When the Phone Rings (2024)

When Suspense and Romance Collide

is an intriguing drama that captured my attention from the very first episode.

This cleverly written series begins with a series of questions that gradually unravel throughout the episodes. By the final episode, all the pieces fall into place, culminating a beautifully crafted conclusion. I particularly liked how the drama mainted a suspenseful atmosphere while seamlessly weaving in the romance between the male lead (ML) and female lead (FL).

While I was already familiar with the ML and FL from their previous works, I was especially impressed by Yoo Yeon Seok's portrayal of Paik Sa Eon (ML). He flawlessly delivered the wide range of emotions required for his character, making him relatable and compelling. Chae Soo Bin (FL) also delivered an impressive performance. I found her role as Hong Hee Joo particularly challenging, especially in the earlier episodes, but she executed it with skill. The chemistry between Yeon Seok and Soo Bin was undeniable, further endearing their characters, Paik Sa Eon and Hong Hee Joo to the viewers.

The original soundtrack (OST) also deserves special mention. My favorite track is "I Feel it Now" by Whee In of Mamamoo, which added emotional depth to the scenes featuring the ML and FL. Additionally, Yoo Yeon Seok also sang for one of OST, " Say My Name", which showcase his versatility.

Overall, is a must-watch drama that masterfully combines suspense, romance, and stellar performances to create a very great drama.

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Inspite of having a lot to criticize, it was a fun watch

When the phone rings has a intriguing plot, a wife threatening her husband on a phone call, YES. a hot and tsundere husband, YES. it had a lot of elements which made it attractive to watch as a viewer. but once you get into the drama, you'll realise how absurd some things are, which will just make you LAUGH.

I'll start with the pros. Why was it so hyped, it had some good reasons.
1. VERY GOOD CHEMISTRY. the leads just did so well, acting was good, chemistry was good, angst, feelings and everything else, they were an amazing couple.

2. the story, overall, was good. I liked the intense and very confusing plot which will make your mind spin for a minute. yes its a thriller afterall. i think things will not make a lot of sense until like 10th episode.

3. No love traingle, noone who tries to sabotage the couple. im glad they didnt add any 3rd person to the already very intense plot which i anticipated at the hint of fml's sister. i appreciate it <3

4. the pacing. i liked how things were revealed about the fml to ml at a very good speed. it didnt take him forever to figure about out what was going on like in other dramas where main leads discover everything about each other on 12th episode, then 2 episodes of heartbreak and finally happy ending. no, i loved how emotionally stable they were and how things were handled.


now to the cons.

1. very first it was, scientifically speaking, absurd. girlie fell from a cliff, didnt even break a bone. a man died while suffocating on a pillow while oxygen tube was connected to his nose? just remove that damn tube??? these things, where you should feel shocked/sad, you cant help but just laugh at it.

2. execution. as i said i liked the story but the way it was shown was BAD. i did not understand what the heck was going on until 10th episode. everything was just very mixed up and jumbled that you would want to pause and give your brain a break. and then they'll reveal EVERYTHING on 11th episode like you'll have to just take it all.

3. plot twists. the ones you'll guess easily, they'll show it like it was the greatest discovery made. but the ones you wouldnt even recognize as a possibility, they'll show them to you in a whim like it didnt really matter and just go with it. i had to rewind and watch some parts again to understand if what they said was real lol.

4. the fml was lowkey dumb at a lot of parts, especially when she was 406. at first when she threatened him, it was great. but gradually she gets emotionally driven, speaks stuffs that you will NEVER hear from a kidnapper. i can understand why he would think it was an affair partner. she has no real plan, just wants a divorce and has no clue how she'll get that. when ml discovers its her making threat calls, he made it quite obvious that he knows. but she till the end, she doesnt even give it a thought that the boy may already know. and when i tell you SHES SHOCKED TO THE CORE when she discovers it like yeah...

5. the last epsiode. ik they wanted to move the boy somewhere remote so that he's not discoverable but a warzone? and what exactly was he doing there? freeing hostages waiting to get killed? im sorry but when did he become a superman, bro didnt even have a fist fight in the whole drama 😭 the 1st half was so unnecessary just because they wanted to stay true to the novel. okay. also again, the girl easily got into the rebel region, i dont think the writers knew how it works because u cant just get in that easily.

