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

Mirror of the Witch

Mirror of the Witch

6.5/10

Mirror of the Witch

Genre:                                Episodes: 20                     Year: 2016

Romance

Fantasy

Historical

Synopsis:

Unable to produce an heir, the Queen of Joseon turns to a Shaman who wields black magic in order to conceive. She gives birth to twins, a Prince and a Princess, but both have been cursed by the black magic used. The Shaman places all of the curse onto the Princess and orders her killed, but the Princess is rescued and grows to adulthood. Together with Heo Joon, the son of a slave, the grown Princess, Yeon Hee, works to break the curse that threatens her life and plagues Joseon. 

Cast:

Yoon Shi Yoon (Heo Joon)

Kim Se Ron (Yeon Hee)

Kwak Shi Yang (Choi Poong Yeon)

Yum Jung Ah (Hong Joo)

Lee Sung Jae (Choi Hyun Seo)

Jang Hee Jin (Queen Shim)

Lee Ji Hoon (King Sunjo)

Lee Yi Kyung (Yo Kwang)

Moon Ka Young (Sol Gae)

Min Do Hee (Soon Deuk)

General Thoughts:

12 episode dramas should only be 10. 16 episode dramas should only be 14. 20 episodes dramas should only be 16. Such is the unfortunate fate of K-Dramas. Once again we have a clear example of a brilliant story supported by phenomenal acting that is ruined by the writers trying to stretch for more episodes than their story can actually cover.

Some golden moments hidden by unnecessary episodes

While so, so much of this drama was excellent, it got bogged down in its own misery as our characters danced into the realm of poor decision making and inability to make any sort of sense. Except for Joon who somehow managed to remain a sensical and endearing hero until the end. It’s such a shame that the story had to be spread so thin, as the beginning of the series had absolutely perfect pacing.

Goodness the beginning was intense

The first 11 or so episodes were exciting and perfectly paced, with an equal balance of our heroes being victorious and our villains being dastardly. While the story centred around its initial set-up and then Yeon Hee and Joon lighting candles to break the curse, it remained exhilarating and extremely addictive to watch. However, once the true manipulative nature of our villain was revealed and Yeon Hee went to the palace as the Princess the plot started to lose its momentum.  Acting-wise this drama was like a buffet of extraordinary talent. Yoon Shi Yoon makes his return from military and definitely makes himself heard. His acting was flawless throughout and he managed to maintain a tricky balance of light-heartedness and deep emotion- easily able to switch between the two between scenes or even inside a single scene. The royals in the palace all gave excellent performances as well, particularly our main two- the King and the Queen Dowager. Both Jang Hee Jin and Lee Ji Hoon put in stellar performances. Although playing extremely flawed characters who often made mistakes, the two managed to keep their characters (mostly) in the realm of likeable.

Lee Ji Hoon brought all kinds of intensity to his role

While there were definitely times you wanted to slap a bit of sense into them, through the marvellous acting, their decisions were always understandable as we were all made privy to the fears and vulnerabilities that underlined these characters. And of course we have Yum Jung Ah who has given us one of the most dynamic villain performances of the year. Hong Joo was terrifying, dislikable, and strangely pitiful.

A solid villain performance is always fab

Yum Jung Ah was able to show all aspects of Hong Joo’s character- from her deep, unending hatred, to her loneliness and pain. She always showed just enough cracks in Hong Joo’s confidence that she never appeared straight-up evil, but never too much vulnerability that there was any hope of redemption. The weakest link in the cast was definitely our leading actress. I’m not usually one that cares for the age of actors- as long as they give a convincing, believable performance, I don’t care if they’re 13 or 33. However, I do think that Kim Sae Ron’s age was a huge weakness in this drama. She’s not a bad actress, but she does lack the ability to exude a maturity beyond her age- which is something she definitely needed in this drama. I never felt like the character of Yeon Hee was ever a woman- she always remained a girl to me. This wasn’t helped by Yeon Hee’s innocent and inexperienced character, as she only came off more child-like. The romance was carried solely by Yoon Shi Yoon whose incredible acting lead me to believe that it was plausible for him to fall incredibly, madly in love with this girl- but I never really felt such emotion from Kim Sae Ron, and Yeon Hee’s feelings for Joon felt more like a school-girl crush than anything else. That one scene of Yeon Hee’s anger that flickered between Yeon Hee (Kim Sae Ron) and Hae Ran (Jung In Sung) showed what the show might have been like had the role of Yeon Hee gone to a more experienced, mature actress. And it was awesome.

