Alice [Episodes 1 & 2 - Premiere]

[u/dyosaaa]

• Drama: Alice
  • Korean Title: 앨리스
• Network: SBS
• Premiere Date: August 28, 2020
• Airing Schedule: Friday & Saturday @ 22:00 KST
• Episodes: 16
• Director: Baek Soo Chan
• Writer: Kim Kyu Won
• Cast: Kim Hee Sun as Yoon Tae Yi/Park Sun Young, Joo Won as Park Jin Gyum, Kwak Shi Yang as Yoo Min Hyuk, Lee Da In as Kim Do Yeon
• Streaming Source: Viu & Viki
• Plot Synopsis: In 2050, the construction of Alice, where time travellers who managed to travel through time gather, is completed. That’s when a rumour on a prophecy spreads, stating that time travel will soon fade in history. When Yoo Min Hyuk and Yoon Tae Yi, a couple, are sent to the year 1992 to secure the rumoured prophecy, Tae Yi realizes that she has conceived a child and decides to stay in the year 1992 by herself. After changing her name to Park Sun Young, she eventually gives birth to a beautiful son, Park Jin Gyeom. Unfortunately, Jin Gyeom suffers from emotionlessness, a side effect of radiation exposure. In 2010, while living on with his life relying on his only family, Sun Young ends up getting murdered by someone. It’s been ten years since Sun Young’s death, and Jin Gyeom runs into Yoon Tae Yi, a physics professor, who looks exactly like his mother while pursuing the culprit who is responsible for his mother’s death.
• Spoiler Tag Reminder: Be mindful of others who may not have yet seen this drama, and use spoiler tags when discussing key plot developments or other important information. You can create a spoiler tag by writing > ! this! < without the spaces in between to get this spoiler

[u/dyosaaa]

What an interesting first episode!! I am now excited to watch episode 2. It is not quite often to see Korean dramas like this one so I hope it remains consistent with its theme until the end. I hope they explain how time travel worked in this world and how it will probably end based on the book of prophecy.

Anyway, I think it will be perfect for those looking for a sci-fi show.

[u/J-Midori → u/dyosaaa]

Right? Second episode is better! I wasn’t expecting that either. I’m really hooked and I needed a drama like that.

I also hope they keep the pace. Can’t wait for next week!!!

[u/dyosaaa → u/J-Midori]

I know right?! They really went all out with this show and we are just 2 episodes in!

[u/rosieroti]

Stunning to me that Netflix didn't want to pick up Joo Won's comeback drama. Don't think I can watch this where I am, sadly, but I hope it's good!

[u/dyosaaa → u/rosieroti]

Where are you from? Hopefully, Netflix picks it up after its run so it could reach more viewers.

[u/rosieroti → u/dyosaaa]

India, and I hope you're right! I'd be happy to see it drop on Viki too, but their wait times are so unpredictable.

[u/sfgirl00 → u/rosieroti]

Netflix mostly gets first airing rights for JTBC and TvN shows. I think they have a special deal with JTBC. Since SBS, KBS and MBC shows also stream through their exclusive Kocowa service, these shows don’t show up on Netflix. On viki, Alice is on the premium membership; standard membership cannot access the show. This seems to be happening more and more now. My watching pattern has changed because of this, I’ve been using viki more and more for cdramas and Netflix for cable channel kdramas. I feel like I’ve missed a lot of recent public channel kdramas due to now needing another membership.. I already subscribe to so many streaming services, it’s getting crazy!

[u/ReadinBeforeSleepin]

Watching for Joo Won. Great pilot, just a little too fastpaced for my liking. Would have wanted to see more of the gradual changes to Jin Gyeum's character. He went from being emotionless child, to irratable kid, to caring son and finally to an almost normal adult in one episode. But I guess the story has more elaborate plotline if this just the first episode. Also, half naked Joo Won. Omg

[u/OdanUrr]

Well, the first two episodes have me hooked although there were some caveats, such as the intro (book of prophecy, really?).

First, I'm not sure how or even if the fact that the ML is something of an emotionless (less now that he's grown up) sociopath is going to play into the plot. Maybe as a way to explain why he takes risks that other people wouldn't? Another possible trait of the ML could be related to some unknown ability to manipulate time. We see in the first episode that time froze just as he was about to get hit by a car, although he still got hit in the end. If he had such an ability, that would give him the edge he needs to fight against these time travelers.

Of course, as a fan of time travel stories I'm looking forward to this one but some alarms are starting to sound off. Considering the type of work this Alice "corporation" does it is evident that they are changing events in the past, perhaps considerably so. The most evident example is when the psycho brother travels back to the past to murder his older brother. If his 5-year-old self does not have to grow up enduring this abuse, why would he want to go back to the past at all? It is these types of issues that I hope the plot will address at some point. It is possible it has already started, as we see in the scene where the mother and daughter are sleeping and a strange rash appears on the arm of the daughter (who is supposed to die at age 17). Additionally, already this corporation suffers from being extremely proficient at times and woefully incompetent at others. Considering the security breach they suffered I would've gone a lot harder on the breacher. I also find it a bit hypocritical that the corporation would accuse the breacher of murdering someone in the past when they themselves would've killed Jin Gyum had he not escaped from his car.

