King 2 Hearts

King 2 Hearts

5/10

King 2 Hearts

Genre:                        Episodes: 20                         Year: 2012

Romance

Action

Synopsis:

Set in a time when modern Korea is governed by a constitutional monarchy, Lee Jae Ha is a spoiled, arrogant Prince. His older brother, the King, sends him to joined military training between North and South Korea in hopes that Jae Ha’s rotten attitude will be fixed. During the military training, Jae Ha meets his team captain Kim Hang Ah, a female agent in the North Korean Special forces. When the leader of a powerful organisation, Club M, plans to breed animosity between the two sides of Korea, Jae Ha and Hang Ah must work together despite their differences to prevent their countries from becoming consumed by war.

Cast:

Lee Seung Gi (Lee Jae Ha)

Ha Ji Won (Kim Hang Ah)

Jo Jung Suk (Eun Shi Kyung)

Lee Yoon Ji (Lee Jae Shin)

Soon Je Moon (Kim Bong Gu)

Lee Sung Min (Lee Jae Kang)

General Thoughts:

You’d think a drama all about tension, prejudice and war would be exhilarating…but it’s kind of not. While the characters are filled to the brim with personality and heart, unfortunately the rather sloppy writing left much to be desired. I’m sure the series would have done a lot for me if I had been Korean, but as it is, my knowledge on the feelings and biases North and South Koreans hold towards each other is pretty limited. While I can appreciate how wonderful and heartwarming it was when all of Korea worked together, I feel I did miss out on the huge patriarchal swell of pride that the writers were aiming for.

North vs. South

Too much of the drama focused on the political reasoning before attacks and the whole ‘he-said, she-said’ idea. Huge amounts of tension were sapped from the drama as it was so plainly obvious that if North and South Korea simply communicated properly, more or less all their problems would be solved. It’s like any other K-Drama rom-com, except between countries. Rather than having our heroine chuck a hissy and not answer her phone because of a simple miscommunication, we have North Korea shutting off communication lines between the North and he South.

They took misunderstandings to an international level

It’s frustrating to say the least. At least the drama managed to give us a villain that spanned for the whole series. While Bong Gu is certainly not the most sensical villain to ever grace the small screen, at least he was consistent. The characters on our King’s side are a beautifully constructed bunch of people. All the soldiers that participate in the WOC and all members of Jae Ha and Hang Ah’s families. And of course Jae Ha and Hang Ah themselves. Jae Ha probably has the most drastic changes in a K-Drama hero I’ve ever seen, yet his progress is slow and consistent, so never feels forced. Jae Ha has enough moments where his past characteristics slip through and he weakens and wants to run away, that remind us that he wasn’t always a strong King who spoke for his people. While he started as a selfish Prince that believed the monarchy was nothing more than a pretty, empty shell with no power, by the end Jae Ha was truly believable as the determined King that the South needed. His progress was always helped along by both Hang Ah and Shi Kyung, who were constantly there to remind our King what kind of King he needed to be. Cue the feelings. While Hang Ah’s character didn’t get so much development alone, her development mostly took place as part of a pair with Jae Ha.

All that adorable couple development

Right from the start Hang Ah was strong and unyielding to injustice, and these traits remained throughout the series, helping to shape and support King Jae Ha. Shi Kyung is perfection. Dripping perfection. Of course no man like that exists, but we all wish he did. His love-line with the Princess hit all the right notes romance-wise and his support of the King was endearing and sweet. Though I do wish we’d had a few more bromantic moments. The whole royal family was just adorable and heartwarming, particularly big brother King Jae Kang. Whose death was horribly sad, but handled with such delicacy and was executed perfectly. Unlike that other death. Fume, fume, fume.

Waaahhhhhhhh

The soundtrack was enjoyable and complimented the series nicely, and the cinematography was definitely lovely. The only thing the drama really lacked was a momentum-filled plot. Which unfortunately counts for a lot. Bummer.

What Was Great:

Cast and Characters:

Everyone was brilliant and played their characters brilliantly. Hooray team! We all know that Lee Seung Gi has a talent for playing weirdly endearing assey characters who gradually learn how to stop being (such) an ass.