6. lastly , the few seconds on the end. paltima and ijmael. i wonder if they really just put random names or hinted at something entirely different. i hope its not what i think it is because its very insensitive to the real world situations. well, it didnt just sit right with me.

Lire davantage

secrets and lies -- a crazy chaebol thriller and star-crossed lovers

An excellent K-thriller w/a contract marriage complicating a truly super chaebol-evil kidnapping, blackmail and murder mystery plot. Fans of the genre will rejoice. I loved it.

The heavy use of text and phone to move both plots along is a brilliant metaphor for the communication problems in the marriage. The tangle of deception and family secrets is a particularly vicious one with one or two good surprise reveals (its pre-produced!); the script keeps it tightly organized. We regular people are still capable of being enjoyably scared and surprised, unlike many jaded reviewers only too pleased to trot out their superior foresight.

Really excellent cinematography throughout, taking full advantage of the excellent settings. Huge empty chaebol apartments contrast with the pleasantly crowded work environments of the couple, and lots of the action takes place outside in an autumnal landscape. The opening scene is of course breathtakingly Bond-ish and I originally hated the contrast with the opening credits' sentimental design visuals and music, but as it turns out, sentimentality wins in the end in the show. The spy-flavor is merely a decorative surface. Although the ML at first looks like a dashing superhero, he turns out to be a much more interesting character, very very introverted and inhibited.

Yoo Yeon Seok, playing Baek Sa Eon, the scion of an important political family, is living a lie; he is a fake son. YYS is incredibly good; what I loved about his tragic yakusa turn in Mr.Sunshine and his sexy chaebol self-assurance in Warm and Cozy is eclipsed by this more mature work.

Chae Soo Bin, playing Hong Hee Joo, daughter of an important media family, is also living a lie; she is a fake mute. CSB's portrayal starts off as an impossibly isolated woman whose controlling and gaslighting relatives have forced her into mutism for over a decade. She communicates by written text and through sign language, and works as an interpreter.

She also believes that her marriage is a fraud and her obligatory 'silence' (by contract) about this subtly isolates her from the 3 lively groups of work colleagues who actually hold her in great affection. She, as it turns out, needs her husband's love to grow in confidence and to express her own needs. He is equally in needs of her affection to break the shell of his false life, so that her clinginess, timidity and weepiness are overshadowed by the ultimate closeness and equality of their emotional relationship.

Highly recommended unless you hate kdrama, in which case it will drive you nuts. On another note having the novel at hand is sometimes a problem -- the husband treats his wife very roughly, whereas in the series he is merely insanely cold. Sa Eon is not a tsundere type, though -- he is actually really scary and sort of threatening in a more classically literary sense -- more like the MLs in Jane Eyre and Rebecca.

ps. I am sure many waited to see if that daring phone sex was going to happen, but then this would have been a very different series!

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Intriguing cliche ft. ridiculous plot at the end ?

This show came out of nowhere and took majority of us down the memory lane of swooning over wattpad romances.

I only want to talk about the MLs because honestly they are only whom I was fully invested in.... The main leads are typical: Seemingly cold, rich, and no-nonsense ML and a simple, softie FL. This is so wattpad-coded: Saeon showing redflag signs (thankfully he changed) and Heejo being a damsel in distress. I've seen a lot of this dynamic yet this one just hits different. Why? I believe that the actors played their roles so well and the show really tried to flesh out their characters, their personality.

Again, the usual trope of rich family, orphan, revenge, childhood connection... Nonetheless, the way the story unfolded was definitely gripping. The pacing of every episode was perfect - enough to feed my curiosity and enough to keep me wanting for more.

With all that, I really wanted to rate this higher but fell short all because of the last episode. The plot all throughout was pretty well-explained and the turn of events are fairly sensible except the last episode.
* Their relationship was already established. They expressed their feelings which made them stronger together. So, how can Saeon suddenly went MIA? They were opening up and trusting each other. A heartfelt conversation would've helped them.
* And out of all the places he could've gone to.....A warzone.....that Heejo went to....Argan.....also with the stereotypical color filter as soon as she stepped to that country...and they made love.....in a warzone...(will just pretend that that happened at their home, on Heejo's bed)
Yes, they followed the web novel but I wish they did not with that one. Yes, this is fictional but I wish a teeny bit of logic was still considered. I'm sorry but no matter how much someone will defend this plot, I will never change my mind that this is just straight up ridiculous, the worst.

