Venha e Me Abrace (2018)

missed opportunities lost in prolonged eye contact and soapiness.

I liked both main actors but I had a hard time staying engaged in the story as it went on. I think the long lingering looks and the melodrama kind of took over when certain aspects of the show should have been given more room to breathe. I really wanted the scenes between father and (adult) son to be less anti-climatic, especially with the build-up. I wanted more out of that. Maybe more action? Less about the FL, and more about the son. So much of the series gave her trauma front and center attention with her anxiety and PTSD and I wanted to see his a bit more. I also overall loved that trauma took center stage for a large portion of the show, but the flashbacks took up unnecessary space after they'd been shown for the millionth time.

Leia Mais

What this drama talks abt...

So this review i am writing is basically my thoughts on what the drama portrays. i have learnt 5 things which i am going to list:

1. YOU ARE WHO YOU ARE!
This drama shows how the ML who just related to a serial killer is viewed. Ofc, our minds have just filtered him as a pyschopath just like his father. "Like father, like son". No matter wht he tried, society viewed him as if he was a monster too. This really ticked me off. As a person who used to judge ppl before, now i find it disgusting. If you dont know someone, who gives you the right to talk abt that person? A person is defined by his/her actions, not by others.

2. A BAD AND TRAUMATIC PAST ISNT AN EXCUSE TO DO BAD!
This drama shows reporters who say the serial killer killed ppl only cause he didnt have love. *pfft* This is funny cause if society is the cause of the serial killing, why are you blaming one person? Just becuz you have gone through rough and tough times doesnt always mean you have to grow up and repay whatever cuased you to be like that. There are many ppl who dont recieve love but grow up to give love anyways. These ppl choose to become wht they want and its their choice in the end. No one to blame. There might be some ppl out there to care for them but they give up.

3. DON'T APOLOGISE FOR SOMETHING YOU DIDNT DO
This topic depends on self-respect. Omg, this drama would have gotten a better rating if there were less sorries. Every time something bad happen or good happens, someone has to say sorry. Only the FL in this drama apoligsed when she knew it was fit and accepted apologies when she knew she deserved one. Honestly if there was no apologies then the drama would be creepy but without the right amount of sorries, the story lost value. Dont apologise when it is not your fault cause if you do, then your apology

4. TRAUMA
There was many critics saying and talking abt how the trauma part was useless and it wasn't portrayed well. Well that's your opinion and it doesn't matter here cause it was portrayed really good. I personally have not experienced trauma but i have seen ppl who have gone through it and one of the explained it to me telling me 'its the feeling when your mind decides to get high and f*** up and your body decides to shut off and you are just left alone cause everyone including you hate yourself'. Pls tell me how can you who hasnt experienced trauma talk abt it and joke abt it when you have no idea abt wht it is?

5. PITY
Ppl who have gone through a lot have alot of strength and they need no reason to be pitied upon. They are humans and they know it and fight it. They smile and laugh and be sad just like any other person so they are no different from ppl. So dont pity ppl cause the feeling is disgusting to felt on.

Coming back to the drama, i rate the drama a 9.0 on my excitement leve but 9.5 cause it deserves it.
The actors who played in this drama, legit hat's off to y'all! I am blown. What a cast! Every moment felt like as if i was there, i cant take abt how all of your expression change every minute.
The characters were pulled of soooo goood that i felt the hate, love and even the angry.
The music wasnt that great but it was good.
It is a good drama to watch, really nice drama.

Leia Mais

Healthiest relationship ever

There is so much to love about this, but I think my favorite part is hands down the relationship between the two leads. It was just so comforting from beginning to end. As a child the FL showed the ML warmth and he protected her, and throughout thick and thin she never ONCE blamed him for what his father did; the communication between them was great and the fact that his father murdered her parents and still break-up trope stood NO CHANCE against them...it was just insanely refreshing to see a couple like this in drama-land.

I do think plot left a little bit more to be desired. I absolutely loved the serial killer father and the tension it instilled through the series, but there were some subplots and character arcs I think went in different directions. The reporters and public eye was something I thought would play a bigger role — instead the characters involved seem to simply teeter on the line between irrelevant and annoying.

I also want to give a shout out to Kim Kyung Nam as Yoon Hyun Moo, the ML's brother. I'm always a sucker for morally gray characters and I think it was not only written perfectly (even more heart-wrenching than the leads' story) but the actor did an amazing job at pulling off conflicting emotions. He was possibly my favorite character and I also wish we got more of him.

