O Abismo Mágico (2019)

The story started with a fascinating premise but failed to deliver. The "Abyss" is a magical marble which gave them another chance at life with a different physical appearance but their fingerprints, DNA and the like remains the same. That's how Cha Min (Ahn Hyo Seop) proved to his mother who he was when he came back as a very good-looking man. On the other hand, Go Se Yeon ( Park Bo Young) came back with a "common face". I didn't like this a bit because I think Park Bo Young is beautiful and isn't in the category of a "common face".

Both Go Se Yeon and Cha min have been best friends for 20 years and apparently Se Yeon "liked him" once in awhile during those years of friendship. I mean Hello? It's too obvious that she started looking at him as a man only when he came back as a handsome guy. For me, this is just a shallow reason for her to finally "fall in love" with him. Of course, his character has admirable traits and an added bonus was his new easy-to-look-at face. But the sparks and chemistry just didn't happen. They do look good together and their relationship was showcased on the last 4 episodes but it wasn't convincing enough.

As for the mystery and suspense part, it was interesting enough but dragging. There was a point where I wanted to drop the show but you'll be curious enough to finish it. Lastly, I'm a big fan of Park Bo Young and it's also one of the reason why I had to finish it. Her acting's good but it's not her fault that the story fell flat at the end especially when the "Abyss" wasn't really explained fully.

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Felt like three separate dramas and none of them made sense.

I feel like I am being generous giving this drama two stars. It really should just be 0 stars and listen I am not someone who is easily turned off by shows, but I cannot think of any charming points of this show other than it had actors I liked in subpar roles and one good song. I laughed in some parts but just at the sheer idiocy at everything this drama had to offer. People are excusing this drama's piss poor nonsensical plot because it has their favorites, but it is okay to admit that this drama is a dumpster truck. I can not see anyone genuinely giving this drama more than 5 stars in anyway. The writer constantly wrote themselves into a wall then decided to fix shit very stupidly???? The characters did not make sense and would clearly only do things because the writer wanted them to so that the story could progress. Also at no point in time did I feel an ounce of romantic chemistry between the two leads. I am happy to have seen Ahn Hyo Seop had improved from this in Dr. Romantic 2. This drama was textbook doing too much and trying too hard. Such a pity to see an interesting concept wasted like this.

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Okay Here comes my honest and brutal opinion.

My expectation just destroyed after Episode 8-ish? I don't know what happened to this series, really. Is it too long? Not really but the first episode got me interested to continue but after they only focusing on the crime, it got me kind of bored but since i don't have anything to do, I did watch it. It's a waste though because the actor and actress are amazing. I only watch it because Park Bo Young & Ahn Hyo Seop. They are so cute together.

The cringe level is slightly above danger level. It's kinda cringe and makes me roll my eyes to be honest. What a shame. I think Hyoseop and bo young have more potential. For the plot, i think they should include something in it to make the audience to watch it even more. There is no cliffhanger ? I am not sure. I just ran out of words to watch this. And it seems like the ending is rushed to. They didn't exactly explain with details how Cha Min can come back to life and i don't know why but it ends with Go Seyeon got pregnant makes me feels.. "ugh srsly?"

Overall, the drama is okay. slightly below average but it's okay for you to watch if you have some time to kill but if you really want a good drama. This is not it.

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Haisssss

i came because i love the actress, b-but the story is :( its just that bad, at least for me, haha.

im not expert at reviewing story or acting, so i just stating my own opinion, idk the story is like cat chasing their own tail, spinning-in-place-like story. but if you like the actor and actress, its somewhat helping you (a veeeeeeeeery little) tru the 16-ish episode.

music, not the one that keep playing in your brain for a while, but i think its okay

rewatch? i dont think so haha i will be mad

the cast deserve a better story than this, come on. park bo young, so hee uwuwuwuwuwuw

somehow the story telling you how it will end since the beginning, yet the story just spinning arround. wiwuwiwuwiwu i dont know how to get the 500word, but i hope with this veeeery loooooong seentence at the end will hellpp

Leia Mais

Nice drama, but betrayed by the implementation

The show introduces an interesting mystery right from the start with a serial killer and the death of Se Yeon. Now I did think the way some of the mystery was presented was a bit confusing in the beginning. It does get clearer as the show progresses, but some things remain confusing.

