1.
KOOGLE TV
https://koogle.tv/media/news/song-joong-ki-and-rain-get-shirtless-for-new-dramas/
Song Joong Ki and Rain Get Shirtless for New Dramas
Robert Young, Feb. 25, 2016, 1 p.m.
Song Joong Ki and Rain displayed their glistening, wet abs in their new dramas! The first episodes for KBS 2TV’s “Descendants of the Sun” and SBS’ “Please Come Back, Mister” were broadcast showing Song Joong Ki and Rain in all of their shirtless glory. The drama “Descendants of the Sun” shows Song Joong Ki working out at the gym, showing off his fit body.
Rain wasn’t to be outdone however, as in his first episode, he did a short scene where he was completely naked with all of the Rated-R part being covered up. The two characters of each drama shocked viewers with their amazing physiques. Both of the dramas really captured viewer’s attention quickly, and hopefully they’ll keep up this exciting trend for the future episodes as well!
Song Joong-ki (born September 19, 1985) is a South Korean actor. He rose to fame with period drama Sungkyunkwan Scandal and variety show Running Man. Song played his first TV leading role in the melodrama The Innocent Man in 2012. He has also starred in feature films, notably as the titular character in the box office hit A Werewolf Boy.
Jung Ji-hoon (born June 25, 1982), better known by his stage name Rain, is a South Korean singer-songwriter, actor, and music producer. Rain's musical career includes seven albums (six Korean, one Japanese), 28 singles and numerous concert tours around the world. His acting career began in 2003, when he won the KBS Best New Actor award for his role in the drama Sang Doo! Let's Go To School.
Jung Ji-hoon (born June 25, 1982), better known by his stage name Rain, is a South Korean singer-songwriter, actor, and music producer. Rain's musical career includes seven albums (six Korean, one Japanese), 28 singles and numerous concert tours around the world. His acting career began in 2003, when he won the KBS Best New Actor award for his role in the drama Sang Doo! Let's Go To School.
2.
HANCINEMA
https://www.hancinema.net/hancinema-s-drama-preview-please-come-back-mister-91623.html
[HanCinema's Drama Preview] "Please Come Back, Mister"
[HanCinema's Drama Preview] "Please Come Back, Mister"
2016/02/20
Body swapping is nothing new in Korean drama, but you have to admit that the idea of turning Kim In-kwon and Kim Soo-ro into Rain and Oh Yeon-soo sounds very fun. The series is shaping up to be a hilarious and hopefully heartwarming one too, as "Please Come Back, Mister" deals with life and death situations quite literally.
Premise
Kim Yeong-soo (Kim In-kwon) and Han Gi-tak (Kim Soo-ro) return to the world of the living for a brief amount of time. Rather than returning as themselves, however, they end up in the bodies of Lee Hae-joon (Rain) and Han Hong-nan (Oh Yeon-soo), respectively. The two get to see familiar faces and have a chance to resolve their issues before moving on.
The Worrying
Ensemble Work
While the ensemble of Rain and each bump of his six-pack will no doubt be enjoyable for many, this is not the kind of ensemble we are speaking about here. Family dramas and dailies easily focus on many different leading characters. This is because those types of shows have a lot of time available and do not necessarily need intricate characterization and development. At 16-20 episodes, focusing on the entire lifetime of two individuals and those around them in a way it does them justice is a challenge.
Tonal and Content Balance
As many laughs as the promotional material brings, "Please Come Back, Mister" is still a story about two dead men who will eventually return to that state. There also seem to be some revenge elements involved. Balancing the comedy and melodrama will be crucial to such a story, but given Dramaland is repeatedly failing to do so as of late, it might end up as 2 episodes of non-stop laughter followed by constant crying.
The Reassuring
Easy Drama
Writing such a series in a way that is somber, but not soapy might be an unusual approach for this medium, but the premise holds enough potential for it. Life and death are very big concepts that everyone thinks about and can relate to. Showing the journey of two people as they look back at their life offers rich dramatic material, which good writing can really elevate and touch viewers' hearts with.
Honest Premise
As mentioned above, the rom-com genre is suffering in Korean drama. A lot of shows are promoted as light, but that lightness only lasts a few episodes, before everything turns into an amalgamation of pain, trauma, illness and tears. While the drama can still fail in combining its humor with its serous subject matter, at least the premise itself and promotion for it have not been dishonest, as they are for many shows. That honesty will hopefully be present throughout.
Final Thoughts
"Please Come Back, Mister" has a fun cast and an interesting premise. Its creators have done well with whimsical works before and should do well with such a drama if their mind and heart are devoted to telling a good story. This has all that it needs to be a warm, human and uplifting series.
"Please Come Back, Mister" begins its run on February 24th and will air every Wednesday and Thursday at 10 p.m., on SBS.
Written by: Orion from 'Orion's Ramblings'
3.
HANCINEMA
http://www.hancinema.net/hancinema-s-drama-review-please-come-back-mister-93800.html
[HanCinema's Drama Review] "Please Come Back, Mister"
2016/04/23
Korean dramas making abrupt changes is something audiences have grown used to, but one of the latest variations of this bad habit has been radically changing a drama's presentation and tone from the cheerful to the melodramatic very early on. "Please Come Back, Mister" felt like such a refreshing change to that. The drama does a lot of things well. Unfortunately, it also makes so many big mistakes that it ultimately ruins a lot of the good it had previously managed to build.
Kim Yeong-soo (Kim In-kwon) and Han Gi-tak (Kim Soo-ro) return to our world together after dying, in the hopes of closing unfinished business regarding their deaths and protecting their loved ones. Yeong-soo returns as Lee Hae-joon (Rain) and Gi-tak as Han Hong-nan (Oh Yeon-seo). Their time is limited and actions restricted, giving them little to work with as they fumble about in their new form.
Korean dramas making abrupt changes is something audiences have grown used to, but one of the latest variations of this bad habit has been radically changing a drama's presentation and tone from the cheerful to the melodramatic very early on. "Please Come Back, Mister" felt like such a refreshing change to that. The drama does a lot of things well. Unfortunately, it also makes so many big mistakes that it ultimately ruins a lot of the good it had previously managed to build.
Kim Yeong-soo (Kim In-kwon) and Han Gi-tak (Kim Soo-ro) return to our world together after dying, in the hopes of closing unfinished business regarding their deaths and protecting their loved ones. Yeong-soo returns as Lee Hae-joon (Rain) and Gi-tak as Han Hong-nan (Oh Yeon-seo). Their time is limited and actions restricted, giving them little to work with as they fumble about in their new form.
The drama's strong point is undoubtedly its portrayal of character bonds and interactions. I am not giving full credit to the writing here. In fact, the cast and their amazing chemistry, but also lovely portrayals in the roles handed to them help immensely. Very quickly into the series, the main characters felt like a big family. The drama's presentation plays a big role here too, as every personal moment is treated with honesty.
As I mention in the opening of this piece, the fact that "Please Come Back, Mister" remains balanced between its comedy and human drama without one subtracting value from the other is nothing short of a Dramaland oddity lately. The slapstick portions of the comedy do get ham-fisted at times, but things mostly work very well. Rain and Oh Yeon-seo have difficult roles to lead in and do incredibly well.
It feels like this is a series which originally had some very good intentions. Its topic of choice is an interesting one. What do we accomplish in life and how do our mistakes change the lives we touch during our existence and after it? Some of these points still hold despite the drama's issues. Even so, this is mostly a series without a plot or obvious goal and this has a tremendously negative impact when the time comes to wrap up.
The writing takes such an abrupt turn and not only uses cheap tropes badly written to form a semblance of a main plot, it makes choices that drain the meaning of its messages. The plot holes become so big, so obvious and the dialogue so messy that it becomes hard to keep up, for cast and viewers alike. The divine rules get bent out of internal reason and everything collapses.
"Please Come Back, Mister" has a lot of heart. As a viewer, I wanted nothing more than to love it and for a while, I did. Unfortunately, lazy writing coupled with very little to say or very clumsy ways of saying it leaves me disappointed in a series that could have been so much more.
"Please Come Back, Mister" is directed Sin Yoon-seob, written by Noh Hye-yeong, and features Rain, Kim Soo-ro, Kim In-kwon and Oh Yeon-seo.
Written by: Orion from 'Orion's Ramblings'
4.
HANCINEMA
http://www.hancinema.net/hancinema-s-drama-review-please-come-back-mister-episode-1-91773.html
[HanCinema's Drama Review] "Please Come Back, Mister" Episode 1
2016/02/24
Yeong-soo (played by Kim In-kwon) is a nebbish department store manager who belatedly realizes his bad night was in fact much worse than just a drunk blackout. He soon meets up with Gi-tak (played by Kim Soo-ro), an ex-convict turned chef who is now in the same mortal predicament. Together they...flash back to the days right before the opener, because as this is the first episode, "Please Come Back, Mister" has to explain its premise and more importantly, why we as viewers should care.
I'm not feeling very optimistic on that front so far. The one genuine laugh "Please Come Back, Mister" got from me was when the conductor rips Yeong-soo a new one about how even though the man means well, he screws up all the time by failing to follow through. Whereas Gi-tak has a legitimately good reason for finding himself in an otherworldly realm, Yeong-soo provoked his bad situation by committing an unnecessarily dangerous deed for no particularly good reason.
There is a fairly interesting parallelism there. Where Yeong-soo fails even the simplest promises to his wife Da-hae (played by Lee Min-jeong), Gi-tak ends up taking his oaths far too seriously when it comes to I-yeon (played by Lee Honey). What's especially fascinating is that the personalities of the female leads mirror their crosswise male counterparts. Where Da-hee is forceful and outspoken, I-yeon is a well-meaning woman who's constantly getting into messes based on her own poor judgment skills.
"Please Come Back, Mister" is another one of those dramas I don't remember liking that much when I actually watched it, but the material does improve significantly the more I think about it. While the main characters lack self-awareness, this is in fact their central character flaw. Observe how by the end Yeong-soo and Gi-tak have very impulsively decided to defy the natural order with no regard to long-term consequences to "set things right". But what if their personalities were the real problem all along?
That much is just speculation. Weirdly enough I felt this introductory episode was pretty unsatisfactory insofar as explaining the premise. The few characters we see who are clearly telegraphed as villains have only the most minimum level of personality, so I can't imagine any plot involving their nefarious schemes is going to be all that satisfactory. Even so, however we look at the situation, Yeong-soo and Gi-tak were responsible for their own deaths, and I don't see how "Please Come Back, Mister" can backtrack on this.
Review by William Schwartz
"Please Come Back, Mister" is directed by Sin Yoon-seob, written by Noh Hye-yeong and features Rain Kim Soo-ro, Kim In-kwon, Oh Yeon-seo, Lee Min-jeong, Lee Honey, Choi Won-yeong, Yoon Park and more
5.
