To Be Continued

To Be Continued

3/10

To Be Continued 

Genre:                                   Episodes: 12                                   Year: 2015

School

Fantasy

Music

Synopsis:

The day before their singing debut, three boys from a new boy-band travel back in time to their high school days when their band was just forming.

Cast:

Kim Sae Ron (Jung Ah Rin)

Cha Eun Woo (Cha Eun Woo)

Moon Bin (Moon Bin)

MJ (MJ)

Jin Jin (Jin Jin)

Rocky (Rocky)

Yoon San Ha (Yoon San Ha)

Yeo Reum (Yeo Reum)

General Thoughts:

I still have no idea what the actual point of this web drama was. Like, I understand that it was to launch boy-band ASTRO and build curiosity for them- but plot-wise…I’ve got nothing. The whole story just didn’t make any sense. All the boys (and the two girls) seemed happy enough when the drama started- they were about to head onto their debut stage and everyone was chipper.

That's what I'd like to know- what did we just go through?

And then they go back in time. Um…why? No clue, because it doesn’t get explained. Why do only three of the six boys time skip? Again, not explained. And nobody knows what the hell Kim Sae Ron’s character Ah Rin has to do with anything. Whew, okay, deep breath and let’s all go back to the beginning. The series just jumps right in. There are no gradual character introductions nor relationship explanations. It’s as if the writers just expect you to know who the boys from ASTRO are.

Thanks for making me feel a million years old, boys

Which I totally didn’t. Oops. The boys are cute and…I wouldn’t go as far as saying they’re interesting to watch, but they’re not boring either. It’s just blaringly obvious that they’re a bunch of kids- I mean I’m older than 83% of that band…and I’m not old. Yoon San Ah and Rocky are just babies at 15 and 16 years old. Undeniably these boys can all sing/rap and dance amazingly well, but acting…not so much. They are cute and energetic 'lil babies though and truly give it their all. The girl characters Ah Rin and Yeo Reum don’t really have a point in the story, save to add a bit of estrogen to the set. Yeo Reum is acceptable enough as the female side-kick who’s around for the ride and will inevitably hook up with one of the boys, but it seemed as though the writers had tried to set up something more with Ah Rin. She was constructed as some sort of time skip master, with this having been her third trip into the past, and yet she’s at just as much of a loss as the boys. Not only that, but she fails to actually do anything. It was as if her whole purpose was to make sure everything went exactly the same as it did in the past. But then one begs to ask the question- why time skip at all? Kim Sae Ron is by far the veteran actor of the bunch. While being only 15, she’s been making notable appearances from around 2009/2010. She definitely delivers one of the most consistent, believable performances, but her character was bland and frankly a tad boring. The music was great (thank goodness) and the dancing was great, but that only added to the feeling of the whole drama just being a big music video or advertisement for ASTRO. Which would have been fine, had there been enough plot and substance to distract from what the agency was trying to do. As it is I just feel like their agency was bashing my head into the TV going “LOOK AT ASTRO! AREN’T ASTRO GREAT? THIS IS ASTRO! LOVE ASTRO!”

"IT'S A DRAMA FOR ASTRO!"

What Was Great:

Half of ASTRO:

So basically MJ, Jin Jin and Rocky were all pretty okay at acting. Yay! While occasionally the boys didn’t quite hit the nail on the head, these three definitely pulled their own weight.

Two okay actors and Cha Eun Woo

Being the oldest (and the character that stayed in the past longest), it was a relief that MJ could hold his own. His character was upbeat and refreshing, if a tad overacted- but that fit into the overall tone of the drama well enough anyway, as the whole series had an air of dreamy, juvenile wackiness about it.

Quadruple Threat

Jin Jin also gave a steady, believable performance, and the scenes that combined him with MJ were enjoyable to watch overall. The two boys were able to translate their pre-existing relationship from life to the screen which was delightful. And really, I doubt there’s anything Rocky can’t do. It was already clear that he’d be able sing, but he can rap too. Oh, and he’s a killer dancer. Then (in the few moments of the drama we see him in) he proves himself to be a pretty competent actor as well. And all that’s topped off with his gorgeous face. It should be illegal for someone to have that much talent.

It’s not Long:

The episodes were nice and short, rarely making it to a full 20 minutes, and there are only 12 episodes. While the shortness of the episodes does prevent any real complications or tension to build in the drama, I highly doubt that would have happened if the writers had gotten hour long episodes. The small number of episodes keeps the very, very thin plotline from becoming ridiculously overstretched. The few, short episodes allowed the drama to maintain its fluffy, youthful vibe without letting it sink into becoming flat-out boring.

Easy to ignore the plot for the cute, because the plot's not there

Bloopers:

Putting the bloopers in the credits was just delightful. It was a smart choice as us viewers get to see a bit of personality from the debuting boys beyond just who they were being in the drama, which could be a polar opposite of their real character. It was also good for a few laughs.

