The Great Seducer (2018)

I'll begin by saying that I had no previous expectations from this drama (i.e: I haven't seen previous adaptations of Dangerous Liaisons, nor did I have any formed ideas of any of the actors. This was my first time seeing most of them in a drama, save for Woo Do Hwan, who convinced me to start this.) so I hope to give an unbiased review here.

I admit that I went in expecting a darker drama (given the background of the original source material and how it ended, from what I'd read up on), even if it was stated to only be a loose adaptation. About halfway into the drama, I figured that wasn't going to be the case but the possibility still remained for them to incorporate a more sinister twist towards the end. Again, that proved to be quickly debunked too, but it would've perhaps been for the worse if they'd tried to angle it that way, given the quality of the writing and directing on the whole.

It was neither a good or bad thing as such but I wasn't sure what to think for most of the drama. There was definitely a lot of potential, but poor execution on the whole. The editing was very notably sloppy and the way the scenes transitioned from one to another felt very jarring and distracting on numerous occasions, detracting from whatever mood they intended to convey at the time. I don't think I've ever witnessed such messy editing in a long time.

On the whole, it felt very backwards and forwards both in terms of the plot going around in circles both in terms of the background/side plot with the parents, but they still succeeded in keeping me somewhat interested, so kudos for that I guess? Another thing to note was that I got frustrated a lot while watching this drama (which is again both a good and bad thing) likely due to a combination of the poor writing/editing and the execution, in addition to some of the characters - I honestly don't think I can say there's a single character in this drama who I haven't gotten annoyed at during some point in this drama and not wanted to yell at while watching this, haha. (I think only Hye Jung and her boyfriend are safe). But that goes to show that the actors delivered for the most part - Moon Ga Young stood out to me in particular, as did Woo Do Hwan and Kim Min Jae. The main trio really did shine in their roles, and really made you feel a whole range of... emotions aimed at their characters, depending on the point in the plot or the scene. Kim Min Jae in particular really took me by surprise.

Regarding the main actors, people are definitely too quick to hate on Joy and the majority are being overly critical. I don't have very high expectations of idol actors in general and this was the first drama I've seen her in, and while her acting was definitely not outstanding or particularly great, I'd at least say it was passable and didn't detract from the drama in the slightest. I agree the drama was a mess, but she's definitely not the main culprit for it and not solely the one who should be dragged down for it - blame the writers and production team too, not only the actors.

The chemistry between the main couple was a bit hit and miss for me. In certain scenes, I felt it was pretty solid, but in others not so much - however, I think a lot of that has to do with the way it was added in, for example, when it was fluffy romance that didn't really contribute much to the plot, I could feel myself getting a little bored. I can see what they were trying to go for, but I don't think it worked as well in some scenes than others.

Music: The music added a nice touch but didn't really stand out to me too much, save for maybe one or two tracks, though I appreciated the cello music tying in with Soo Ji as a character and also giving a kind of classy touch that suited our rich main characters well enough.

Ending: I won't spoil, but I definitely felt the ending was rushed and unrealistic, had too many loose plot points that didn't wrap up properly and weren't addressed. The writing and tone of the drama overall continued to be messy and that unfortunately meant that they left themselves with too much to work with for the ending, so it felt rather lazy and poorly constructed on the whole. I guess they at least remained consistent with that one.

Overall verdict? This is by no means a masterpiece, but if you're willing to let yourself be entertained, frustrated and see Woo Do Hwan on screen, then maybe, just maybe give this a chance. I've definitely seen a lot of better dramas, but this isn't as bad as many people are making it out to be.

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The writers are solely responsible for flubbing with this drama. It had great potential but they rummaged the plot with meaningless portrayal of emotions of four main characters.

Initially it started with planning inane revenge of three cosseted children, who had so much idle time that they couldn’t come up with anything better to do. When people are struggling with responsibilities and hardships in their lives, these people were feeding their inner frustrations with some childish game.

As they say, “An idle brain is the devil’s workshop”. People who have nothing worthwhile to think about will usually think of something bad to do. Apparently they got entangled in their own little play and everything comes as a real bash. Each of them started to realize their true feelings for one another, one of them fell in love with the person they tried to victimize which in turn tore apart the friendship among three mollycoddled rich brats.

This is the main theme along with some besmirched parental stories as a backup. Already disarrayed family life of these four young people exacerbated by one of the rich girl’s depraved mind.

