Story: While this drama isn't addicting, it does have its golden moments that make the whole thing worth watching. Park Shi Hoo's character was involved in pretty much all those golden moments, as I loved Cha Seung Jo to bits and pieces. His was the first KDrama lead who was actually legitimately crazy and not just emotionally stunted. As for the rest of the story, it was really interesting. I expected Han Se Kyung to be the typical "Candy" lead, but she wasn't. She was an angry candy girl, who decides to do whatever it takes to fix her situation in life. To be honest, I never understood the typical "Candy" characters. They supposedly spent their whole lives being independent and trying their hardest, only to completely depend on the male lead when he comes along all rich and prince-like. Cha Seung Jo said something along the lines of "The poor 'candy' loves everything about the hero- except for his money. Does that make sense?". That has pretty much been my problem with characters like that. Se Kyung actually did add money into the equation, and that made her more relatable as a character.
Acting: Park Shi Hoo is a brilliant actor, personal life aside, I want him to be in more dramas simply because he's legitimately good. True, he has a tendency to overact, but with this character it just helped add more flair. I have yet to see him anywhere else, but his works are on my "Plan to Watch" list. Park Shi Hoo's chemistry with Moon Geum Young was intense and sizzling in the first half, but by the second half- due to cheesy writing more than acting, the chemistry toned down to the cutesy, less intense type. Moon Geum Young is supposedly a good actress (never seen her anywhere else), but here her character never felt quite right to me. I felt this huge emotional disconnect and could never bridge that gap. So Yi Hyun was good in this, but not amazing and the same goes for Kim Ji Suk. This may or may not be due to the fact that compared to Park Shi Hoo, everyone else seemed less... good at acting? I'm not really sure how to phrase my thoughts about it.
Music: I actually loved the OST. We had the typical balllads thrown in, but this time we actually got an upbeat, pop-rock song too! And it's not even a music drama! My excitement knows no bounds.
Rewatch Value: For the OTP scenes. Shi Hoo's and Geum Young's characters were really well matched for each other and had a lot of great moments.
Overall: A little slow, but there's plenty of laughs and craziness to keep you watching till the end.
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The cast.... I don't know. I think most of the characters filled their role quite well. (Mostly the side characters.) To be honest, the main characters were cast reasonably well, but they were so awkward. SO awkward. More so in the last quarter of the drama, but they didn't really portray much chemistry in the entire drama. They played their characters well, but not together.
The music was really good. Very stereotypical drama OST-y, but that isn't a bad thing. I enjoyed it.
I put the rewatch value as higher than I would have with the ending (4-ish) just because of how funny and fresh the beginning of the drama is.
So overall, I give this drama a 7. Nothing stupendous, nothing completely terrible. Worth watching, at least.
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Back to the drama it started off really well. Initially the romance between se kyung and seung jo was cute. But the writing makes it that it was hard to root for se kyung and then somewhere along they abandon the illness part of seung jo which I thought made no sense. The other 2 supporting's cast character was equally uninspiring and doesn't invoke me to care about them either.
So all in all the scriptwriter ruined the drama and Cinderella spin of it. Waste of MGY's acting talent too.
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It all starts with the first episode, the moment Alice decided to step into the hole. Han Se and Seung jo we're so cutie together and must of all Seung Jo smile is so pretty. The greatest bonus for the drama is the lead male roles ability to be melodramatic and very spontaneous. Even the music at times showcased his obsession to scripting every action to a written play like drama. The story falls under a mans in ability to face reality, along with all its up and downs; but, fate or good fortune has sent him a gift wrap with love, truth and a long overdue wake up call. I will recommend any one in the mood for romance, humor and a serious awakening to the society we live.
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last but not least, is it just me or does the doc look related to GD from big bang. his face esp the eye area look alot alike. also on episode 1 when jean thierry cha is in the office at his desk. his name is mispelled as jane and i found myself shaking my head like hold up what was that and by the 2nd episode it was corrected.
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Beginning: the most awesome, intriguing, complicated, interesting, hooking, creative, breathtaking shit I have ever seen.
The rest: just shit.
Seriously, why does it always happen? Dramas start well then first half is over and everything is over. I guess it went up till episode 8, that's when the awesomeness ended and this drama became a pain to watch.
First of all I hate Moon Geun Young and this drama made me hate her even more. She is the most boring actress I have ever seen, (along with Han Ga In, they are just the same). Maybe it was just her character? Han Se was supposed to be different but ended up being just a confusing crying mess who couldn't achieve anything by herself. All she did after first half was crying, over and over again.
Park Shi Hoo, I loved his character at first but then realized that he was crazy, he was simply just... out of his mind?
This drama is no different from others. It's true the writer tries to have a different feel to the usual Cinderella story but in the end nothing is different. I though Han Se had potential of being the first truly black main character in Kdrama history, who was driven evil by the harsh society she was living in.
Oh well, everything about her was genuine after all, just everything. Instead of a good girl gone bad this drama actually portrays something like: a good girl can't go bad because she is too good and that pays off. What?
The weak lead girl who is constantly unsure about everything she does supported by people who at first hate her but become her friends and a crazy male lead who does stuff which doesn't really make any sense. But as long as he saves the day in the end...
After the most promising first 8 episodes I have ever seen this drama made an u-turn into a boring mess which didn't make any sense after all.
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start: boring
middle: good
last: boring
all in all the story is weak, dull, too draggy, too sloooooooow,I even force myself to finish this drama until the end.
cast?
