Let's start with the acting. Mooh Ga Young (Soo Ji) was spectacular. There was so much she could have messed up when acting, but she didn't. She was shallow and evil when she needed to be, yet fragile and broken when the role required it. She was also intelligent and had some redeeming qualities. I think that she was one of the best written and the best acted female roles I've watched up to date. I would also like to applaud Kim Min Jae (Se Joo). I don't think his role was easy, but he pulled it off beautifully. I felt his pain and isolation. No wonder he fought for the only things that mattered to him in life. He made a character who was easy to judge into a character that wasn't. Kim Seo Hyung (Soo Ji's mother) also did a great job. Then we have Joy and Woo Do Hwan. I am the last one to hate on the actors, but I do think that Joy destroyed the role. If there was another actress as brilliant as MGY in her role, maybe the show would have been saved. She wasn't the only one at fault, though. Let's talk about Woo Do Hwan, whom I heard so much about after his role in Save Me. I didn't see good acting on his part. Was it the writing's fault? Was his character just so flat? Shouldn't he make me feel similar emotions that Se Joo did? If he was supposed to, then he failed. Swap those two actors for Ga Young and Min Jae and I would be totally into the romance. However, Joy and Do Hwan didn't do it for me. I couldn't even picture them as being truly in love. Finally, Shin Sung Woo (Shi Hyun's father). I love the guy since I watched The Roommate, but I barely recognized him. He looked stiff and so unnatural in this. I felt like they could swap him with a mannequin and the show would have been totally intact. I wouldn't even notice the difference.
The secondary big issue is the story. I totally and absolutely adored the first 4 episodes. I agree that they were dark and weird, but that was the charm of the show. Then suddenly, we get the puppy - eyed Shi Hyun and the weird turn in the story. It was like two completely different shows! The show somehow picked up during the last several episodes, but it wasn't enough to save the entire production. It seemed as if the writers just had an idea for the beginning and the ending, and then just randomly put several boring events in the middle. There were a lot of really weird things added to this show, too. The mother who used to be the model - what was the point of even having her there? The weird sheltered girl with a grotesque mother and the somewhat annoying friend of Joy were all fillers. That was totally changed from the original story, where the sheltered and pure girl's smeared reputation was a major plot point.
Still, I appreciate the little glimmer of hope that the change from the original ending gave us. I wasn't impressed with the ending, especially since it was so rushed and cliche, but I didn't totally hate it. Would I recommend watching it? I think I still would. There is a reason why so many people talk about this show. There is some spectacular acting and some interesting plot parts in it. Also, I thought that the depiction of the deterioration of the friendship between those 3 was done masterfully. The drama did show character and relationship development, too, even if it was more of a regression for some of the characters.
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And what it is, is a great concept that is poorly executed.
The story revolves around a tightly knit group of 3 friends, made stronger by the problems and corruption surrounding their wealthy families. When Soo Ji, the lone girl in this group, finds out her boyfriend only dated her because of her family, she seeks to destroy his first love by asking his good looking, charming friend Shi Hyun to seduce her, and then ultimately dump her to make her experience the heart break she felt.
It starts off light, and bubbly, attempting to justify the actions of the group, which I thought was perfect, but often tips the balance from light to ominous/serious and vice versa too far that the audience does not understand the mood or urgency in certain moments. While the twists are interesting, the reveals are done horribly, with no proper build up, and them ultimately just being read out in script. Yet they were so bad that I sort of just laughed them off. Again, if you watch the drama for what it is worth, it's quite fine.
The backstory with the company politics, and the side story with tutoring the girl, was almost completely unnecessary, that I'll only just mention them here. Unfortunately, it wastes a good chunk of the drama. Feel free to skip these bits.
But it did have its moments. This drama does the light, romantic bubbly bits quite well, with some moments that really do have you touched at the main characters' gestures of love.
Joy's acting, which people absolutely butchered, was, for the most part, fine. She actually did the lighter, romantic parts well, but she did noticeably have some problems with the more serious lines towards the end of the drama where it seemed like she was just reading a script. That comes with experience, not sure what people expected from an idol actress.
Everyone else was good, not great, but I'm not sure how much of the deficiencies in acting were just a product of bad direction. For the role he was given, I thought Woo Do Hwan was great, considering all the emotions he needed to convey. His emotion changes were a little erratic at times, but all in all, he was pretty good.
Music was not memorable, but was fine throughout the drama.
Funnily enough, despite its glaring deficiences, I think this is a drama with some rewatch value just given its concept. That might more be a personal thing, but I watch dramas for concept more than anything. Execution is a big bonus on top, which unfortunately this product lacked.
I'd still give this one watch, especially given you can watch it on Netflix now.
Cheers!