Dwindling familial relationship, despicable friendship, betrayed romance and hence dismayed social life of all the characters depicted in this drama are apparently made it runty. What I thought would be a great drama which would show the web of complex emotions among human being ended up completely being meaningless commotion among pampered rich kids. Dealing with their own emotions, both interpersonal and intrapersonal relationships, interactions with their surroundings, apparently what I thought would be the main highlight. There’s no such thing and no character growth whatsoever.

Alas! Such high thought I had for this drama. Utter disappointment.

Well to be very honest, the only thing that keeps me going with this drama without dropping it midway is the four beautiful faces and their charming smiles, especially, Woo Do Hwan and Moon Ga Young. Woo Do Hwan’s sexy, alluring smile which makes his eyes crescent shaped, his handsomeness and his hypnotic husky voice are irresistible and Moon Ga Young’s gracefulness, elegance, beauty and ingenuous smile just took my breath away.

Thoughts on four actors who played main roles:
1. Woo Do Hwan – good actor, more suited or can show his skill more in negative roles. Any sort of intense role would suit him more.
2. Moon Ga Young – has good acting skill and will be grabbing more challenging roles in the future I hope. She has grace and pure beauty.
3. Kim Min Jae – very good actor and has promising future ahead. He already has many on his plates.
4. Joy – still needs to study a lot on acting. She has long way to go. Only the idol tag and pretty face won’t do much justice to her acting career in the long run. The competition is savage in the drama industry.

The veteran actors and the other young people on the supporting role displayed satisfactorily much better performances.

All said this drama like many other dramas had good potential but turned up to be a huge failure at least for me. Mainly the last four episodes were ultra disappointing.

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Hello everyone! I hope you all are having a good day/night! Now if your a person who wants to watch this but not so sure, then you came to the right place!
First off, this drama is one of my top favorites! In my opinion, the storyline was perfectly well made, I know a lot of people have gotten confused about it, which is normal. This is a type of drama where there is a lot of drama, action, excitement and some love. If you read romance books then this is perfect for you. As a writer myself, I found this just perfect, amazing! I fell in love with this drama and because summer is coming so soon; I plan to rewatch this drama all over again which I do rarely. When people recently ask me a good show the first thing that put up in my head is this one! This drama has this some kind of chemistry and attraction to it that just gets you hooked really. Now as for the music, I think they could have done it little better. I am a big fan when it comes to Kdrama music, my ears are always open when it comes to there music. I just love it when they put good music with it, it makes everything way better in my opinion. Well I am trying to keep this short so, an overall view I give it a 10!

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So the drama ended today and I finished watching it. I am so disappointed in the drama, the plot is whack and frustrating.

Story/Plot: I thought the story was supposed to be based on ''Cruel Intention'' I couldn't find anything alike in this drama. The storyline is so frustrating and annoying plus disappointing at the same time. The Writer wrote the script badly I can't even deal with it. I finished the because of Kim Min Jae and Moon Ga Young. Especially when the writer decided to end the drama with a happy ending felt rushed to me and doesn't make any sense.

Acting/Casting: The greatest mistake with this drama is casting an idol to play the role of Eun Tae Hee - (Park So Young9(Joy) really made the drama more frustrating. Her acting really made me puke, I had to skip most unnecessary scenes.WOO DO HWAN really nailed his role as Kwon Shi Won but the script couldn't showcase more of his acting and his costar really made is acting look inexperienced. MOON GA YOUNG did so well with portraying her character as Choi Soo Ji she acted the role so well you hated her for acting out her role. She really made the drama nicer with her body language and her eyes. Her eyes spoke millions of words. KIM MIN JAE nailed his role perfectly as Se Joo, he showcases himself as a good actor with this role. MOON GA YOUNG & KIM MIN JAE nailed their respective roles perfectly

Music: The music seems quite good but not hooking. I could hardly remember the songs I heard from the drama

Rewatch Value: I'm definitely not going to rewatch this drama expect the first 4 episodes. I cant go through the frustration once more.

Overall: I will say this drama really lacks in different aspect especially the scripts and Joy's acting. The drama is so boring and annoying. I know I am not the only one with the same thought

XIEXIE
Pearl.

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THERE ARE SOME DRAMAS THAT NO MATTER HOW LONG THEY'RE YOU NEVER WANT THEM TO BE ENDING AND THIS WAS ONE FOR ME.

