Recuerdos de la Alhambra (2018)

This drama gave me major W vibes. Which isn’t surprising since it’s from the same creator. The concept is so fresh and original. The plot in itself is reason enough to watch the show.

Also laughing over the fact that after ‘Pinocchio’ both Lee Jong Suk and Park Shin Hye moved on to medical dramas and then ‘alternate reality’ shows.

Another thing I find funny is how this drama is more of an action thriller and yet we get better kiss scenes than actual romance dramas lmaooo

But man, what a man Jin-woo is. He risked it all for a man he hadn’t even MET. He lost SO much in the process. I couldn’t believe he was still in one piece after going through all the pain and trauma he suffered. The ghost NPC of his ex-best friend coming to kill him every day?! With other enemy NPCS appearing out of the blue around him constantly, in every shape and form?! What a life to live, jesus.

I both liked and disliked the ‘Momento’ story-telling method. How we’d see one scene and then go back in time to see what happened leading up to it. It did make things interesting, although it was annoying to watch entire scenes we’d already seen all over again. Still, it was different and I liked the originality.

If I did have another complaint, it would be Hee-ju’s role. I wish she had more involvement. She was such an amazing female lead (and honestly deserves better, whoops) and did everything in her power for the man she loved. She was so intelligent and kind, and this is why I wish she had played a bigger role. Apart from being Jin-woo’s shoulder to cry on, I wish she could have joined the game properly and made a difference plot-wise. I wish Jin-woo could have fought with Hee-ju by his side. Or for her to also have some ‘hacking’ skills and help from the sidelines. Just something that helped him apart from emotionally. That’s just my two cents, I feel like it was a wasted opportunity.

I was going to write I was somewhat okay with the ending, but after seeing other people’s reactions and realising what we could have had, it does make me disappointed. Jin woo really did deserve a happy ending (shown on screen) after all the suffering and pain he went through. And jin woo and se ju should have met. Jin woo spent the whole show trying to save him, they deserved to meet.

Other than that, I did enjoy the suspense and originality of the drama. You honestly never know what’s coming next, it’s always up in the air. But the writing is good and it does make for a good watch

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If you have watched W and liked it, then this should be on your watch list. If you haven't watched W but if you're into gaming, then you should watch this drama. If you are neither a gamer nor watched W, even then this should be on your watch list. If you are a gamer and have watched W, then this drama should be on your priority watch list.

The story revolves around an AR game, it's developer and the people who are ready to buy this game. From start to finish, the story makes you glued to the screen - it was like that for me. But bugs appear on this game, people get killed and those who end up playing it at times experiences that there is only a thin line between reality and the game. Can the developer delete the bugs? Watch the drama to find out.

Park Shin hye who gave life to Emma and Hee ju was exceptional as always. Se ju played by Chanyeol - all Exols should watch this. Honestly I wasn't sure of Chanyeol justifying Seju's role but the last two episodes proved me wrong. Chanyeol did his part well. Hyun bin - we all know he is a veteran actor and can handle any role with ease. Others worth mentioning are those who played Marco, CEO Cha, Jin woo's Secretary, Su jin, CEO Park, Professor Cha, Hee Ju's sister and Go Yu Ra.

Music is excellent and suits the drama very well.

The Changes I would have made to this drama if I was in charge - I wanted Seju to have more screen time not because it is Chanyeol, but the Character himself as the game developer - deserved more screen time. Second thing is I might have wanted the ending differently but the ending of this drama is different to the one I or many of us might have imagined(in a good way) . There's a scope for season II, no there has to be a season II otherwise it is like they left us hanging midway just like that.

I will patiently wait for season II no matter how long it takes.

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An interesting watch, all in all. I think the writer left some logical gaps and the supposed romance never gelled for me, primarily because the female lead spent most of her time crying. But I also think that an actor better than Park Shin Hye could have done more with that role. Hyun Bin, on the other hand, did a good job.

My biggest complaint is the number of in-your-face and out-of-place product placements in the drama. There was one date scene that seemed to serve no purpose other than to advertise make-up and Swarovski crystals. Other scenes prominently featured Subway or instant coffee, together with the actors awkwardly commenting about how delicious the products were. And I think that the primary reason that the characters spent half their time driving around Grenada and Seoul was to advertise Lexus vehicles.

