Excellent...until the end.

It can be difficult to hold the audience's attention for 20 episodes, and this show definitely did that for most of those 20 episodes. The story was interesting, not boring, a little funny and flirty but also serious and sad, there was action, there was romance, et al. Essentially, everything we love about k-dramas.

UNTIL the end/beginning of the next season...so idk if this is even the right place for this review?The writers did such a beautiful job building the relationship between the ML and FL, and even though I knew that it wasn't going to be a typical "happy ending" for the two, I still feel like the ending was gimmicky asl. The path of resolution that we were on felt so right and like a really good setup for a season 2 story, and then we took a couple paths that really felt like a "but wait...there's MORE" moment that left me exhausted and definitely not motivated to watch season 2.

And, full disclosure, this could 100% be a me issue....but I HATE time gaps and also actor/actress changes. And once I found out season 2 occurs like 3 YEARS later and that my favorite character has a new/old face that we spent so long trying to forget about, the show immediately lost my attention. Am I so offended that I'm not going to watch season 2? No, I'm definitely a little sadistic like that ?But I also hope that I'm not still left thinking about how great season 1 *could* have been.

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Overall good drama, but memory loss aspect is tricky

I enjoyed most of this drama, but have a hard time dealing with memory loss and time gaps in plots. The last time we deal with memory erasure felt unnecessary and exhausting-- we just spent 19 episodes accumulating experiences with these characters just to have all of that disappear! And usually when I see the "X years later" cut-scene in a series, I start to lose interest. Thankfully, this happened at the very end of this drama, so I didn't have to lose too much interest for very long. Overall, I enjoyed watching, found the characters very likeable, and the plot to be captivating. Bonus points for a happy ending :)

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-_-

We focused on the "600 years ago" storyline for literally 80% of the series, when really the "1,000 years ago" story was all of the issue, which we crammed into the last two episodes. Also, I was *invested* in Sang Un and Hwal's relationship and it all amounted to a 30 second scene of reincarnated them some 50+ years later, where they have no memory of each other or the past 1,000 years that they just went through...-_- I understand that that was kinda their goal in the first place-- to break the chain of reincarnated agony and live as humans-- but BOI. I'm here for the fanservice...and I got nothing. :')

Also (and I literally complain about this every time I see it so I apologize in advance).....I have never seen an instance of time gap that I thought was necessary or even good. This was not an exception. I just feel so cheated after building up all this energy and emotion in a series and then having all that dissipate in one "50 years later" scene. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

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Part 1 and the hope of a season 2 carries my rating...

The good:
-The story has good bones. Continuing from part 1, the story is interesting, has bits that I love to see in a drama, but also bits that make this story unique, excellent graphics and visuals, and cool ML and FL with a budding romance.
-Cast was excellent ?

The bad:
-The flowww. I noticed it in the first part, but it was really noticeable here.
-The fact that it was a part 2? I watched them seamlessly, so to me it was like one season with 12 episodes, but if I watched it live I would've been pissed lul.
-Weird ending.

Overall, I want to really like this drama because the story is so good. But the weird pacing, and what felt like a rushed ending, is really holding me back. Our ML is "dead", so in season 2 we could bring our ML back, rekindle the romantic flame, fight a new villain and...? I just feel like we could've done it all in one full season. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ BUT I'm still holding out, because we never got a kiss scene and that feels wrong for k-drama ?

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Oh...word? OH, WORD?!

The headline was my inner monologue throughout this drama because damn, there's a lot to unpack. ? Supernatural dramas are my fav, and supernatural dramas featuring a love interest between a human and non-human are my kryptonite-- so this one definitely piqued my interest. For starters, I really enjoyed the story and feel like if you enjoyed Tale of the Nine-Tailed or Goblin, you will probably enjoy this. It has similar aspects to the love story in Nine-Tailed and a similar destiny story to Goblin, which were my favorite parts of both of those series. Island is much less light, though...we are deeeeeep in the angst/sorrow/revenge/ass kicking/saving the world.

So the story by itself: 10/10...but the storyTELLING/editing was really really jarring and awkward in multiple places, which is why I gave the story category an 8/10. On multiple occasions we would end a super intense fight scene and, without any segue, go into another super intense fight scene that we had little to no introduction of. We'd go through a scene, feel the emotions, and then not have any time to process those emotions, before going straight into a scene that registered on a high emotional level, but meanwhile I'm still trying to process 3 previous scenes...ya feel? It's difficult to explain, and it happened more (or was more noticeable) in the second part, but it happened enough times for me to take notice, and for it to affect the story flow.

With that said, I still really enjoyed this part and would recommend any supernatural drama lover to give it a chance. It is action packed, angsty, intense, super cool monsters and fight scenes, and the actors were very likeable. ?

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Meh ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Pretty mid given the first season was so impressive...BUT, I will say I did not mind the change of actress as much as I thought I would. There was definitely a solid reason for that, I just wasn't a fan of that bit of plot, also I didn't think the ML and FL vibed as well this season. However, the CGI and visual aspect was not mid at all-- very nice graphics!!

The story: exhausting. I felt like the more layers that were added to the plot, the more I was wishing for the end (and it was only 10 episodes sooo). I was not as engaged in the plot as I was in the first season, I think largely because of Jin Mu...same dude, doing the same stuff, and every evil scheme he came up with was such a reach. Not his biggest fan, really hope he stays dead <3

My *biggest* gripe with the whole thing was that Naksu never got her time to shine!! Her first scene in season 1 was so cool, it captured me immediately and had me waiting for her return the entire season and this season...but it never happens :( I thought for sure we would see Naksu and Jang Uk vs fire bird! And the end of this season hinted at that she could potentially train again to use her powers but like....now we have to wait for a season 3?! Which is super unlikely, so that sucks. :'(

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Elements of and potential to be a 9.5/10, but execution and complications make it a 7/10

I really enjoyed the story concept-- plenty of drama and detective/mystery content, a little romance, and a little supernatural. I also enjoyed our main characters (444 and Ha Ram) and thought the dynamic was decent, though as per usual I wanted more of their unique relationship...but it's also not strictly a romance sooo ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

My biggest issue was identified pretty early on, which was the over-complication of the plot, which made following the story arduous at times and then just plain frustrating. I don't mind thick plots, or even thiccc ones, but this was way too all over the place for my taste. My second complaint is about the ending, and I'm not sure if this is a valid argument or if it's just my personal taste BUT I always feel cheated when dealing with time gaps at the end. In this case we get all that build-up in the last two episodes, very fast-paced, action and clue-catching, we're finally putting the puzzle together and I'm getting excited for either a tragic ending that begs for a sequel or a bittersweet one that tugs on the heart strings. Instead, we choose to erase all memory of 444/Han Moo Gang/Kim Joon, fast-forward literal decades to when Ha Ram is ancient and now dying and THEN we die happily ever after...meh :/

Essentially, I think the writers could have taken a different route, left the door open for a sequel, and rounded out the romance/mystery/supernatural aspects, which I think would have bumped up the ratings. But they didn't, and I still enjoyed everything on a whole, and would definitely recommend this drama....but probably wouldn't watch it again.

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