What if you were given a chance to alter your undesirable future or resolve someone’s tragic fate by heading back into the past and make things right? Does time really heal wounds?
My Perfect Stranger (2023) depicts this sort of drama, a simple yet thought-provoking narrative that delves into the mystery of the past and redo the course of life through the phenomenon of time travel.
At first glance, the drama hints a love story where two strangers meet by chance through time travel and develop feelings for each other while stuck in 1987, a common paranornal romance that sounds epic but perhaps hold nothing new or unique to intrigue viewers until the end—like it’s the same old story.
However, if you wait a bit and give it a try in the next episode and succeeding episodes, you’ll surprisingly find yourself riveted with the narrative, enthused with the characters, and gripped with the mind-blowing plotline of mysteries and discoveries that initial notions will pivot into extolment for the drama overall. It’s unexpectedly extraordinary, like one of those diamonds in the rough but only a few has noticed.
Amid popular Korean dramas nowadays, My Perfect Stranger (2023) is underrated but absolutely deserves a spotlight as one of the best Korean dramas of the year and probably, the most epic time travel Korean content you’ll ever come across.
Time travel.
A news anchor named Yoo Hae Jun suddenly finds a strange red vintage car at a hillside tunnel one rainy night while driving. Curious, he gets on the abandoned car and voila! It’s a time travel machine that drives him onto his desired destination, be it past, present, or future.
In one of his future travels, he sees himself murdered by a mysterious culprit with a trace evidence, a matchbox with a cryptic note inside that links to the unsolved crime cases in 1987. So he begins to dig deep into the cold cases to catch the serial killer and steer clear of unlawful deaths.
While traveling back and forth to the past and present, he crosses paths with a woman, a publishing editor who works for an obnoxious writer. Grieving for the loss of her mother who has unknowingly died in the hands of the same mysterious psychopath, she walks through the tunnel looking down in the dumps, preoccupied and unexpectedly gets entangled in a tunnel accident with the news anchor.
The time machine car suddenly stops functioning and the two strangers find themselves stuck in 1987, encountering unfamiliar faces yet familiar sentiments in a small town where the unresolved series of murders first occurred and where the main culprit originates from.
Plotline.
Caught between awkwardness and safety from threats at a period where no one knows them and their names unregisted, the two strangers Yoo Hae Jun and Baek Yoon Young agree to become accomplices in locating the serial killer. Like real detectives without relying on technology but on every piece of solid evidence and clues they could find, they do mind mapping to catch the culprit and prevent the horrendous murders from happening.
However, strange events continue to surface and the situation gets more baffling throughout the process, insinuating that there might be more suspects to their initial list. Along with the protagonists, you get convinced with this potential suspect and the next suspect then find the accused innocent and so on. The rollercoaster ride of chasing targets is flawlessly written in a mind-blowing but unambiguous setup.
Screenwriter Baek So Yeon exceptionally drives audiences to a brilliant storytelling of deep mysteries and solid plot twists. Every episode gets intense and you are glued to your seat—intrigued, thrilled, and shocked everytime—eagerly awaiting for the next ride and the emergence of the real culprit.
Even if you do the mind mapping yourself, it is hard to figure out the real serial killer, and it’s one of the core strengths of the show—to keep audiences seated.
Message.
What if you were to befriend the younger versions of your parents and your coldhearted boss? What if you were given a deep dive into their hidden dreams, desires, thoughts, pains, and supressed emotions in their youthful years? What if you become part of their world in the past that you knew nothing about?
In an unexpected travel through time, a woman named Baek Yoon Young gets to meet her younger mother she loses in an unfortunate demise, her younger father she considers a stranger in their family life, and her younger boss whom she finds ungrateful and strange.
Stuck in 1987, she strives hard to prevent her parents from getting close and wedded, and keep her mother away from the suspicious presence of her boss who happens to be her mom’s classmate. She tries to secure a different path for her mother so she won’t live a miserable life in the future as she has witnessed growing up. She protects her mom and she pushes her dad away.
However, in the midst of this personal mission, she finds herself surprisingly drawn to her father’s unspoken inner world, her mother’s untold secrets, and the masked insecurities of her boss. She begins to unearth the kind of life they lived in the past that directly created unpleasant ripple effects in the future. The more she learns, the more she understands them and heals herself.
My Perfect Stranger (2023) deals with such realistic life issues and reflects on healing self from personal injuries caused by immediate family members and mending estranged and shattered relationships within homes and in the community. It is an atypical tale of time travel drama that blends a good balance of mystery, crime, thriller, family, friendship, and healing, with subtle few romances placed in the background.
Characters.
Another outstanding element in this drama is the necessary buildup of characters from the main to supporting subjects. You get to know the background story and human psyche of every person involved around the protagonists, feeling drawn to each relatable character, even minor roles.
In a slow but progressive and thought-provoking tale, you’ll find each character a potential suspect, made believable by the excellent performances of the whole cast. You witness them in their fallen humanity, grasping to fill in the gaps of the life they live in from parental neglect to parental abandonment—thriving or struggling, bullying or being bullied, running away or staying, letting go or enduring, avenging or forgiving. You see them realize what matters most, why they do what they do, learn from their mistakes, change their ways for a better self, take chances, learn to forgive self and others, and open doors for restoration and reconnection.
Although there are some sad moments along the way, the remaining characters get a proper closure and a solid ending, the real culprit is punished and the protagonists are granted a completely changed satisfying future.
Conclusion.
The overall production of My Perfect Stranger (2023) is not as grand as the other popular dramas, but what sets this drama apart is its unique kind of storytelling, in-depth element of mysteries, sheer unpredictability, and satisfying finale. The 1980s visuals from color grading to costumes, lighting, camera shots, and overall set-up capture the right mood of the past. All actors are believable and commendable in portraying their characters from main to supporting roles.
Moreover, watching the show feels like the combination of Reply 1988 (2015) for the nostalgic look at the 1980s period, Chicago Typewriter (2017) for the epic time travel, and Beyond Evil (2021) for the solid mystery and plot twists.
To conclude, My Perfect Stranger (2023) is a simple yet extraordinarily gripping drama you should not miss binge-watching.
Rating: 9.2/10
No of episodes: 16 | Writer: Baek So Yeon | Director: Kang Soo Yeon | Original network: KBS2 | Available on: Viu | Images: KBS Drama
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