THE SHORT VERDICT:
A show with a fun concept that largely manages to deliver on its promises – quite a rarity in Dramaland these days, yes?
Im Ji Yeon sparkles in this and I absolutely love her, but I have to admit that it’s Heo Nam Jun who truly surprises, by infusing his character with layers and fun quirks – and the best swallowed leaked smiles that I’ve seen in quite a while. 😍
Our OTP is sparky and great together, and combined with Show’s blithe first half, make for a watch experience that feels both fun and satisfying.
Show’s final stretch does let up on the fun hijinks in favor of dealing with bad people and bad fates, but I do see this as par for the course, since these are built into the narrative from the beginning.
Stops short of being amazing because of some missteps, but I’d still say this is very, very solid.
THE LONG VERDICT:
I have to confess that these days, I’ve been almost afraid to have expectations when anticipating new dramas, coz so often, expectation and reality just don’t end up colliding, if you know what I mean (*cough*Perfect Crown *cough*). 😅
And so, I was almost a little afraid to press “play” on this one, in case my hopes (which were admittedly high, coz I loved the premise on sight) ended up being dashed.
BUT! Friends, I’m so happy to say that by and large, Show has lived up to my (admittedly high) expectations.
Yes, it has its shortcomings, which did dampen my watch, but we can talk about all that later. 😉
A NOTE ON THIS REVIEW
This review is a curated, condensed retrospective of my experience watching the show.
If you’d like to experience the drama alongside me, episode by episode, you might enjoy checking out my episode notes on Patreon here. They capture my unfolding reactions as the story develops – it’ll feel like we watched this show together. 🥰
These notes are EXCLUSIVE to Patreon, and are a complete and different experience than my public reviews.
If memberships aren’t your thing, individual episode note sets are available for purchase too. ❤️
OST ALBUM: FOR YOUR LISTENING PLEASURE
Here’s the OST album, in case you’d like to listen to it as you read the review.
Overall, I found the music in this show to be very pleasant and well-applied to effectively amplify the watch experience.
I particularly like the repeated breezy riff on Track 2, Season of Us, coz it’s so well-applied in the cuter OTP moments that I find it evocative all on its own by association, though for an overall favorite, I’d have to pick Track 5, Everyday Miracle, because I really do find the measured groove and poignant vibes very appealing. ❤️
MANAGING EXPECTATIONS / THE VIEWING LENS
Here are a few things that I think might be useful to keep in mind, if you want to maximize your chances of enjoying your watch:
1. A manhwa lens is useful, sometimes
I found that a manhwa lens came in useful, particularly during moments when our characters behave in rather OTT ways.
Thinking of them as cartoon people existing in a cartoon world definitely helps at those points.
2. A blurry logic lens can be useful
There are times when Show doesn’t manage to quite tie up every logical thread neatly.
I personally found it helpful to just roll with things, while keeping my need for logic light and blurry.
3. The back-half gets more serious
With how fun Show’s first half is, it’s easy to forget that it’s built a story where angst and danger are part of the architecture, and y’know, I would rather that Show remember that and spend screen time allowing us to see how it works through everything, rather than magic all the inconvenient stuff away like some dramas do.
As a silver lining, Show does remember to serve up OTP goodness even during the angstier stretches. ❤️
STUFF I LIKED
The premise feels fun
I think writer-nim had a genuinely creative idea with the body-swap/timeslip mythology of a Joseon villainess time-traveling to the present and crossing paths with a modern-day chaebol villain, AND I love that we get Im Ji Yeon and Heo Nam Jun as our villainess and villain, respectively.
From the moment Show’s trailers dropped, I was all in for this premise.
[BROAD SPOILER]
I do think some viewers might feel a little cheated to find out, right off the bat, that neither of our lead characters is a true villain, ie, they’re both deeply misunderstood, and the victim of vicious rumors, but personally, I’m fine with this.
For one thing, I prefer to be able to like my lead characters, and it’s much easier to like and root for characters who are deeply misunderstood rather than truly villainous.
