Is it just me or is MBC Wed-Thurs drama W: Two Worlds gone spectacularly cuckoo in the last few episodes. With three more episodes left until it wraps up, what started off as an exhilarating fresh narrative ride has turned into bizarre nonsense even by fantasy element standards. It’s such a shame as Lee Jong Seok is doing so well in selling his character Kang Chul’s smorgasboard of emotions and experiences, but I really can’t take the drama seriously anymore and with it my interest is seeping away like a big hole at the bottom of a barrel. Happily I can still gaze adoringly at Lee Jong Seok as he graces the pages of High Cut Magazine, looking like Kang Chul whipped out his late fall attire to hang around the house. Perhaps that’s enough to finish up W, the chance to see what outfits Kang Chul will wear for the remaining three episodes.
He is the ‘wink’ master. The picture with blue coat is my favorite one.
It has certainly gone cuckoo. I’m disappointed because I actually thought that the writer knew a bit of philosophy in the first (four) episodes…
She knows how physics works, way better than average Asian drama writers, specifically those time-travel suckers. LOL
She may know physics (not sure about that) and a bit of philosophy (that is sure), but she certainly lacks one very important skill as a fiction writer: and that is coherence.
As I said, it’s not an easy job to flesh out plots of complex concepts with merely 16 episodes. It’s too much to handle all the wild elements. It is not an easy watch like most popular but fluffy dramas and will not work for average audience. But to some viewers like me, we enjoy the the process to ponder on the reasoning behind writer’s ideas. The chaos as a result of inadequate clarification of the narrative doesn’t hinder me from appreciating the watching experience.
Only ppl who know Relativity Theory know what I refer to. LOL
Surely, not easy, but this is a drama (form of art): her not being able to be coherent, reminds me of a painter who has an image in his/her mind but doesn’t even know how to mix the colours (would you even call him/her a painter?)
As for her drama theories, I tend to think that those are “the emperor’s new clothes”, actually (rather than her being a genius). She should have stuck to philosophy. LOL
It’s not for everyone as one commenter said. Personally, I appreciate the plot and the writer’s writing style A LOT. DotS is still my fave in 2016 so far just given the overall gratifying watching experience for myself. But plot wise, DotS has nothing much for me to rave about, not comparable to Beautiful Mind nor W. We love dramas for different reasons. I understand why W appears incoherent and messy for some viewers. But some drama fans including me really appreciate all the intertwined and wild elements in the plot development. It has flaws that mostly are attributed to a limited number of episodes to convey such complicated concepts, imo. Still, I applaud the writer for her(his?) attempt to jump out of the box and stay away from cliches. Besides, I’m a sci-fi sucker and fantasy trash. LOL
Oh, DotS had almost no plot. That is sure. But I still loved it.
“We love dramas for different reasons.”
Certainly. I’m more interested in characters, writing style, format rather than the plot (of course, a drama would be complete with an nice plot…). And as I like Han Hyo Joo and Lee Jong Seok, I wanted it to be a character-driven drama.
I actually like fantasy (you mentioned somewhere Lord of the Rings – that is one of my favourite books, and Tolkien, yes, he was a genius), but not science-fiction (you also mentioned Star Trek – I never liked that one).
I watch w about 2 episode but i don’t like it, may be because i don’t like really like fantasy but nine time travel is exception i love it very much n it still one of the best korean drama i ever watch,i see the writer is the same person n i also love her other drama the three musketeers, i thought i could love this drama too but i’m wrong
Still with it although very confused. I loved Nine Time Travel, but there was also a point where I just got lost. I’ll stick with it till the end.
The show is obviously not for every one. I love it to pieces at least to episode 12. Everything’s great and clear to me.
For the newest episode I have reservations but I am willing to hold the doubt for a little while.
Miss Koala, have you seen the news that LJS will go into filming the movie VIP after W and play a serial killer at that!