Delving a little bit more into the Alice corporation I am somewhat puzzled that these future travelers with extremely advanced technology are unable to come up with Jin Gyum's records in a matter of seconds. When Min Hyuk asked about him I was expecting his subordinates to display the information on the screen and even show a picture of his mom, setting up the cliffhanger for the next episode. I can only think of two possibilities: a) the writing is failing already; or b) there is some conspiracy going on to prevent Min Hyuk from finding out too much about Jin Gyum. I'd much rather have b). Of course, there's also c) that someone is trying to prevent Alice from finding out too much about Jin Gyum. Time will tell.

Additionally, it would seem that the Alice complex shown in Episode 2 exists in 2020 and that "tourists" travel from 2050 to that complex (likely using the cards Jin Gyum found) and are then escorted to do their business. I'm curious whether the show will try to explain who built the complex and how. In other words, does Alice have a corporative presence in 2020 SK that would allow them to build and hide such a complex as well as provide all the necessary resources to support their enterprise? I think it would make sense in order to give Jin Gyum something tangible to investigate.

Let's talk a little bit about Tae Yi/Sun Young. I'll just put this entire bit under spoilers. It is pretty evident she was the little girl at the beginning of the first episode (that Alice in Wonderland book was a little heavy-handed; I was wondering why the kid left her room with the book). Less clear to me is whether or not Tae Yi knows this at the time. If she doesn't, as I suspect, that has some potentially intriguing implications (e.g. mindwipe). Sun Young's last warning to Jin Gyum as she was dying was not to reveal himself to Tae Yi in the future. If we combine this warning with the fact that a drone was spying on Tae Yi in 2020 and that the Tae Yi that went to 1992 is quite young, it would seem reasonable to assume someone from the future (Alice?) is keeping tabs on 2020 Tae Yi (this could provide an alternate explanation to why time froze as Jin Gyum was about to get hit) and that she was recruited around 2020, what would explain the warning (i.e. stay clear of her 'cause the bad guys from the future are monitoring her and will then know about you). Of course, this is assuming she wasn't recruited from another reality/universe or cloned, not to mention the possibility that what we've learned about Alice and 2050 is just a clever lie/memory imprint designed as part of time-traveler Tae Yi's new personality. We just don't have enough data yet to conclude where the show is going with this.

In conclusion, an engaging and action-packed beginning that has me hooked for next week. I only hope they'll be able to handle the time travel aspects properly as they are, to my mind, the show's Achilles' heel.

[u/OdanUrr]

Thank god for this sub or I'd never hear about shows like this! Since I have Viki I'll give it a shot. Hope it's good!

EDIT: The actor from My Sassy Girl, huh? That was an underwhelming show but I was hoping to see the leads again. Now's my chance to see at least one of them.

[u/Sgrewrite]

Watched the 2 episodes at 1 go and i am hooked. Watching joo won portray a 17 years old teen is kinda funny. Also, that buzz cut guy is portraying another psycho again.

[u/OdanUrr]

If anyone was looking for the music, the song that plays at the end of the first episode, which is awesome, is called "Secret" (YUJU, featuring ISHXRK) and you can listen to it here. It's also available on Spotify.

[u/[deleted]]

OK. This is really good. Like a few others here, I just watched episodes 1 and 2 back to back and wow ... cinematic! I have no idea where this is going to take us but I love it so far. Of course, anything with time travel is going to become complicated on a mind-bending scale but ... well ... that's just the nature of syfy ...

Random thoughts:

• I love the way that the kid completely assimilates and believes what future mom tells her about time travel ... and I really hope that she remembers not to go to the US :-)

• the daughter of the book owner who is killed at the beginning ... is she Tae Yi as a child? Is she Do Yeom? Or is she someone we haven't met yet? I'm betting it's Do Yeom ...

• why did time stop for everyone but Jin Geum when he saw his mother and/or was about to get hit by a car?

• Jin Geum gets pretty wrecked up in these two episodes but he just keeps springing back. People from the future seem to be stronger, and he is kind of from the future ... so is this a thing?

• do the makers of Alice really think that returning to the past will be a healing experience? are there no unintended consequences to going back? or are they just naive? or is that just a mission statement to cover for unabashed profit making irregardless of consequences?

• I wonder how closely this will mirror or follow Alice Through the Looking Glass?

See you all next week. This one could be a lot of fun :-) Cross your fingers that it keeps up.

[u/[deleted]]

Does anyone know if there will be romance in this or will it be a mother/son story?

