W — Two Worlds (2016)

Quick Take: W - Two Worlds (2016), starring Lee Jong-suk and Han Hyo-joo.  9.1/10.  16  70-minute episodes.

Synopsis:   Oh Yeon-joo is a cardiovascular resident at a major Seoul hospital.  Her father writes and draws a popular webtoon called W that has been running for more than ten years.  The story begins when Yeon-joo’s father inexplicably decides that Kang Choi, the main character in W,  needs to die.  Distressed, Yeon-joo rushes to her father’s studio and on his desk sees a tablet screen showing a drawing of Kang Choi lying unconscious and bleeding.  Suddenly she is drawn into the scene — and she saves his life.  It gets weirder from there.

Review: W is one of the 2106 classics.  The plot is tricky, the action is non-stop, special effects work like magic, and the romance is hot.  No sex, of course, but lots of tension and great dialogue as the two protagonists try to figure out how to navigate their two worlds — the comic universe and the real universe — which are both dangerous.  It turns out to be really hard to draw a happy ending, but this is a romance so love will find a way.

The story seemed to wrap up nicely at the end of Episode 12, but unfortunately the villain appeared yet again.  Too bad, I was done.  I haven’t gone back to watch the remaining four hours.  If I do, I’ll update.

Update:  I did go back to watch the rest, in short chunks as filler.  As much as I loved this drama in the beginning, the end was just a muddled mess. The rules kept changing!  You can’t die in the other world — oh wait, yes you can.  You need the tablet to go to the comic world, and a chapter ending to get back — no, never mind all that.  Whatever the rules are, they should be consistent, and comprehensible.

I’m not Recommending, but the early episodes are super compelling and if Lee Jong-suk is your bias, go for it. Just don’t hesitate to bail if the plot stops working for you — the ending isn’t worth hanging in for.

Rewatchable - 2, Compelling - 3, Plot/ Story/Writing - 7,  Acting/Casting - 9, Production - 10, Bonus - 0. Plus 5 for originality and execution, but minus 5 for the ending.

Notes:

Lee Jong-suk

started out as a fashion model at age 15. He first gained notice in Secret Garden (2010) and School 2013 (2012). See him also in While You Were Sleeping (2017), Hymn of Death (2018), and Romance is a Bonus Book (2019).

Han

Hyo-joo

is trilingual — fluent in Korean, English, and Japanese. She has been acting in films and television dramas since 2005, and also appeared in Treadstone (2019) an American action series, and a Japanese film. See her also in Happiness (2021).