Finally! Been waiting for this, I'm still doubting if I should watch this, because I don't want to be depressed if this has a sad ending, but I'll read the recaps in the meantime.

If a man child character is not off putting enough, somebody thinks it is a good idea to play the same character three times in a row 🤷‍♀️
For now I stay for the mystery unfold but if he is irritating enough. He will be the reason I drop this drama.

I watched the first 2 episodes and decided to drop. The premise is interesting but the execution isn't. Plus the lead actors don't have the acting chops or the charisma to carry off their roles.

I wasn’t sure e what to make of this drama. We had a first episode with a childish dumb male lead, like a cute puppy and before we knew, he has a cardiac tumor and he is dead. And now his body is possessed. I wasn’t sure what to make of this. Are we supposed to forget this character?

And then episode 2 happened. Apparently, the body is like a hard disk and memories can be retrieved by possessed soul anytime. So, now we are to think they both are kinda there in that body?

And the whole connection to the past came across as lacklustre. It did nothing for me. I didn’t feel any emotional connect at any point in time. The scenes from the last seem to erratic and don’t provide the depth it’s supposed to. And what’s with a random walkway decor appearing in his house so it connects to the past??

I didn’t feel the leads chemistry either. Its ep 2 and she is already affected by him!! Why? Because she saved him!

And when you hear the ML say ‘I am figuring out what I am capable of, too’ sounds like the writer is saying ‘I am going to keep making up rules as I go’.

I like Kim Young Dae, so I am conflicted about dropping this. I would have liked if both versions were alive so we had his two faces appear randomly. With one dead, I am not sure how this will get resolved. Possibly, he will die again.

My comments are only based on Ep 1 because its a drop from me.

The FL's profession as fire fighter brought back the trauma of watching "First Responders S1" drama. Thats started off the negative points for this drama.

The ML's character is neither funny nor sympathetic. There goes another minus because nothing was shown in Ep 1 for the audience to root for their characters.

"I can act in an historical drama" statement by Han Joon Oh feels like a meta of his real life as an actor. I am yet to see him improve from his "Extraordinary You" kdrama days. He should stop taking lead roles and hone his skills with supporting roles.

Pyo Ye Jin is so pretty in the historical costume and seems to pulling more than her weight because both her co-star and script seem to be lacking the charm.

I think they completely missed the story telling with these 2 episodes.

I wished they focused only on the silla period and the couple. Like that, we could have understood the anger of the ghost and their relationship, then, handling the present timeline.

There are a lot of question, did she commit suicide or not? If she did, she shouldn't have been reincarnated. How did he find her reincarnations? Why he stayed as ghost form? Just because he was angry she did what he let her do in the first place? Did he forget he hanged her family?

But in this case, we got 4 different characters we didn't understand really well, the actors didn't have any chemistry so there was no angst just weird interactions.

It's the easy solution that the ghost got all the informations he needed from the body. The guy is dead or not?

I'm not convinced by the actors neither.

There was a nice, brief moment between the brothers Jun Oh and Min Oh at the hospital. I wanted to see more of that relationship explored, but Do Ha replacing Jun Oh put a halt on that.

Not feeling the romance yet. I'm confused that he actually fell for her and let his guard down, knowing she is out for revenge. And he has the audacity to be soooo angry at her when he had killed her family??

Haven't seen Kim Young Dae and Pyo Ye Jin as leads and I like them both so I was curious about them here. Her character is fine. Nothing spectacular.

I wasn't expecting the ghostly actions so that was fun. And all of Do Ha's eye rolls & annoyed faces.

So far, low stakes with this drama. Will continue with it some more.

1/2
And the award for “#7: The Character who most screams for mental health care.“ goes to~!!!

*Came back wrong trope* but it ain't him that came back at all.

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*cracks knuckles* Patented Minority Opinion? Maybe. I apologise for nothing. No disclaimer we die like Kim Young Dae…. wait

This premise was never going to be my cup of tea, as I’ve been pretty vocal about, so it will come as a surprise to literally nobody, including myself, that I was not a fan of. This. *gestures vaguely*

But I also think that this is poorly edited, poorly written, poorly directed and the first two episodes have confirmed my feelings that KYD is incredibly miscast in this.
(I think he is perfectly serviceable in the right role, but alas, I also think those right roles have nothing to do with Sageuks, or anything that requires him to be taken seriously, at all, either by the show, his character, or by me the viewer.)