Defiantly the weakest link

Sorry Kim Sae Ron, I do like you and I do think you’ll become an incredible actress- but I don’t think you’re quite there yet, and this role was a bit much to handle. The supporting actors were all wonderful, shining beautifully in what screen time they had, but never overstaying their welcome. The cinematography was stunningly beautiful, as was the soundtrack and both added an alluring sense of mystical wonder to the series. Despite its shortcomings, it was always a very visually (and auditory) appealing drama.

What Was Great:

First Half:

The first half of this series rocked. The story flowed so smoothly from its initial set-up to the bulk of the plot with hardly a breath in between.

It was a boring episode if no one got stabbed

It was intoxicating to watch, as the story kept moving at a ripping pace and there were so many mysteries to uncover. Relationships developed swiftly and believably and the story was building itself up for a thrilling climax between our heroes and our fantastically villainous villain. Sure, that climax wasn’t as intense as it should have been- but the build up to it was excellent. If the whole drama had moved with the same pace and determination as its first half, this could have been a truly excellent, unparalleled drama.

Villain:

Yum Jung Ah also rocked. She was so dynamic in her role as Hong Joo. I was easy to dislike her character, but despite her actions being completely wrong, she remained completely understandable. It’s part of what made her such an interesting rival- she’s totally psycho, but it’s totally understandable why she became that way. It’s not so much that Hong Joo was an evil woman, but her circumstances lead her to develop such an intense hatred of the royal family and the hierarchal system as a whole, and she just so happened to have the power to do something about it. 

Fascinatingly evil

What’s most fascinating about Hong Joo is that she isn’t exactly wrong. It is wrong for the royal family to have such complete control over everyone’s lives. It is wrong that a person’s worth is decided by the circumstances of their birth. But her way of attempting to change the system is also wrong. What’s even more fascinating about Hong Joo is that she and Joon share many of the same beliefs and struggles. Both are treated poorly due to being born in a lower class, and both find it ridiculous and unfair that you can never rise above your birth status. However, while Joon struggles to find the right path to tread and the right way to challenge these ideas, Hong Joo chooses hatred and revenge. Hong Joo is an insanely interesting character to have around, and thankfully not too much time was spent pouring over her backstory. We are given the simple facts about how she got to where she was, and that made it understandable to see where she was headed.

Hugely dynamic

Redemptions All Round:

Redemption arcs are hardly ever executed all that well. They’re passable and characters go from being unbearable to tolerable- but rarely make it back to being likeable characters. But not in ‘Mirror of the Witch’! 

Best redemption arc I've seen

Redemption was something these writers were able to handle excellently. My particular favourite was Queen Dowager. She was understandable, but not always likeable- but her redemption arc was wonderful. She starts as a victim before rather rapidly becoming a mild villain- I mean, she wants to kill one of her kids so that’s not great. But after she loses the Crown Prince and finds Yeon Hee again, she does her best to try and protect her daughter. It’s clear that everything she’s done has been to try and protect her children. I mean if both are going to die you might as well try and save one, right? It’s a beautifully complicated situation that makes for some interesting television. Queen Dowager going from wanting to kill Yeon Hee to wanting to protect her at all costs was completely believable and fantastic to watch. The King had a similar redemption, albeit a bit less satisfying (as he briefly returns to being a d*uchebag after his redemption arc is completed). 

Literally coughed up the blackness of his heart

Our Orabeoni Poong Yeon had the least satisfying redemption arc, but a redemption nonetheless. His first redemption was not so much of a redemption and more of a he-was-tricking-everyone-including-the-audience. 

Cool fire-power. Shame you didn't really do anything with it.

I do wish we’d had a bit of a clue-in to the fact that Orabeoni wasn’t actually going to kill Yeon Hee, as while I was relieved that he’d been tricking Hong Joo, I’d still wanted to punch him hard in the face for like 4 episodes because he was acting like such a bloody prat. His actual struggle with black magic and insecurity had far less of an impact as we had all seen it before. Only he was pretending the first time. But not the second. But it all turned out the same way anyway. Linked in with Orabeoni we had Sol Gae who had a real b*tchin’ redemption. You could see it gradually creeping up for a while, but it was still beautiful to watch how her love for Orabeoni drew her away from Hong Joo. And while she didn’t live long after, at least she managed to live the remainder of her life true to herself. 

Final Wrap-Up:

I’m glad the writers chose to end the series the way they did. It takes a lot of guts to kill of your heroine, but I’d be pretty miffed if they'd made a magic way out of the curse right at the end.

Had people killing themselves left, right and centre

 I honestly thought that Joon would be the one to die, so I’m much happier that Yeon Hee was the one in the end. Because she was a much milder character and I wasn’t all that attached to her. 

