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NekoMinSeo

Italy

NekoMinSeo

Italy
Bride of the Century korean drama review
Completed
Bride of the Century
5 people found this review helpful
by NekoMinSeo
Apr 30, 2015
16 of 16 episodes seen
Completed 2
Overall 8.5
Story 8.5
Acting/Cast 9.0
Music 10.0
Rewatch Value 7.0
This review may contain spoilers
I came across this drama particularly because of Hongki. After meeting him in You're Beautiful and actually starting to love him and FTisland I was especially curious to see him in a different role than what Jeremy got me used to. Bride of the Century was the top pick, also because the plot seemed like something that I would awfully enjoy. And it didn't disappoint. Storywise, Bride of the Century is what you would call a classical poor girl x chaebol romantic comedy mixed in with a paranormal trigger, as well as a type of The Prince and the Pauper story. I was hooked right away, not expecting in the least the amount of complots, plot twists and good delivery this show had. It sincerely was a long time from last when I got the same feelings of anticipation of what was going to happen next. It's a story that uses its tools nicely, every plot twist gets revealed carefully, but it also make it seem like they threw you a bomb. The pacing in the first 8 episodes or so was great but then my attention started to considerably drop, unfortunately. Episode 8 or 9 were the first ones that I felt disappointed in mostly because I didn't like where the romance wanted to go. It felt sudden, way too cheesy, it was like kicking out all the good parts and convert it into a type of classical love story where all that matters is eachother and both of them able to die for eachother, which can give its share of sweet, but at the time I couldn't help but cringe. By the way of the romance aspect, there's also the second main guy I would like to concentrate on. While I liked him a lot and I tend to get those "second guy syndromes" of pain and despair a lot because I rarely like main guys, in this drama I didn't get feel like that. I shipped Doo Rim with both Kang Ju and Yi Hyun at one point, but then I leant more towards the main pairing. They're just so charming overall! Also, I appreciated that they didn't stop with just "main girl ends up with guy", BUT also dealt with the cruel consequences of that and it happens after episode 12 when the story picks up again. There were some general issues I had, mostly related to the characters reactions and decisions as well as some minor details, but the drama was able answer all questions and tie all loose ends nicely, big achievement for a story that tried to open so many doors. The ending though, had something I consider a major issue in terms of character developing and here I'm not reffering to the main couple but Yi Kyung and her mother. In three words: ";it felt forced."...in order to get a certain result... Also, I dont understand why they had to give a paranormal explanation to the doppelganger issue in that specific way. It was really not needed. ... The characters in their complexity were greatly dealt with. It was one of the character developments I felt most satisfaction towards lately. Even the side characters got their moments of spotlight, their moments of great achievement and moments of great pain. They were just so roundabout that they felt real, there wasn't any character that didn't change somehow from when the drama first started. I was particularly pleased with the development that Roo Mi went through. I very much disliked having her on screen most of the time, but then my distaste turned to like. It's just the perfect example of what I look for when I value characters: their constant change. I feel like I want every story to give them something to keep and not make it obvious that they were simply used as plot devices or a way to loose time and drag out the episode. Bride of the Century dealt with that amazingly. The only issue I have would be Yi Kyung and her mother, as I mentioned earlier, and that's just because I felt like they were there to be evil and that's it. No other shade, no other issue. I liked how they both managed to destroy eachother by holding on their spite but in the end...I did not feel satisfied with their final decisions. There might be two reasons for that: 1. The sudden-ess. 2. Would be a spoiler. (But please, take note and try to figure out the second reason. If you can't, then fine. Doesn't matter.) In terms of acting, there were some bad things that I could notice particularly about the crying with no tears (but I could as well call that a minor detail) and a deaf person understanding what its told to her without her looking at the person in order to lipread. ( I don't know if that was an acting mistake however or a miss.) The one I have to praise the most here is Yang Jin Sung. She managed to give her touch both to Doo Rim and Yi Kyung and somehow made it obvious who was who only by looking in their/her eyes. It's something that I very much appreciated. As for Hongki, maybe because I was too used to Jeremy, I found it a bit hard to get used to him in KangJu's role. Maybe he was a bit edgy at first too, but I have to praise him! By the end, I could feel how he started to be more and more at ease with Kang Ju compared to the first episode and I very much enjoyed how he made the role HIS by adding certain expressions that are very typical of Hongki. The OST is one of the best that I heard till now in my limited k-drama experience. It really made my feelings be on edge everytime one of the songs or instrumentals came up. The atmopsheres were very much accentuated by the ost and that's a great plus. My 10 is no joke! Some k-dramas (at least of those I watched/am watching) tend to overuse the main theme song or just have a very limited number of instrumentals but this one didn't disappoint me. Overall, I recommend this drama to everybody that likes unconventional romantic comedies mixed with a serious side note and nice plot twist delivery. I'm sure that if you like the paranormal you might not get disappointed too on a certain extent. While it might not be what you might think, the whole idea behind it shows a great care of details and is never shoved to a side. You might like it even though you're not into paranormal, just for the way that they deal with it. That said, I hope more of you will enjoy this drama and be able to make their own opinions and interpretrations of it.
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