It’s been a long time since I’ve written any reviews/recaps. I haven’t been well emotionally and the longer I put off writing, the harder it feels to get back to it. Nonetheless, I’ve still been up to date with my favourite dramas at the moment, and one of them is While You Were Sleeping!

I wasn’t too sold with the pairing initially because I loved Lee Jung Suk and Han Hye Joo in W, even if W ended more messy than it should have been. I wasn’t particularly fond of Suzy’s acting in Uncontrollably Fond (hur hur). However, I’m a changed (wo)man.

In this Episode 17/18 (which is truly…Episode 9?), we see a further development of the murdered archer’s case. Jae Chan is targeted by outraged netizens and citizens for releasing Hak Young and Ji Gwang kindly helps him out, only to be mistaken by the people to be Jae Chan. Why though, I don’t know.

In the meantime, everyone is afraid for Jae Chan because of Hong Jong’s dream. She knows it has to do with the release of Hak Young because her dream changed once he was released. Jae Ha also gets bullied in school but I’m glad to see that he is holding up fine!

I saw a comment on the site I was watching this and that person predicted the robot vacuum as behind the drawing! Thoroughly amazed. Through the interrogation of archer’s housekeeper, and Hong Joo’s accidental finding of an internet meme of a robot making draws with dog’s poop, the couple and friends manage to locate the archer’s vacuum in the waste-field. This allows Jae Chan to release Hak Young with legitimate reasons.

Yoo Beom is enraged because he failed to satisfy his client’s wishes and he threatens to tell the media that Woo Tak is good friends with Jae Chan, suggesting that Jae Chan released Hak Young for personal reasons. He tells this to archer’s father, which enrages him. You know, the silent, gnawing feeling that eats at your heart and whatever Yoo Beom says practically just feeds it. So I would venture to say that indirectly, Yoo Beom is to be blamed for what comes next.

And what did come next? Jae Chan realises from Hong Joo’s reporting (“Anger makes what is right feels unbearable”) that she’s the Chestnut from his younger days. He’s elated and buys a ring for her, as a gift for someone whom he hasn’t met in a long time. However, just as he is about to cross the crosswalk, the father drives up in a car and…a gunshot rings.

This is a really short summary of what went on in the episode but for reviews, I like to keep it short and sweet, focusing more on my thoughts!

When I first started watching it, there were already six episodes out and I watched them in one sitting. I LOVED it. I thought the idea was cool and novel, the execution was pretty smooth. I liked how in the first episode, we were shown the changed reality first before the original reality (of Hong Joo’s mother dying) and then it was revealed that it was just a dream. That’s rather innovative and I was hooked!

I liked the tying in of Woo Tak but although he’s really adorable, I’m trying not to get too much into his liking of Hong Joo because I can’t bear to get second lead syndrome. I’m sure he will find someone whom he deserves!!

What really irks me right now is the theory behind the dreams. Woo Tak’s reasoning was that you dream of the person whom you saved right? Even though Jae Chan said that he felt like he drowned, there was nothing to show that he would have drowned and that Hong Joo saved him. In other words, I don’t get a sense that there was a changed reality; it doesn’t seem like Hong Joo would have dreamed of Jae Chan at that point in time. We need more details on this and I want it to be dealt with satisfactorily because this is the origin story!

I’m also not entirely sure where they are going with Yoo Beom’ss characterisation. He seems manipulative and will do anything to get what he wants. Yet, he doesn’t like shaking hands with a murderer. I thought at that time it’s because he has a backstory of having a hard time growing up and therefore only looking out for himself. However, we see that he’s actually rather evil in plotting to get Jae Chan down. While that is in line with his usual interest of doing anything to protect himself, I feel like he’s going beyond what is expected of him. After all, the robot vacuum is hard evidence; you can’t be blamed by your client!

I know Jae Chan will survive the gun shot but now I’m worried about what they would do with Woo Tak. From the preview, it seems like after shooting Jae Chan, the father goes on to knock Woo Tak down with the car. I don’t think the two leads will die ‘die’ per se, but what if we need to change reality to prevent them from being injured? I wonder how repetitive it will get when they have the mechanism of changing reality too many times.

Let’s see how this goes!

<3thoughtsramble