The Third Charm (2018)

this may be not everyone's taste in drama

I watched this drama because I knew Seo Kang Joon starring in this drama so I need to give it a try.

This drama.. is really heavy. The conflicts felt so real that it make me really hurt (I'm not even joking, this drama is the first drama that make my heart really hurt, like hurt hurt) because the conflicts can be found in real life. As like the title said, the relationship between Seo Kang Joon and Esom happened two times and they give it a try at the third chance, which maybe their last chance to fix everything. Basically their personalities somehow didn't match at all but yes they are fall in love with each other, but at those times, they were damaging each other and decided to called it off.

Both Kang Joon and Esom started their new life at 30s but somehow they make their path way to back at each other again. Starting off their new relationship as they had to heal themselves from all the damages that they have been suffered.

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Bela proposta. O desenvolvimento ficou pra deus.

A ideia, desde o início, era contar a história de um casal dividida em 3 períodos e, para mim, era uma ótima proposta. Mas foi aqui que isso ficou, numa proposta.
Acho que o maior erro desse roteiro foi concentrar tempo demais na segunda história do casal, como se fosse a principal. Talvez devessem ter ido pelo clichê e contar a terceira história desde o início em paralelo com as outras duas, em flashbacks. Com várias alterações nessa terceira, que honestamente, ficou terrível.
O final foi apressado, chato, teve pois o sentido e eu só me diverti quando o casal estava separado.

Enfim, assista por sua própria conta e risco. Vi por um ator e não me arrependo tanto assim, mas essa história não é lá essas coisas.
Talvez se assistir pulando cenas…

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Don't Waste Your Time On This One

I just finished “The Third Charm”, and this was a drama that made me angry after investing my time in this disappointing program. I thought that his was a new drama when it came up on Netflix as a New Release, I wished that I had seen that it was several years old and I had checked the reviews. I think that potential viewers were misled by the producers and broadcasters for this drama. This was a classic bait and switch, the promo and introduction for the drama seems to promise a lighthearted romcom, the first few episodes lived up to the promise, but by the end we have was a gloomy story that disappointed on so many levels. Even the artwork for the show was misleading, it shows the male and female leads together in Portugal, although they were both in Lisbon at the same time they never met.

I don’t even understand the significance of the title “The Third Charm”, I was thinking that this was a reference to the common phrase third time is the charm, to say that two attempts failed but the third will be successful. This would lead someone to think that they will have a successful third reunion. They met for a third time, but it was not a lucky charm.

I have done some thinking about why this drama didn’t work for me. It just didn't feel like there was a coherent story line and the screenwriters lost, or never had an idea where they wanted to go with the story. Some of my issues come down to the ending, and I have read some of the comments and most seem to agree that the ending was not the best, although some say it was “realistic”. I don’t agree that the ending was realistic, and in thinking about it, by the end of episode 16, I didn’t care if they got together. The series could have ended at the end of episode 10, with some additional scenes clean up some of the other characters story arc’s and I think that it could have been more satisfying.

The first two episodes were excellent, and I was expecting a solid series. The nerd meeting the beautiful girl and falling in love with each other was well done. Unfortunately, it didn’t work out due to Yeong-Jae’s family tragedy. Although short lived, their time together seems to have been meaningful to both. For Joon-Yeong it devastated his already low self confidence and impacted his ability to trust women.

I think that this was the basis of his major character flaw which was the inability to trust Yeong-Jae. But her relationship with the creepy doctor didn’t help him. I think in the beginning of a relationship a couple needs to develop trust and this happens through communication, a skill lacking in both. Joon-Yeong would ghost Yeong-Jae whenever anything upsetting happened rather than confronting the issue.

But my biggest issue with the drama is that I consider Yeong-Jae to be emotionally cheating on Joon-Yeong. The haircut when the creepy doctor reached out and touched her shoulder, and all the “accidental” meetings often at difficult times. The creepy doctor was not an old friend, and his intentions were obvious. The Birthday dinner and the spicy food dinner, the singing in the street to Yeong-Jae. Although she was clear that she had a boyfriend, she should never have agreed to meet him, especially knowing the impact on Joon-Yeong. When they had the volunteer trip to the island, “we can’t uninvite him now”. If there was any respect for Joon-Yeong’s feelings they would have asked the creepy doctor not to come.

Joon-Yeong knew from the beginning what the doctor was trying to do. Yeong-Jae wouldn’t acknowledge his concerns and even when she saw the creepy doctor ogling her “sexy” photos, she acted like it was only a friendship. If you consider the bulk of issues between the two, the majority were related to the creepy doctor. When she showed up at the restaurant married to the creepy doctor it only confirmed that Joon-Yeong had every right to be concerned. This was also the point when I no longer cared what happened to their relationship and didn’t want them to get back together.

