As I have previously noted, tvN's time-bending, procedural drama Signal was so good that it almost single-handedly made me change my mind about Korean dramas and what they can accomplish. It bought so much good will from me that when it was recently (finally!) added to the mammoth-sized Netflix library, I eagerly sought out recommendations for another kdrama that I could use to unwind with, thereby recharging my overtaxed introvert batteries. In my very shallow internet search, I stumbled across the synopsis for another tvN show that piqued my interest - three young freedom-fighters in Japan-occupied Korea during the 1930's are reincarnated as a best-selling novelist, a veterinarian, and a ghostwriter who solve mysteries in the modern day.

Reincarnation? Period drama in the form of an underground resistance? Friendships that are so strong they span multiple lifetimes? Um, yes please. Sign me up for Chicago Typewriter.


So first, let's get one thing cleared up: I had somehow completely misread the synopsis. I had imagined these three exceptionally attractive young people (it's a kdrama afterall) meeting up, reconnecting about their past lives, and using their combined skills and knowledge from both lifetimes to team up and solve mysteries, Scooby Doo-style. Who knows why I found that concept so charming, but I did! Alas, rather than solving modern-day mysteries, they are actually trying to piece together the "mystery" of what happened to them in their past lives. Which not only makes more sense, but is also much more dramatic and in-line with your typical Korean drama, I suppose. Of course, that means with the pacing issues that are also typical of Korean dramas, things don't really start rolling with that plotline until we are almost halfway through the show.

Sigh.

On top of how long it took for them to really get to the main hook of the show (six episodes!) the tone of the show was all over the place. One minute we're in a quirky rom-com with multiple suitors as the leads bicker their way through misunderstanding after misunderstanding, then we're in a tense resistance operation in the past where secret identities are at risk of being exposed, and then we're back to the present with unnecessarily morally corrupt characters manufacturing additional drama where there really doesn't need to be any. I'm not saying dramas can't be funny or comedies can't be tragic, but this sometimes felt like five shows crammed into one, which is a lot to ask of it.

Having said that, there were aspects of the show that I really did like. None of the characters were particularly groundbreaking and the best-selling "idol" author was a bit much to take with his crazy mood swings in the beginning, but I did grow to be quite fond of the main trio, even if they were much more compelling as their past selves over their modern iterations. The actors were all charismatic enough and look, I can be shallow too sometimes and the two male leads were very easy on the eyes in their 1930's garb. Once the main trio are on the same page in both timelines, there is a genuine spark and warmth to their interactions that justified their lives being tied to each other in two lifetimes, but I just wanted more than they gave me. The other characters were... fine. The "antagonists" were frustratingly irredeemable, the way they often are in Korean dramas, and the remaining side characters were there to add a little "flavour" while pretty much having no real effect on the plot.

My main frustration is that the 1930's storyline was always going to be the more interesting plotline because there's a real sense of urgency and danger associated with it that can't be replicated (at least not successfully) in the modern day timeline. Everything in the modern day that didn't revolve around these characters regaining their memories related to their past lives felt comparatively frivolous. The writing itself also left something to be desired, with the modern day storylines almost overstuffed while the past storylines felt underdeveloped. The resistance is necessarily doomed to failure for this whole concept to work, but even the journey into how that happened was incredibly predictable with little intrigue. I was surprised maybe once by the story, but that only served to make me more frustrated that they hadn't tried harder to tie it into the overaching storyline sooner.Oh, Chicago Typewriter, how I wish you were made for me and my tastes only!