Jealousy Incarnate

Jealousy Incarnate

6.5/10

Jealousy Incarnate

Genre:                               Episodes: 24                           Year: 2016

Romance

Comedy

Synopsis:

Pyo Na Ri is a weather caster at SBC. She has had a one-sided love for announcer-reporter Lee Hwa Shin for three years, but he has always found her irritating. Na Ri decides to give up on her crush as she meets Hwa Shin’s friend, Go Jung Won, sparking Hwa Shin’s jealousy.

Cast:

Gong Hyo Jin (Pyo Na Ri)

Jo Jung Seok (Lee Hwa Shin)

Go Kyung Pyo (Go Jung Won)

Lee Mi Sook (Gye Sung Sook)

Park Ji Young (Bang Ja Young)

Lee Sung Jae (Kim Rak)

Moon Ka Young (Lee Pal Gang)

Kim Jung Hyun (Pyo Chi Yeol)

Seo Ji Hye (Hong Hye Won)

General Thoughts:

I must admit, though I enjoyed many episodes of ‘Jealousy’, I walked away from the series feeling rather uninspired. I’m just not really sure what sort of story the writers wanted to tell or what they wanted to achieve.

So much happened, and yet...so little

A large part of these feelings of confusion are probably due to the unnecessary amount of episodes, along with not focusing on one main point. You’d think it would be about jealousy and a big ol’ love triangle (what with the title and all), but if we're all honest it was a one man show- and that man was Hwa Shin.

Hwa Shin > Jung Won

I don’t think there’s anyone anywhere who actually thought Jung Won was in with a shot because he was one of the blandest second male leads I’ve ever seen. He’s basically just typical nice-guy plus butt-loads of money- but no personality to speak of. Go Kyung Pyo was kind of completely out-acted by our two leads who both fit so well with this kind of bickering, confused comedy. Rather than appearing funny in his jealousy (as Hwa Shin did), Jung Won often came across as forceful, and didn’t really seem to ever listen to what Na Ri was saying. Because of the rather lacklustre second lead, the whole triangle situation didn’t really have any tension. Sure, it was fun to see Hwa Shin spewing with jealousy for a while and not knowing what to do with himself, but that got old surprisingly fast because it was just so plainly obvious to everyone (except maybe Jung Won) that Hwa Shin would get the girl. Even our heroine, Na Ri, was actually a pretty bland character. Once you take away Gong Hyo Jin’s delightful performance you realise that we know nothing about our heroine outside of her love for Hwa Shin.

Sweet yet tasteless all at once

She got confused and dated two guys for a while there- but a lot of what we saw about Na Ri was very situational and not so personal. I know that she loves Hwa Shin and loves her little brother…and that’s pretty much it. We never really get a feeling of what drives Na Ri as a person beyond her feelings for Hwa Shin, which leaves Pyo Na Ri feeling extremely similar to Gong Hyo Jin’s previous characters- because beyond Gong Hyo Jin’s take on the character, there’s really nothing there.

The many faces of Jo Jung Seok Show

So while our heroine’s character might have been boring, Gong Hyo Jin’s wonderful and often funny performance did quite a lot to distract from all Na Ri’s developmental flaws. Hwa Shin was really the only character that was explored in depth- with his cancer, his job, his family and his feelings. All these situations and the way Hwa Shin reacted to them gave a sense of realism to his character, and let us feel his emotional moments alongside him and understand him. Jo Jung Seok delivered an absolutely excellent performance, and was really the comedic heart of the show. And quite often the emotional-heart too. He brought his A-game to set and made Hwa Shin a hilarious, yet loveable idiot with all his deflated pride and stubborn floundering. I appreciate that it was his time in the hospital that really opened his eyes to Na Ri, and not just that his friend started to like her. I do wish the whole jealousy situation had played out a little differently. A part of me wanted the relationship between Jung Won and Na Ri to come to its own conclusion before Hwa Shin stepped in, because it really appeared that the only reason Na Ri dumped Jung Won was because she liked Hwa Shin that 1% more- which I suppose is fine, but I still kind of wanted a solid, justifiable reason why Na Ri and Jung Won wouldn’t work well together (beyond Jung Won being so darn plain). Actually, you know what. I wouldn’t have even cared if Na Ri did dump Jung Won because he’s plain- at least it’s a reason.

