This drama actually started a week before the batch of three new Wednesday/Thursday dramas and thus has the most number of episodes aired, but I am only reviewing now because I am a big lump o’ lazy.
To be honest, I am still a little confused by this entire cast. Siwon, yes I understand his appeal individually. Chae Rim, yes I understand her appeal individually. But Siwon together with Chae Rim? And then Park Han Byul on top? And then a side of Lee Hyun Woo? What in the what what the what?
Summary of episodes 1 through 6
THE CHARACTERS
Yoon Gae Hwa is our single mother who has no steady job until she scores work as a housemaid. She struggles raising a child with an unsteady source of income, which causes her much distress. On top of that is her deadbeat and selfish ex-husband, who really doesn’t pull his weight with any work that goes into raising a child. But, Gae Hwa is super hardworking and determined, and will bust some chops to get done what she needs to.
Sung Min Woo is our pretty boy actor who can’t act. (So apt in Kpop!) He’s gotten by mostly on his looks alone, because everyone knows he can’t act. He even knows he can’t act. But he’s been able to stay afloat with a pretty smile and a good body, and maybe because of a slightlymean and ruthless manager.
Yoo Si Joon is the owner of The Show Company, which is a production company that puts together shows and musicals. He is like..a tree — stoic and wooden. And unbelievably boring at the moment. Oh, and he has a wife that cheats on him.
Hong Yoo Ra is the childhood/high school crush of Min Woo who wants to use Min Woo’s current stardom to buoy her fashion campaign. She’s kindasomewhatmaybe interested in Min Woo in a romantic way, but at the moment she’s trying to earn his good favor for business purposes. I’m still drawing a little question mark about this character at the moment because I’m not exactly sure where we’re headed with her.
THE SITUATION
A little girl named Ye Eun shows up one day and we’re told that she’s Sung Min Woo’s daughter. We don’t know who the mother of the child is, but the little girl has nowhere to go unless Min Woo takes her in. Obviously, our hot playboy who lives a carefree life of luxury is completely against taking in a little girl that someone “claims” to be his. Since this problem presented itself, Gae Hwa has been against Min Woo abandoning Ye Eun. As a single mother with a deadbeat husband, she empathizes with a child who doesn’t have a stable family, and she can’t out of clear conscience not do anything about it. She uses her status as housemaid to leverage whatever she can out of Min Woo.
There’s also the little thing of getting Min Woo to be a better actor. This is not a very obvious “task” in the drama, but we see from Gae Hwa’s interactions with Min Woo that she truly wants him to be better at his craft, and that it makes her feel bad when other people badmouth him. We see that Min Woo is also obviously affected when he hears people talking badly behind his back, but he’s not as driven as Gae Hwa is to be better.
THE CONFLICT
A hot super star with a bajillion tween fangirls who now has a secret daughter. Whose mom’s identity is unknown. A housemaid who lives in the house and takes care of the said girl, while taking care of her own daughter on the side.
The conflict, is it not obvious?
MY VERDICT
These faces are strangely appropriate for how I feel about this drama.
Okay so Siwon is not as strong as I expected him to be. I think he’s got most of the comedic stuff down, but his dramatic performances are inconsistent. When he has to act sad, I feel like I’m watching him perform in a music video, where spurts of over-dramatizing is okay. He tends to overact and smirk a liiiiiittle bit too much. But still, I’m enjoying his performance and it’s a lot better than anything I’ve seen other idol members attempt.
Chae Rim really annoys me in this. Like I said in an earlier post, I’ve never been a huge Chae Rim fan, but her character is overdramatic and if there’s one thing I absolutely can’t stand in K-dramas, it’s over-dramatizing. I’ll deal with the angst and the illogical love lines but I hate people who overdo it.
I don’t really feel any chemistry between Siwon and Chae Rim. So on top of some not-so-hot leads, I also feel nada for the other half of the cast. This is problematic.
I think my ultimate problem with this drama so far is how the whole idea of motherhood is going to play into the conflict. Yoon Gae Hwa is going to transform into this beautiful creature in Min Woo’s eyes because of her meticulousness, understanding, and caregiving nature as a mother. We already see it happening. There are going to be situations in which Gae Hwa is a victim because of the derision that she might face for being a working single mother, or her age is going to be looked down upon, or something related to her femininity, and Min Woo will have to jump in to defend her honor. It just feels contrived.
These characteristics are not unique to this drama per se, but on top of cliches, we get a cast that doesn’t feel like they complement each other nicely, and a good cast is so crucial when other aspects of a drama seem lacking.
Posted in: asian pop culture - film/television | Tags: Choi Siwon, Korean dramas, Oh! My Lady/오! 마이 레이디, recaps
2 comments for this post.
April 15, 2010, at 5:18 pm
I would have to disagree – for some reason I’m really enjoying this drama, its not exactly deep and yeah we’ve seen many of the characters before, better in other drama’s too and I don’t find myself chomping at the bit whilst waiting for the next episode each week, yet I’m utterly charmed by it.
I do look forward to it each week, I personally have been enjoying the interaction between Gae Hwa & Minwoo, intrigued – plus this is my first intro to Choi Siwon who is extremely hot, I do miss his topless body which I was treated to each week for the first six episodes (have I just lost all integrity? honestly this is not why I tune in each week)….
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September 10, 2010, at 6:18 pm
this drama sucked balls!
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