The screenwriters tried to explain away the marriage that he wooed her after her breakup this is not in keeping with the events shown in the drama. Based on the age of her child he married the creepy doctor was not long after the breakup. Her love for Joon-Yeong wasn’t that important to her, or she was following through on her desire to be rich. The change in her economic status in Portugal when compared to Joon-Yeong was striking.

The reasons for their second breakup never made sense to me. Yeong-Jae felt that she was growing and changing but Joon-Yeong wasn’t. Yeong-Jae never gave him the feedback he needed to grow and to better support her, she kept it bottled up inside. She thought that being with someone who liked spicy food was more important than a person who loved her. Joon-Yeong's career was taking off, he was leading a major crime unit, his team took down a major criminal. He was going to be given a commendation medal for his work. He was destined for great things in the police force. She was a hairdresser although she was having success it was not more impressive than Joon-Yeong. She didn’t want to keep hurting him, well stopping cheating and communicating could have gone a long way in achieving that.

I liked the Joon-Yeong character, but what he did to Se-eun was unforgivable. The writers tried to minimize Se-eun, having her say that she isn’t brave or was a weak person. I think that Se-eun showed great strength and bravery, “Bravery Is Not the Absence Of Fear; It Is Being Afraid And Doing It Anyway”. Se-eun, although scared to death went undercover to meet the Snakehead. Se-eun also flew halfway around the world alone and had the courage to announce her love to Joon-Yeong although this was totally out of character. What Joon-Yeong did to her was almost a mirror of what Yeong-Jae did to him, emotionally cheating and not being honest and throwing her aside when all she did was show love and loyalty. She was a much nicer person than Yeong-Jae.

For Yeong-Jae, the writers used the nuclear option and the death of a child plotline. How could you ever rebuild a romance without another time skip. The death of the child was cheap technique to build sympathy for an unsympathetic character. Yeong-Jae’s drunken phone call to Joon-Yeon about having nobody, she drove everyone who cared for her away, she was reaping what she sowed.

Joon-Yeon was a fool, he threw everything away for a woman with whom he had spent less than 6 months of his life and brought him only misery. Sure, people can carry a torch for a person after the end of a relationship, but after having such a short time together and much of it being filled with angst, I don’t see why he would want to restart anything with her. And even after ending things with Se-eun, he once again left Korea to become a celebrity chef. Yeong-Jae buys a beauty salon in her old neighborhood. Their life goals seemed to have reversed and were not compatible.

By episode 16, I no longer cared about the two of them, there was too much drama, too much tragedy, and too many coincidences, chance meetings and misunderstandings. The whole drama became overbearing. A lesson for the screenwriters is that sometimes less is more, the screenwriters used a sledgehammer to drive emotional engagement, where a well-crafted story would have worked better.

I recently watched “Our Beloved Summer” and “Twenty-Five, Twenty-One” two drama about young love and the challenges of evolving in adulthood. Both did a much better job of exploring the subject.

I do wonder how a drama like this was ever aired, don’t they do any audience testing like they do for movies? If they did, I think that they would have made a few major edits to the plot.

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It's not your usual romance and it hits hard

Ok i will start this review by saying after the first 4 episodes i thought wow this is a gem in the dark 10/10 . After the first 8 episodes i realized wow they fight more than they have happy moments but it was a true outlook on real dating and not kdrama dating with actual variation in the main female lead going for the 2nd male lead . At this point everyone seems to hate the female lead in the comments but they dont seem to realize the male lead was overly clingy, jelous, and petty. This is where i dropped the drama to a 9/10 its because of the cast the male lead doesnt look at the female lead with the emotion of love he has a need for her and the relationship . I blame this on the acting of the male lead over the casting choice. The point when the male lead breaks up with the devoted 2nd female lead made me hate him but as an honest reviewer its not the reason to drop it to 8.5/10 that lays in the overall way the drama progresses it becomes more and more serioius and it gets harder to watch the love and pride relationship between the main leads they just dont seem to look like a real happy couple at any point in the relationship even the 3rd try.

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Starting is good of the drama but it become too romantic for me just like something in the rain .I dicide to watch this drama because of the lead actor as I watch his robot shin character which brought lots of expectation to see him more acting but this drama bring little disappointment as he decide to be a police man why, because as his girlfriend think that he has little childish behaviour ,he do not eat spicy food ,he is vegetarian ,he scared sitting on a swing so when she left him he decided to be a policeman ,after be a policeman he develop all charisma of policeman but when he met her once again after some years again his boldness gone somewhere again he bahave same as before so loose ....And then after they meet there were so many lovey dovey scene and then they separate out ...Then they meet ,I stop watching this drama feel like boring and didn't connect me with both the character story.

