Memories of the Alhambra

Interesting subject matter, awfully nice effects, but I couldn't actually get into it until the end. Sure, there were some great moments where I thought it finally had the right drive, but unfortunately it fizzled out again rather quickly. My second disappointment was that nobody actually has any idea why Se Joo fell in love with Jin Woo. Does she like money, self-harm, and wounded animals? On the other hand, it was clear why Jin Woo took a liking to Se Joo (he just needed a sucker who would trust him and be boundlessly devoted to him, apparently this is something guys go for and need if they have a big quest ahead of them). At least that was good. In terms of the screenwriting, it wasn't great; you could tell it was pretty similar to W, except someone kept the screenwriter on a tight leash so it wouldn't be as much of a mess as the previous work. I would even dare to say that it was the director who gave it the form it needed. As for the actors, if you like them, you'll get what you're already used to. Not a hair more. The ending is predictable (because how else were they supposed to get out of it, right? They had no capacity left for anything else). And was a big disappointment for many. On the plus side, you simply want to know what's going to happen next, how it's going to turn out, and why it's actually happening the way it is (even though nothing else about it interested me). You won't get a satisfactory answer to that last one, it has its bugs. But why not. It's like light fare without a distinct genre. Certainly not a series about love. A mediocre 3 stars. (01/24/2019)

For a long time I was clinging to the idea that I would end up liking this series after all. I mean, Hyun Bin is in it! So what went wrong? In one trailer – where I found the main characters very entertaining, by the way – Hyun Bin says that we'll see beautiful scenery in the series. And it’s true, that's definitely the best part of the show. Shin-hye Park, on the other hand, promised some nice romance – but unfortunately I didn't see any. Emotionally, it completely passed me by. Hyun Bin was so cold the whole time. He bored me most of the time and I absolutely couldn't relate to his character. Just an uninteresting and arrogant ahjussi. No wonder the main character didn't understand what he wanted her to do under that umbrella. Okay, not every man has to be a romantic, but what about at least a little passion when he loves someone? In keeping with tradition, Shin-hye has been cast as a weeper who cries as if out of habit. She's carries the romantic storyline by herself for some time, and cries over it just to be on the safe side. Sure, love is blind, but I still don't understand why she would fall for this weirdo who flits around town without explanation and barely talks to her. I can't even name any supporting characters who hold the show together. The main character's annoying friend, the people in the company, the two ex-girlfriends, Marco, the scared brother, the bad guy... all these characters lack personality, and the director got a bunch of crappy performances out of them. I'd love to add to the rave reviews (not just here), but it's hard to latch onto anything. The idea was very interesting, no question about it. They managed to make it nicely graphic, it's awesome in the Spanish setting, it's just that everything else is boring. And that's why even the scenes from the game, which were fine at first, soon get boring because it's the same situation over and over again. And instead of starting to resolve it somehow, maybe getting more people involved in the fight, the main weirdo doesn't talk to anyone and solves it all by himself. So as an advertisement for Granada – great, I'm adding it to my list of places I want to visit. Otherwise, the series didn't do it for me. 2 stars (05/15/2019)