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Nine: Episode 2

The second episode has a better emotional hook, as the people around our hero get a chance to react to what’s happening to him. In that sense, it’s nice that the story moves fast enough that we’re not wasting time with big misunderstandings. But overall it’s not a speedy show—the pace could use a swift kick in the rear, stat. Though I am warming to the leads, who are smart, honest, and sassy… say, not afraid to give a guy the finger when he’s being an idiot?

 
EPISODE 2 RECAP

We open in the hospital with a tired, bleary-eyed doctor, Han Young-hoon, who sighs to see his colleagues watching the news broadcast touting Chairman Choi’s success in stem cell research. He turns the tv off and closes his office door.

The nameplate on his door tells us he’s a neurosurgeon, and then he gets a call from Min-young, asking if he knows anything about Sun-woo because she can sense something’s off about him, and if anyone would know it’d be his best friend. Thanks for the exposition.

She returns to the car after the phone call looking bright as usual, but when they get on the road, she starts to cry. Back just minutes earlier to the phone call: Young-hoon tells her about Sun-woo and blurts an angry rant about how the bastard refuses treatment. Even if the tumor is inoperable, there are other things they can do to try, to do something.

He asks her to try and convince him; maybe he’ll listen to her? But she hasn’t heard a thing he just said. “No matter what you do… he’ll die? No matter what you do, he’ll die?

She breaks down in sobs, thinking back to the strange six-month proposal, and Young-hoon’s words that at best he has six months of a normal walking-and-talking life. After that, he doesn’t know how bad it’ll get. Muffled between her sobs: “Son of a bitch.”

Sun-woo goes to visit Mom, who gives him the cold shoulder and brushes his hand away without a word. It kind of kills me how he puts on a happy face whenever she’s looking at him, and how quickly it fades when she’s not.

He gets a message from a co-worker at the station who says that all hell has broken loose since his impromptu live questioning of Chairman Choi, but that the other reporters are behind him one hundred percent.

By the time he gets home, the station president arrives just behind him to say that he looked over the file that Sun-woo handed over on Chairman Choi. He thinks it’s a fight worth taking on, but worries that there isn’t time to fact-check before moving on the story.

He swears that everything in that file has been checked and re-checked, and he can be trusted. The president jokes that he’s being rather cavalier because he’s gonna die, but what about the rest of them who have to live and face the consequences? Ha. I like this guy. He tells Sun-woo to come back to work, and doesn’t take no for an answer.

Sun-woo trudges through his family’s giant empty house (which he told his boss that he refuses to move out of in case Mom gets better). The only sign of life is a note from the housekeeper that she sent his hyung’s red parka to the dry cleaners. On his nightstand is the incense and lighter he had put away with the jacket.

He gets another head-splitting pain, and when it wears off he decides to light the incense again. He picks up his phone to finish checking his hate mail, when suddenly he loses his internet connection.

He looks up, and he’s still in his room… only it looks very different…

There are basketballs and Michael Jordan posters (and New Kids on the Block? LOL.) and a pager sitting on the nightstand.

But what freaks him out most is the sound of Mom’s voice, calling him from downstairs. Lulz at the Back to the Future poster behind him—nice touch.

He cautiously makes his way downstairs, and beams at the sight of Mom, happy and healthy and talking to him as if he’s Jung-woo. Only, when she looks up, she freaks out at the strange man standing in her house, and a young Jung-woo comes running out wielding a bat.

Sun-woo’s so happy to see his hyung that he doesn’t even register that the bat is meant for him, until it starts swinging in his direction. He runs downstairs and gets backed up against the giant aquarium in the center of the house, and Jung-woo swings full-force, breaking the glass.

Some of the glass lodges into the back of Sun-woo’s neck, and the fish come spilling out. Sun-woo runs back up, confused, and sees Dad come out to ask what the commotion is. By the time he scrambles back into his room to catch his breath, it changes back into his present-day room.

He shakes it off like it was just a weird hallucination, not noticing that his shirt collar is soaked with his blood. He gets a call from Chairman Choi asking to meet when he lands in Korea tomorrow, but Sun-woo refuses.

The chairman says he offered to help Sun-woo’s family, but he was the one (along with Jung-woo) who refused his help. He acts like they’re the ones stabbing an old man in the back, and asks why they can’t work things out.

He asks to speak to Jung-woo, thinking he’ll get somewhere with him, but Sun-woo’s face hardens at the mention of his brother, and finally spits out: “He’s dead!” It’s news to Chairman Choi, who asks why. Sun-woo: “Why are you asking why? You’re the one who killed him!” He hangs up. Chairman Choi orders his minion to look into Jung-woo’s death.

