So… I finally bit the bullet and jumped into the MoA world. Took me less than a day with very limited FFing to get to date, which is a sign that I found the story engaging and Jin-woo’s antics entertaining. As usual the world building is cool. At a rational level I buy most things – romance included, did not even get the HJ-cries-too-much criticism storm on DB; also I like JW’s interactions with her family. Still, I did not affect me emotionally much. It’s partially because of all the spoilers and that I knew in advance where things were going. But I think there’s more to do with my love for W and that unavoidable comparison. A whole bunch of illogical steps that could have been easily avoided (like the family forbidding the autopsy in a suspicious death) felt like lazy writing. Also whereas W had interesting things to say about the creative process, the interaction between an artist and art and so on, here it’s just straightforward I-accidentally-got-caught -in-the AR-world-turning-dark-inner-wishes-into-reality setup. No layers of meaning. Moreover, by the end of ep.8 I am missing a sense of purpose and stakes: JW is so broken in his pill-popping, drown-one-bottle-of-whisky-an-hour, ex-best-friend-repeat-slaying world that he has reached the bottom and staying there with no end in sight. Prof Cha and dir. Park’s probably harbor ill intentions but that’s just self-interest. He does not care about the CEO position beyond it guaranteeing his in into the game so company machinations serve little narrative purpose, his wife is a constant nuisance but hardly a super villain. Now JW has latched onto this idea of finding SJ as the ultimate goal but is it for him or for HJ’s sake? Overall this state of resigned survivor leaves me wondering where are we going with all this.