Wonderful World (2024)

Captivating & Heeling

i started watching it because of it was mbc friday & saturday drama not because i’m any of the leads fan or the genre fan (not a biased review). i came to find this drama very healing. it really teaches you how to forgive and move on for better. it has a revenge and revealing truth aspect too but it’s not really like a revenge drama it would be. it focuses more on the process of leads healing, finding peace and living a better life.

this drama is also quite sad so be ready to cry. i cried a lot throughout the acting of everyone is amazing you will be able to feel their emotions.

each of the character learned something and had a good growth.

there is so many little things about this drama i appreciate such as, background music and cinematography.

I liked it a lot definitely worth a watch. i loved the last episode the ending did not disappointed me. last 20 minutes of ep 16 🫶🏻

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Strong performers, poor writing

The actors were amazing! I was particularly impressed by Cha Eunwoo. I didn't know he could handle intense roles like that.

The writing though, whew... To say that this show abused flashbacks is an understatement. Every episode starts with a recap, so what's the point of giving me multiple flashbacks? And there are too many empty scenes (camera panning across the room, actors staring out into the void, etc). I've skipped so many of these, some of them take up a full minute or two, and I didn't miss anything of value. The story isn't even bad at all, it was just the way it was written. Too many plot holes, red herrings, out of character decisions, etc.

There's also too much crying. I get it, it's justified and realistic, but after the 10th crying session it just lost all its impact. I skipped those, too.

Overall this show is way too soapy and could have been reduced to 8-10 episodes. Fantastic actors though!

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still thinking about it

huh...so how can i start?
i finished watching the drama today and i just feel empty 😭

first, i was loving Gwon Seon-yul and Eun Soo-hyun, but then hated (not much) Gwon Seon-yul THEN i was disliking BOTH and THEN ENDED UP LOVING THEM SO MUCH. congrats to the scriptwriters for giving us so many plots!

one thing is that i wish they ended up being in a relationship of mom and son 🥺 by the end i noticed that they never hugged each other...really wanted this to happen so muchhhh!!

now the story was, how can i say, not confusing but very complicated. at least everything got connected, even tho it was a bit complicated (can't deny that i liked, i love mysteries)

aaaah, i can't stop talking about Eun Soo-hyun and Gwon Seon-yul...they suffered the whole drama, i was getting crazy cause everything bad was happening to them and their family! 😭
I'm sad that they didn't ended up really close 6 years later, both of them kind of completed each other somehow

focusing on acting, CHA EUNWOO!!! MY BOY PROVED (EVEN THO HE DIDN'T NEED IT TO) HOW HE IS SUCH A GOOD ACTOR!! he was a.m.a.z.i.n.g, can't belive he made me hate (then love) his character. Kim Nam-Joo, wow, her acting is impeccable, never saw her before but now I'm totally gonna follow her work! she made me feel the emotions that Eun Soo-hyun was feeling :(
Kim Kang-wo and Im Se-mi were really good too. I knew Im Se-mi from true beauty and she's wonderful.

ost, soundtrack: 10/10 love it.

just two things that i didn't liked much: i wish they could show how Kim Joon ended up like. what happened to him 6 years after? like, he was the villain, why they didn't show then? plus, i couldn't understand much how Kim Joon's secretary accepted to stay on Gwon Seon-yul side...the explanation was so...poor?

anyways, to finish this review, the protest made me so emotional, it reminded me of a real case from korea. Kim Nam-Joo represented the courage of a mother that never gives up! I definitely won't forget about Eun Soo-hyun and her hard story, she suffered a lot. not only because the death of her son, but also her mother's amnesia, her husband Kang Su-ho betrayal with her sister Han Yoo-ri and all the consequences of her actions (killing Gwon Seon-yul's dad, etc)

i will definitely recommend to someone! now, i need to watch more dramas like Wonderful World 🥺

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Grief is the main actor, and it is about to expose (of) them all

Definitely not your typical kdrama. But it is for somewhat niche audience, those into long-winded dark, dreary and repetitive points hitting the same spot.

I like those dramas when there is a point to it and not exploitation of negative emotion. And there was. The point, I believe.

