Sban
Unique combination executed well
I am a huge fan of Gong Hyo Jin and after watching this, I also admire Oh Jung Se as the bumbling town clown, Son Dam Bi as the tormented street-smart gal, and Yeom Hye Ran as the hard-on-the-outside accomplished woman. They all played absolutely amazing supporting characters.
I have to give the writer and director so many kudos for this very unique combination of: rom-com, innocently chasing the girl romance, complex ex husband and family relationships, and thriller. I haven't seen it executed in this way. At the heart of it, I would call it a slice of life exploration of a single mom who feels empowered one moment and anxiously depressed the next. Some might criticize some of her choices, expecting the character to either be "always good" or "always needing to be rescued" as some dramas depict, but I feel that the variety of actions she takes make her very human and realistic. She makes mistakes like we all do.
It's a slow paced drama so you need to have a bit of patience to savor each step. I wouldn't say it's boring, but the pace kind of meanders but in a way that still fits the slightly mysterious feeling of the way the director and writer wanted it to go. You never feel completely confident that you understand where anything is going so you have to be OK with that when watching this drama.
The only thing I am a bit disappointed in is actually the main romance storyline. I think Kang Ha Neul played his role as Yong Shik well, but it was perhaps written a bit too innocently. You see glimpses that he truly understands all of the nuances of Dong Baek's life, but he doesn't get the chance to articulate it through effective script writing in the way I would have liked. I feel the other characters have more meaningful interactions with each other and Dong Baek than he does, even by the end of the drama.
Overall I have to applaud this unique execution of a realistic feeling mysterious drama. It won't be everyone's cup of tea, but I enjoyed it and would watch it again to catch all the nuances that I missed the first time.
I have to give the writer and director so many kudos for this very unique combination of: rom-com, innocently chasing the girl romance, complex ex husband and family relationships, and thriller. I haven't seen it executed in this way. At the heart of it, I would call it a slice of life exploration of a single mom who feels empowered one moment and anxiously depressed the next. Some might criticize some of her choices, expecting the character to either be "always good" or "always needing to be rescued" as some dramas depict, but I feel that the variety of actions she takes make her very human and realistic. She makes mistakes like we all do.
It's a slow paced drama so you need to have a bit of patience to savor each step. I wouldn't say it's boring, but the pace kind of meanders but in a way that still fits the slightly mysterious feeling of the way the director and writer wanted it to go. You never feel completely confident that you understand where anything is going so you have to be OK with that when watching this drama.
The only thing I am a bit disappointed in is actually the main romance storyline. I think Kang Ha Neul played his role as Yong Shik well, but it was perhaps written a bit too innocently. You see glimpses that he truly understands all of the nuances of Dong Baek's life, but he doesn't get the chance to articulate it through effective script writing in the way I would have liked. I feel the other characters have more meaningful interactions with each other and Dong Baek than he does, even by the end of the drama.
Overall I have to applaud this unique execution of a realistic feeling mysterious drama. It won't be everyone's cup of tea, but I enjoyed it and would watch it again to catch all the nuances that I missed the first time.
Was this review helpful to you?