HANCINEMA
http://www.hancinema.net/hancinema-s-drama-review-please-come-back-mister-episode-2-91811.html
[HanCinema's Drama Review] "Please Come Back, Mister" Episode 2
2016/02/25
Maya (played by Ra Mi-ran) is the individual in charge of sending dead people back to the world of living temporarily. She's frustrated by how Yeong-soo and Gi-tak have interrupted her planned vacation, and warns these two that the reliving process is a fairly unsatisfying one with many arbitrary rules. Following that Maya nonetheless plops Yeong-soo in the body of Hae-joon (played by Rain), and Gi-tak in the body of Hong-nan (played by Oh Yeon-seo).
I don't know what to make of Maya's rules. They're so rigidly defined it's hard to see how Yeong-soo and Gi-tak are supposed to be able to accomplish anything. Naturally dead people shouldn't be allowed to influence the living willy-nilly but even so, it seems like it would be pretty hard to have any kind of story unless Yeong-soo and Gi-tak can do something. Especially since so far their attempts to ingratiate themselves in the lives of loved ones comes off as unconvincing and forced.
Sometimes these moments even seem pretty blatantly hypocritical. Remember in the first episode when Yeong-soo was abused by an obnoxious customer and forced to suffer awful indignities? This time Yeong-soo returns the same favor to one of his antagonists, and I kept thinking throughout the scene how Yeong-soo was being a jerk. Whether the man in question deserved this treatment was besides the point for me- a person shouldn't waste cosmic gifts on acting petty.
The villains themselves are mostly just small-minded bullies, so the moral distinction here is fairly important. Gi-tak struggles to pick up basic information about what happened after his death, in the process picking fights with nearly everyone who walks across his path. While it's somewhat amusing watching Oh Yeon-soo bumble about with the personality of a massive gangster, in the end, we're looking at a person who thinks he can solve problems by punching people, oblivious to how this has not worked out that well for him in the past.
Maybe the challenge here is that Gi-tak is going to have to learn to play against type in order to do good. Given the trouble has has even getting I-yeon to hear him out, it's clear he's going to have to learn to be a better negotiator. As for Yeong-soo...his character journey appears to be limited to offering an excuse for the camera to linger all over Rain's manly chest. While there might be some visceral appeal to that, so far as story goes there's little of interest in "Please Come Back, Mister" as of yet.
Review by William Schwartz
"Please Come Back, Mister" is directed by Sin Yoon-seob, written by Noh Hye-yeong and features Rain Kim Soo-ro, Kim In-kwon, Oh Yeon-seo, Lee Min-jeong, Lee Honey, Choi Won-yeong, Yoon Park and more
6.
HANCINEMA
http://www.hancinema.net/hancinema-s-drama-review-please-come-back-mister-episode-3-92001.html
[HanCinema's Drama Review] "Please Come Back, Mister" Episode 3
2016/03/02
As it turns out, the background for "Please Come Back, Mister" still isn't completely fleshed out, although by the end of the episode Yeong-soo and Gi-tak have managed to progress to the level of zany schemes against conspiratorial villains. It helps that they become aware of each other's existence here, finally realizing that they're in this game together in a scene that proves to be a bit of an out-of-body experience. Yes, that was a dumb joke. So are most of the ones in "Please Come Back, Mister".
While I can be a fan of dumb jokes in the right context, "Please Come Back, Mister" is rubbing me the wrong way by just being kind of loud. Yeong-soo manages to annoy just about everyone by having a huge crying fit for the stupidest possible reason, while Gi-tak is more loud in body language. I can't get past how ridiculous he looks spreading her legs out so wide. Is it really that hard for him to find some clothes that aren't a short skirt?
Although that's all really more of a personal taste issue. My sense of character sympathy is really badly skewed for this drama. It might be because Yeong-soo and Gi-tak's goals aren't that clearly defined. When Yeong-soo does voiceover about how terrorizing his family with morbid false revelations about himself, he rationalizes it as being for the greater good, but what greater good? Yeong-soo's ethical reputation is about all his family has left to be proud of anymore.
The way "Please Come Back, Mister" keeps alternating between serious drama and loud jokes is also a bit of a problem. It's weird how Yeong-soo and Gi-tak will spend a lot of time talking badly about themselves, provoking moments of choked emotions, and then the whole premise gets undercut by another joke. I feel legitimately bad for Yeong-soo's doppleganger. He just wants to be the guy who makes dad proud, but that's not what fate has in store for him.
Am I overthinking this? Probably. Logically it's obvious to see that the appeal in "Please Come Back, Mister" is mostly rooted in the way Rain struts around acting like a complete buffoon. "Please Come Back, Mister" is an excessively goofy low-brow comedy where body switching is the main selling point while the plot lingers in the background. As genre material it's probably doing exactly what it's supposed to do, so I can't really hate it that much. Even so, I really just want to get to a more concretely defined conflict sooner rather than later.
Review by William Schwartz
"Please Come Back, Mister" is directed by Sin Yoon-seob, written by Noh Hye-yeong and features Rain Kim Soo-ro, Kim In-kwon, Oh Yeon-seo, Lee Min-jeong, Lee Honey, Choi Won-yeong, Yoon Park and more
7.
HANCINEMA
http://www.hancinema.net/hancinema-s-drama-review-please-come-back-mister-episode-4-92043.html
[HanCinema's Drama Review] "Please Come Back, Mister" Episode 4
2016/03/03
First, the good news. It would appear that the epilogue segments which involve Yeong-soo's Rain doppleganger getting railroaded so as to avoid interference with the main plot will in fact be a recurring feature in "Please Come Back, Mister". There's just something so delightfully sadistic about watching this poor man deal with constant artifically induced crises. Especially since it gives him almost as many excuses to take his shirt off as it does for Yeong-soo.
Which brings me to one of the main positives in "Please Come Back, Mister"- the way Yeong-soo and Gi-tak struggle to try and figure out how attractive people are supposed to act. Being thrust into a temporary situation, it never occurs to Yeong-soo and Gi-tak to so much as try and limit their attempts at being sexy to private quarters. I appreciate the moments when Rain and Oh Yeon-seo briefly turn into Kim In-kwon and Kim Soo-ro, because they do in fact look slightly less ridiculous as middle-aged men.
Unfortunately, Yeong-soo's antagonists are men who are unimpressed by his newfound sexiness. Gi-tak does briefly attempt to be cute and winsome, but it's too much of a conflict with his natural personality. Bizarrely, Gi-tak displays an an almost instantaneous appreciation for dumb horror movie parody jokes. He picks the perfect context for that. As usual, though, Gi-tak can't adjust to the physical limitations of being a woman.
"Please Come Back, Mister" is so far only just barely creative enough with its jokes to avoid annoying me completely. Take how Yeong-soo reacts to being thrust in the lap of luxury. He manages to fixate on the lighting fixtures of all things, and a mechanism which I've never seen as high-brow because it's so easy to use by accident. That ends up being the joke. Also more unexpected nudity. At some point the unexpected nudity is going to have to stop being funny, although that hasn't quite happened yet.
Anyway, as far as plot- by the end Yeong-soo has managed to dig up a lot of dirt on his supposed suicide. It's a scene I found interesting for all the wrong reasons. While Yeong-soo's theory does sort of involve liability, wouldn't the suicide explanation also be a liability, since it the motivation would be work-related? Maybe that's splitting hairs but I'd think the drunken accident theory would be preferable, given that the company can't really be held responsible for Yeong-soo being an idiot.
Review by William Schwartz
"Please Come Back, Mister" is directed by Sin Yoon-seob, written by Noh Hye-yeong and features Rain Kim Soo-ro, Kim In-kwon, Oh Yeon-seo, Lee Min-jeong, Lee Honey, Choi Won-yeong, Yoon Park and more
8.
HANCINEMA
http://www.hancinema.net/hancinema-s-drama-review-please-come-back-mister-episode-5-92247.html
[HanCinema's Drama Review] "Please Come Back, Mister" Episode 5
[HanCinema's Drama Review] "Please Come Back, Mister" Episode 1
2016/02/24
Yeong-soo (played by Kim In-kwon) is a nebbish department store manager who belatedly realizes his bad night was in fact much worse than just a drunk blackout. He soon meets up with Gi-tak (played by Kim Soo-ro), an ex-convict turned chef who is now in the same mortal predicament. Together they...flash back to the days right before the opener, because as this is the first episode, "Please Come Back, Mister" has to explain its premise and more importantly, why we as viewers should care.
I'm not feeling very optimistic on that front so far. The one genuine laugh "Please Come Back, Mister" got from me was when the conductor rips Yeong-soo a new one about how even though the man means well, he screws up all the time by failing to follow through. Whereas Gi-tak has a legitimately good reason for finding himself in an otherworldly realm, Yeong-soo provoked his bad situation by committing an unnecessarily dangerous deed for no particularly good reason.
There is a fairly interesting parallelism there. Where Yeong-soo fails even the simplest promises to his wife Da-hae (played by Lee Min-jeong), Gi-tak ends up taking his oaths far too seriously when it comes to I-yeon (played by Lee Honey). What's especially fascinating is that the personalities of the female leads mirror their crosswise male counterparts. Where Da-hee is forceful and outspoken, I-yeon is a well-meaning woman who's constantly getting into messes based on her own poor judgment skills.
"Please Come Back, Mister" is another one of those dramas I don't remember liking that much when I actually watched it, but the material does improve significantly the more I think about it. While the main characters lack self-awareness, this is in fact their central character flaw. Observe how by the end Yeong-soo and Gi-tak have very impulsively decided to defy the natural order with no regard to long-term consequences to "set things right". But what if their personalities were the real problem all along?
That much is just speculation. Weirdly enough I felt this introductory episode was pretty unsatisfactory insofar as explaining the premise. The few characters we see who are clearly telegraphed as villains have only the most minimum level of personality, so I can't imagine any plot involving their nefarious schemes is going to be all that satisfactory. Even so, however we look at the situation, Yeong-soo and Gi-tak were responsible for their own deaths, and I don't see how "Please Come Back, Mister" can backtrack on this.
Review by William Schwartz
"Please Come Back, Mister" is directed by Sin Yoon-seob, written by Noh Hye-yeong and features Rain Kim Soo-ro, Kim In-kwon, Oh Yeon-seo, Lee Min-jeong, Lee Honey, Choi Won-yeong, Yoon Park and more
5.
HANCINEMA
http://www.hancinema.net/hancinema-s-drama-review-please-come-back-mister-episode-2-91811.html
[HanCinema's Drama Review] "Please Come Back, Mister" Episode 2
2016/02/25
Maya (played by Ra Mi-ran) is the individual in charge of sending dead people back to the world of living temporarily. She's frustrated by how Yeong-soo and Gi-tak have interrupted her planned vacation, and warns these two that the reliving process is a fairly unsatisfying one with many arbitrary rules. Following that Maya nonetheless plops Yeong-soo in the body of Hae-joon (played by Rain), and Gi-tak in the body of Hong-nan (played by Oh Yeon-seo).
