phd_travel

I was looking forward to this show because the cast includes some great actors. Ji Hyun Woo is a terrific comedian and long drama actor. Eugene is more beautiful here than ever. What a perfect face. Lee Min Young who was great in Love Marriage Divorce is strikingly beautiful here too. Loved them all in different shows. Nice to see the daughter Park Seo kyung from LMD. Unfortunately the story is badly told and so slow. The plot is actually not the complex but the story reveals in an unnecessarily fragmented and draggy way. Each scene is usually double the length that is required. The tone is uniformly morose. Felt frustrated for mos of the show. It would have been better to show what had happened first and then the attempts to cover it up and gradual revelations. Instead it's a confusing mess for the most part not knowing who is a good or bad character. Political dramas are so dry this format made it even worse. Most of the time the viewer is confused and bored. Finally the ending falls short of really tying things up neatly. What a shame. Weak writing and poor direction combined to make this flop.

Don't bother.

It's always a gamble whether to start a long series like this of 100 half hour episodes. In the end I think it was worth it if you can spare the time. Although it is a makjang revenge drama there are many comic relief moments that are laugh out loud. The story is quite good and well structured it's just too long so there is some repetitiveness in the middle to end. And relentless product placement of kopiko. The plot is actually good and some elements are believable because there are people like that in real life.

The first part with the betrayal and worse of a good mother and wife is gradual and quite devastating to watch. Then the middle has a bit of a lag. Things pick up when she starts to get her own back and the many evil doers get their just desserts. It's a complex show but not confusing as things are spelt out quite clearly. There aren't too many characters because it's basically 2 families who are linked. There is enough time in this series to show character growth and change. The villains also get a lot of well deserved punishment and that is fun to watch. Anyone who has had to deal with villains in real life whether at work or family should take consolation in watching this. Every bad thing that they do gets cleverly revisited upon them in a clever believable way. So you don't feel like you wasted time watching the scenes.

The cast is good. Ham Eun-Jung is classy looking and pretty and acts sad well as the wronged heroine. The tenacious antagonist is well played by Lee Ga-Ryeong who was excellent in Love Marriage Divorce. She doesn't overact so it's quite a refreshing. She has great lines- always justifying her misdeeds in way that makes some twisted sense. Park Yoon-Jae plays the unfaithful husband quite well. It isn't easy to keep it convincing but he is good especially when getting his punishments. The hero is played by Seo Jun-Young who seems a bit reserved and doesn't have enough passion or expression. But that is his character. Slow and steady and supportive. Shout out to the fantastic actress Lee Bo Hee who plays the mother of the villain. She is so funny as are the ones who play her elder son and daughter.

On a side note the ladies in this show have an endless change of attractive and up to date fashions. Almost every scene features different outfits. But the men are dressed in rather ill fitting suits sometimes. One fault is there isn't enough outdoor filming in the show. I know they are on a budget but it felt like the same few offices and homes too often.

Worth a watch if you are in the mood for an entertaining longer K drama with drama and comedy.

This movie is no Parasite. The story is weak, unconvincing, dated and deja vu. The characters are unsympathetic which is unusual for a Korean movie. K movies usually get the sympathy of audiences very effectively and quickly. But in this story the laid off father has to down size a bit - not starving by any means and yet he resorts to murdering his potential rivals for a job. The justifications for his scheme are weak and some come after the murder scheme has already started. Also there isn't much humor in the show. Just a bit of corny dance moves. The black comedy part is weak. The murders get increasingly gross, not Hollywood graphic but the last one is unnecessarily unpleasant. The problem is the source material an American novel just isn't good. Adapting a Western satire to Korea doesn't work. The values are too different. Just doesn't cut it in Korea because the hero in Korean shows usually has proper justification and some conscience. Why make a Korean movie that isn't even as convincing as similarly themed shows like Breaking Bad and Ozarks?

The stellar cast can't help much. Lee Byung Hun tries hard and does as good a job as possible. Son Ye Jin is watchable in all her scenes from the dance to the son's theft etc. A slew of famous actors from K drama make short appearances. The use of a classical music score doesn't help to elevate this movie.

Actually Park Chan Wook's last movie Decision to Leave also suffered from a weak story as well.

Too bad this high profile show isn't good. No wonder it didn't win at Venice.