I also want to list my nitpicks here.
1. When we first heard Heejo speak, when she was with the kidnapper, I wish she stuttered first. She was on a life-threatening situation + with someone who is dangerous + has selective mutism. I would've felt more if she struggled a bit with finding her voice and words then after few tries, had the courage to speak up. Also when she was on the police car. Similar case. I'd just imagine Saeon feeling and looking even more conflicted if he heard her struggle speaking first and then she screamed...
2. I honestly did not like how Saeon made Heejo go to the amusement park. (Lol just overthinking this) I mean Saeon was so protective and concerned with Heejo's rest after the cliff fall, and then he suddenly asked her to come out of the hospital alone on a cold night to go to the park??
3. Did the selective mutism trope just vanish? How did others take that she can actually speak? I wish they also included how Heejo able to overcome it, how she was gradually able to communicate with others and build confidence to voice out herself....


Overall, I greatly enjoyed this mainly because of their chemistry. I will never forget how intense the first few episodes were as much as I will never forget the crappy Argan plot.

Lire davantage

Unnecessary ending

I have mixed feelings. I really enjoyed the start of this drama. In the halfway I was a bit lost but still it was entertaining. BUT these two last episodes were so messy and the Argan plot was so unnecessary. Who even made that plot? It didn't make any sense and I felt like watching a completely different drama. Why did they have to ruin a good drama with a floppy ending???

Instead of the bad Argan plot, they should have given us the crumbs of Sang U and Yu Ri!!! They build up a great relationship between them just to randomly announce their marriage in the last episode... like c'mon that was so badly written. The actors had great chemistry together and they were very cute but the writers still wasted their potential. How sad :((

One thing I did really like was Yoo Yeon Seok and Chae Soo Bin's chemistry. They acted so well together and looked so cute together. Great chemistry!! Even the intimate scenes were good and didn't seem awkward. They're good kissers xD I'm glad they got the happy ending they deserved.

This drama would have gotten a better rating from me if they had focused on Sa Eon and Hui Ju and the phone. I really loved the conversations between Sa Eon and 406 (Hui ju). Instead they made it messy and added that ridiculous Argan plot, therefore I have to lower my rating. But because I still enjoyed the drama, I will give it an 8.

Lire davantage

Fun but I hoped for more

After hearing a lot of hype for this, I decided to check it out. First 4 episodes are fantastic, high tempo thriller that keeps the tension, two great leads and great cast in general. OST really stuck in my mind as well. Then I think drama tried to do way too much. There is way too many plot twists and turns to the story that it overcomplicates storylines for no reason and draws attentions away from the main plot. The romance between the leads has both ups and downs for me. The chemistry is there, but significant age difference really bothered me sometimes, maybe because the female lead has a baby face and looks even younger age than she actually is. Also when it comes to romance, the writers sometimes write it very childlishly as if teens were falling in love and not two adults, when the romance is shown in a mature way that's where it shines.
The finale doesnt stick the landing. It feels as if the show run out of stream and they still needed one more episode.
Overall its a fun watch, but nothing more.

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Color me Pink I'm Blushing

Couldn't review this series without starting at the ability the two main actors have at making a kissing scene a lesson in how to do it to make the audiences toes curl By far the most believable kiss scenes just enough and not vulgar I thought that given the premise of the show that for sure it would loose the plot at some point But I am happy to say they kept you guessing intrigued & waiting for the next episode with anticipation Again with the despicable parenting Wow talk about toxic Making your daughter play mute for most of her life & the grandfather killing his own grandson just awful but makes for a killer series Going to miss it!! One critique the mother at the end crying about her son's death is just not pleasant She is not a believable cryer and yelling your cry doesn't make it more emotional just annoying

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It’s not what you say it’s how you say it is something that can be said when you slowly tire of tropes and stories and too often with poor results. And yet, occasionally you come across a story that manages to use these tried-but-true tropes and old soap opera clichés so well that they remind you why these narrative elements have become so widely used and turned into clichés in the first place.