Oppaaaaaaaa

It’s what he does best, and it’s no exception for Jae Ha. Lee Seung Gi fills Jae Ha with so much life and heart and gives us a hero we can earnestly root for. I tend to find Ha Ji Won a little overhyped, but she delivered her character of Hang Ah well. Ha Ji Won was able to give Hang Ah a boldness and bravery about her, and was excellent in all tension-filled moments and action scenes. However, the romance scenes were mostly (if not all) Lee Seung Gi. There might actually be an actress who is worse at kissing than Park Shin Hye. Who would’ve thought? The North and South boys from the WOC were delightful and really drove home the message that North and South Koreans aren’t really that different. The friendships developed between the two groups of soldiers was definitely the true heart of the show, and any time these boys were on screen together it was either going to slap a smile on your face or leave you feeling completely torn to shreds when they found themselves on opposite sides of a war.

All kinds of cute

Jo Jung Suk did a wonderful job as the loveable, completely sincere soldier, Eun Shi Kyung- who I think rapidly became many people’s favourite character. His complete earnestness and devotion to the King was wonderful to watch, and Jo Jung Suk delivered these moments perfectly. There’s always a risk with these sorts of naive, innocent characters that they will come off as bland (or just plain dumb), but due to Jo Jung Suk’s dazzling performance, Shi Kyung was filled with heart.

Balanced Main Pairing:

The drama manages to give us one of the most enjoyable K-Drama pairings to watch develop. While their relationship does kick off lightning fast (they go from hate to love pretty darn quick), after you get over the initial whiplash, they have a beautifully steady progression.

Though the kissing scenes did leave something to be desired

Unlike many K-Drama’s, no one had the upper hand in the relationship. It wasn’t about one man winning the heart of his lady, protecting her from evil and saving her country. It was about two people who loved each other, and supported each other through the rough times, and provided brutal honest truths when they were needed. Surprisingly, there was never once where one of our main leads was filled with Noble Idiocy. Our main leads remained fairly un-idiotic throughout the whole drama, and after a few initial miscommunications, the two learned how to trust and depend on one another. Which makes for a much more loveable and interesting pairing than two people who doubt each other and think they know better than the other all the time.  

Powerlessness:

Frustrating as it was, the drama did do an excellent job at depicting the powerlessness of smaller countries such as Korea. The leaders of North and South Korea could never seem to do what they really wanted for fear of retaliation or losing support from other countries. As opposed to America, who can more or less do whatever it likes.

Though our heroine got to be pretty kick-ass

Similarly, the drama also showed the little amount of power those ‘in power’ in these smaller countries had. The King of South Korea often had to struggle and fight against his own country’s leaders to gain support for his actions, and was often left having to fight it out alone when none of his politicians stood with him. While I did find Korea’s huge amounts of powerlessness very frustrating plot-wise (as it meant we spent a lot of time sitting with politicians as they discussed all the things they couldn’t do), it was rather enlightening.

What Wasn’t:

Confused Writing:

The writers knew where they wanted this drama to go, I just don’t think they were 100% sure on how to get there. Because at times, the plot seemed to not know what it was doing. The initial stages of the drama were intriguing and interesting, with our characters being set up nicely with a clear goal in mind- they need Korea to compete in the WOC as one nation, but Club M doesn’t want that to happen. Then the King dies and it’s sad and heartbreaking in all the best kinds of K-Drama ways. But that’s when the writers start to struggle.

I know, let's just have our characters sit around and chat for a bunch of episodes! Sigh.

Bong Gu of Club M seems to have it out for Jae Ha for no adequately explored reason- apparently he’s just a crazy magician villain. The drama started spending far too much time on Bong Gu and all his minions and all their plans- and frankly, that was just plain uninteresting to watch. To go along with our rather mediocre villain, we have a less than mediocre henchman. To this day I have no clue what the deal was with Eun Shi Kyung’s father.

The most ridiculously vague henchman in K-Drama history

Had he been flat out evil it probably would have made for a more interesting development, as it would have meant that Jae Ha was truly betrayed by one of his people- who he said on countless occasions were the difference between himself and Bong Gu. As it was, the Chief Secretary was basically just a giant coward. He was simply trying to cover his tracks and hide his involvement in the late King’s murder. Which is significantly less emotional and less interesting to watch than flat-out betrayal. His meddling between Jae Ha and Hang Ah, and all the miscommunications he caused between them were not easily understandable, and made him more of a frustrating antagonist than a frightening one. If Chief Secretary’s motivation was simply covering up the part he played in Jae Kang’s murder, why was he breeding misunderstandings in the North and South engagement- which is something his beloved late King was so excited for? If indeed Chief Secretary was just a coward and not evil, he shouldn’t have been helping Bong Gu weaken the relationship between Hang Ah and Jae Ha. But he was. And yet he’s not supposed to be evil? I dunno. It wasn’t well written that’s for sure. And Bong Gu himself…wasn’t fantastic. He supposedly had all this power and influence, but as we never actually saw him exert his influence properly, I found myself struggling to understand why Korea was having such a difficult time with this guy.

