Despite many positive reviews from a huge majority of viewers about how awesome this drama is and how it has managed to tug at their heartstrings,I've found that this drama has left me cold with it's execution. Now please do not get me wrong,this drama is really beautiful and the characters are actually quite intriguing(with the exception of Myungho-I really couldn't care less about him.) so I am not not going to discredit the facts. The exquisiteness of the visuals and exceptional cinematography deserves all the praise and recognition from the viewers(as proven by the recent uprise in ratings). This drama has been dominating the Wed-Thurs slot,and rightly so. I have only seen a handful of melodramas back in the early 2000s,and I've actually never managed to watch any of the dramas in it's entirety because the plot was too ridiculous for my own good. Hey I was barely a kid during the classic Korean melodramas period so I would've never gotten the ever-so-prevalent makjang elements in these dramas at that time anyway. I can still remember the birth secrets,fauxcest(seriously what is with the writers at that time huh they keep throwing this in almost in every other K-drama that I've seen in that time period)
I think this video by Bubz may give you a brief idea on some of the overused typical drama tropes at that time.
My point is that this drama feels like a reminiscence of the classic Korean dramas that started the entire Hallyu wave in the first place. Remember how insanely famous Bae Yong Joon,Song Seung Hoon(guy still can't even act to save a life),Song Hye Kyo,Won Bin,Choi Ji Woo et cetera was back then? I'm getting the very same old school vibes from TWtWB as well. The magical sparks that captivated the audience in the 2000s,I actually felt it in the first few episodes but somewhere halfway through I sorta got disconnected from the entire storyline. (I don't know why!Is it just me?)
As mentioned above,I do love the cinematography,BUT are the over the top close ups on the actors really necessary? I adored the close ups but after some time I started to find it to be quite distracting. I wanna focus on the storyline,not on how pretty and flawless your actors and actresses faces from certain angles.(Hey show,we get that this show is pretty heavy on all things pretty,we really do. I must admit that Jo In Sung DOES make suspenders look hot on him though. HEH.)
What didn't work for me: I don’t know if it’s just me being weird but I kinda stopped connecting with the characters from episode 8 onward this drama left me feeling cold. I’m still watching it because I’m still curious enough about Soo’s outcome to keep watching. He’s not a very good conman now isn't he? His cover’s blown here and there. I wonder how did he even managed to pull off the scam with Jinsung in the first episode.
I know that everyone’s been all about how this drama is awesome and all. Some were even moved to tears.
Nope,I did not even shed a single tear through eleven episodes.(I wonder if there’s something wrong with me,I feel so cold-blooded. :O) Kim Bum is so UNDERUTILIZED in this drama. I know that he's supposed to be the second male lead but seriously Noh Hee Kyung, how can you not give Jinsung's character more dimension? I feel like the side characters fall flat as they actually serve no purpose besides driving the plot forward whenever it's necessary. Hey,this problem seems familiar,no? Oh,now I remember. This problem was also present in Flower Boy Next Door too. Geez, what is with the scriptwriters these days? I totally understand that side characters aren't supposed to steal the limelight/thunder/spotlight or whatever you call it from the main characters but seriously, I hate it when the secondary leads aren't given much substance to work with,it frustrates me to no end. I've seen what Kim Bum can do and this isn't just it. He is capable of more. Yes,so much more!*fangirl pumps fists into the air* The motorbike scene was ridiculous. Really,who does their spying work in that kind of spot with such a high risk of exposure? Certainly not me. We are not THAT dense,you know,dear writer-nim. It's a shame seeing how often the Jinsung-Heesun gets thrown here and there for some occasional comic relief. I get that you don't want to overburden us viewers with all the tears,angst and conflict and whatnot but the whole random secondary OTP moments felt out of place. I want them to be together because there's a decent amount of chemistry between Kim Bum and Jung Eun Ji,I can feel it in my bones,but I don't want that part to be awkwardly integrated into the storyline,at least not like that.
This is my first Jo In Sung drama so I can't really make any comparison but I'll say that the drama watching experience was pretty much worth it since I've discovered such a charismatic gem like him though it. His screen presence is really no joke,I'm telling you. I came in solely for Kim Bum in the first place but instead I got captivated by Jo In Sung instead. I have to be honest,it was Jo In Sung's performance in the first three episodes that prompted me to continue watching this drama,I was sold. Yes,his delivery can be a little (okay maybe more than a little) over the top at times but who cares I love fawning over his super tall physique anyway.(I have a thing for tall guys)
Song Hye Kyo did a pretty decent job as Oh-Young,the rich blind heiress. For awhile,I actually forgot that she can actually see in real life (pretty believable eh?) so I have to give her props for that. I don't remember much of her from her previous works-melodramas in her early years,Full House and Worlds Within(yawn that show was so boring I couldn't even sit through an episode of it.Sorry Hyun Bin!) but I have to say that her delivery as Oh Young was her best performance yet. Okay,I've never completed any of the dramas mentioned earlier simply because none of it was good enough to merit my attention but it doesn't make my opinions less important. Jung Eun Ji is a decent actress(considering her background as an idol singer) and it's obvious that she has some raw potential in her. One downfall of her character as Heesun is that essentially it's pretty much similar to her previous role as Shiwon in Answer Me 1997 so there isn't really much breakthrough for her with Heesun. The only difference between the two,I feel, was the standard Seoul accent(I've no idea how it actually sounds like accurately since I'm no Korean) and her previous Busan accent. I still stand by what I've said earlier though,because I truly believe that with more experience under her belt throughout the evolution of time she'll definitely perform way better. She's still young so she still has plenty of time to hone her acting skills. Okay,I've only watched like two episodes of Answer Me 1997 before I dropped it(told 'ya I'm picky) so I'm merely judging her performance based on first impressions.