There were a lot of things in When the Phone Rings that usually make me roll my eyes whenever they appear on the screen in romance dramas, like rich evil parents and their twisted family dramas and birth secrets and the like. But somehow the soapy goodness of When the Phone Rings managed to make it all work. A kdrama story about an emotionally stunted rich man and the woman who makes him open up just by loving him, with a dash of family drama nonsense and tropy plot that seems over the top but works so well within the universe that the drama has created.

The story felt airtight and structured where there was always plenty going on and a good enough flow to the story to keep you constantly entertained. There was always a plot twist, something that kept you on your toes, and the chemistry between the paths was so electrifying that you couldn’t look away. You never really knew what to expect.

The emotional weight of the story works well with the suspense. I enjoyed that Hong Hee Joo seemed helpless to the other characters in the drama, and yet the narrative showed her that she wasn’t, she was just trapped. It created such a beautiful contrast and interesting character dynamic, and Chae so Bin was great in this role. To me, this jerk who is the main male character is often in the beginning a double-edged sword. It can be an interesting character, dynamic and fun like the ‘I hate you, but I also adore you’ relationship that you have with that character while they’re opening. It’s become a tired cliché to a certain extent, as many of these characters because the narrative needs them to be, but it doesn’t feel organic, but here I thought it worked really well for the character.

These two characters’ longing for love was palpable, captivating, and addictive. The two main leads have quite a rich inner turmoil that becomes quite intense and addictive to explore as the story unravels and at quite a simmering speed. They are very interesting characters that you can’t help but root for in one way or another in their source of happiness and inner peace.

One of the few minus points I can really give this drama is the second way, which feels way too much filling and doesn’t help much in moving the story forward. If anything, these characters and their story seem to hinder the tension and the pacing of the story. And those secondary characters were just there, if anything. The plot didn’t need them.

Although those characters involvement in the mystery was perhaps because When the Phone Rings is only 12 episodes, and the story here so wants to dwell on the emotions and spark between our main characters and focus on telling that story as kdramas tend to have a slower and more emotional structure in their stories that the current twelve-episode formula doesn’t always allow for. And if so, I think it was the right call because Paik Sa Eon and Hong Hee Joo are the emotional core and focal point of the story and everything else revolves around them.

This drama is such a soap opera but that’s what made it so fun. It takes a bit of a skill to weave together such a story that uses tired and old tropes in a fun way and really leans into the soapy aspects of the old school kdramas while also finding a way to satisfy everyone no matter how long or not they have watched kdramas. Every episode had an intent, or a purpose and it felt like not much time was wasted as the story briskly takes us from one heartfelt moment to another cliffhanger and onwards. And with the exploding chemistry of the leads and the highly dramatic story it was very entertaining and an addictive watch.

Lire davantage

so far still PROMISING!!!

this drama is getting better and better!
a lot has happened, romance is blooming, secrets are starting to unravel, and i’m totally seated!

Baek Sa Eon looks cold and stiff on the outside, but his heart is full of warmth for Hong Hee Joo. i was so happy when Hee Joo was looking at the photos taken during the team retreat and realized that Baek Sa Eon was looking at her with such loving eyes all the time. it’s amazing how actors can do that—one moment they show you a cold and sharp gaze, and the next, they give you loving heart eyes.

i really want to commend Chae Soo Bin for her sign language skills. her efforts truly shine through, and it’s clear she put in a lot of work. i’m sure it wasn’t easy to learn and memorize, but she comes across as both comfortable and convincing. i’ve seen a drama before where the male lead used sign language, but it didn’t feel authentic at all. that’s why i especially want to applaud her dedication and performance.

p.s. help, i find the actor who plays Ji Sang Woo so charming…

Lire davantage

Great acting

The story was great in the beginning and the acting superb. But the last two episodes were very poor and really out of order and logic. Irrational twists as we came to the conclusion. luckily the acting and the two main leads saved the production. it could have been 10/10 but something was lost in the end. Of course this is my humble opinion. But honestly I didn't find necessary this irrational indulge of the blue complexity towards the ending. So, I strongly recommend it because you get addicted to this strange atmosphere in the beginning, but prepare yourself to feel a little "babo" in the end

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