Nope! Koala, I don’t think you are the only one who could be fazed out by the bizarre plot development in the last few episodes. But I’m fantasy trash, plus an action drama sucker. I love films like Star War, Star Trek, and Lord of the Rings. My understanding of Relativity Theory in Physics tells me that while time travel is albeit theoretically impossible, coexistence of different space dimensions with distortion of time frame are all plausible in theory. That’s why I’m so fascinated by W and amazed at the writer’s sensible imagination. Has she ever studied classical physics or quantum mechanics or what? The only qualm I have about the recent episodes is that the narrative was kinda forced to take a ride on a speed train and the story was delivered in a sloppy hurry, to the point, a lot of reasoning behind the unthinkable development all relied on LJS’s dull narration. LJS was reduced to an emotionless moderator in a monotone to explain what had been going on. But this is perhaps the common weakness shared by many K dramas under live shooting. In a sense, for a fantasy drama like this with fanatic imagination beyond common sense, 16 eps are not enough to flesh out the story. W should have been delivered like Star War or Star Trek sequels. W has a fantastic and innovative storyline. Unfortunately, the narrative is too rich to fully deliver with merely 16 episodes.
+1 agree on all points. The recent personality change and look is a little to drastic for me to get over. I understand the reset but not the personal reset. The only understanding is bad guys are changing the characters but the writer has not explained anything yet.
I also think having flash backs, dream sequences and future sequence all in a time travel show has become to much to understand.
My prediction for last episode was that it was all a dream except for the first 6mins or so . I have a feeling the politician guy had Kang kidnapped whole time. When they show female lead at hospital talking about getting out of surgery is start of dream. Someone posted screen shots of Kang being tied to chair and on table the tablets can be seen with the bad guy.
He was a model after all. That tells everything about his pictorial.
Is everyone kidding me, W is like the best drama this year for me along side Signal imo. I understand ep 13 got me nervous but pls appreciate the spetacular writing of Song jae jung and the stellar acting of the actors. Well i guess cheesy people wont like that kind of drama but pls it’s a masterpiece
Just because people think the drama isn’t that great you call them cheesy? W has more fanservice than a lot of the “cheesy romance” dramas I have seen.
Your masterpiece can’t get the rating that a young saeguk drama got after 2 weeks? Clearly not many people agree with you
Well ratings isn’t generally an indicator of quality (see Beautiful Mind, I Remember You, and even Sungkyunkwan Scandal). Shows like W don’t tend to attract new viewers as you can’t just start watching the drama midway through its run. Frankly, I’m happy as it is that it retained most of its viewership up to this point.
This isn’t a diss on Moonlight, though. I really love that show and it deserves the high ratings.
@Kisskiss rating doesn’t indicate the rating but what people want to watch. There are a lot of similarities between Doctor and Moonlight which is the reason they have good ratings. But the later deserves the high rating because you like it and the other one doesn’t?
You are such a joke!
Please stop putting down other shows and their fans just because you don’t enjoy it.
@EK Since when have I put down Doctors? I never even mentioned it. Please stop being so defensive just because I said that Beautiful Mind is a good drama (which it is) that got poor ratings (which it did).
I’m sorry if you take being cheesy is an abuse but everyone is liable to an opinion and i just gave mine. Most people can’t think along with the show, am saying if it’s a mess for you, it’s not for others. In simple words *it’s not for everyone*
And to correct you as much as I like Moonlight, it will surely get more ratings bcus it is simple to watch and w is much more complicated but still Is going down as a hit I think. And if I remember Pinocchio never passed 13% but still considered a hit
No signal is something else, W is a mess right now!
Since ppl brought it up, I have to say honestly. Yup! Signal is something else. It’s hella boring. LOL.
why is it that any one that said they didn’t like W or understands it becomes a hater or someone who only likes cheesy storylines? can’t someone voice their opinion again? I love the drama but when people say they don’t like the drama,I don’t attack them and start calling them out for liking cheesy stories. it’s their opinion. they’re free to express it. just becos u like/love it does not mean others should too.