I was teased, mercilessly, by the first 10 minutes, and then thrown through an editing blender to an very poorly directed present, wherein Kim Young Dae hammed up a much worse, much brattier and much more annoying (id est, not endearingly annoying in the slightest) version of his Shooting Stars character - who is only really sympathetic in that he’s probably going to end up as a plot device and currently has a ghost desecrating his dead body - and Pyo Ye Jin got Zero Character Set Up. Who is she, beyond a star firefighter who saves a lot of people and wants to go to Antarctica? Beats me. I also want to go to Antarctica.

I desperately wished for the return to Silla and the deaththroes of Gaya, that I was willing to take even with the inaccurate swords (the horror) and campy Orpheus and Euridice revenge story, because… well, we’re 3K trash, who doesn’t know that by now.

Alas, this show seems intent on administering my Silla therapy shots in the dreaded flashback formula, as I initially feared, and doing so in an equally poorly executed manner at that.

And then episode 2 came along.

Do Ha slipping back into Sageuk Dialect* all the time would be a lot funnier if, you know, KYD could actually speak it properly, and if his delivery didn’t… uhm, suck.
The directing and music are additionally compensating hard core for his lack of gravitas in serious, or in this case, attempted threatening or creepy roles.

If KYD as a worse version of Tae Sung was doing nothing for me, then KYD as a creepy obsessed ghost with a 1500 year long vendetta (that currently makes no sense, and in the future I have my doubts either), also currently inhabiting a dead man’s body, who, the show has assured us, is actually dead, but who’s body’s memories are also doing some haunting of their own, and is also… still dying of cancer… is not doing anything for me either... TO BE CONT.

One of the reasons I'm not crazy about reincarnation fantasies is that the past character's influence on her/his reincarnated self always becomes totally determinative. If Rowoon's character killed his love in the past, in the present he is haunted by a bloody hand who is going to kill him (rather, than, say, leaving him with a vague feeling that he should be considerate to women) If Kim Young Dae's character was killed by Pyo Ye-Jin's character in revenge, then in the present he has to kill her to have revenge on her.

Instead of being subtle about the influence of the past on the present, its totally simpleminded, in an annoying way, because whenever a show needs to extend itself, the rules about the influence of reincarnation are changed, again in a way that totally determines the present.

As someone who worked for decades as a historian, I have nothing against shows that are about the influence of the past on the present. In fact, I kind of like time travel fantasies, like Twinkling Watermelon, that have the characters going back in the past and emerging with a greater understanding of their present lives, or that show how contingent human events are, on small or chance occurrences; or most realistically, that show how going back a year can allow a beautiful heroine to have a passionate relationship with a hot guy rather than a loveless marriage with a milksop.

To me, so far this show is an example of the worst kind of reincarnation fantasy. In fact after the second episode I am actually wanting the male lead to die by the end. Its not the actors fault--its the writers, who I think wrote school textbooks on penmanship in their past lives, and by the rules of reincarnation, that's the extent of their imagination.

That said, I will probably watch a few more episodes of this, just to see how bad it gets.

SWORD RANT:

At best, the precursors to the style of sword PYJ uses to kill KYD with, that is, this style of Korean and Japanese curved, single edged sword specifically, started appearing in the 8th century, roughly the same time as the curved Turko-Mongol sabre.

But they did not look like this. Even early curved Chinese Dao did not look like this.

You get a bit closer to this in the 10th century, with the development of the precursor to the Tachi, the kenukigata-tachi, in Japan.
But that’s only a bit. And that’s still 400 years off par. Four. Hundred.

At worst, this is … a Wakizashi. Because, for some reason that I truly cannot fathom, it doesn’t look like a full-length sword, and appears to be roughly 50 cm in blade length… the correct length for a wakizashi, and NOT the correct length for any kind of tanto, or a hwando, the Korean equivalent of the katana, (although even if it was either it would still be the wrong period by give or take again at the shortest 400, or 600 years respectively), and it is indeed still curved, and single edged.
Which is very weird, because as far as I know, Korea did not really have an equivalent to the wakizashi, and also the wakizashi is from the 15th and 16th centuries, at the earliest, which is 1000 years off mark. ONE THOUSAND.

