The Number You Have Dialed (2024)

Never been let down hard enough to write a review

As an ardent k-drama fan for the last 10 years when I saw the trailers of When the Phone Rings i expected it to have everything I have come to expect from k-drama Mystery/Thriller Romances.
The first 4 eps were one of the most promising starts i have seen to a show, which, convinced me to watch it while it was on air (when i'm the type to binge watch).

Where it went wrong:

=> The calls: in the first few calls there was tension, there was anger, there was suspense but after ep 4 they just turn into banter, and somehow Paik Sae On just keeps spilling things about his personal life and just turns dumb???

=> Paik Sae On: Yoo Yeon Seok is wonderful in the role, like most of his other works his acting is incredible, but the character was written in a very amateur manner, isn't his character a master negotiator who has certification from like the FBI, and isn't a negotiator's first task is to not show any emotion to the threats but somehow to 406 he keeps losing control, like I get it, you are worried about your wife but bro you are smarter than that.

=> Hong Hee Joo's talking: Hong Hee Joo's selective mutism was just utter bullshit, after one point she just started talking to anyone and everyone???!!!! like isn't that the first point in her character sketch. Her entire deal was to not talk to anyone and only talk to him on the burner phone. Honestly it would have been better to stretch that bit out a little more.

=> The emotional abuse: Paik Sae On literally abuses Hong Hee Joo for 3 years only to be forgiven in one dialogue. Like sis where is your self respect?? and she justifies it by saying that its okay as she also lied about not being able to talk. Did he give her the safety of talking about it... no... so did she have to tell him also... no.

=> The entire last ep: not required... the arden arc... the 2 billion won... the name change.... just no.

In my opinion the only smart and sane person here was Hong In-A cause she left when she realized what was going on, got herself fixed, came back to save her sister, asked her father to take action, and supported her sister when she was alone.

Never been this disappointed with a show that started this well.

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No Drama, Just Thriller (with Makjang Ending)

The overall storyline is good. The pace of the story is quite fast, you can enjoy it since the very first episode. The pace picked up a bit after the phone stops ringing, but you may not notice it since it does not have much difference. You will enjoy more thriller in this show. At first I thought we will get a lot of heartbreaks since Sa-Eon statement about "Call me when there is corpse". I was wrong then. The romance is pretty straightforward, no need any painful flavor of faded or unexpressed love (at least until last episode). The thriller itself does a great job, since I saw a lot of theories appeared prior the airing of each episodes. The return of In-A successfully misleads a lot of audience, since she becomes the first person to side with the main leads. Both lead actors have a quite exceptional performance in this show. Soo-Bin does an excellent job potraying a fragile and vulnerable Hui-Ju, while Yeon-Seok potrays a stiff and strict bureaucrat who doesn't know anything about love and how to love.

Good storyline does not mean it is flawless. Na Yu-Ri does not get a good purpose for second lead, only to complete a second lead love puzzle. On the other hand, it is a bit weird that Sa-Eon keeps allowing Hui-Ju to use the burner phone, even after knowing that it is her behind the blackmails. Sa-Eon is a government negotiatior after all, he must have experience dealing with some threats against the country. However, he somehow fails to notice that the phone maybe hacked or tracked (which is logically, highly possible). On the other hand, I also feel that the killer does not have a really good motive to carry out all of his actions. When Sa-Eon confronts him regarding what he wants, he does not have a clear answer but "I want you to feel the same pain". This makes the killer sounds like a maniac psychopath. However if he is really a psychopath, why it takes so long for him to do this? I get it that he has tried to threaten Sa-Eon earlier, but why suddenly his threats become more successful (even off Do-Jae's plan)? Also the severity of threats those are addressed directly to Hui-Ju is somewhat more dangerous than his threats against his "other enemies", which makes him looks like just crazy about Hui-Ju. There are a lot of bloopers too (shoes, clothes altered, etc). But the biggest one is during the crash scene, Il-Gyeong arrives with her wife and In-A in a car. How is this possible because her wife doesn't follow him to the Memorial Park? AND MOST IMPORTANTLY, PLEASE EXPLAIN HOW SA-EON SURVIVES THE SHOT! IT IS A DAMN SHOTGUN FIRED FROM A VERY CLOSE RANGE!!! The last two episodes look like a spectacular show from the main leads with extreme pace and a bit confusing timeline, and more likely just a fanservice. To me, the last two episodes are total chaos.