Overall, I wish this drama pushed the limits a bit more and upped the stakes, but the main leads are still amazing and I love them for subverting all the bad tropes. Would recommend this drama for sure.

Leia Mais

Despite having read many bad comments about this drama, I decided to give it a shot cuz I love the main leads. And I was not disappointed. It was surprisingly amazing! Worthy to be called a masterpiece!

Firstly, I've always enjoyed watching suspense, crime, and psychological genres so it's no surprise I liked this as much. But other than that, the cast portrayed each emotions perfectly and I felt that there were no annoying side characters at all! It's like everyone was a puzzle piece, each having its importance in the story.

Secondly, this drama got me thinking on a lot of things. Are psychopathic tendencies hereditary? How are families affected by their own family member? and what is true pain?
I am a rather deep thinker and I love reading/watching stuff that make me think & ponder on the what ifs. This drama definitely did make me think about those what ifs.

Jang Ki Yong played such a perfect role of Na Moo, who has a trauma from his upbringing and who had to witness his own father murder the family of the girl he loved. And Jin Ki Joo's acting was superb as well - all the emotions of a wounded person but still having the courage to live & love.

All in all, this is an easy 10/10!! Everything about this drama was SO good - I highly recommend to anyone! Re-watch value is low for me cuz I don't usually re-watch dramas and since this drama is able to leave such a great impact, you won't ever forget it :)

Leia Mais

Worth the watch?

Well, if you expect something out of the ordinary or something outstanding. You might be quite disappointed. i haven't even watched that many dramas but i still could predict what would happen next in most occasions. It's the typical you know romantic-drama action plot that you would see in most dramas.

What is it that I liked about this drama you ask? Well first and foremost is the acting. The acting was actually better than I expected and the roles played were quite fitting except for choi ri, which don't get me wrong, it's not that i didn't like her, it's just that I thought she didn't fit to take the role of the sister as in certain scenes her acting didn't feel quite right with me. The next thing is how Do Jin and Jae Yi didn't have any 'misunderstanding' cliche plot like most dramas have. I hope you understand what I mean. If you don't let me explain. Usually in dramas with these plots especially when it comes to 'murder' and 'betrayal' and stuffs like that, there are usually misunderstandings to it. For example when the male lead or a person he is related to says or does something and the female lead doesn't fully understand the story and kinda just come to conclusions without proper understanding of the situation, she will kinda just hate the male lead and you know be immature most of the time in the drama which leads to the male lead trying to redeem himself. In this case the drama had the female lead's parents killed by the male lead's parents and she didn't really blame him for what had happened. I mean the brother did but the drama made him have a good reason and actually resolved it pretty quickly. I kinda expected that she would think 'oh, it's his fault for approaching me and getting my parents killed' or something like that but surprisingly she was mature enough in this story and didn't blame the male lead because of what had happened because she KNEW the male lead was a good person. Which is a hella good thing for me because I DESPISE these kind of shitty plots. If you want a good example, I would say the drama 'my strange hero'. Kinda a spoiler but I won't get into the details. That drama was fucking dogshit. Though they did make up for it in the end I guess. But the start was fucking trash.

Okay, so what about the things I didn't like? Well, there wasn't really anything that annoyed me personally except for Choi Ri's role. Though I do have to say that the drama kinda got more boring as it got towards the end. I usually watch romantic drama's for the sweetness. The couple in this one wasn't bad. It was just not that appealing. They had a good relationship and I couldn't really ask for more. they had very mature personalities roles so I can't expect them to be all 'lovey-dovey' and cute. They simply were good together. Though I felt like the junior detective which obviously had a crush on Do Jin was kinda sad because she also obviously had no chance. I think it would've been better to just make them a co-worker relationship and not a one-sided love relationship.

As for everything else, the music and everything, they weren't bad nor good so I kinda just.... yea.

overall, I would recommend you watch this if you were bored and wanted to watch a kinda slow action romantic drama but if you want something more cherry like and funsies, this wouldn't really be a thing I would watch in that mood. So overally rating is 7.5!

