Alice 앨리스 [2020]

[gilaswan]

Finally watched episode 1. Gawsh, miss JW's acting. He's brilliant.

 

Got a question though: 

 

For someone who supposedly had a low ability for feeling emotions - he's supposedly unable to empathise with others - how was it that he could feel such strong emotions of grief when his mother died?

[Celebrianna]

@gilaswan, regarding when his mother died, I expected him to cry. Notice the scene when the school boys spray painted on their walls outside and his mother was trying to wipe off the spray paint. He heard his mother quietly crying and it was clear that he was troubled. He went back out and told her he will paint the wall later. Their conversation during that scene showed that Jin Gyeom felt for his mother to the point that she told him he’s grown up. 
 

Well, the first episode was perfectly to my taste. It felt way too short for me. Hopefully the second episode delivers as well. I do wonder who and where is the daughter of the man that owned the Book of prophecy. I assume she was adopted and perhaps had a name change. 

@mademoisellesia I wondered the same too about the book having something to do about Jin Gyeom and his mom. We got a hint in it of a mother and a child. Technically Jin Gyeom was supposed to be born in 2050 so I’m not sure what kind of consequence his birth in 199X is supposed to produce.

 

[mademoiselle]

@gilaswan The doctor said he's intelligent so he has been learning. Still isn't perfect though since in 2020 he's not interested in porn (LOL at that scene).

 

@Celebrianna Yep. Since this is time-travelling the man who wrote the Book of Prophecy must have time-travelled and saw what happened, thus wrote the book. He fully knew the assassin was from 2050. It can only mean he was also from the future and perhaps hid in the past.

[Celebrianna]

@mademoisellesia, yeah, the owner of the book didn’t seem ruffled by the appearance of an assassin and he knew about 2050. I wonder what’s his story. I guess we’ll find out soon enough. I’m still wondering where his daughter is because she has the last page which I assume is the ending and probably very important. There’s a reason why the father tore out the page and gave it to the daughter to safekeep.

Edited August 29, 2020 by Celebrianna

[mademoiselle]

1 minute ago, Celebrianna said:

@mademoisellesia, yeah, the owner of the book didn’t seem ruffled by the appearance of an assassin and he knew about 2050. I wonder what’s his story. I guess we’ll find out soon enough. I’m still wondering where his daughter is because she has the last page which I assume is the ending and probably very important. There’s a reason why the father tore out the page and gave it to the daughter.

Perhaps like Tae Yi and Jin Gyeom, the father and the daughter will also meet in the future.

[40somethingahjumma]

It occured to me that the production values for this is pretty good for a television series. Each episode just seems to fly by and I'm engrossed by everything including all kinds of potential time travel paradoxes in the tradition of Nine or Circle. Now and again I get the odd pang or two reminding me of the Terminator franchise. I've read some criticisms of the CGI elsewhere but honestly I haven't really noticed or cared. I guess for me all of that is secondary if the storytelling is decent. I am someone who is still fond of classic Who. 

 

I'm excited to finally see Joo Won in something that I can sink my teeth into. It seems to me that Park Jin-gyeom has people that he cares about and is partial to. Mum aka Park Sun-yeong aka Tae-yi was one but high school friend Do-yeon seems to be another. He seems capable of showing genuine emotions for people that he has strong attachment to. It was telling in the way he reacted to the possibility of Do-yeon being seriously hurt or dead. His threats, accompanied by acts of violence is proof that he does care but it takes a much longer time for him to respond to them than for the rest of us. Everyone except him thinks that it's fait accompli that he and Do-yeon will end up being a couple despite all his protestations to the contrary. She's certainly his best and only friend. She puts up with all his quirks and for her it's par for the course. At least I don't get any sense that she's trying to change him to be a more "normal" guy. So when he demonstrates these rare moments of consideration for her, she is somewhat confident that well... she occupies an important place in his hidden affections. On some level she might seem screechy and bossy but there's no doubting that she cares... that there's something about her demanding personality that draws him out of his shell.