Overwhelming in intense gloomy and tragic undertones. Grief and coping are the actors in this drama, taking a large podium, to not immerse but drown each character. As if both take on a mercenary role. Each character is both momentarily rewarded and ultimately punished by decisions they made, rejecting grieving and coping in service of revenge. Grief is the main actor and not revenge, that is the point. And it punishes each character accordingly for that lack of awareness.

Which is an interesting take for a kdrama, not gonna lie.

The chemistry between Soo-hyun and Seon-yul was palpable. It never went the romantic route but I could sense the alignment between two characters that obviously found solace in their similar experience with loss. I wish it was further developed. This one does remind me a bit of My Mister in its attempt for two people to process pain together.

But this is not sad, slice of life piece. This took tragedy and packed a punch with some action, and quite a few, albeit predictable, plot twists.

There are of course quite a few duds, motivatios of Seon-yul fell a bit flat. Wrap up was rushed, general downer, and kind of too each. As if the production got tired.

Not many standouts (good or bad) among actors. The female lead really shone, and Kim Joon, one of antagonists. I did not see Cha Eun Woo laugh once. Gorgeous man no doubt, but I do not think he wants that to be the main takesway. I did think he did not have a range of emotional capacity/expression to deliver each scene, and thought both Park Bogum and Seo In-Guk would have delivered in this type of role perfectly. Albeit his acting continues to be average at best, he was not distracting from the plot for which I still approve of the show as a whole.

(Also, nice to see the lead of the Eight Sense getting his footing into kdrama industry. Little time, but step by step.)

Overall, I do not take this one as a binge. The main characters are complex and I believe the viewer should be a bit more invested to understand their perspective in order to enjoy this one. I would need to rewatch to understand better, but intrigue kind of dissipated.

Not for everyone, for sure. But an interesting one, 100%.

What do you think?

Thanks for reading.

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Revenge in slow mo? ;)

I had zero expectations starting this drama. I thought it was a romance between an older woman and cha eun woo ;););) boy was I so wrong!! lol

So it’s basically a revenge drama- a young boy dies and the mother kills the person who did it. But there is so much more layers underneath this onion of a story… I do like all the twists and plots; I do like the storyline and how it unfolded; I do NOT like how the bad guy always seems to win until the very last 20mins of the final episode, then the writers rush through his downfall; I do NOT like all the slow motion scenes, walking here and there, crying, crying and more crying, repeat this and that scene… could have done with a lot lot less of those.

Cha eun woo as a villain!! Well … initially a villain then a great guy. He did well for this drama 👏🏼👏🏼 give him a chance- ep11 showed his true acting skills! Some reviewers are saying the FL is too stiff and robotic- that’s prob because of all the Botox 😅 I liked the husband though- he looks good 😍

All in all pretty well worth the watch. I did forward quite a lot when they talked too slow.. haha.

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Great acting

I have just finished this show. Had put it off because the first 4 episodes were just too tragic and I had to take break until it finished broadcasting then I could binge watch. Basically, the good guys could never catch a break right up to the last episode, so its very frustrating to watch and unless you're a sucker for punishment, I don't know who else would watch it (other than to see more of Cha Eun Woo on screen!) Really glad the whole series only comprises 14 episodes.

The story is middling - nothing really mysterious about it other than brooding young males and overwrought mothers. At the end, you don't get the supreme satisfaction associated with great revenge dramas (e.g. the Glory) where the bad guys get their just desserts - and then some. It wasn't too difficult to guess who was at fault although we did want to find out how and why.

However, the acting is top notch. Cha Eun Woo really CAN act! I was pleasantly surprised after a very stiff performance in a Good Day to be a Dog although he was passable in Island. Perhaps he learnt from one of the best in the business - Kim Nam Joo. I feel privileged to watch another stellar performance from her. In fact, I feel that she's done better this time than Misty.

I'm so glad that this show didn't turn out to be another younger man-older woman romance. Thank god there is NO romance and it's all dark and tragic. That really makes all the actors shine.

Final word: DON'T watch it - for the story. DO watch it - for the acting.

