Lazy Unnie’s Couch: W – Two Worlds Apart

Oh Sung Moo, the father of cardiothoracic surgeon Oh Yeon Joo, mysteriously goes missing while writing the last chapter of his webtoon “W”. Yeon Joo goes to his office looking, but a hand from his monitor suddenly pulls her in, and she finds herself on the rooftop of a building, next to a bloodied man. She manages to save the person, only to realize that he is Kang Cheol, the main character of her father’s webtoon. Yeon Joo later discovers she can only enter and leave the webtoon depending on Kang Cheol’s feelings.
mydramalist

Starring: Han Hyo Joo | Lee Jung Suk | Kim Eui Sung
Episodes: 16 (60 mins.)
Aired: July 20 – September 14, 2016
Network: MBC
Where to Watch: VIKI

This will be the 5th year since I got into K-dramas and everything Korean, and I somehow wanted to start off this one with a show from my to-watch list. A show that has been on there from the beginning. I will tell you right now I regret everything about that decision. I assumed that since this was one that I knew a lot of people had watched and the ratings weren’t terrible, I would enjoy this fantasy rollercoaster. Well, we know what they say about assumptions.

Originally I thought the premise was going to be something along the lines of Extra-Ordinary You. Comic book characters and a fracture of their reality. Yes, W had that but where Extra-Ordinary You had a clear storyline from beginning to end, this one lost me pretty early on. We have our female lead, who, I had to admit was actually interesting. Oh Yeon Joo without the aide of our male lead of Kang Cheol was pretty strong. But where she started to falter was when all of a sudden she was head over heels in love with this technically two-dimensional character. Not even gonna lie to you, I have had my share of crushes that weren’t real but this took that idea to the next level. And I think it was that “love” and the idea that she was going to do anything to save Kang Cheol that made the plot derail a bit.

For me, things started to go awry when there really wasn’t a clear explanation on why the characters could travel between the real world and the comic world so easily. Yes, a few times it made sense but once Oh Yeon Joo started to really become a character in the comic, the grip on reality was starting to get lost. And the plot REALLY lost me when they wanted to throw in random amnesia plots and backtracking on villain plots.

Speaking of… THE VILLAINS! From episode one when I saw that Kang Cheol was stabbed, I called that it was the lawyer dude who was his nemesis. But do they go with that logical choice? No. They make it the comic creator and then do some more weird shit. Maybe it was there I was done with the foolishness. Or maybe it was the misplaced cute romantic moments. I loved them because the leads definitely had a chemistry that was undeniable but I hated them because when they happened it wasn’t really a time to be all cute and shit. I mean, they are making out in a prison holding room after Kang Cheol gets Oh Yeon Joo out of comic world jail. Priorities people.

However, like I said, I loved their chemistry. The acting was also really good. And I loved the characters. I thought it was cool in some scenes how when Oh Yeon Joo would travel through the worlds and they would be the same place but just different. Like a bizarro world. But with all those things, it couldn’t save me from the mess of a plot. It felt like the writers took a shotgun to the plot and tried to close up the wound with bandaids for the rest of the season. Thankfully I only had to make it through 16 episodes. If it was longer… well, let us not think negative things.