For another, under the Korean Broadcasting Act, drama narratives cannot glorify or reward evil characters &/or their evil actions, so I do think that making both leads actually villainous would have been unnecessarily tricky.
I’d much rather have the cleaner version of things, where they’re simply mislabeled and misunderstood, so that we can focus on the hijinks and connection that I’m truly here for. 😁
[END SPOILER]
The writing feels fresh
Right from the minute I pressed ‘play,’ I found myself really enjoying the writing in this show.
To me, the writing in this drama feels fresh and fun right off the bat, like it comes from a writer who was genuinely inspired (vs. one who was tasked to write a story, whether they felt like it or not) – and this made me a VERY happy camper. 🥰
[MINOR EARLY SPOILER]
From the way Show often turns tropes on their heads – like the way Seo Ri climbs to the rooftop, not to end her life, but to declare her determination to live well – to the bits of meta (more on that in a bit), to the way things move along at a nicely brisk pace, the writing feels consistently surefooted and clever.
It’s true that I have issues with the eventual Reveal that Show serves up – but I’ll talk more about that later.
[END SPOILER]
I’d say that for about 80% of my watch or more, writer-nim delighted me with her work.
I felt like Show was very clever at just about everything, and it was truly refreshing to feel like I was in such good hands.
The handling of the OTP
I liked that for the most part, Show keeps our OTP connection front-and-center.
Additionally, I really enjoyed that writer-nim was often creative in allowing room for the OTP connection to grow, while still maintaining a good amount of narrative tension.
[SPOILER ALERT]
For example, I thought it was clever for Seo Ri to have deep discomfort about Mun Do’s ill intentions towards Se Gye, because this meant that she therefore had good reason to keep him at arm’s length -]even if feelings end up growing on both sides of our OTP equation.
[END SPOILER]
The interweaving of the two timelines
Overall, I thought that the whole idea of our main characters being drawn together by fate, thanks to their connection in their past lives, was a very useful organizing idea for our story.
With this backstory undercurrent, all our OTP’s run-ins in the present feel more purposeful (via the Hand of Fate) rather than simply coincidental, and I think it works very well.
Additionally, I felt that the past lives backstory really helps to support the that these characters are forming connections at such a fast rate.
I’d sooner buy that this fast connection was due in part to a past life connection, than have Show hand-wave it all into existence without explanation (which some other shows have been known to do).
On a slightly different note, I really enjoyed the flashbacks to our Joseon timeline.
Not only does the Joseon timeline help to fill in our understanding of our OTP’s fated connection, it acts like a larger context, where many of our OTP interactions in the present take on deeper layers of meaning when viewed as echoes of the past.
I thought that this added a really good layer of emotional depth, and I liked that very much.
The humor
Generally speaking, I found that Show’s sense of humor worked well for me.
Given that k-humor and I don’t often find ourselves on the same page, I counted this as a win.
Granted, there were occasions when Show’s idea of Funny didn’t work for me, but I’ll talk more about that later.
Here are some highlights that genuinely tickled my funny bone. 😁
[SPOILER ALERT]
1. Se Gye suffering cardiac arrest from being poisoned – and Seo Ri getting electrocuted right alongside him, because she’d volunteered as a medical professional, thinking that all she’d need to do was prick someone’s finger for indigestion.
SO BONKERS that I can’t help but laugh. 🤣🤣🤣🤣
2. Aunt offering Seo Ri a bribe to tie him down rather than to break up with him, and Seo Ri then pelting her with hard taffy. So silly and hilarious! 😂
[END SPOILER]
The meta
I legit giggled out loud at the fact that Se Gye’s company is named Biojei, and their new line is christened Dynaestie.
If you are into k-beauty, you’d likely have made the connection that this is a very clear nod to Beauty of Joseon (affectionately referred to as BOJ by fans), which is a k-beauty brand that’s not super popular in Korea, but has enjoyed a lot of international success.