It’s only after the call that Sun-woo notices the blood dripping from his neck, and his eyes widen in shock. He’s getting stitched up at the hospital when his buddy Young-hoon finds him and sighs at him like he’s a misbehaving child.

He takes over the stitching and barks at him that this is just the beginning of who-knows-what kind of blackout, and launches into this tirade that’s pretty awesome. He’s heartbreakingly sincere about it, but it’s also hilarious because there’s this doctor standing in the middle of the emergency room, swearing at a patient and calling him a bastard. Heh.

Sun-woo just smiles and calmly takes it in stride. He says the last time this happened he dreamt he was on a mountain, but this time he wasn’t even asleep.

The two friends go out to eat afterwards, and Sun-woo promises he’ll quit work soon, which is still not soon enough for Young-hoon. He wants Sun-woo in the hospital now, but Sun-woo says he’s got all sorts of stuff he wants to do, like go on dates with Min-young. He says he can handle pity from anyone but her.

Young-hoon stops short at that—didn’t she call or say anything? He tells Sun-woo that she called asking about him, thinking his behavior weird, and when she asked outright if he was sick, Young-hoon couldn’t keep it from her. I love that he even tries to backpedal after that: “It’s not my fault!”

Sun-woo heads back to work the next day, and struggles through another splitting headache. What do you plan to do if this happens during a live broadcast? He runs to his desk to pop another pill, when he sees a live feed to Min-young, ready to do her report in the Himalayas.

The guys in the editing room notice that Sun-woo’s near the news desk looking at her on the screen, and they guess that he came by just to see his girlfriend. Guess it shouldn’t be a surprise that news travels fast in a newsroom.

They connect her audio feed and alert her that Sun-woo can see and hear her right now, and suddenly her face changes. She can barely hold back her tears as she tells the rest of the crew that this is only meant for Sun-woo… and sticks her middle finger up at the camera. Hahahaha. She’s great.

The crew wonders if maybe they had a spat, or Sun-woo cheated on her or something. He doesn’t betray any emotion in front of the staff, but she runs off to cry alone. Sun-woo calls soon after, and says in his normal even-keel tone that she sure is being ballsy—is it because he proposed, or because he’s dying that she figures she can act this way?

She holds in her tears without saying a word, and when he eggs her on for an answer, she finally bursts (in banmal): “You are, in one word, a son of a bitch! There will never ever be another son of a bitch like you!”

She says he’s the one overstepping with that proposal nonsense, and tells him he can live alone and go alone. Angry tears stream down her face as she mutters at his unbelievable proposal. She tells him to come up with some sort of excuse.

He asks if she wants fact or fantasy, and doesn’t really give her the option, as he answers factually: when he found out he was dying, he had two thoughts. One was worry for Mom, and who would take care of her when he died. That’s why he went to find Jung-woo.

Two was Min-young, or more specifically, how he wouldn’t be able to die without regret if he didn’t sleep with her. Pffft. You really have this knack for being unromantic. He says (like an oppa, giving her love advice) that she isn’t to trust any man in the future who says differently.

Sun-woo: “Do you want the fantasy version?” He says that for the past five years, Joo Min-young was nothing but a troublesome hoobae who had so much to learn. “But the moment I learned I was dying, I realized… that during those five years, I had loved her all that time.”

Goddamnit. I don’t want to be swooning but I am! Bastid.

He continues: “I know now that there was never one moment when I didn’t love her. But it’s too late. So I wanted to spend my remaining few months with her, doing everything I could for her.”

He says that if she found out he was dying, he was scared he’d never see her bright smile again, which is why he kept it a secret. “What’s so important about some smile, you ask? Right now I’m using all my strength to gather some energy, but countless times a day I want to cry. It’s not just a smile. To me, right now, it’s everything.”

And then he wraps it up with a tacked on: “…If any man spews this kind of fantasy at you, he’s lying. Don’t be fooled.” She asks why the fantasy version sounds more real to her. He wonders why, insisting they’re just a bunch of lies. Uh-huh. He hangs up with another lie that at least with a clear rejection from her, he has no regrets.

A little while later, Sun-woo gets a call from the housekeeper, who found his pager going off inside his closet. She says he left it in his suit pocket, and he says it isn’t his and hangs up, not thinking much of it.

But then it dawns on him—the pager he picked up on the nightstand during his “hallucination.” He calls her back to ask for the number being paged and tries it, but the number’s been disconnected. But it’s the same number, over and over.

You know, I’d ask how a pager from the nineties is getting calls in the present day, but these are the Inhyun people, so I should just be glad it’s not also a teleporter.

