Korean Drama Review Melting Me Softly - Unsatisfying Mystery

Poster Drama Melting Me Softly (Twitter @CJnDrama)

JAKARTA - After actor Ji Chang Wook returned from military service, he was immediately productive. Drama offers that came were taken immediately, one of which was Melting Me Softly. Through this drama, Ji Chang Wook was paired with actress Won Jin Ah, who last played in Life.

Melting Me Softly was written by Baek Mi Kyung, a screenwriter who has written several times for the dramas Strong Woman Do Bong Soon and The Miracle That We Met. A mystery and science-fiction (sci-fi) genre, Melting Me Softly tells the story of Ma Dong Chan (Ji Chang Wook), a reliable producer for variety shows.

He is known to always be successful in making television shows. Ratings and project bids always approach him. The Frozen Human Project is his newest project where a person will get into a capsule and wake up 24 hours later.

Go Mi Ran (Won Jin Ah) is a student who likes to follow television shows. He immediately volunteered to participate in the Frozen Human Project event. Together with the producer, the two of them went into a capsule. But, instead of waking up in 24 hours, they woke up 20 years later. Things changed when they discovered that the people around them had aged. The two of them are looking for a way to get back into the capsule.

The audience's dream is an interesting story. Moreover, there are not many dramas about time-traveling combined with sci-fi like Melting Me Softly. At the beginning of the episode, there was a lot of fun and heartrending scenes such as Go Mi Ran's farewell with her younger brother Go Nam Tae to do this project. The build up to the conflict is also interesting, but it's all just at the beginning of the episode.

In fact, the execution has become mundane and the fall is tedious. The romantic side that Ji Chang Wook and Won Jin Ah built has no chemistry even though both of them are the main characters of this drama. It seemed like there was a large distance between the two even though they were always in one scene.

Likewise with the supporting characters. They do not have additional lives to support the storyline. The problems that exist are often considered trivial and far-fetched.

The execution was even more unpleasant when the writer inserted a conspiracy in the middle of Melting Me Softly's journey. Indeed, there is nothing bad about his acting, let alone Ji Chang Wook. However, the placement of the climax and conflict towards the final episode does not make sense.

The good thing about this film is maybe only the roles of Go Nam Tae (Yoon Na Moo), Go Mi Ran's younger brother and Byung Shim (Shim Hyung Tak) who are consistent with character development from the start of the story until the last episode rolls around. There are parts of the transition from 1999 to 2019 that look beautiful. However, to be honest, what needs to be blamed is the inadequate script to support a story that is already heavy from the start. It is unfortunate that Ji Chang Wook chose a comeback drama that was not well developed.

The drama Melting Me Softly consists of 16 episodes with a duration of one hour. This drama can be accessed through tvN's on-demand television service and OTT streaming service in Indonesia.