A Comedic Show About the Price of Revenge and the Pain of Enduring Failure

Red Balloon is a series which quite elaborately showcases the mixed emotions of troubled marriages and failed relationships. There are comedic highs and dramatic lows which Red Balloon fluidly alternates between in an effective manner.

Seo Ji Hye's character, Jo Eun Gang, is perhaps a tad humourless in this; however, I quite enjoyed her performance as someone who mostly watched this to see her acting chops. I think people who are perhaps sensitive to infidelity in marriages will have a very hard time watching this show, but there is an intense, objective truth to how hard Eun Gang fights for her future despite her background and personal strife. One could easily see the character she plays as 'two-faced' or some sort-of 'stony' sociopath, but I think througout the series Seo Ji Hye is consistently able to convey how desperate and sometimes confused Eun Gang really is in her private life.

Maybe one knock on the series is that almost every character really come off as heels who don't really stand up for themselves until it is too late. That seems to be the recurring theme of all the storylines.

That said, the moments of righteousness and catharsis in the series are very satisfying.

One other major problem was that the background of Jung Yoo Min's character (Jo Eun San, the little sister of Jo Eun Gang) was a little undercooked. I suppose her character is written as a loner, but I thought she should've had more interactions outside her household: failing to show that character's social life outside of Ji Nam Cheol is a major flaw in Red Balloon. I'm guessing the demographic for this series is supposed to be for older women judging by the writer's past series. The writer's age is how I personally justify there being less attention paid to the youngest character outside of her romantic life! Take that with large grains of salt and no insult is intended! I quite liked the show regardless of this problem.

I think the main attraction with Red Balloon is actually its comedic elements. There is often a switch from the dramatic revenge storyline to slapstick dinner conversations or clown-like behaviour from the older characters. That levity is an important fact to point out about this series. Yes, Red Balloon's main story is mostly dramatic and yes, it explores infidelity in a mostly heartbreaking and anxiety-driven way. The show's various subplots involving the extended family, however, are very amusing. They also drive the main plot(s) which involve infidelity to interesting places. There's a real mixing of comedy and drama in Red Balloon that I find fairly accurate to our daily lives. Even at our worst moments, in a break-up or the death of a loved one, there's often a sense of serendipity that makes hardship almost surreal. I don't want to spoil to much in regards to this series, but there are a lot of suprising character interactions near the end of the series (especially involving Cha Won's father's patriarchal concerns and Eun Kan's uncle's personal problems) that really pushed me to re-appreciate the series as I was watching it.

Overall, I think the middling reaction to this show is justified: Red Balloon is not going to edge-out your favorite Korean dramas from their top spots any time soon. I do think, however if you are a fan of the leads involved like I was you'll find a tremendous amount to appreciate.

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