Could have chosen the path less traveled
"Imitation", to its credit, has some intriguing pieces which push it towards being an entertaining vehicle for a good portion of its run. Unfortunately, after starting to fit nicely together, things break apart again and it never recovers.The cast is a bit uneven. Park Ji Yeon and Kim Min Seo are the highlights, but Danny Ahn and Im Na Young pull their weight too. Lee Jun Young has a promising comedic touch as Kwon Ryok but the character spends almost the entire show either cranky or depressed so those lighter moments are easily forgotten. Jeong Ji So ends up as the centerpiece of the show and, unfortunately, this is not the best fit for her. She's very nice and she's capable, but she tends to repeat a limited repertoire of notes. The HMU team didn't help her either.
As far as stories go, the underdog story of Ma Ha moves a bit too quickly early on and the redemption story that picks up after it only starts to gain momentum and make sense at the very end. Although it closes strong, there's a good stretch of the show that can only be charitably described as filler material.
The whole production was built around two primary columns, Ma Ha and Kwon Ryok. That's what the industry tends to do and the team here got stuck following the typical structure. The result is that there's two characters that are asked to carry far too much of the narrative and several dozen side characters that have painfully little space to contribute. Had the show been structured as more of an ensemble with six to ten characters all sharing time more equally, this could have been a compelling gem. As made here though, it's just a few moments of charm that's not worth sifting through the long intervals of unremarkable storytelling.
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This review may contain spoilers
Wonderful show about Korean Idol Entertainment Industry from Idol's Perspective
Just finished Imitation on Viki.This is a solid show I would recommend to someone who is either a current K-Pop fan or a K-Drama fan that is curious about K-Pop and wants to journey down that Hallyu rabbit hole as well.
The cast is made of actors from so many groups: Ateez, SF9, T-Ara, I.O.I, Pristin, UKiss and more!
A fairly light-hearted, coming-of-age, slice-of-life romance drama with humorous elements about the highs and lows of the Korean idol entertainment industry from the idol's perspective. Rather than sensationalize the idol industry and culture in a good or bad way, the director/writer takes a balanced approach, showing some of the pleasant aspects (getting into a group and becoming successful, bonding with group members, fandom) and the unpleasant aspects (failure, group in-fighting, obsessive fandom). Perhaps the standout in this show is its depiction of how taboo it is to be in an open romantic relationship when you're an idol. As a new K-Pop fan, I had no idea how serious this was.
The acting is solid all-around and when you realize most of cast are being played by actors who are/were idols in real life, it's almost semi-autobiographical despite being based on a webtoon.
Highest recommendations!
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A look inside the world of K-pop
I'm an American from the USA who loves K-pop and K-dramas. While I have just an inkling of what the artists go through, it was eye opening to watch this drama. Most of the actors in this show are k-pop performers themselves or have a past history of it. It made it real for me. While the first couple of episodes seem to go slowly as the story is put into place, the more episodes I watched the more hooked I was. There are stories of more than one couple but they all revolve around the music industry. It gave a better look at both established performers, hopeful newbies and rising stars and the struggles they go through.Although only four are listed as the main leads, I felt there were more than that as they all contributed to the series. I am glad I watched it. I hope this leads to more awareness of what trainees and debuted performers go through. I also hope that there will be a shift in expectations where they are allowed to have a personal life just like everyone else in the world without being harrassed by fans, media or management.
To the cast, crew, director, writer and support staff for "Imitation" I have only these words for you. You've worked hard.
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Enticing storyline, but foul execution
Imitation is that drama that would get a vast number of K-Pop fans ecstatic upon watching with one of the phenomenal cast line-ups from notorious groups like ATEEZ, SF9, U-KISS, T-Ara, and Pristin. This series showcases the darker side to the idol scene that we may not see the extremities of, but are aware of it happening. To my surprise, the plot carries hidden mysteries and a brewing romance that shall be unraveled as the story goes on. As a K-Pop fan, there were a number of things that fascinated me about the show, but there are other things that can be critcised on which I will try to delve into. In general, this was an insightful and fascinating watch, but also a frustrating and anti-climactic one.STORY
The focal point of 'Imitation' is showing the rawness behind the K-Pop idol scene that explores the themes of the media, corporate ideals, corruption, strict dieting, pressures for debut, secret relationships, suicide, toxic fanbases, and saesang behaviours. What I found impressive is that the writers do not shy away from this and deliver the idol/trainee experiences as authentic as they can be. As the story develops, the drama tries to portray what an ideal K-Pop industry should be like. Whilst that is far from what we see in reality as of today - and will take a long time to turn that into a reality - it does leave profound feelings on K-Pop fans to reflect upon.
