W (2016)

A gripping watch and good bland of romance and thriller

It a drama that keeps the viewers on their toes. The twists are really hard to predict. The chemistry between the leads is amazing. And Lee jong suk is a charming male lead with a traumatic past. Even in very serious situation they managed to get some humor in the drama. I personally liked the couple so much I gives you the feeling of something left to be desired. The Father of Han hay joo did a amazing job playing both the positive and negative characters.
The first episode may look a little slow but it's picks up after that and amazing till the end . So it worth of your time. It does seem a little confusing at times but it's fun trying to figure out what will happen

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Webtoon Travelling Gone Wrong

I think this had a great premise and it started pretty strong. The drama roped me in pretty fast but then made me lose interest just as fast as well. I finished it out of curiosity about how everything was going to be tied together, but it didn’t clear up my questions and what I saw was wrong. I first watched this when it was aired, so I may not recollect the exact events of the drama. However, my feelings about the drama are still applicable.

STORY (spoiler in 3rd paragraph)
As we know, this story is about Oh Yeon Joo getting dragged into the webtoon where she meets the protagonist of the webtoon, Kang Cheol. They start to develop feelings for each other and soon realize that this webtoon hopping is a lot more dangerous than what they thought.

This drama was one of the first dramas that I have watched that is directly looped into it being a webtoon crossover. I was quite excited about the drama, but I was left quite disappointed. If you do not want spoilers for the plot, please don’t continue beyond this point of the “story” review.

First off, the romance was mediocre. The writers have to make it believable for me to feel like their love was intense. The writers of the story could have made the plot more intense. These are two characters from two completely different worlds. They are "enemies" without knowing. They have to sacrifice so much for one another after falling in love. Yet, Yeon Joo pointed out in one of the later episodes that they never got to do much as a couple even though they were married. And we find this true, why do they love each other so much? Why did they get married? Their so-called “romance” is just kind of weird/off. I would have been fine if it was just her one-sided crush on Kang Cheol (as her ideal character) and Kang Cheol relying on her for survival (as a character). I think that would have made more sense/I would have bought that.

The whole appearing and disappearing aspect do not make sense to me. Even when Kang Cheol seemed to have controlled it, he did not have control at the same time. When we thought that Yeon Joo had control over the webtoon world, she did not as well. It had a mind of its own, yet I don’t think that point was well put together. Or it could just be me not getting the message of how all of this came to be, like the two worlds never collided, but only the “author/killer” was the one who could jump in-between (apart from Kang Cheol and Yeon Joo), but without being a “character/human”. Then how the dad lost his face just because he drew himself as the killer. What was that about? Like what are the rules and the consequences of these two worlds? In the later episodes, the Webtoon world doesn’t stop running or stop at the end of the chapter. Instead, the story continues because the “killer” is “writing” it now? I’m just going to stop there because I’m just confusing myself even more. Someone please comment and explain to me!

What made the drama feel off was that I feel like it was trying to include too many genres into one but didn’t know how to blend it. It was a cute romantic comedy at the beginning of the show. Then it turned into a mystery suspense type of drama.

I wished that the writers could have focused more on the father-daughter relationship that the two had or expand more into it. They were disconnected for so many years and she lost him so fast afterward. Instead, they made him run all over for Kang Cheol and trying to save him.

ACTING/CAST/CHARACTERS (minor plot spoilers)
I have always enjoyed Han Hyo Joo’s acting, but Oh Yeon Joo’s character kind of annoyed me. It made me questioned Han Hyo Joo’s acting even though I have seen plenty of her other works and enjoyed them. Oh Yeon Joo was poorly written with no depth in her character. She is supposed to be a surgical intern, which I assume would be smart and hard-working. Half of the time, we see her sleeping and slacking off. She acts like an office intern that grabs coffee instead of doing other menial things in the hospital. She can come off as a clutz and is kind of slow. How Yeon Joo approaches issues and her decisions to tackle them feels like I am reading a fanfic novel from a teenager. The writers did not think her character through.