Leia Mais

i have watched this few months ago so i wont write some long review because i probably forgot some stuff about the drama.

i liked it. i really did. the story was honestly very very good, kiyong and kijoo portrayed the characters as well as dareum and hanbi. applause goes to joonho who portrayed yoon heejae. while watching this drama i fell in love with plot, yoon heejae's character freaked me out to fullest, same as lee seungwoo (played by hong seungbum). the thing i want to point out is the fact how yoon hyunmoo (amazingly played by kim kyungnam) twisted to good, till the end i wasnt sure will he just leave his family but it was clearly shown how he cared for them. something i wanted to see more of was main character's (chae dojin and han jaeyi) relationship being more pointed out. dont get me wrong, it was, but their love in younger days seemed more connected than when they grew up, which is understanding because they havent seen each other for 12 years and because of all the trauma that they have. i was maybe hoping for a timeskip to like marriage or smth (thats just what i almost always wanna see in non-highschool dramas). also i feel like some stuff were taken too long to like go through idk how to say it, but it took me a quite while to complete the drama, at some points it was boring thats why.

in conclusion, this drama isnt a waste of time and i suggest watching it. also if i was asked would i rewatch this, i wouldnt, it is a good drama but not a rewatch material.

Leia Mais

Unfortunately could not live up to the trajectory of the first few episodes, the writer hit the ground running but clearly could not maintain stamina.

It's frustrating because it did start out well, the child actors were good and the flashbacks invigorating but beyond that it fell flat: the love story between the adult Namu and Nakwon was very one note, beyond staring in each others' eyes for endless wasted minutes and a sickeningly repetitive dialogue of "are you okay?/"yes, are you?" there was nothing to believe in. I wouldn't put this down to the actors, I'd say they were more limited by the writing which is frustrating because these are two extremely complicated characters, who've both been through hell and back, battling odds unfavourably against each other and are supposed to be held on for their love for each other alone, all of which is barely conveyed despite the fact it's what holds the whole drama together. After years of being kept apart and a bond formed by an incredibly traumatic experience, once they finally get together you almost wish they'd never found each other it's THAT annoying to watch. The child actors were great I loved their scenes but the later ones were so boring and never added anything new.

It was supposed to be a psychological thriller I think rather than a crime drama which is what it came across as, but there wasn't enough psychology in the lead villain. Heejae is supposed to be this terrifying, cold blooded killer but his relationship with Namu for me kind of destroyed that, he's randomly fixated on Namu as his prodigy which is not supported in the flashback scenes and randomly introduced like five eps in. Additionally, as a viewer you're supposed to believe in this 'dark/evil' side of Namu, to suggest at an ending in which he lives up to his father's expectations of him which to me was absolutely ridiculous. Also, the fact that Namu hit Heejae 'that fateful night' seems like it's supposed to be this huge shocking revelation that changes the tragectory of the drama was ridiculous, like it was apparently so shocking it literally needed to be covered up by the police and then massively changed public opinion once it got out and also was seemingly evidence for why he was destined to follow his father's footsteps....idk should've been scrapped added nothing to the storyline.

Other characters:
Hyeonmu and Okhui were honestly the best written characters I thought, there was a depth and redemption to their actions that was unseen in everyone else, both characters pay the price for their sins and you understand their motives and intentions and love them at the end. Especially Hyeonmu his character was the depth that everyone else in the show needed to be at. Loved both of the actors' acting, and Okhui was for me, the stand out character of the show.
As for the other villains, Jihong was okay, a bit annoying but relevant at least. Jeon Yura was randomly shoved in with no explanation or development, besides from a surface scratch in her confrontation with Nakwon at the end I really didn't understand why she was included.
Mostly the characters just weren't properly developed... Nakwon literally the female lead is never really given a chance to talk through her trauma and vocalise literally anything besides a profession of love to Namu every two seconds.

Also the plot was just so irritating sometimes, like the lack of security throughout actually enraged me, someone was kidnapped and nearly murdered every episode and no one thought to give them a couple guards maybe???? Or put them in a safe house ridiculous.....

Overall, I really liked the cast and I don't really fault the acting I just think it was shocking writing that felt very rushed, for a drama with this much tragedy I never felt moved or really much attachment to any of the characters, I've seen worse and it was definitely enjoyable for the first half but won't be rewatching.

Leia Mais

A story about emotional healing and self identity

What would it be like if you were in a relationship with the son of the man who killed your parents? And how crazy would it look to the rest of society? would you be able to stand the judgments of strangers from your decisions? And would a couple who went through such events ever be able to overcome their crippling trauma? These questions will be explored in this. I know the term “underrated” is overused these days but it reigns true for this drama. It’s a slow burn, and while the series of events could be perceived as predictable, the emotional payoff for the viewer is incredibly satisfying and the ending was done so well.