You know what'll solve this? A wedding. Just like Jae Kang said 12 episodes ago. But we'll actually do it this time.

It seems ignoring him would have solved most of their issues. Even if you let that slide and just play along that he’s a bad, scary man with evil plans- he was still brought down far too easily. If all it took was North and South Korea throwing down their arms, holding hands and singing Kumbaya, why the hell didn’t they do that sooner? It was such an obvious solution, and yet it was so hard to get there. I suppose the difficulty in getting there is explained away by the North and South not trusting each other, but still. 

Dead for No Reason:

I wouldn’t be nearly as mad as I am about Eun Shi Kyung’s death if it had actually served a purpose. But no. He was basically killed off for no reason. It was as if the writers were just killing him off because they could, and they knew it would create some talk about the show.

Writers- you bunch of bastards

Had Shi Kyung’s death been handled as smoothly and delicately as Jae Kang’s, it would have added an extra emotional impact to the series. But it wasn’t, and it didn’t. It’s not even like he died throwing himself in front of a bullet to save his King. They’d won, Bong Gu’s people were dead, the foreigners had arrived to arrest him, victory was achieved for the good guys. And then Shi Kyung gets shot. Boo. A hundred times BOOOO. It still would have been deemed passable if Shi Kyung’s sacrifice had managed to lock Bong Gu up until he was proven guilty, but then our villain got out on bail. Which basically made everything Shi Kyung had done in the last couple of episodes absolutely worthless. Also, due to Shi Kyung's death occurring in the last couple of episodes, the show didn't have enough time for our characters to grieve for him properly like they did with Jae Kang. Our King's best buddy just died. I want to see him wrecked and weeping and ravaged by guilt. But nope- wedding not weeping. Sure, there were some emotional notes hit just right about Shi Kyung’s death after the time skip- when Jae Shin was pretending to talk to him and realising she couldn’t live her whole life mourning him, or the Korean WOC team commenting that they weren’t all there.

These sad moments were still overruled by anger at how irrelevant his death turned out to be

But I give credit for those emotional notes to Jo Jung Suk rather than the writing team. Because he killed me in that video letter. He killed me so badly with his little joke book and his little confession. His pointless death still annoys me.

Re-watch?

No. Fantastic as the cast was, the story just dragged too much, didn’t hold enough interest, and just became a tad frustrating. The characters are totally loveable- but the plot isn’t.

The most dragged out engagement I've ever witnessed

It's Okay, That's Love

It’s Okay, That’s Love

7.5/10

It's Okay, That's Love

Genre:                           Episodes: 16                          Year: 2014

Comedy

Romance

Melodrama

Synopsis:

A psychiatry doctor and a mystery writer meet on the set of a television show, and a heated discussion ensues from their differing opinions on human behaviour. Some time later, while the writer, Jang Jae Yeol, has his house renovated, he moves into a house he owns and rents out. His new roommates include a divorced psychiatrist, a man with tourettes, and Ji Hae Soo- the doctor from the television program. After living together for a time, it becomes apparent that both Jae Yeol and Hae Soo cary deep emotional scars from personal traumas in their childhoods.

Cast:

Jo In Sung (Jang Jae Yeol)

Gong Hyo Jin (Ji Hae Soo)

D.O (Han Kang Woo)

Lee Kwang Soo (Park Soo Kwang)

Sung Dong Il (Jo Dong Min)

Jin Kyung (Lee Young Jin)

Lee Sung Kyung (Oh So Nyeo)

Yang Ik Joon (Jang Jae Beom)

General Thoughts:

Well here’s a drama that will trample all over your heart- in the best kind of way. It’s the characters rather than the plot (which is minimal if existent at all) that really drives the drama along, with the interwoven relationships being the main focus of the series. The characters are constructed as an endearing bunch, their insecurities and flaws only making them more loveable and understandable- and that much easier to cheer for.

You loveable muppets

The writers did an excellent job at making a tangled mess of relationships that somehow made total sense. The true beauty of this drama is how every situation impacts every character. No one is a simple bystander in the drama- everyone is impacted by everything that happens, even if it’s as simple as having a character’s mood being brought down by another character’s sadness. The characters all interacted in a natural way in natural settings, which makes the story presented that much more believable.