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I started this drama because i like main lead. First two episodes are really good which makes me to continue this drama. I am disappointed with hero's attitude and got irritated in some scenes. Story and music is not great. I did not like the main actress acting. Everything is too plain and no interesting scenes in the drama.
Later this drama is getting bored and finally i dropped this drama.
Story: Story doesn't have any big twists.
Acting/Cast: Cast did their best in acting to express emotions.
Music: I did not remember any songs.
Re-watch Value: I will watch first two episodes (maybe).
Over all I didn't like this drama and doesn’t worth my time. I don’t know why the main lead has chosen this drama to act I am really disappointed. Hoping next drama will be a good one.

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Deux chemins qui se séparent, se retrouvent, se croisent et continuent d'avancer

L’histoire tourne essentiellement autour de deux personnages : On Jun Young (Seo Kang Joon) et Lee Young Jae (Esom). Il se rencontrent à 20 ans, par le hasard d’un rendez-vous organisé entre étudiants. Tous les deux marginaux (elle n’est pas étudiante mais apprentie coiffeuse) et lui brillant aux études, mais introverti, n’aimant que la planification et l’ordre et portant grosses lunettes et appareil dentaire. Ils vont commencer une relation amoureuse, véritable tsunami sentimental chez Jun Young, mais Young Jae y mettra brutalement fin, on ne saura pourquoi que longtemps après… Ils se revoient 7 ans après, toujours par hasard…

Ce que j’en ai pensé.

En écrivant le synopsis je me rends compte à quel point le passage du temps est primordial dans ce drama ! Le Temps joue à la balle avec les deux personnages principaux, les faisant rebondir encore et encore…
Le fond de l’histoire, c’est ce qu’on est à 20 ans, et ce que la vie, par ses coups durs, nous fait devenir.
La rupture à 20 ans va pousser Jun Young à modifier fondamentalement ses choix de vie, abandonnant les études pour entrer dans la police, mais une autre rupture le fera partir dans une toute autre direction.
Il en est de même pour Young Jae, c’est un brutal accident qui la pousse à rompre à 20 ans et sa vie devient autre.
Ce drama est la belle démonstration des effets successifs des évènements subis, des choix qu’ils impliquent, sur les personnages et par répercussion sur leur entourage. On a envie toujours de se dire mais pourquoi fait-il(elle) ça ? mais en fait, il n’y a aucune raison ! Soit qu’on ne maîtrise pas du tout ses sentiments, de la naissance de l’amour à sa décroissance et disparition, soit qu’on n’ait pas d’autre choix que de subir au mieux les chocs de ce qui nous tombe dessus !
Le scénario de ce drama ne répond pas du tout au scénario classique, car la fin reste dans la ligne générale : il n’y a rien qui soit définitif dans la vie, à part la mort, et tout peut changer, les envies, les ambitions, les amours, comme le cours de l’eau que la chute de blocs ou la main de l’homme fait varier sans cesse. Le seul choix, c’est la façon de maîtriser l’obstacle.
Bref, toute philosophie mise à part, j’ai beaucoup aimé ce drama, et particulièrement le scénario, qui maîtrise parfaitement la narration en nous laissant dans l’ignorance de ce qui arrive à l’un pendant qu’on suit l’évolution de la vie de l’autre, ignorance qui sera comblée par la suite en utilisant parfaitement les souvenirs, les retours en arrière dont, pour une fois on n’abuse pas trop. J’ai aimé aussi le minimalisme des explications, seuls quelques images fugaces, le souvenir d’une phrase laissent entrevoir les sentiments et les doutes du personnage.
le personnage central est On Jung Young, et le voir devenir adulte, acquérir maturité et s’accepter peu à peu est vraiment captivant ! Je ne veux pas spoiler, mais les trois étapes de sa vie sont superbement filmées, écrites et interprétées, avec en prime un joli voyage au Portugal !
Et là je parle du talent magnifique des acteurs, qui, avec peu de mots mais une belle intensité, des regards parlants, nous font partager leurs pensées.
Seo Kang Jeon et Esom sont absolument parfaits, et j’y ajoute Lee Yoon Ji, l’adorable amie d’Esom que la vie va durement éprouver. Le reste de la distribution est très bon aussi (Yang Dong Geun, frère d’Esom, ) .
C’est un drama où il faut accepter de ne pas sauter des passages pour « savoir » parce que la façon de le découvrir est aussi importante que la découverte elle-même ! Il faut se laisser prendre, et ne pas s’attendre aux habituelles ficelles narratives du genre (ce doit être pour ça que je l’avais abandonné une première fois, merci à Seo Kang Joon de m’avoir poussée à le reprendre ! )
Certains disent la fin frustrante, et je le reconnais tout à fait, mais pouvait-elle être autre, juste pour nous faire plaisir ? Là, elle est en accord avec le reste du drama, et la dernière image figure parfaitement la symbolique du chemin de la vie dont on ne souhaite que la vivre au mieux et en paix avec soi-même.
La musique est belle, je n’ai pas remarqué de chansons désagréables…
Donc, vraiment à voir, mais avec l’envie de découvrir un autre univers dramaesque.

