October 11, 2022

Our Take: What would you do if you knew your future?

*Minor Spoilers Ahead

The Premise

Tomorrow With You is a K-drama that has been on my watchlist for quite some time now, but I finally got along to watching it recently. The concept was relatively new for its time — a time traveler trying to change his doomed future by marrying a woman with a similarly tragic fate. While the premise is based on the concept of time travelling, the story was a slow burner with a focus primarily on romance and foreshadowing.

Although Tomorrow With You was not one of my favorites, the questions posed in the drama peaked my interest. Yoo So Joon is a CEO of a successful real estate company and time traveler who is able to travel between the present and future via the subway. During one of his trips to the future, he witnesses his own death as well as the death of another woman, Song Ma Rin. In an attempt to change his fate, he pursues her in the present day and they get married early on in the show. As the show progresses, Yoo So Joon and his time travelling partner, Doo Sik (Jo Han Chul), uncover several tragedies that will occur in their futures and attempt to prevent them from happening.

Understanding Fate and Destiny

The time travelling aspect of the show brought up a lot of thought-provoking questions regarding fate and destiny:

Is fate real or is it just a figment of our imagination?

Is fate predetermined or do we actually have the power to control our destiny?

Is living in the present more important or preparing for the future?

If we could foresee our futures, would we be able to alter them to our liking or are we stuck knowing the inevitable?

How will knowing the future impact our actions in the present day?

Are there any consequences to changing other people’s futures?

If we knew other people’s fates, is it right to let bad things happen to them or do we have a moral responsibility to protect them?

These are just a handful of the questions that the writers attempted to answer throughout Tomorrow With You.

Nature vs. Nurture

Another concept that intrigued me was the extent to which corporate greed and inferiority complex negatively impacts our actions. Kim Yong Jin (Baek Hyun Jin) is a director at So Joon’s company who starts off as a successful and respectable employee, but slowly spirals out of control into a money-hungry sociopath. Because his transformation is very gradual and realistic, it was disturbing to see how corporate greed completely derails his life. During one of Yong Jin’s final conversations with So Joon, Yong Jin argues that he turned out this way because he worked hard his whole life, but was unsuccessful, whereas Se Joon built his real estate empire from a position of privilege.

Countering him, So Joon argues that not everyone turns out like Yong Jin even if they make poor business decisions and fail. Thus, posing the question: is sociopathy and greed innate or a result of our environment? If the situations were reversed, would So Joon have turned out like Yong Jin?

While the writers brought up a lot of interesting questions, I felt that the plotline and characters ultimately fell flat. One of the downfalls of the show was the excessive use of a common trope in K-dramas — miscommunication that could easily be resolved, but instead is dragged out across multiple episodes. It was extremely frustrating to watch the main characters withhold critical information from each other time after time and take action without consulting one another beforehand. Had the main characters communicated openly and honestly with each other from the onset, their fates could have been very different. After the first few episodes, it seemed as if the plot was slowing down and became repetitive in anticipation of the grand finale.

Final Thoughts

Despite some flaws, the writers did a good job overall of tackling issues such as love and marriage, corporate greed, friendships, and regrets. Outside of the time travelling aspect, everything felt realistic in terms of the struggles each character dealt with, the romance, and the bonds between the characters. The show also served as a reminder for viewers to live in the present, to embrace the ups and downs in life, and to stay strong regardless of the struggles life throws at you. While Tomorrow With You was not my cup of tea, if you like romance dramas or the concept of time travel, I would recommend giving Tomorrow With You a shot.