 

So Alice is an organization that allows people in the future to travel back in time in order to right wrongs or prevent tragedy from occurring. I'm sure those who established this service had the best intentions but as we've seen, the system is open to abuse. Time travel to fix things seems to me to be fraught with inherent dangers... primarily the law of unintended consequences.

 

I was going to ask why 2020? Perhaps it's because the show chooses to focus on Park Jin-gyeom as an adult copper. It still doesn't, however, answer the question. There must be something about 2019 and 2020. A time window perhaps? Because if I were Eun-soo's (the girl who was purportedly "kidnapped" by her mother) mother, I wouldn't be visiting when she's 7. Maybe closer to the time when she's ready to go overseas. Her mother's future self tells her that going to the US was what made her sick. What if her sickness isn't a result of going to the States but something that started earlier, as the arm scratching shows? And what if the arm scratching is symptomatic of something that occurred only as a result of the time travel. That could be the pandora's box that the Book of Prophecy made reference to. It could be that some "fixing" of the tragic past will have other kinds of tragic results. Why do people assume that fiddling around the past necessarily leads to a happier present? The ability to fix the past doesn't come with the gift of prescience that allow the user to know what possibilities lie ahead with a different choice or a subtle interference.

 

I enjoy the irony of hot Dad time travelling tour guide becoming Jin-gyeom's adversary for a bit. It was interesting that Dad aka Yoo Min-hyuk was told that Tae-yi had married after 1992. He and his boss doesn't seem to know that she was killed so that tells me that someone in the organization has a different agenda or isn't onboard with the founding aims.

 

[mademoiselle]

Ep2 continues to be exciting and engaging. I really enjoy it. First and foremost, am I correct to assume that Jin Gyeom has the ability to stop time? I re-watched the scene where he was nearly hit by the car. At that very moment the time stopped we see the special effect where it started from him and spreaded out and then in episode 2, when a drop of his tears fell onto the ground, again the special effect let us see it expanded outward and time began to move again. Is this WHY Alice decided to retrieve the Book of Prophecy because in the future, Jin Gyeom may be a threat? However Alice couldn't fight destiny since they sent his mother to the past.

 

I love Jin Gyeom and Do Yeon's interactions. It's cute. They are close, very close. At first I thought she's the one who is always seeking him out but from ep2's banters, she tells him not to look for her at the hospital. Then of course we see that she knows his passcode to his house and he allows her snooping into his laptop in the past. She appears pushy, but with good intentions because Jin Gyeom who's more passive and his "condition", it helps him learn. Maybe perhaps it is also why he lets her hang around. They have a good relationship there which hopefully will blossom. Other than the police ahjussi, she is definitely one who he cares about.

 

Yoo Min Hyuk - aigoo, love his looks. So suave. Like Men in Black. 😍 I am glad to learn he is not a cold-hearted person and that he loves Tae Yi. I like the premise that he does not know Jin Gyeom is his son and at this point, they are on opposite side as enemy. Makes the conflict and show more interesting. Just as long as they don't pull a Han Solo-Kylo Ren scene on me, I will be happy. Although I have a hunch there maybe a sacrificing scene as the Dad. Sigh.

 

Alice - from my understanding, there is an existing building in 2020. The HQ I'd assume is in 2050. What happened between Tae Yi and Min Hyuk, it had only been 1 year. Tae Yi is a Professor in 2020 and hasn't worked for Alice so it's likely she hasn't met Min Hyuk. Therefore at some point, Min Hyuk and Tae Yi will have to meet, so that Jin Gyeom can be conceived.

 

We still have one more important character we haven't been introduced officially, and that's Choi Won Young. He's a versatile actor so he can swing both ways - to play a villain or another good guy. Looking forward to the revelation of his character.

