Story in a Nutshell
Kim Hye-ja (Han Ji-min) picked up a magical watch at the beach when she was a little girl, and she used the watch to turn back time whenever she needed. The catch is, it made her appear older than her actual age when time returns to the present, and that gave her and her family some trouble. She had since stopped using the watch and reached adulthood without much issues.
Her family consisted of Dad, Mom and oppa Young-soo (Sohn Ho Joon) and they live modestly at a small neighborhood. Mom is the neighborhood’s hairdresser while Dad drives a cab and…Young-soo is jobless. His biggest wish (he said it with a straight face) is to eat samgyeopsal, and for unknown reasons Mom becomes terrifying whenever Young-soo mentions about pork.
Hye-ja’s dream is to become a news anchor just because a high school crush mentioned that her voice resembles that of his ideal type (who’s a news anchor). However reality is harsh and she has since stopped going to interviews at news stations. During one of the alumni gatherings, she met a fellow news reporter wannabe Lee Joon-ha (Nam Joo Hyuk). Several run-ins after, she started falling him and vice versa, but an accident happened to Hye-ja’s Dad, which prompted her to use the magical watch again. She turns into an old lady (played by Kim Hye-ja) when she managed to save Dad from the accident and time returns to the present.
To Watch or Not
The first episode was mostly funny thanks to Young-soo and his ridiculous attempts to eat samgyeopsal, and also Hye-ja’s airhead singer-wannabe friend Sang-eun. There are serious moments injected as well, mostly about the harsh reality for young people to achieve their ambitions, but these were not enough to prepare me for the sudden appearance of Truck-o-doom in Episode 2.
I’m sure there must be some way to get Hye-ja out of an older body right? She turned back time to save Dad from Truck-o-doom, surely she wouldn’t be punished for manipulating time? The second half of episode 2 is also much more serious as we are introduced to Joon-ha’s abusive Dad and Joon-ha’s attempt to keep his Dad away from him and Grandma, which resulted in Grandma’s suicide (gasp).
I hope Show will be more funny and less angst, because what’s the point of having a young soul trapped in an old body and be moping around? I’m sure serious messages Show wishes to tell can be conveyed effectively even in a light-hearted manner.
The cat that watches TV 
I like every thing about this drama so far except the actress who is playing her old self. Maybe because I have never seen her work before or I don’t remember. I am glad to see Nam Joo Hyuk back and how after his BOWG 😂. I hope it gets better and remain good till the end.
You should give Dear My Friends a try. Kim Hye-ja was Lee Gwang-soo’s Mom in there, and her character had Alzheimer’s. Very good drama and awesome performance from the entire cast.
I have watched few episodes of that drama on YouTube (terrible quality) and I liked it at that time but I don’t remember anything now. I was going to watch it again but didn’t. Now, I should write it in my plan to watch list