Bride of the Century (2014)

I didn't know what to expect from this drama. Whilst the story was definitely not perfect, I was surprised by how much I enjoyed it. I hated the mothers most in this drama but more Jang Yi Kyung's mother.

I loved the OST and cast. I don't like when they portray characters as mean for absolutely no reason but I decided to ride this out and see if I should continue. The male lead was indeed what I'd call heartless but then he starts to do things that made me understand him a little more. I think that the actress who played both Na Doo Rim and Jang Yi Kyung did an amazing job.

I didn't like the fact that there was no confrontation during the time that Doo Rim and Choi Kang Ju had no contact. Its not like he didn't know where she lived and I felt really uncomfortable with the fact that Jang Yi Hyun had feelings for someone who looks exactly like his sister - that did NOT sit well with me but I did feel bad for him. Also, I felt the flashback to the historical portion of the drama lasted a bit too long and I just wanted the drama to return to the present time.

Because I enjoyed this drama so much despite its flaws I will definitely be rewatching as there were some really funny and cute scenes.

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Cheesy romance with Romeo and Juliet ish vibes

7/10 is my rating. This is a 2014 South Korean romantic comedy drama with 16 ,~60 minute episodes. Also known as the hundred year bride.

First I provide a unique synopsis then review.

Synopsis

Na Doo Rim (Yang Jin sung) agrees to impersonate a wealthy heiress for a hefty sum of money not knowing she is subjecting herself to a curse. It seems the Choi family, who own the Taeyang group, a major South Korean conglomerate, have been under a hundred year curse. As her luck would have it she looks exactly like rich heiress Jang Yi Kyung (Yang Jin sung) who was set to marry the eldest son of the Choi family which would have triggered the curse. The curse is the first bride if the eldest son always dies and now Na Doo Rim is in the role of that first bride. It is an arranged marriage for business reasons and the eldest son, Choi Kang Joo (Lee Hong ki) did not love Jang Yi Kyung his would be bride. When Jang Yi Kyung disappears, in their desperation to keep the wedding going forward, the Jang family finds doppelgänger Doo Rim. But the two women only physically look alike and are opposites in nearly every other way. Where the heiress is rich, Doo Rim is poor, where the heiress has a cold, indifferent personality, Doo Rim is warm and bubbly. Choi Kang Joo does not know his bride has been swapped but finds he is seeing a new aspect to his fiancee and he likes this new leaf he thinks Jang Yi Kyung turned over. He surprisingly falls in love with this woman when he thought it would be a marriage of convenience and he would keep a distance. Na Doo Rim realizes Choi Kang Joo is kind under his cold exterior and falls for him as well. But what will happen if Choi Kang Joo discovers he was deceived? What if the real Jang Yi Kyung returns? And will Na Doo Rim become the victim of the curse?

Review

If you consider in 2023 this is now about a decade old it is easier to overlook some but not all of the way the romance is portrayed. There are rare instances where people fall in love pretty much at first sight although I would argue that that’s not love at the beginning it’s more love the way the person looks but love can develop from that. In this series it’s not love at first sight but It is a bit of a quick transition from him being mostly indifferent, but perhaps a little intrigued with her to having some kind of undying love for her. For her to fall for him it was a little bit hard to understand because he was so arrogant and cold for so long that it also felt like she just suddenly decided she was deeply in love with him. It is a good example of romance during that time frame where you did not have a slow build up to love. If you want a point in time romance that has all the flavors and tropes of romances a decade ago you might
like it. If you are a fan of FT Island’s Lee Hong ki you might watch just to see him in this role. He also sings a lot of the songs for the series.

Spoilers

I depart from a lot of other reviewer‘s in that I thought a lot of the romantic scenes were over the top and cheesy in the things they said and gestures they made regarding their romantic feelings. Like I thought Na Doo Rim saying that she didn’t care if she died as long as she got to be his bride for a day, was not something anybody, but perhaps a teenage girl in their overly dramatic hormonally driven phase, would say or think about someone they knew such a short time. Her overly dramatic actions around being apart from him were out of her earlier character and not something a grown woman would typically say or think. Most mature women would realize that no love is truly worth just a single day unless you’re suicidal and then I would say you need mental health help. To add to the over the top love at all costs element when Kang joo is pushing her away because of fear of the curse she jumps in front of a car and uses emotional blackmail to get him to listen to her. To me that was completely an immature action, and it didn’t suit her earlier character where she is very responsible, and if anything, somewhat mature for her age. I also thought he changed a lot in terms of he just suddenly had this undying love for her which didn’t fit or makes sense. I am not a “giving your heart” fan. If you give your heart to someone they have absolute control of it and that is not a healthy dynamic. Having someone in your heart is a better way as that means they have a place in your heart but not absolute control. It is a healthier love.

