While You Were Sleeping — halfway! Should you watch it?
Character Analysis
Suzy & Lee Jong Suk have held their own in their roles of Nam Hong Joo & Jung Jae Chan respectively, in addition to serving as some eye-candy as well :). Honestly, though, the story is what’s carrying this show and that’s a good thing. The story has been that good. There’s a good pace to the ebb and flow, with some sweet romantic moments interspersed, along with subtle & flagrant twists and turns to the story.
One quick note before moving on: I like how Suzy plays a character who takes some initiative in the romance, breaking the idea that the guy has to do it every time :).
Anyhow, Jung Hae In, playing Han Woo Tak, has played his role fittingly as well, giving a bit of the comedic element that I thought the supporting cast would bring. The only main character that really doesn’t fit well, though, is Lee Sang Yeob’s character, Lee Yoo Bum. It’s not Sang Yeob’s fault, though.
The elements of the story that draws Hong Joo, Jae Chan, and Woo Tak in are believable. A little far-fetched, but believable: “Hong Joo could have gone to the exact chicken shop that the criminal owned”, “Woo Tak could have been the alleged criminal’s childhood friend”, “The prosecutor office that Jae Chan works in SHOULD receive all these cases!”.
But, Yoo Bum as the attorney of choice for all these cases seem a bit far fetched. In addition to moving from looking like “pure evil” to “conflicted evil” to “capitalistic do-gooder”, he moves from criminal defense to civil prosecution…and with a tiny firm on top of that.
With that said, I give them a pass cause they’re doing a good job with the main story. Sometimes the “nemesis” drives the story, but here it isn’t, so here the “nemesis” is there to fill in the gaps & present a counterpoint.
Story telling
I’ve particularly enjoyed the story because they’re using a different kind of mechanism to tell the story. Many stories, both good and bad, are largely driven by what the characters don’t know and about how that lack of information leads them to take certain actions.
The simplest example would be scary movies, where we ask questions like “don’t open that door!” or “why are you going into the woods?!” Those can be a bit cheesy, but it’s also when they decide to show you a scene that one character is a part without the other character present. Another could be when a character forgets to ask a seemingly obvious question.
What I’ve found novel about this story’s mechanics is how it’s about what the characters know should happen and how they’re working, in the nick-of-time, to change that.
I do feel like this is why the cliffhanger used at the halfway point didn’t have much impact, because we know that they’re probably going to find some way to change it.
The Second Half
It brings to question how they’re going to land this plane. They’ll probably start answering the question of why these people have this ability to see the future in their dreams. At this point, it seems like it’ll have something to do with the event that defined both Hong Joo & Jae Chan’s childhood.
This conflict will end and then likely another intermediary conflict will appear and then they’ll finally bring the story to a close. Some elements that they’ve foreshadowed up to this point that look to define the ending are that Woo Tak’s secret will likely be tied to Hong Joo & Jae Chan’s childhood and that some man will die instead of Hong Joo. My current bet would be that Woo Tak’s secret is tied to that latter event and that the man dying will be Woo Tak and not Jae Chan.
The previous drama, helmed by Lee Jong Suk, that I watched, W, also had supernatural elements that were tied up fairly well. I don’t think that this drama’s ending is as dependent on tying up loose ends as W was, but with the great execution of the drama to this point, I’m looking forward to seeing how they bring this to a full stop.
OVERALL: 8.5/10
- STORY: 9/10
- DIRECTING: 9/10
- LEAD Actors: 8.5/10
- SUPPORTING Cast: 7.5/10
- CINEMATOGRAPHY: 8/10
- MUSIC: okay, not crucial