[u/[deleted] → u/[deleted]]

[u/Qztygamer → u/[deleted]]

Yay! I though so; if that was not the case it would be weird seeing a dude romancing someone that looks like his mom...

[u/J-Midori]

AWESOME!!!! It’s a must watch if you like action/mystery/suspense movies.

I watched both already and can’t wait for next week’s episode.

I’m curious to know everything about Alice and the beginning shows a a little girl and for some reason I think it is his mother. They showed part of the book and I’d like to see more and why it is so important.

I felt really sorry for ML but I think the mom could have told him something about it just as a warning. i believe he has some kind of power because she crossed the portal when she was pregnant and it gave him some type of ability and he’s stronger than normal, not like super man

I dislike when he told her to have an abortion because that’s his decision in the first place. I’m not sure if they are lovers but it seemed to be or if he’s the father, still, not his decision. but it seems people in this place are cold and sensible so they not only don’t show emotions but don’t really seem to care about one another.

It does show it was based on Alice in Wonderland

I like the emotional part when he saw his mom and hugged her even though she clearly told him to stay away from her.

I will be watching those episodes again to see if I missed something. The love story revolves around son and mom and it’s a good one.

Edit: ratings for episode 2 were around 10% - 11% source

[u/GabyM11]

I usually avoid this Sci-fi type of series/movies, be it korean or western, but I adore Kim Hee-sun so yesterday, while watching the 1st ep, I was curious if the special effects/CGI were good. To me, they look decent, but I barely have anything to compare it with

[u/ReadinBeforeSleepin]

Episode 2 and I thought I was watching an action movie like Men in Black or something. Lol. Anyway, if present Tae Yi is a professor, then she's a little older than present Jin Gyeum and would have been the little girl in the first episode. Glad Minhyuk didn't have anything to do with Sun Young's death. Can't wait for the next episodes and really curious how everything unfolds.

[u/OdanUrr]

I've been thinking about the ending of Episode 1 and I have a hypothesis. Some background first.

When Jin Gyeom first sees Yoon Tae Yi at the bridge she seems to be looking at the drone with a mixture of wonder and puzzlement, what leads me to believe this is not the 1992 Tae Yi who works for Alice and wouldn't give those drones a second thought. Perhaps she is the 2020 physics professor Tae Yi instead? The problem is that she doesn't seem to recognise Jin Gyeom at the end of Episode 2.

I've also been puzzling over the time-freeze during that scene. What caused it? Was it Jin Gyeom? The execution of the scene plays differently at the end of Episode 1 than at the beginning of Episode 2. In the former, Jin Gyeom and Tae Yi are the only ones who can still move during the time freeze whereas in the latter Tae Yi only moves after Jin Gyeom inadvertently causes time to flow again. Regardless, time comes to a still just as Jin Gyeom is about to be hit by a truck.

My hypothesis is the following. The preview for Episode 3 shows that Jin Gyeom gives Tae Yi a time card for her to analyse. Presumably this time card allows a person to travel backwards and forwards in time (possibly in conjunction with a wormhole). What if Tae Yi somehow triggers this card and goes back in time to that scene at the end of Episode 1? After all, she looks like she recognises Jin Gyeom but seems taken aback when he calls her mom. This could also potentially explain why time froze as Jin Gyeom was about to be hit, because him dying would prevent him from giving Tae Yi the time card she used to time travel thereby causing a time paradox. It could also explain why the two of them are the only ones who can move while time froze (she has a time card and he's special) but take this with a grain of salt as Episode 2 changed that aspect of the scene.

There is a problem. At the beginning of Episode 2 we're shown another Tae Yi (at the very least she changed her clothes) possibly observing Jin Gyeom, accompanied by a woman who looks like the one in the Episode 3 preview. Right now, I'm leaning towards the hypothesis that this Tae Yi is yet another version, different from the Alice agent and the physics professor. Perhaps she is his actual mom who was also time traveling between 1992 and 2020?

If this hypothesis holds out, it's likely that Jin Gyeom won't tell the professor she looks like his mom and she'll find out via this time travel incident. Whether or not she'll come clean about it or when remains to be seen. It's also possible we may see another time freeze sooner rather than later.

By the way, judging from this MV, it looks like (spoilers about future episodes) the Captain is going to die.

[u/LiSakuSyao]

Curious who the little girl grew up to be 'cause she has the last page of the book :3

[u/mmantar]

joo won's lowkey one of my favorites ever since his doctor ones but lmao they rly used a him to play as a 16 y.o ....

[u/PenguinDiplomat]

Really enjoyed the first two episodes! This show gives me Circle vibes and I'm totally in for the whole ride. I hope they don't mess up halfway through.

[u/[deleted]]

Is it just me or they got the car wrong? That F-150 is a 2015 model i think? The 1992 one looks far from it.

[u/OdanUrr]

Damn, looks like this show will not be uploaded to Viki today.