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Most Disappointing Ending

I was immediately pulled into Memories of Alhambra. It was interesting from the start and I was invested in the characters, but the ending did not live up to the build-up. There seemed to be a plot hole that didn’t make sense to me and I felt it left off on a cliffhanger that leaves the viewer confused and annoyed.

What I Liked About It

The suspense was the best part of the drama. It was exciting to see Jin-woo level up in the game as he fights to put the pieces together. There was never a time where I was bored. In fact, I was binge-watching the show for a few days at the start.

The music helped amplify the suspense. It wasn’t beautiful music or anything, but I felt it served its purpose of pulling us into the turmoil Jin-woo was faced with every episode. The acting was also very well done from all of the characters, which helped to make it more believable though the premise was impossible.

I really liked Hee-joo’s younger sister, Min-joo. She was excitable, respectful, and she was the reason I sort of believed in the relationship between Hee-joo and Jin-woo. They felt mostly incompatible to me but whenever Min-joo started trying to get them together I was instantly invested again. I thought she brought some humor and relief to the characters after the constant strife they dealt with throughout the entire show. I also liked Hee-joo herself because she was relatable. She worked tirelessly to keep her family afloat without much help and was there for Jin-woo even though he sometimes didn’t deserve it.

I loved that they were in Spain and I could practice listening for both my Spanish and Korean learning skills. There was also some English used as well. I liked the diversity in location; the scenery in Granada was quite beautiful and made me want to take a trip there; I never knew this place existed until this show, so I learned something new.


What I Didn’t Like About It

I didn’t like Jin-woo’s character. He was selfish, secretive, and mostly used Hee-joo in the beginning. He did warn her that he wasn’t a good person, so at least he wasn’t painted as the great grand hero. I feel his character did change throughout the show. In the beginning he was just interested in using people for his own gain, but after constantly having to question his own sanity, his driving force was no longer money. For someone who started off selfish, his character did grow to care for others later. Still, I never really liked his personality and felt that he was always kind of stringing Hee-joo along. After he had his secretary pretend to be her brother sending emails for an entire year, I doubt I would want to date him after that. Hee-joo seemed to forgive him quickly since he was working hard to find her brother, but I would’ve never trusted him again.

I hated the ending. I literally leapt at the screen with bulging eyes saying, “What? That’s it??” How is that it? They completely neglected to explain how in the world this game was able to make fake game guns shoot real bullets and kill people who miraculously became bugs in the system. They didn’t explain how Hee-joo’s brother, Se-joo, was able to create a space in the game for him to disappear into, a space that only exists in the game in order to hide from the real world. Obviously, it’s supernatural, but I was hoping for some sort of explanation as to how in the world he could create such an elaborate game that exists outside time.

Is he a god? Does he have special powers? My initial thought was that there was a hallucinogenic in the game contacts making people hallucinate, but that doesn’t account for why people were actually dying from weapons that weren’t real, so…Whoop-dee-doo I guess we’ll never know, but that makes this one of the most annoying endings I’ve ever seen in a TV show. The writers just didn’t create the entire basis for the story and simply didn’t finish telling it. It feels like there should definitely be a second season to explain the entire first season, but I don’t know if that’s likely; it’s been 3 years already.

Another thing that annoyed me was the huge plot-hole. In the end, it appears that the bugs were all the people who were killed in the game, but the first person to be killed was Se-joo’s backstabbing friend yet when Jin-woo got rid of the bugs the first one was said to be Hyung-seok. Yes, he was the first to die by Jin-woo’s hand in the game, but he wasn’t the first to die in the game period. That was Se-joo’s friend, whom Se-joo killed by mistake because he didn’t know the game’s guns could actually kill people. So, why did the writers act like Hyung-seok was the first to die?? Did I miss something? There’s no way Se-joo’s friend could be gotten rid of because Jin-woo hadn’t yet given Emma the key at the time of his death. So…huge plot hole that was pretty glaring if I’m remembering correctly.


Is It Worth a Rewatch?

At the end of the day, I would rewatch certain scenes, such as the ones shot in the beautiful Granada. I would watch for the actors’ performances and if I want to see something suspenseful. I would not rewatch it from the beginning because I know how disappointing the ending is. They create all these chasing scenes with all this loud, suspenseful music just to lead up to a deflated balloon-type ending. So disappointing.

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A very well built cast and an amazing direction with a lack of good writing.