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Heartburn daily-soap trash masked as slowburn. Robotic female lead. Too many flashbacks.

Heartburn daily-soap trash masked as slowburn. Robotic female lead. Too many flashbacks. Unnecessarily long loooong loooooong scenes.

First of all, 4 episodes would have been more than enough to cover whatever the excruciatingly long rat dwelling sewerage vomit-inducing stench-filled 14-episode long ordeal that this series was.

Now, my detailed rant disguised as the review for this series:

The story revolves around the son of a criminal seeking misguided revenge against the initial victim. The director and scriptwriter attempt to garner sympathy for the criminal's son, as if losing someone, however evil that person was, somehow justifies his actions.

The main lead actress delivers her lines with a monotonous tone and stone-faced expressions, resembling a robot. It feels as if a director was experimenting with an emotionless robot in the lead role. There seems to be a rule book for Korean actors, where they pause mid-sentence for supposed dramatic effect. To appear melodramatic, they split dialogues into multiple parts with prolonged pauses, maintaining an indifferent demeanor, and hence, becomes insufferable to watch.

The series is riddled with too many coincidences and conveniences favoring the male lead, quite similar to poorly written daily soap operas. It is predictable, and the female lead perpetually shoulders all the problems, likely catering to a female demographic accustomed to being doormats, and here I thought that we should respect people regardless of their gender identities, well, atleast I thought so, clearly unlike the director and script writer duo, and maybe this series loving audience as well, who likens the women like female leads to be a welcoming doormat for all beings present. I don't understand why, but I feel a sense of irrational frustration when these types of roles are repeatedly portrayed as the entire personality of the female leads. Please, move on from these. We can have strong female leads who have experienced loss and while grieving, responded by committing a criminal act, but they should not be portrayed solely as gluttons for punishment.

I stopped watching after the 8th episode, as it surpassed my mental endurance. I initially watched with my family, but there is a limit and apparently mine was episode 8.

The director excessively prolongs every scene, and I do mean every single scene, with 70% of the runtime dedicated to characters reminiscing about trivial memories. It feels like the director's basic premise for the series was to delve deep into every mundane detail, extending every action to unnecessary lengths.

It appears to me that the director's approach for this series was something like this - picture a scenario where your character simply wants to grab a coffee. In this series, that simple act would trigger a cascade of reminiscences, starting from your earliest steps, then recalling your first coffee long ago, followed by another flashback about how you selected that specific cafe, perhaps a flashback on acquiring the credit card used for payment, and even a flashback about the source of your income that covers the credit card bill for the coffee. There might also be an additional flashback involving any person, or even everyone, you've ever shared a cup of coffee with throughout your life. This is how the director stretches the runtime, when 4 episodes would have sufficed to cover what turned out to be a 14-episode series filled with unpleasant and overly drawn-out storytelling.

For those looking for recommendation, do not get duped by whoever is telling you that this is a slow-burn, there is a certain charm in slow-burns, this one is far removed from having any sort of charm, instead this in the name of slow-burn just prolongs every single scene like stretching a single sentence to essay writing. This is not a slow-burn, rather this is a heart burn. And, just too many flashbacks. The moment you feel that story is going somewhere, BAM! flashback and, if you think you are done with that flashback, then, another flashback follows probably accompanied by lots of crying. I hate how they used a beautiful song for this man-made trash. This is not a wonderful world, instead it is dull mandatory-flashbacks-every-5-minutes trashy world, where in the female lead cannot act for the life of it.

You will get combo deal of acidity and IBS if you watch this one, consider yourself warned.

Accordingly, I rate this series 2 out of 10. Heartburn daily-soap trash masked as slowburn. Robotic female lead. Too many flashbacks. Unnecessarily long loooong loooooong scenes. Obligatory but off-topic, F U Chi Chan.

This review is a personal critique and not intended to provoke fan wars. If you are a fan of this series or a certain popular idol, please disregard this review if it offends you. I have no interest in engaging in defensive arguments about it. Kindly ignore it and let this review be with zero comments. Thank you for understanding.