He sends a messenger to pick it up, and calls Young-hoon to ask if maybe that incense he found among hyung’s things could be laced with a drug. Young-hoon thinks it possible, and a good sign if it is, since that means he’s not going crazy yet.

But the pager is tripping him up, because if it’s not his brain tumor, and it’s not drugs… what could this be? He puts a minion on pager-tracking duty, and tells him to find out anyone who’s had that number that’s being paged, since the time that pager was made until now.

He sits down in the dressing room and thinks over the events, and decides to give the incense another try. He lights it, and ends up in the same dressing room… but this time we get a clear split-screen of Sun-woo and another reporter, in the same space, just not at the same time.

He looks over at the tv off to the side, and there’s Seo Taiji, singing and dancing. As if that wasn’t enough, there’s a newspaper sitting on the table, and the date printed on the front page is December 21, 1992.

In the present day, the staff starts to freak out because Sun-woo has up and disappeared, with seven minutes to live broadcast. Eep. They scramble to find a backup anchor, and everyone, including Min-young who’s listening in from her post, starts to panic.

Sun-woo starts to clue into what’s going on, and picks up the phone to try calling the number on the pager. Someone picks up—a teenage boy. He asks if the ajusshi has his pager, and Sun-woo freezes at the sound of the boy’s voice. It’s familiar, and he asks who this is.

Kid: “Park Sun-woo.” Dude. Are you talking to your teenage self? I like that he’s actually standing in front of a literal mirror as he does this. He asks who the ajusshi is and why he has his pager. Sun-woo looks back at the date on the newspaper…

Sun-woo: “Myungjin High, second year, class 5… Park Sun-woo?” Teenage Sun-woo starts to get nervous and asks how this ajusshi knows all that and who he is.

“I know it all because… I’m you.”

Omg you did NOT just say that. Split screen shows the two Sun-woos, with the same nervous tic, finger to bottom lip.

 
COMMENTS

For a guy who used to have a poster of a DeLorean on his wall as a teenager, you’d think he’d be a little more cautious about running into his past self and making declarations like that. In any case, I’m glad we finally got our hero up to speed on the time traveling, because you really don’t want your audience ahead of your drama, going, When’s he gonna geddit?

It’s an interesting setup to make time travel the means by which our hero wants to change history, whereas most time travel dramas have been the other way around, with people struggling not to damage the flow of history by upsetting the order of events. (Or say, inventing things when they shouldn’t have been invented, saving people who should have died…) I like the idea that he’s just shuttling back and forth during his own lifetime, to fix the things that went wrong for his family, Marty-McFly-style. Of course the interesting part will be the consequences of his actions, because there’s always fine print and loopholes on these time travel contracts that’ll get you every time.

I still dislike the brain tumor/dying hero setup to begin with, but at least things are out in the open right away, because if he were actually planning to be with Min-young for six months without telling her, I would’ve dropped this show like a hot potato. Just: NO to that kind of drama. The big relief is that Sun-woo is so matter-of-fact about dying, so coolly charismatic about the whole thing, that I find myself getting invested in his character. That’s a coping mechanism that I get, and maybe I just like gallows humor, but it’s sort of nice to have him choose to make jokes, and more importantly, to see his remaining time as his last chance to leave without regrets.

I’m not sucked in completely yet, but I do really like both Min-young and Sun-woo’s characters and their biting wit. I think they’ll make for a great couple, so there’s good stuff here. Though in all honesty, I do wish the whole thing felt fresher, both conceptually and in execution. We’re still on a trial basis with this show, so we’ll have to wait and see how next week’s episodes pan out before committing to the series. What I really want is for the story to move faster, and now that our time traveling hero is aware that he’s a time traveling hero… we’ll get this train out of the station, yeah?

 
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For the first time, HAHA.

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Im only 20 minutes into the 1st episode but Im kinda all in. I think the main couple are going to be a lot of fun. And the honesty is great.

The show still have many many episodes to eff up but I am putting my trust into this team and that they wont let me down.

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Me too. I really hope these will get recapped all the way. So far I love it.

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Thank you JB for the recap. I think he already used 3 times time travelliing put of his nine. But, maybe I am wrong.

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So far he's been using the same incense that his brother was holding on his death, and from the preview it seems the 9 incenses that he'll be using will be discovered in the next ep =P

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I wonder how long each incense stick lasts. At this rate it's either one incense stick per trip or four or five per stick which ...well...lots o possibilities there.

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For sure, a drama needs a hook to draw viewers to it, but I disagree that the hook needs to be an emotional one or that an emotional hook is the best one. Too often, the writers bungle it and turn their output into trash.