Sure he was nice...but he was just so booooringggg

I don’t know about others, but I much preferred watching Hwa Shin have a hilariously hard time holding in his crush and jealousy than watching him and Jung Won fight over Na Ri like a piece of meat. Having Na Ri be oblivious to Hwa Shin’s feelings added a lot of comedy to the series. When she realised he liked her, she kind of became a little unlikable. Because if she honestly liked Jung Won, would she really have kissed Hwa Shin? I guess my fundamental issue with this segment of the series (because there were a lot of different segments in its 24 episodes) was that no part of me believes you can romantically like two people exactly the same- particularly when doing so becomes detrimental to everyone involved.

Funny is fine- unnecessary angst is not

I felt more like Na Ri was stalling for time with dumping Jung Won rather than actually liking him, because it was obvious to every man and his dog that she liked Hwa Shin way more. The drama tried to make use of its many, many episodes to introduce lots of different ideas between our main three characters.

It was no secret that this is where we were headed

However, having so many smaller segments kind of prevented the drama from having a lot of depth- because most of the situations didn’t get milked to their full potential. I wish the drama had chosen one way to handle its triangle, stuck with it, and really developed the situation- because as it is, it feels more like the writers were aiming for cheap laughs rather than an in-depth, constantly developed trio of characters. Because in all these situations, Jung Won was pushed to the side in order to enforce that NA RI AND HWA SHIN ARE THE ENDGAME SO DON’T GET TOO ATTACHED TO JUNG WON. We had Hwa Shin be quietly jealous while Na Ri dated Jung Won, be vocally jealous about it, have Na Ri try and dump them both, have Na Ri try to date them both, have Na Ri live with them both (for like maybe two episodes), all while Na Ri helps Hwa Shin through his cancer treatment. Frankly, all the best parts of the drama didn’t actually have Jung Won in them, and Hwa Shin and Na Ri had a far more entertaining and amusing relationship when it was just the two of them. Because the breast cancer storyline was excellent.

So much fun, so much cute, so much absent Jung Won

It added a huge amount of depth to Hwa Shin’s character, and gave him room to grow and develop as a character, all with Na Ri’s assistance. His infertility was another great extension of this, and I felt far more invested in Hwa Shin’s medical woes than the woes of the so-called love-triangle. Smaller things in the drama made the series highly amusing, such as its quirky editing. Playing back past scenes on screens around our characters was hilarious and often provided a great deal of information on how our characters were feeling and what they were reacting to. There were lots of small moments that played in the background that are easy to overlook, but add quite a lot to the series. The music choices were always excellent- properly enforcing the romantic or (more often) awkward atmosphere. And of course any scene Bum was in was delightfully funny.

The unsung hero

What Was Great:

Emasculation:

One of the more interesting plot points of the series was definitely the way Hwa Shin had to deal with his illnesses that made him think less of himself as a man. Watching him struggle with how to perceive himself over the location of his cancer was interesting and thought provoking- because we don’t often think that men can get breast cancer. Hence the pinkness of everything breast cancer related.

Breast cancer bits were the best bits

Hwa Shin’s time spent in the hospital with Na Ri had a nice balance of humour and heart, and was a great way for the two to grow closer. Nothing speeds along a relationship quite like a shared secret. Hwa Shin’s infertility was another great conflict for him, as it made him question not only his own manhood (again), but also what he could provide for Na Ri.