Confession time:
This is my first official venture into melodramas. I consider it my first melodrama since it's the first one that I've chosen to see through till the very end by choice. I usually stay away from melodramas if I can help it because I for one have never been a fan for tragic endings. In fact,I've stayed away from the famous 1 Litre of Tears J-drama for as long as I can remember simply because I cannot deal with all the crying that I'd be doing for each and every episode had I watched it. I've watched a couple of episodes from the Korean classic melodramas period during my childhood but (lucky for me!) it has always been a little bit of here and there rather than the dramas itself in its entirety. I only remember the most prominent parts from the dramas and the feels that certain scenes gave me.(Never underestimate the memory of a child!) Obviously at that time I couldn't understand why the main characters always had to either suffer from some kind of incurable disease(cancerous tumor,blindness,cancer for example) or have car accidents resulting in memory loss(amnesia). And then there's also the birth secrets(babies being swapped at birth,anyone?) plus fauxcest and oh-so-complicated love triangle(or is it rectangle ) to look out for. There's too many makjang drama tropes for me to list out one by one but I'm sure that you get what I mean. My exposure to Korean melodramas back when I was young wasn't by choice,but rather because the broadcasting stations in my country kept broadcasting it.(It was the IT thing at that time apparently. My elder sister was a HUGE fan of K-dramas back then.) Remember the times where people used to rent CDs from the rental stores? That's what my sister did. She rented lots of Hong Kong TVB dramas(too many for me too count) and also a couple of super famous K-dramas at that time. I can't remember the titles for those dramas but somehow one drama particularly stood out to me. It was Love Story in Harvard (That was my first exposure to Kim Tae Hee and Kim Rae Won) Goodness gracious,the English in it was atrocious! Seriously,Koreans whose first language isn't English should be prohibited from speaking it in dramas. Nothing puts me off like crappy English pronunciations.
Anyway,I digress. This post was supposed to be about TWtWB and my drama slump in the first place.
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FACT : It is indeed the best one out of the current batch for the Wed-Thurs slot though.
I feel like I'm being all mean and nitpicky like some unreasonable ex-girlfriend. But really,for a first melodrama,it's not half bad at all. In fact,it way surpasses most of the try-too-hard makjang melodramas that the market is trying to sell these days.(I'm looking at you,I Miss You!) In fact,I can name so many more melodramas that are way crappier than this drama. I think this drama has achieved quite a feat. I can confidently say that this drama's way gripping and intense than Nice Guy(a.k.a The Innocent Man). At least it made narrative sense,and the characters aren't too out of the world ridiculous. One of the best things in a Noh Hee Kyung drama is that you can always count on good,insightful dialogues that makes you think. If you compare the lines for the two dramas,it is evident that Noh Hee Kyung is the better writer(At least,that's how it seemed to me). So yes,I'd say that TWtWB trumps over Nice Guy. At the moment I'm still not sure whether this drama is good enough to warrant a second watch (that privilege is only given to a select few that I've truly enjoyed-I'll elaborate more on that next time!) but I guess only time will tell. It depends on whether the writer is capable of giving me an ending that feels genuinely satisfactory.
I'm still not very sure about how I feel about this drama,so far it's been a mixed bag for me.Well it IS a melodrama after all,and there’s still 5 more episodes to go so we’ll see if my tears will eventually fall then. If they’re killing off any one of the character and leaving the other to be alone I’d probably be pretty devastated(although I have a strong feeling that they might embark on this route given the strong sense of foreboding in Soo’s narration of certain scenes). The way I see it,is that they either let they both live,or let them both die. Who knows,I might feel indifferent towards this drama after awhile and end up not caring about the outcome of the OTP at all.
Oh. About my drama slump. I can't seem to watch anything else besides TWtWB. I've tried! I tried watching five of the current airing J-dramas one mainland C-drama and three current airing K-dramas but somehow none of them stuck with me. I've completed lost the spark and urge to watch K-dramas. The current batch of dramas is too meh for me. Ish. The reason why I'm still watching TWtWB is because I've gone too far to stop now. I just have this urge to complete a melodrama for once for the sake of experience. HA. I've had a few close calls to dropping it but somehow my curiosity for Soo won out (for now).
I've been thinking of doing some analysis on drama OSTs perhaps on how well it actually compliments the drama itself but I'm still pretty unsure about it. Or maybe I can do another segment of Underrated Gems,or perhaps a post on K-indie music that I've discovered lately. Or should I write about something drama-related? What do you think? I'm not sure about drama reviews since my vocabulary glossary isn't exactly vast (it is quite limited and I don't really know a lot of bombastic words) so I'm worried that I'll run out of words to describe a particular scene. I actually think that this is the closest that I can get to writing a drama review. Hmm. It's not entirely impossible but it really depends on how much vibes I actually get from the particular drama itself (i.e. how strong is my urge to write/spaz about it).
It would mean to world to me if you can just take part in the poll. :)
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Hiyaaa. Bring it on y'all,I won't bite. Nothing vulgar and profane pleaseee. :)