I don't know what to make of Maya's rules. They're so rigidly defined it's hard to see how Yeong-soo and Gi-tak are supposed to be able to accomplish anything. Naturally dead people shouldn't be allowed to influence the living willy-nilly but even so, it seems like it would be pretty hard to have any kind of story unless Yeong-soo and Gi-tak can do something. Especially since so far their attempts to ingratiate themselves in the lives of loved ones comes off as unconvincing and forced.
Sometimes these moments even seem pretty blatantly hypocritical. Remember in the first episode when Yeong-soo was abused by an obnoxious customer and forced to suffer awful indignities? This time Yeong-soo returns the same favor to one of his antagonists, and I kept thinking throughout the scene how Yeong-soo was being a jerk. Whether the man in question deserved this treatment was besides the point for me- a person shouldn't waste cosmic gifts on acting petty.
The villains themselves are mostly just small-minded bullies, so the moral distinction here is fairly important. Gi-tak struggles to pick up basic information about what happened after his death, in the process picking fights with nearly everyone who walks across his path. While it's somewhat amusing watching Oh Yeon-soo bumble about with the personality of a massive gangster, in the end, we're looking at a person who thinks he can solve problems by punching people, oblivious to how this has not worked out that well for him in the past.
Maybe the challenge here is that Gi-tak is going to have to learn to play against type in order to do good. Given the trouble has has even getting I-yeon to hear him out, it's clear he's going to have to learn to be a better negotiator. As for Yeong-soo...his character journey appears to be limited to offering an excuse for the camera to linger all over Rain's manly chest. While there might be some visceral appeal to that, so far as story goes there's little of interest in "Please Come Back, Mister" as of yet.
Review by William Schwartz
"Please Come Back, Mister" is directed by Sin Yoon-seob, written by Noh Hye-yeong and features Rain Kim Soo-ro, Kim In-kwon, Oh Yeon-seo, Lee Min-jeong, Lee Honey, Choi Won-yeong, Yoon Park and more
6.
HANCINEMA
http://www.hancinema.net/hancinema-s-drama-review-please-come-back-mister-episode-3-92001.html
[HanCinema's Drama Review] "Please Come Back, Mister" Episode 3
2016/03/02
As it turns out, the background for "Please Come Back, Mister" still isn't completely fleshed out, although by the end of the episode Yeong-soo and Gi-tak have managed to progress to the level of zany schemes against conspiratorial villains. It helps that they become aware of each other's existence here, finally realizing that they're in this game together in a scene that proves to be a bit of an out-of-body experience. Yes, that was a dumb joke. So are most of the ones in "Please Come Back, Mister".
While I can be a fan of dumb jokes in the right context, "Please Come Back, Mister" is rubbing me the wrong way by just being kind of loud. Yeong-soo manages to annoy just about everyone by having a huge crying fit for the stupidest possible reason, while Gi-tak is more loud in body language. I can't get past how ridiculous he looks spreading her legs out so wide. Is it really that hard for him to find some clothes that aren't a short skirt?
Although that's all really more of a personal taste issue. My sense of character sympathy is really badly skewed for this drama. It might be because Yeong-soo and Gi-tak's goals aren't that clearly defined. When Yeong-soo does voiceover about how terrorizing his family with morbid false revelations about himself, he rationalizes it as being for the greater good, but what greater good? Yeong-soo's ethical reputation is about all his family has left to be proud of anymore.
The way "Please Come Back, Mister" keeps alternating between serious drama and loud jokes is also a bit of a problem. It's weird how Yeong-soo and Gi-tak will spend a lot of time talking badly about themselves, provoking moments of choked emotions, and then the whole premise gets undercut by another joke. I feel legitimately bad for Yeong-soo's doppleganger. He just wants to be the guy who makes dad proud, but that's not what fate has in store for him.
Am I overthinking this? Probably. Logically it's obvious to see that the appeal in "Please Come Back, Mister" is mostly rooted in the way Rain struts around acting like a complete buffoon. "Please Come Back, Mister" is an excessively goofy low-brow comedy where body switching is the main selling point while the plot lingers in the background. As genre material it's probably doing exactly what it's supposed to do, so I can't really hate it that much. Even so, I really just want to get to a more concretely defined conflict sooner rather than later.
Review by William Schwartz
"Please Come Back, Mister" is directed by Sin Yoon-seob, written by Noh Hye-yeong and features Rain Kim Soo-ro, Kim In-kwon, Oh Yeon-seo, Lee Min-jeong, Lee Honey, Choi Won-yeong, Yoon Park and more
7.
HANCINEMA
http://www.hancinema.net/hancinema-s-drama-review-please-come-back-mister-episode-4-92043.html
[HanCinema's Drama Review] "Please Come Back, Mister" Episode 4
2016/03/03
First, the good news. It would appear that the epilogue segments which involve Yeong-soo's Rain doppleganger getting railroaded so as to avoid interference with the main plot will in fact be a recurring feature in "Please Come Back, Mister". There's just something so delightfully sadistic about watching this poor man deal with constant artifically induced crises. Especially since it gives him almost as many excuses to take his shirt off as it does for Yeong-soo.
Which brings me to one of the main positives in "Please Come Back, Mister"- the way Yeong-soo and Gi-tak struggle to try and figure out how attractive people are supposed to act. Being thrust into a temporary situation, it never occurs to Yeong-soo and Gi-tak to so much as try and limit their attempts at being sexy to private quarters. I appreciate the moments when Rain and Oh Yeon-seo briefly turn into Kim In-kwon and Kim Soo-ro, because they do in fact look slightly less ridiculous as middle-aged men.
Unfortunately, Yeong-soo's antagonists are men who are unimpressed by his newfound sexiness. Gi-tak does briefly attempt to be cute and winsome, but it's too much of a conflict with his natural personality. Bizarrely, Gi-tak displays an an almost instantaneous appreciation for dumb horror movie parody jokes. He picks the perfect context for that. As usual, though, Gi-tak can't adjust to the physical limitations of being a woman.
"Please Come Back, Mister" is so far only just barely creative enough with its jokes to avoid annoying me completely. Take how Yeong-soo reacts to being thrust in the lap of luxury. He manages to fixate on the lighting fixtures of all things, and a mechanism which I've never seen as high-brow because it's so easy to use by accident. That ends up being the joke. Also more unexpected nudity. At some point the unexpected nudity is going to have to stop being funny, although that hasn't quite happened yet.
Anyway, as far as plot- by the end Yeong-soo has managed to dig up a lot of dirt on his supposed suicide. It's a scene I found interesting for all the wrong reasons. While Yeong-soo's theory does sort of involve liability, wouldn't the suicide explanation also be a liability, since it the motivation would be work-related? Maybe that's splitting hairs but I'd think the drunken accident theory would be preferable, given that the company can't really be held responsible for Yeong-soo being an idiot.
Review by William Schwartz
"Please Come Back, Mister" is directed by Sin Yoon-seob, written by Noh Hye-yeong and features Rain Kim Soo-ro, Kim In-kwon, Oh Yeon-seo, Lee Min-jeong, Lee Honey, Choi Won-yeong, Yoon Park and more
8.
HANCINEMA
http://www.hancinema.net/hancinema-s-drama-review-please-come-back-mister-episode-5-92247.html
[HanCinema's Drama Review] "Please Come Back, Mister" Episode 5
2016/03/09
For their superficially wildly different personalities, Yeong-soo and Gi-tak have one thing in common- they're both prone to jumping to wild outrageous conclusions based on limited evidence. Come to think of it they even acted this way back in the first episode, when they were still alive. It just didn't come off as quite so ridiculous back then because Kim In-kwon looks like a pathetic guy who can be intimidated, and Kim Soo-ro looks like an ultra-masculine man who is not to be trifled with. Rain and Oh Yeon-seo, by contrast, look like they should have some shred of classy dignity.
Truthfully, I find this sort of antagonistic humor to be one of the more annoying parts of "Please Come Back, Mister" on account of the fact that it's pretty obvious in advance that Yeong-soo and Gi-tak are overreacting. It's embarrassing watching Yeong-soo act petty and mean when it's perfectly obvious that the situation is not what he thinks it is. And besides, like Maya says, revenge is strictly banned.
But then there are scenes like the flashbacks, which show that Yeong-soo used to be on the receiving end of brutal teardowns, so I'm not sure to what extent "Please Come Back, Mister" is being ironic. Other scenes like Gi-tak's extremely fast and not entirely convincing apology also appear to be stating that our lead characters have definite attitude problems. Yet for all this, we're not seeing much growth. Da-hye and I-hyeon have more clearly defined arcs than the leads do so far.
Even so, Yeong-soo and Gi-tak are making progress. It's telling that Yeong-soo faced more resistance for questioning the suicide report than he does for bullying staff. And Gi-tak finally gets a chance to show off some of the skills of his past life. Even better, I-hyeon press gangs Gi-tak into an activity that will hopefully restore some of the man's former combat ability. I'm expecting it to come up in one of those imaginary scenes, only we (and Gi-tak) are suddenly surprised to see the fight actually went as planned.
Those scenes are jokes, of course, and it's useful to keep that much in perspective. "Please Come Back, Mister" is a drama about silly jokes, and even if there's a sort of catharsis as I-hyeon is dealing with serious personal stress, around the corner Gi-tak is ready to relieve some of that burden, however unintentionally, by not acting like a proper woman should. For the moment, I find the characters in "Please Come Back, Mister" to be more sympathetic than annoying.
Review by William Schwartz
"Please Come Back, Mister" is directed by Sin Yoon-seob, written by Noh Hye-yeong and features Rain Kim Soo-ro, Kim In-kwon, Oh Yeon-seo, Lee Min-jeong, Lee Honey, Choi Won-yeong, Yoon Park and more
9.
HANCINEMA
http://www.hancinema.net/hancinema-s-drama-review-please-come-back-mister-episode-6-92286.html
[HanCinema's Drama Review] "Please Come Back, Mister" Episode 6
For their superficially wildly different personalities, Yeong-soo and Gi-tak have one thing in common- they're both prone to jumping to wild outrageous conclusions based on limited evidence. Come to think of it they even acted this way back in the first episode, when they were still alive. It just didn't come off as quite so ridiculous back then because Kim In-kwon looks like a pathetic guy who can be intimidated, and Kim Soo-ro looks like an ultra-masculine man who is not to be trifled with. Rain and Oh Yeon-seo, by contrast, look like they should have some shred of classy dignity.
Truthfully, I find this sort of antagonistic humor to be one of the more annoying parts of "Please Come Back, Mister" on account of the fact that it's pretty obvious in advance that Yeong-soo and Gi-tak are overreacting. It's embarrassing watching Yeong-soo act petty and mean when it's perfectly obvious that the situation is not what he thinks it is. And besides, like Maya says, revenge is strictly banned.
