The Great Seducer (2018)

I love the story this Kdrama tells. This is the first that I've come across that tells this type of story regarding close friendships and a close-knit storyline. The writers capture what growing up together in the same city and in the same neighborhood. These friendships can tear each other apart by jealousy and deceit for sure. All the secrets and games one pulls off in friendship. Woo Do-Hwan and Joy did awesomely and the chemistry was there. In matter of fact, all the cast did well. The emotions were driving me crazy! I'm glad that it ended well so thank you screen writers.

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Firstly I had zero expectations and bias going into it. From the promotions it was portrayed as very dark and sexy but it soon became much brighter and romantic which is what made some viewers disappointed and led to their bad reviews. I'm not sure why else anyone would rated it lower than 5/10 even if it's not their style. There's nothing particularly bad about it. I recommend watching it if you love romance since if you are in it for the intrigue then you will get bored quickly. To me this drama's like those old romance chaebol ones but the female lead isn't annoying and people are more realistic. I think Lovely's review was really accurate and she already put my thoughts into words.

In essence it's about crazy rich people playing crazy rich people games. However it's a lot more romance focused than I expected. I feel like they could've done more crazy games since that's what it was advertised as and was what made it unique. But keep in mind this is a Korean drama adaption. So it's more innocent than how the book probably is. Although it's lacking in crazy future mother-in-laws, it's got all the crazy twists, turns and links of rich people in old Korean dramas. While it does have a strong focus on family and friend relationships it's done in a different feel to most Korean dramas. Most importantly it's got what I love about Korean dramas and that's character development. More than any real plot or story it's a slow unfolding of the characters and how they change and grow.

The acting was pretty good, especially considering the main cast are all young, rookie actors. I already knew Kim Min-jae is good. Joy's improved since her last drama, she had no faults in this one so I'm not sure what the complaints are about. I'd never heard or seen Woo Do-hyun before but he was a really good surprise. He outshined Kim Min-jae and I'm looking forward to his future works. Moon Ga-young was the weakest out of the four main leads for me. Her stare was too blank sometimes but it's hard to play a 2D angsty tantrum thrower for long periods of time. I won't go into the supporting cast but they were mostly fine. Rather than the acting the characters and script were a bit weak, especially outside the main leads, but not so much that it deserves such low ratings.

I'm not sure why people didn't like Eun Tae-hee, Joy's acting or Woo Do-hyun's acting. Eun Tae-hee was less annoying than 95% of Korean drama female leads in my opinion. She was independent, believed in herself, those around her, and in her decisions. If we are going to talk about annoying characters I would name tantrum-throwing, self-centred Choi Soo-ji who lives in a woe-is-me world. Also it's been a while since I squealed at the cuteness of a couple, they were utterly adorable, romantic, and probably in the top 5 couples I've shipped in recent years. I've found my couple squealing to be stale of late so it's quite impressive.

Overall it was very angsty, somewhat sweet, and I love the main couple. They were really cute and mature in the handling of their relationship. I was strongly rooting for them the whole time. The script and direction could've been developed more to make it a better drama. It wasn't plot driven either so I understand some people find that boring and the angst frustrating. Another thing to note is I skip parts of dramas all the time, usually the old crazy people parts, and this drama wasn't an exception to that. It wasn't perfect but what was good was great and I don't believe it deserves the negative criticism it seems to be receiving. Especially the amount of criticism on the main cast which was the best aspect.

Quote: What's so great about men? It's not like you die if you don't date. - Eun Tae-hee

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The male lead is hot, but...

I did not like this drama because of the storyline. I felt it was a bit too cruel, so I dropped it after watching about 6 or 7 episodes. However, the acting was on point, the production was great, and even the script was pretty good. I just don't enjoy watching rich traumatized teens/young adults intentionally try to destroy someone else's life that did nothing to them.

Not my cup of tea...

Woo Do Hwan is FINE!!!!!
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This is like a more cruel version of the American movie, Cruel Intentions.
This is like a more cruel version of the American movie, Cruel Intentions.
This is like a more cruel version of the American movie, Cruel Intentions.
This is like a more cruel version of the American movie, Cruel Intentions.
This is like a more cruel version of the American movie, Cruel Intentions.
This is like a more cruel version of the American movie, Cruel Intentions.

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Pointless and senseless plot

After watching a great drama wherein I liked all the characters, this one was the total opposite.

First off, the rich kids irked me. I like the second male lead in Dr. Romantic. But here, his acting was just over the top. Even the girl from True Beauty was over the top.

Secondly, the story itself. How shallow can one get that they would just hurt someone because of a bet??? Seriously, is it even believable that these kids have sooooo much time on their hands that they can afford to do this???

Lastly, the female lead was pretty. At first I though she had a stronger character and would not fall for the sweet lines of the male lead. But, turned out she fell too easily. She was also acting as if they were already a couple even with just a few interactions.

All in all, for me, a waste of time and talent

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Tempted is a Dumpster Fire Show

This will be a review mostly discussing my take on the show - It will be a rant!!