Lee Jong Suk has always been an okay actor to me. He has yet to impress me or disappoint me. I think Kang Cheol was a well-written character (a lot better than Yeon Joo). Kang Cheol’s background story in the webtoon was just as interesting as him finding out that he was a webtoon character and overcoming that obstacle. I think if they focused on that more and less of Kang Cheol and Yeon Joo, it would have been more interesting.

Honorable mentions to KIM EUI SUNG and LEE SI ON as they were support roles that drove the show!

MUSIC
I think the music was well coordinated with the scenes even though there weren’t many songs that stood out to me.

RE-WATCH VALUE
I wouldn’t re-watch during my free time. My sister watched this and didn’t enjoy it as well. It confused her and I don’t even know if she finished it.

OVERALL (plot spoilers)
I didn’t feel much with the drama. Not even with all the sacrifices that each character made. I was irritated with the whole rewriting aspect of it. It got old kind of fast like the writers couldn’t think of better methods for the characters to overcome things. If the first re-write didn’t work, the second one probably wouldn’t as well. And there were enough loopholes between the two worlds already. I’m surprised I never threw the towel early.

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Defy logic and common sense

Watching this in 2021, the artist could have just drawn an incurable disease and be done with ML.

Of course back then in 2016 this concept of going into webtoon was fresh and interesting, but there were sooooo many plot loopholes in this series everywhere as you watched. It just defy any sense of logic or common sense, just gets messier and frustrating to figure out as it goes on. I find myself mumbling and grumbling at the amount of things FL or her dad could have drawn instead or the support cast reactions /acting, plot flow etc.

ML and FL chemistry also looks more like brother and sister than lovers. I guess its still a decent filler drama if you are looking for something that doesnt make sense to watch. But this is not the the most satisfying drama to watch in this era and will likely leave you wondering wth you have just watched.

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WHAT A SERIES!!! OMG!

I should say that this drama made my whole life, I mean this drama tought me a lot of things about love and real life. and also at the end of the story there was a HUGE thing what I didn't think it could happen *-*
The end of the series takes a huge turn! woaaah!
Last, but not least I totally felt in love with the caracters, with the story, and also with the wholeeee series uwu (and of course particularly with Lee Jong Suk. I felt deepeeerrrrr)
And at the last thing is what I want to say I just want to say thank you for the directors and to the cast and to the stuff, thank you for working hard <3
~ Rea

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The first half of the drama blew me away with its fresh story line. But as soon as second half of it began the writer started giving far fetched explanations for all the questions that were raised in our minds before. Even in fantasy you need some rules to make people believe what you want them to see. This was completely all over the place. The drama was full of Plot holes after Plot holes by the end of it. And not to mention, I couldn't understand when exactly the main two leads started having feeling for each other, and when did they realise they loved eachother? It seemed it just happened and they accepted as time passed with them facing challenges together. It felt very lackluster and ordinary if you just consider their romance in the story and not the other factors.

Still, if we keep logic out and watch it as it was shown to us then I must say it is quite entertaining. So yes, this drama is worth your time.

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A very good surprise!

I love stories based on mangas and also the surrealism that can be put into the adaptation. With "Strong woman Do Bong Soo" I could see a little of this, but in "W" it's just amazing. The editions, the way how they decided to show the two worlds and mix them, I thought this was very fun! The thriller was in the right place, I take less than three days to watch the whole drama because I was seriously involved.

I don't think Lee Jong-suk is the best actor, but this is the role that I most appreciated of him and I really like the character Kang Cheol. Sometimes I really believed that he was a manga character! Oh Yeon-joo (Han Hyo-joo) is a very good female lead for me too. She has all the stereotype of a "Cryer girl" in the beginning, but in the process, she's gain much strongness and courage, and I love seeing how the drama doesn't focus just on the romance but also in all the story.

I was really surprised by this drama and this is so good!

