This review may contain spoilers
Look, we've all been there. Watch a drama you absolutely frigging love and then it's over. You desperately try to find a replacement but the problem is you don't have encyclopedic knowledge of every drama made in existence so you don't know what the closest thing to the masterpiece you just watched would be. So you head on to Wikipedia, search up the actors to the drama you loved to death and go "ok, Hyun Bin, what else have you been in that I can watch?"This is what happened to me and the drama "Crash Landing on You". CLOY is a drama exclusive to Netflix which this is NOT, so if you have Netflix drop everything and go watch that instead. I consider Hyde, Jekyll, Me the rebound drama after CLOY and by god is it sub par in every way. It might fill your Hyun Bin needs but it's just not the same.
Ok, ok, fine you get two versions of him (specifically one with glasses and gelled up hair and the other one without either of those things), like what more do you want?
It's just unfortunate that they wanted to return Hyun Bin to the throne of rom com king after his stint in Secret Garden and while the premise of the story is quite interesting (when will split personalities not be interesting?), everything else just seems contrived. Like the story line exists in order for Hyun Bin to play this interesting role.
For example, Han Jimin's character (Jang Ha Na) being a circus master was laughably 1 dimensional in that she did absolutely nothing involving being the circus master besides: a) being slightly more athletic and being able to use a tightrope and b) constantly whining about how her circus is going to be shut down when their most elaborate shows is on par with a cheap children's party magic show. The whole circus business was merely way to keep Ha Na close to Seo Jin - after the whole Seo Jin/Robin plot took off with Ha Na as an unsuspecting passenger, it no longer matter Jang Ha Na was a circus master.
I don't blame any of the actors for this. On paper, this drama was just asking to succeed because it hit all the right points: rich guy/ poor woman story, pretty leads, quirky female lead, two male leads that cover all the points from likeable, athletic, protective to prickly, tsuendre, and outright cold. However it seems that splitting Hyun Bin into two different people meant Han Jimin couldn't quite build a connection with either sides of the coin. I personally feel it's why it falls short in terms of likeability. But hey, it's a rom com, if you like those, you'll probably be ok watching this one....
(But seriously, go watch Crash Landing on You.)
--- SPOILER BELOW---
I disagree with the way the storyline went with Hana falling for Robin exclusively. I think it would have been a bigger hurdle for her to realize the she like Seo Jin all along and that Seo Jin could have made that personal journey into being a better person through that relationship. It seemed like they tried to do this via the 'merging' of their personalities, but I find that to be the cheap way out. Seo Jin didn't really have a change because that's just Robin merging into his psyche. Hana liked Robin because he was the easier side of the coin for her to get along with.
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Team SeoJin or Team Robin?
First of all, this is one of the greatest series I've watched before and to be honest it's been years since I first watch it. Storywise, it's unique and has a lot of colorful stories inside it but since I re-watched it (and maybe because I got older) I felt like the story was to draggy. It could've been just 16 episodes instead of 20 but still it's a masterpiece. The thriller part at the beginning feels too long yet interesting like finding out how things will turn out then the latter part where you'll be torn between SeoJin and Robin. I wonder which side are you. Hmmmmm.Hyun Bin is such a legend in terms of dual characters. He did it on Secret Garden and here. I can't count how many characters did he bring into life and all of them are unique and just the gaze gives you away who is who. To be honest, I didn't know Han JiMin yet when I first watched this but I've seen her in several works throughout the years and I can say she's really a versatile actress. It's just that her character as Hana here is a bit immature (but not that annoying).
Oh and before I forgot, the OST on this series is also legendary. I can't stop myself from singing along the songs. It's been on my playlist for half a decade and it never gets old.
To be honest, this was one of the really classic series of 2015 and I honestly would recommend it to anyone who is a fan of K-Dramas whether newbie or veteran, this series deserves a spot on everyone's watchlist.
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This one was my favorite of all time before CLOY. Please ignore the bad ratings, ignore all the comparisons between this and KMHM and give your pure heart a try. Like I said it’s not just another rom com because its plot is complex. But to those who love complicated plotlines and plot twists, you won’t be disappointed. Hyun Bin is simply the best actor.