On top of that, BOJ’s first ever viral product, is their Dynasty Cream. 😁
Tee hee hee! I see what you did there, Show, and I am duly tickled. 🤭
I think it’s a really smart choice, because (again, for the skincare nerds), the name Beauty of Joseon in hangul is 조선미녀 (pronounced Joseon Minyeo), and translates as “beautiful woman of Joseon.”
What a great connection to Seo Ri, who literally IS a beautiful woman from Joseon, and what a great reason, to therefore have lots of women dressed in Joseon garb within the building (because they’re all there to audition to be the new face of Dynaestie) when she first arrives to see Se Gye, thus allowing her to blend in seamlessly.
So fun! 😁
STUFF THAT WAS OK
When Show leans harder into comedy than I wanted
Like I mentioned earlier, Show’s attempts at Funny didn’t always work for me.
Here are two occasions when I found myself feeling perplexed – and even somewhat annoyed – at Show leaning into its comedic side.
Of course, your mileage may vary, so these scenes might not bother you the same way they bothered me.
[SPOILER ALERT]
The undercutting
At the end of episode 7, we have Seo Ri racing to Se Gye, and expressing her desire to be with him.
It’s all very beautiful and heartfelt, and I found it very jarring, when episode 8 continues the scene – by undercutting all that lovely poetic wonder, and having Seo Ri blithely face the press, making an announcement almost like she’s dissipating a curious crowd at.. the local market? 😅
I am guessing that your mileage may vary on this one, because it’s true that Show is essentially staying true to its nature, by undercutting a poetic moment with a spot of humor.
I might just be a little sore that Show decided to interrupt my moment of soaking in the wonderment and poetry of it all, to interject with what amounted to a record-scratching sort of moment, for me. 😅
Also, for all of Seo Ri’s good intentions, her spiel to the reporters isn’t very well thought-through, and to my eyes, doesn’t really do anything to help Se Gye’s situation.
I felt that it was very presumptuous of her to announce that Se Gye would donate half of the proceeds from the ad campaign, because that’s a decision that isn’t hers to make.
It only makes her feel pleased because she feels like she’s done something for Se Gye, and I suppose I didn’t like that very much.
The “teacher” refund
Another attempt at Funny that I did not appreciate, was the extended beat of Seo Ri going to confront Shaman Lady’s (Oh Min Ae) “teacher” and demanding a refund, only to get beaten up and thrown out by said teacher’s group of disciples.
While watching this beat, I’d felt a little bemused, like, “What is this and why are we here?”
But in the end Show uses it in support of our main story, by having Seo Ri then detect that “Teacher” had been torturing and assaulting her followers, embezzling “training fees” and even distributing drugs to her followers, thus requesting an investigation – and then giving it to those reporters as a scoop in exchange for them dropping their paparazzi focus on her.
Heh. That’s one way of sweeping the public’s focus elsewhere, that’s for sure.
Ok, in hindsight, I am more amused than at first, because now I see how irreverent and nonsensical Show was being on purpose.
But I have to confess that in the moment, I was more like, “What is this, and when can we get more of Seo Ri and Se Gye in a scene TOGETHER, instead of this random silliness?”
Thinking back, I’m realizing that quite possibly, Show was ramping up the comedy upfront, to preemptively balance out the poignance and heaviness of some of our later beats.
I do understand that principle, certainly – perhaps I was just not in an emotional space where I was willing to be distracted?
[END SPOILER]
SPOTLIGHT ON CHARACTERS / RELATIONSHIPS
Im Ji Yeon as Seo Ri
It is not an exaggeration to say that I absolutely love Im Ji Yeon in this show. 😍😍
Our female lead goes through a whole gamut of experiences in each timeline, thus offering Im Ji Yeon a very wide scope within which to demonstrate her acting chops – and she does a fantastic job of it all.
Whether she’s being regal and controlled in the Joseon timeline, or being a bit chaotic in the present timeline, she nails everything – from facial expression, to intonation, to body language.