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Too Cringe ?

Let me tell u why I didn't like this drama.......

1. The love story progressed way too fast. There were no sparks between the couple, and suddenly, they were confessing their love.

2. The unnecessary kissing scenes felt forced and out of place. Their kisses seemed sterile and flat. I get that couples kiss, but before they even confessed, he kissed her multiple times, and her reactions were bafflingly neutral—no shock, embarrassment , anger, or any discernible emotion.

3. I understand that people like the leads, and that's fair. However, the female lead overacted so much that it felt unnatural. She didn't come across as a real person but as someone acting. and I'd rather not even get started on the male lead's acting...( btw I loved her acting in Happiness and Moving but rom-com is not for her )

4. The constant time travel was unnecessary. The show started strong with the cartoon world concept, but the story felt like it was stuck in a loop and never progressed. Also, the secondary characters or supported characters were severely underused....

5. The first half was good, but the second half dragged on.

Maybe I'm spoiled by watching some great Japanese dramas and movies, but this kdrama was just too cringeworthy for me at times.....

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This was a pretty difficult for me to write because I keep on wavering between whether I like this drama or not as a whole. Lee Jong Suk is oe of my favourite actors and I love him a lot -- but I feel like even his phenomenal acting became underplayed because of the story. There were parts that were done well and I enjoyed but other parts that I found lacking and plotholes that as much as I tried to overlook, seemed as though things were inserted just for an ending's convenience.

The drama completely defies logic and blurs the line between reality and fiction, so it is necessary to approach it with an open mind or else you will be caught in a tangle of frustration at the story. Even though that's the whole concept of the drama and its unique plot, that perhaps is too ambitious for its own good. It feels like the drama thinks it has a very profound storyline while in realiy it's just plain confusing. There's a chance that action fans will enjoy the fast-paced storyline however. This drama is the first to do what it has done with the law-defying plot in kdrama land that is wild for even "supernatural" standards that I have seen so far. It will leave many questions unanswered and toggle many minds, and (pun intended), will leave you asking "Who and why?" for the entirety of the show. Why do the things happen? Who is making up these rules to the connection between the real world and the manhwa world? These questions will never be satisfactorily answered, which frustrated me but the journey through was wild with all the fighting scenes and world traveling. Personally, I enjoyed the whole set up of the drama and its storyline in the first half. I felt like it had the potential for both the story and the romance to develop a solid drama. But when the story kept going back and forth and wavering on its own progression, I almost lost patience for it.

The story gets just plain terrible as it tries to wrap things up but small obstacles keep appearing and preventing the story from ending as if to prolong the drama. I feel like it should have ended at episode 12 and the last 4 episodes were just filler to make a statement of a disorganized story that can go anyway because its set up of "blurring reality and fiction" allows it to do so.

Again, as much as I loooove Lee Jong Suk the romance in this one became progressively worse from start to end. It started off high for me and everything made sense about the relationship between Kang Chul and Yeon Joo, but as it progressed, their chemistry became lost and their reason for loving each other dissipated. Instead of the ditzy, playful relationship in the few beginning episodes, it sadly did not lead to the next half and lost its charm. I think that as the plot also became more far-fetched and confusing, the romance was downgraded because the wild action did not allow for it to flourish. And so, we are left with a flat romance that is there just because there needs to be one in the drama, which I was disappointed about because I absolutely loved the initial relationship. I wish they could have had more cute scenes together, but in a plotline this fast-paced and knowing no bounds, a romance just didn't work as the tone became increasingly grim. It initially worked because we were tossed into this world with so many possibilities but the set up becomes used in the most inconvenient way to toss aside its potential.The actors did do a good job in playing their roles even if the storyline was mediocre.

As good as the actors are, if the story isn't written well, their acting can only go so far. In this situation, the emotions played out were quite fitting. I didn't like Yeon Joo's crying scenes because I just felt extremely drained from seeing her run around and cry so much, even if the situations made it appropriate. It was one of the only emotions I can vividly remember her projecting, which made her kind of flat.