Everything's fun when everyone's crazy

While the psychological aspects of the drama don’t even come close to actual science, the love created for the characters and their situations allows us to kind of forgive the less-than-scientific portions of the show. While simply wanting to overcome your mental illness doesn’t actually cure you, I was willing to believe that it was a significant form of treatment purely because my love for Jang Jae Yeol was so profound. That’s not how it really works, but if it’ll save Jae Yeol- sure, I’ll give it a pass in this series. It wasn’t only the beautiful construction of our characters that created such love, but of course the acting. Both our leads delivered stunning performances, especially Jo In Sung. The slow unravelling of Jae Yeol’s mind and world was presented beautifully by Jo In Sung- he was compelling in every scene and did wonders in portraying Jae Yeol’s damaged mind and all it’s resulting crazy. And of course, the flip side of that is D.O. Seeing as Kang Woo is a figment of Jae Yeol’s mind that represents his younger self, D.O’s acting also had a significant impact on the portrayal of Jae Yeol as a character. And boy did he do an astounding job. When it first became apparent that Kang Woo didn’t actually exist it was quite a twist- and mildly creepy. But D.O had done such a great job acting as this imaginary kid that it was hard to have no emotion for him as an individual. Also his sad face is just so sad. You feel compelled to help when D.O puts his sad face on.

These two really made the show what it was

Even though we as an audience know that Kang Woo isn’t actually real, we still feel pity for his situation and are saddened by his struggles. Which in turn makes us sad for Jae Yeol. Which makes us sad for Hae Soo. Which makes us sad for everyone else. See how all the characters are connected? While I didn’t always have a very strong grasp of Hae Soo’s character, Gong Hyo Jin is such a wonderful actress that it didn’t really matter that you don't always understand Hae Soo.

MAGIC

While at times I found her frustrating, in all the scenes that aimed to pack an emotional punch, Gong Hyo Jin was able to pull out all the stops and made us feel for her, her character, and her situation. I don’t know how- magic? The supporting cast all do a wonderful job to support our leads, and while no other characters really have story lines that are super exciting (except maybe Jae Beom), in the moments they are given on screen, they are able to deliver wonderfully likeable characters that make us care about their situation. Particularly Lee Kwang Soo, who was more adorable and likeable in this than anything I’ve seen him in before. While the music choices were questionable at times, the sweetly cheery soundtrack is enjoyable overall, as it leads you to believe our story will have a happy ending (which it did, thank God) and prevented the drama from becoming too bogged down in all it’s melo. My one small gripe is that I wished we’d got into our hero’s main story just a tad quicker, as his journey through his illness and the unravelling of his past is where the real heart of this drama lay.

A little forward momentum wouldn't have hurt anyone

I would have quite happily given up a few small arguments and a few scenes in Okinawa if it meant we would have arrived at the bulk of the series a little faster. It was just a tad frustrating to only be given the same pieces of the puzzle over and over- Kang Woo isn’t real, Jae Yeol picked up the knife, Jae Beom pulled the knife out from Step-Dad’s chest. There’s only so long we can keep being strung along with the same old tidbits.

What Was Great:

Crazy Chemistry:

Apparently Gong Hyo Jin can have amazing chemistry with anyone, because once more we have a pair of leads that sizzle. While it’s not always fireworks, the comfortable teasing and brutal honesty between Jae Yeol and Hae Soo was always enjoyable to watch.

Shh...just let it happen

It was clear that the two got on very well, and their characters offered a refreshing relationship. I’m endlessly glad that we weren’t given the cliche of Hae Soo being Jae Yeol’s psychiatrist, and that they were in a relationship before all his crazy was revealed. It added a new dynamic to the drama in that Jae Yeol’s mental illness was an unexpected complication in their relationship- Hae Soo didn’t go in with the knowledge that Jae Yeol’s trauma would become an issue in their relationship (unlike in other dramas- ‘Kill Me, Heal Me’ for example), so it was harder for her to face the realisation and deal with the consequences that came from her boyfriend’s mental instability. The way they worked together was heartwarming, and Jae Yeol’s realisation that he needed to depend on someone other than himself was heart wrenching. As was every scene involving Kang Woo leading up to Jae Yeol’s hospitalisation. 

Dysfunctional Nuthouse:

We all love dysfunctional little groups of people- and this drama gives us the most dysfunctional of them all. We all gather pretty quickly that we have an adorable little made-up family of nut-jobs on our hands, and the results are just as delightful and hilarious as we were wanting.