PSH? not meant for this drama, doing crazy stuff is not for him
moon geun young? she's forcing herself on her role being all serious it doesn't suit her.
overall?
best: the ost
worst: story itself
PS: this one is my "edited review" I realize that you can't judge a drama if you haven't seen it COMPLETELY
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In the first few episodes it was just hilarious and crazy that I missed it in the ending episodes. But, although many people didn't like it, I understood most of the decisions the characters took and felt that they were correctly depicting reality, sadly enough.
The last 2 episodes, however, I didn't particularly like how they chose to resolve the conflicts set up and sometimes was so confused that I had to pause the show to try to understand what was going on. I was also puzzled with the message the show was trying to teach me.
Even though I'm a huge fan of MGY, PSH and So Yi Hyun carried the majority of the show. I came for MGY but stayed for PSH and SYH. SYH's character was the highlight of this show. I started hating her and by the end I was rooting for. I also loved the secondary characters.
One thing that must be mentioned is the OSTs and BGM. They were done perfectly in this drama and completed each scene they were played in. Many times a would be boring scene was made better with the music.
Overall, a well done drama. Addictive at first but leaves a weird aftertaste after
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I loved every single moment of this drama!!! there were just a few little things i disliked but overall I rated this drama a 9!
Why? well I really liked everything about this drama, it didnt leave any loose threads/unanswered questions and to me everything was explained! This drama gave every single emotion that I had an amazing ride, i laughed, cried, grew angry, grew anxious, ooooooed and ahhhhhed and made me excited for the next episode.I HIGHLY RECOMMEND THIS DRAMA!!!! It wasnt perfect but it was close to perfect :)
STORY:10
I personally loved the story, it shows the characters really learning from thier previous beliefs about life in general and personally i learnt alot from it to!! I loved the whole Alice themed story, it was intriguing and different which made the story unique.Almost forgot to mention THE ROMANCE IS SOOO CUTE!!!
ACTING AND CAST:9
The acting was a 9 for me :) loved how every actor convinced me in all there acting ways LOL but han sekyung's straight face kinda put me off a little. but overall all the actors truly did an amazing job!
MUSIC:10
I LOVED listening to the music, the directiors have chosen great songs to suite every moment of the drama! I love the ost! i am downloading the whole thing as soon as i finish this review!! LOL
REWATCH VALUE:8
I am not the rewatch kinda person, but i would rewatch it if i had to or if i had spare time.
OVERALL I HIGHLY RECOMMEND THIS DRAMA TO ANYONE WHO WANTS TO EXPERIENCE VARIOUS EMOTIONS,LEARN THAT DREAMS CAN BECOME A REALITY AND MOST OF ALL, WANTS TO ENTER THE CRAZY AWESOME WORLD OF CHEONGDAMDONG!
THANKS FOR READING AND I HOPE I HAVE ENCOURAGED U TO WATCH THIS AMAZING DRAMA!
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I admit that I can see why so many people couldn't stand this drama and found it disappointing because it's a melodrama disguised as a romantic comedy. There is a lot of conflict between the main characters and a lot of selfishness on their parts that make it hard to watch towards the middle. But I'm telling you to stick it out, it's worth the wait, seriously.
This didn't follow the normal kdrama formula, things weren't perfect and the lead characters had to face their reality not fantasy. I also think that's why so many people disliked this drama because it made us face reality as well. Dramas don't happen in real life, people aren't perfect, not any one person is at fault and peoples circumstances define who they are even if they don't realise it. I feel this drama had a lot to say.
I also loved that there was barely any predictability about this drama, the people I expected to hate ended up to be just people trying to live better lives who sympathised and ended up helping Han Se Kyung instead of hindering her.
Despite this heaviness, there were plenty of happy comedic moments to satisfy. Park Shi Hoo was amazing, I rewatched so many of his cute crazy moments and his acting was superb. I didn't really like Moon Guen Young, her acting was a bit simple with a lot of sad staring that ruined the best moments for me. The music was also great.
This has been a hard one to review for me, the way I have written sounds like a lot of negative things and I sort of can't understand why I loved this so much.
I'd recommend this drama to anyone who wants an unpredictable drama, different from the rest. Just be aware that it has a point to prove that you may not like, but you have to stick it out to fully appreciate it. Also the romantic park shi hoo moments are the best <3
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Story: The story is good to be honest. I like that it talks about poverty, revenge, career and well, success. But the flow, made it hard for me to watch. Somehow, I feel sorry for this drama.
Choice of actors as well wasn't that good. Don't get me wrong, I like Moon Geun Young but in a different project/drama than this. While she was acting, I was thinking Park Bo Young (Chose her because most scenes in this drama, would fit her cuteness and pain as well) would be better. And, for any couple in the drama, I sense nothing at all. No chemistry, it's not leaving me any feeling at all. When I watch korean dramas that are good, I would really go crazy about it, but in this one, I got crazy because professionally speaking, the camera angle, the lighting, the script, the flow of the story and well, some acting wasn't good at all.
If you wanted a serious battle of revenge, of a girl replacing a man to marry another rich man, the best would be Innocent Man. But talking about career and success wise, this was good. But just not good enough.
Make sure that your preference, is a comedy, with a messy flow kind of story before you watch this one. And, prepare to close your eyes sometimes too. Some scenes are quite embarrassing to watch. I'm not a hater, I just think, the director, script writer and main story writer should do a better job. Have fun!
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