Best humor in the drama technically wasn't even in the drama

 What Wasn’t:

The Other Half of ASTRO:

Cha Eun Woo, Moon Bin and Yoon San Ha…weren’t that great. Which is surprising considering that two of them were given huge roles in the drama.

Minimalist Approach- one expression for all scenarios

But on the other hand, Cha Eun Woo is very pretty, and Moon Bin is probably the only one that could pull off anything close to a ‘bad-boy’, as the rest are just so cute you want to carry them around in your pocket. Cha Eun Woo plays a pretty pivotal character (well as pivotal as this drama gets) in that he’s the leader of the band and the composer. And yet, all he seems to do is sit around half dazed with a very blank look on his face. Sure he sings and dances a little (and he is good at that), but his acting was…well, it was why people complain about idols getting cast in dramas. Then there’s Moon Bin who was conflicting to watch. Sometimes his acting was quite sincere and believable- mostly in his chatting scenes with Kim Sae Ron where he was convincing as a youth with a crush. But then other times he was very awkward and didn’t quite know what to do with himself. I suspect that his character is probably quite different from his actual personality, whereas the other boys get to basically act as themselves.

Most innocent looking 'bad-boy' ever

And Yoon San Ha was definitely cute, but never managed to come across quite natural. His character wasn’t the brightest bulb and played up the aegyo, but poor maknae San Ha never quite made it to a convincing performance. Nevertheless, I still think the boys did a pretty great job with the cards they were dealt- even ignoring who was acting them, the characters themselves were sloppily written and not developed at all.

So Many Plot Holes:

16 at max.

Oh my goodness the story was bad. It was just horrifically, laughably bad. Nothing gets explained, and by the end nobody is any better, wiser, happier, or anything-er than when they started. First off, it’s a huge stretch for you to try and convince me that Kim Sae Ron is 18, let alone 20. I’m sorry, but when I look at her all I see is a young teenager. Sweet and cute, but a young teenager all the same. And then her character doesn’t even make any sense. She has a rather ambiguous relationship with all the boys, and no romantic inclinations for any of them. Biggest plot hole right there- no young girl is surrounded by that many cute, talented, friendly boys and doesn’t have a crush on at least one of them. Unless she’s a lesbian, and I just don’t think South Korean school fluff dramas are quite at the point of exploring homosexuality. For a good part of this drama I firmly believed she was some sort of time-jump angel sent to ensure that the boys made it to their happy, predetermined future with as few hiccups as possible. But no, she’s just a high schooler who unexplainably hops back in time now and then. Then there’s the fact that only three of the boys head back to the past, when all six were in the exact same situation when they were blasted through time and space. Is this explained? Of course not. And at apparently random intervals the boys then slip back into the future, leaving their past selves with no memory. Is a how and/or why given to us? No, don’t be silly. Then the biggest, and most irritating black hole of plot holes. In the end, the time jumping is redundant anyway because we’re back to where we started and literally nothing has changed.

BUT THERE WAS NO REGRET- JUST FAME AND PARTIES

The boys who had a brief stint in the past now apparently can’t remember it, except for MJ (what, why?), and the girl (who also randomly remembers all her time trip shenanigans) has learned and gained nothing from the experience. It’s actually the first ever drama I have watched that just plain doesn’t have a point. Y’know, beyond ‘This is ASTRO. Love ASTRO.’

Gypped Juniors:

I feel bad for Yoon San Ha and Rocky. Even in this sad little world of irrelevant, no-plot drama, their characters don’t matter. If the two boys hadn’t been there, the story would have carried on the same regardless- except the band would only have four part harmonies. For a series that was supposed to showcase the boys’ talents and introduce them as a new band, the two youngest boys were hardly in it.

Wait, what? Yoon San Ha's not an extra? He's actually in the band?

Yoon San Ha has maybe one big moment were he plays guitar and sings for a street concert, but that’s the only time he manages to sneak onscreen for more than a minute.

Well, the writers sure acted like you weren't there

Rocky gets a bit more TV time, but not much. Which seems horrendously unfair given his bags and bags of talent. He got a dance number (with Moon Bin) and a rap number (with Jin Jin), but never got a chance to really sparkle on his own. Boo, for a drama that really had nothing going for it except getting to know the new boys in K-pop land, it would have been real nice to get more of a look at the boys. It’s a shame, but they’ll undoubtedly get more attention down the track.

Re-watch?

No. Unless I somehow, for some unexplained reason, go back in time to when I was 15 and I can just ogle the boys for their young baby cuteness. But then they’d be 9 and this drama wouldn’t be out yet. Oh well.

ASTRO, please do continue boy band-ing...but not drama-ing