Title: 본 어게인 | Bon Eogein | Born Again
Genre: Melodrama | Mystery | Fantasy
Episodes: 32
Broadcast Network: KBS2
Broadcast Period: April 20, 2020 to June 9, 2020

Synopsis:

It is a love triangle story of 3 people resurrected to either repeat or change the tragic event that happened in their previous lives in the 80’s, more than 30 years ago, Kong Ji Chul was a victim of extreme child abuse with a father who loves to kill women while in the present, as Chun Jong Bum, an intelligent medical student, the stepson of the chief prosecutor with a controlling mother that demands perfection from him and a younger brother who is jealous of him. Jung Ha Eun in the 80’s was an owner of Old Future Bookstore selling used books suffering from a debilitating heart disease and in the present, as Jung San Bin, a professor and bone expert who works at the National Forensic Investigation. She is a heart transplant recipient and is taking care of her father who used to be a prison guard. While Cha Hyung Bin was a detective who loves Jung Ha Eun , who seems to became the target of a serial killer that he was trying to catch and in the present became, Kim Soo Hyuk, a prosecutor who sometimes fabricate evidence to make sure criminals he caught goes to prison. He is engaged to be married to Baek Sang-A. Their past lives are so entwined with the present that their souls seeks for the truth to be revealed and end an unfinished business long overdue.

Characters:

• Jang Ki Yong as Kong Ji Chul | Chun Jong Bum
• Jin Se Yun as Jung Ha Eun | Jung Sa Bin
• Lee Soo Hyuk as Cha Hyung Bin | Kim Soo Hyuk
• Jung In Kyum as Kong In Woo
• Wi Ji Yun as Jang Hye Mi
• Jo Duk Hoe as Choi Kwang Il
• Kim Jung Nan as Jang Hye Mi
• Choi Kwang Il as Chun Suk Tae
• Lee So El as Baek Sang Ah
• Jang Won Young as Joo In Do
• Choi Dae Chul as Seo Tae Ha
• Kim Jung Young as Heo Jin Kyung
• Park Sang Hoon as Chun Jong Woo
• Cha Min Ji as Je Yi
• Han Hae Rim as Seo Young

My Review:

Ever since I watched Jang Ki Yong for the first time at “Go Back Couple”, I started watching some of his previous k-dramas and follow all his succeeding projects. Not just because he is truly a handsome guy but because of his immense talent on screen. He is one of the very few Korean actors that I might say has real depth in delivering his roles and can mesmerized you to watch him whether his role was either the protagonist or antagonist. This is also, I believe, what makes him stands out from other Korean actors as he takes up roles that are really challenging with darker tone and not simple two dimensional. This K-drama brings out his talent no different from all his previous works. He is truly a versatile actor, so, how can I pass this up especially as I am a fan?

So, What do I Like About this K-Drama?

(1) Jang Ki Yong as always looks great and did his role justice. I believe he chooses stories like this because they do highlight his capability in rendering depth to every role that he plays.

(2) Between the 2 love stories, I prefer the 30 years ago. Although, I feel for the life of Kong Ji Chul, but, in the end, it is the purity of his love for Jung Ha Eun that made it worthwhile, even if it had a tragic ending.

(3) The settings done to depict the time 30 years ago and the quaint bookstore made the difference between yesterday and today within the story of being reborn.

(4) I like the OST.

What I do Not Like About this K-Drama?

(1) As much as I love Jang Ki Yong as an actor, his choices of his projects lead towards to a more depressing and darker tales. I wouldn’t mind if the stories were well written, directed and produced like “Signal”, “Trap” or “365: Repeat The Year”, but, this one has a lot of confusing messages and factors, not to mention the mess-up ending. It was like the writer and director can’t decide the ending and made a bad compromise both giving an initial happy one to avoid the wrath of Jang Ki Yong’s fans and the realistic depiction as the former doesn’t really make sense. Even as a fan of an actor, I’ll still stick with a well written k-drama every time rather than a haphazard story that doesn’t give justice to the efforts of its actors and the time spent by the viewers. I would have preferred that Chun Jong Bum died and gave his heart to Jang Hye Mi, and, she ends up living a happy life with Kim Soo Hyuk with a son, named Chun Jong Bum as a symbol of her love and appreciation to Chun Jong Bum’s heart and love. This would have been a much hopeful and perfect ending for all characters concerned both past and present. Unfortunately,  in my humble opinion, the writer and director paid homage to Jang Ki Yong’s character as the lead star and made the entire story of all the 3 lead characters stupid and nonsensical.

(2) The depiction of reincarnation and its premise was poorly tackled and badly delivered into the screen both by the writer and the director. It seems it is not reincarnation but more of a blend of the spirit getting into the bodies of the characters and reborn exactly in the same body. It was truly the premise and the way the reincarnation was disastrously incorporated into the present story. You ended up asking a lot of questions such as what made them really special to be reincarnated unlike other people even when their story, tragic it may seem has been experienced by so many?

(3) I cannot connect with Jin Se Yun’s characters as Jung Ha Eun and Jung Sa Bin. Although, Jin Se Yun fit the bill of a soft spoken and goody two shoes girl, she just unsuccessfully created a spark for me to care much about her character.

(4) Same feeling with Lee Soo Hyuk as Cha Hyung Bin and Kim Soo Hyuk as well as the rest of the supporting casts. It was really like watching an amateur play done in school. It was passable but really not that good and the only reason I watched the entire thing is Jang Ki Yong which hopefully can do better next time in choosing his projects.

(5) Sometimes ratings and taste of the audiences continuously remain a mystery to me. “Kill It” of Jang Ki Yong was 100x better than this disastrous k-drama and yet “Kill It” got lower ratings to the point it was cut from 16 episodes to 12. Beats me?

Would I recommend this K-Drama? It’s Okay if you’re a Jang Ki Yong fan like me, but, if not, then, No.

My Rating to this Drama
( See My Rating System: ) 2/5 Stars

OST:

01. A Flower That Didn’t Bloom – Kim Yong Jin
02. Dream – Sondia
03. I Miss You – JeA
04. Out of Reach – Gilgubongu
05. Fate – Lee Chan Sol