Even Lee Kwang Soo got some Gong Hyo Jin chemistry going

Soo Kwang and Dong Min make for an adorable pair of meddlers, and their constant support of both Hae Soo and Jae Yeol is wonderful. Soo Kwang is always there to be the comforter, and one of my favourite scenes from the whole series was when he was looking out for Jae Yeol and gently explaining what living with a mental illness is like, before Jae Yeol was aware that he was sick. Dong Min was always ready to do whatever was best for all our roommates, even if it wasn’t exactly what our roommates wanted at the time. Similarly, Jae Yeol and Hae Soo looked after the others in the house (and their partners) as best and as lovingly as they could. Dysfunctional families filled with love are just the absolute best to watch.

Dysfunctional households are way more fun in K-Drama than they are in real life

Hero’s Progression:

The handling of Jae Yeol’s character was probably as good as it could have been. He starts off as an intriguing character, with much of his personality hidden from us viewers. Then just as we think we have a grasp on who he is- Boom. He’s a schizophrenic. One of the best parts of Jae Yeol being a schizophrenic meant that he then became an unreliable narrator for us.

Cue the unrelenting heartbreak

We had believed what he saw and heard was real, so it was a kick in the guts to learn that it hadn’t been real at all. It lead us to question what else Jae Yeol had conjured up himself, and what memories of his were real, and which were fake. It kept the storyline from becoming too transparent, but also managed to avoid making Jae Yeol seem like a total psycho. Because we’d seen Kang Woo and how Jae Yeol interacted with Kang Woo, it was a little bit easier for us to be more understanding of Jae Yeol’s situation. He sees Kang Woo so clearly (and has done so for three years). As we originally thought we could see Kang Woo, it was much easier to understand how Jae Yeol would have a difficult time recognising that Kang Woo didn’t actually exist. The way Jae Yeol’s behaviour became increasingly more self-destructive helped us to gain a better understanding of our hero, and also of the situation with his family. Jae Yeol’s slow unravelling ultimately made the most sense once we had all the pieces to the puzzle, but also helped clear up why he had such an optimistic view of his brother. Because his brother had never killed anyone- and had actually gone as far as to take the fall for Jae Yeol, only to be abandoned in the end.

Our hero's journey made perfect sense

Just as Jae Yeol’s gradual descent into his hallucinations made perfect sense, his gradual acceptance was handled just as delicately. While his acceptance and beginning stages of recovery actually happened in a very short space of time drama-wise (because time-skip, guys)  it still felt earned and hard-won. Jo In Sung did a wonderful job in portraying Jae Yeol’s schizophrenic state and his battle against his own mind. 

Representation of Mental Illness:

I’m not saying that schizophrenia was depicted accurately in this series. That’s not what I’m saying at all. In fact, I’d be more inclined to say the opposite. However, what was represented well was how mental illness is treated as a whole, and all the stigma surrounding mental health.

Apparently love makes all the crazy go away

Even Hae Soo’s panic attacks during physical intimacy were used as a way to question attitudes about mental health. While Hae Soo was having such a hard time struggling against her issues, and wanted to overcome them herself just as much as her family and friends wanted her to, she was constantly being told to just get over it, just do it, and just face her problem front on.

♫Can you feel the love your-mental-health-slipping-away tonight♫

The drama commented wonderfully on how mental illness is just like physical illness, in that just because a patient or those around them want them to be healthy, it doesn’t mean they will be. You can’t wish away a flu, and you can’t wish away panic attacks. While the overall theme presented was that positive thoughts and willingness on the patient’s behalf were something that could assist in helping a patient, the drama managed to avoid saying that mental health issues can be cured completely if one chooses to ‘just get over it’. In fact, the drama went as far as to say the opposite. It was simply that just as a man with a broken leg needs to seek a doctor’s help and receive medication and a cast, a man with schizophrenia needs to seek a doctor’s help and receive medication and therapy. Same, same. The drama beautifully demonstrated that just because mental illness can’t be seen, it doesn’t mean it’s less of an illness than any physical ailment. 

What Wasn’t:

Heroine’s Progression:

While Jae Yeol’s development was handled smoothly and accurately, Hae Soo’s development was a bit all over the place. Her panic attacks and fear of intimacy were justifiable and made sense, however it did feel as though the writers chose to rush over her recovery stage. Unlike Jae Yeol, who got an in depth, detailed look in on his mental issues, Hae Soo had her issues virtually ignored.

Unfortunately, our heroine's growth is rather stunted

We were given a brief scene to see where her fear came from, and a brief scene to see where her guilt came from, and that was pretty much it. Considering that her fear of intimacy played such an important role in the way Hae Soo lived her life, the way she was presented as conquering her issues was a little weak to say the least. Yes, Jae Yeol does a great job in understanding her and trying to help her, encouraging her to live more spontaneously rather than planning and worrying- but it also felt like too much of a quick-fix. Jae Yeol convinces her to date him. Jae Yeol convinces her to sleep with him. Suddenly her panic attacks at physical intimacy aren’t such a big deal. While her actions and emotions were understandable when relating to Jae Yeol and his illness, Hae Soo’s actions were too unexplained when it came to her own issues.