[-StrongTower-]

I just finished bingewatching the first 2 episodes. So far, very promising. There's a lot of explaining to do still but I like how the mysteries are being unraveled.

 

If there's one thing that I'd criticize the drama at this point is the impeccable almost to impossible timing of main lead to be at the same time & place where the drones are. Like so random with how he saw the drone monitoring the younger brother while driving. But other than that, the drama is interesting. definitely a drama I'd be looking forward to next week.

 

By the way, who is the OTP? Lol.

The last seconds of Ep2 showed greater chemistry than the many scenes with the reporter lady. 

 

 

On 8/29/2020 at 12:45 PM, mademoisellesia said:

I just finished ep1. So far so good. The story-telling was pretty quick actually!

  Hide contents

When I watched the 10 mins trailer, I had wondered who Joo Won's dad is. So it is Kwak Kwak (I call him this because I can't remember his full name. I learn and I'd forget).

 

I think the little girl who witnessed her father's death was the one who sent them to retrieve the book (or own Alice). She was reading Alice in Wonderland at the time...so it must mean something to call the "organisation" Alice.

 

Looking forward to ep2 tomorrow.

 

Ms. Oh? The name was mentioned in Ep2.

 

Interesting who the girl is in the present world. 

Edited August 30, 2020 by -StrongTower-

[mademoiselle]

@-StrongTower- There should be two sets of OTP, isn't it?

Tae Yi + Min Hyuk

Jin Gyeom + Do Yeon

 

We can't possibly pair up Omma and Son. 😅

 

Oh? Oh Shi Young? The lady in charge of helping Min Hyuk escape Jin Gyeom? Why do you think it is her? I just went to read her character description, no sure if she's the little girl. Will have to wait and see. Oh Shi Young seems to like Min Hyuk. She learnt that Tae Yi had died in 2010. From the conversation between Min Hyuk and the other man, we know that she told Min Hyuk Tae Yi got married.

 

Edited August 30, 2020 by mademoisellesia

[-StrongTower-]

@mademoisellesia

Is she really the eomma?

The preview seems like she isn't. Just doppleganger maybe? 

edit: I thought they were 2 different actresses. Hahahaa

That's why I was wondering who the OTP of the male ML is. The reporter is also cute though

 

 

Wait is Ms. OH the girl incharge of the screen monitors? Hahaha. I thought she is somebody else, like who hasnt been introduced yet. Then my theory is wrong. Haha But why did she lie and said Tae Yi was happily married? Maybe she likes MinHyuk and wanted him to give up on her when he decided to go back and live with her.

Edited August 30, 2020 by -StrongTower-

[mademoiselle]

Kim Hee Sun plays both Omma and the Professor. Tae Yi is a genius; that explains why Jin Gyeom is also intelligent.

 

Tae Yi is born 1989, that makes her 31 in 2020. The fact that she is still so young in 2050 means she's not really from 2050. Unless the side effects for time travellers are they don't age.

 

Yeah, think Oh likes Min Hyuk even though she gave them her blessing when they dated.

[im0202]

Just finished the premiere episodes. Really liking it so far. I haven't watched many kdramas that involve time travelling so far, so I can't compare this to others.

Right off the bat, we can tell that the production value is high. The landscape shots used when they showed YTY and YMH travelling from 2050 to 1992 was great. I was actually expecting some type of portal but I guess not. So far, they haven't shown exactly how the time travelling process itself works. Loved the car chase scenes as well. They didn't use shaky cam that much and the ample aerial/wide shots make the action and directions clear for the viewers.

 

Because there are a few important time frames and a few characters and their ages to keep track of, I made a timeline for myself.

Spoiler

The characters' ages are all taken from the SBS website for the drama. 

 

After putting all the information on the chart, I have some questions and predictions.

- Is there someone trying to bring down 'Alice'? In Ep 1, the man dressed in black who tried to retrieve the Book first before Taeyi and Minhyuk is obviously not from 'Alice' since they didn't know each other. So who sent him?