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starts weakly but more and more becomes AMAZING emotional drama, deep story and characters
from random clieche melodrama to fireworks of emotions and complex characters/relationships!Don't judge this drama from first 5-7 episodes. There are dramas with so high production quality and details (I mean when even not meaningful details are well thought and exquisite) but often lack of emotions, when you watch, it's really good but you don't feel anything. Well this drama is opposite. Maybe there are some law quality details in overall but characters, relationships are soooo emotional, soo deep and multilayered....
In the beginning episodes It had really bad production value and many primitive scenes, clieches and cring moments, but it kept me interested anyway, all the time. And then it becomes more and more good, primitive moments are less or almost not but story and characters grow, become deep and multilayered, relationships and emotions real and very emotional; Near the end this Drama was soo amazing, SOOO GREAT I would rate it (if not first 5-7 episodes) 10/10... No, 15 from 10!!! There are dialogues and subjects that make you really think about human nature, psychology, emotions... characters (especially Hyun Bin's characters) really grow and make you more and more feel for them, sympathise them...
Now when I write this, I'm surprised myself, how drama with so primitive chieche beginning become soo deep and emotional!
Hyun Bin of course is perfect as always, and FL isn't bad too, I would say she is quite good, I could feel her emotions (because of her acting and because how her character is realistically written). I saw many dislike her, but as character and also her acting is still much better then many FLs in dramaworld, she isn't annoying and is quite logical.
Events and characters actions/reasons develop, not happens out of the sky. There wasn't usual scenario of drama development, when action/interest is in the beginning, then story is puled and complication of (already predictable) story is fastened only in last 1-2 episodes.
Villain wasn't perfect/fully resonable from beginning but as the whole drama he and his character becomes more and more good, not fully dark, he is human with issues and anger, nut just one dimentional evil.
P.S. I tend to love not so nice characters, but there are few dramas when nice/kind character is soo good, soo pure and completely wonderful, no one could not love him, and Robin is one o them <3 his character, story from beginning till the end was so beautiful and emotional, real fireworks of real emotions ...
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This review may contain spoilers
Rom-com/thriller/melodrama: The cold-hearted businessman who owns what is essentially “knock-off Disneyland, Korea” has a secret split personality who is his total opposite, and who he will do anything to suppress. Mr. Businessman clashes with the woman who runs the circus in his park, doing his level best to kick her out, but they keep getting tangled together. In a twist, she and his alternate personality end up falling in love. But…only the alternate personality. The “main” personality has an entirely different kind of relationship with her. Which brings in questions: which one is the “real” personality? What does it mean to be a “real” person? And more! An unknown attempted murderer is after the male lead for Reasons, which of course means that the female lead will get dragged into danger. This show starts off as a stretch concept rom-com, but ends up as a surprisingly deep and wrenching commentary on multiple-personality disorder and mental health. The exchanges between his two personalities—via videos that they record for each other, because they don’t remember any time that the other personality is “active”—are fascinating to watch unfold as they begin as enemies sharing the same body and…progress from there.
Most heartbreaking exchange: FL asks the alternate personality if it would be okay if she loves all of him—both personalities. The alternate responds that he is his own whole person, and that he cannot—he will not—share her love with anyone, not even with another version of himself.
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the dialogue is clever, it's just if only they gave us more seojin-hana moments T_T
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the story was about a man who had a (Dissociative identity disorder) a critical case and his shrink couldn't heal him for years
then suddenly the writer decided to make a circus girl who knew nothing about Psychiatry or even a critical case like (Dissociative identity disorder) to manage with this serious case as if she was a shrink
and above all of that she treated him as if he was two persons not a sick one
she teased me soooooo
i felt that the story underestimated my mind really
i hated it
my opinion it 's really really overrated
i liked sung joon role so much he is a brilliant actor
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Irritating!