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A thriller - and everyone knows everyone

Everyone knows everyone by 6.6 degrees of separation. Here everyone knows everyone by a maximum of 2 degrees of separation and everyone has an extremely tough fate 🤭🤭🤭

I don't want to say that the show is bad and Cha Eun Woo - I don't really like him as an actor - has made some really good progress in terms of acting, BUT - the story is really far-fetched. What I like is that someone is either good or bad, but - like in real life - has weaknesses and grey areas. So far so good, but what I find really ridiculous as the show progresses is that everyone knows everyone and everyone is intertwined. There can't be so many intertwined fates.

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This drama is not wonderful at all

What is so wonderful? The title leads one to think this will be epic, heart racing, or perhaps thought intuitive. Beyond the visuals of Cha Eun Woo, I really can’t say much for this drama honestly. Episodes in I should’ve realized sooner what this lacks and been honest with myself about how average this is.

Firstly, the main premise is hard to wrap around and understand. I’ll just say it and I’ll use this word a lot, this drama is just so ambiguous- you wonder what is even going on? I’m not dumb and I know what’s going on, but why? What were some scenes there for? Why do characters talk on the phone in riddles and catch phrases. It’s really not that deep, the writing is pretty dumb with the dialogue. It’s too drowned out to be cool and again, ambiguous, as if it’s smart- when really this drama isn’t saying anything. In fact, episode by episode it seems to loose touch of what it said one episode before and to the next. Combined with hypocritical characters and unrealistic situations I can safely say it’s just awkward at times. So what’s the issue here.. well.. I’ll continue.

Firstly, the foundation for the story isn’t good.
There is nothing intriguing to keep someone watching. It’s honestly just depressing and sad, which I can see working if it was telling a story of someone overcoming that, yet our female lead reminds the audience a lot that she failed in life and wants to start new but is she? Soo Hyun is a mother who lost her child, which is tragic and very sad. That’s just her character, she’s all over the place honestly. This story has given me nothing for her in terms of motivation, I’m just watching and waiting to see why I’m watching this story of hers that is already pretty much over. She went to jail, she ends up with pretty much no family, so what is the overarching story. This could be done if I was given a goal to seek, but for everyone here there is none, and if there is the conclusions just.. aren’t there?

The first two episodes are slow burn, so I wasn’t expecting thrill really. I guess I just sat back and took it for what it is. That’s too bad though because there are dramas that are exceptional with slow burns because the storytelling is good. Here I honestly have to explain and explain what the story is, and not in a fun and creative way. This drama is so generic with adultery plot lines, long wet eyed stares, rich bad people who are bad because they want power.. it’s not fresh or new or exciting. I am watching a K-drama for Pete’s sake, like what is happening. Where is the drama?


I’ll break down what frustrates me and doesn’t make sense.
1. Soo Hyun our main lead i and is unlikeable and hypocritical
.. you are telling me that an accomplished professor loses their child. Which is understandable she can grieve, but killing someone with no regret? That isn’t someone I can fully get behind and watch 14 episodes of rooting for. Maybe if she owned up to it and went into a revenge or something, but to just watch her meander around for 14 episodes. It’s boring and confusing. I get she loves her kid but she’s hypocritical. The drama even says this, but still, that doesn’t justify it. Just because the drama says with Eun Woo’s character pointing it out how she murdered someone only reminds me that she did it and she, in the end is not a good person either. I can watch dramas on bad people if it’s interesting and giving me either horror, action, or an actual plot- but here there is none.

2 . Seon Yul is messy.
Cha Eun Woo is very good at acting without overacting. It’s a blessing and a curse for him, but I can’t ever dislike him and I can see what he’s trying to do. Unfortunately some of the times he looks awkward because what is written for him to act is just dumb. You get actually nothing to know about him. Other than him having a heart problem that he acts himself, but the writers seem to forget here and there this character has a heart issue. That’s interesting. So many potential interesting plot points, yet the writers forgot and instead like to remind you of what you knew already instead of developing a plot or having it go somewhere. I also don’t really like how his character acts like he has the upper hand or a big revenge, but just has a photo of Soo Hyun’s husbands affair. Don’t even get me started on his secret room.. it reminds me of the glory but a whole lot worse. There I understood why she was so motivated and went so deep, she owned that and wouldn’t stop. Eun Woo’s character is an amateur compared to that, and I know nothing about his sad life or anything to justify a revenge. It’s sad his father was killed, but come on now.. think about the logistics because I couldn’t help but wonder on a first watch. This guy, how long does he have to stalk someone to get a photo like that? It’s just not believable, everything about this guy is either over the top or getting nowhere, I wish they’d choose one.