The whole ghost angle, wound up being rather disappointing. It was not a curse but rather a trick. It was a twist, and I generally like twists, but in this case it detracted rather than added to the story. Since the ghost was not deadly, it was ironic that it wound up being the people around the First Bride, that were more of a danger to her than the “family curse.” I thought it was completely out of character for Doo rim to be willing to sacrifice her life and leave the grandmother she loved so much. I felt like in the latter half of the series a lot of what she did seemed selfish, and that she didn’t care if she hurt the people around her as long as she could be with Kang Joo. It had a very tragically fatalist vibe like Romeo and Juliet but those characters were much younger so their over the top made more sense for immature teenagers to respond that way.

There was way too much forgiveness of atrocious behavior for me. For example, I did not like that they tried to make the murderous grandmother a sympathetic character, and that somehow her guilt was enough to absolve her of murdering somebody. The fact that Kang joo’s mother was willing to make her son marry Yi kyung simply to cover her mother and to avoid some damage to the family business made me like her less. After being such a strong and formidable character through most of the series, it was ridiculous that she would allow herself to be black mailed. Yi kyung’s mother had nearly murdered her own step son and Doo rim, and Kang joo’s mother could’ve turned that into the police as a current crime where the grandmother’s crime occurred long ago. I get that Doo rim was supposed to be some super magnanimous person but she over forgave so many it made her seem a push over. She forgave Yi kyung who had no problem her dying as first bride and did not care her mother attempted to murder Doo rim. She forgave both Kang joo and Yi kyung’s mothers who were willing to have her die under the curse.

It was such a minor point that the grandmother was a runaway bride that it simply distracted from the main plot elements. And I had really liked the grandmother to that point but, after her confession, she was also a flawed character. I mean if she that adamantly did not want to marry why wait until the wedding night to make your break? I am assuming her family had already derived whatever benefit. I know part if it was to reveal the origins of the curse lore but it conficted, a bit, with what the ghost said. The grandmother’s husband said he spread it to discourage the well positioned brides from marrying him so he could marry her. The ghost said it was a true love test. I realize the meaning of such things can twist over time but she is this all seeing ghost so why didn’t she reveal the full story? And the reveal of why Doo rim and Yi kyung looked identical, that the ghost visited baby Yi kyung and changed her features was silly. How would a ghost have that power? And it never explained why she did that. It leads you to think she saw the future and set the whole thing up but again, how does a ghost have that power?

There was a reincarnation angle as it seemed the ghost, Yi kyung’s mother, and Doo rim were all tied together in the past. It was an important aspect but was not even hinted at until late in the series. The ghost changed Yi kyung’s features ensuring the ancestor she was protecting, Kang joo, would have a better suited bride. Or at least Ithink that is why it never really says.

#LeeHongKi
#YangJinSung
#BrideoftheCentury
#TheHundredYearBride

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A love story with just a pinch of paranormal.

A very convoluted story.

The title is apt. The backstories that span a century tends to be very confusing. But in the end, everything seemed to workout well anyway. I don't care much for it because it's a bit overly used, but I do get it. It's needed for some aspects of the story to work.

I think the love story of the main couple was unrealistic as much as the paranormal aspects of the story. Sure, a doppelganger can be possible but of the same age group from the same community is pretty much impossible.

Then there's that selfless love they've presented first that's very admirable, how did that love turned out to be foolish? The FL was even willing to die for love. ML was willing to give up everything. But then a sudden change of character happened, she kept on pushing the ML away, even up to the point of leaving him and keeping a love child secret. And after turning the world upsidedown, he just let her go. Try it in real life and see where it gets you.

Anyway its entertaining. But I might not rewatch it any time soon.

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Should you? Would you? Could you?

You should watch this one (YES! )
You would recommend this to others. (YES!)
You could watch this again. (NOT REALLY)

Amazing Plot! Amazing acting! It started off as a fast-paced drama (the kind I really like), loads of action happening, things moving along nicely and then 8th episode onwards it starts to get slow and drags a bit then picks up again from episode 12. The curse, the ghost(who is really cute) and the chemistry between the lead pair is what makes this drama worth watching. Yang Jin Sung, take a bow! What an amazing actress! She carried off both the roles brilliantly as the naïve and spontaneous Na Doo Rim and the crafty and cold Jang Yi Kyung. Overall, its an interesting watch and much better than many dramas out there.