Honestly, I have never written a review on this website before but I feel like I have to talk about how much this drama pained me to watch. I really enjoyed the beginning, it was decent. Nothing too bad or good but I was hooked on the idea. However, as I continued watching through this show, it was getting worse by the episode and I only watched four of them! Really says a lot. The idea of this scandalous life between corporate heirs and families interested me but what made me turn my head against this show was the writing of the main female lead's writing. She was not introduced at all until everything began unfolding and how she was related to the story which is a terrible thing to do if you are writing ANYTHING. I'm not even that much of a critique in story writing but even I can tell when the character writing and timing is this bad. At first, I thought she was just a side character who was going to have MINIMUM relevancy to the story. This thought is for good reason though because the first time we see her is as an actual side character's friend. It really felt like a 'Y/N wattpad' moment as she got more involved in the story throughout the episodes. Apart from that, her character in general is absolute garbage. Her character is so plain and boring, there is nothing really that lets the audience relate to her in any way or even like. Because we never get this audience to character connecting introduction of the main character in the beginning of the show, I was rooting for the supposed rival character because she was introduced FIRST and had way more depth than that sorry main lead could ever have. In conclusion, this show disappointed me because I thought it was actually going to be something good but even I could write something better than this shitshow and the main male lead will probably end up with the plain-jane good-at-everything character rather than the girlboss. Actually, they should all end up with family therapy course sessions.

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...

I didn't read the plot and thought Moon Ga Young was the FML. Because the first few episodes were mainly focused on those three friends. I mean I thought this drama was about friends who end up falling in love with each other (not gonna lie but I was hoping that there would be some kind of love triangle between the friends). So the overall point is: imma stop watching the drama and resume when I feel like it. I'm not tryna say it was bad I'm just saying it's good. But seeing how some reviews say that you get like mixed emotions watching it, I'll stop for now because I don't think my immature mind can take these emotions. Because if it makes me want another season ill be devastated (when I find out later) that there is no 2nd season imma lose my mind. Or (after finding out about the no second season) if it makes me feel like the ending wasn't satisfactory and end up having "After Drama Depression" then wishing I never resumed it. Then yeah I'll say that I would pretty much stop before I get too into it (yup I'm that kind of drama fan). So someone please reply to me if it's the type of drama that gives you After Drama Depression...

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For ppl who love gossip girl and riverdale probably not bad

I didn't get super far into it before I dropped this. (I am very picky tho, and drop a lot of things quickly, so take that as you will.)

Here are some of my observations along the way.

Pro:
- I really liked Moon Gayoung and Joy in this.
- I liked how much of a b*tch Suji was, but not only in a bad way. She stood up for her friends and for classmates. There was an altruism to he bitchiness. I liked it.
- I love the source material. I'm a big fan of Dangerous Liasons (the book) and I'm always happy to see new adaptations of it.

Con:
- After the fifth rich kid main character had a fight with their parents I thought it really was a bit much. Not a single one of them has a decent parent? Come on... Also, the reasons for which Suji hates her mother are unclear to me (maybe they're gonna be explained later on, but since for the others reasons were given immediately, I wasn't betting on it.)
- What happened between Suji and the art teacher was not quite clear to me. I seemed like he reciprocated her feelings (yikes) but then was found out and fired? That's how that scene read to me. But in that case I don't understand why Suji held a grudge against him for four years to the point where she wanted to humiliate him at the graduation ceremony...
- Taehee's fight with her mother was unrealistic to me. She seemed like a nice girl, so for her to confront her mother and kick her out of her life when she was clearly trying to make amends because her mother didn't much call when Taehee and her dad lived in Europe? It just felt psychologically unrealistic to me since Taehee wasn't otherwise shown as confrontational and also, that's just not how most children behave towards distant (but obviously well-meaning) parents. It felt like drama for the sake of drama.
- The mother who's a model seemed to have extremely low self-esteem for what she is. She looked really good, I didn't have a problem believing she was actually a model bc of that but instead to me the problem was her body language. She was slouching all the time, she cried in public, she was a doormat when others talked down to her. I just felt a supermodel (who's prob been in the industry for over 20 years at that point) would know better. But instead she was standing in front of a 20 year old, twiddling her thumbs, looking down at her own feet, slouching, while whining to him how her daughter doesn't love her. Just very weird acting choice. Or maybe directorial vision? I don't know.
- Speaking of the model mama: All the age gap relationships (and non-relationships) made me a little uncomfy. Especially since so far into the story nobody even acknowledged that they're weird.

Neutral:
- It felt kinda steamy for a kdrama, which in turn made it feel kinda like an american show like gossip girl or riverdale (hence the comparison in the title). I don't think this is neither good nor bad so I gave it it's own category :)

Overall I did enjoy this show, but the drama felt too unrealistic and forced for me to continue. Would love to see Suji take revenge on even more people tho, so who knows, I might actually pick it up again at some point.

And that's my two cents!

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