It’s really impressive.
Best of all, I find her utterly charming, whatever timeline she’s in, on my screen, and thus always wanted to root for her. ❤️
[SPOILER ALERT]
All in all, I found Seo Ri’s growth arc to be deeply satisfying.
She started out holding herself back — weighed down by guilt, trauma, and the belief that she was Dan Shim destined to return to Joseon — and then blossomed into someone who decided to love large and live fully in the present. That shift felt like watching her finally breathe freely.
While Seo Ri could sometimes come across as too matter-of-fact because she wasn’t always showing her feelings, I admired her grounded decisiveness.
That moment with Chairman Gramps, where she calmly told him she’d make sure Se Gye was never lonely, really stood out to me. It wasn’t about defiance; it was about clarity and conviction.
In fact, I found her adorably wholehearted once she stopped holding back.
Buying Se Gye things for his health, sharing apples, showing up at his office for a date, and eventually telling him outright that she loved him — all of that felt sweet, earnest, and lovable.
And even though Seo Ri could be soft, she wasn’t a damsel waiting to be rescued. I liked that she pushed back when Se Gye treated her like someone who needed saving. That balance made her feel like a heroine with agency.
Overall, I found her charming and endearing, and just wonderfully lovable, with her uniquely oxymoronic mix of softness and strength.
Oh, and of course I absolutely adored her enthusiasm for allll of the street foods. 😍
[END SPOILER]
Heo Nam Jun as Se Gye
I personally think Heo Nam Jun is perfectly cast in this role.
I’d found him mesmerizingly unhinged as a bad guy in Your Honor (review here!), and then I’d thought him a bit miscast as a good guy in When The Phone Rings (review here!) – mainly because I find his brooding good looks more suited for less wholesome, sunshiney characters.
..Which means that to my eyes, he’s just PERFECT as our male lead Se Gye, who’s widely known to be a power-tripping unhinged psycho, but who’s a good, decent guy underneath it all.
What’s fantastic is that I think Heo Nam Jun is equally effective at embodying the power-tripping dark chaebol prince, and personifying the most reluctantly smitten love puppy in our present day timeline, AND at being the dignified-yet-lovelorn Grand Prince in our Joseon timeline.
Heo Nam Jun absolutely demonstrates his versatility in this role, and I am duly impressed. 🤩
ALSO. Can I just say that his swallowed leaked smiles are top-tier, sweetly lethal weapons – and Show clearly knows it, judging from how often said weapons are deployed. 🤭😁
[SPOILER ALERT]
I ended up loving Se Gye’s emotional evolution as a character.
He starts out prickly, ambitious, and a little aloof — climbing to the top mostly to prove himself in a dog-eat-dog world.
I found him to be such a funny combination of big macho bluster and enormous emotional vulnerability.
And I simply loved the nervous little ticks and swallowed smiles underneath all his posturing. He could insist that he was merely “protecting an actor” while looking like a jealous boyfriend who’d been caught red-handed, and I found that hilarious. 😂
His leaked smiles became a running delight for me, not just because they looked super cute, but also because they betrayed his heart even when his words tried to deny it.
What really endeared him to me was how deeply he loves Seo Ri. Once he’s in, he’s ALL in. He’s constantly ready to protect her, kiss her, worry about her, fuss over her, and make sure she’s okay, and I loved that about him. 🥰
And I thought his emotional vulnerability became especially affecting toward the end.
By the finale, when he cries like a child at the thought of losing her, I found it so pure and raw. His blustering “how could you leave without me” carried the weight of his inner child’s fear of abandonment, and I found that incredibly endearing and poignant. 🥲
Overall, I found Se Gye both hilarious and touching — a character whose contradictions made him human, and whose growth made him deeply lovable.
It felt so gratifying to watch him leak smiles, wrestle with denial, and finally surrender to wholehearted love. 🥰
[END SPOILER]
Seo Ri and Se Gye
I have to say, I do think that this OTP is wonderfully well-matched.