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Drifting story

Started off great; humour, emotion, a touch of the supernatural. Unfortunately, the story became a little too fanciful for me, with attempted murder and hiding the birth of a child, being treated like they're common occurrences and nothing to take seriously!
There is forgiveness and turning the other cheek, but then there's being a martyr and Doo-rim sadly became just that, regardless of her generally feisty and strong character. She made some really dumb decisions.
I liked Kang-joo's emotional development.
Great seeing Jung Hae-in earlier in his wonderful career, too.
I also found the same actors playing several characters (especially in latter episodes) to be confusing as well.
Could've been a 9 or 10/10 had the story been given a little more thought and wasn't stuck between being a rom-com and [over-acted at times] melodrama.

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Okay, I liked this drama. I honestly did. It's not exactly different from other dramas, it doesn't really bring anything new, but it's enjoyable and just overall a nice watch. However, there was one thing which was constantly grating on my nerves, and that was the character of Na Doo Rim. She was fine in the first half, relatable, kinda quirky, all that cliched stuff that you'd expect. I honestly liked the way the relationship developed in the beginning, and even though it's pretty by the mold and cookie cutter, I wasn't mad at it. However...what infuriated me was the way she acted after they had "broken up". It was the typical "I like you but I have to pretent I don't because we can't be together" which always, always gets on my nerves, but honestly, what was keeping her from simply being honest with him, and maybe apologizing? She didn't apologize to him, not even once, for what she did, and instead was at times really nasty to him, for no reason whatsoever. It is probably the way her character needed to behave so that the drama and the tension would last longer, but that doesn't mean it wasn't annoying. Also, it's not like Kang Ju is blameless in this - he keeps basically stalking her and annoying her and is being really petty and childish. I get it, you're hurt, but please, do try to keep some of your dignity.
In the end, the reason why she left was just complete bogus. Again, the drama simply needed to be longer, so they had her leave for stupid, dumb, very dumb reasons. And the way she did it, too. Just infuriated me. And can we talk about how she literally kept his son from him for, like, several YEARS? I mean, if he hadn't looked for her, he would never get to know his own son, or even realize he existed. When he finally found her, her grandmother was like, thank you for finding Doo Rim, and I was like, shouldn't she have gone to HIM? Because unlike him, she knew where he'd been all this time, and was content to just stare longingly at the sky, because....why? WHY CAN'T YOU BE TOGETHER AT THIS POINT? YOU CAN!!!! THERE IS NOTHING AND NOBODY IN YOUR WAY!!!! NA DOO RIM! WHAT THE FRICK!?

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This show has a very unique story line I have not seen in other dramas, with curse and ghost blend altogether with not one but two villains. I am surprised the rating is not higher. Possibly because the mediocre acting of the leads, although actress Yan Jin Sung did a spectacular doppelganger roles as the bad Yi Kyung and the good Doo Rim. Unfortunately actor Lee Hong Ki could not deliver a natural tsundere, although ML supposedly falls for the FL at the first meeting. They don't have a strong chemistry despite of numerous kissing scenes. The beautiful, scary but hilarious ghost really spices up the drama.

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STORY

Story...Story...Story... *fantasizing* *drool*

I drool at EXTRAORDINARY stories such as this ! I'm NOT exaggerating !

NEW... Fresh... Cute... Tragic... Happy... Funny... Sweet... LOTS OF KISSES...

It had the Perfect elements of a story... Beginning, Plot and Ending... all in the right place at the right time with the right events ! A fitting ending that is EXTREMELY satisfying :3 I can go on about the story but you get it by now I guess xD

Acting

One word... Two Syllables... DAEBAK! O.O

Like... Lee Hong Ki !!! How did his acting become this good? o.o
Yang Jin Sung !!! HOW THE FUCK DID YOU MANAGE THOSE TWO CHARACTERS ??? O.O
GIVE THE GIRL AN AWARD WILL YA !!
Strong second lead syndrome... great job Sung Hyuk *Clap*

Music ... No Comment .. It's HongKi's voice... DUH! *melts at each tone*

Rewatch Value

I don't usually have the time to rewatch dramas but if I ever have the time I DEFINITELY would :3

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Im dropping this drama half way through episode 10 so I will not leave a rating.

This drama had a good start. Fine, it's not the most original story but sometimes remakes can hit home. This didn't.

