Bullet Point Review: While You Were Sleeping
Published in
3 min readMar 24, 2018
- The first question, how does Lee Jong Suk pick such interesting dramas? He is one of the few actors whose dramas I enjoy watching, and they keep me hooked right from the start till the end. He seems to have a preference for stories involving the enigma of the supernatural; hence the choices of Pinocchio, W (which I am yet to watch), and now While You Were Sleeping, where the characters dream of the future and subsequently try to change it.
- The show follows the three leads Jung Jae Chan (Lee Jong Suk), Nam Hong Jo (Suzy) and Han Woo Tak (Jung Hae In), who all have visions of the future (never of their own, but of each other), from murders to accidents, to even their death, but most of the time, they are just snippets of conversations, arguments, secrets that reveal the trajectory their lives might take soon.
- Pinocchio was set against the backdrop of news reporters and their broadcasting channels and similarly, the writer sets this drama against the legal system. Due to this we are mostly amidst court proceedings and heaps of paperwork and investigations, (which was rather interesting), but the promise of the fantasy drama that was promised in the first few episodes that showcased the fear and tension looming behind the decision to change the future or not, is later largely replaced by a courtroom drama. Soon enough, the dreams are no longer problematic, but work out rather conveniently, giving out answers, rather than creating problems.
- The protagonist deals with a number of cases, ranging from a homicide, to an accidental death and domestic violence, each with it’s own legal loopholes and complications that the protagonist must figure out, but the fact that each of these cases gets always assigned to Jae Chan, and the visions are only concerning the cases he handles, so it becomes a little repetitive.
- The show also delves into the complicated matters of working in the legal system, where everything cannot be classified as right or wrong. Like in the case of the death of the Olympic archer, the suspect is found innocent, but this doesn’t mean a job well done, as the news channels won’t admit their mistake of blaming the prosecution and the public anger will also not lessen.
- The cyclic nature of the action (karma) is also deeply woven into the storyline. Lee Yu Boem’s (an excellent Lee Sang Yeob) trial towards the end accuses him of manipulating the evidence, reminiscent of how he manipulated Jae Chan’s marks as a teen to earn more money. Jae Chan loses his father (figure) twice, both the times, after he has made up with them, and looks forward to a fresh start to their relationship.
Jae Chan and Hong Jo meet for the first time at a funeral, and they both meet Han Woo Tak at the site of an accident; every relationship seems to start at the end of something, or at the back end of someone’s presence in your life.
