13
42
3
toxicbybritneyspears
This review may contain spoilers
When you find yourself laughing like a maniac while watching a show that is described as melodrama, then you know you’re in for a wild ride and some good entertainment. Good in a bad way.
I started this show not knowing that it is, in fact, a full blown makjang with all its tropey glory and infamy. The overdramatics of it all was amusing enough for me to totally enjoy the first half of this drama. We had manslaughter, injustice, betrayal, revenge, rich heiress, poor man, terminal illness, greed and jealousy. It was ridiculous, engaging and surprisingly fun, but oh so outdated at the same time. And quite frankly one’s patience must be enormous to be able to put up with it for the course of 20 episodes. Especially after the halfway mark when things starts to get progressively more frustrating. Because what was missing in that perfect recipe for a succesfull pre 2015 korean melodrama? A M N E S I A. Not only once, but twice!
To be fair the premise of this story was not that bad Not innovative? Yes, but still it could be a solid melodrama for those who are into this type of stories. But to be good, or even just decent, it requires the existence of characters with rich personality and plot that doesn’t rely on cliches/tropes too much. Unfortunately this drama went overboard with the latter to the point of absurdity which made the whole thing look shallow and ridiculous. Too many cliches, handed too forcefully. I know it's a base of all makjangs, but at some point it felt like writers were beating the ground because the horse was no longer there.
I appreciate the fact the writers took a time to write quite complex characters and avoided the typical binary division of good vs evil. It goes deep into the psyche of the main characters, shows all sides of their nature and psychology behind their actions. They are deeply flawed, cosumed by their human desires and emotions that they cannot control as much as they would like to. I especially enjoyed the main antagonist, Han Jee He, because she was not evil for the sake being evil, her motivation was understandable considering her position, experiences and ambitions, so the reasoning behind her actions was crystal clear to me. Same goes to Kang Ma Ru, the protagonist of the story. Again, I don't condone what he did, but I was able to understand why he behaved like he did and why he went so far for his revenge. I can't say the same about Seo Eun Gi, the final element of this convoluted triangle, because I truly feel like she was just a plot device. Her character didn't have any kind of real development nor profoundness. She was just there for Ma Ru to reconsider his path and for Jee He to finally give up.
So why am I not satisfied with the characters here as well? Because it all went to shit after couple of episodes.
I feel like Eun Gi's amnesia was the turning point of this show. Not only cliches started popping out from left and right and absorbed the story completely, but character's behaviour stopped making any sense. All of their previous ambitions and motivations disappeared and the show focused solely on character's mad thirst for pathologically twisted need of owning someone that was clearly mistaken for love. Like they were completely different people and their personalities were switched. On top of that none of these relationships were sane, as they were built on lies, possessiveness, abuse and manipulation. And it could have been an actually good addition to the psychological portait of our main characters, but came out as contradictory, sometimes highly irrational and - combined with gazillion tropes - overdramatic and not convining at all.
Acting was suitable for this type of stale production. Overally decent, but theatrical, overdone or completely wooden in more challenging scenes. I truly loved the music though, especially the intro with accordion, that's the kind of dramatics I expect from shows like this.
With that said, I am happy that I've watched this now, because it truly made me appreciate the progress kdramas have made with the quality of storytelling, directing and acting as well. I'm also happy that modern makjangs are more self-aware and writers are more open use the concepts of this genre for artistic purposes.
I started this show not knowing that it is, in fact, a full blown makjang with all its tropey glory and infamy. The overdramatics of it all was amusing enough for me to totally enjoy the first half of this drama. We had manslaughter, injustice, betrayal, revenge, rich heiress, poor man, terminal illness, greed and jealousy. It was ridiculous, engaging and surprisingly fun, but oh so outdated at the same time. And quite frankly one’s patience must be enormous to be able to put up with it for the course of 20 episodes. Especially after the halfway mark when things starts to get progressively more frustrating. Because what was missing in that perfect recipe for a succesfull pre 2015 korean melodrama? A M N E S I A. Not only once, but twice!
To be fair the premise of this story was not that bad Not innovative? Yes, but still it could be a solid melodrama for those who are into this type of stories. But to be good, or even just decent, it requires the existence of characters with rich personality and plot that doesn’t rely on cliches/tropes too much. Unfortunately this drama went overboard with the latter to the point of absurdity which made the whole thing look shallow and ridiculous. Too many cliches, handed too forcefully. I know it's a base of all makjangs, but at some point it felt like writers were beating the ground because the horse was no longer there.
I appreciate the fact the writers took a time to write quite complex characters and avoided the typical binary division of good vs evil. It goes deep into the psyche of the main characters, shows all sides of their nature and psychology behind their actions. They are deeply flawed, cosumed by their human desires and emotions that they cannot control as much as they would like to. I especially enjoyed the main antagonist, Han Jee He, because she was not evil for the sake being evil, her motivation was understandable considering her position, experiences and ambitions, so the reasoning behind her actions was crystal clear to me. Same goes to Kang Ma Ru, the protagonist of the story. Again, I don't condone what he did, but I was able to understand why he behaved like he did and why he went so far for his revenge. I can't say the same about Seo Eun Gi, the final element of this convoluted triangle, because I truly feel like she was just a plot device. Her character didn't have any kind of real development nor profoundness. She was just there for Ma Ru to reconsider his path and for Jee He to finally give up.
So why am I not satisfied with the characters here as well? Because it all went to shit after couple of episodes.
I feel like Eun Gi's amnesia was the turning point of this show. Not only cliches started popping out from left and right and absorbed the story completely, but character's behaviour stopped making any sense. All of their previous ambitions and motivations disappeared and the show focused solely on character's mad thirst for pathologically twisted need of owning someone that was clearly mistaken for love. Like they were completely different people and their personalities were switched. On top of that none of these relationships were sane, as they were built on lies, possessiveness, abuse and manipulation. And it could have been an actually good addition to the psychological portait of our main characters, but came out as contradictory, sometimes highly irrational and - combined with gazillion tropes - overdramatic and not convining at all.
Acting was suitable for this type of stale production. Overally decent, but theatrical, overdone or completely wooden in more challenging scenes. I truly loved the music though, especially the intro with accordion, that's the kind of dramatics I expect from shows like this.
With that said, I am happy that I've watched this now, because it truly made me appreciate the progress kdramas have made with the quality of storytelling, directing and acting as well. I'm also happy that modern makjangs are more self-aware and writers are more open use the concepts of this genre for artistic purposes.
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