At first i thought it was about philosophy and metaphysic but it’s about physics. I find it interesting because i’m a fan of DR Who but i can’t stop to feel a bit disapointed …As a very old graduate of philosophy and french and spanish literature i was fond of a theory where the 2nd world was the representation of what fans and antis wanted for the webtoon they were reading over the years. A world where they are the creators. When you read a book you create your own vision of it . That’s why reading is so magical. And it explain fan’s war when there’s a live adaptation of it !
I love W, but I find myself scratching my head several times… e.g. it wasn’t very clear where W volume 34 ended, I thought the show indicated that it ended with the suicide at the Han river and got confused how he could have read about the “10 sweet things a day” thing… a viewer had to explain that it didn’t end there, if you paid attention to the scene where he reads the cartoon.
How come YJ was summoned to the cartoon world after it was reset? Was it really Kang Chul’s subconscious who called her or was it the killer? At first I thought it was the first, but then later when she found herself summoned in the bad congressman’s office it was indicated that it might have been the killer who’d summoned her??? Still quite unclear on that point.
And the latest episode about Kang Chul being able to summon the cartoon characters to the real world by thinking of them that was a big “WTF” for me. I mean he’s been thinking about the real killer so many times in the real world, how come the killer was only summoned that one time then? Shouldn’t it have happened way earlier?
I’m still very much investigated, but I hope I won’t get another head scratch for the remaining 3 episodes 😛
I mean I’m stil very much invested in the show emotionally! How did I even make that typo…
That doesn’t appear nonsensical to me. It’s about the power of will of those creatures in the cartoonists’ world (who appear to be the creators of the world W and should be more superior in terms of intelligence and the power to put things under control). It does imply those who live in the creators’ world do have ability to wield their power over those being created. But at the same time, those who are created are also given their freedom of will and they certainly can strive to change their fates or anything to some degrees. This is a very interesting concept.
There’s no question that the coexistence of two different space dimensions with time distortion is all possible according to Relativity Theory in Physics. The rest of the concepts behind this fantasy drama are about the power struggle between creator(s) and those who are being made. The drama is pretty religious from my perspectives.
I thought I was the only one who got premonitions of things going south maybe 2.5 episodes ago? Glad to see that I’m not. It felt like the writing got too smart for it’s own good. Too many plot twists that changed the “rules” of the world/story one too many times.
But I’ll still watch with the hope that it will all make narrative sense in the end. But I’m getting myself ready that it won’t LOL.
This is actually the first time I’ve watched LJS and he came across more manly than what he looks like LOL! I haven’t seen the female lead before either and she’s impressed me.
I love W and i love HHJ and LJS. I am watching it as soon as it is aired and understanding the reasoning behind each episodes.
However, i find myself losing interest and i am not sure why. Maybe because the break during the Olympics forced me to search for other dramas and Just One Smile Is Alluring as well as Moonlight Drawn by Clouds totally catch my full attention. These 2 dramas are not just romance dramas, we learn about the world of game players and the steps in developing games and in the other, it is loaded with history. The koreans nevet fail to impress me with the richness of their sageuk dramas (costume, language, backdrops..)
This is one of the times where i agree with koala. I am losing interest in W extremely fast.
Woohoo, here I found another fan of One Smile Is Very Alluring. Am a fan of the original novel. I’m so satisfied that the drama adaptation doesn’t deviate much from the original and the lines are almost 100% in line with the book. The movie version left much disappointment to the majority fans of the book. But this drama makes it up. Yang Yang is like 100% Da Shen. LOL
BTW, One Smile Is Very Alluring isn’t a K drama, but a Chinese drama.
I am fan of scifi and love everything about W and LJS. W is the only drama I watch at the moment. I agree W is not for everyone.
I love W!! I’m in love with every second of it and it’s the BEST drama for me!! 😀
Lee Jong Seok looks great!! he’s really talented and charming and cute all at once!! I love him so much!! 😀
W was not able to sustain the interest of the peeps till the end.
It messed up somewhere, no wonder the ratings stopped moving for awhile and now the down trend.
Waiting for next drama to watch.
Yes, agree.
