Slow Start, Have Now Lost the Will to Live

****MAJOR Spoilers from this point forward; If you have not watched all episodes for Seasons 1 and 2, you probably want to skip this review****


This study in how marriages dissolve into divorce is taking a LONG time to get to the end. Basically, Season 1 felt long and drawn out, with an economy of new or compelling disclosures. Season 2 started out exponentially better; nearly every episode delivered something gripping. Unfortunately, a major concern was realized - the story continues without ANY closure to any of the story lines started in Season1! If I watch Season3 (and the way this drama is presented, the other 2 seasons will have been a HUGE waste of time unless there is a next season, or 20), I will wait until ALL the episodes have aired before watching. Otherwise, the premise behind this drama is compelling. It could have been fun to become 'addicted' to it. But stringing out the story lines without any hint of closure for such a long period of time has been a deal breaker. It is fine to finish up a storyline and *then* start a new twist. This is like a loose tooth that never drops out or gets pulled.

The outcomes for all three couples and the other women/girlfriends is STILL anxiously awaited. There have been some interesting developments along the way,. However, not a single plot line has been completed since Season1. This has been like watching a Chinese drama with 50+ episodes. But it is more maddening, because at least with the Chinese drama, you KNOW you are in for a long, LONG ride from the very beginning. This tease of 16 episodes each season has been frustratingly misleading. Like a rollercoaster ride that lasts too long, the thrill is GONE. Time for the cart to pull back into the station.

As far as progression of the story lines, each one in its own way is becoming less and less believeable. Really hope that the prologue for Season 3 is a series of daydreams; otherwise this KDrama will REALLY have jumped the shark (for non-US readers, please check the Urban Dictionary for referene).

Fun highlights of the drama include the mother-in-law and the mistress in a (mostly) open tug of wills. Their respective daydreams have been laugh-out-loud funny. It has also been humorous watching the three wives alternately attempt to bully and then cajole their sole male office mate, Ban, into sharing parts of his personal life. So far, their tactics have failed each time to achieve the results the ladies were expecting. Ban appears to be one sharp cookie, to his credit. Also quite entertaining is observing the "rebirth", if you will, of Pan Sa-Hyon's parents marriage. Ironically, their's is the relationship that - so far - seems to stand the best chance of being revived from the dead.

There are unfinished threads and loopholes galore. A truly perplexing case in point is the purpose of having the spirit of Shin Ki-Rim make appearances from time to time. Also, who was the person who (seemed to???) fall off the horse in an earlier episode (what happened? who was he? was he injured or killed)? Likewise, what was the purpose of having Ban meet with Son? The meeting seemed to go nowhere, and it is never mentioned again in the drama - however we see them together again in that shocker of a prologue for Season 3 (WTH?!?!?) With the exception of three of the main characters, the back story on the others is not fleshed out. We see them acting and reacting, but after all these episodes there should be deeper understanding of how their characters came to be in the places they are in now.

Regarding how realistic the various storylines are - the whole pregnancy thing with Boo Hye-Ryung, Pan Sa-Hyun and Song Won is a heck of a stretch. Given how upright and moral Song Won is, it is pretty unbelievable that she would ever have allowed a physical relationship to have happened between her and Pan Sa-Hyun. Actually, it would have been much more believable if Boo Hye-Ryung had played around and wound up accidentally pregnant. She supposedly has been diagnosed with fertility problems that she never shared with Pan Sa-Hyun. That right there is the perfect justification for a pregnancy resulting from a spontaneous, unprotected moment. And it would be in line with her devious, self-centered, conniving personality as well. That could have been a riveting dilemma: Should Pan Sa-Hyun stay with the adulterous wife who does not love him, and raised her illegitimate child as his own to keep his grandchild-crazy parents happy, or would he leave her to be with the older and most likely barren Song who he actually loves, and who loves him back?

Also, Dr Shin Yu-Shin is still a mystery. Considering that a HUGE amount of time was devoted in Episode 13 to address the reasons for his infidelity, it is just beyond comprehension how he would allow A-Mi to move into and remain in the same home that he, Sa Pi-Young and their young daughter Shin Ji-A shared. Even though Sa Pi-Young stated that she did not care one way or the other, it is jarring that Shin Yu-Shin still allowed A-Mi to move in. Does that mean that his soul-baring confessions, apologies, tear-shedding and promises that he loves and will continue to love Sa Pi-Young is all fake? It makes his supposed jealousy when he sees Pi-Young and Seo Ban together seem more like the regret of a dog that has lost his long-time bone, even though he has a shiny bright new one in his possession. - Well, 2 bones, if one counts the quasi-, tending-towards-incestuous feelings between himself and his step-mother. It only make sense if Yu-Shin is truly a bona fide nut job.

Lastly, all three of the main (and at least 2 supporting) male characters are adulterers, either explicitly or emotionally. Again, the writers missed a golden opportunity with the Boo Hye-Ryung character. Or they could even have taken the less obvious route, and had the mousy, lacking in self-awareness, long-suffering, but otherwise loyal and "satisfied" Lee Si-Eun slowly, unexpectedly enter into a relationship with mysterious and enigmatic Seo Ban.

Found after penning the original review that the main writer is a woman. This was a surprising discovery; many of the female perspectives in this drama don't seem realistic for either the wives or the girlfriends.

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