As much as I found the epilogues that accompanied the drama to be quite an interesting and alternate approach in connecting the past with the events of the present, it did not do justice for Eun-Jo and Annie's story. To base the whole drama relying on minute-long epilogues to tell us the past are not reliable in explaining the actions behind both of the character's intentions. The writers essentially overshadowed the romance that left minuscule time for their case to be solved and justified, leaving us with a very ambiguous ending for both of them. This was shameful as this was one of the main reasons I was anticipating from 'Imitation'.
Onto the romance portion of the show. Undeniably, I did enjoy some aspects of the romance and the accompanying iconic scenes that bring comedic value towards the couple; serving some cute moments between the two as well, however, Ryok and Ma-ha's story lacked a lot of depth. Firstly, the bringing of the two together was an entire cliche where there were moments that were forced upon them to make them have to see one another. A strong memorable example is when they were on the tour bus together and their gift bags ended up on the floor and being switched when there were not even sitting near one another, thus how can a mistake like that happen? Whilst I did enjoy their development and somewhat maturation in the relationship in the latter of the series, the question is, was their story a bit rushed? Most certainly. They had a great start in developing their fondness towards one another again after a long time, but their story could have benefitted more if they showed their recuperating friendship, rather than rushing them to get together in the most unrealistic ways. Again, with the very short epilogues, it is difficult to understand the depths of their friendship that led to the events of where they are in the present moment to gravitate towards one another and can only be left for the viewer's imagination and interpretation. Furthermore, their relationship lacked a lot of dialogue and narrative from both of the characters in the latter that led to the outcomes of the ending, leaving them with a bland and very disatisying ending.
The love-triangle story went well at first, casting a true debate on who Ma-ha should be with, but as the story went on, it became evidently clear on who she will be with, therefore, Yu-Jin being portrayed as the loyal friend that 'protects' Ma-ha from Ryok was a misleading and unnecessary addition to the plot, with the unexplained reason of why he had something against Ryok that Ma-ha needed protection for. To put it shortly, the love triangle story is nothing new and served no purpose.
Overall, both Eun-Jo/Annie and Ryok/Ma-Ha’s stories were satisfactory. If their storylines balanced out and were unveiled from the beginning to the end of the show, then this would be a satisfying ending for all. Nevertheless, both of the couples serve a fundamental purpose in displaying the hardships of being together as celebrities and the pressures that behold them individually. It was refreshing to see this topic being portrayed as this is shunned upon in the industry.
CHARACTERS
Having a predominant idol cast was very fitting to make the story resonate with the cast more and build hype surrounding the series towards the audience. At first, SHAX was a group that I could not find myself growing attached to, but as the show develops and the members' personalities are explored, as well as seeing their growth as a group, I ended up growing fond of them and see what six years of being together can do to nurture them. In particular, I enjoyed watching the chemistry of Ryok with Do-Jin and Hyuk.
Kwon Ryok - He has a very work-orientated personality and has clear visions of his future as an idol and actor. At times he appears cold and frazzled, but I like his slight change in demeanour. Jun is a remarkable actor for carrying the emotions and weight of his character.
Lee Ma-ha - I found her character to be admirable in general. Her amazing positive outlook towards life was endearing and inspiring. I was particularly invested in how she will develop and find her own sparkle amidst her being infamously known as the 'copycat' to her senior, La Ri Ma. Despite that, that was never delved into. and her character merely was dependent on her spiraling relationship with Ryok. As the main FL who is meant to carry her group, her development is non-existent.
La Li Ma - Her character surprised me the most. She was portrayed as the unlikeable one with a malevolent trademark, but her depth in character was heartwarming. I love her hidden caring nature towards her juniors, her striking power towards people who abuse the system, and her confidence as a solo artist.
