With so many new dramas flooding the dramascape these days, I honestly wasn’t sure if you guys would be interested in a review of this web drama. After all, most of us are already drowning in our monster watch lists, right?
But, it really isn’t often that a little web drama with a total running time of less than an hour (54 minutes and 57 seconds, to be exact – yes, I calculated!) manages to not only make an impression but leave a thought-provoking sort of aftertaste, so I thought it’d be worth putting out there, just in case some of you are looking for a drama snack, in between your full-length dramas.
Fair warning that this one leans bittersweet, so if poignance and pathos are your thing, you might like this one.
WHAT IT’S ABOUT
Hyo Min (Han Bo Reum) is suffering from amnesia and her long-time friend Bo Seok (Yoon Jong Hoon) spends time with her at the hospital trying to help her regain her memories.
STUFF I LIKED
1. We get a good feel for the characters, despite Show’s short running time.
2. Yoon Jong Hoon and Han Bo Reum both deliver very solid performances.
3. We get a good sense of the journey of friendship between Hyo Min and Bo Seok, as Hyo Min revisits various key memories that they’ve shared. Even though we technically spend most of the story in hospital, where Bo Seok is helping Hyo Min regain her memories, we get to see many of their important milestones via flashbacks. This helps their connection come alive to us as an audience.
STUFF I DIDN’T LIKE SO MUCH
1. We don’t get a lot of time with our characters, since this is a web drama format.
2. Probably because of that, Show relies on quite a few tropes to tell us its story, and that can make Show feel a bit predictable.
3. [MAJOR SPOILER: HIGHLIGHT TO READ] Show’s use of the Truck of Doom was particularly tropey and I honestly felt that Show could’ve done better.
THOUGHTS ON THE ENDING [SPOILERS]
I think I was about halfway through my watch when it dawned on me that Hyo Min was in some sort of dreamscape at the hospital, and Bo Seok was probably dead.
The little oddities in our drama world started adding up in my head: the fact that she appears to be in some kind of psychiatric hospital instead of a proper hospital; the fact that her doctor is so zany; the fact that her memories are coming back so quickly, with each conversation with Bo Seok; the fact that Bo Seok is in a hurry, saying that there isn’t much time left; the fact that the look in Bo Seok’s eyes gets sadder and sadder, as we go. The realization didn’t hit me like a ton of bricks; rather it was more like an insistent drip that I eventually became cognizant of. I thought this was nicely done.
Once I knew in my gut that Bo Seok was dead, and was, in death, still selflessly helping Hyo Min, because he loves her that much, I really felt the wistfulness in his gaze.
In the end, Hyo Min and Bo Seok say a tearful goodbye, where he tells her to live an amazing life in his stead, and we see Hyo Min, fully recovered, carrying his memory with her, everywhere she goes.
Augh. It’s a poignant message that Show leaves us with, that we should live and love to the fullest, while we have the time, because even though they say that love is all about timing, sometimes, that’s just an excuse we give ourselves, to rationalize our cowardice.
And, if Show can leave us such a powerful message in under an hour of screen time, I kinda hafta say that that’s a job well done.
THE FINAL VERDICT:
A bittersweet little watch that manages to linger with you.
FINAL GRADE: B
TEASER:
You can check out the teaser here.
WHERE TO WATCH:
You can watch the show on Viki here.