I really wanted to like this drama and Ilike the storyline but am struggling for two reasons -first the female lead is intensely irritating! She acts like a teen /ingenue, with an irritating chuckle. She is supposed to be the lead of a circus? I dont find her endearing or comedic, and many of her scenes with Robin are so sickly sweet its nauseating! Just how old are these two supposed to be? Just too childish for words. I'm not blaming the actors but the writers! She is beginning to show more character and maturity then along comes Robin and she regresses. The puppet scene was beyong cringe making!I also found the male leads physical grabbing and pushing offensive - I do not like this particular behaviour in so many korean dramas. Violence towards women is just wrong and should not be seen as acceptable.
I just cant seem to engage with this drama - am beginning to fast forward thru the fl scenes just to get thru the story which is not developing fast enough! There is plenty of mystery surrounding how the ML got to be how he is but its dragging!
Oh and the music is also cloying in its sentimentality!
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One word.... COMPLETE
This drama is so well written. Anybody who says differently is not watching the same drama I was watching. Because this was one of the most complete Korean dramas I've ever watched. They delve into each part of the story so beautifully and it was a redemptive hopeful story. It made me cry so much. I laughed and it just gives you hope for life. It's such a beautiful story of love, lost, forgiveness and everything in between.The only part that felt overdone was hoe many episodes that was given to robin towards the end but it's understavle and respectfully done. I love how they ended it. I love everything about it. I will recommend this to everybody who loves a bit of thriller and romance put together. But I love that the Romans part was the main theme. I love how they dealt with issues of illness, and how they just went about solving everything. Maybe it's because I have not been watching good quality dramas lately in 2024 everything feels badly written with horribly damaging underlying message to our society, but this was such a breath of fresh air.
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This review may contain spoilers
Didn’t realise Hyun Bin was also in this!
So after being disappointed with “Crash Landing on You” , I was looking for the Webtoon version of this series and wasn’t able to find the whole thing online. So instead, I used good ol Netflix instead and while watching the rest, I didn’t realise Hyun Bin was also on this and he killed it man with his changing personas.Now my only complaint is that the 20 episodes was long winded and wanted to finish it in one go (finished at 6am, stupid I know). However it was an addicting series to binge like both Hyun Bin and Han Ji Min were just very cute together, I think also Han Sang Jin played the wacky mischievous villian pretty darn good, I loved how in the near end he made Bins character draw in front of a serious conference like wtf with that scene man xDIt’s pretty good but again the episodes were long winded even if it was a binge to watch!
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This review may contain spoilers
Don't Believe The Bad Reviews
Like others have mentioned, I'm not sure why the rating on this show is so bad (relative to Kdramas where everything is a 6 is it's bad or a 10 if it's good). This story was actually really well done and engaging. The plot twists are well conceived and there's a whole lot to unpack every single episode. The lead actors do really well and are well paired with a lot of chemistry. The interactions between the female lead and each of the male's personalities are sufficiently varied so that you, as the viewer, end up relating to each personality as individual people...which is likely the intention of the writers.I think, from what I've read, many people didn't like the ending. I can understand that, because it was difficult for me to accept as well. But I thought the plot got to that eventuality in a very thoughtful and smart way and it made sense and fit well with the story progression. The ending does happen really really quickly so you aren't given a ton of time to adjust and you don't spend a lot of time post-ending getting comfortable with the outcome. Maybe if they'd ended things a little sooner or had a little more afterward it would have been easier for some people to swallow.
The antagonist in this show was really well done. I didn't suspect him initially as an antagonist at all, mostly because it wasn't apparent yet that there even WAS anything to suspect him of. I didn't like him at all, however, from the first time I saw him. I WANTED him to be a bad guy because I hated the way he interacted with the female lead. I FELT like he was a bad guy before it even became apparent that he might be bad. The actor did a really really good job with this role through all its variations.
The plot itself has so many interesting arcs and really takes you through so many different settings and events without losing a drop of cohesion. It's varied in its events to the point where I had to go back and look at each episode's synopsis to make sure I wasn't confusing multiple dramas as the same, but somehow they all fit together. There's SO MUCH that goes on in this drama that it's pretty amazing they managed to fit the whole thing into 20 episodes.
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