It’s a Mess

I was really looking forward to this one, gave it a lot of chances, but it didn’t take long for me to see it wasn’t going to meet my hopes. It’s really the story that lets this drama down. The premise has potential, but the execution is an incomprehensible mess. Whatever mystical mythology underlies the plot is full of arbitrary rules, the pacing is very uneven, and the subplots seem like add-ons from another drama. It really starts to drag in the last few episodes, creeping towards an anticlimactic finale.

I’m quite forgiving of dramas with weak or troubled stories of there are good actors playing interesting characters. But much of the time, this feels like interesting characters behaving uninterestingly.

It has a few good moments, but in the end is rather forgettable.

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Incomprehensible

This is my 65th drama, and it’s at the bottom of my rankings. On paper, this seems to have a lot going for it, but it falls apart rather quickly. The cast is solid, but is really weighed down by a very weak, muddled premise, inconsistent characters, and a very feeble plot. Even if you’re a fan of the actors, sorry to say there’s not much here for make it worth viewing. That may make it harder to watch.

Among the bad points are the many instances of characters being way too nice to murderers and serial killers, often letting them slip away for no real reasons. This may be the worst group of cops I’ve seen that weren’t supposed to be completely incompetent.

It’s almost weird how many bad choices were made when making this.

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Recommended, But with Reservations (Mild Spoilers, nothing too revealing!)

I've never been more conflicted on scoring a K-drama series. My watching partner (aka wife) and I are also divided on this score, which is very unusual. In the end, I had to look at how we'd scored other series and let my personal tastes have more of an influence than usual.

[Note: Using MDL spellings for names rather than Netflix's. Apologies for throwing in many Japanese manga/anime terms, but I can't find the Korean equivalents relevant to manhwa.]

Good:
Great cast and acting, good story overall, decent VFX and production values, some really great, memorable characters, a very fun watch, a lot of action.

I loved that the core team is an age-diverse group of unique characters with good motivations and backstories. They reveal much more about themselves as the story progresses. I actually could have used a lot more of just them casually interacting in the noodle shop, teasing each other, training, whatever.

Not-so-good:
A hero who's a bit too prone to completely falling apart, a few underdeveloped or weak supporting characters, some side stories that aren't as interesting as others, the overall concept has a lot of holes and inconsistencies, the ending and resolution are very weak and dragged out, some very inconsistent depictions of main characters, some missed opportunities.

(Light spoiler, but kind of funny: It really seems at one point that the MC, So Moon [Cho Byeong Kyu] is trying to exploit a sick child for BTS tickets. Dude. No.)

Do Ha-Na's (Kim Se Jeong) temperament is a bit all over the place. Her backstory is never fully realized, but plays a big part in the main plot. She is a great character (classic tsundere) and Kim Se Jeong is great. The script lets her down a bit. Her story could have been left open for a possible Season 2, but there is a lot of teasing and partial reveals that don't work well enough to support her behavior.

In the supporting cast, Kim Jung Young (Choi Yoon Young) has a key role, but her character is disappointingly bland and ineffective, even compared to many much more minor characters. She's so poorly depicted, I often felt bad for Choi Yoon Young for having to go through the motions of playing the role.

Similarly So Moon's friends feel like they were copied and pasted from a show with a total different tone. This makes some of what happens to them rather disturbing. It's also a bit weird that Im Joo Yeon (Lee Ji Won) is clearly the only actual teenager playing a student, and is surrounded by actors almost twice her age. It's common to have actors play many ages, but throwing someone so conspicuously young into the cast makes the difference very noticeable.

Normally, these issues would have been enough for me to score Uncanny Counter in the 7.0–7.5 range.

But… This one has specific appeal for me:
Uncanny Counter has a plot and premise very similar to many popular Shonen manga and anime (as well as manhwa influenced by those, including the original UC webtoon). It should be very familiar to fans of Bleach, Rin-ne, Yu Yu Hakusho, Soul Eater, and dozens of other "empowered people have to fight corrupted souls/spirits and send them to an afterlife dimension" titles. It takes a lot of cues from these, and the hero arc is similar to almost all of them. There are also quite a few Matrix references, even what appeared to be some Wes Anderson visual references.

So, basically, the roots of this drama are all things I love and was happy to see in this show.

At this point, how I feel about Season One may change after viewing Season 2, coming in 2022. If it offers better story resolution, a tighter script, and giving some characters the attention they deserve, I'd keep Season 1 at 8.0. If many of the first season faults carry over into the next, it may be downgraded to a 7.5.

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Something Different

From the early episodes, Because This Is My First Life makes it pretty clear that it’s not going to give you many of the K-drama tropes that are the core of so many other romcoms. Most fans, myself included, love those cliches and repeated themes and plot elements. It’s part of the appeal, and what makes many such good comfort viewing. Because This Is My First Life clearly has different intentions.

If you’re in the right mindset for this show, it’s incredibly rewarding. Few others manage to strike such a good balance between being thoughtful, nuanced, quirky, fun, and deeply romantic. Maybe none do. It’s a dramatized exploration of the meanings of love and marriage. There’s a lot of introspection. But it also delivers great, lovable characters, sufficient comedy, and is thoroughly enjoyable. It’s never too self-serious.

Every relationship in the show is interesting in its own way, and they’re all treated like they matter. There aren’t a lot of throwaway comic relief scenarios or characters. Those that didn’t win me over at the beginning had me rooting for them by the end. (There is one character who didn’t work for and felt a little unfinished, but that’s partly because the others are so well realized and developed.)

In later episodes, the show tends to become very contemplative and literary. The dialog is often poetic — sometimes actual poetry. The pace and frequent pauses to indulge metaphors or peel back layers may get a little boring for some viewers. It’s very much in my personal “twee with all the feels” wheelhouse, though. I don’t think I’ve ever been as drawn to the romance elements in a drama as much as this one.

The excellent cast, great direction, editing, and production are essential to keeping it all together and maintaining the balance. This could easily get too precious, cringey, or contrived, but never crosses those lines for me. It tries to do something a little different, but still very much a K-drama, and succeeds beautifully.

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Couldn’t get past episode 5

This is a pretty stock reverse-isekai story, but utterly lifeless. By the end of episode 5, I’d lost all interest in the characters and their stories, a sure sign it’s time to quit.

Go Bo Gyeol is the one bright spot here, but the dreariness of everything else overwhelms her. Still, her story is the most compelling.

Kim Min Gue is capable of much better. He’s sort of stumbling his way through this for some reason. It’s a very low-energy performance. With the exception of the always great Ye Ji Won, the rest of the cast ranges from uninteresting to strangely miscast or out of place. The primary villain is less menacing than a typical schoolyard bully.

The pacing doesn’t help. The first several episodes could have easily been compressed into one or two livelier installments to kickstart the story.

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