the card or in the box, and we certainly couldn’t hear what was being said on the other end of the phone. Sigh. Unlike the rest of the show’s methods of building mystery, this tactic just felt cheap, and ended up starting to get a bit annoying.

None of the characters are particularly good communicators either

Thankfully it didn’t detract too much from the show as it usually only occurred as a cliffhanger in the middle of the episode and was thus resolved fairly quickly, or occasionally it was done at the end of an episode so we just had to start the next one to find out what had occurred (and as I am a K-Drama binger, the wait between episodes was very short). But honestly, this style of withholding information for a quick suspense moment usually earns more annoyance than intrigue, and I much prefer when shows don’t do this.

Recommend?

Yes- this is a fun little mystery that never gets drawn out. While it isn’t perfect, there are so many twists and turns and it’s a fun adventure.

A twist at every turn