From the very beginning of our story, I felt an easy, sparky sort of energy between them, even during the early days of mutual suspicion.
Their dialogue is well-written, but what’s more impressive to me, is that our leads are able to deliver the dialogue in a manner that feels completely natural to their characters, while being in total sync with each other.
Putting it all together, their interactions always felt natural and believable to me, whether they were playfully bickering, calmly talking, flat-out fighting, or hugging and kissing 💋 – and I loved that.
I didn’t just enjoy their OTP chemistry — I adored it. Their relationship was silly, tender, poignant, and transformative. Watching them grow together, comfort each other, and finally seal their love with wholehearted joy made me believe in their happiness.
[BROAD SPOILERS]
This relationship was one of the show’s biggest strengths for me.
I loved their combination of bickering, comedy, tenderness, sexual chemistry 🔥and genuine emotional vulnerability. They could be ridiculous with each other one minute and then suddenly land in a very sincere, emotionally affecting moment the next. I enjoyed that a lot.
I especially loved how physically affectionate Se Gye is. He’s basically always ready to kiss Seo Ri some more. 😂 And I loved how Seo Ri eventually starts matching him, particularly once she decides she’s done holding back. 🤭
Their relationship also has this lovely sense of synchronization that I enjoyed—the way Seo Ri can predict his protests, the way they bounce off each other, the way their arguments can be explosive but then burn themselves out, and the way they eventually learn to be more transparent with each other.
I was also very moved by the deeper thematic layer of their relationship: the love between Dan Shim and the Grand Prince echoing into the present through Seo Ri and Se Gye.
Overall, I felt very invested in this OTP. I enjoyed watching them become a couple; I enjoyed watching them be a couple; I wanted them to be happy. Together. 🥲
Here are some of my favorite OTP beats from the show.
If you’d like to experience the full journey alongside me, episode by episode — with plenty more OTP goodness like this — you can find my episode notes on Patreon here.
(Prefer not to join as a member? Individual episode note sets are available for purchase too. ❤️)
[SPOILER ALERT]
Do you harbor feelings for me?
E5-6. I have to say, I really do love Se Gye’s confession in the car; on the surface it almost looks like a jumbled mess, since he starts out by narrowing his eyes and pointing out her heart as a target, then ranting about his lack of sleep because of her rejection, then sideways insulting Seo Ri, saying that she’s an accomplished liar.
But then watching him, I realized that even as he’s rattling off all these things, he honestly looks quite hypnotized by her, and then, as he keeps going, there are shades of affection and amusement growing in his gaze.
And thennn. He states with such focus and simplicity, that he’s not retaliating, but surrendering, and looks at her with that same undivided gaze, and tells her that he’d like them to start over.
It’s really all quite heady and swoony, so while I’m flailing 🫠 over here, I’m not at all surprised that Seo Ri herself is quite affected, has a moment where she wavers internally, while wondering about Se Gye’s sincere eyes.
I mean, when Seo Ri asks hesitantly if he truly harbors affection for her, he answers yes without hesitation.
To clarify, the phrase she uses is 연모 (戀慕; yeonmo) which isn’t quite just “harboring affection.”
-
- 戀 (연 – Yeon): To love, yearn, or long for.
- 慕 (모 – Mo): To adore, look up to, or miss deeply.
AND SE GYE ANSWERS YES, HE FEELS YEONMO FOR HER. Without hesitation.
Swoooon. My heart is flailing into a puddle over here. 🫠🫠🫠
The wrist kiss
E5-6. The way Seo Ri looks right at Se Gye and says that it’s written all over his face, that he feels sorry for having lost his temper at her earlier, makes me think that she really does see him very clearly, beyond the blustery shield that he puts up.
And isn’t it gracious of her, to tell him that it’s quite alright – because she understands that people tend to act angry when they’re frightened? I love that she even pats him on the shoulder to console him that it’s alright for a man to be easily frightened.