- Could the little girl with the last page of the Book be Yoon Taeyi in 2020? YTY is 32 in year 2020, which means she was 4 in 1992. Possible??

My own early guess for now:

Spoiler

- From SBS site: "When Seok Oh-won became the head of the Institute of Advanced Science and Technology in 2010, a woman visited him and showed him a prophecy of the future." Is this woman in question Yoon Taeyi?

 

So the timeline would be:

2050 Taeyi goes back to 1992.

Saves the girl (who is actually future YTY and has the last page of the Book).

This girl  grows up to become the professor Yoon Taeyi in 2020 who PJG meets. She also meets with Seok Oh Won and showed him the last page of the Book.

 

OR the little girl is not Yoon Taeyi at all and imma just chill and stop thinking about this show and have a sip of tea.

 

[bluepebbles]

Me right now After episode 2 

 
 

 

[gilaswan]

@mademoisellesia @Celebrianna @40somethingahjumma

 

Just done watching episode 2. Some bit more insight into Jingyeom's personality. As he himself says, he doesn't treat everyone as a human. It's a likely indication that as with the bunnies and snipping off their ears when he was a child, if he has no relationship with a person/being, then there are none of those emotions (logical or otherwise) attached to them. That's why he could so readily shoot that fella twice without batting an eyelid. Fair to say that even if his prefrontal cortex is underdeveloped, it doesn't mean it doesn't work. Just likely takes more effort, and his responses for most parts are learned (such as not to kill) than a reaction to an emotional stimulus. He strikes me as a cross between Data and a Vulcan (of Star Trek pop culture).

 

What the time card does is a curious thing - I'm thinking it opens a portal of some sort? The one he activated was his mother's? Making the things around his home float about seemed like there was some attempt by the device to bend space and time.

 

I too am liking this confrontation with his father and them being set up as adversaries, even if for a short while. I am expecting dad to become a partner instead once he finds out mum was murdered. And speaking of mum, I expect that Prof Physicist is mum. Just which time line is she from? 
 

Separately - do Uni profs in Korea really yell at their students like they're in middle school??

Edited August 31, 2020 by gilaswan

[im0202]

Making Video for Ep1&2 on SBS channel:

 

#ABSssalert for @abs-oluteM (omg I tried to tag triplem again out of habit :/ )

[im0202]

New making video SBS released on their channel:

 

Didn’t expect another one lol. I think this is for Ep 2. Mostly behind the scenes for the action scenes. I wished they showed us making for the car chase though!

[bluepebbles]

For upcoming episode. This is just sad 

 

[bluepebbles]

Apparently the rooftop scene was not in  CG !

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Spoiler

 

[mademoiselle]

New BTS

 

Episode 3 Thoughts

 

Firstly, it is unreal that Kim Hee Sun who was born in 1977 is still looking so gorgeous. When the show began for ep3 and Joo Won enters the lecture hall and hugs her, they did not look like they were 10 years apart! I'd have been totally shipping them as on-screen OTP if this show was a romance between them. Granted, Kim Hee Sun has makeup on, reflector (and I suspect also post-editing done to her) she really looks damn young for a 43 years old.

 

My favourite/memorable scenes will have to be when Jin Gyeom and Tae Yi was in the restaurant having dinner. I felt my nose went sour and nearly cried when Jin Gyeom sees Omma in Tae Yi as she down the soju, and that he decided to drink soju with her... realising that all these years he probably never drank soju with anyone because he was supposed to drink his first soju with Omma. Oh my heart break 💔

 

Just when the scene seems a bit sad, I literally LOL-ed at Do Yeon riled up and being the protective Mother Goose at Tae Yi getting Jin Gyeom drunk. The bickering between this two is going to be hilarious for the future episodes and I loook absolutely forward to it.