Jang Ki-Yong and Han Jae Yi really deserve recognition for their actions. They did inexplainable justice to their characters and portrayed their emotions in a way that was so realistic and compelling. Na Moo and Nak Won have grown up physically, but mentally they are still the traumatized young teens who are stuck in the night of the murders that tied their souls together. One of my favorite parts was when they were finally able to admit how they really felt about each other and were honest about it. It would be no easy thing to love a man whose father ruined your life but this drama instills that it’s not about who you are but what you do that defines you. It is indeed possible for a person to rise from their past and become something that is better than what you know. It was very touching to see them cry, laugh, smile, and heal together as they move past the tragedy that scarred them. I have to shout out to the actor who plays Na Moo’s father. What a villain! He was so creepy and intimidating, yet he did so little. He definitely had a presence on screen. 9/10

Leia Mais

The Flashbacks Were Better Than The Main Plotline

This show was pretty good, but it was a bit disappointing for me. The beginning was amazing, but the big portion of the middle of the drama was quite repetitive and boring. I think that what really threw me off about this drama was the fact that the younger actors that played the main characters in the flashback scenes had more chemistry and put on a better performance than the main actors. I found myself getting super excited for the flashback scenes, and enjoyed them more that the “present day” timeline. However, in the last few episodes I really enjoyed the drama as a whole once again, and the ending scene where the adults hug the younger versions of themselves was touching. All in all, it was a decent show and the crime elements were interesting enough to at least keep me somewhat engaged. I wouldn’t rewatch it, but if you’re looking for an angsty romance with a sweet ending, this might be something you’d enjoy.

Leia Mais

So I watched this drama in 3 days and it has 16 episodes. I don't wanna talk about the plot but about the feelings. The love between the main couple was so strong there was never a vicious love story the feelings where 100% real. I loved the chemistry between them. You could see that they've never loved someone else nor will they never.
the storyline was really interesting, it made me sad and upset at some points because the culprit couldn't be found.
Dojin and Jay went through so much but they always had each other's back even though no one supported them.
At the end I was feeling at peace. The end was amazing I didn't feel upset or got mad or thought it was too unrealistic.
9,5/10 really recommend watching
(0,5 because it's on netflix)

Leia Mais

This drama already got lots of review but I just want to share my own opinion on this.

The story is mind blowing. I love that I got to see the point of view from all sides. I have nothing more to elaborate other than the story/plot is amazing. So congratulation to the screenwriter, Ms/Mrs Lee Ah Ram, for creating this amazing story.

As for the cast, let me start with our hero, Jang Ki Yong. I've heard of him before but I've never watch any of the drama he's in. And wow, what an introduction to this incredible actor. He is amazing as Yoon Na Moo/Chae Do Jin, this character in my opinion is very hard to portray because Na Moo doesn't show too many expression on his face but instead you can clearly see everything he's experiencing through his eyes. He mainly conveyed his emotions all through his eyes. Whether he's happy, sad, angry, anxious, excited, worried, a little crazed up, you can see it all from Jang Ki Yong's eyes.
And of course, through Nam Da Reum's eyes too. This boy is going to be a top actor in the future, mark my words. Nam Da Reum managed to portray such mature and calm vibes. While watching both of them as Na Moo, all I want to do is protect them both and hug them. Na Moo is such an incredible character and they both nailed it.

Honestly, I've never heard of Jin Ki Joo before. After looking at her drama list on MDL, it's no wonder why she escaped my radar, it's because I didn't watch any of the drama she's in before. She's such a great actress and she's beautiful and cute as heck. What I love the most about Jin Ki Joo is her voice, it's very soothing. I absolutely love Ryu Han Bi. She's an amazing actress and she's sooo gorgeous. I am so looking forward to when she's an adult and will become the main lead in the future :) I have my fair share of kdrama in my life, so far in my opinion, the only best heroine ever is from While You Were Sleeping. But now Gil Nak Won/Han Jae Yi just join the club because I love Nak Won so much. She's strong and she's not scared to defend herself. Nak Won is so understanding towards Na Moo. And watching them together makes my heart ache.

As for the other actors, they all did an amazing job. And the music suited the drama so well.

The romance between Na Moo and Nak Won is so spectacular. Their love withstand all the bad things that happen to them. Watching them together is so beautiful. Jang Ki Yong and Jin Ki Joo have a very great chemistry, it's off the chart. And of course, Nam Da Reum and Ryu Han Bi too. I will be on the lookout for this 4 actors <3

I recommend this drama to someone who is not afraid of dark romance theme.

Leia Mais