I learned from Tiktok that this show reproduces a lot of scenes from Queen of Tears. I was on Episode 6 when I know it, and I did not notice it initially. As I was progressing throughout the new episodes, I began to see it, and I feel they take too much similar scenes (Sa-Eon searching for Hee-Ju in the woods, car chase scene with Sang-U, Sa-Eon first lines when he wakes up at the hospital, and some other scenes that I may have forgotten). This drama also makes QoT ending doesn't look very bad. Unfortunately, they don't mimic the strategy of soundtrack placement from QoT.

I still recommend this show. It has an enjoyable thriller, with additional sufficient romance. Yes the story quality has dropped a bit after Episode 10, maybe they actually deserve more episodes to explain everything. But hey, at least there isn't any super-uneccessary conflicts towards the end of the show. I would like to give a solid 9 previously, but the messed up final two episodes and excessive number of bloopers make me rethink about it.

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Cliche melodrama

It was good from the start i must say. I waited for every episodes everyweek till episode 6. It was interesting to watch the relationship between both fl and ml. I thought there would be some depth in the story. Cause i watched dramas like this more than 10 years ago. So it was normal for me to expect something new and different. I agree ir was kinda different from the start. The episodes cliffhanger made me curious too. After 6th episode it was so hard to watch i just skipped all the parts . I still dont why it has so much hype. Like there's nothing other than the cast.

It's totally my point of view. But if you're an old kdrama watcher i doubt that you will like this. Eventually new kdrama watchers won't like this too ig. I had hopes with this drama but umm this disappointed me specially the ending too.

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scénario qui gache un peu la beauté du drama

J'ai vraiment eu beaucoup de plaisir à regarder ce drama mais les petites incohérences et le scénario bancal à la fin m'ont déçue. Toutefois ça reste un bon drama mais il aurait gagné en qualité avec une histoire un peu plus crédible. il y a un monde où on aurait pu avoir une fin moins bâclée avec cette aventure abracadabrante en Argan !!!!!! Cette série aurait peut-être mérité un développement mieux construit. Ça a un peu limité ma note.
Cependant les acteurs sont excellents et la musique est très sympa. Les rôles secondaires sont très bons mais leur histoire semble aussi limitée.
Je recommande tout de même vivementce drama.

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DE LO MEJOR QUE HE VISTO

Desde el capítulo 1 me encontraba al borde de la silla, y parecía que un plotwist en cada capítulo. Cuando crees que va a pasar algo, algo más te sorprende. No hay un solo capítulo que no te haga emocionar, de inicio a fin. Tenía miedo por el final, pero me encantó.

Me encantó la mezcla entre thriller y un poco de romance. Eso la hace increíble para un amplio publico.

LAS ACTUACIONES 100/100, quedé encantada con todo el elenco y claro en especial con Soobin y Yeonseok, Soobin el protagonizar a una intérprete de señas, aprendiendo LS para el papel es increíble, y Yeonseok su actuación en el capítulo 10 y 12, merecen una ovación.

Gran historia, guión, director. Me encantó

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"È un 10 ma fa cose insensate"

Era da tempo che un k-drama non mi "prendeva" così bene: intrigante la storia, cliffhanger praticamente a ogni puntata, tutto sommato coerente con gli indizi disseminati nelle varie puntate, bella OST, ML e FL in parte e altrettanto i comprimari.

Peccato quei 20 minuti insensati nella foresta: non capisco il motivo di far diventare il ML un rambo che soccorre (da solo!) persone rapite dai ribelli né tanto meno la scelta della FL di andarlo a cercare con vestitino e foulard in testa.

Per le 11 puntate precedenti si merita comunque 8 1/2 tteokbokki su 10.