On a higher level, a drama may be full of emotional hook, but the hook does not look emotional at all.

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For this drama, time travels are what may make it or break it. If done wrong, the drama will quickly join the pile of failed time travel dramas that came before it.

So far, I like it.

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I am liking the show so far. I hope the setup is now over and we get to the story. I like shows that get there fast and let the characters "live".

The team did awesome with Queen so I am not worried. I am excited for the next episodes.

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It just got interesting during the last scene

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Thanks for the recap. I like it that he's not in denial, want to take care of things before he dies and his confession of loving her... Suks that he realize too late but is doing something about it. I like the cliffhanger... Talking to himself? Hmmm... How is that possible?

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I just finished watching 2 episodes and although I wasn't invested in this drama right off the bat when I saw the first episode,given the tumor thing and all,I discovered that I actually like Lee Jin Wook's character enough to warrant a next watch. I'm still trying to warm up to the female lead and so far,I like how most of the revealing are swiftly done instead of being dragged out forever. I'm still in trial mode but so far I'm curious enough to want to see what's gonna happen in the next episode. QIHM was a pleasant surprise last year so I'm curious to see if the same team can live up to the expectation for this one. Both dramas are about time-travel but already I can feel that they are distinctive from each other. The instrumental music in the background for this drama is pretty unique. I feel like it sets the mood for drama. AND GOSH,this may seem shallow but damn LEE JIN WOOK IS SO GOOD LOOKING! I don't know why I didn't realise it when I watched the trailer(I was put off by the trailers idk why) at first. I have to admit that I was pretty skeptical about the whole premise at first,and the trailers weren't good enough to attract me(I think I still have a strong attachment towards the last OTP from the team-Boongdo & Heejin) BUT after reading the recap of the first episode by Girlfriday I thought I should probably give it a try and I'm glad that I did. MORE LEE JIN WOOK NEXT WEEK! :D

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re: "AND GOSH,this may seem shallow but damn LEE JIN WOOK IS SO GOOD LOOKING!"

..no, no...not at all -- Lee Jin Wook *IS* soooooo good looking.

I was really hoping his next drama would be a saeguk - complete with Mane-of-glory and a soul-patch on his chin.
...and occasional shirtless horse-riding or sweaty-blacksmithery ~ but I digress...

He was on an old Strong Heart show and ...omg...he stole my heart. Well, he already had...but it sealed the deal.

sexy, sexy mmmmman.

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Thank goodness, you said this because I was wondering if I was the only one whose toes were curling just looking at the screencaps here. Smexy. Smexy. Smexy.

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I KNOW. He'd look soooo fine in sageuk attire and his mane of glory. Yunno,I was wondering whoever invented the phrase "mane of glory" must've been a huge fan of sageuks. This phrase is now well known among us K-drama lovers thanks to the inventor heheheh. I usually don't dig men with long hair but well the mane-of-glory is done well,damnnn,it just gets me right there.
I FIND MYSELF PICTURING THIS SCENE AND LIKING IT "…and occasional shirtless horse-riding or sweaty-blacksmithery " I think I need therapy ahahahah I've been letting my imagination run wild lately. :p
Really? Which episode was that? *runs off to stalk*

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ahum... JAvabeans did the first recap.

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oops sorry AHAHAH my bad I was half day dreaming when I wrote this. (Blame it on the Lee Jin Wook attractiveness.)

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Noooooooooooo not shallow, not shallow. I generally like really pretty guys and this actor is sooooooooo manly. Manliness and handsomeness and good acting skillz. OH MY GOSH!!!!!

I wasn't really put off by the trailers but I'm all confused now. Wasn't there supposed to be another woman in his past? Or did he do something in one of his back-travels and mess up his past/future and his anchor's past/future?

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OH YESSS I AGREE WITH YOU. I think that pretty manly actors with good acting skills are rare these days so when I saw LJW I was like damnnn,I'm so checking out the other episodes if it means that I can see more of him.
I'm also confused as well,but I guess it's a good thing that we are having so many questions about the show 'cause it means that this drama has done a pretty decent job in reeling in the audience and keeping them curious enough to tune in next week.
I hope that this drama doesn't disappoint because I've been having a tough time trying to get out from a drama slump lately. TWTWB is fine but I've been getting more and more detached from the storyline as of late. Everything about the drama is beautiful but somehow it left me cold. 6 more episodes to go!(Can't believe that it's ending soon.) I think I'm getting really nitpicky with dramas this year.
I digress,this was supposed to be about Nine ahahaha but anyway,did anyone notice the background music? I truly loved how it sets the whole melancholic tone for this show.

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Let's stop giving shallow a bad name, guys.