 

Lastly the scene where just when Jin Gyeom tells Do Yeon he doesn't know what he is feeling about Ahjussi's being in the operation, his tears fell uncontrollably the moment he saw Tae Yi. Nawwww... Omma ni ka. Geuraeso... Omma ni ka. I thought this is a nice touch to his character development. I just hope Do Yeon will be understanding and not kick a fuss and doesn't get jealous (which I think she does/will).

 

Hmm, other than the above 3 I can't say there was any further revelation to the mystery. The plot is moving and there's introduction to 2 new characters - one that helps time travellers to illegally stay in the past and the other is Choi Won Young who plays Seok Oh Won, and together with Jin Gyeom are crucial to the downfall of Alice.

Edited September 5, 2020 by mademoisellesia

[40somethingahjumma]

This is my favourite thing on K telly right now. It has the potential to be a great show, one of the year's best. Will it be another Life on Mars? It's too early to say.

 

It's clear that Yoon Tae-yi's re-appearance in his life knocks Jin-gyeom off his general equanimity. As he wrestles with not just with her uncanny resemblance to his long deceased mother, spars with his birth father and grapples with the unfathomable possibility of time travel, his confusion about this new reality is exacerbated by inexplicable murders. Last week we had a future self travelling back to the past to kill someone who had wronged and embittered them. This week a mother kills her past self for not doing enough to protect her daughter and makes a failed bid to be a substitute. It goes beyond irony and paradoxes. She punishes and kills her past self for being inadequate as a mother in the belief that she, the future self, can do better because of hindsight and foreknowledge. Seems extreme. However, future Mum has brought something potentially life-threatening with her to the past. It does beg the question as to whether it is a result of the time travel or the collision of past and present or some new pestilence hitch-hiked from the past.

 

Of course there are consequences and the lesson seems to be... "just because you can doesn't mean you should." It's one of those things one learns as a child from the adults around us as a caution about leaping into places where even angels fear to tread. A cautionary advice against hubris and the breaking of fundamental moral principles. It's often been used against genetic modification of foods. It's a warning against playing God. It's the age old question of whether humans can really control nature without it coming back to bite them.

 

I gather from the first episode that people have been time travelling for a bit with relative success. So why the anomalies of the last few episodes? I imagine that the show will provide the answers to that. Hot Dad aka Min-hyuk attributes it to a particular psychological profile. It may well be that. Or there could be much more to it.

For a project/ endeavour the Alice crew are a noisy lot bringing a lot of attention to themselves. Take the big gunfight in the library for instance. Some of it was having to clean up after somebody else's mess but maybe they're counting on the fact that no one finds the entire idea of time travel possible in 2020. I suppose they're setting up these confrontations between father and son in anticipation of some kind of reunion. 

 

 

Edited September 5, 2020 by 40somethingahjumma

[LaLa]

I've finally caught up with the first 2 episodes. Glad to see Joo Won's back into the drama land :)

The first two episodes are entertaining. There are many things that made me curious and hooked with the plot. I'm going to put this under my current watching list. 

 

The 10 mins highlight preview is really intriguing. I laughed hard especially at the scene where Tae Yi and Do Yeon fight over Jin Kyeom at the police station. And did Jin Kyeom use (?) Alice service to travel to the past? Interesting.

 

[mademoiselle]

E5 Preview

 

I haven't seen e4 but couldn't resist & click into this lol. Looks like next episode Jin Gyeom will start time travelling! Arghhhhh.

[bluepebbles]

Ratings report!

 

 

[im0202]

In this week's episodes, we find out more about the time travelers who are not from Alice.
We don't know yet who the other group of time travelers are (the brokers). Is Seok Oh Won related to them? He has the Book of Prophecy as shown in Ep 3, and he seems to be against time travelling and believes it is something humans shouldn't do. No matter what, he is a highly suspicious character.

 

The Joowon and Kim Hee Sun onscreen chemistry: They look good together. Too bad they are playing mother/son in the drama. KHS looks so good for her age!