W drama kinnda messy to the end, i am confused, W should be pre produced drama.., why so many drama good in the beginning but mess in the end?
This drama not well executed, I agree with koala, I lost interest in W, I dropped it in ep 9 🙁 totally disappointed 🙁
I am enjoying W because of it’s unpredictability. I never know what is going to happen and it’s a definite roller coaster. I gave up trying to understand the rules of how they travel between the real and manhwa world and am just enjoying it as is. Although there are some plot holes, it’s nice to watch a different type of storyline without clichés. However i am not saying clichés are bad because I am enjoying Cinderella an the four knights just as much which has every cliche in the drama books.
@Anneakemi
Same with me. I like drama that is unpredictable and with story that is not common.
Yes in the beginning, but bad in the last, you say good because lee jong suk is your bias 🙂
LOL i’m not his fans but i love W
LJS is not my bias either. But this is the drama I’ve enjoyed most since DotS and Beautiful Mind.
W drama turn to be flop, lost interest btw!
in what way? then all of the kdramas below 10% is a flop. hate with logic!!!!!!!!
And W is at 11.9% so I’m not sure what you’re talking about.
The premise of W is very interesting and in the beginning absolutely thought provoking. The parts I liked best wasn’t the romance but the question of man’s existence, our world as we know it and those conversations between the creator and his creation. It reminded me of the Book of Job.
But at some point, I lost interest. I am still watching but not as excited about it as I was in the beginning. The show may not be perfect or a success in terms of ratings. However, give me this type anytime over successes like Doctors. I cut more slack for writers who dare to be different and are creative. Explore new things or those which seldom ventured. It can be a hit or miss. I’d say going by my observation, there are more misses. Viewers are generally not very receptive to unfamiliar themes or new ones.
I’ve always like Lee Jong Seok since IHYV but this is the first time, I found fault in his acting. I can’t pin point exactly what it is. Anyway, he’s one of those whom I can still watch, warts and all.
I disagree.
i like LJS’s acting is more calm like manga character in this show, and his voice totally charming. in IHYV i found his acting a bit overacting.
W and Doctors are completely opposite. One fantasy and the other is reality.
Doctors is teaching moral lessons and show character growth as well as human relationship. Their character is realistic and mature which you don’t have in W
It’s all about prefrence. No one expected Doctors did well and it’s a sleeper hit but people keep putting it down as it’s the worst drama ever.
You might like W but clearly Korea viewer enjoyed Doctors more.
Why so butthurt about it?
Please read my post again. Obviously, I was stating my personal preference.
TBH, I did hesitate writing down “Doctors” because I was quite certain I’d be called a hater just for mentioning the drama. But I went ahead. Why should I walk on eggshells when I am just stating what works for me and what doesn’t? I mentioned Doctors because it was a success. Heck, I even acknowledged it. I just didn’t think it was good. If I were to go on and describe what I really think about the drama, you might burst a vessel.
When is Doctors reality? Bcos of cheesy and cringe worthy student-teacher romance that is moral in your virtuous definition? LOL.
Nobody is putting down Doctors. It’s all personal preference. As Doctors’ fans sing praises all the time, other viewers are also entitled to express their unfavorable opinions about the drama. Nothing to be butthurt about. It’s not like we don’t have a life and have to be emotionally attached to dramas. LOL You are over defensive and over sensitive.
Um… I have to disagree with Koala and many of the commenters here. The plot going cuckoo is inherently built into the premise, and so far all the rules and corresponding consequences of playing with those rules make logical sense. The plot is falling off a cliff, but in a way that makes sense given previously established rules. It IS the kind of drama that requires your 100% attention though as no detail is too small in this writer’s world-building.
It’s definitely not a flop. Ratings are still in the double digits, it’s first in its timeslot, and it tops online viewership charts as well as encourages vigourous (and positive) discussion in Korean SNS. However, this kind of detail-oriented, plot-driven drama isn’t the designed to attract new viewers this late into its run. I’m not surprised at the stagnant ratings.