But then there are scenes like the flashbacks, which show that Yeong-soo used to be on the receiving end of brutal teardowns, so I'm not sure to what extent "Please Come Back, Mister" is being ironic. Other scenes like Gi-tak's extremely fast and not entirely convincing apology also appear to be stating that our lead characters have definite attitude problems. Yet for all this, we're not seeing much growth. Da-hye and I-hyeon have more clearly defined arcs than the leads do so far.
Even so, Yeong-soo and Gi-tak are making progress. It's telling that Yeong-soo faced more resistance for questioning the suicide report than he does for bullying staff. And Gi-tak finally gets a chance to show off some of the skills of his past life. Even better, I-hyeon press gangs Gi-tak into an activity that will hopefully restore some of the man's former combat ability. I'm expecting it to come up in one of those imaginary scenes, only we (and Gi-tak) are suddenly surprised to see the fight actually went as planned.
Those scenes are jokes, of course, and it's useful to keep that much in perspective. "Please Come Back, Mister" is a drama about silly jokes, and even if there's a sort of catharsis as I-hyeon is dealing with serious personal stress, around the corner Gi-tak is ready to relieve some of that burden, however unintentionally, by not acting like a proper woman should. For the moment, I find the characters in "Please Come Back, Mister" to be more sympathetic than annoying.
Review by William Schwartz
"Please Come Back, Mister" is directed by Sin Yoon-seob, written by Noh Hye-yeong and features Rain Kim Soo-ro, Kim In-kwon, Oh Yeon-seo, Lee Min-jeong, Lee Honey, Choi Won-yeong, Yoon Park and more
9.
HANCINEMA
http://www.hancinema.net/hancinema-s-drama-review-please-come-back-mister-episode-6-92286.html
[HanCinema's Drama Review] "Please Come Back, Mister" Episode 6
2016/03/10
Yeong-soo continues the mission here to harass his wife and co-worker regarding a perceived romantic entanglement between the two. When it comes to Ji-hoon (played by Yoon Park), I can almost be all right with it, because Ji-hoon is definitely up to something suspicious. But Da-hye is a grieving widow working in a department store that may have murdered her husband. Doesn't the woman have enough to deal with? Is this really the time for abusive pep talks? Even bearing in mind that Yeong-soo has friendly moments too they don't cancel out his often terrifying disposition.
Gi-tak's storyline fares somewhat better, because I-hyeon would have been dealing with these problems even if Gi-tak hadn't died. There's also much better tension. Observe how during the press conference there's this constant, palpable fear that I-hyeon is going to be brutally humiliated somehow. Yet she fights that, because this is the path I-hyeon chose for herself. Gi-tak's encouraging role in this context actually manages to be decently helpful.
The two central storylines in "Please Come Back, Mister" don't really have that much to do with each other. For this reason it's hard to tell who the real culprit here is when it comes to the drama's more uneven problems. Is it the writing? The direction? Or is the real issue casting? I find that Oh Yeon-seo and Lee Honey tend to put in much better performances than Rain and Lee Min-jeong, although that may just be a matter of proper tone.
Lest I come off as too dour, "Please Come Back, Mister" is able, every so often, to pull off some decent slapstick. The department store confrontation, just as an example, ends up going completely off the rails, and the sheer uncomfortable-looking nature of the visuals does manage to sell the scene. If nothing else I have to give the cast credit for dedication. That scene must have been hugely uncomfortable for all involved parties.
But in the long run what does this scene accomplish? Well, it sets up a modeling subplot which I have no idea how to place in the story, given that Yeong-soo and Gi-tak have so much more pressing and urgent matters to attend to. Although then again the villains are so generic I have trouble getting excited about any of the revelations here. Mostly I just noticed that a disproportionate amount of sinister corporate scheming appears to take place in Japanese tearooms. Well, if you got to do it, do it in style I guess.
Review by William Schwartz
"Please Come Back, Mister" is directed by Sin Yoon-seob, written by Noh Hye-yeong and features Rain Kim Soo-ro, Kim In-kwon, Oh Yeon-seo, Lee Min-jeong, Lee Honey, Choi Won-yeong, Yoon Park and more
10.
HANCINEMA
http://www.hancinema.net/hancinema-s-drama-review-please-come-back-mister-episode-7-92490.html
[HanCinema's Drama Review] "Please Come Back, Mister" Episode 7
Yeong-soo continues the mission here to harass his wife and co-worker regarding a perceived romantic entanglement between the two. When it comes to Ji-hoon (played by Yoon Park), I can almost be all right with it, because Ji-hoon is definitely up to something suspicious. But Da-hye is a grieving widow working in a department store that may have murdered her husband. Doesn't the woman have enough to deal with? Is this really the time for abusive pep talks? Even bearing in mind that Yeong-soo has friendly moments too they don't cancel out his often terrifying disposition.
Gi-tak's storyline fares somewhat better, because I-hyeon would have been dealing with these problems even if Gi-tak hadn't died. There's also much better tension. Observe how during the press conference there's this constant, palpable fear that I-hyeon is going to be brutally humiliated somehow. Yet she fights that, because this is the path I-hyeon chose for herself. Gi-tak's encouraging role in this context actually manages to be decently helpful.
The two central storylines in "Please Come Back, Mister" don't really have that much to do with each other. For this reason it's hard to tell who the real culprit here is when it comes to the drama's more uneven problems. Is it the writing? The direction? Or is the real issue casting? I find that Oh Yeon-seo and Lee Honey tend to put in much better performances than Rain and Lee Min-jeong, although that may just be a matter of proper tone.
Lest I come off as too dour, "Please Come Back, Mister" is able, every so often, to pull off some decent slapstick. The department store confrontation, just as an example, ends up going completely off the rails, and the sheer uncomfortable-looking nature of the visuals does manage to sell the scene. If nothing else I have to give the cast credit for dedication. That scene must have been hugely uncomfortable for all involved parties.
But in the long run what does this scene accomplish? Well, it sets up a modeling subplot which I have no idea how to place in the story, given that Yeong-soo and Gi-tak have so much more pressing and urgent matters to attend to. Although then again the villains are so generic I have trouble getting excited about any of the revelations here. Mostly I just noticed that a disproportionate amount of sinister corporate scheming appears to take place in Japanese tearooms. Well, if you got to do it, do it in style I guess.
Review by William Schwartz
"Please Come Back, Mister" is directed by Sin Yoon-seob, written by Noh Hye-yeong and features Rain Kim Soo-ro, Kim In-kwon, Oh Yeon-seo, Lee Min-jeong, Lee Honey, Choi Won-yeong, Yoon Park and more
10.
HANCINEMA
http://www.hancinema.net/hancinema-s-drama-review-please-come-back-mister-episode-7-92490.html
[HanCinema's Drama Review] "Please Come Back, Mister" Episode 7
2016/03/16
It turns out that Ji-hoon really is somewhat villainous. At first I was wondering whether "Please Come Back, Mister" was doing the whole thing where the turncoat you know is worse than the explicitly evil bad guys, but no, as it turns out, the explicitly evil bad guys are still pretty explicitly evil. This is somewhat impressive considering how a lot of their villainy is by accident. When it comes to I-yeon's crooked relative by marriage Hyeok (played by Park Min-woo), I doubt we'd even care about his gangster problems except that Gi-tak mnaged to get sucked into that situation somehow.
Then there's also Seung-jae (played by Lee Tae-hwan), who's sort of had traitorous moments, but who again, can always be counted on to do the right thing in a clutch moment. So...overall I'm having the same problem with "Please Come Back, Mister" of not really being able to figure out what this drama is trying to do thematically. The structure is kind of like a mystery, and that would also explain the one-dimensional villains. Yet even there the delivery is rather lacking.
Consider, for example, how Yeong-soo is finally able to prove once and for all that he did not commit suicide. This was not accomplished through serious deduction. Rather, Yeong-soo recalls a memory that leads him to video evidence. All of this pretty much ends up coming out of nowhere. Even while I now understand why "Please Come Back, Mister" was making the model shoot a plot point, I'm not especially impressed with the denouement.
The drama is filled with moments like this, where I can sort of appreciate what director Sin Yoon-seob is going for, but the lack of compelling context makes the entire production come off as scattershot. Take the whole cool slow motion walk after the situation with Hyeok is mometarily resolved. Nobody really did anything to warrant a cool slow a motion walk and yet it's still there because it's funny I guess?
It's hard to tell what parts of "Please Come Back, Mister" are supposed to be foreshadowing and which are just simple clumsy writing. Is Maya trying to be helpful because there's a secret agenda going on in the afterlife, or is she just clumsy comic relief who ineffectively warns against revenge? At least I have a good grasp of what's going on with Hae-joon. He's trapped on an abandoned island. And he looks silly. That's not much but I'll take it.
Review by William Schwartz
"Please Come Back, Mister" is directed by Sin Yoon-seob, written by Noh Hye-yeong and features Rain Kim Soo-ro, Kim In-kwon, Oh Yeon-seo, Lee Min-jeong, Lee Honey, Choi Won-yeong, Yoon Park and more
11.
HANCINEMA
http://www.hancinema.net/hancinema-s-drama-review-please-come-back-mister-episode-8-92533.html
[HanCinema's Drama Review] "Please Come Back, Mister" Episode 8
2016/03/17
Yeong-soo and Gi-tak had a pretty successful run last episode in terms of accomplishing their goals. The problem that brings up is, if they've already mostly accomplished what they needed to do, then why are they bothering to stick around in the world of the living? Yeong-soo and Gi-tak will have to go back sooner or later. And until then they're at risk of breaking one of Maya's rules- a penalty which is finally elucidated and which Yeong-soo and Gi-tak will have to struggle to avoid enacting.
Well, that much is true for Yeong-soo anyway. Can't let Ji-hoon get the upper hand after all. I'm not completely sure that the penalty is necessarily all that bad for Gi-tak, though. Gi-tak doesn't really seem to care that much about how people remember him. It's pretty noticeable how Yeong-soo is always coming up with elaborate justifications to crash Da-hye's life while Gi-tak simply pretends to be his own younger sister and never takes insults personally.
That all is criticism in broad strokes. The story in "Please Come Back, Mister" is, as usual, so lacking that there's barely even anything to latch onto. Da-hye struggles with financial problems, some of which might be Yeong-soo's fault for pretending like he owes debt to Hae-joon. All of this, in any case, is to set up the next conflict, which involves Da-hye fighting the department store over proper compensation and acknowledgment of fault when it comes to Yeong-soo.
And you know, as much I hate to admit it, the corporate infrastructure here does have a point. While it's tragic that Yeong-soo died and they were probably a little too quick to assume his death was a suicide, what real liability do the suits have here outside of good will? No satisfying answer is offered to this query, which is a problem since Yeong-soo is already out on a limb trying to rationalize his continued presence in the world of the living. Gi-tak, meanwhile, is trying to get I-yeon a job.