I know they say: “Still waters run deep,”
But that doesn’t mean that puddles are cheap.
A whole ecosystem could live in one, too,
Like my ocean of love for LJW.

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nice one, jomo!

solid acting in an interesting story so far, excitedly waiting for next episodes!

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HAHAHAH jomo you cracked me up with that poem of yours. Loved it 'cause it justifies our love for LJW. Ahh,I can't wait to see more of him next week! :3

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I hate when the show ends just as my curiosity reach the peak. Ugh! Why Monday seems so far away..?

..Thanks for the recap GF!

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Hmm, this episode is definitely better than the last :) But I'm still not committed...

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I LIKE Sun-Woo's character - restrained, dealing with his impending death by putting his affairs in order and maybe realizing that career isn't everything so wanting to have his cheerful junior spend time with him even if he only has 6 months left.

I like the pacing of the drama, too. In these time travel dramas, you often need to notice the details.

I do struggle a bit because I can't timestamp my location based on some things that Korean viewers would get ... like who was that group on TV and what time period does it make it?

I'm watching the rules of this universe unfold. If you get hurt in the past, you are hurt in the future. Check. If you pick up something in the past, you can bring it to the future. Check. Electronic pagers work to the future. Cool. My imagination of the two sun-Woos working together has my brain doing a happy dance.

Looking forward to this show.

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Love your figuring out the rules. Looks as if being close to harm in the past knocked him back to the present (the fish tank incident) but I'm not sure if that is a hard-n-fast rule. OR maybe he'll get back if the incense burns down. Some kind of time limit. But how he will get back to the present if someone isn't trying to knock him out. And if lighting the incense leaves the incense in the present, then what does he do to get back to his present timezone? Ah my mind is reeling! And I LOOOOOOOOOOVE it when a drama makes my mind reel.

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Wild flights of fancy in my brain watching this drama.

The chairman asks WHY brother Jung-Woo died and then WHERE. These seem strange questions. Is location important?

Did Dad develop the incense as a form of medicine?

Did Mom and Hyung Jung-Woo time travel first and then suffered side effects, chalked up as mental illness by others? Brother in chat at coffee shop was very interested when he heard Mom was asking about him.

Is Sun-Woo's illness a side effect of time ripples? Maybe in alternate versions brother started time traveling to save Sun-Woo but couldn't fix everything before he ran out of time on the Mt.

Brother Jung-Woo had the shadow of someone just before he died. Was that a future version of Sun-Woo?

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Yes, what Carole said. All of it.

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i like this drama so far :) .. on a side note, is this bowl cut hairstyle the new look for kdrama heroines lately?? they alll have it!! i can't look at a single still in the recaps of Min-young and not get annoyed at the hair...

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btw ... her reaction to the news that he is dying was to give him the finger in front of all his colleages and tell him to die alone ... that seemed harsh to me. So I am feeling more sympathy for Sun-Woo than for his girl.

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Ok, not watching this show but something hit me just by watching the screencaps: 31 pics and 12 of them are with people talking on the phone. The ratio seems high even for a K drama & maybe it's one of the reasons for the slow pace impression...

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please, Mystisith!!!

Please, please, please watch this! Give it a chance. And I want to hear your thoughts on it. And do NOT forget it was a cell phone that helped Boong Do return to his beloved in the present. Them phones are majorly important in time-travel science.

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Nice try! In my book, paper wins against cellphones (pun intended). Books last for centuries & are self sufficient. What's the life span (in working condition) of an electronic device? I never bought the ending of QIHM for that matter. ;)
I will wait for the drama to be over and will marathon it if the reviews are good. Even the DeLorean won't lure me in this. ^^

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The hero does use an oldschool paper notebook. Just saying ;)

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LOL!!!!!

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I guess i'm the minority who didn't feel the setup slow-paced... I thoroughly enjoyed these first two episodes and already I feel connected to Sun-Woo (I guess the good look also helps? LOL) ;Min-Young, not yet. But she seems like a promising character.

The story is vastly different from QIHM and so I wasn't tempted to compare the two at all... the only similarity would be, I got completely hooked at exactly the ending of Episode 2 for both drama - the moment when Boong-do carrying the fainted Hee-Jin in QIHM and the moment when Sun-Woo saying "Coz I'm you" to his old self here in Nine.

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I am also fine with the pace.
There is a lot of ground to cover before Hero starts to take action.

(And I also remember for QIHM that I liked the show in the first two eps, but it was ep 3 where I loved it, and ep 5 where I decided to marry it.)

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I also thought that the pace was okay. I'm glad that they pretty much got the tumor stuff all up in the front. I find myself rooting for Sun Woo already!