He just wasn't having a good time

No matter how much she loves him, she wouldn’t be able to cure his breast cancer or his infertility- problems that most other men don’t have to deal with at all. The conclusions for both conflicts were drawn in a satisfactory manner. All series long we watched Hwa Shin worry about how other people would perceive him after finding out about his breast cancer. It’s rewarding and a great display of character growth when he owns up to his illness in order to prevent Na Ri from receiving those same judgements- even if it is more common for a woman to have breast cancer than a man. As for his infertility, I adored how it was clear that Na Ri knew how he dealt with things, and knew that she just had to wait for him to accept this new reality. Hwa Shin’s fears were totally justifiable- he couldn’t give Na Ri something he knew she wanted, and failed to see how that would end with her being happy. With Na Ri’s constant support and encouragement, he comes to realise that it’s not the end of the world, and just because he can’t have kids, it doesn’t mean that Na Ri wants to go off and have kids with someone else. Not only that, but it was wonderful to see how Hwa Shin (who seems to have little confidence in his ability to care for Na Ri despite all his arrogance and pride) learns that he himself can be a source of happiness for Na Ri, no matter what he can and cannot offer her. So we'll just ignore that the end seems to forget that Hwa Shin's infertile when he and Na Ri have two kids after the time-skip- that felt like a cop-out.

Those snow-children are gonna be the only children

General Cuteness:

Gong Hyo Jin and Jo Jung Seok are super adorable and super funny so that’s always going to be an upside (thank goodness because the whole drama was basically just them).

When it was cute it was very, very cute

Their whole relationship was always pretty fun to watch, and these two actors do some of the best bickering love ever. Throw in Bum who’s always cute and adds a bunch of funny to whatever scene he’s in and you’ve got a good combo. Na Ri’s younger brother was also pretty darn cute, and I do wish we’d got to see a little bit more of him. A whole different realm of cute was the relationship between the two mums. At first I didn’t give a toss about either of these characters, and to be honest I still don’t really care about their relationships with anyone else- but I’m so onboard the sweet friendship the two mums got going while trying to decide who would live with Pal Gang. Even though it was super obvious that they’d all end up living together, the begrudging friendship between the mums was still fun to watch- particularly when they were bonding over things they had in common- like their love for Pal Gang, or how hard it would be dating an asexual man. 

What Wasn’t:

No Side Character Use:

Despite the millions of side characters this show had at its disposal and the millions of episodes it had to develop them- none of them get much screen time at all. The show is dominated by Na Ri and Hwa Shin with a lot of Jung Won thrown in, but it did seem a little unnecessary to have all these characters who seemed like they would have small arcs of their own only to then go ahead and not develop them.

Were these kids supposed to matter?

Na Ri’s brother and his two friends seemed to drop of the face of the earth- despite Pal Gang being set up as a character that seemed to matter a great deal- with her mums, Hwa Shin being her uncle, and the triangle between her and the two young boys. Only none of these concepts really got more than 5 minutes of screen-time, even though it could have been used to add a great deal of good emotion into the series. Similarly, we didn’t really get to know anyone at the broadcast station that well either. We saw some of the weather-girls and some other reporters- but none of them had story-arcs or were really essential to the show in any way.

A huge wedding where I care about none of the guests

The final episode seemed to want to be a cute big farewell to the series with all its characters coming together at the wedding- only I didn’t really care about anyone apart from Bum, Hwa Shin and Na Ri. 

Go Home Jung Won:

Fighting losing battle. And everyone knows.

We always knew Hwa Shin would win. Seeing Jung Won become so bloody whiney after Na Ri chose Hwa Shin was just plain unenjoyable to watch. I barely even found him tolerable when Na Ri was sort of considering him, so after she made her choice and Jung Won was still moping around her, he was just annoying. His insistence on Na Ri being with him felt misguided and frankly delusional- particularly when he was adamant that she would come back and marry him despite her being happy with Hwa Shin. Hwa Shin’s insistence that Na Ri would be happier with him can be given a pass because…well…she is. But when Jung Won says those same things it just feels as though he’s completely disregarding Na Ri’s feelings. Boo, Jung Won you sore loser.

Re-watch?

No. While I remember enjoying much of this drama, when I think back I can only really recall negative things. Weird.

Pretty okay though, I guess