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Devilish Joy korean drama review
Completed
Devilish Joy
0 people found this review helpful
by Soula
Feb 23, 2019
16 of 16 episodes seen
Completed
Overall 6.0
Story 7.0
Acting/Cast 7.0
Music 6.0
Rewatch Value 4.0
This review may contain spoilers
Meh. I wasn't too terribly impressed by Devilish Joy. I liked the first half of the drama a lot, but the last 3 episodes just feel flat for me. The one year time jump in the final episode where the MCs are separated just annoyed me because it felt like a cop out. Don't get me wrong, I didn't *want* the MC to die, but at the same time, it doesn't make logical sense that he recovered all of a sudden and after a year of aggressive treatment is okay again. Like, what? I was coming to terms with him dying similarly to how the MC in Uncontrollably Fond died, but Devilish Joy was just too over the top. I don't think they should have made him yo-yo between dying and having a miracle recovery - they should have picked either him dying because there was no treatment OR chose to have him slowly got better over the course of the drama and, in that sense, defied all odds - a steady progress. So the ending really ruined it for me. It was not logical and it used too many convenient plot devices to satisfy hopeless romantics, rather than follow through in their intended plot.

I think a drama that did this story much better was Uncontrollably Fond, which is a melancholy romantic drama. SPOILER ALERT FOR UNCONTROLLABLY FOND::::: In Uncontrollably Fond, the MC dies in the end from inoperable terminal brain cancer, which you find out he has in the first episode. The writers don't change their tune half way through the series to decide to let him live. He has his romance while he's slowly dying and he passes away relatively peacefully in the arms of his lover. His lover moves on and it's sad but I really respect how the writers stuck to their guns and made a beautiful story even though the ending is so sad. I sobbed at the end. Please refer to my full review of Uncontrollably Fond if you're curious about it as a whole. :)

In regards to Devilish Joy, what really bothers me is that the writers wrote themselves into a corner (the MC *was* dying and there was no cure) and definitely had no logical way out of it, but then all of a sudden he makes a HUGE recovery and lives happily ever after. Personally, I think the male MC should have been recovering throughout the entire show and had a strong, healthy man for the ending, but that's not how the writers decided to take it. And for that reason alone, the drama suffered immensely.

I did like how the bad guys got what was coming to them, but I also don't think the extreme horribleness of his aunt and the exCEO matched up well with the overall tone of the drama. I feel like the aunt plotting to kill her own nephew was exceptionally morbid and the overall tone of the drama didn't seem to match how awful she was. Also, I still don't get why the exCEO of Joy framed Joy for the death of the actor...it wouldn't have been pinned on the exCEO so why mess up Joy's life? ... Personally, the bad guys were simply too dark for what this drama was trying to make viewers feel (in my opinion) and that made the struggle between good and bad messy and unsatisfying in the end.

The main leads *were* very cute. I really did enjoy their romance for what it was....although, they did NOT look good kissing each other. LMAO. (Also in my humble opinion! XD)

I'm really bashing on Devilish Joy which probably makes it seem like I didn't like anything about it, but I actually enjoyed parts of it (the first half was much stronger and more likable than the second half). For me personally, endings are really important to feel truly satisfied, so with this ending falling so flat, I was truly disappointed since I started out liking it so much.
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