The pluses. An early example of a KDrama with a female lead, Ha Ji Won, who is strong in every way, mentally and physically tough, independent, and a woman, rather than a female character with male characteristics artificially engrafted on her. Too much crying, perhaps.
The other leading women characters are also quite strong in their own way and the writing of the dialog for the evil mother who never relents is a master class in the art of sophistry in the service of arrogance and selfishness. Also, Kim Sa Rang is divinely beautiful and, for aficionados of eye candy, she has a captivating pair of legs on full a nd frequent display.
I also liked the comedy of the body switching, although they could have made more of it. The fantasy elements ended up promising much more than they delivered.
And, let it be said, a superb opening sequence when Ha Ji Won retrieves a stolen handbag. Worth multiple rewinds.
The minuses. First, and I suppose I have to keep saying this, but the wrist grabbing and physical blockading of women by men is unbearable and it happens multiple times per episode. And I also find it almost impossible to accept the abusive bullying, both physical and mental, that Hyun Bin inflicts on everyone around him except his miserable mother. I cannot imagine any real woman actually falling in love with someone so apparently unhinged for so long. The number of times he tells her she isn't pretty and he can't understand the attraction is shocking. I love Hyun Bin - Crash Landing on You is a 10+ (head over to Netflix, quick march) - but the belittling and patronizing and manhandling just has to stop.
Second, I realize that the writers have to fill out 16 or 20 episodes, but this was simply too long. As a result, the show drags and repeats. Particularly the story of the two second leads rehashes the same speeches over and over.
Third, I am looking forward to a drama where the two leads did not meet each other earlier in their lives or have some previous deep connection that they don't remember or don't know about. It's an overused chestnut (those of you who have watched this show will appreciate the sly reference here). And I don't count this as a spoiler since it was so utterly predictable from early in this show.
Minor gripe. The producers spend a fair amount on these dramas and production values, sets and costumes, are good. But can't they spend a little extra and get the English language and non-Korean characters right? Our heroine supposedly demonstrates her proficiency in English (as does the hero on a couple of occasions) but the script contains obvious grammatical errors that spending a trivial amount on a native speaker to correct would have avoided. Hell, I'd do it for free. And given that these stories are being sold outside Korea, if we are going to have a character who is supposedly a director from Hollywood, please let's have an American who can act, not an Australian who can't. Go on, spring for a few won and do it right. (The Japanese language bits seemed OK, however.)
This is an entertaining show overall, but too long and too full of irritating tropes that need to be retired. And it doesn't play better with age in the era of Me Too.