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I really enjoyed the first episode last night. As much as I'm unhappy with DF over the DB mess last week...gotta say that I'm happy with how quickly they're getting these episodes up (although, the subtitles on ep 1 were delayed- appearing about 30 sec after the dialog - when I watched on my Roku last night). This is even speedier than Bridal Mask, and that was the only time in recent history that I remember them getting subbed episodes up within about 10-12 hours.

Gotta say I'm liking this one right out of the gate. Although it's more serious than QIHM, remember that QIHM was more fantasy/romance than romantic comedy...there really wasn't a lot of comedy involved.

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Thanks for the recaps! Off to read...

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I enjoyed this episode more than the first one. After seeing more of Min-young, I am liking her more - she isn't just the lovestruck, plucky female lead like so many dramas. Actually, I feel like her character seems more like your second female lead, but no complaints here because I do really like her now. Although it doesn't seem super fresh and new, I am looking forward to seeing where this is going. Thanks again for the recaps!

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Finally a drama to watch!
Let's be frank, I wouldn't even look at it if not for Lee Jin Wook. And I am not disappointed as of now. He does his character justice, be it badass or charming (which he can do like nobody else). I cannot help but like overly frank people, especially when their behaviour is not meant to be hurtful or offensive.
The heroine is less impressive, and let's say the character has potential to grow. At first she made an impression of a canary-girl (no, not only because of her yellow anorak;p), who chirps, is nice, but understands nothing. The worst moment was "I like you, why don't you like me???", but then it started getting better.
Honorary mention goes to SunWoo's boss - a fatherly, wise character. I kope he doesn't turn out someone totally different.

Plotwise, I hope for much mystery and little romance. The time travelling thingy isn't used in a silly or absurd way, so it hasn't gotten on my nerves yet. I hope the secret/problem to solve will be something important, not just telling the girl that he likes her earlier. On the other hand, I want suspence and not angst. Is that too much? I hope the writer and the director can do a decent drama, just like QIHM :)

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I'm totally smitten with this drama. Not since Arang and QIHM have I actually been so on pins and needles waiting for the next episode. I'm hoping all the episodes will be like this, or at least most of them.

I totally love Park Sun Woo. I feel as if I've been missing a solid real organic hero with an actual personality. He is a protag who feels like a true hero.

And so far this drama hasn't dropped in coincidences upon coincidences or plot points over plot points. Sure i did get a bit nervous when Researcher Choi worried about the dead brother and I said, "Dang! I hope older brother's not Choi's son." But even that I could take. I love the couple. I love their humanity and the humanity of their friends, and even the humanity of the "villain" (if researcher is the only villain.)

I think Sun Woo knew and trusted his younger self enough to know his younger self might believe him. And I'm glad the way the filmmakers went about him realizing (and us realizing) that this isn't a Jacob's Ladder we're all in his dying head kinda thing.

Watching this show makes me feel as if I'd gotten used to so-so shows and...it's as if my eyes are opened up again to what good be totally wonderful. Love the mystery, love the romance, love the time travel. And am so looking forward to whatever twists and time-foolery that has to occur to set the world right and wonderful again. Thanks for the recap.

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I was so worried with this in the week or so leading up to viewing - it was starting to sound a bit wonky, and the initial review was a bit lukewarm.

While I do have that tiny reserve of 'oh, you could turn out to have a gummy fetus in there, dude' - so far, loving it.

Park Sun Woo is such a sturdy, manly, quiet, SOLID guy. I love him.

Not emotionally invested yet? When she found out he was going to die and she cried on the phone to his friend, my heart was breaking for her, poor kid. His snarkiness won my heart IMMEDIATELY, that goes without saying.

And his boss? HIS BOSS IS ACES. 'You're dying? How do I know you aren't just faking this with your doctor to trick us? You're going to kill ME with stress before you ever die. You look fine, how sick can you be?'

I spent several years joking my father (temporarily) out of his increasing depression as he lingered in a nursing home. His situation was grim, but he could joke with me about it, and I could joke with him, and both of us needed that gallows humor to get through the last couple of years of his decline. I totally, totally, TOTALLY fell for this show in that brief scene. If they can keep up that kind of attitude, I will rave about this like a maniac to anyone who will listen.

You should just know, you people, that if you're dying and I'm near by, I'm going to be making jokes. You'll laugh, it will be fine.

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I'll be joining in with your raving. I trust these screenwriters.

Yes, I am loving his boss. This actor always plays such good guys. (As far as I know anyway.)