Hyun-Ji- I loved her caring and empathetic nature towards others in the beginning and it seemed like she had a lot that could be unraveled like her confidence on stage and her passion for fashion. But I feel like her unrequited love at first sight pairing with Yun-Jin was very much enforced and overpowered her to the point she would let it ruin a sister-like bond with her fellow members. As much as I strongly agree that SML's should get a happy ending, I felt like her original character personality really diminished because of this sudden sprout in romantic interests.
Other than that, what is worth noting is the shift in opinions on social conforms in the industry. Ji Hak is a notable character with his idealistic ways of running and managing a K-Pop company in contrast to NOG Entertainment. I love how Ji Hak's story as a former manager of SHAX and current CEO/manager of Tea Party tied in together to create a mysterious, yet tragic story that helped him to shift in his opinions on social conforms and stand against what is wrong in the industry. A truly remarkable and admirable character.
MUSIC
The soundtrack for the drama is good, there are some catchy tracks that include 'Show Me' by Tea Party - a song that I cannot get out of my head - and SHAX's tracks 'Malo' and 'Amen'. Both with very catchy and memorable choruses. A song that is worth highlighting is 'Constellation', or rather 'Your SIgn'. The lyrics to the song are very comforting and hold a very special meaning to those who are struggling out there. On top of the soundtrack, I really loved the delivery of dance performances that accompanied the drama to bring a genuine feel to the K-Pop-themed show.
CONCLUSION
Albeit with everything said, I believe the fault of the outcomes that were displayed in the drama was due to only having 12 episodes. If only the writers could have done better to fit everything in with that they had, then I would rate it a 8/8.5. This is just the beginning for more dramas of this genre to appear in the K-Drama scene that I will pray for to be normalised one day, If you are a KPop fan and is curious about the idol scene, then this is worth giving a go. But if you are looking for anything more than that, then this is not the drama for you.
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Not Good Enough
Korean Drama 'Immitation' is an idol drama with a predictable story that almost brings to mind old dramas.The story is a love story along with some details on idol life as well as the struggles of the trainees. The love story was from cheesy to boring to idiotic. There were no surprises and the whole thing just lacked chemistry and romantic vibes. The side couples were underdeveloped and rushed. But, probably the mystery of the disappearing member and the whole industry corruption had depth. Unfortunately, the drama only presented those superficial, focusing on the love story. The love triangle, moreover, was boring and did not add anything to the love story, only to the dynamics of the girl group. As for the characters, though the actors and actresses had enjoyable performances and presented their characters decently, were mostly annoying and frustrating.
So, overall, three out of ten.
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Totally-Dramas-Addicted
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Description effryante du milieu Kpop, mais petit bijou
J'ai adoré ce drama (regardé d'une traite) qui décrit si bien l'univers impitoyable de l'industrie coréenne du divertissement (la face cachée de la Vague Coréenne).L'histoire, assez sombre, est super bien construite, avec des moments d'humour, d'émotions, des performances superbes, heureusement agrémentée de très jolies romances.
Les artistes (idoles) nous font vivre un moment formidable et le message, humaniste et optimiste, sans compter ❤❤❤ Jun ❤❤❤, qui est absolument génial du début à la fin.
Bref, ne passez pas à côté de cette perle (à voir et certainement, à revoir) !
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This review may contain spoilers
They told the wrong story
As a whole, this series was a 5 for me, but the last episode was an 8.The thing is, the finale was disconnected from the whole rest of the story and was the conclusion to a narrative that wasn't actually actively explored.
And this drama would have been so much better if that had been the case! I really wish the romance plot had taken a backseat (the main couple had absolutely no chemistry anyway) and the story would have focused more thoroughly on what the last episode touched on. Trainee life, and the grueling, challenging, often heartbreaking process hundreds of hopeful kids put themselves through.
But I guess actually telling Annie and Eun-Jo's story would have been too controversial. But can you imagine? The story of two young kids in love, who get signed to different agencies, then one gets to debut and be loved by millions while the other continues to be miserably exploited all while having to hide their relationship. And then the emotional fallout of her committing suicide and his journey to try and forgive himself, find his love for music back, and try not to hate this voracious industry that can make dreams come true just as easily as it can crush them. Oh, it would have been so much better! And the emotional impact of that last song would have been like a kick to the chest.
