This drama had so much potential but lost itself in the melodrama.

I truly loved the potential of this show. The worldbuilding in the first few episodes had a ton of promise, but the show did an awful job developing the lore to keep us invested in the mystery. This writers didn't give their readers anything. Any of the lore came in drips and drabs. I was 28/32 episodes in and I still didn't know why Dan Oh can see into the future, why Haru can see into the past, why Dried Squid Fairy remembers everything from both worlds, who the hell the writer is. A show that hinges on mystery in a supernatural world needs to give its viewers clues to keep the interest going — red herrings would even be appreciated! Otherwise, we’re just padding through the episodes with blindfolds and with no trust that anything will actually make sense in the end.

Given the amount of care the show provided to the lore, as expected, halfway through, it lost steam. The drama got caught up in the melodrama and once Baek Gyeong became self-aware, the show shifted focus from Dan Oh and her mission to survive, to Baek Gyeong vs. Haru and their mission to save her. So disappointing. I didn’t care for Dan Oh, but I’d much rather watch an annoying yet charming girl try to change the world to live than two melodramatic men fighting for her affection, when it’s already very clear who she’s in love with.

It’s all so irritating though that Haru transformed from a quiet, doe-eyed extra to a moody, brooding bummer who instead of trying to make the most of his time with Dan Oh while she’s alive, sits on benches with his head in his hands, runs away from Dan Oh or just cries whenever he looks at her.

I was also very annoyed with how the show tried to romanticize Baek Gyeong. His realization of his feelings for her does not forgive his abysmal attitude towards her in the past. His love declarations weren't moving Dan Oh’s heart, nor were they moving mine.

Also so irritated how Dan Oh’s character was reduced to heart palpitations. Every fifteen minutes, her heart gives and she’s in the nurse’s office or the hospital, where we inevitably see Haru or Baek Gyeong taking care of her. C’mon, stop using the plight of female characters to drive male character development. I’m just so tired of dramas taking so much care of the male lead’s development while giving the female lead scraps. Dan Oh became a shell of the personality she started with.

And that's not to say that I even like Dan Oh to begin with. That baby voice had me cringing the entire show, and then towards the end of the show, her character cried way too much to the point where I liked her better when she was bratty and chaotic in the beginning. She was more interesting.

Her character wasn't really that likeable to begin with. She’s a rich heiress. As much as the drama would like to make the stakes high, they didn't do a good job making me believe that they were, so the only thing I could root for her was her love story and I couldn't see any reason why Ha Ru would like her except for the fact that she gave him his name.

Her unlikeability is evident in her friendship. Her best friend is Sae Mi, who terrorizes the FL (who tbh is such a Mary Sue that I don't even remember her name), but Dan Oh continues to be friends with her. You could chalk it up to the fact that their friendship existed way before Dan Oh became self-aware but Dan Oh still continues to call Sae Mi her best friend. I know Sae Mi is there more for comic relief than anything but I can’t imagine being friends with such a bully.

All in all, I was left with disappointment. Thank God each episode was 30-something minutes. I know, if you do the math, that's basically the same length as a 16 episode kdrama, but it was easier to stomach knowing that the episodes were going by much quicker.