The overall fantasy element to Abyss was also something I really liked. With people coming back to life and changing forms, we got some very intriguing dynamics at play. It also created some pretty fun plot twists.

One thing I would have really liked to have seen early on though was some of the dynamic between Min and Se Yeon before they changed appearances. I think it would have been more meaningful to witness the relationship between them before the change. There are only a couple conversations where their relationship is mentioned. We do get a handful of flashbacks later on, but even those don’t show a whole lot.

But luckily, the reincarnated versions of Min and Se Yeon in the form of Ahn Hyo Seop and Park Bo Young quickly pulled me into their relationship. They had a great banter between them.

It was interesting to see them adjust to their new forms and how that affected their relationship. Min isn’t as attracted to Se Yeon anymore, but he sees his friend, and the feelings naturally develop for him.

Se Yeon now finds him attractive but also has to allow her feelings for him to blossom. And once the romance does kick into gear, Min and Se Yeon make a pretty adorable couple. They work well together as a team and are ready to do anything for each other.

The pacing of the drama is good with new plot developments consistently emerging. There are also multiple supporting characters that play important roles and contribute to the narrative which is something I appreciated.
Without getting into spoiler territory, the biggest negative to the drama for me was the overall execution. The story itself is good, but it’s poorly executed, particularly with how some of the fantasy elements are handled concerning the orb Abyss.

The rules as to how it actually worked didn’t always make sense, and it felt like they changed to fit the situation throughout the drama. Some of the new rules got pretty ridiculous towards the end of the drama. I was definitely rolling my eyes.

Many times some of the things that were happening in the drama were just plain confusing too. Also expect a few plot holes and some shoddy police work here and there. If you like well thought out writing and for everything to always make sense, this might not be a good drama for you. It’s also one of those dramas that feels like it goes off the rails at the end.

Aside from some complaints about story execution and how the magical orb was handled, Abyss was still an enjoyable watch. I liked that the fantasy elements were solidly woven into the narrative throughout the drama, the mystery was good, and the romance was cute. All in all, it held my interest and made for a solid watch.

Leia Mais

Never a kdrama had me this depressed

I went in with this with so much hope, maybe I got myself too excited because the plot seemed hella interesting and the cast so promising... The first 2 episodes were great and I was looking forward to seeing the rest of the show...
Well, I shouldn't have... At some point I was just fast forwarding it, and it still felt long and nonsensical. The writing is just bad. Like bad bad, I felt like watching an American series, which is exactly what I was running away from when I started to watch Kdramas. The plot makes no sens. Since it is called Abyss and you would expect that the Abyss takes an important part in the plot line... Well, it does not. The characters ar absolutely not developed, if anything, Min regressed and had me hating him by the end. Unnecessary violence and irrelevant plot twists, the female lead always getting in trouble and having to be saved by the male lead. They made the whole thing so irrealistic that by the end I felt like I was watching a parody

Leia Mais

Highly anticipated especially because of the cast and I was really looking forward to it because I love Park Bo Young and the story line seemed oddly interesting...but I was really disappointed with this. I kept watching mostly for the sake that I wanted to see how it would end more so than being super excited about the next episode. Don't get me wrong it wasn't awful, there were some enjoyable moments but it wasn't something I'd drop everything to watch. It's a more a drama I'd choose to watch if I had nothing else to watch, as a filler. It had a good start and pretty interesting but throughout there were little inconsistencies as well as kinda diverting from what I pictured the main story line to be about. Lots was going on and it kinda lost its momenteum and I felt like it could've built more on certain story lines. Overall it wasn't what I was expecting, it was decent but it wasn't spectacular like I hoped.