I'm sad that so much potential got wasted. Also, considering the fact that way over half of the cast are idols, there was wasted opportunity there too. The drama was at its best when the characters were singing, dancing or preforming in some way (being idols, basically). Every song and choreo was amazing. But the show totally failed to take advantage of all the talent it'd cast.
Honestly, just watch the first and last episodes, all the ones in the middle aren't that good anyways.
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Don't read the webtoon before watching the show
So.......started watching the drama and then turned to read the webtoon. Bad decision. You will be so disappointed how nothing is even taken from the webtoon apart from the names of the character and La Ri Ma's characterization. Everything else is a completely different element. Think of it like it is the alternate universe.I don't mind webtoon and the web drama not being the same, but they butchered the characterization of everyone so bad that it is hard to get over the show. If I judge it purely as a normal rom-com web drama, it will still get a below-average rating from me. The characterization is not good - forget about development - you don't understand what the characters are supposed to be or what their purpose is. They are trying to do so many angles but only flushing out 10% of the details on every angle.
You don't understand why the leads are gravitating to each other. Zero. Nada. Zip. It would have been nice if they just show the flashback of the leads to make viewers understand why they seem to have that pull to each other. They are trying to do a mystery reveal per episode but it just comes across as confusing and zero context.
The webtoon itself is not perfect, but the characterization and motivation of each character at least were more developed and I can understand why they do certain things or why they act a certain way. Ma Ha of the web drama was just a blank canvas. They showed us this drive to wanting to debut but we don't even know what her motivation is. Why she is doing it. Then she gets swipe up into this weird "can't stay away from the male lead, looking longingly at him" for no reason at all. It's like her thoughts are not express at all. She is just a robot that was told to move and do actions as instructed. The other side characters are okay but just backdrop. Yu-Jin was more front and center than the webtoon but just a a tool without any context to his background and motivation (why did he even auditioned to be a trainee in the first place - in fact, why did any of them did, just because they wanted to?) The male lead was also a mystery. No idea why he does the things he does.
Also, what is with all the sob soulful background music playing whenever they have this looking at each other or missing each other? It's so out of place and just doesn't fit. Or at least I don't think it is pairs well. At all.
So so disappointed. I can see past them not following the webtoon cuz hey, it is the characters I am always invested in. But since they butchered the characters so bad, I definitely rate it low purely looking as a rom-com web drama.
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This review may contain spoilers
shameless cash grab
This drama isn't a waste of time. I watched it because of SF9 and ATEEZ. I ended it because I had to.This drama markets itself showing off all the idols involved, in reality most of it they are not even there. Yuno isn't the second male lead, he is barely in it. I find it shameless because the posters and trailers, they are so far off. If you really watch this drama you get nothing. I got insulted by how selfish the leads both are. They are idols and pursing that, but I refuse to believe these young adults love each other so much that they are willing to straight up quit the idol life completly.
It would be fine if Ryeok was a soloist, but he's supposed to be a part of the biggest Kpop group at the time. He has members, supporters. Unlike an idol who is appreciative of his fans and his motivation is for them, he loves Ma-Ha. For what? Because she's not like other girls. I kid you not, there is nothing that they show that they love eachother. Their relationship is posed as some sort of love that can't be, and that the audience should want them to be together. Honestly I hate the both of them for being so selfish and stupid. Ryeok gets in a car crash because he's staring at his girl. I can't make up how stupid and shameless this is. The hype must be behind people that don't care. I've seen a webtoon adaptation done right, but this takes itself way too seriously and in the end it's offending to me as someone who loves all types of media.
This drama is bad bad. They use the idols barely, and it shouldn't have been made. The whole idea of the source material isn't something I buy into, because the primary motivations of the characters are all surface value that offer nothing deep or complex. All the characters have to be paired with the other idol groups. It's like 12 people exist in this world and 10 of them barely. I can't stress enough how much I dislike this, recommending only for those who want to see SF9 and ATEEZ but for about 5 minutes of screen time each episode and that's them being generous :)
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But before I digress further, I must say that this drama grew on me. I wasn't really expecting much from a cast mainly comprised of K-pop idols, but they are decent and you can see they are trying their best portraying their roles that are not too far from their profession. I enjoyed the parts where they were being idols: the practicing, the dancing, the music, the on-stage presence is as expected but nothing further given that they don't have much to work with.
