17 episodes at 1 hr each puts this in classic weekend kdrama territory. Big budget, lushly scored, epic romance all 10star. The script is at least a 12. Unique use of the reincarnation theme. Normally Re-I is played for laughs or to solve a mystery. Here it is used as a frame for healing trauma -- the romantic tragic deaths of a pair of lovers from opposing families scars their communities, families and their hastily reincarnated selves who must work thru negative and positive attachment in order to live freely in their new present reincarnations. Great stuff. I count three amazing uses of this trope... 1. Inter-generational sorrow.. The original lovers (In and Korn: IK) suffered in the homophobic 90's and in the 21st C their reincarnations (Pharm and Dean: PD) in a BL friendly Bangkok struggle to believe in the utopian tolerance surrounding them. Y'all know what I mean, for ex. in the US weeping at gay weddings bec past fears rise in the throat. 2. IK vowed to find each other after death, so PD falls in love but they each live a life plagued with disturbing flashbacks and dreams. We learn more about IK as these increase in frequency, punctuating the narrative of the present love story with the unfolding of the original one. The astounding result is that IK and PD slowly become more distinct from each other, not less. PD cannot trust until they work thru the pain of the IK life, and this also works to support some of the ways in which Pharm, whose IK-suffering was extreme, needs to move slowly in love. 3. the families of IK were riven by the their deaths; PD reincarnated back into each others' families but we do not realize how damaged the families actually were until PD begins to reach out to introduce their loves..missing family members, changed names...so Re-I supports the reintegration motif usual at the end of longer dramas.
first posted on Viki spring 2024