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Plus ca va meilleur c'est

Cest difficile de critiquer cette série car il y a de tres bons éléments et de tres mauvais. A mon avis néanmoins. Mais je l'ai écouté jusqu'à la fin et j'ai ressenti le travail derrière et l'envie de voir comment cela allait terminer. En fait pour faire court, les bons éléments sont les personnages principaux qui sont nuancés et bien joué a partir de l'épisode 5 environ . Mais jai moins aimé les personnages secondaires qui étaient trop caricaturales à mon goût. L'histoire est dramatique et ce n'est donc pas un '' feel good'' movie. Mais c'est ainsi qu'est la vie . .. a voir si vous ne savez plus quoi regarder

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Tan real que sufrí mucho.

Quedé muy impresionada de lo realista que fue. Uno ve estos dramas para ver romance y fantasía, a medida que avanzaba la serie iba asumiendo que esto no iba a ser dulce, y tuve que parar de verlo. Igual gano mi curiosidad y continúe.
No sufrí eso que hablan sobre las polémicas de rating y cambios y exageraciones de la historia, ni nada de eso. Ya que la acabo de ver ahora, después de 2 años.
Si ellos hubieran quedado juntos en ese momento, me hubiera decepcionado, ya que no sería realista. Ella se rompió por dentro. Nos mostraron todo el tiempo que ella no hablaba, que se tragaba todo, así es mucho más difícil sanar su dolor. No me imagino a alguien con ese trauma, enfocado en tener una pareja, no sería justo para él tampoco.
Con respecto a él. La conversación de él con la mama, me encantó, ya que estaba muy afectado por lo que hizo, por los demás, pero no se traicionó, asumió que ella era su amor así fuera unilateral, así se quedará solo, y que hubiera sido muy injusto casarse así con la otra chica. El desarrollo de este personaje me pareció maravilloso. Además que este actor, es lo máximo. De ser un chico inocente y muy inteligente, siguió madurando, nunca se traicionó, quiero decir que nunca hizo algo que no sintiera. Esa forma de quedarse callado cuando estaba mal, es muy normal y típico en el mundo real. El asumir que es un problema de inmadurez de él mismo, que tiene que solucionar. Aunque al final si le afectaba a ella, pero ella no lo hablaba. También sufrí un poco cuando ella decide terminar con él, aunque totalmente válido. ella estaba subiendo rápidamente y él la estaba estancado, era un peso. Ahí tuve que entender que está drama es realista, que así pasa, que ella no es mala, que ella es una mujer inteligente e independiente y tiene todo el derecho se salir adelante.
No he hablado del primer acto, ya que está claro la inmadurez de ambos.
Muy interesante, que mostraran de manera muy marcada las diferencias en las familias que tenía cada uno. El una familia amorosa y estable, ella huérfana con un hermano con discapacidad, sin el soporte adecuado. Entendible, las manera de comportarse ante las crisis. Mostrando lo importante de la familia como apoyo ante las crisis. Ver como el siguió adelante y ella se derrumbó en esta historia, sin el adecuado apoyo familiar. Me parece super injusto, pero tenía toda la lógica.
Entonces, si me gusto tanto porque no le doy toda la puntuación. Es porque sufrí mucho en esta serie y como decía otra usuaria, uno ve estas series para pasarla bien, deseando desenlaces lindos.
También quisiera quejarme por algo, me imagino que es culpa del director, los silencios entre ellos eran eternos, la única forma que me justifiquen eso es diciéndome que la cultura coreana es así. Aqui en latinoamerica es imposible, esos silencios tan largos no existen. Me confunden con lo real de esta serie notándose claramente que era exagerando, no se imaginan todas las cosas que pensaba en esos momentos, jajaja, podria hacer una novela completa.
Por supuesto que no la volvería a ver, aunque amo a Seo Kang Joon, no creo que lo haga. Terminas analizando tu vida amorosa entera, jajaja. No gracias.

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The third Charm! Una Historia muy realista!

A pesar de ver varios comentarios negativos, y que a mucha gente no le gusto, the third Charm me encanto y se volvio en uno de mis favoritos, a pesar de tener sus pequeños defectos, empezando por la Historia me gusto que se haya basado en 3 tiempos, La historia y el amor entre ellos fue muy realista hasta el final, es un drama muy original y algo diferente de ver, el final fue muy acorde al drama me gusto mucho, este drama a pesar de tener sus imperfecciones yo lo recominendo es un drama que te hara llorar y reir y ver escenas muy buenas que te llegaran al corazon!

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