Leia Mais

Should have stuck to my first instinct

I never really had the urge to watch this drama. When it first came out, I watched the first three episodes and dropped it, but recently I ran out of things to watch and decided to give it a shot because the rating is 7.8 on the list. I regret it. I skipped all of last episodes just to get a gist of what happens.

The actors were amazingly picked out for this project, and my high score in the acting section goes to all the non-main lead actors who portrayed their roles oh so well. With the main couple, rather than it be their acting in general, but I think it is more the screenwriters fault for not making the characters more consistent with little nicks and things.

The murder/mystery plot was most interesting, the love line just seemed so... forced? As in they really tried to put in some history and character changes, but it just didn't click. The actors acted super cute, but the personalities in the beginning and afterwards were so different. It just seemed like ok, now we need the two characters to get together. Then they get engaged (when he was oh so recently engaged??)

The biggest disappointment was the lack of exploration of the main theme. More back story, more unique reasoning, the distinct and surprising changes of treatment, character, maybe trying different things since body and face is different like different styles or so on. Instead, the characters just got used to it super easily, only excused things like plastic surgery and more. It was really disappointing, the main characters were already lacking and the lack of appearance exploration just makes this more apparent. Not to mention even the bad guy's "scar" bwahah.

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A pesky magical orb brings on a quest full of bright, dark, and clumsy moments.

Story:

-- It is no secret that the early episodes of "Abyss" are tough to watch -- there are many unknowns, some of the more violent aspects of the story are automatically brought up without much explanation, and the main characters are pushed into a situation that is odd on all levels, and the characters react accordingly. After the first four episodes, the premise of "Abyss" becomes clear: uncovering what happened to Prosecutor Go Se Yeon. This mystery spans out for several episodes and while the main characters engage in investigative work, they also try to settle in and return to their normal lives as best as they can. There are some moments here that viewers should suspend their disbelief and remember that this is a mostly light hearted k-drama with fantasy elements, and not a mystery thriller like exploration of life & death.

At crucial moments the lead characters make very unwise choices and sometimes forget they have a pesky magical orb but this never deters the main plot from advancing. In fact, one of the good aspects of Abyss' storyline is that it goes on from plot twist to plot twist in a well paced manner -- it never lags or is affected by the standard rom-com tropes in Korean dramas. On the negative side what stands out is the underdevelopment of certain characters, loose plot-lines, and no real side stories.

The final episode wraps up everything neatly, and ends on a high note for the heroes of the story while the "bad guys" got what they deserved. It is a satisfying, bright ending.

Acting/Cast:

-- After being absent for two years, Park Bo Young makes a solid return to screen and carries "Abyss" on her shoulders, establishing herself as one of the main reasons why you should watch this drama in the first place. Her counterpart Ahn Hyo Seop is also eye catching, and the chemistry between them is undeniable even if at times somewhat awkward and cute due to the height difference. Needless to say they are young actors who know how to get the job done, and it's very likely "Abyss" did not explore their full potential due to how their characters were written. Nonetheless, they do a good job from start to finish, and should be commended for it.

Park and Ahn are joined by an experienced support cast who fulfil well their assigned roles with Lee Shi Eon, Han So Hee, and Song Sang Eun standing out as they become crucial elements of the main characters' circle and participate in the quest to uncover the main mystery.

Music:

-- The OST of "Abyss" is very pleasant to listen to, featuring performances by Suran (수란), Coogie (쿠기), Kim Feel (김필) and Kim Bo Hyung (김보형).

Rewatch Value:

-- Standing at sixteen episodes - sixty minutes each - the quick paced storywriting of "Abyss" makes it an easy watch, and time will definitely fly while you are watching it. This makes "Abyss" easier to rewatch in the near future, if not for seeing once again Park Bo Young and Ahn Hyo Seop interacting with each other in the strange world of "Abyss."

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