It’s so endearingly, tipsily gracious?
But then, things turn serious when Se Gye grasps her hand and tells her that no, he’s not sorry, and that he’d do it all again; that he’d chase her like a madman and do something foolish and blow up at her again; that it would all be alright as long as she was ok.And then he warns her, as he leans in towards her, that he’s going to make a move, and that if she wants to run, this moment is her chance – Eee!!
My breath caught in my throat as Seo Ri jumps to her feet – like, ah, she’s running away, just like he said! – but thennnn, she grabs his sleeve as he turns to walk away, as we hear her say in voiceover, that there are many reasons she must not fall in love with this man, but there’s just one reason why she has.
I kinda love the way Se Gye grabs his chance, tells her that she’s the one who grabbed him first, and then leans in and kisses.. her wrist??
Swoon. Puddle. Flail.
That is so sexy and tender and unexpected, that my fangirl heart is completely undone. 🫠
And then he grabs her for a proper kiss, and it’s ardent and urgent, yet lingering and tender, and I am toast.
A swooning, flailing puddle of toast. Glug. 🫠🫠
It really is shining. Now that I am with you.
E7-8. It’s so touching to me, that in the midst of everything that’s going on, AND after Seo Ri’s harsh rejection of him, Se Gye remembers to prepare a birthday surprise for her.
I love that it’s such a personalized surprise, and I love just as much, that in the card, he’s clearly still stinging from her rejection, saying that in spite of it all, he should still wish her happiness on her birthday.
I love his wish for her: “May your night shine a little brighter than yesterday” – so perfectly paired with those additional mood lights that he’s had installed on the rooftop.
I’m not surprised that Seo Ri’s swayed by this – I am already flopped over on the floor from this matter-of-fact, generous demonstration of love.
Of course she starts hoping for more, and starts to believe that she’s worthy of happiness too, just like Gran told her earlier.
I love that once she seizes her emotions and decides that, yes, she wants to pursue happiness too, Seo Ri simply runnnns over to Se Gye, and the first thing she tells him, is that she wants to try too; whatever it is – for him.
And with the flood of flashing photography lights washing over them, as Se Gye asks what in the world she’s doing, she chooses to protect him.
It’s so poetic to me, that as Se Gye questions if this isn’t just going to bring them both down, Seo Ri’s response is, “If we are ruined, let us embrace it. If we are broken, let us embrace it. It is fine, if we are together.”
And then how whimsical it is, that as Seo Ri thinks back to Se Gye’s wish for her nights to be brighter, she muses, with a happy tearful smile, “It really is shining. Now that I am with you.”
Augh. It’s utterly lovely, poetic and swoonworthy. 🫠
[END SPOILER]
Jang Seung Jo as Mun Do
In my opinion, Jang Seung Jo does an excellent job as Se Gye’s pleasant-on-the-outside, shady-on-the-inside uncle, Mun Do.
In fact, from the very first moment he appeared on my screen – smiling, and surrounded by children, mind you – I got the sense that he was not a character to be trusted.
Big props to Jang Seung Jo, for mastering that very pleasant yet very poisonous smile, such that I got a read of his character even before he’d uttered a word. 👏🏻
It’s true that Mun Do’s ways get more and more extreme as we get further into our story, but I found it reasonably in-character, given his characterization.
[BROAD SPOILERS]
You could say that I found Mun Do awful but narratively effective.
For example, his decision to have Se Gye stabbed near the end was shocking and cruel, but it raised the stakes in a way that made the finale gripping; his actions had real emotional consequences for Seo Ri and Se Gye.
In that sense, he served his purpose well, even if I found him unpleasant to watch.
[END SPOILERS]
Chae Seo An as Tae Hee
At around Show’s halfway point, Tae Hee’s introduced as someone who has her sights set on Se Gye and is willing to do whatever it takes to win him as her prize.
I think there are viewers who really dislike Tae Hee as a character, but I found myself not minding her too much.