"Please Come Back, Mister" is thoroughly mediocre. The drama lacks any apparent ambition. There's Jae-gook (played by Choi Won-yeong), who struts around and acts antagonistically every few scenes, conveniently being the enemy of both Yeong-soo and Gi-tak for unrelated reasons. But as antagonists go Jae-gook is mostly just a generic jerk. About the only real bright spot this episode is I-yeon explaining why Yeong-soo doesn't get women. But even then, reminding us about the protagonist's worst features isn't exactly a winning strategy in terms of viewer engagement.
Review by William Schwartz
"Please Come Back, Mister" is directed by Sin Yoon-seob, written by Noh Hye-yeong and features Rain Kim Soo-ro, Kim In-kwon, Oh Yeon-seo, Lee Min-jeong, Lee Honey, Choi Won-yeong, Yoon Park and more
12.
HANCINEMA
http://www.hancinema.net/hancinema-s-drama-review-please-come-back-mister-episode-9-92719.html
[HanCinema's Drama Review] "Please Come Back, Mister" Episode 9
It turns out that Ji-hoon really is somewhat villainous. At first I was wondering whether "Please Come Back, Mister" was doing the whole thing where the turncoat you know is worse than the explicitly evil bad guys, but no, as it turns out, the explicitly evil bad guys are still pretty explicitly evil. This is somewhat impressive considering how a lot of their villainy is by accident. When it comes to I-yeon's crooked relative by marriage Hyeok (played by Park Min-woo), I doubt we'd even care about his gangster problems except that Gi-tak mnaged to get sucked into that situation somehow.
Then there's also Seung-jae (played by Lee Tae-hwan), who's sort of had traitorous moments, but who again, can always be counted on to do the right thing in a clutch moment. So...overall I'm having the same problem with "Please Come Back, Mister" of not really being able to figure out what this drama is trying to do thematically. The structure is kind of like a mystery, and that would also explain the one-dimensional villains. Yet even there the delivery is rather lacking.
Consider, for example, how Yeong-soo is finally able to prove once and for all that he did not commit suicide. This was not accomplished through serious deduction. Rather, Yeong-soo recalls a memory that leads him to video evidence. All of this pretty much ends up coming out of nowhere. Even while I now understand why "Please Come Back, Mister" was making the model shoot a plot point, I'm not especially impressed with the denouement.
The drama is filled with moments like this, where I can sort of appreciate what director Sin Yoon-seob is going for, but the lack of compelling context makes the entire production come off as scattershot. Take the whole cool slow motion walk after the situation with Hyeok is mometarily resolved. Nobody really did anything to warrant a cool slow a motion walk and yet it's still there because it's funny I guess?
It's hard to tell what parts of "Please Come Back, Mister" are supposed to be foreshadowing and which are just simple clumsy writing. Is Maya trying to be helpful because there's a secret agenda going on in the afterlife, or is she just clumsy comic relief who ineffectively warns against revenge? At least I have a good grasp of what's going on with Hae-joon. He's trapped on an abandoned island. And he looks silly. That's not much but I'll take it.
Review by William Schwartz
"Please Come Back, Mister" is directed by Sin Yoon-seob, written by Noh Hye-yeong and features Rain Kim Soo-ro, Kim In-kwon, Oh Yeon-seo, Lee Min-jeong, Lee Honey, Choi Won-yeong, Yoon Park and more
11.
HANCINEMA
http://www.hancinema.net/hancinema-s-drama-review-please-come-back-mister-episode-8-92533.html
[HanCinema's Drama Review] "Please Come Back, Mister" Episode 8
2016/03/17
Yeong-soo and Gi-tak had a pretty successful run last episode in terms of accomplishing their goals. The problem that brings up is, if they've already mostly accomplished what they needed to do, then why are they bothering to stick around in the world of the living? Yeong-soo and Gi-tak will have to go back sooner or later. And until then they're at risk of breaking one of Maya's rules- a penalty which is finally elucidated and which Yeong-soo and Gi-tak will have to struggle to avoid enacting.
Well, that much is true for Yeong-soo anyway. Can't let Ji-hoon get the upper hand after all. I'm not completely sure that the penalty is necessarily all that bad for Gi-tak, though. Gi-tak doesn't really seem to care that much about how people remember him. It's pretty noticeable how Yeong-soo is always coming up with elaborate justifications to crash Da-hye's life while Gi-tak simply pretends to be his own younger sister and never takes insults personally.
That all is criticism in broad strokes. The story in "Please Come Back, Mister" is, as usual, so lacking that there's barely even anything to latch onto. Da-hye struggles with financial problems, some of which might be Yeong-soo's fault for pretending like he owes debt to Hae-joon. All of this, in any case, is to set up the next conflict, which involves Da-hye fighting the department store over proper compensation and acknowledgment of fault when it comes to Yeong-soo.
And you know, as much I hate to admit it, the corporate infrastructure here does have a point. While it's tragic that Yeong-soo died and they were probably a little too quick to assume his death was a suicide, what real liability do the suits have here outside of good will? No satisfying answer is offered to this query, which is a problem since Yeong-soo is already out on a limb trying to rationalize his continued presence in the world of the living. Gi-tak, meanwhile, is trying to get I-yeon a job.
"Please Come Back, Mister" is thoroughly mediocre. The drama lacks any apparent ambition. There's Jae-gook (played by Choi Won-yeong), who struts around and acts antagonistically every few scenes, conveniently being the enemy of both Yeong-soo and Gi-tak for unrelated reasons. But as antagonists go Jae-gook is mostly just a generic jerk. About the only real bright spot this episode is I-yeon explaining why Yeong-soo doesn't get women. But even then, reminding us about the protagonist's worst features isn't exactly a winning strategy in terms of viewer engagement.
Review by William Schwartz
"Please Come Back, Mister" is directed by Sin Yoon-seob, written by Noh Hye-yeong and features Rain Kim Soo-ro, Kim In-kwon, Oh Yeon-seo, Lee Min-jeong, Lee Honey, Choi Won-yeong, Yoon Park and more
12.
HANCINEMA
http://www.hancinema.net/hancinema-s-drama-review-please-come-back-mister-episode-9-92719.html
[HanCinema's Drama Review] "Please Come Back, Mister" Episode 9
2016/03/23
Yeong-soo really does not appear to have thought through the ramifications of his trying to romance Da-hye in Hae-joon's body. Da-hye is a grieving widow. It would be a little disconcerting if she was actually into Hae-joon's attempts at sexual harassment. Compared to Hae-joon, Ji-hoon's come-ons are fairly tactful. After all we've seen him do, I never expected Ji-hoon would come out looking like the better man this episode. Naturally, it helps that even if Yeong-soo succeeds, Da-hye would just be heartbroken again since Hae-joon will have to disappear without explanation, lest Yeong-soo break the rules.
By the way, I found it interesting how apparently Yeong-soo can break the rules in impulsive anger, yet not through sleepy dream-talk. Is intent the deciding factor here? I'm hoping not, because judging by intent Yeong-soo really doesn't have any good reason right now to remain in the world of living. Aside from the occassional appearance by Jae-gook there's no villainous presence, and the latter part of the episode is little more than an entertaining day trip.
The scenes between Da-hye and I-hyeon, by the way, are sweet in a way I haven't seen much in "Please Come Back, Mister". These women are both suffering from grief, and it's clear that they have much in common even though radically different life experiences have not given the anything in partivular to talk about. The meeting between their kids is also touching, because as of late, the kids haven't had much chance to enjoy themselves.
While there's definitely merit to many of these background elements, I still have too much trouble processing Yeong-soo, even on basic questions like what his goal is. In all fairness Gi-tak's justifications for sticking around are also fairly thin. But whereas Gi-tak is making an effort to get back into proper fighting shape, Yeong-soo is pushing weird, dubious management techniques on the department store staff. If I didn't know Hae-joon was just Yeong-soo in disguise, his behavior would come off as horribly erratic.
I think that might be a big reason why I'm not really getting "Please Come Back, Mister". Unless he's talking to Gi-tak or Maya, I tend to see Yeong-soo from Da-hye's eyes- as this strange wealthy heir who for unknown reasons is demanding a very creepy amount of access to Da-hye and her family. There's no real ethical justification for Yeong-soo as a Hae-joon impostor. The real Hae-joon, at least, gets a pretty good punchline in the epilogue.
Review by William Schwartz
"Please Come Back, Mister" is directed by Sin Yoon-seob, written by Noh Hye-yeong and features Rain Kim Soo-ro, Kim In-kwon, Oh Yeon-seo, Lee Min-jeong, Lee Honey, Choi Won-yeong, Yoon Park and more
13.
HANCINEMA
http://www.hancinema.net/hancinema-s-drama-review-please-come-back-mister-episode-10-92749.html
[HanCinema's Drama Review] "Please Come Back, Mister" Episode 10
2016/03/24
Da-hye finally directly addresses the creepiness inherent in Yeong-soo's position of trying to constantly hit on a widow. While this doesn't smooth over all the ethical problems involved in Yeong-soo's behavior, I'm grateful that "Please Come Back, Mister" is at least acknowledging the very uncomfortable position in which Da-hye has been put. Some self-awareness can go a long way to making a problematic story seem more harmless and less deserving of over-analysis.
Consider how a weird, petty boxing match takes center stage here as the main setpiece. It's hard to read this scene as being anything except Yeong-soo acting rather dumb, with some equally foolish assumptions when it comes to how willing Maya is to facilitate his weird fantasies. Gi-tak is a more constant ally on account of their having the same enemy, although they both skirt far too close to the "no revenge" rule than seems at all reasonable. Really, all of the rules seem like suggestions at best.
Yeong-soo really does not appear to have thought through the ramifications of his trying to romance Da-hye in Hae-joon's body. Da-hye is a grieving widow. It would be a little disconcerting if she was actually into Hae-joon's attempts at sexual harassment. Compared to Hae-joon, Ji-hoon's come-ons are fairly tactful. After all we've seen him do, I never expected Ji-hoon would come out looking like the better man this episode. Naturally, it helps that even if Yeong-soo succeeds, Da-hye would just be heartbroken again since Hae-joon will have to disappear without explanation, lest Yeong-soo break the rules.
By the way, I found it interesting how apparently Yeong-soo can break the rules in impulsive anger, yet not through sleepy dream-talk. Is intent the deciding factor here? I'm hoping not, because judging by intent Yeong-soo really doesn't have any good reason right now to remain in the world of living. Aside from the occassional appearance by Jae-gook there's no villainous presence, and the latter part of the episode is little more than an entertaining day trip.
The scenes between Da-hye and I-hyeon, by the way, are sweet in a way I haven't seen much in "Please Come Back, Mister". These women are both suffering from grief, and it's clear that they have much in common even though radically different life experiences have not given the anything in partivular to talk about. The meeting between their kids is also touching, because as of late, the kids haven't had much chance to enjoy themselves.
