Well, I liked it at least

While it fell victim to the expected cliches and there was some storytelling shorthand and continuity issues that made me cringe, the things I liked about this drama i really liked.

The first episode was messy and i wasnt fully on board until after the time skip. They had to rush to try and set up a whole cast of characters all at once, establish character motivations and get the plot rolling. It just wasnt well done.

After that, if you go in expecting immediate romcom hijinks you're in for dissapointment as the seriese doesnt really get the romance ball rolling until about episode five. Romance isnt the driving plot for much of the story.

I didnt dislike this, though, as it gave us a chance to get to know the characters seperately and watch them adjust to their new surroundings. this was the part of the story i found the most compelling.

While they did play into much of the same easy technology/slang jokes all dramas in this out-of-time genre use, they also confronted the culture shock and awkward new family dynamics with a lighthearted thughtfulness i dont always see in time travel stories. Maybe its because ive lived abroad before that i found this so compelling. It immediately drew me in.

The identity crisis around age and having to figure out how to fit into old and new relationships at home and at work/school felt very real to me and i didnt hate the different ways the two families reacted differently and how they were affected by their lost family members differently. Ma Dongs crisis over how to speak to his younger siblings now that theyre older than him was intereating.

A particular moment that was played for laughs but really stuck with me was early on when Min Ra first confronts Ma Dong and they both end up crying together over their new circumstances. They hid some really genuine moments behind cheap laughs.

I also enjoyed the way they always snuck in little ways their new condition affected their lives very consistently, whether it be as suble as sipping an iced drink or as heavy handed as their fitbits beeping when they get to close. This constant reminder of not just the huge health risk ever present but all the little everyday inconveniences really helps the viewer deeply understand why they want to risk a cure so we can get excited with them when Ma Dong goes through the process.

As for the romance, i liked it. I dont hate that there wasnt a long will they/wont they. The characters werent total assholes to eachother and when it became clear there was some mutual attraction, both sides acknowlesged it and didnt fight it all that much. The beginnings were understated. I like this kind of thing. The story doesnt have to rely on their relationship to create drama. Lord knows there was enough with murderers on the loose.

My least favorite cliche is letting huge lies and misunderstandings fester into horrible problems that characters overreact to. Any misunderstandings got cleared up fairly quickly with the characters discussing things like adults. They both liked lieing to eachother and being stupidly noble but the lies always got revealed quickly and with no melodrama involved. Some may call this boring, i say its a relief.

As for the ending, its a mixed bag buy overall fine.

While i could have done without the stabbing and melodramatic pining in the eleventh hour, i found the later half of the last episode interesting as it played into Min Ra's feeling of lost time and Ma Dong's emotions as someone, at this point, ten years older and at a different life stage than her. I appreciated that nobody "won" the marriage agrument but rather they both empathized with the other party and found a compromise together. The youtube channel, while cheesy, tied the bow on that whole semi-sub-plot i thought would go nowhere. It didnt completely fall appart like a lot of dramas in their last episode, though they did unnecessarily cram a bit too much into the final stretch. They tied up all the important bits.

While this drama is apparently not for everybody, it made me think and i had a good time.

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