I do think that this has a lot to do with Chae Seo An’s delivery of the character, because I found myself low-key charmed by Tae Hee’s ditzy-yet-unflappable manner.
Plus, there’s the thing where the writing around Tae Hee leans convenient, with Show having her pop up here and there, sometimes in a more antagonist sort of space and then sometimes as an ally.
Because of this, I started to view her more as a plot catalyst than as a real person, which I think helped me mind her even less?
Se Gye and Secretary Son
I found the vibe between Se Gye and Secretary Son to be pretty fun, and honestly, the more Show leaned into this, the funnier it became, to me.
It’s just very amusing that Se Gye would keep asking Secretary Son for input and advice on personal things, particularly matters of the heart.
I mean, it’s not like Secretary Son looks like he’s got a ton of dating experience or anything, and yet Se Gye just keeps turning to him for advice, and it’s even cuter, when he does take said advice. 😁
Seo Ri and Gwang Nam
I find the not-quite-friendship between Seo Ri and Gwang Nam (Kim Min Seok) really rather fun.
[BROAD SPOILERS]
From being bickering neighbors at the gosiwon, to becoming co-workers at various part-time gigs, to Seo Ri hiring Gwang Nam as her road manager, the relationship between these two is hilariously dynamic.
I do find it very cute, that they do care about each other, at the end of the day, despite all their blustering protests and continuous bickering.
They’re almost like a pair of siblings that way, aren’t they? 😁
[END SPOILERS]
Seo Ri and Gran
I’d say that this is the relationship that took me by surprise the most.
[SPOILER ALERT]
At the beginning of our story, Gran (Kim Hae Sook) is someone completely unfamiliar to Seo Ri, and all of Seo Ri’s efforts to look in on Gran and be a good granddaughter, have to do with Seo Ri’s sense of duty to the owner of the body that she’s inhabiting.
And then, it becomes quite bittersweet, that Seo Ri does grow genuinely fond of Gran as they spend time together – even as Gran’s dementia progresses.
AND THEN.
What a punch to the gut, to realize, with Show’s Big Reveal (which I’ll talk about soon), that Gran really is Seo Ri’s real grandmother – and that she’d missed out on the last twenty years of time that she could have spent with Gran, while Gran had been healthier, stronger and fully lucid.
I think this is the relationship that makes my heart ache the most in this show, because of all the missed opportunities inherent.
It’s true that Seo Ri makes the most of the remaining time with Gran, but the fact remains that those twenty years that she could have had with Gran will never be hers again. 💔
It is a deep consolation, though, that Seo Ri learns the truth in time, to be able to send Gran off on her final journey with the full knowledge that she is, indeed, Gran’s beloved grandchild. 🥹
[END SPOILER]
SPOTLIGHT ON SHOW’S BIG REVEAL [SPOILERS]
You could say that I was distinctly underwhelmed by Show’s Big Reveal – that Seo Ri’s not a Joseon soul inhabiting someone else’s body, but the real Shin Seo Ri returning to her original body.
To be clear, I thought the concept itself was genuinely inspired. It shifted the narrative ground under our feet in a way that could have been brilliant.
HOWEVER.
I felt the execution was a misstep. Instead of giving us a shared “Aha!” moment, Show chooses to interrupt its own “Aha!” moment 🤦🏻♀️, thus leaving viewers like me, who’d failed to correctly interpret Show’s earlier clues, in the cold.
Without a clear exposition of what was and was not possible in this story world, I managed to rationalize all the big clues in all the wrong ways, and by the time Seo Ri’s getting those memory flashes, I thought her Joseon soul was starting to fuse with her host’s body.
How was I supposed to know this wasn’t possible? 🤷🏻♀️
Ironically, I think this is one of those rare occasions where a show that viewers often complain is too tell-y actually trusted us too much. 🙈 It gave us the pieces and essentially outsourced the job of assembling them, to us.
What makes this especially frustrating is that Show actually came soclose to giving us the “Aha!” moment I think we needed.