I started this drama with very few expectations. To be honest, with expectations that it was gonna be a lost of time. I have never been a lover of Park Shin Hye, I find her adorable and beautiful but when talking about acting she has always sending me varied experiences, and almost never good ones.
Buttttttt I started it and it really surprised me, in a good way.

Let's start talking about *acting*, I can not say anything bad about the actors, I'm not "bias" for Hyun Bin, but I've always praised his great performance despite some bad scripts and characters; this time, Hyun Bin presents a character with a deep emotional pain, with behaviors of anxiety disorder, the best of this is that we see how the character Yoo Jin-Woo goes from being mentally balanced to an alcoholic with problems to face the reality, a person who has to deal with post-traumatic stress day after day. Although not everything is perfect in this point, because it lacked depth on the part of the writers who easily forgot the problems that the protagonist had shown two episodes ago. Park Shin Hye, showed me a facet of good performances (and good Spanish! What a shock! so great!) A great repertoire of expressions and new ways of relating to their co-stars, was something beautiful, although not perfect as lacked a bit of depth to her character. The other supporting actors were between "fantastic, I love you" and "I do not know what you're doing here and I don't care" the latter is mainly directed to both ex-wives, I dont know what happened there, it was a horror to see their scenes without any meaning but to stole time, it was fatal; although it is also divided the fault with the writing of characters so vague and without depth.

Let's continue talking about the quality of production, I do not know how much Netflix had to do in the production, but I could see within the first 30 minutes of the first episode that it was going to be fantastic. The interactions between the real and the virtual world were impressive, the changes were made as if by magic (the magic of technology). And, most importantly, you could still distinguish the real from the virtual reality, or at least the first chapters, because we, the spectators, also get involved in the same way that the main character Yoo Jin-Woo, without knowing everything transforms and we can not distinguish if what is shown on the screen is reality. I can not but express how great the direction and production is, it is a real delight to see it on the screen.
*Here is the problem*
Writing was what I liked the least, it started very strong, every week I wanted more and more, but after a while the problem lengthened, forgetting the problems raised before for the characters, the non-main characters were vague and without depth, I could not care less what happened to them. There was never a Villain with a capital V, which could be good if it highlighted the demon that had the protagonist inside him, his own battle with himself, but it was not achieved. Here is the weak link of the whole drama, a tremendous pity because it started with great potential that was lost over time.
For all the above, I can say that it is a drama that is worth seeing, it entertains you and it is beautiful when you see it, with great performances and a tremendous direction. While it has its weak points, they are not so tragic when viewed in a casual way. For these reasons I give it an 8 and I am left with my thought, that I already had some time ago, that Hyun Bin is a tremendous actor.

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This show had everything to be top-rated but fell flat for me in attachment. The drama had a very interesting plot line which reminded of SAO Ordinal Scale. It was shot beautifully with a grayish scale tone being always present. Hyun Bin and Park Shin Hye did a fantastic job in their roles with Hyun Bin obviously being the star of the show as the one man army against all odds. The romance was present, but it wasn't one that made me excited or happy, even though there was good chemistry. I was relieved the Park Shin Hye was finally able to kiss properly against her last drama. The show portrayed how even just one person's faith can mean the world to you and be a pillar of strength to keep moving on. There were plot holes as you neared the end, and the ending itself was very bittersweet and open-ended. The OST was seriously outstanding though like it came out of a freakin Skyrim game.

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I put of this show for a long time and I finally watched it. I have to say the show was quite good, other than the fact that the story kept going back to show what happened to get to a certain point. I'd recommend to watch it though it hope Netflix will make a season 2 of this show. I highly doubt they will, but man the ending being just that, it gave us hope, but I feel so unsatisfied, maybe it's just because he was all blacked out being shown helping characters, but I need more man, it felt left unfinished and I dearly hope for an continuation. This show has so much potential and I know they could some hoe continue it. I mean it is a happy ending in the way of knowing he is alive, but I just want more.

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This series is lacking because of scenes that doesn't need to be prolonged. The acting was great but the story is somewhat filled with holes, i thought they were very clever in the beginning but in the end I see it as a low grade series. Damn, the scenery and all are very great but the story, filled with holes. I was very upset because of my expectations for this series. I should've watched this series first before Crash Landing on You. Very bad mistake. If I am being honest here, i would've spewed many crap about the story, and the rewatch value would be 0. That's all. I was very disappointed on how some characters act or how some parts of the story were done.