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I also loved the boss. It was kind of refreshing to see one who wasn't malicious, had ulterior motives, or was a huge hard ass, all mean, vicious, and snarky all the time. Always nice to a see a supporting and fun boss. :D

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Finally finished watching the first two episodes of this series. I actually liked both. The hero and heroine are both very honest, sassy, and great in their characterizations. The pacing may be a tad bit slow but I think it's fine. You can't exactly have a hero suddenly believe he's time travelling...things do have to take time to build up. Overall, I'm interested in future episodes. Sounds like it will be a fun ride.

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If they hadn't given away the fact that it was time travel in the title, then we as viewers might have taken just as long to go "hmm, what's going on, it can't be time travel can it?" I really wish they hadn't given away the premise in the title.

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I am in-all 20 eps of it! (cable don't do extensions do they?!)
The couple is so reminiscent of the QIH couple in their honesty and straight forwardness-if I want to kiss u that's what I'll do...I like those kinda characters!

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Thanks for the recap and for swooning when I swooned.
I was counting on you to give me the cultural references that set us into a time. And I totally missed the DeLorean!!

I found myself bawling during their satellite phone conversation. All I could think was, there is going to be a time when SW breaks down, and it will be painful, and MY will be there, and I will cry a LOT and I will love it. I think these two together will deliver.
(btw I am noting right now that the satellite phone WILL play a part in the denouement - you know how these writers like their telecommunications. Maybe one of them works for Samsung? LG? Rogers Wireless?)

I love when dramas jolt me into practical philosophy.
What would I do if I were dying and was alone? Do I suck it up and look to suffer alone, or do I reach out to someone that I can share my last days with? I really liked how SW phrased it that he wanted to be able to do things FOR her before he died. That's just so decent of him, and that is somehow about as romantic as you can get.

And, yes!, when the boss accuses him of being able to "get away with" this dangerous and drastic scheme by dying, suddenly my old ears perked up. Is there a fate worse than death in this scenario? IRL can it be that I should be less afraid myself of dying than taking a really big chance on something worthwhile?

We need to see more of Young-hoon's hoobae that started sewing up SW. Did any of you ladies spot that talent? Cute!

This feels like something I will enjoy. My biggest hope is they deliver a love song like QIHM did. I listened to that in the car today and could imagine all the ups and downs I had with that story. Totally teared up, too.

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Oh, and I forgot, loved the film Frequency where past talked to present. They didn't even try to explain how that one worked and I am OK with it.
If we are going to accept that time-travel-through-incense works, then we can accept that technology from a different time will work, too.
Neither of them are plausible, right?

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Frequency was a terrific movie, I enjoyed it very much.

Doctor CutiePieHoobae, yes. Actually, Doctor Sunbae. He sure doesn't hide his feelings.

I think the OTP is gonna kill us.

Last night on Twitter I said this: I know why the pager is important! That team knows what was said about the cellphone in QIHM, and it's a great big F-U, I do want I want!

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DeLorean was the time traveling car in Back To The Future movie series. I don't know what years they were made in, but it was a long time ago.

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thanks......

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I love everything about this drama, no matter what means they have for the time travelling. The couple are so cute... they remind me of level headed KBD and cute CHJ.

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I think its pretty 'fresh' that quite alot of the scenes actually take place out of Seoul, out of S. Korea and somewhere as 'exotic' & scenic as Nepal.
As much as I love Korea and Seoul with its many little alleyways and restaurants they could film a billion dramas till kingdom come and still not film every part of Seoul its nice to see something different in the background.
I like this show so far, not lovin it but its the best out of the lot currently (LSG come back fast!!!- sorry had to put that in there).

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Did anyone else notice the "Sun-woo on the phone" montage at the end of this recap? haha

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I've finished watching the four episode and all I can say is damnnn,the drama just gets better as it progresses. I was hesitant about watching the third episode simply because the female lead seems rather uninspiring to me.(It must be the bowl cut) But goodness gracious,let them unflattering bowl cuts be damned because I'm willing to take a chance with this drama as long as I get to see His-Royal-Hotness Lee Jin Wook on it. AHAHAHAH yes,I'd never thought that such fangirl shallowness would ever be present in my drama-watching life. I haven't felt so strong for a male lead for ages,and considering that it's my first LJW drama it really says a lots about his charismatic appeal. ;)

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*a lot

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might be committed if this drama isn't too dark...

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hey, just wondering.. are you planning on recapping any of the recent nine episodes (3 and 4)?

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I've been waiting for this drama's recaps but I guess they will not do it anymore? i don't know..

I am hoping they continue to do recaps of this drama because it's getting really good now..

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I also was waiting for the recaps for this drama.
This show really caught my attention. Sad that there aren't more recaps. =(

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I am also waiting for the recaps. Please please continue as I have a lot of questions and hope could be answered in the recap. PLEASE CONTINUE!