That is roughly the equivalent of putting a modern handgun in a medieval setting, just to give you an idea of how outrageously out of place this is.

The time difference between the Silla annexation of Gaya in the 6th century and the middle of feudal era Japan, is the same as us, right now, and the Battle of Hastings.

WHY IS THERE A WAKIZASHI IN SILLA

My goodness, the comments on this one are "Way Harsh," lol. I didn't find it that bad, but I will say I noted that this drama would be different if I truly understood the variances of the Korean language from period to period. I don't, all I have are the subtitles and they do show those variances. Sicarius's explanation below makes me sort of glad I don't understand because it sounds like it would be terrible. I don't hate the drama, so maybe I'll continue watching, especially since it is wed-thurs drama, so basically empty because A good day to be a dog picks and chooses when to be on.

Believe it or not, your @lovepark your ecap was wonderful, and almost reeled me in. Then I checked it out. The first ten minutes are fabulous, oanoramic fight scenes, the kind that knocks you off.
And then - it sinks, much like the car.
Wrong casting can make or break something, and unfortunately, this seems to be that. No chemistry but more than that, no acting :-(
The man died and he has such bland eyes looking over his own dead body that I started laughing. Even the beautiful Pyo Ye Jin looking very beautiful in her costumes does not do much. Maybe too much emotions much to early without much context? Don't know.
Sigh! It's a drop (I never meant to start it anyway because of Kim Young-dae, but now I won't feel bad because I at least gave it a try).

I love this show already. I have zero intentions of taking it seriously, I'm just gonna enjoy the crazy ride.

I like that the one that got killed by their lover was the guy. And I like that the one FL saved him in this lifetime (the present).

I like how they have totally different conversations (he's talking about his plans to kill her and she's talking about him being "sick"/inestable).
I LOVE the manager and I feel bad for the hyung (I'm kinda scared of his too).

And I don't blame the FL for googling if Joon Oh has a gf, because if a cute actor starts chasing me I would probably do the same.
And can we talk about the fact that she's a firefighter with zero casualties?? Our girl is a badass.

I felt bad when they talked about her trauma. I'm glad the talisman helped her.

And I was thinking about the lack of logic in Do Ha's plan. But I guess that if you have to wait 1500 years to reincarnate, you're memories will mix, your braincells will die and you'll want to kill the first person in front of you and be sent to hell, heaven or wtv. LOL

Anyway, I just want the show to keep the chaotic energy. I want to have fun! And I hope we get a mix of Joon Oh and Do Ha, because they're both hilarious in their own ways.

Ha! I tricked myself into enjoying these episodes: after reading first impressions on the fan wall, I went in with super low expectations. Actually, I wasn’t even sure whether I still wanted to start watching at all, but now that I did… what can I say? It’s fun!!! 😆

These things that entertained me the most:
* The short shot of the FL rummaging drunk outside the restaurant was *chef’s kiss* (Was it shot with a selfie stick?)
* The switching of the voice by the ML! Love the deep voice for Do ha, with the bratty higher one for Junoh. (I imagine this was fun to do for KYD.) No mistake who you’re dealing with, either. Easy acting device, but effective nonetheless.
* The apartment of the ML is insanely insane. Just keep a dead tree next to your white furnished “islands” in your living room, why don’t you? (Even weirder than the portraits of himself - alas, as we all know, it’s like this in all idol homes.)
* The whole revenge plot makes no sense. The whole brooding love to hate you situation of the ML makes no sense. So what?! I still want to see how it plays out!

Also disclaimer: I’m happily oblivious to the language and other details which are not appropriate to the era. So this doesn’t bother me (but I could imagine this to be distracting to knowledgeable watchers!). I haven’t read the webtoon either. Maybe that’s why I still find this entertaining? 🤔

I'm not that negative yet, I just don't understand why the nobleman DoHa resembles the deceased Jun Ho.
I liked the fight scenes in the beginning.
I wonder about further development

I can't stop thinking about someone's comment here back when some of the promotional pictures dropped. The poster expressed hope the cheap plastic armour Do Ha was wearing was just JunHo's acting gear from within the story in the 21 century, not the actual fighting equipment used in battle. That must have coloured my perception because while watching the opening scenes I couldn't focus on much except the horrible armour >_<

Went in with little expectations and am more intrigued than I thought I would be. I almost gave up when they started off with the Silla war scenes, even though I've been complaining about how sageuks are so Joseon-focused. The subsequent Silla scenes were more interesting, mostly because of Pyo Ye-jin's acting.