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This show had so much potential to be a one of a kind show, and could have easily been one of my favorite shows, but unfortunately it failed to.
First and foremost, I would like to express my deepest respect to the writer behind this show Song Jae Jung, the same mind behind creating other very famous and iconic fantasy/sci-fi genre dramas including Queen In-Hyun’s Man, Nine: Nine times time travel, and W Two worlds. And while these shows might not have necessarily been perfectly written from start to finish, but we have to admit that their plots were highly original and innovative, proving above anything the rich imagination skills of the mind behind creating them. So kudos to her, for surprising her viewers every time.

So focusing on Memories of Alhambra, what I liked and what I did not so much.

First the story:
As I mentioned earlier, the story in this one is one of great originality and creativity, an smartly written plot packed with fantasy, thriller, mystery, action and drama. It is a story that constantly keeps its viewer at the edge of their seats (where it particularly excelled), and resembles the writer’s previous fantasy works in that it compels the viewer to keep questioning and guessing and re-guessing the rules of the world created inside of it (where it might not have necessarily been up to par).
The plot revolves around an AR (Augmented Reality) Game, and the chaos and struggles that arise when the barrier between the game and reality start to crumble, and how the real lives of the players become detrimentally affected by the game, causing major casualties along the way.
First if you are to venture into this drama, you have to abandon your scientific reasoning, and do not expect realism. If you manage to go past the “HOW”s and such, you will find yourself in front of an entertaining ride, featuring beautiful cinematography, and high-end CGI.
Being a fantasy drama though unexpectedly requires stating rules. You might be creating an imaginary world that defies real world and common sense, but you still have to a certain extent assign rules guiding this imaginary realm, to explain why and how things happen the way they do.
At first, both the viewer and the main characters are struggling to grasp such rules, later on we start to guess and put theories, with the writing providing hints. The problem though is that this drama eventually did not manage to create a neat and consistent reasoning all the way through, instead the viewer will find himself at a certain point compelled to abandon his struggles to understand why things happen and more importantly why they only happen at certain instances but other times fail to, and instead settle on just enjoying the exquisite scenery, high-end CGI and kick-ass action.
The only part of the story that I found lacking even more than such plot-holes or inconsistencies, was unfortunately none other than the romance. I am a fan of romantic genre, and easily swoon, get butterflies and find chemistry between many an OTP, so when I watch a drama and find myself near the end wondering why these two fell in love in the first place, that’s when I know that the romance somehow lost me. That was the case here, not on both sides of the equation though, because while the pace of development of HIS feelings towards her were very believable and natural of a man of his past and position, HER feelings always felt kind of rushed and too sudden. I do not mind love at first sight scenarios, or being attracted visually to someone, but that somehow did not feel like it was the case here either.
All in all, the romance for me felt a bit lacking on a relatability-wise, but I noticed that other people enjoyed it just fine. So it might be tastes and nothing more.


Acting:
Solid performances from everyone, especially Hyun Bin, who you can say was the sole star of this show. It is after all, his story proved by his narration.
As for Park Shin Hye, .I am not a fan of her to be honest, so at the beginning not enjoying her character I thought was because of that. But the more the story progressed and the more her character’s involvement in the story increased (though never amounting to much significance) the more I realized, that it was not the actress’ problem, but rather the writing of the character itself. She is supposed to be a very hand-working, independent and multi-talented lady, and I appreciated how they shed light on her upbringing and past via a neat flashback sequence, but somehow she never felt truly human, but rather a shallow human being with no life of her own. The show certainly succeeded in showing how she was devoting herself wholeheartedly to the well-being of her family, sometimes sacrificing her own ambitions and dreams in return, but somehow it still failed to nail to draw out who she is as a person. Maybe also my feelings towards the romance in this drama in general might have helped to make me feel more detached from the female lead, maybe just that I didn’t fancy Park Shin Hye’s mouth-slightly-opened emotional portrayal, dunno. (I apologize to any PSH fans out there :D)

All in all, this was definitely an enjoyable drama, with a smart and original plot, great cinematography, solid performance, and nicely paced. And like all this writer’s other dramas, while having its issues, it is by all means a drama worth watching, pondering, and enjoying. I would particularly recommend it to fantasy genre fans, game fans and of course Hyun Bin fans because he definitely excelled here.

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