I'm gonna start with the conclusion for the lazy readers.

The story is not so original but I had hopes for it anyway. Sadly they couldn't keep it logical and used tricks to make things go the way they wanted. The romance is not believable and the acting is not very good. This combination made the romance unbearable and the script, very cheesy. The development didn't make sense and they included a very disturbing and unwanted love implying incest.

Here is my more detailed review:

The reason I'm saying this is because this is one of those dramas that abandon all logic to make it go the way the writers want it to. The curse is used in a way that doesn't really make sense or have meaning. As far as the 10 episodes I've watched there is no explanation to why it exist (Maybe they bring it up later? i don't know) or how it works. The only thing that's presented to us is that The first son's first wife will be used as a sacrifice for the guarding spirit of their house hold.

I don't see this as a problem considering that in 2014 Korea it's not unusual for people to live together or be intimate with each other without being married. Even if it would be frowned upon I seriously think the people would make an exception, considering they're saving someone's life.

I also found the romance development ridiculous. I wasn't feeling it at all and it felt rushed, which is weird since there are still 6 more episodes to go. It's like there's an unfinished battle between them but all of a sudden they're in love. I feel like they use the running time the wrong way and the last 3 episodes will probably be dragged out romance.

To make it worse, Yang Jin Sung isn't the best actress in my book since she always shows 6 different emotions at a time but it was bearable because of Lee Hong Ki. Not because he is especially talented but because he's charming.

This drama is also filled with contradiction and a hint of incestial thoughts in it. You can list as many excuses you want to why it's not incest but if you think about it, the basic principal is still there.

But there's a crazy lady that hits people so...

....ENJOY!!

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Long story short: Though not the most original story, I really enjoyed this drama a lot. It's definitely a good watch.

Story
When you get really simple about it, the story is nothing really original. Two rich families and one poor family. Their lives become entangled and the usual cliches happen where the rich people try to outsmart each other. Add a bit of supernatural to give one family a darker past and there you have it.

However - I liked the story a lot. It may not be an original plot, but it doesn't always have to be. I think the drama was well written when it comes to pacing. I was never annoyed by the plot. I was expecting a chaebol story and I got it. I couldn't have asked for more. :)

But this was the first time I suffered Second-lead-syndrome. My heart was hurting so much for the second lead (Sung Hyuk/Jang Yi Hyun). I have never felt it this strongly before and to be honest - I was rooting more for the second lead then the main lead (Hongki/Kang).


Acting/Cast
The actors were great in their respective rolls. They felt real and I believed the characters they acted out. When I at first started watching, I have to admit I kept seeing Hongki instead of Kang Joo, but at some point I realised I had completely forgotten about Hongki and was seeing only the character he played. This is a compliment to him, as I normally don't easily manage to let go of an image I already have. I really enjoyed his acting. (Though I'm still rooting for his co-lead Sung Hyuk/Jang Yi Hyun.)

Most of my praise has to go to Yang Jin Sung (Na Doo Rim / Jang Yi Kyung) as she had to play two totally opposite roles. She did amazingly well. Despite knowing it was the same actress, she managed to make the two characters feel absolutely different. I hardly could believe she was truly the same person! I'm really impressed by her acting as that surely couldn't have been an easy feat.

The only thing that annoyed me a bit was the screaming during the last episodes. So if you have sensitive ears, you've been warned ahead. (Luckily, it's not a crazy amount. But it was enough to annoy me at times.)

OH! And can I just add how much I loved Na Doo Rim's grandmother?! Amazing woman and she made me miss my own grandmother so very much. I really enjoyed Nam Jeong Hui's acting.

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an adorable and heartwarming series

one of the things that I love about any series, specially in kdramas---are those with historical touch like BOTC. it gives off a mysterious and nostalgic vibe, making it a nice piece to watch.

I have not much to say, for the story and the plot isn't unique at all. stories like this where the typical arch of pretending to be someone else for money is so used in any series, it's becoming redundant. but, despite that---bride of the century has its own charm that'll make you stay to watch from the first to the last episode. it maybe cliché, but the way the actors and actresses bring their characters to life is what made this series good.


what I also love about this series is the moral lesson that it gives to its audience, specially the concept of karma. that for every wrong deed, there's always a great consequences one must pay, no matter how long it takes---even a hundred years may pass. and lastly, this series proves that it isn't true at all times to all people that the heart can never be taught whom it will love---for everything in this world can be taught if one is really willing to learn.

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