Well said @kisskiss
as usual,let’s bring down Doctors. why can’t people leave Doctors alone. u would have just praise W without mentioning Doctors. don’t know why u feel the need to compare them when they are totally diff. dramas,nor did it air on the same time slot.
They can’t let go because their masterpiece doesn’t have the ratings Doctors had….
My fave so far this year is DotS. Rating wise, Doctors is still far away from DotS. LOL…Nevertheless, there’re many viewers critical of DotS and I think it’s fine.
To me, it’s Doctors’ fans being over sensitive and defensive over unfavorable opinions about Doctors. Are you all satisfied only when everyone raves about it to the moon and back? LOL again.
Just finished ep 13. I had no trouble following the logic or the narrative. The suspense was still interesting enough for me to look forward new episodes. Again, for a drama with complex concepts like W, 16 episodes are not enough to make it easier for many viewers to follow. But I love the complexity, the unthinkable possibility, the wild imagination, and how all the wackiness and craziness about existence of another space are actually explicable by physics I love and had studied for more than a decade. This drama has the deepest philosophy about human being as human being among all the K dramas I’ve watched. Brilliant writer!
look forward *to new episodes.
I hate typing on smart phone.
I think one of the wonders of W it isn’t afraid to explore all plot possibilities while still being tethered to its internal logic. If Chul and other major characters can summon people into the manhwa by thinking/obsessing about them, it makes perfect sense that they can also summon people into to the real world using the same mechanics. When you ask why, the show asks back “Given what we’ve shown you, why not?” And for me, it’s just magical.
I felt the same way with Nine and Signal. May be I should give Queen Inhyun’s man a shot.
You should. I loved Queen Inhyun’s Man. After W, I think I’ll always check out this writer’s work. Although my initial obsession died down somewhat, I still think this is one of the more interesting and exciting shows of the year.
Forgot to add, I felt a lot more vested in the OTP in QIHM than in W. I think the romance was really good in that one and I’m not one who is usually crazy over such things.
It’s the writer’s plotting ideas intriguing me most in W, although I also like the cast and the directing in general. For me, the actor who plays the cartoonist/murderer was incredible in the most recent episodes and stole the thunder from the main cast. I have devil crush. LOL
Ppl won’t be taken aback and confused by the summon concepts if they are familiar with all the cross-space mind games in the critically acclaimed classical sci-fi, Star Trek. Hahaha…I don’t remember where and when I watched the rebroadcast of this very old drama series. But I’m sure I was fascinated by these novel ideas the first time. The ideas weren’t very original since mind power idea was already explored decades ago by British writer and scholar, Tolkien, in his classic fantasy the Lord of the Rings.
I gave up for W, I dont know maybe W not my cup of tea 🙁
I thk there’s mainly 3 group s of people for W. First group who loves the drama for its niche plotthe guessing game and totally invested in the character. Second group who finds the plot too much too complicated and too many elements to comprehend ending up disliking and maybe droped the drama. This group who is ambivalent may continue to watch to find out what happens next or will shelve to watch it later or don’t care to watch at all. I’m in the first group. The drama checked many boxes in my list. I may not comprehend all the plotlines but I believe some will be nicely addressed by the last episode. There alot going on but it’s always interesting. I rather watch one that has meaty plots than dramas that don’t have much going on. But it’s always a matter of taste and W is not everyone’s cup of tea
Lee Jong suk is one hell of a specimen.
Loving W to death!
Couldn’t agree more Koala. The show seems like losing its momentum and the plot seems like going round in circle. I have loss my interest eventually despite how much I love Han Hyo Joo. That’s the thing about K-dramas, some may seems promising only to let you down at later stage due to the writings not yet clearly mapped out and running against time due to the live-shoot system. It’s a waste and no wonder the ratings not getting any higher, even decreasing these last 2 weeks.
These days i’ve lost interest in lot of dramas. They begin with promising épisodes and let you down later. (Doctors, W, 38 unit task….
It seems very hard to find a drama that can sustain your interest from the beginning till the end. I would prefer a drama that off to a slow start and picking up the momentum and gets better as the episodes progress.