How it felt waiting for Hae Soo to make a little sense

Considering that the drama opted for character development and relationships over plot, I wish our heroine had been a tad more developed. Hae Soo’s family was also a group I didn’t quite understand. They all felt too selfish and didn’t seem to be looking out for Hae Soo at all. I could have done without the disapproving Mum and Unnie plot point.

Time Skips Galore:

The first time skip was understandable as we needed to have the introduction to Jae Beom and Kang Woo, and we need time to pass after the initial introduction to get to the bulk of the story.

Oh yay, another drama using time to cure our hero's issues

The last time skip can also be deemed passable, as it was really only a fan-service to us viewers to show how everyone was doing a year later- and give as all the cute, happy scenarios we wanted for our characters. The middle time skip…I’m less convinced about. I understand that our characters had reached a point where Jae Yeol needed time to come to terms with his mental health issues and address them, however I’m not so sure Hae Soo needed to be absent for that to happen. Perhaps if things had moved  little faster in the drama’s initial stages, it would have given us time to deal with Jae Yeol’s recovery and that time skip wouldn’t have been needed. Considering how much time we had to tell the story, the final wrap-up seemed a little rushed. I’m still confused as to why it was absolutely necessary to have Hae Soo go away on her holiday. No comprende. 

Re-watch?

Probably not. While I enjoyed the story and it’s characters, it wasn’t the most fast-paced drama out there. While the slow-burn of the drama was enough to keep it going the first time around, I’m not sure it would last for a second go. 

I never thought I'd say this- but if only the melo had kicked in a bit sooner

Madame Antoine

Madame Antoine

3.5/10

Madame Antoine

Genre:                           Episodes: 16                          Year: 2016

Romance

Comedy

Synopsis:

Go Hye Rim is a divorced woman in her 30s who earns a living by running a fortune-telling cafe. While having no actual supernatural abilities, Hye Rim uses her keen senses of observation to evaluate and assist her customers. When a psychologist, Choi Soo Hyun, moves his practice to the floor above Hye Rim’s cafe, she is not pleased as customers may leave her cafe for professional counselling. Due to the animosity between the two, Choi Soo Hyun makes Hye Rim the subject in a psychological experiment he is conducting, which aims to prove that true love doesn’t exist. He has three men approach Hye Rim and attempt to woo her. Won Ji Hyo- a younger pretty-boy who works at the office, Choi Seung Chan- an athletic man and Soo Hyun’s younger brother, and Soo Hyun himself.

Cast:

Han Ye Seul (Go Hye Rim)

Sung Joon (Choi Soo Hyun)

Jinwoon (Choi Seung Chan)

Lee Joo Hyung (Won Ji Ho)

Hwang Seung Eon (Go Yoo Rim)

Jang Mi Hee (Bae Mi Ran)

General Thoughts:

It’s a flawed drama- there’s no denying it. And it’s not the kind of drama where you can overlook it’s less than ideal portions in favour of the more acceptable aspects of the drama, as the less than ideal points are the actual main points of the series. Yeah. More or less any plot that circulated our main couple was vastly unbelievable and bordered on ridiculous. And that psychology…oh my God.

Yeaaahh....it's actually kind of a lot about morals...

The support characters were all delightful and made significantly more sense than our leads. The plot does nothing and goes nowhere. Well, I lied. I suppose the plot does go round and round in circles. Sometimes even the editing was bad- choosing to end a scene with a simple fade to black as the scene continues, or even just a brutal chop- scene X end, scene Y start. This isn’t the early ‘00s guys, put some effort in.