I think the drama could have gone with a darker, more eerie tone. I think it's trying to lean more the usual rom-com fantasy, so it feels awkward...like square peg into a round hole.. Possessed Jun-ho is totally that creepy stalker in other rom-coms - the evil eunuch in Goblin, the evil gardener in Destined with You, the obsessed serial killer guy in From Now On Showtime.

I read a little of the webtoon and it also does the half-past and half-present distribution of scenes which stalls the pacing. Other than that, the webtoon is quite different with the webtoon Young-hwa being neighbors with the two brothers (Junho in high school and Munho and Young-hwa in college and have crushes on each other).

I miss the weak, dumb-as-a-rock OG Jun-ho though. Possessed Jun-ho is a little boring. I was half-hoping the drama will just decide to play to Kim Young-dae's comedic strengths and do some fish-out-of-water hijinx.

Not sure if i will stick with it until the end, but for now looking forward to just going for the ride since it is interesting to see how the romance will pan out if one is intent on killing the other but physically can't.

I gave this the two episode test and its not working for me. The story was interesting but the execution of the story is all over the place. Its trying to be a lot of things at once - melo, saguek, supernatural thriller and romcom. The storytelling is also weak. I was hoping to like the Silla part of the story but it felt mediocre. Also I like both actors but they don't have the magnetic chemistry that this type of story needs. Most importantly, I do not understand Do Ha's motivations. As much as I didn't like the shallow and dumb Jun Oh, I don't understand how the possession works. It seems like Jun Oh died when he did so the things that Do Ha remembers in JO's body are JO's memories that were retained? How could the memories be kept when JO died? It seems like I have to check my brain at the door before I watch this.
I just do not feel any empathy for either character, JO or Do Ha. I like the FL, but I think its not enough for me to sit through this show.

Man now I kinda really do wish they left "Moon During the Day" alone as the perfect webtoon it was or at least got a better cast (cough, Junho, cough). I will say though that Pyo Ye-jin is really saving the show and honestly they could've made it work by making Lee Jun-ho Doha and Kim Young-dae Jun-oh since they weren't supposed to look alike anyway. The casting choice was a big problem and also how far they veered off track from the actual webtoon storyline. I did like the Silla scenes just like how I absolutely LOVED all the Doha + Hanrita scenes in the webtoon and that's the only other high point. But so far, ENA is doing pretty well with their first historical drama so I'll see how it plays out :)

I'm glad this adaptation was made. I have never read a webtoon in my life and I don't want to. I liked the first two episodes, despite the chaotic script, jumping between events from today and events from 1,500 years ago. But this is usually a problem in Korean dramas, which have poor editors and, in addition, drama creators insist on not adding information in what year certain events take place. Sometimes simply writing "1,500 years ago", "2023", "a week later", etc. significantly increases the comfort of watching the drama. What I like most about this drama is the fact that it is not a story about lovers separated by fate and "missing each other for millennia", but about lovers who have committed terrible things against each other. He killed her family, she killed him. This gives rise to an interesting scenario where hate will fight love and a happy ending is impossible. I'm a bit fed up with sweet, simple stories about good, morally pure characters. I hope that the drama will have a juicy scenario, ending with a tragedy, which, in my opinion, the first two episodes promise.

Thank you for the recap! So far, I'm into the show. It's my favorite time in a kdrama - the beginning, when I have no idea what's going on and the show is throwing all kinds of stuff at me. Usually by episode 4 I either love the show or decide it's bonkers and I'm going to enjoy the ride.

So far I am okay with the show, despite a little hiccups in the introduction; since it has only 2 episodes. I will continue watching up to the 4th episode to decide whether I need to drop or continue to watch because fanfasy/reincarnation saeguk isn't my cup of tea.

Unexpectedly I like the show. Pretty weird that I like this one more then The Matchmakers, so far, but who knows both will be good or bad later, I hope not not the later. This week is a busy bee week with so many good dramas, I love it, it's been so long since I have it!