Maybe i'm too late to write a review but i don't get why is this drama getting such a low rating and is getting bashed,i seriously enjoyed every bit of this drama the plot and the chemistry between the leads everything was perfect in my opinion,in fact the messiness of the relationships made the story more exciting and unique.even though joy's acting was just OK but it was definitely bearable.i didn't skip even a second of this drama in fact took my time to watch it rather then rushing it and attacking the episodes all at once.I definitely enjoyed every bit of this drama and was one of the best Korean drama,well everyone have their own perspective towards things,but seriously if i get some free time in future i might re-watch it.

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This drama was absolutely one of the most original and enjoyable that i have ever watched.
The story was interesting and it makes you want to argue about those social problems that appears in the drama.
The actors were all great, specially Joy, all the crying scenes seemed so real and touching.
The first episode was a little strange, i couldn't understand the situations but in two episodes i got attracted by this drama.
I wish that lee minjae and moon ga young will do another drama together, they were really awsome .
The most beautiful thing about this drama is that the places were all so beautiful and full of the newest korean ithems. I really enjoyed it

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I've just finished watching this drama and I just have to say, it just isn't as good as I thought it would be.

The story was very confusing to me and there were many unnecessary plots and moments that didn't help to enhance the drama at all. Sometimes I felt like the drama forgot about them when I thought that maybe something should be done to resolve the plots but it just left plot holes. The drama to me, felt very rushed especially the romance between the two main characters.

Honestly, I could not acknowledge any chemistry going on between the characters and it just seemed forced to me. If the drama had stretched out the time before the two characters actually do love each other to leave space for the development of their romance (rather than jumping from point A to Z), the drama could have been better. Although there was a lot that goes on between the couples in terms of conflicts, it was hard for me to have any sympathy for them because of the lack of screen time for the development of their love. The romance was just too rushed !

As for the characters in general, I didn't find any that I liked. In fact, I got annoyed with most of the characters in that drama. I didn't mind it at first since I figured that as the drama progresses, there would be some sort of development that would occur for these characters to improve themselves but no, they still stayed the same as episode 1 until the very last episode when all of a sudden, they are 'slightly' better. But it didn't give me closure at all.

I think this drama had a lot of potential but there was just so much confusion and disinterests in these characters. Maybe it is because after watching so many dramas, I've become picky, but I wouldn't watch this again.

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Tempted is about a young woman who thinks love is quite pitiful until she meets young man (who happened to be a playboy trying to seduce her due to a bet).

This drama was not the most terrible thing I have encountered. There are a few dramas I simply could not bear to finish watching, but Tempted/Great Seducer had this intangible element that kept me until the end.
Was I enraptured the whole way through? Ehhhh...for the most part.
Did I skip (a lot), though? Yup. Unfortunately.

Tempted does not have a great rewatch value but it did justice to the typical bad-boy-cliche. For a cliche, it worked okay? Sometimes we're looking for a cliche unrealistic storyline of a drama to satisfy our romantic notions. This definitely did the trick.
Could it have been done better? Absolutely. I do like a soapy drama but it was a tad on the messy side. Okay. A lot on the messy side.

In spite of all the flaws of the screenwriter, producer, etc etc , though, they at least selected a most excellent actor to portray the bad boy/seducer. AND DON'T CORRELATE bad acting to bad characters -- I have seen my fair share of awkward acting. All in all, I have always loved all of Joy's dramas (GO WATCH LIAR AND HIS LOVER IF YOU HAVE NOT ALREADY) & I LOOOOVED WOO DO HWAN. #newfan :)

In short, the bad reviews should not deter you from watching this. The cast evidently worked really hard & there WERE good elements (eg friendship, bromance, some relatively deep revelations). For me, the acting and production quality was enough to keep me til the end. Overall, I think it's def worth a (one-time) only go if you have time to spare and no dramas to watch at the moment.

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Sexy characters? Nope. Weak characters? Yeah.

I'll be honest, I had high hopes. The story itself had potential. The synopsis sounded yummy, juicy, I was ready for the tea. The first episode showed me the chemistry I needed between the main leads. They're touchy, mean, beautiful, popular, alluring, but what I loved the most is that they were there for each other. I like it when the leads are a little bad but united, it only makes them more human.

But then, the main lead (Sihyun) met a girl (Taehee) and started to make dumb decisions I couldn't understand. Honestly, it's the first time I HATED the mc.

(From here on it's a little spoilery, so read at own risk).