Those boys were infinitely better than our 'hero'

The acting was pretty spot on, with our main leads and support cast all delivering convincing performances. Han Ye Seul does well as the divorcee aiming for a second shot at love, and while her character’s fiery nature seems to fall away drastically on paper, Han Ye Seul always did a fantastic job at keeping Hye Rim’s spirited personality present. Sung Joon is a star, but this series really wasn’t the best move for him. Whoever is calling the shots on what projects Sung Joon takes on may need a bit of a slap. While I personally enjoyed ‘Hyde, Jekyll, Me’, it’s no secret that it’s a show that didn’t receive a lot of love (or ratings). While ‘High Society’ did pretty well, Sung Joon unfortunately stars in a bit of a flop as far as ‘Madame Antoine’ is concerned. Basically, Sung Joon’s character (Choi Soo Hyun) was a total wanker. He was such an asshole that I actually found myself questioning if I ever really did like Sung Joon, or if it had just been an excess of dopamine in my brain. At least that goes to show that Sung Joon is a fantastic actor and played his character to perfection. While the drama did hit some of the right notes emotionally (always with the side stories, never with our leads), I tended to find myself feeling emotions that I’m not entirely sure the writers were aiming for. I absolutely loved whenever Soo hyun was having a hard time. I was filled with savage pleasure whenever he wasn’t a happy man- because I just couldn’t stand his smug little face.

Let the games begin

Also he’s a terrible psychologist- I’ve never seen anyone with that much lack of compassion. There were times I was sure the writers were aiming to create sympathy for Soo Hyun by having Hye Rim really rip him a new one- but I was  totally on her team whenever she did, and often there were times I wished she’d hurry up and blow her top at him. The awful truth is- I didn’t ship our main couple together, and when I watch a rom-com, I really need to ship the main couple together to get any sense of enjoyment. 

What Was Great:

The Idea:

Everything behind the premise of this drama is fantastic. A head-to-head battle of a psychologist and a fake fortune-teller. It sounds awesome, and the brief glimpses we got of it were awesome.

It sounds fun, but it's really kinda not

The few scenes near the start of this drama that had Hye Rim and Soo Hyun in silent battles as they each tried to read each other’s body language was fantastic. It was interesting to have someone who was professionally trained to make judgements about a person’s mental state go up against a woman with keen observation who used her skills every day to help her customers. It was a great way to have Soo Hyun’s confidence shaken up a bit, and it was particularly delicious whenever Hye Rim actually one-upped him simply because she cared more about a patient's feelings than Soo Hyun. Who only cared about the cold, hard facts. And the idea behind the psychological experiment was interesting too. Although it’s not necessarily the most original set-up (one heroine pursued by three differing, unique men), the fact that none of these men originally had feelings before pursuing the heroine added in a different enough feel. And as long as you make the men interesting and unique enough, who really gives a rip if your set-up isn’t the most original idea out? But sadly, even this idea becomes bogged down pretty quickly. Because obviously all the guys fall for the heroine for realsies pretty quickly. And surprisingly, she also falls for one of the men pretty quickly. Which pretty quickly rules out any sort of contest. Which sucks, as Soo Hyun was most likeable and funny when he was losing and unable to comprehend why.

He was a giant ass when he was winning

Originally, it seemed as though Hye Rim was gong to upset all beliefs on women that Soo Hyun had ever held, but all too rapidly she became the typical, predictable woman Soo Hyun expected her to be. How boring.

2AM:

Jinwoon totally steals the show. It’s been a while since I’ve watched him on screen in anything (2011…eep!), but he’s become a total babe. 100% pure studmuffin. And him acting as Seung Chan is just intoxicating to watch. He’s basically every girl’s dream man. Handsome, sensitive and caring.

I'd choose him. I'd choose him a thousand times

Which makes it that much more unbelievable that the girl he was pursuing fell for his emotionless asshat of a brother. I know which one I (and every other girl but Hye Rim) would choose. To go along with Jinwoon’s excellence, we have the most endearing of the show’s three relationships. Obviously I’m not a fan of the main pairing, and while the Ji Ho/Yoo Rim couple was hilarious and sweet, it was Seung Chan’s pure relationship with Doctor Bae that completely stole the show. The most logical thing in this whole drama is that this woman fell for Seung Chan even though she was at least 30 years his senior. Because who wouldn’t harbour a little crush on a spunky young man who treated you that well? Especially when you could drop dead in the next few months. What really tugged on the heartstrings was how undemanding the love between these two people was. Doctor Bae was content to quietly love Seung Chan without ever letting him know- simply enjoying their time together and experiencing how happy his presence made her. Similarly, Seung Chan simply loved Doctor Bae’s company. In her he found a companion and a confident, a mentor and a soulmate.

I'd never thought lip-syncing to Queen could be adorable and sexy- but there you go

One of the things the writers did best in the whole drama was choosing to not pigeonhole this relationship into a romantic one. The feelings between the two are very simple and very pure, and is a wonderful point of difference in a drama that is so filled with complicated, misunderstood relationships. The final moment that guaranteed that Seung Chan was my favourite man is this series was the way he accepted Doctor Bae’s feelings. He didn’t reciprocate, and he was uncomfortable at first, but his decision to continue to be her close friend was beautifully satisfying.

