When the Phone Rings: Spoiler-Free Mini Review
- Aug 3
- 3 min read
Updated: 1 day ago
Title: | When the Phone Rings (2024) |
Platform: | Netflix, Wavve |
MDL & IMBD Rating: | |
Genre: | Contemporary Romance/ Thriller |
Episode Count: | 12 |
Parental Guidance Rating: | TV-14: Fear, Language, Minor violence, fade to black scene |
Starring: | Yoo Yeon Seok (Hospital Playlist) Chae Soo Bin (I'm Not A Robot) Heo Nam Jun (My Royal Nemesis) Jang Gyu Ri (Four Hands, Two Sonatas) |
RBTS Rating: | 3/5 Stars (A drama that is very watchable, but not very good).  |
Cast From Left to Right: #YooYeonSeok, #ChaeSooBin, #HeoNameJun, #JangGyuRi
Synopsis:
Baek Sa Eon, the youngest presidential spokesman in Korea, comes from a prestigious political family. His background includes roles as a war correspondent, hostage negotiator, and news anchor. Three years ago, he married Hong Hui Ju, a mute sign language interpreter and the step-daughter of a newspaper proprietor. Their marriage, based on convenience, has been distant and cold. However, when Hui Ju is kidnapped, their lives and relationship are changed. @MDL
Spoiler-Free Mini Review:
When the Phone Rings is a cross between Queen of Tears and Flower of Evil, with dramatic storytelling, a murderous villain, and a love/"hate" relationship between leads. The drama felt like a romance thriller straight out of a wattpad where a mute woman and a Nepo baby are (sort of) trapped in an arranged marriage must play many rounds of phone tag.The whole storyline was wild from the mustache twirling parents to the nonsensical mutism. The origin of which did not have any sound reasoning, and for that matter, neither did almost any character have a normal motivation or healthy state of mind. The theories I came up with gave this show too much credit and the possibility of what could happen is what drove my interest.
The acting of the FL was room temp, but she was saved by the ML Actor powerlifting the emotional weight of the drama by convincing the audience that her character had value. It reminded me of a The Tale of Nokdu situation where the lead actor carried all the weight of the relationship to compensate for a sub par acting partner. But at least the pair had great chemistry and Yoo Yeon Seok (ML Actor) gave it his all as usual. He had the same intensity as in Mr. Sunshine.
There were so many logic holes in the drama; I didn't get why the ML didn't learn sign language sooner, nor do I understand the reasoning behind FL's mother's decisions. And what was with the ending? The last two episodes made my head spin. It felt like I was dropped into a different show.
I binged this in a day, but I was never on the edge of my seat. The rickety rollercoaster that still made for a fun ride, only because so many things happened, but not because those things were necessarily done well.
*Something to note: This was review bombed on MDL and IMBD due to a controversial comment in the drama about the war in Palestine and the hostages. The relating dialogue has been removed. It originally had a 8.9 on MDL, but dropped due to this. But also the ending was... uh, something else, so who knows what an accurate rating should look like.
Side Note: I was very distracted by Hong Hui Ju's perfectly straight eyebrows.
Story=3 (Not logical but fun), Acting=3 (FL actress wasn't the best fit), Production Quality=4 (Good), Ending=2 (What in crazy land. the disappearance only happened to stretch out the show for another episode and the war zone stuff literally made me lol. She deserved to be captured) , Enjoyability= 3 (Very watchable but not very good?), Would I rewatch= No.
Trailer:
Director: #ParkSangWoo (The Forbidden Marriage)
Screenwriter: #KimJiWoon (Doctor John)
*Disclaimer: I do not own any of the images used on this blog. All images belong to their respective copyright holders and are used for commentary and review purposes. All reviews, opinions, and statements expressed on this blog are my own and are intended for entertainment and informational purposes only. They reflect my personal thoughts and interpretations and should not be considered as factual.
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