Kill Heel (2022)

Lee Hye-young and her role operate as backbone and heartbeat of this KDrama

"Kill Heel" is set in the milieu of teleshopping. The pace is leisurely, calm. The light is dimmed sort of. The focus is on 3 women. Their heels are dizzyingly high.

At first, the story leaves the audience feeling a bit lost. Just one thing is obvious: the competition in the production company is extremely tough. But over time, the three protagonists get more profile and the story heads in it´s direction.

The driving force that really makes the KDrama worth seeing is, above all, veteran Lee Hye-young, who has experienced a real revival in recent years. Here, in the ambivalent character of Gi Mo-ran, she gave another marvellous performance! In my eyes she (and her role) operate as backbone and heartbeat of this KDrama

It's about intrigues, struggle for survival, hurt feelings and old traumas. The relationship dynamics between the 3 women intelligently intertwine and dissolve in a subtle but unexpected way.

"Kill Heel" has a very unique look and feel to it and comes along with a peculiar pull effect. There is suspense, but at the same time the suspense isn't setting the tone. Sometimes something seemingly builds up, but then everything is completely different again. And after 14 episodes it's over. What a pity, actually...

------ SIDE NOTE: ---Teleshopping---
I wasn't really aware of the impact of teleshopping until now. In Europe within homeshopping Germany is the leader, when it comes to sales figures through teleshopping (compared to online-shopping) . In South Korea, teleshopping accounts for almost 50 percent of home shopping. Similar to sales parties in private circles (Tupper & co.), teleshopping thrives on impulse purchases and customer loyalty, which are promoted by a harmonious, interactive, relaxed sense of community. Within the virtual television community, it is the presenters who foster this intimacy with their virtual customers. Women in particular buy in teleshops.

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I didn’t have any expectations.

When I went into this show, it was purely for the good cast and interesting poster. As the show progressed I was instantly hooked which was surprising since I’m a 2-3 episodes before getting hooked kind of person.

The story perfectly captures many different personalities without straying away from how they originally were. Even when more is revealed, those with the fake personalities kept it up until the end and that’s what makes it even more amazing.

The storyline never lacked, in fact it actually got way more interesting in the end and to be completely honest I think having 14 episodes definitely helped. 12 is too little but 16 is a little too much, however, 14 perfectly tells the story and allows for the pace to remain at a great pace without filler episodes or going to fast to keep up.

It’s not going to be my favourite kdrama or even in my top 10 but that’s purely on taste. No matter what taste I have in dramas, this most likely has the potential to be one of your favourite if you give it a chance.

My only issue was with the main character (Haneul) not because she wasn’t good, she was great as always, I just felt her story was too plain and didn’t have time to thrive unlike the other female leads. I also felt like they’d introduced one other female character with hopes of a storyline but that didn’t quite remain consistent.

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