 

Increasing tension between JinGyeom and his father. My goodness. They are fighting each other in every episode and I just can't wait for them to find out their relation!
 

Is 2020 TaeYi the little girl whose dad was killed in Ep 1? Has it been confirmed? All I know is some things shown so far seem to fit.

 

The fight between Tae-Yi and Do-Yeon friend brought some much needed humour to the drama. JooWon's deadpan face made it funnier. I'm looking forward to more of such scenes.

 

Also, I've subbed the Making video of Ep 3 if you're interested:

Hard to believe JW and KHS have a 10-year age gap!

Spoiler

 

 

[mademoiselle]

I love love episode 4. The cliffhanger at the end makes me want more, and when I get this kind of feeling I know I'm hooked on the drama! Time travelling is already a complicated matter, and then Seok Oh Won has to introduce parallel universe into the equation. Mind blown. I somewhat agree with his theory. And for the past 3 episodes I haven't questioned Tae Yi's age and how her timeline works because there wasn't enough to analyse. But now...

 

There's definitely some form of clue there when it was mentioned that a time traveller can stay in the past for 100 years and it is only a day in 2050. This makes Tae Yi's age unpredictable. The most curious/mysterious part about Tae Yi is she obviously knows absolutely nothing in the "normal" timeline that she was growing up.

 

• So at which time point of her life (after 2020) that she became a time traveller?

• At which time point she meets Min Hyuk and became impregnanted by him?

• And from which time point was she from when she and Min Hyuk visited Year 1992?

 

She'd have to meet Min Hyuk in 2020 or later in order to have Jin Gyeom too. However, if we're talking about parallel universe, then that's another story because there will be many Tae Yi in the multiverse. So this "universe" that we are watching, may not be the universe that Tae Yi and Min Hyuk meet. And err...Tae Yi visiting the orphanage & calling the nun Omma suggest she is actually an orphan. So it is likely she was the little girl from 1992. She could be in so much shock that she forgot the past. And she could also be the writer of the Book of Prophecy as seen from the end of episode 4.

 

 

Was the Broker the one that was killed in the car? His face was a bit difficult to see from that angle. That was quick (to die). And finally Seok Oh Won has appeared and boy, it is true that I hope he is the Good guythis time but he may well be The Big Boss at the end. Choi Won Young is a versatile actor who can play both villain and good convincingly so he's like a wild card in the story. The way he is presented so far hinted he is suspicious which is understandable because if I'm the writer/director I'd also use him as red-herring. He has the Book of Prophecy which I believed was given to by Tae Yi who stayed in 1992 because his character description said one day a woman went to see him.

 

We haven't been shown the full story of Tae Yi's death in 2010. Was Seok Oh Won in 1992 from the future or from the normal timeline...? Was he really the killer but he doesn't know it yet in his normal 2020 timeline?

 

With the drone spying on Tae Yi, I'm wondering if that was actually Min Hyuk checking up on her even though he pretended like he did not care. Or that was actually Oh Shi Young monitoring her. Was the car accident planned? - because the truck was doing a hit & run.

 

It's kind of weird to say that Jin Gyeom doesn't have emotions, because he does exhibit emotions anything relating to Omma. He showed dislike when Do Yeon speaks ill of Tae Yi. He cries when he sees Tae Yi. He gets upset at Tae Yi for being so rough with Omma's belongings.

 

I am, too, having a good laugh at the two important women in Jin Gyeom's life fighting each other. Sooner or later Do Yeon will have to grovel, since Tae Yi is Omma ni ka. Hahahahahaha. I'm willing to wait a lil' longer for that day to arrive because I really enjoy seeing deadpan face Jin Gyeom vs rile up Tae Yi and Do Yeon.

 

Lastly, "The moment she reunites with her child, her child will gain control over time." — this is such an intriguing statement! Hence the reason why I'm all, DYING, to have more.

 

Ah~ so many questions. So. Good. It keeps viewers hooked and want more answers!