So I guess Soo Hyun doesn’t want Seon Yul to live the life she did? She got her revenge but it turned out horribly? But she said she didn’t regret it.. so what is she doing. She clearly regrets it if she is still in Seon Yul from going through with his. She’s admitting her damaged life but said she has no regret because her son didn’t deserve to die? It takes Soo Hyun 11 episodes in to come to terms with the fact other people have families too? Eun Woo’sand her character are a lot alike, with his taking a while to realize that his dad was just a bad person and that other people can be good and have problems too. It’s a great concept to have them both share a pain of being lonely and lost and spiteful, but the interactions are limited to none.

So I’ll get to the elephantin the room. This drama has no spice anywhere with romantic content. Which is fine, and I’m not saying it has to be risqué or that it should. It’s just there is nothing to hook outside Eun Woo’s visuals, at least for me. There is nothing new this drama is trying to say, no risks being taken at all. I can see a good story beneath all the layers. For this drama as what it is here’s a whole lot happening that literally adds nothing.


3. The doctor brother in law? Seon Yuk’s girlfriend that isn’t his girlfriend but a childhood friend that shares an illness? The ambiguity of his illness? The ambiguity of the relationships?

4. The plot twists are very average and cheap to be there

5. The drama isn’t epic like the music wants it to be. A good thing though is the music, yet I will not be fooled to think anything cool is happening even though the score is good

Somewhere I wish they deepened characters relationships. Beyond the ones falling apart that existed before the story started. I’m seeing no development. With Seon Yul and Soo Hyun their relationship should’ve been full revenge to a climax where Seon Yul breaks and accepts help from someone. Honestly this drama should have had a romance to make it more intriguing.

If it was done you could have the contradictions of hating someone’s family to acknowledging the good parts of them. Understanding and humanizing these characters. The necklace scene where Soo Hyun got Eun Woo’s mother’s necklace was very good for a potential of this. I’m only saying it should’ve been done with a more digestible age gap for the audience, with a much younger marriage. You’d have the husband and his affair make more sense, to this already flawed main character having another flaw of her own infidelity. She is already a hypocrite, so being in a romantic relationship with this other person is fine. She can fully be a person with flaws, and questionable morals. She already is, push that further. Seon Yul could accept help and grow a relationship outside of his misfortune life. He could open up about how hard it was for him as he always had felt alone, had health issues.. etc etc. they could share the same loneliness but grow an actual bond. He could see it as new and find someone to protect other than himself. Soo Hyun sort of does that.. but sees that she can take place as a mother role for Seon Yul.. which honestly is weird to me?

Instead they both are lonely and that could’ve been done, if they talked about their feelings instead of these stupid ambiguous phone calls and meetings. Like they meet up to say a sentence, and then leave. Be direct with eachother, have a space to let out your emotions. You know eachother worst parts and accept them, become vulnerable.. instead the drama has some cry scenes I guess

I could go on and on of how to do a romance and how it should’ve been with younger leads or something. Just do something intriguing. Make Seon Yul completely delusional maybe.. something.

I also think that the plot of the fire shouldn’t have been done if in the end Eun Woo’d character wasn’t the guy? Like the guy they did have (love him go watch the eight sense) had no conclusion. The Husband is just there like a leech now? The list becomes endless with the plot holes, like how does Soo Hyun have money? I get she’s a professor but what about the house? How isn’t she worried to start her life again? I don’t get it!

So I’m passionate because I care and that’s a good thing. This drama isn’t, it’s not good. I do watch it blindly to laugh and think to myself how funny this is because it’s just not good. For recent watch the glory, for Eun Woo watch too toks of him and his romantic comedies, watch the eighth dense also. Watch this if you want.

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