[First impression] W - Two Worlds

What a strong premiere week! Well, it's kinda expected. This is written by Song Jae Jung, who wrote Nine (which is the best written drama ever in my opinion) and Queen In-Hyun's Man (one of my favorites). Everyone who's seen those two dramas will agree with me that she's one of the best writers out there. But I'm not gonna lie. I was a little worried W wouldn't be up to my expectation, because the last drama she wrote (The Three Musketeers) wasn't that good. I'm glad she's back on track again. And the whole production team is so solid. Even though I'm not really familiar with the PD, I think the cinematography is pretty (although not as pretty as Uncontrollably Fond). And I definitely love the animation between manhwa and the real world. I think it's so cool. And I approve the choice of color palette. It's really pretty. It's kinda similar to One More Happy Ending, which also aired on MBC btw. Hmm... Is it a coincidence? Anyway, the color palette really pleases my eyes. I'm tired of seeing weird and/or washed out color palettes (yes tvN, especially you). So this is like an unexpected gift to me. And I just found out that the music director is the one from Signal! Whaaattttt? Signal is almost flawless in every aspect (writing, directing, acting, music, you name it), and it will most likely be the best drama of the year. I still remember how the background music gave me the chills during intense scenes. And they still nail it during serious and intense scenes in W. Lighter and funny scenes are pretty much the same in every drama, so I'm not gonna comment on that. But they did a great job overall. All of them. What a great writer/PD/music director combination!

When I first heard about the plot, I thought it was a bit similar to Heroes Reborn. There are two worlds, and somebody goes into another world (the world of a game in Heroes, and the world of a manhwa in W). Even though the stories are different, I can tell W is definitely better written. I love that Kang Cheol is a pretty unreal character, like he should be, because he's actually a character in a manhwa and doesn't exist in the real world. I mean, he used to be a world-class athlete, but after all of his family got murdered, he had to quit and also spent some time in jail. After he was proven innocent, he worked hard, and now he's a successful and super rich CEO. Pretty unreal (and dramatic), right? And I love that we get to know him with a voiceover from Yeon Joo, like a narrator doing an introduction of a character. It shows that Yeon Joo is the one in the real world, and Kang Cheol is just a manhwa character. And it actually makes something else great; Yeon Joo knows (almost) everything about Kang Cheol and the manhwa world. Well, it might be a little creepy, like when she accidentally confronted him about something he said about her, when she wasn't supposed to know about it, because she just read it in the manhwa. But I love that she unintentionally helps him understand himself by saying things she read in the manhwa. I'm sure that's one of the reasons why she's "the key to his life". As cheesy as it sounds, he didn't say it because he fell for her. She understands him more than himself. And she saved his life twice. And she will definitely keep saving him, especially from her dad. I agree with him that she will be the only one who can tell him the reason for his existence. We don't know yet what makes her dad wanna kill Kang Cheol, but I'm sure she won't let it happen. Not only because she's a fan of the manhwa and his character, she also thinks that Kang Cheol is a real person (therefore killing him would be a murder). I'm not sure myself if a manhwa character that comes to life isn't a real person, because it's certain that these characters begin to write the stories themselves, and the manhwa world is not under the writer's control anymore. And the ending of ep 2 kinda implies that Kang Cheol is becoming his own person. He escaped the accident that was drawn to kill him and became self-aware. He even asked "Who are you?" to the writer. So does that make him a real person? Maybe, I guess?

I love that this writer still keeps some of the things from her previous works. Like a strong, quirky female lead (like in Queen In-Hyun's Man). It's so nice seeing the heroine saving the hero, and not vice versa. And the whole sequence of her fast-forwarding to 2 months later was hilarious. Especially when she was in Kang Cheol's car, and of course the slap and kiss. I laughed so hard. Imagine being someone in the real world and reading her thought bubbles in the manhwa lol. And she's kinda like Kim Boong Do (also from Queen In-Hyun's Man). Despite being transported to a different world so suddenly, she can quickly get a grasp of how things work in the manhwa world, and knows what she needs to do. Oh, and she's only inside the manhwa world for 30 minutes. Just like the time-travel in Nine. I love it. This drama is off to a very great start. I hope it will stay awesome until the end.