What Wasn’t:

Every Male but Our Male Lead Syndrome:

Every man in this drama was better than our leading male. He’s just not that likeable.

Not off to a great start

Any man who conducts an experiment on the woman he supposedly loves and lies to her for 4 months is not a stand-up guy in my books. And it’s not even the fact that he does this one experiment- I think Soo Hyun ends up lying to Hye Rim about three times in the drama about whether the experiment was over or not (which tended to get a tad confusing when Hye Rim started catching on about the real experiment). The complete downside of Ji Ho and Seung Chan being so loveable was that compared to these two adorable boys, Soo Hyun really looked like poop. I was kind of hoping that the drama would wrap up with Hye Rim learning that selflessly forgiving someone in the name of ‘true love’ was a stupid thing to do, and that she would move on and find some better guy who loved her properly for who she was. Because I never found myself believing that Soo Hyun ever did. 

These guys, on the other hand, were adorably sincere

Terrible Psychology:

I can almost guarantee you that they did not consult an actual psychologist before the making of this drama. Because the psychology presented in this drama is laughably bad. There’s not a chance in hell that an experiment like that would be given the all-clear by an ethics committee.

It's a lie. If this drama is based on real psychology then I'm a potato.

The scientific knowledge that would be gained out of an experiment like that would in no way equal or surpass the emotional suffering inflicted on the participants . Boom- experiment request denied. Also, there’s no chance in hell that the experiment results would get published in any self-respecting psychological journal. The experiment would need to be carried out on far more than two or three participants in order to gather enough evidence to support any form of hypothesis. Like waaaaaaay more participants. Not only that, but Soo Hyun was blatantly manipulating the results. From the moment Hye Rim caught a whiff of the actual experiment, he was changing conditions and participants and methods left, right, and centre. Not to mention that he was actually participating in the experiment while also maintaining his role as an ‘unbiased’ observer. If a research article like that was actually written and published, that psychologist would get laughed right out of his job. Just sayin’. On a different note, I appreciated that our heroine’s abilities came from observation rather than some supernatural power. However, it was disappointing that this skill of hers became redundant so early on.

No honey, you'd seriously have to be a psycho to believe him

Hye Rim went from a character who was able to challenge Soo Hyun in his own field and read his body language against his will, to a girl that had no confidence in her abilities and relied on Soo Hyun's professionalism for every darn thing. Her ability to withstand Soo Hyun’s own observations also went down the tubes pretty fast. By about episode 3 or 4 she was basically just a barista. 

Least Convincing Love-Line Ever:

The main pairing sucked. There is no way they would have been able to work through all their issues. Even if we ignore Soo Hyun’s actual inability to give or receive love, there’s the fact that he’s lied and deceived Hye Rim the entire time she’s known him. Not exactly the basis for a strong relationship.

I DON'T BELIEVE YOU

I also didn’t appreciate the way that Hye Rim was roped back into the relationship after she’d decided to leave. Her Cinderella Strategy may have been brutal, but it was an effective way to show Soo Hyun how he’d been treating her and how she’d felt as a result. I was completely on board when she packed her things and left- because Soo Hyun had been continually dishonest with her for a whole four months while she provided him with every opportunity to come clean.

I found this scene way more enjoyable than I was probably supposed to

But then Soo Hyun nearly jumps off a roof and Doctor Bae tells Hye Rim that it’s her fault and her responsibility. Yeah, not loving that. Soo Hyun’s abandonment issues and craving for love is no one’s issue but his own. While his mother abandoning him as a child definitely wasn’t his fault, Hye Rim breaking up with him completely was. BECAUSE HE WAS A TOTAL DOUCHE TO HER. And she had every right to leave a man who treated her that way. But suddenly she magically believes his sincerity because he’s all messed up after his mother returned to see him. Yeah, no. No, no, no. I’m having none of this. Every cute couple moment in this drama (except that one final confession from Soo Hyun) occurred as he was trying to win her over as a part of the experiment. There was not once in this drama where I believed Soo Hyun’s feelings for Hye Rim were sincere. Not once. Which also meant that Hye Rim came across as stupid for giving his so many chances and ultimately going back to him in the end, as he’s given her no real evidence that he’d changed at all. 

I do wish there'd been more Seung Chan awkward third-wheeling Ji Ho and Yoo Rim though

Re-watch?

No. Good love-lines and good male leads are needed in a rom-com, even if it lacks everything else. This drama had neither a convincing main couple nor an awesome leading man.

If this was real life they'd break up in another couple of months or so