See You in My 19th Life (Review)
(이번 생도 잘 부탁해; aired on tvN from June 17 to July 23; available internationally on Netflix; 12 episodes)
See You in My 19th Life is the latest vehicle for Shin Hye-sun. She is mainly known from various K-Drama comedies, but, in fact, she is one of the most versatile actresses in Korean industry. Most recently, western audiences may remember her from Mr. Queen, incredibly popular, but also well-made historical drama/comedy, which found its second life on Netflix. While See You in My 19th Life is decidedly not as good as Mr. Queen, in both cases the shows heavily rely on Shin Hye-sun’s ability to lead the drama and entertain the audience.
The premise of See You in My 19th Life is based on popular K-Drama tropes: previous lives and reincarnation, main leads who met in their childhoods reunite in adulthood, etc. These are the themes which are definitely overused in K-Dramas, and therefore, making an original show based on the same tropes is that much harder. To name a few, only in 2023 some of the same themes were explored by Island, Kokdu: Season of Deity, and Alchemy of Souls, and that just from the top of my head.
In See You in My 19th Life Shin Hye-sun is Ban Ji-eum, a person who remembers her previous lives, namely, eighteen of them. She possesses all the memories and knowledge from those lives. If you were expecting something like Infinite with Mark Wahlberg, fortunately it’s not: the creators of See You… have much more grounded view of the reincarnation. For Shin Hye-sun’s character, Ban Ji-eum, it’s mostly misery: she remembers numerous deaths of her loved ones, her previous lives were often difficult and trying, and while she benefits from a thousand years of knowledge, she often does that to overcome hardship and difficulties she encounters.
The first episodes of the show, when we meet Ban Ji-eum and learn about her past, are the best in the show. The prologue in the first episode sets the stage: we meet Ji-eum in her 18th life, when she was Yoon Joo-won, played by perfectly cast Kim Si-a (a talented teenage actress most recently known from Kill Boksoon on Netflix). Kim Si-a’s performance is a memorable one, and she will reappear in flashbacks throughout the season. Kim Si-a’s Joo-won is friends with Moon Seo-ha (Jung Hyeon-jun), a kid from a rich family, but are tragically separated when Joo-won dies in the accident. In present life, Ji-eum seeks to reunite with Moon Seo-ha (now played by Ahn Bo-hyun, known for example from Yumi’s Cells). Most of the remaining part of the season is focused on her efforts to win Moon Seo-ha back in a typical romantic comedy arc.
The flashbacks and past lives of Ji-eum are the most interesting part of the series. The show creators devoted a lot of attention to making those lives different, interesting, and believable. Few first episodes provide an ample insight into Ji-eum past, but the middle part of the series is focused more on her present. In a result, the middle part of the season is definitely blander, if not boring, since it repeats the typical romcom repertoire. Towards the finale we’re exploring the mystery of Ji-eum’s first of her nineteen lives, which makes things more interesting. The season ends with a sort of twist, making the finale rather satisfying.
As usual, there is a second lead romance arc. The second leads are Yoon Cho-won (played by Ha Yoon-kyung, recently known from Extraordinary Attorney Woo) who is a sister of Yoon Joo-won (Ji-eum’s 18th life), and Ha Do-yoon (Ahn Dong-goo), Moon Seo-ha’s secretary and best friend (in a typical K-Drama fashion, I guess chaebol heirs always have their secretaries/best friends). Therefore, we have here just your typical romcom secondary romance arc, which doesn’t add much value to the season.
Inevitably, we have to compare See you… which Kokdu: Season of Deity, which premiered earlier this year. In both series we meet Shin Hye-sun’s friends from the same agency, YNK Entertainment: Cha Cheong Hwa plays Ji-eum’s “aunt” in See you…, and she also has a prominent role in Kokdu in a comedic duo with Kim In Kwon. All three of them were present in Mr. Queen, and Kim In Kwon starred alongside Shin Hye-sun in Angel’s Last Mission: Love. So, you see the pattern here. Therefore, I get the impression that Kokdu was initially also a project destined for Shin Hye-sun (since the main lead is her former partner from Mr. Queen, Kim Jung-hyun), but perhaps because of scheduling conflict or something else the role went to Im Soo-hyang. In the end, both shows are very similar, both feature extensive flashbacks (although much better executed in See you…), and tell the story about reincarnation. Nevertheless, Shin Hye-sun was able to elevate mostly mediocre material in See you… and make it entertaining, while Im Soo-hyang in Kokdu was visibly constrained by the quality of writing.
In See you…, besides perhaps Kim Si-a, nobody really can hold a candle to Shin Hye-sun. And yet, for most of the show she doesn’t get to show her acting chops and her talent is wasted. It’s mostly because the show falls much too often into comfortable romcom tropes, without even a tad of originality. Ahn Bo-hyun as co-lead visibly relied on Shin Hye-sun and followed her lead. He even confirmed that in interviews: “Hye-sun was cast first, and then I was cast, I trusted her and followed her. As expected, she was full of energy, and it went well with her character. She was confident and showed it through acting, so I was able to follow her well” (source: Twitter). In a result, though, Ahn Bo-hyun wasn’t able to infuse Moon Seo-ha with much of a personality, and the relationship between Ji-eum and Seo-ha is devoid of chemistry.
In the end, See You in My 19th Life is an entertaining romcom which mostly benefits from Shin Hye-sun’s lead and performance, but much too often relies on overused tropes.
See You in My 19th Life on Wikipedia and MyDramaList