Surprisingly I'm not mad that our heroine died

The show did have the option of using Hyun Seo as the final sacrifice to break the curse, but ultimately I’m glad it was Yeon Hee. It was a bittersweet moment when she chose to sacrifice her life for Joon, and it seemed only fair that the last candle to be lit was Yeon Hee’s. She’s spent five years of her life granting the wishes of everyone else, and while it’s kinda sucky for her that she died in the end anyway, it was nice to see Yeon Hee taking things into her own hands after she’d been following others for the majority of the series. I also appreciated the way they didn’t try and bring Yeon Hee back in any way after she died. She died and that sucks, but Joon still lived a good life. He didn’t appear to love anyone else, but he dedicated himself to medicine and lived a long life, and it was a sweet way to end the series having Yeon Hee waiting for him in (what I assume was) the afterlife.

Acting:

Congratulations everyone, your acting was superb. Everyone (except maybe Kim Sae Ron, but I’ve said my piece on that) did a phenomenal job and made the drama that much more enjoyable to watch. Yoon Shi Yoon was a complete stand out, and while this drama didn’t end up being spectacular, it was still an excellent stage for Yoon Shi Yoon to make his comeback.

Every thumb I have is up for Yoon Shi Yoon

What Wasn’t:

Inconsistencies:

Sometimes I was just plain confused as to what was going on. The whole flipping of Orabeoni was a tad confusing, but my biggest gripe would definitely have to be how unclear the rules around Black Magic were. 

Do you people not know that you're ON THE SAME SIDE?

The curse was set up nicely and followed the rules that were set- either Yeon Hee or Hong Joo had to die. Only the Crown Prince or holy fire could kill Yeon Hee. If Hong Joo dies before the curse is broken the curse can’t be lifted. Simple. Black magic rules- not so clear. Hong Joo seemed to do whatever she wanted so long as it was convenient for the writers. Apparently anyone can be afflicted by black magic, willing or not. The blood connection to Hyun Seo was a big ol’ what the f*ck is going on here. So Hong Joo uses magic to control his dead body. Fair enough. (I won’t ask why no one just killed Hyun Seo cuz that dude was causing all kinds of problems, but whatever.) To rid Hong Joo of her black magic our heroes destroy the source of her power- which they do in order to free Hyun Seo. Only he’s still under her control. What, why, how? And her black magic is still affecting Poong Yeon too. HOW? THE WOMAN CAN’T USE BLACK MAGIC! I don’t…how…I can’t even. 

It would be great if you actually arrested her, but that's none of my business

It also got a tad confusing regarding information. As a viewer we have all the information about the curse and who’s afflicted by black magic, so it could be a little hard to keep track of which characters knew what. A couple of times I was caught of guard by characters doing foolish and apparently incomprehensible things, only to realise that this character didn’t have this teensy piece of info. I won’t lie though, sometimes characters did have all the information and still acted like idiots anyway.

Lack of Romance:

About as much love as we got

Although the romance was a major point of the series (our big conflict was dying for love), the romance was actually a little lacking. Again, this is mainly due to the huge age gap between Yoon Shi Yoon and Kim Sae Ron. While I genuinely believed that Joon loved Yeon Hee, I wasn’t totally convinced that the two were uncontrollably, madly, I’d-die-for-you in love with each other. It does hurt when you can’t have any snogs. In fact the skinship between the leads was kept to a bare minimum (again due to how young Kim Sae Ron is). While the love was passable, I was really hoping for a brilliant, explosive love story. This was not a brilliant, explosive love story.

Draaaaaaags On:

Oh my goodness this drama is long, and it starts to feel long- which is not what you want. At the start I couldn’t wait to get to the next episode and stayed up all night watching. But past the halfway point it actually felt more like a chore. I had to watch the drama to see how it ended, but I kinda wanted to skip a few of the more mundane, wheel-spinning episodes. Once Yeon Hee enters the palace the plot doesn’t really manage to make its way forward. 

Definitely keeps intensity up when you have a crazy chick murdering a whole bunch of people

Our villain keeps playing the same tricks and the same people keep falling for them. It was repetitive and slightly exhausting. Once Hong Joo was locked up I don’t know why anyone would go visit for a chatty-chat. They all know what a conniving, manipulative person she is, yet everyone just seems to go out of their way to get used by her. It did feel like the writers were rehashing old material in order to drag out a couple more episodes. 

Re-watch?

Long dramas have to be really cracking in order to warrant a re-watch. Unfortunately ‘Mirror of the Witch’ was not a cracking drama, mainly because it was so long. 

So pretty though