To Watch:
DramaFever
Cast:
Kim Da Som as Oh In Young
Go Doo Shim as Yang Choon Ja
Ryu Soo Young as Cha Myung Suk
Kwak Hee Sung as Cha Dong Suk, Choon Ja’s second son
Kim Yoon Seo as Kim Se Mi, Choon Ja’s second daughter-in-law
Kim Sung Hwan as Cha Il Goo, Choon Ja’s husband
Park Woong as Cha Joo Bok, Choon Ja’s father-in-law
Son Eun Seo as Cha Young Ah, Choonja’s daughter
Ki Tae Young as Kang Jun Su, Choong Ja’s son-in-law
Kim Bo Yun as Jang Mi Hee, Jun Su’s mother
Baek Ok Dam as Lee Ha Ji
Genre:
Comedy, Romance, Family
Plot:
Oh In Young is the leader of a fading idol group. As a result of her dropping popularity and overall performance, the CEO of the entertainment company Kang Jun Su gives her one last chance to recover. He sends her to Yang Choon Ja’s home to film a reality TV show about being the “Daughter-in-law” of the family. Initially Oh In Young despises her fake “Mother-in-law” with a vengeance and tries to quit, but her desire to remain in the entertainment industry keeps pushing her on. Choon Ja does not get along with her fake “Daughter-in-law” as well. She constantly gives her a hard time and can never see her as the wife to her eldest son, Cha Myung Suk. The story also follows the ups and downs of the other family members of the household including Choon Ja’s father, daughter, and son.
What happens when In Young and Myung Suk begin to develop feelings for each other? What will happen when these warm feelings of having a family hit In Young at the core?
Review:
The drama was very short and sweet. It was very formulaic and predictable but I had a lot of fun watching it none-the-less. I’m normally not one to finish comedies, but I think this drama had a good balance of drama and humor to keep me engrossed. Even though In Young and Myung Suk and Choon Ja had a lot of the camera time, I felt like the creators of the drama spent a good amount of time covering the stories of the side members of the family, almost as intensely as a daily drama would. For the most part I focused on the main story line so I had skipped over some of the side story lines as I did not find them that interesting and sometimes almost weird.
To be honest I’m not certain that this was a great drama, but I sure had a great time watching it. I won’t say the acting was spectacular, but I was really loving Kim Da Som’s performance. She had a really great all around character and she rose from adversity into the entertainment industry (and you all might know by now I’m a sucker for strong-willed female leads). Throughout the drama we really see her true character through her interactions with the other family members. It’s so touching because she really cares about the people and she really loves Myung Suk. She is always genuine and even though she isn’t the smartest girl on the block, she has a high level of empathy and she is also a talented taster. I would have loved to see that point developed more in the drama as opposed to showing more side stories. I wouldn’t have minded at all if they had run the 12 episodes into 16 episodes.
The other characters in the drama all did a great job. The story line with Jang Mi Hee just got plain weird and a little scary. They took “Momma’s boy” to an extreme. Thankfully that plot line got resolved otherwise I would have had a bruise on my forehead. I wasn’t impressed by Ryu Soo Young’s performance. He played the typical nice guy eldest son mama’s boy with a nerdy twist, but he actually didn’t seem very nerdy beyond the fact that he loved to spew math references all the time, which I don’t think is normal for math geniuses. They are usually more introverted but I guess the professor part explained that.
Overall it was Da Som who sold the show. I loved watching her. She had a very human side to her and yet she was full of genuine compassion and always said what was on her mind. If you want a quick drama to skim through, I would definitely recommend this one. If you usually like to watch the whole thing through, there might be a lot of formulaic story line to muddle through. The show definitely started off a little quirky and more comedic, but as it progressed it got increasingly more serious and meaningful.
Rating:
4.0/5.0
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