A drama that tries to expose the dark side of the K-pop industry seemed good on paper but how it was executed was not. It is like the drama is trying to do so many things at once that it failed to excel in any one area. It is also trying to do a David vs Goliath story with a small entertainment company going against a conglomerate, but the end fell flat as nothing much was done except an article by a lone journalist that will most likely be forgotten by the next juicy gossip.
The plot suffered from the uneven, choppy writing as it tries its damned hardest to pair off couples that have no chemistry except for convenience's sake. But if you are willing to overlook all these weak points, and just focus on the feel good story of people reaching their dreams in spite of obstacles, then "Imitation" is not so bad as it seems.
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This review may contain spoilers
Great slice of trainee/idol life with a romantic element
9/10 is my rating. This is a 2021 South Korean romantic drama with 12, 60 minute episodes. It is based on a webtoon of the same title.First I will provide a synopsis then review.
Synopsis
This is a slice of life drama about the music industry that follows struggling artists from their trainee time through finding success or struggling to get their big break. The lead female character, Ma-Ha (Jung Ji-So) is a hard working trainee who has relentlessly pursued her dream of going on stage with a group. She was on the verge of debuting when tragedy struck and her and her fellow group members were literally pulled off their debut stage. Trying make a break for herself she is doing side shows where she imitates her idol, Ri-Ma (Park Ji-Yeon) who doesn't take the imitation as a compliment. Ma-ha gets a sudden second chance at debuting with her original debut group. CEO Ji-Hak (Danny Ahn) has a reason for giving the the trio a second chance which is slowly revealed through the series. The new group, which they title Teaparty is being funded in a very unique way, they are salaried at first. The other two group members, Ri-A (Minseo) and Hyu n-Ji (Lim Na-Young), had been undergoing hardship as well since their failed debut but they all stayed together even being roommates. Ma-ha does a little of everything capitalizing on this unexpected chance and her presence in many aspects of the music and acting world brings her into frequent contact with Kwon Ryeok (Lee Jun Young) who, at first, has no respect for her as he sees her as an imposter who can only imitate others. Ma-Ra gets a lot of hate over imitating such a popular star. Her fellow band mates, and her friend from her trainee days, Lee Yoo-Jin (Yun Ho) keep Ma-Ra's spirits up as they know she has her own unique talent. Shax, whom Kwon Ryeok is center stage for, has found success but like all high profile boy bands has to be very careful of their image particularly to their fans. As Kwon Ryeok's feelings change from hostility to understanding to admiration to infatuation for Ma-ha they both find that life in the limelight does not look favorably on romance. Yoo-Jin sees Ma-Ra as more than just a friend and is a little earlier in his career and takes more risks to get close to Ma-Ra but she doesn't, at least at first, see him that way. Who will Ma-Ra be drawn to and can they all find a way to make their growing fame, romance and friendships all work out?
Review
I really like slice of life stories in general and those that focus on the acting or music industries in particular. The South Korean music industry has so many unique aspects it is very interesting to get a little bit of inside perspective. So few actually make it to debut and even those that debut may not become well known. This drama explored many issues specific to to being an Idol and the journey that trainees take. Professional jealousy, slave contracts, good companies versus bad companies, suicide, and relationships. I enjoyed it for the music and talent on that level alone. I recommend it to anyone that enjoys slice of life, likes watching about idols or the industry, or likes a fairly straight forward story line. There are not a lot of surprises or twists or turns. It is not light hearted, it deals with very heavy topics but it is entertaining just not deep or complex.
