Hey, everyone! How’s it going? Today I’m here to review the drama Alice, which premiered on August 28, 2020 and became one of the most ambitious Korean science fiction dramas that masterfully blended time travel concepts with deep emotional storytelling about loss, love, and destiny.
Alice aired on SBS from August 28 to October 24, 2020, every Friday and Saturday at 22:00 KST, consisting of 16 episodes with approximately 70-minute runtimes. It is described as “a human sci-fi drama about a magical time travel of a woman who resembles a dead woman and a man who lost his emotions”. The series stars Kim Hee-sun and Joo Won, and is currently available on Viki and other streaming platforms for international audiences.
In the year 2050, Alice (temporal agency) specializes in sending clients back through time to see dead loved ones find peace and closure; they also police time incursions.This complex premise creates a unique blend of police procedural, science fiction, and emotional drama that explores how time travel affects both individual lives and the fabric of reality itself.
A Detective Without Emotions Meets Time Travel
Park Jin-Gyeom is a detective, who doesn’t show emotions. While investigating a mysterious case, he realizes the existence of time travelers. The time travelers come to the present day from the future through a space called Alice. His emotionless state stems from childhood trauma, creating a character whose journey involves both solving crimes and rediscovering his capacity for human connection.
Alice is a new sci-fi action thriller starring Joo Won as Park Jin Gyeom, a detective who discovers the existence of time travelers while investigating a series of mysterious murders. The series uses this premise to explore complex themes about fate, free will, and whether changing the past can truly heal present wounds.
Park Jin Gyeom: A Man Searching for Truth and Healing
Joo Won delivers a compelling performance as Park Jin Gyeom, a detective whose emotional numbness makes him effective at his job but isolated from human connection. His character’s journey begins when he encounters evidence of time travel during a murder investigation, forcing him to question everything he believes about reality and causation.
Jin Gyeom’s evolution throughout the series shows him slowly rediscovering his capacity for emotion as he becomes entangled in the mysteries of Alice and meets Yoon Tae Yi. His investigation becomes deeply personal as he searches for answers about his mother’s death and the strange circumstances surrounding his own past.
Yoon Tae Yi: The Genius Physicist Who Holds the Key
During this time, he meets Yoon Tae-Yi again. She died in the past. Park Jin-Gyeom insists that their meeting is a fateful reunion. Yoon Tae-Yi is a genius physicist and she holds a key to time travel. Kim Hee-sun plays dual roles as both the Yoon Tae Yi who died in the past and her present-day counterpart, creating complex layers of identity and destiny.
The chemistry between Jin Gyeom and Tae Yi drives much of the series’ emotional core, as their relationship exists across multiple timelines and realities. While they unravel the secret of time travel together, she realizes her crucial role in both creating and potentially stopping the temporal chaos that threatens reality itself.
When Past and Present Collide: The Ultimate Time Paradox
The series builds to moments where the consequences of time travel create paradoxes that threaten to unravel reality itself. Alice is about Park Jin Gyeom, an emotionless detective searching for his mother’s killer who ends up investigating time traveling assassins who use a mysterious device called Alice. These climactic episodes explore whether love can transcend time and whether some fates are too powerful to change.
The most intense scenes occur when characters must choose between personal desires and the greater good, knowing that their decisions could have catastrophic consequences across multiple timelines. The series excels at showing how individual choices ripple through time, affecting countless lives and realities.
Strong Debut Despite Complex Storytelling
Joo Won And Kim Hee Sun’s New Drama “Alice” Premieres To No. 1 Ratings on SBS, proving that audiences were hungry for innovative science fiction content in K-drama. The series was praised for its ambitious concept and strong performances, though some viewers found the complex time travel mechanics challenging to follow.
Alice represents a significant achievement in Korean television’s approach to science fiction, combining high-concept storytelling with emotional depth. The series found particular success with international audiences who appreciated its sophisticated take on time travel themes and the strong chemistry between its leads.
Mind-Bending Sci-Fi with Heart and Soul
If you love complex science fiction with strong emotional cores, Alice is the perfect series to experience on Viki and other streaming platforms. This isn’t just another time travel story – it’s a sophisticated exploration of love, loss, and the question of whether we can ever truly escape our destiny.
Why You Should Watch: Love Transcends All Timelines
Alice reminds us that while we may not be able to change the past, we always have the power to choose how we face the future. It’s a series that combines mind-bending concepts with deeply human emotions, creating an unforgettable viewing experience.
Series Details
Number of Episodes: 16 episodes
Platform: Viki, SBS, various streaming platforms
Release/End Year: 2020
Current IMDb Rating: 7.1/10
Genre: Sci-Fi, Mystery, Drama, Fantasy
Status: Completed
Main Characters: Joo Won (Park Jin Gyeom), Kim Hee-sun (Yoon Tae Yi)
Supporting Characters: Kwak Si-yang (Yoo Min-hyuk), Lee Da-in (Kim Do-yeon)