While there's definitely merit to many of these background elements, I still have too much trouble processing Yeong-soo, even on basic questions like what his goal is. In all fairness Gi-tak's justifications for sticking around are also fairly thin. But whereas Gi-tak is making an effort to get back into proper fighting shape, Yeong-soo is pushing weird, dubious management techniques on the department store staff. If I didn't know Hae-joon was just Yeong-soo in disguise, his behavior would come off as horribly erratic.
I think that might be a big reason why I'm not really getting "Please Come Back, Mister". Unless he's talking to Gi-tak or Maya, I tend to see Yeong-soo from Da-hye's eyes- as this strange wealthy heir who for unknown reasons is demanding a very creepy amount of access to Da-hye and her family. There's no real ethical justification for Yeong-soo as a Hae-joon impostor. The real Hae-joon, at least, gets a pretty good punchline in the epilogue.
Review by William Schwartz
"Please Come Back, Mister" is directed by Sin Yoon-seob, written by Noh Hye-yeong and features Rain Kim Soo-ro, Kim In-kwon, Oh Yeon-seo, Lee Min-jeong, Lee Honey, Choi Won-yeong, Yoon Park and more
13.
HANCINEMA
http://www.hancinema.net/hancinema-s-drama-review-please-come-back-mister-episode-10-92749.html
[HanCinema's Drama Review] "Please Come Back, Mister" Episode 10
2016/03/24
Da-hye finally directly addresses the creepiness inherent in Yeong-soo's position of trying to constantly hit on a widow. While this doesn't smooth over all the ethical problems involved in Yeong-soo's behavior, I'm grateful that "Please Come Back, Mister" is at least acknowledging the very uncomfortable position in which Da-hye has been put. Some self-awareness can go a long way to making a problematic story seem more harmless and less deserving of over-analysis.
Consider how a weird, petty boxing match takes center stage here as the main setpiece. It's hard to read this scene as being anything except Yeong-soo acting rather dumb, with some equally foolish assumptions when it comes to how willing Maya is to facilitate his weird fantasies. Gi-tak is a more constant ally on account of their having the same enemy, although they both skirt far too close to the "no revenge" rule than seems at all reasonable. Really, all of the rules seem like suggestions at best.
That aspect of the worldbuilding, I think, is the main reason I can't seem to get "Please Come Back, Mister". The rules exist because otherwise dead people would just want to be reincarnated all the time, yet there do not seem to be any major downsides that we've seen just yet. Both Yeong-soo and Gi-tak have made life marginally better for the ones they left behind, and have even managed to gain more satisfactory relationships in the process.
I suppose Gi-tak does deal with some very awkward circumstances, given how he's a man stuck in a woman's body. There's plenty of misunderstandings, both internally and externally, and Gi-tak can't really put forth much of an explanation as to what's really going on because Gi-tak's sister would be expected to conform to certain personality and society centered roles. He just has to suck in his pride and not to get too angry all in the name of the greater good.
What greater good? Well, aside from empathy with the main characters "Please Come Back, Mister" is still rather lacking in conflict so it's pretty weak in this department. While I have to struggle with maintaining interest in Yeong-soo's antics, Hae-joon's scenes always strike a chord with me because the poor guy is convinced there's a huge conspiracy out to get him and incidentally there is. It's just that Hae-joon can't prove it, and even if he could, it wouldn't make a difference. There's a sympathetic element to that pain that always elicits a decent laugh from me, which is more than I can say for the main story.
Review by William Schwartz
"Please Come Back, Mister" is directed by Sin Yoon-seob, written by Noh Hye-yeong and features Rain Kim Soo-ro, Kim In-kwon, Oh Yeon-seo, Lee Min-jeong, Lee Honey, Choi Won-yeong, Yoon Park and more
14.
HANCINEMA
http://www.hancinema.net/hancinema-s-drama-review-please-come-back-mister-episode-11-92954.html
[HanCinema's Drama Review] "Please Come Back, Mister" Episode 11
2016/03/30
Week after week I watch "Please Come Back, Mister" mostly just feeling a little puzzled about the way the story progresses. Yeong-soo romancing his wife shortly after his death in a new man's body. That's pretty unaccountably weird, and most of the early part of this episode is just dedicated to that rather unusual and somewhat unsettling prompt. As a romantic comedy, "Please Come Back, Mister" is consistently more funny strange than it is funny ha-ha.
The relationship can't go anywhere since sooner or later Yeong-soo will have to go the afterlife. That leaves the villains for making dynamic conflict, and they're hamstrung in this effort by their unusually passive personalities. Jae-gook seems perplexed every time the main characters undermine his plans. I find it rather odd how he started "Please Come Back, Mister" out as a blackmailer yet ever since then he's just been a generally unlikable person who's trying to do a good job. Measured in profits, anyway, which is all department stores generally care about, but even so he's more goal-oriented than focused on vendettas.
Ji-hoon also comes off unintentionally sympathetic, bad attitude notwithstanding. He pieces together the various inconsistencies regarding Jae-hoon, Hong-nan, and the way these two characters relate to the lifes of Yeong-soo and Gi-tak. I was actually expecting writer Noh Hye-yeong to go the route of "what happens if an unrelated person discovers that Yeong-soo and Gi-tak have reincarnated into new bodies" and the storyline we get instead ends up being even weirder than that.
The big secret reveal is strange less because it's bizarre (technically I think it was foreshadowed a few times) and more because I have no idea what purpose it's supposed to serve in the context of the narrative. This knowledge does not change anyone's outlook on currently ongoing schemes except to the extent it makes some of the main characters appear dishonest. The relationships between the principals are mostly unaffected, as is their overall motivation.
That much, admittedly, is a bit of an iffy statement mainly because the motivation in "Please Come Back, Mister" has never really been pointed in the direction of a single significantly well-driven overall conflict. This is especially true since at some point Yeong-soo and Gi-tak are going to have to disappear without explanation. Unless...actually, several implausible scenarios do come to mind. Scenarios I would not have previously considered seriously except that, well, the production team seems willing to try just about anything at this point.
Review by William Schwartz
"Please Come Back, Mister" is directed by Sin Yoon-seob, written by Noh Hye-yeong and features Rain Kim Soo-ro, Kim In-kwon, Oh Yeon-seo, Lee Min-jeong, Lee Honey, Choi Won-yeong, Yoon Park and more
15.
HANCINEMA
http://www.hancinema.net/hancinema-s-drama-review-please-come-back-mister-episode-12-92983.html
[HanCinema's Drama Review] "Please Come Back, Mister" Episode 12
Week after week I watch "Please Come Back, Mister" mostly just feeling a little puzzled about the way the story progresses. Yeong-soo romancing his wife shortly after his death in a new man's body. That's pretty unaccountably weird, and most of the early part of this episode is just dedicated to that rather unusual and somewhat unsettling prompt. As a romantic comedy, "Please Come Back, Mister" is consistently more funny strange than it is funny ha-ha.
The relationship can't go anywhere since sooner or later Yeong-soo will have to go the afterlife. That leaves the villains for making dynamic conflict, and they're hamstrung in this effort by their unusually passive personalities. Jae-gook seems perplexed every time the main characters undermine his plans. I find it rather odd how he started "Please Come Back, Mister" out as a blackmailer yet ever since then he's just been a generally unlikable person who's trying to do a good job. Measured in profits, anyway, which is all department stores generally care about, but even so he's more goal-oriented than focused on vendettas.
Ji-hoon also comes off unintentionally sympathetic, bad attitude notwithstanding. He pieces together the various inconsistencies regarding Jae-hoon, Hong-nan, and the way these two characters relate to the lifes of Yeong-soo and Gi-tak. I was actually expecting writer Noh Hye-yeong to go the route of "what happens if an unrelated person discovers that Yeong-soo and Gi-tak have reincarnated into new bodies" and the storyline we get instead ends up being even weirder than that.
The big secret reveal is strange less because it's bizarre (technically I think it was foreshadowed a few times) and more because I have no idea what purpose it's supposed to serve in the context of the narrative. This knowledge does not change anyone's outlook on currently ongoing schemes except to the extent it makes some of the main characters appear dishonest. The relationships between the principals are mostly unaffected, as is their overall motivation.
That much, admittedly, is a bit of an iffy statement mainly because the motivation in "Please Come Back, Mister" has never really been pointed in the direction of a single significantly well-driven overall conflict. This is especially true since at some point Yeong-soo and Gi-tak are going to have to disappear without explanation. Unless...actually, several implausible scenarios do come to mind. Scenarios I would not have previously considered seriously except that, well, the production team seems willing to try just about anything at this point.
Review by William Schwartz
"Please Come Back, Mister" is directed by Sin Yoon-seob, written by Noh Hye-yeong and features Rain Kim Soo-ro, Kim In-kwon, Oh Yeon-seo, Lee Min-jeong, Lee Honey, Choi Won-yeong, Yoon Park and more
15.
HANCINEMA
http://www.hancinema.net/hancinema-s-drama-review-please-come-back-mister-episode-12-92983.html
[HanCinema's Drama Review] "Please Come Back, Mister" Episode 12
2016/03/31
So, it turns out that Hong-nan is not just some random identity that Gi-tak made up to explain how his new female body could know so much about Gi-tak's life. Hong-nan is, in fact, Gi-tak's actual estranged sister from childhood, and by sheer dumb coincidence, it turns out that Da-hye is the real Hong-nan. If you're wondering why this revelation is important, well, keep wondering. All "Please Come Back, Mister" does with this new information is set up a few tender scenes.
At least the tender scenes in "Please Come Back, Mister" manage to be some of the better ones. Da-hye and I-yeon both have moments where they see Yeong-soo and Gi-tak via their souls rather than their currently inhabited corporeal bodies. I like these scenes because they really help get across how, to these women, Yeong-soo and Gi-tak were very important men. In life, Yeong-soo and Gi-tak were steady emotional forces who were capable of grounding bad situations and making them bearable.
It is, at times, difficult to reconcile these nostalgic views of Yeong-soo and Gi-tak with the often childish versions who do stuff like get into petty stupid fights for no reason except comedy, I guess. "Please Come Back, Mister" used to get some interesting staging out of switching between actors so as to contrast how radically different Yeong-soo and Gi-tak's encounters look in their minds compared to what other people actually see. Not much of that here, though.
The driving point of the drama also remains elusive. Yeong-soo even manages to reference the fact that he's going to have to leave again in the immediate future, and this too fares poorly with further scenes that make Ji-hoon look sympathetic. You know, bribery issue notwithstanding, Ji-hoon doesn't seem like that bad a guy. His romancing Da-hye is just a more reasonable version of Yeong-soo doing the same in Hae-joon's body, since Ji-hoon's still going to be around for awhile.