He just betrayed the friends he knew for idk how long for a sweet looking crush of two days? I don't know, I don't think normal people would've discarded their best friends just like that. He did Sooji dirty, promising her a wedding and then cancelling without previous notice. She trusted him because his eyes said I love you, but he was just as fickle as a candle. I think Sihyun was a little bipolar actually. Sooji (and Sejoo) was my favourite character here, she was the most real one, handled like a human. She didn't just swallow the situation and move on, but made a move. Even though I found her a little weak in the end, the writer could've made all of them more wicked. Sejoo's move to avenge his love was also pretty, but it could've been more grand.

Another point I'd love to highlight is the lack of attention for other characters by the writers. It's like they focused on the main couple and didn't give any importance to the second leads. Their story was way more interesting if you ask me. Many things were super random in this drama.

The actors did an amazing job though, I really hated some and loved others, which means they played their characters very well. Only Joy was a little out of place tbh, she might've been trying, but she was such a controversial character, trying to act bad and all when the whole point of her personage was to be this weak soft girl that made events biggest playboy settle. This role wasn't an easy one, and I can't exactly say she nailed it.

The whole aesthetic created by the cover and the synopsis is kinda misleading, don't let that get to you. It's nothing sexy here, it quickly becomes one of those overly dramatic sappy (lame also?) drama's we've seen a lot. I'd watch it just to tick it off my list, nothing much more to say here...

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Hmmmmmmmm……this was….interesting. And I never want to hear a piano again.

Do the bad parts outweigh the good? Do the good parts outweigh the bad? I guess its what you choose to get out of it.

Personally, I was just in it for Eun Tae-hui and Si-hyeon. I'd seen so many youtube edits with them in it and wanted to see their drama. Welp, it was better before I did.

So yes, I was only in it for them. Everything else was just background noise and unfortunately, that meant it was 90% background noise. There was no real ‘plot’, it was just scandals and family drama (my pet peeves). It’s the kids’ parents and their affairs, with the rich kids fooling around as their way to blow off some steam. Wow it’s asian gossip girl. Basically, everybody is just messed up.

I didn’t like the trio either. Which unfortunately is what everything is centred around. Choi Su-ji is such a bitch really. I know she is multi-layered and whatnot, but I just disliked her so much. She gathers up everybody’s secrets around her, has fun setting up schemes that mess with people’s lives, and messes with both of the boys in their trio, leading both of them on. But then gets mad whenever any girl approaches either of them. That’s what really annoyed me, how it was her idea from the very beginning to set up Eun Tae-hui and Si-hyeon as an act of revenge (for what? being your ex’s first love???). Then she tried to break them up?!??? The whole set-up was pretty bizarre tbh. Su-ji betting [her and Si-hyeon’s] marriage on it? I’m sorry what? How does that make any sense……
…moving on

I also just didn’t like that Eun Tae-hui wasn’t the protagonist. I mean, she is the love interest and yet she feels like a side character. She was just Si-hyeon’s girlfriend. I'm pretty sure (after they started dating) that all of her scenes involved him in some way.

Sue me, I didn’t like Se-ju either. His character was just so bland, it was nothing but 100% based around Su-ji.

And as I said before, the rest of it is just family and company drama. ~sigh

If it weren’t for the fact I quite like Tae-hui and Si-hyeon’s relationship, I would have dropped this drama long lONG ago. Even though their relationship is faaaar from healthy, they are cute when they’re together.

Also, Tae-hui is girlfriend goals. She loves so hard and is so precious. She puts her entire heart into her relationship, communicates well and tries her best to stand by him (welp she deserves betterrrrr). But also, she fell for him quite quickly for someone who 'believes people that are swayed by love are pathetic' (as this drama description describes). Hmm.

And I can’t believe they broke up and got back together like 3, no actually FOUR (4!!!) times, that’s a new record omg.
Meanwhile Si-hyeon can’t seem to say something and mean it, and yes I’m talking about:

Si-hyeon: “I want the biggest punishment, don’t let her ever forgive me”
Also Si-hyeon: “oh wait not like that, that’s not what i meant :(“

One last thing, and I couldn't believe that this actually happened at one stage in this show. As one of the male leads is getting beaten up with a golf club and an asshole is filming it on his phone, they added PPL for the phone llololol, that is just this drama all over. Never miss an opportunity for PPL

Anyways, now I get why it has a lower rating than I expected. I’m just glad it’s over.

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