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Finito di vedere il drama giusto 10 minuti fa e l'ho adorato, davverro tanto. Era da tempo che un drama non mi prendeva tanto. La tra continua senza problemi e almeno secondo me, non ci sono cali. Forse qualche punto rimane un po' oscuro e non vengono alla fine chiusi tutti i buchi di trama, ma nonostante tutto un drama stra godibile e che prende fin da subito.
Si capisce fin dall'inizio che nonostante l'astio tra i due, c'è qualcosa sotto, ma si scopre tantissime altre cose che rendono la trama molto intringante. Le famiglie dei due protagonisti, nonostante siano delle famiglie rispettabili nascondono tante cose e le colpe ricadono sui due poveri protagonisti. Finale un po' assurdo, ma che nonostante tutto mi è piaciuto. Consigliato!

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intrigante e intenso ma molto più romance che thriller

Allora se lasciamo andare la prima parte finale ...il resto è stato super ...

La storia di Argan l'ho vista un po forzata..ok sentirsi in colpa ..ma punirsi a causa del padre? Le colpe dei genitori ricadranno sui figli ..hanno preso alla lettera il vecchio testamento 😅 questa parte non l'ho gradita un po esagerata anche se vedere questo lato action di Yeon Seok non dispiace affatto 😏

Il finale comunque ha chiarito ogni cosa ..i cattivi hanno pagato per i loro peccati e di alcuni abbiamo visto un lato decisamente migliore, sto parlando dei genitori di hee joon..già dall'incidente si è visto un miglioramento sostanziale e questo mi è piaciuto..anche se si deve arrivare a certi livelli per redimersi...la sorella mi ha emozionato con le sue scuse fantastica..

Per il resto bel finale lungo e da occhi a cuoricino.. momento di 🔥 fatto bene e con un paesaggio niente male dalla finestra ...o nel letto ..ora si capiscono le allungatine di mano 😏

Chimica tra I protagonisti bella e intensa ..storia intrigante e per cui abbiamo discusso a lungo (credo sia una delle cose piu belle che ci lascia questo drama) a parte certe cose che proprio non hanno avuto l'effetto desiderato ..3 anni di silenzi e odi che erano tutto l'opposto..il killer psyco che riversa il suo odio sulla persona sbagliata ..una madre più psyco del figlio e un nonno/padre che non merita di essere manco menzionato ...

Detto ciò è un 9 ..ero per l 8.5 ma la sorella ha alzato l'asticella... non ho versato lacrime per questo drama ed è una mia regola se mi emoziono a tal punto è 10 sennò no 😂😂

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Ending ruined the whole drama

Last 2 episodes where the biggest load of horse shit. I am so honestly disappointed with the ending. My mind can't even comprehend how stupid it was, and how long they made us suffer that stupidity. Last 2 hours could have been 10 minutes.

And the big long secret that was whispered in his ear.... nonsense... stuff we already knew and makes no sense for him to be so broken up about.

It makes 0 sense for Paik Sa Eon to "punish" himself in a way that meant ghosting her and causing Hee Joo pain. Also random entry of a made up African country where the rebels were white....? Korea if you are going to try and include international content at least make it obvious that you didn't just round up some foreigners as extras and actually put some effort in.

Apart from episode 11 and 12 the rest where great episodes

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Good entertainment but bad drama

Before reading please note that this review can contain some spoilers.





I must admit that zi had a great time with this drama for most of the time. However in my personal opinion kdramas are geting worse and worse this days.

The strongest part of this drama was acting. Actors surely nailed their roles and made the climate so it was very enjoyable to watch. And that would be end of good parts.

As I watched literally hundreds of kdramas the plot was rather predictible. Maybe two or three things suprised me. So the story itself wasn't anything special or innovative. I would say it was full of typical kdramas cliches.

I didn't like the relation between the FL and ML. This guy literally was treating his wife like invisible for three years but when she wanted a divorce he had a change of heart. As always it was also unbelievable for me that FL suddenly fell in love with ML after being ignored for about three years.

And the ending... i know it was also in the web novel but still it could be made better.

To sum up you can have a good fun watching but sorry this drama definitely is not a masterpiece.

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