And there is of course the new plot twist we've gotten to by the end, which does at least have the potential to be interesting. I couldn't help but notice, for example, that one inconsistency in Yeong-soo's Capraesque vision of the world in which he never existed. I'm a little impressed that Han-na was able to figure it out on her own, but how else can we explain the fact that the daughter seems so much smarter than the father?
Review by William Schwartz
"Please Come Back, Mister" is directed by Sin Yoon-seob, written by Noh Hye-yeong and features Rain Kim Soo-ro, Kim In-kwon, Oh Yeon-seo, Lee Min-jeong, Lee Honey, Choi Won-yeong, Yoon Park and more
16.
HANCINEMA
http://www.hancinema.net/hancinema-s-drama-review-please-come-back-mister-episode-13-93209.html
[HanCinema's Drama Review] "Please Come Back, Mister" Episode 13
So, it turns out that Hong-nan is not just some random identity that Gi-tak made up to explain how his new female body could know so much about Gi-tak's life. Hong-nan is, in fact, Gi-tak's actual estranged sister from childhood, and by sheer dumb coincidence, it turns out that Da-hye is the real Hong-nan. If you're wondering why this revelation is important, well, keep wondering. All "Please Come Back, Mister" does with this new information is set up a few tender scenes.
At least the tender scenes in "Please Come Back, Mister" manage to be some of the better ones. Da-hye and I-yeon both have moments where they see Yeong-soo and Gi-tak via their souls rather than their currently inhabited corporeal bodies. I like these scenes because they really help get across how, to these women, Yeong-soo and Gi-tak were very important men. In life, Yeong-soo and Gi-tak were steady emotional forces who were capable of grounding bad situations and making them bearable.
It is, at times, difficult to reconcile these nostalgic views of Yeong-soo and Gi-tak with the often childish versions who do stuff like get into petty stupid fights for no reason except comedy, I guess. "Please Come Back, Mister" used to get some interesting staging out of switching between actors so as to contrast how radically different Yeong-soo and Gi-tak's encounters look in their minds compared to what other people actually see. Not much of that here, though.
The driving point of the drama also remains elusive. Yeong-soo even manages to reference the fact that he's going to have to leave again in the immediate future, and this too fares poorly with further scenes that make Ji-hoon look sympathetic. You know, bribery issue notwithstanding, Ji-hoon doesn't seem like that bad a guy. His romancing Da-hye is just a more reasonable version of Yeong-soo doing the same in Hae-joon's body, since Ji-hoon's still going to be around for awhile.
And there is of course the new plot twist we've gotten to by the end, which does at least have the potential to be interesting. I couldn't help but notice, for example, that one inconsistency in Yeong-soo's Capraesque vision of the world in which he never existed. I'm a little impressed that Han-na was able to figure it out on her own, but how else can we explain the fact that the daughter seems so much smarter than the father?
Review by William Schwartz
"Please Come Back, Mister" is directed by Sin Yoon-seob, written by Noh Hye-yeong and features Rain Kim Soo-ro, Kim In-kwon, Oh Yeon-seo, Lee Min-jeong, Lee Honey, Choi Won-yeong, Yoon Park and more
16.
HANCINEMA
http://www.hancinema.net/hancinema-s-drama-review-please-come-back-mister-episode-13-93209.html
[HanCinema's Drama Review] "Please Come Back, Mister" Episode 13
2016/04/06
It turns out that Han-na was just trying to see her real dad, Yeong-soo, all along, in typical chidlike uncertainty. The payoff for all that extended running around ends up being more tender scenes as Yeong-soo tries to do right by his family and with a little supernatural help, is able to comfort them somewhat about the fact that he's dead. It's all kind of sweet, actually, albeit somewhat annoying since there's not much left in the way of plot progression.
Credit given where it's due, though, every emotional argument we get this episode is pretty on-point. Flashbacks showing what it was like for Yeong-soo to actually try and date Da-hye show off some of the man's badly needed positive qualities. It's weird to think that Yeong-soo is better at coping with actual reality than he is with the paranoid delusions of his own imagination, even when both turn out to pretty much be the same thing.
Gi-tak's storyline is another matter. Distracted as Gi-tak is with Yeong-soo's life, for some reason, eventually we do get some major revelations about what happened in the aftermath of Gi-tak's death. The gangster conspiracies didn't really bother me quite so much as the contrived way "Please Come Back, Mister" ends up turning that plot threatening- by demonstrating how hospitals don't have CCTV, yet apparently funeral homes do.
Which honestly does kind of feel like nitpicking to me. This whole time I've been annoyed that the villains are more reactive than proactive, and now that they finally show some initiative the implausibility is the problem? That much is more a weakness of the overall writing, though, that at best "Please Come Back, Mister" is able to go from one kind of bad scripting to a different kind of bad scripting, with only the occassional moment of emotional sincerity capable of elevating the story to the level of somewhat sweet.
Although that does leave one big problem. All Yeong-soo can really do to help out his old family is by providing emotional comfort, and here, there's finally a decent out so that Yeong-soo as the fake Jae-hoon can leave his family behind without their becoming bereft all over again. But in that case, what's Yeong-soo supposed to do for the rest of the runtime? My best guess is that he and Gi-tak will team up to take on the villains, and while this episode was decent, it's hard to envision a satisfying takedown of bad guys who are this thinly drawn.
Review by William Schwartz
"Please Come Back, Mister" is directed by Sin Yoon-seob, written by Noh Hye-yeong and features Rain Kim Soo-ro, Kim In-kwon, Oh Yeon-seo, Lee Min-jeong, Lee Honey, Choi Won-yeong, Yoon Park and more
17.
HANCINEMA
http://www.hancinema.net/hancinema-s-drama-review-please-come-back-mister-episode-14-93255.html
[HanCinema's Drama Review] "Please Come Back, Mister" Episode 14
It turns out that Han-na was just trying to see her real dad, Yeong-soo, all along, in typical chidlike uncertainty. The payoff for all that extended running around ends up being more tender scenes as Yeong-soo tries to do right by his family and with a little supernatural help, is able to comfort them somewhat about the fact that he's dead. It's all kind of sweet, actually, albeit somewhat annoying since there's not much left in the way of plot progression.
Credit given where it's due, though, every emotional argument we get this episode is pretty on-point. Flashbacks showing what it was like for Yeong-soo to actually try and date Da-hye show off some of the man's badly needed positive qualities. It's weird to think that Yeong-soo is better at coping with actual reality than he is with the paranoid delusions of his own imagination, even when both turn out to pretty much be the same thing.
Gi-tak's storyline is another matter. Distracted as Gi-tak is with Yeong-soo's life, for some reason, eventually we do get some major revelations about what happened in the aftermath of Gi-tak's death. The gangster conspiracies didn't really bother me quite so much as the contrived way "Please Come Back, Mister" ends up turning that plot threatening- by demonstrating how hospitals don't have CCTV, yet apparently funeral homes do.
Which honestly does kind of feel like nitpicking to me. This whole time I've been annoyed that the villains are more reactive than proactive, and now that they finally show some initiative the implausibility is the problem? That much is more a weakness of the overall writing, though, that at best "Please Come Back, Mister" is able to go from one kind of bad scripting to a different kind of bad scripting, with only the occassional moment of emotional sincerity capable of elevating the story to the level of somewhat sweet.
Although that does leave one big problem. All Yeong-soo can really do to help out his old family is by providing emotional comfort, and here, there's finally a decent out so that Yeong-soo as the fake Jae-hoon can leave his family behind without their becoming bereft all over again. But in that case, what's Yeong-soo supposed to do for the rest of the runtime? My best guess is that he and Gi-tak will team up to take on the villains, and while this episode was decent, it's hard to envision a satisfying takedown of bad guys who are this thinly drawn.
Review by William Schwartz
"Please Come Back, Mister" is directed by Sin Yoon-seob, written by Noh Hye-yeong and features Rain Kim Soo-ro, Kim In-kwon, Oh Yeon-seo, Lee Min-jeong, Lee Honey, Choi Won-yeong, Yoon Park and more
17.
HANCINEMA
http://www.hancinema.net/hancinema-s-drama-review-please-come-back-mister-episode-14-93255.html
[HanCinema's Drama Review] "Please Come Back, Mister" Episode 14
2016/04/07
Gi-tak is dangled in front of the fire like a damsel in distress here, and while he's not quite exactly a damsel, the fact that Gi-tak looks like a damsel does make matters somewhat awkward. The sexual tension between him and former gangster buddy Ji-hoon has always been noticeable, and there's some pretty unsettling transgender questions at play here. When you like the woman you like because she reminds you of a guy, and is in fact simply that same guy in a woman's body, does that make you gay?
...All right, OK, this isn't actually an issue "Please Come Back, Mister" gets into I just found that train of thought to be sort of mildly amusing. After the huge gangster fight scene the focus is once more back to tender moments as Yeong-soo and Gi-tak decide to make the most of the time they have left to provide comfort and reassurance to loved ones. I'm trying to remember if we've ever actually seen those cool-looking watches before, because I've spent a lot of "Please Come Back, Mister" wondering what the hard deadline is, or even if there is one.
As usual there's plenty of reasons for Yeong-soo and Gi-tak to bow out sooner rather than later. The fortune cookies have been puzzling me because, given how long Yeong-soo's been using his position as fake Hae-joon to affect serious policy changes, why is it only just now that someone has felt the need to call him out on being a fraud? Especially given how these frustrations apparently have now given rise to murderous impulses.
But really, what can I write now that's any different than before? Logic has never been a strong point in "Please Come Back, Mister". This is a drama where glitterbombs and ludicrously expensive gifts can pop out of nowhere because it offers that nice, fuzzy feeling of appreciation for those who are dead, and the positive influence they made on the living, and how the living in turn can offer proper remembrance.
"Please Come Back, Mister" does have this bad habit of making Yeong-soo and Gi-tak seem like more dynamic, sympathetic characters in the past tense than we ever get to see in their new bodies. Especially since, for all Maya's proclamations about how the reincarnation program frequently ends up a disappointment, so far everyone seems to have come out for the better. Besides, I doubt director Sin Yoon-seob is finished with all the fuzziness just yet anyway.
Review by William Schwartz
"Please Come Back, Mister" is directed by Sin Yoon-seob, written by Noh Hye-yeong and features Rain Kim Soo-ro, Kim In-kwon, Oh Yeon-seo, Lee Min-jeong, Lee Honey, Choi Won-yeong, Yoon Park and more
18.
HANCINEMA
http://www.hancinema.net/hancinema-s-drama-review-please-come-back-mister-episode-15-93491.html
[HanCinema's Drama Review] "Please Come Back, Mister" Episode 15
Gi-tak is dangled in front of the fire like a damsel in distress here, and while he's not quite exactly a damsel, the fact that Gi-tak looks like a damsel does make matters somewhat awkward. The sexual tension between him and former gangster buddy Ji-hoon has always been noticeable, and there's some pretty unsettling transgender questions at play here. When you like the woman you like because she reminds you of a guy, and is in fact simply that same guy in a woman's body, does that make you gay?