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Where is ep3 & 4 recap??

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This drama is seriously like crack, my only curiosity is how can they keep this up for another 14 episodes. oh you soooooooooo have me show!!!

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so you will not continue to recap this drama??? :((

i'm at epi 3 and Loving it and the characters so much!!! i like the pace too. i'm so hooked

thanks gf and jb for epis 1 and 2 recaps...

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It was really slow at first, but the last few episodes (6-8) started to get really exciting! I'm loving it now and am getting hooked too. It really deserves more attention. I was hoping the recaps for this drama would continue...

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You guys should totally continue with the recaps of this show!

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Wow i think even if this drama ends up going nowhere, i'll still continue watching it for lee jin wook, he has so so so much charisma:) cant wait to see how the story unfolds:) please continue with your recaps btw!!:)

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This is one of two dramas that I watch weekly. I also love the Book of Gu.

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I love this drama. By far this is the most fascinating kdrama I've seen.

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I have watched through episode 5 and I am blown away by this drama! It is SO good! I should have know that the writer of “Queen Inhyun’s Man” would create something incredible again. This is just in another class than most of the Kdramas that are fun, but shallow. This is mind boggling and thought provoking. Really Wow!

At first I was annoyed by the lead actress who does not seem to have to have the depth of acting skills to act subtly and was excessively "perky", but now I don't really care, because the story is so good.... and the lead actor is fabulous.....

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Since this is the recap for episode 2 and I just finished watching the final (episode 20) I will be careful not to reveal any spoilers. I have read on other sites that people are disappointed in the ending. Initially, I was too, (a little.) Actually, when my daughter and I watched 18 I thought THAT was the end. But the more I think about it--there was precedence set for the final because many times during the series characters had life consequences altered by past actions. So it is believable that the main character could alter his (seen at the end of episode 19) future. I really liked this drama. (And yes, I liked "Queen Inhyun's Man," too.)

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I was wondering what all the hype was about. Nine: Nine Time Travels is popular amongst South Koreans, but it never really caught on internationally. Along with reading the recaps which didn't make it sound terribly exciting, I was skeptical. But after I finally finished watching the show, I was left with that feeling you get after you complete a really good show. It feels fantastic. Nine is very well written and I hope it gets nominated for best screenplay despite it airing on a cable. Nine will be amongst those dramas I'll always remember and even if watching tv shows isn't very productive, because it was so enjoyable, it doesn't make me regret spending my time in that way.

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//SPOILERS!!!! I tried not to, but there are a couple things you might not want to know beforehand. Go watch it!!!!!//
Joining in with praise/a review for this drama since I just finished it and this is the last recap on dramabeans (so sad! This is a show I really really wish had recaps because there is so much rich stuff to dig into and I wish I had other people to discuss the end with. However, I understand it's just not possible to get to everything).
This is definitely in my top three favorite dramas ever. The writing is just so strong and nuanced, like a novel someone spent years on to make everything connect and resonate rather than a typical tv drama. It's definitely one I will have to watch again a few times in order to get everything. Also, all the characters are so complex and sympathetic, even the eeeevil villain, who is pretty much the conventional drama bad guy at first, but is saved from that by some plot twists and an awesome, all out portrayal by the actor. They also completely inverted the conventional brain tumor setup, diverting but then paying off the expectation in a really horrible/awesome way (sorry, trying not to spoil). The romance isn't always the focus, but I was surprised how much I loved and cared about the couple by the end. I actually believed in their chemistry and really strange but endearing interactions. The conflict that keeps them apart is definitely a serious and believable obstacle, also one of the very few uses of faux-incest that I am totally ok with. Not to mention they really kiss. Like really. O_O
The way the time travel works is very clever and unique. Because the past and the future timelines are always exactly 20 years apart, some of the logic problems usually created by a time travel premise are solved. The end is alternately heart-breaking, adorable, crushing, and inspiring. It may not be the strongest by pure logic, but it is definitely emotionally satisfying and pays off a lot of the ideas the show has set up all the way through. I think it works a lot better than QIHM, though personally I was ok with that ending. Ultimately we get to make our own ending, not to mention try to puzzle out what exactly happened to everybody in each time stream. However, it's in a way that invites you to think about it and invest in the world even more rather than in a way that frustrates you because we don't know the answers.
Overall a truly inspired and professional showing. And Sun woo is awesome! :) 10/10 on the dramabeans scale.

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I found this site with recaps for ep 3-20, if anyone needs

https://yobosayo.wordpress.com/2013/03/18/nine-time-travel-episode-3-recap/

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