365: Repeat the Year is a time travel mystery thriller that tells the story of 10 people who get the chance to go back in time one year to change their lives, but things don’t go as planned and a suspenseful mystery is introduced as they begin dying one by one.
Lee Joon Hyuk plays Ji Hyun Woo who is a violent crimes detective. After losing a close colleague, he wants nothing more than to go back in time and stop his murder. Things quickly get complicated though, and he ends up working to solve a mystery that threatens him and his time traveling companions.
Nam Ji Hyun is Shin Ga Hyun. She’s a popular writer whose life took a turn for the worse after an accident landed her in a wheelchair. She takes the opportunity to go back in time and change things but gets caught up in the same situation as Hyun Woo and teams up with him to figure things out.
Then we have Kim Jee Soo as Lee Shin. She’s a mysterious psychiatrist who brings everyone together and gives them the chance to go back in time. Little is known about her, but it soon becomes clear that she has ulterior motives.
A time travel mystery thriller? Sign me up! I had to check out 365: Repeat the Year since I’m so fond of the genre as well as Nam Ji Hyun. The drama quickly hooked me as it whisked a group of desperate people back in time to change their lives. Of course, nothing is ever easy, and they soon begin dying off.
We then get a complex mystery to unravel with plenty of thrills. This is a story that is woven together quite nicely and has many layers to peel back as it goes along. I was very curious as to why these things were happening and how this group of people would get out of this time travel situation gone wrong. The 24 half hour episodes also allowed for swift pacing which was a bonus.
As the show progresses, the stakes continue to increase as the characters find themselves in a desperate situation. If you like twists and turns, then this is the drama for you! There are several really nice reveals as the story takes some unexpected turns. Lots of surprises are in store.
A bit of a negative was that while all of the characters were interesting, I didn’t develop a strong bond with most of them. Aside from Hyun Woo and Ga Hyun, much of the other characters’ backgrounds were very slowly introduced to keep the mystery element high. This didn’t help me to really connect with them for a long while.
But it did aid in that big mystery and added a lot to the suspense element of the drama. This worked particularly well as we got deeper into the drama and saw everything come together and understood how all of the pieces of the puzzle fit. I definitely became more invested as the story went along.
For those who are wondering, there really isn’t any romance in the drama. It’s a near constant life and death situation, so there wasn’t a whole lot of time to delve into that sort of thing.
There is a really great friendship between Hyun Woo and Ga Hyun though with just a hint of romance as a possibility. It was a nice relationship to see develop nonetheless, and they made a very good team.
Time travel dramas usually have a few loop holes here and there, and the same could be said for this one, but for the most part, everything came together really nice in the end. We get answers to the questions as the mystery is revealed, and I was pleased with how things worked out. The ending was very satisfying overall.
365: Repeat the Year is a great watch if you’re looking for mystery and suspense. If you like time travel, it’s even better. While the drama didn’t give me a ton of feels, I quite enjoyed all of the thrills and seeing a well-written mystery play out with a unique spin on the time travel genre.
My Rating: 7.5/10
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