...All right, OK, this isn't actually an issue "Please Come Back, Mister" gets into I just found that train of thought to be sort of mildly amusing. After the huge gangster fight scene the focus is once more back to tender moments as Yeong-soo and Gi-tak decide to make the most of the time they have left to provide comfort and reassurance to loved ones. I'm trying to remember if we've ever actually seen those cool-looking watches before, because I've spent a lot of "Please Come Back, Mister" wondering what the hard deadline is, or even if there is one.
As usual there's plenty of reasons for Yeong-soo and Gi-tak to bow out sooner rather than later. The fortune cookies have been puzzling me because, given how long Yeong-soo's been using his position as fake Hae-joon to affect serious policy changes, why is it only just now that someone has felt the need to call him out on being a fraud? Especially given how these frustrations apparently have now given rise to murderous impulses.
But really, what can I write now that's any different than before? Logic has never been a strong point in "Please Come Back, Mister". This is a drama where glitterbombs and ludicrously expensive gifts can pop out of nowhere because it offers that nice, fuzzy feeling of appreciation for those who are dead, and the positive influence they made on the living, and how the living in turn can offer proper remembrance.
"Please Come Back, Mister" does have this bad habit of making Yeong-soo and Gi-tak seem like more dynamic, sympathetic characters in the past tense than we ever get to see in their new bodies. Especially since, for all Maya's proclamations about how the reincarnation program frequently ends up a disappointment, so far everyone seems to have come out for the better. Besides, I doubt director Sin Yoon-seob is finished with all the fuzziness just yet anyway.
Review by William Schwartz
"Please Come Back, Mister" is directed by Sin Yoon-seob, written by Noh Hye-yeong and features Rain Kim Soo-ro, Kim In-kwon, Oh Yeon-seo, Lee Min-jeong, Lee Honey, Choi Won-yeong, Yoon Park and more
18.
HANCINEMA
http://www.hancinema.net/hancinema-s-drama-review-please-come-back-mister-episode-15-93491.html
[HanCinema's Drama Review] "Please Come Back, Mister" Episode 15
2016/04/14
I find that watching "Please Come Back, Mister" without a sense of context tends to be instructive for getting a feel of the drama. As per the last cliffhanger, there was a big car accident and Yeong-soo, rather than do the sensible thing and go to the hospital, stumbles around through sheer force of will to his intended destination. One might think from that much that there was a serious romance going on between him and Da-hye, rather than the deliberately ambiguous mess we actually ended up with. And then Gi-tak shows up using the cute "dearest spouse" form of personal address.
At its best moments "Please Come Back, Mister" has a lot in common with more traditionally minded dramas, with the emphasis on high-stakes emotional situations. Where the production usually falls flat is with the often awkward use of supernatural elements. The watches make a comeback here, and Maya gives us a somewhat arbitrary rule that can apparently be used to deal with Yeong-soo's sudden bad situation.
That bad situation, by the way, is the fault of villainous influences that until recently haven't been much of a presence. Looking back, the overall plot is actually kind of a whodunit, in that we're left guessing as to which vaguely antagonistic character is the true villain who's been orchestrationg every bad thing that's happened in the story. There aren't really that many candidates, although it yet remains odd how apparently the true villain has also been at odds with most of the other almost villains, yet has somehow not been exposed.
But full elucidation on those points will have to wait until the final episode. In the meantime, I could appreciate the music design. While it's nothing espoecially innovative, the score always goes through the right beats necessary to, say, make us sad when something bad happens and tough choices have to be made. It does help that "Please Come Back, Mister" has lately mostly avoided having Yeong-soo make the kind of petty decisions that made up his characterization in the early part of the drama.
Yet that's unfortunately often the best the production team can really do in "Please Come Back, Mister". They can make the action vaguely entertaining without being all that impressive, or even mockworthy. Improbable escapes just come off as kind of improbable, not really ludicrous. As a production "Please Come Back, Mister" has often been stuck trying with trying to strike the right balance of absurd comedy with absurd drama, and it hasn't been that successful.
Review by William Schwartz
"Please Come Back, Mister" is directed by Sin Yoon-seob, written by Noh Hye-yeong and features Rain Kim Soo-ro, Kim In-kwon, Oh Yeon-seo, Lee Min-jeong, Lee Honey, Choi Won-yeong, Yoon Park and more
19.
HANCINEMA
http://www.hancinema.net/hancinema-s-drama-review-please-come-back-mister-episode-16-final-93500.html
[HanCinema's Drama Review] "Please Come Back, Mister" Episode 16 Final
I find that watching "Please Come Back, Mister" without a sense of context tends to be instructive for getting a feel of the drama. As per the last cliffhanger, there was a big car accident and Yeong-soo, rather than do the sensible thing and go to the hospital, stumbles around through sheer force of will to his intended destination. One might think from that much that there was a serious romance going on between him and Da-hye, rather than the deliberately ambiguous mess we actually ended up with. And then Gi-tak shows up using the cute "dearest spouse" form of personal address.
At its best moments "Please Come Back, Mister" has a lot in common with more traditionally minded dramas, with the emphasis on high-stakes emotional situations. Where the production usually falls flat is with the often awkward use of supernatural elements. The watches make a comeback here, and Maya gives us a somewhat arbitrary rule that can apparently be used to deal with Yeong-soo's sudden bad situation.
That bad situation, by the way, is the fault of villainous influences that until recently haven't been much of a presence. Looking back, the overall plot is actually kind of a whodunit, in that we're left guessing as to which vaguely antagonistic character is the true villain who's been orchestrationg every bad thing that's happened in the story. There aren't really that many candidates, although it yet remains odd how apparently the true villain has also been at odds with most of the other almost villains, yet has somehow not been exposed.
But full elucidation on those points will have to wait until the final episode. In the meantime, I could appreciate the music design. While it's nothing espoecially innovative, the score always goes through the right beats necessary to, say, make us sad when something bad happens and tough choices have to be made. It does help that "Please Come Back, Mister" has lately mostly avoided having Yeong-soo make the kind of petty decisions that made up his characterization in the early part of the drama.
Yet that's unfortunately often the best the production team can really do in "Please Come Back, Mister". They can make the action vaguely entertaining without being all that impressive, or even mockworthy. Improbable escapes just come off as kind of improbable, not really ludicrous. As a production "Please Come Back, Mister" has often been stuck trying with trying to strike the right balance of absurd comedy with absurd drama, and it hasn't been that successful.
Review by William Schwartz
"Please Come Back, Mister" is directed by Sin Yoon-seob, written by Noh Hye-yeong and features Rain Kim Soo-ro, Kim In-kwon, Oh Yeon-seo, Lee Min-jeong, Lee Honey, Choi Won-yeong, Yoon Park and more
19.
HANCINEMA
http://www.hancinema.net/hancinema-s-drama-review-please-come-back-mister-episode-16-final-93500.html
[HanCinema's Drama Review] "Please Come Back, Mister" Episode 16 Final
2016/04/14
This is it, the final confrontation, where among other things, the full background behind Gi-tak's death is confirmed. After the rather goofy way Yeong-soo died I have to admit I never really considered the idea that Gi-tak's death was anything more complicated than what it looked like- a high speed chase gone wrong. That notion seemed bolstered by how Gi-tak himself lost interest in searching for his real killer fairly quickly. Yet in the end, Gi-tak is forced to decide whether he's willing to break the revenge rule or not.
Fortunately events immediately afterward are such that technical questions of whether or not such and such action constitutes revenge end up being a moot point. While "Please Come Back, Mister" has never been that good with the exact definition of rules, it does manage decently well with the emotional scenes, and that's exactly what we get. Both Gi-tak and Yeong-soo get strong send-offs well befitting their stated goals in afterlife. To the extent they had stated goals anyway.
This is it, the final confrontation, where among other things, the full background behind Gi-tak's death is confirmed. After the rather goofy way Yeong-soo died I have to admit I never really considered the idea that Gi-tak's death was anything more complicated than what it looked like- a high speed chase gone wrong. That notion seemed bolstered by how Gi-tak himself lost interest in searching for his real killer fairly quickly. Yet in the end, Gi-tak is forced to decide whether he's willing to break the revenge rule or not.
Fortunately events immediately afterward are such that technical questions of whether or not such and such action constitutes revenge end up being a moot point. While "Please Come Back, Mister" has never been that good with the exact definition of rules, it does manage decently well with the emotional scenes, and that's exactly what we get. Both Gi-tak and Yeong-soo get strong send-offs well befitting their stated goals in afterlife. To the extent they had stated goals anyway.
Gi-tak, for example, is shown as always being this big influence from the sidelines. He's never actually cared that much about himself just so long as the people in his life have been able to get along all right, and that's the standpoint from which he leaves the story. Yeong-soo is more of a direct steadying influence, and seen from that angle, the weird sometimes creepy way he's been hitting on Da-hye does kind of make sense, even if it still probably wasn't the best use of screen time.
Even the villains mostly get off without too much hassle, the exception being the one guy who was finally outed last episode as being the one causing all the trouble. Even the Jae-hoon's weird family dynamics are exposed for the curious farce they are, and apparently from that point onward we're just supposed to hope that the real Jae-hoon, post castaway adventure, will be able to deal with any possible problems.
The sentiment in the last episode of "Please Come Back, Mister" is sweet and effective when it counts, although that alone isn't enough to save the drama from its overall tone and continuity issues. The epilogue, while cute, technically does not appear to be canonically possible in this universe anymore. Although really, trying to guess what happened to the supporting cast at all considering the big decision is difficult enough. And also, probably unwarranted.
Review by William Schwartz
"Please Come Back, Mister" is directed by Sin Yoon-seob, written by Noh Hye-yeong and features Rain Kim Soo-ro, Kim In-kwon, Oh Yeon-seo, Lee Min-jeong, Lee Honey, Choi Won-yeong, Yoon Park and more
19.
HANCINEMA
http://www.hancinema.net/spoiler-please-come-back-mister-rain-s-drunk-acting-looks-so-real-91474.html
[Spoiler] 'Please Come Back, Mister' Rain's drunk acting looks so real
"Please Come Back, Mister" has unveiled Rains images featuring his 6 different expressions.
Rain will play the double roles in the SBS Wednesday & Thursday drama, "Please Come Back, Mister", which begins on February 24th. His role, Lee Hae-joon is a popular branch manager of a department store who used to be a hopeless and miserable section manager in his previous life and he is also a secret son to a plutocrat.
In the still images revealed on February 16th, Rain is crying sadly like a child while holding a dried cod, a popular side dish food for drinking, or helping himself with liquor alone. His comical and realistic drunk acting was filmed on the 18th of last month in a pojangmacha, a small tented bar on the street, in Yongin, Gyeonggido.
Source : enews24.interest.me/n...
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