I would probably not rewatch this drama since it gave me so much stress and anxiety because of the plot, but go check it out if an ambitious plot with stunning Lee Jong Suk visuals is to your liking.

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Perfect fantasy -detective love story !

Wonderful story))) sweet and romantic)) I LOVED IT VERY MUCH! 10/10 ))) the drama was filmed in 2016 but is more relevant today in style than ever! I love Korean fantasy detectives, Koreans know how to shoot them especially cool) they are so exciting))!!! I want to watch more and more.. ahah
the last episodes keep in suspense more than at the beginning, because you don’t know how everything will change (considering from drama ^ what you draw, you can fix everything as you like), but not everything is as simple as it seems in the plot .. not everything can be fixed as you want ..
I'm glad that they (Kang Chul and Yeonjun) stayed together!)) although I thought that the world of comics would open up for all mangaka characters and they would be able to live in the real world too, but only Kang Chul was lucky)
In general, this is a clear detective! Yes, repetitions, backstory in each new episode, but this is logical because 2 worlds, manga and reality, and they remind the audience what happened where so that there would be no confusion .. although a couple of episodes were incomprehensible ... from the series "guess for yourself where the action is now taking place" )
in general, this is an interesting topic for fantasy rom-com and detective, to combine webtoon and reality)) I think, like telepathy and time travel (and everything fantasy), such scenarios will always be relevant) when you look, you start to believe, and suddenly there is such a hahahaha)) (and why not lol it would be cool) u resting while u watching this )))))
here are all the series (I'm sure coz, already watched 4 tv OST with Jong Sok) are cool! they are so interesting! I don’t know (didn’t read) maybe the director of most dramas with Jong Sok is the same, but all the series with him are indescribably interesting and cool, well, seriously)))! Jung Sok plays great, I fell in love with his game ahhhha well done)))))) ... I wish will 2nd season ..

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For some reason I was quite reluctant to start watching W in the first place. However, considering that I had seen Lee Jong Suk in previous dramas, I decided to give it a go.

Story:
I have to admit that I felt the storyline was quite fast paced in the beginning, but I accepted it and even liked it at first. Half way through the drama, it was as if the story had taken a complete 180º turn which made little to no sense. It would have been nicer to watch if the rules which had been established in the first place to travel between the webtoon and the real world were given at least some respect, because it honestly seemed as if they had completely disregarded them in order to push the storyline through until the end.

Acting/Cast:
I personally don' think Lee Jong Suk was suited for this role. I definitely think his strongest genre is rom-com, so seing him act in a suspense/thriller kind of drama was weird and seemed rather awkward at times. For example, there were a few action (fight) scenes which seemed quite sloppy, but I do have to say that part of that is because of the camera angles and the editing which didn't make the scenes look particularly intense. However, I can assure you the romantic parts seemed quite real, because (again) he really suits the romance genre. I simply feel like Kang Chul was a really complex character and seemed like a big challenge. Han Hyo Joo was nice to watch, but then again a few more expressions would have been nice. I'll say that Jong Suk and Hyo Joo had great chemistry together (you can definitely see it in the behind the scenes). My favourite characters without doubt were Soo Bong (Lee Shi Eon) and Min Soo (Heo Jung Do) because they were just so fun to watch and there acting skills are varied and very good.

Music:
I believe the songs selected were mostly good and helped intensify the atmosphere. However, there was this song which had a rap in it, and I personally don't think it suited the moments in which they put this song. Apart from that, not much to comment on it.

Rewatch value:
To be honest, I don't think I would ever watch this drama again, apart from a few scenes which I found very cute such as the kiss scenes.

Would I recommend watching this drama? If you like action and a plot where you feel even more confused after an episode ends, then go ahead, this is the drama for you. If you are looking for a consistent romance storyline, I'd recommend you to look for another drama.

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