*Spoilers
Ryeok and Ma-ha's slow build romance was compelling. There was a definite loneliness for him and she was one of the few that could break through his rough bad boy persona. I found their relationship very heartwarming. I appreciated the irony of how much grief he gave his former group member, Lee Eun-jo (Kang Chan-hee) over his relationship with Girl group member Annie (Yeon Si-Woo) only to have a relationship like that himself. He felt very guilty over his role in Eun-jo's disappearance. The story between Eun-jo and Annie was very tragic. What was a little confusing is why they showed her collapsing from exhaustion and then never really explaining that but suddenly she is dead. I think they were trying to make that part of the mystery but it seemed disjointed for her to have had that issue and then suddenly suicide it made it seem the overwork was what was driving it and not larger issues. All of the relationships and even conflicts within and between the groups was interesting. I did not find it very believable that so many relationships would have developed where all of the Tea Party members were seeing one of the the Shax members. There were so many problems, early on, when Shax fans got wind that Ma-ha and Ryeok had even interacted, it was odd that later so many were actually seeing each other romantically but it was as if the fans no longer cared. And they never addressed that change. They indicated they were seeing each other in secret but we saw how, before, the secret could never stay hidden so it didn't make sense that all of a sudden they were all able to keep it a secret form the fans. They say Eun-jo's and Annie's song as a group but it seemed only Shax got the credit for it. With Tea Party it appeared they only had one or maybe two songs which made it hard to envision them as a super success.
Unlike other reviewers I did not find the fact that the male lead or female lead weren't idols a huge downfall. I thought they both acted very well and their role as idols was believable. In fact I thought Lee Jun-Young had this amazing super star aura especially when they had the shots where Shax was sort of lined up in a V formation walking toward the camera, it was breath taking. If Ma-Ha was a bit unpolished because the actress was not a K-pop idol in real life, the storyline really accounted for that. She was a struggling trainee then a newly minted idol so any awkwardness or lack of polish was fully understandable with that in mind. Plus there was this overall impression that Tea Party would have this sort of limited success. They constantly showed this contrast between sort of B string idol groups like Tea Party and super stars like Ri-Ma and Shax. I thought the story dealt with and showed how those two levels of success cause this stratification within the K-pop world where that limited success means those B String are often treated as lesser when those A listers are around.
For me personally the suicide aspect was very heavy. I have two work colleagues that committed suicide so it really brought it all back. In both cases I had spoken with the person the day before and now constantly replay that final conversation any time something like this reminds me. I liked the way this drama portrayed the way the pain of something like that never goes away and how, while the person may think their action will hurt at first but make things better later is not true. Annie's death did not save Eun-jo in fact it ended his career. So many people around her were impacted by that tragic event. I think that is ever present on trainees and members minds as they are under an undue amount of pressure for people so young and isolated from their normal friend and family network.
#Imitation
#JungJiSo
#ParkJiYeon
#ParkJiYeon
#MinSeo
#DannyAhn
#LimNaYoung
#YunHo
#LeeJunYoung
#TeaParty
#Shax
#Sparkling
#KangChanHee
#YeonSiWoo
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All Begins with a Rookie….
Let’s talk about the female lead…I started to like Jeong Ji So, the female lead, in the series “the Cursed.” Her acting skills still needs a lot of work, but it was good enough for me to be intrigued. Her performance in this series was honestly average, but I still anticipate to see her future work, if the stories would be in my liking. There were still something missing in the way she acts, but I still like her….
Let’s talk about the steaming hot male lead…
Oh where would I begin haha… I like his facial expressions when he is dancing. He is more passionate on stage compared to when he should have actually shown more affectionate side of him with the FL. There is a chemistry with the FL and ML, but there seems to be something missing. I was so impressed with his acting in “Love and Leashes,” although his character there was different. For me, his performance is really good, since I hadn’t seen so much similarities on how he portrayed these two different roles. He was able to make my heart flutter with both of these dramas….
Overall opinion…
It is quite sad that this drama had received low viewership ratings (according to wikipedia.) Honestly, the series is way much fun to watch compared to those other dramas who were really popular. There was no dull moment, i didn’t have to skip parts because I was getting bored. The dancing moves were good, it was not amazing, but I can say it was a little above average (although I really don’t know how to dance haha… such a critic.) I guess it is nit that popular because most of the actors were still rookies, but their performance were really good. The series gave all the actors the chance to shine even for a few seconds, and their moments were something that have caught my attention. I really like how they gave opportunities for these rookies to be seen. I hope to see more of these kind of stories, where we can see great dancing moves and promising talents…
╰(*´︶`*)╯♡
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