[HanCinema's Drama Review] "Please Come Back, Mister" Episode 14

Gi-tak is dangled in front of the fire like a damsel in distress here, and while he's not quite exactly a damsel, the fact that Gi-tak looks like a damsel does make matters somewhat awkward. The sexual tension between him and former gangster buddy Ji-hoon has always been noticeable, and there's some pretty unsettling transgender questions at play here. When you like the woman you like because she reminds you of a guy, and is in fact simply that same guy in a woman's body, does that make you gay?

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...All right, OK, this isn't actually an issue "Please Come Back, Mister" gets into I just found that train of thought to be sort of mildly amusing. After the huge gangster fight scene the focus is once more back to tender moments as Yeong-soo and Gi-tak decide to make the most of the time they have left to provide comfort and reassurance to loved ones. I'm trying to remember if we've ever actually seen those cool-looking watches before, because I've spent a lot of "Please Come Back, Mister" wondering what the hard deadline is, or even if there is one.

As usual there's plenty of reasons for Yeong-soo and Gi-tak to bow out sooner rather than later. The fortune cookies have been puzzling me because, given how long Yeong-soo's been using his position as fake Hae-joon to affect serious policy changes, why is it only just now that someone has felt the need to call him out on being a fraud? Especially given how these frustrations apparently have now given rise to murderous impulses.

But really, what can I write now that's any different than before? Logic has never been a strong point in "Please Come Back, Mister". This is a drama where glitterbombs and ludicrously expensive gifts can pop out of nowhere because it offers that nice, fuzzy feeling of appreciation for those who are dead, and the positive influence they made on the living, and how the living in turn can offer proper remembrance.

"Please Come Back, Mister" does have this bad habit of making Yeong-soo and Gi-tak seem like more dynamic, sympathetic characters in the past tense than we ever get to see in their new bodies. Especially since, for all Maya's proclamations about how the reincarnation program frequently ends up a disappointment, so far everyone seems to have come out for the better. Besides, I doubt director Sin Yoon-seob is finished with all the fuzziness just yet anyway.

Review by William Schwartz

"Please Come Back, Mister" is directed by Sin Yoon-seob, written by Noh Hye-yeong and features Rain Kim Soo-ro, Kim In-kwon, Oh Yeon-seo, Lee Min-jung, Lee Hanee, Choi Won-young, Yoon Park and more

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