Here’s what I think would’ve worked so much better.
Seo Ri, reeling from the flood of childhood memories, then sees the ill-omened star completing its journey and fading from the sky.
Then she thinks back to the words of the shaman lady saying that her soul would be guided to her own body upon the completion of the star’s journey.
It dawns on her that she must therefore be in her original body; that she IS the original Shin Seo Ri.
She sinks into the realization as her mind implodes at the truth – while our minds implode alongside hers.
And THEN the demolition team arrives – and as she faces them, she knows (and WE know) that this restaurant now means SO MUCH more than we’d originally imagined.
This is HOME to her.
BOOM. Wouldn’t that have been a fantastic moment??
All in all, I have to conclude that both PD-nim and writer-nim made a misstep at a very crucial point in our story, and what could have been a seriously brilliant reveal turned into a “ghost reveal”- that I believe many of us completely missed.
[I recorded a voice note where I explore the ins and outs of what makes a great reveal, which you might be interested in checking out here!]
THOUGHTS ON THE ENDING [SPOILERS]
After what I felt was an underwhelming “ghost reveal” in episode 12, I did think that Show served up a solid ending. I didn’t love all of it, but I enjoyed most of it – and I’d call that a solid win.
I did have some niggles about execution — like Se Gye’s inconsistent dismissal of the shaman lady, the slightly petty deepfake revenge subplot, and Seo Ri sounding rather self-righteous in her conversation with Mun Do.
More importantly, I really didn’t like Show making a distinction between the Grand Prince and Se Gye, with Seo Ri saying the she had to save “that person,” because Show’s established that Se Gye is the Grand Prince reincarnated, so having the Grand Prince believe Seo Ri loved “someone else” bothered me.
I was all, Nooo, don’t hurt the Grand Princeeee.. His love is so pureeee. 😭😭
That said, these things didn’t actually ruin the ending for me, because I found the finale emotionally rewarding in all the important ways.
First of all, Seo Ri guiding Gran through her imagined final bus journey, warmly waving her off in victory, made me cry; it was just so poignantly beautiful. 🥹
Aside from our OTP story, this was THE emotional highlight of the finale, for me. ❤️
As for our OTP, I thought the basic final-episode premise was solid.
Once the show established that Se Gye’s life was tied to the Grand Prince’s fate, I was fully invested in Seo Ri going back to Joseon to save him. Plus, I’d become genuinely fond of the Grand Prince, so I was absolutely on board with the idea of saving him from his cruel fate. 🥲
It really was gratifying to see him survive and go off on adventure with Dan Shim while in Drama Disguise, even if Show doesn’t explain exactly the mechanics of this final body swap.
Similarly, I was happy to buy the idea that Seo Ri would somehow hear Se Gye’s voice through the supernatural boundaries that she was ensconced in, and when given the choice to choose any world (se gye) to go to, that she would choose Cha Se Gye. 🥰😁
Their reunion after Seo Ri’s supernatural detour was especially affecting; I found Se Gye’s relief, tears and almost childlike fear of having lost her very moving. 🥹
And then after all the angst, seeing Seo Ri and Se Gye finally reunited, smiling widely, and promising to be together for “ten thousand years” gave me the catharsis I’d been waiting for.
In the end, Show might not have given me everything I’d wanted, but it did give me the opportunity to witness Seo Ri living fully, Se Gye loving vulnerably, and the two of them sealing their future with joy.
By the final minutes, when they’re just smiling stupidly at each other and enjoying being together, I genuinely believed that these two would continue to bicker, banter, kiss and love each other for a very long time – and that’s the most important thing. 🥲❤️
THE FINAL VERDICT:
Creative, engaging and solidly satisfying in spite of its flaws.
FINAL GRADE: B++
TRAILER:
MV:
THE EPISODE-BY-EPISODE EXPERIENCE
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🎬 What I’m Covering on Patreon Right Now
Show |
Patreon |
|---|---|
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KFG ❤️