I am honestly not sure how I feel about this show. It had an interesting premise, some nicer plot twists, but nothing was set and built properly - neither the sci-fi elements, nor the world presented, or the characters we followed and there was no conclusion to it all.

The biggest issue I had with this show was how the plot was paced. The first 5 episodes felt like nothing more than a too long exposition. Everything that happened in the first half could have been summed up in max 3 episodes and we would not miss any context nor important information. Then episode 6 felt like the plot would finally move forward and we would slowly start getting some answers, but in episode 7 to 9 we went back to big nothing. It was simply impossible to give a satisfying ending with that set up, and we ended up with no answers, more questions and new characters introduced in the last 2 minutes.

We literally spent more time watching Seo Kang Joon look at his screen at work, than some of the main characters’ scenes combined during the first half of the drama. Know your priorities, guys. Use your screen time wisely. Don’t waste 10 minutes of the screen time in the last episodes for the lovey dovey stuff, when you still gave the viewers zero answers for all the questions you presented.

The idea of time travelers setting up a device in the past that will protect the Earth was interesting. How the present people knew enough about how Grid works to operate it and make it run, but could not truly grasp how it was built to use the technology for other things.

I understood the desperation to find the inventor, not only because of the circumstances and the crime committed when the Grid was set, but also for the knowledge they possess about future technologies. How much could the Earth change in the present if we understood the scientific and technological discoveries of the future? Sadly, this was never truly explored, just hinted with a few lines side characters said here and there.

A lot of characters were rather useless. Song Eo Jin is the main character, but did he do anything? No. They could literally remove him from the show and nothing would change. His character was not essential to the story and the few things he “contributed” with could have been done by literally any other character.

Another issue were the characters - a lot of them either had no personality or barely any personality, clear motivations and reasons for why they do what they do.

The acting was fine. A lot of the characters were so bland it’s hard to judge the delivery. My favorites were Kim Sung Kyun as Kim Ma Nok and Jang So Yeon as Choi Seon Wool.

The production was good. They did not try to overdo special effects - added just the right amount in the scenes that truly needed it. Loved the whole set design and scenes that were happening in the “alternative” present times. I feel like it showed a realistic portrayal of what could potentially go wrong without going over the top.

Overall, I would not recommend it. I would say it’s a slow mystery with just some action and sci-fi elements, mostly present in the last 2 episodes. They waited too long to start explaining things, so at the end everything was left to interpretation and the few answers we’ve got felt rushed. I don’t think I will ever move on from the disappointment the last episode was.

ps. They did not announce from the start it will have 2nd season, so I am judging it as a stand-alone production. And as such, it sucks.