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Completed underrated drama
To be honest I was very disappointed from the reviews. The concept of title is not the best either. BUT this drama was completely underrated, the story is about broken families, rich broken and damaged kids that are leading a completely false life. Secrets, hate, love, friendship, manipulation, affair's all mixed up.However it was a well said and satisfied story. Actors did their best (pretty good actually) and act to bring their role to point they had. It's not a fluffy and romantically story. In contrary, its bitter but on the other hand in real life things like that are happening. Kids neglected by their egoistical (but also demanding to perform business weddings ) families are left alone to lead the life they think they can. Tough concept with an optimistic end that it's never too late. Please don't rate drama's according to your romantically expectations of a drama or the chemistry of the couples, some drama's need to be seen further than this. Also I think the title was all wrong.
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The Great Seducer has always been in my list of dramas that I must watch. Mainly because I'm a big fan of Joy from Red Velvet and I love her acting. Some people did argue and say that she is an amateur actress so right from the start when this show started airing, I was a bit put off by all of the negative comments. First and foremost, I don't get why so many people rate this series as low as 3 or 4 because there are clearly wayyyy more poorly produced dramas in this world. I'm guessing many wanted to see something familiar with the original French story. It's a shame that I haven't read the mother story of The Great Seducer as a piece of literature so I can hardly compare the Korean TV version with the book. Personally, I was expecting this drama to be intriguing, dark, sexy and overall too melodramatic. This series seemed to have smalls chunks of almost every genre, but comparing the first and the last episodes side by side you could even make a logical assumption that the director became a completely different person. I wanted a heart-wrenching story about something inhumane and this drama did not even come close to exceeding my expectations. The characters were very stereotypical, I even loved the side characters more. However, I did enjoy Joy's strong female character and her development. On a more positive note, the music selection was spot on for this drama with the classical music. The cinematography and the music are what made me stay and finish it.
I could see how this drama could've been so much better, but it's not completely unwatchable as many other people claim. Don't worry and go watch it - you might even enjoy it more than you think.
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Bit cringe but Woo Do Hwan is handsome
I'm gonna be honest, I may have only watched this because of the delightful Woo Do Hwan. The storyline is the usual: wealthy childhood friends decide to play with the lives of the 'commoners' once again, in this rich guy/poor girl romance. Although it does turn out that the personal lives of the elite and the ordinary are more intertwined than it seems. The acting is pretty solid, although Joy's acting disappoints for the most part. If dramatic teen romance is for you, this cornfest has plenty of kabedon to go around.Was this review helpful to you?
Slow and heavy.
About this drama, I have to say that I expected more emotion in the process. It was a very slow plot. Until I was immersed in the story takes a long time, half of the episodes actually. And still, not a good trip for me. Things began to happen in fact after episode 20 and had moments where I wished to enter the scene and make something. I just finished in a short time because my account on Viki expired today and the show will be blocked.Besides that, I had a very bad feeling watching this drama. I'm used to watching heavy dramas, but this one made me feel really disturbed. I don't know exactly what in the plot did this, but I watched with the sensation that my energy was dried. Does anyone feel the same?!
About the actors, I really appreciate Moon Ga-young (Choi Soo-ji), for me she was the best doing her character. I was expecting more about Woo Do-hwan (Kwon Shi-hyun), but in the last episodes he can show more of his abilities.
This isn't a drama that I strongly recommend but isn't the worst either. It's just something that I gonna pass by and it is that. Oh, and attention! This is a drama with some triggers, so be warned!
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A good drama, you should watch it
At first i wasn't sure if i should start this drama or not. The story was cliché but some of my fav actors and RV Joy were playing here and that made me curious. The reviews here are so low in comparison with other sites. Here is a good one. I found the episodes very easy to watch, surprising. For some time, i didn't enjoyed the tv shows i was watching even though the plot was really good. After i was starting the episode i was getting bored very quickly. But this did not happen with this drama. I fell in love with it more and more. I was curious about what is going to happen, i finished it in 2 days, which is something shocking for me, cuz i haven't done that in a while. I stayed hours and hours watching it without getting bored. I won't lie, there was some romantic scenes that i didn't like but thats because romance is not my favorite genre. Shi Hyun and Tae Hee were cute together, i loved most of their scenes. Their acting was really good, especially Do Hwan's one (Shi Hyun) - but here i can be a little biased because he is one of my fav actors. The other two, Soo Ji and Se Joo were fine as well. I liked the attitude of Se Joo at first, he was funny, relaxed, cheerful. But he started to get on my nerves at the end, on the last episodes. Soo Ji was confident, seems to be the 'leader' of their group. The actress is so beautiful and she had played her role very well. In this drama you'll see rivalry, meanness, revenge, how friendships don't last forever, the characters grow up and realize what they want, how the words and actions can hurt the people around you. The ending: I feel like the show was lacking here, i expected more from it. But overall, is a good drama, and you should give it a try.Was this review helpful to you?
This review may contain spoilers
Why this drama feels real
From what I've read, not many people liked this drama, and the rating are slightly low. I believe that people are afraid to give it a higher rating because of the raw emotion and story being told. I can't tell for certain if it's good or not, as I hadn't realised this was an adaptation. But when I watched it, I realised that I became immersed in the characters and their emotions, most importantly the three friends : su-ji, si-hyeon and se-ju.The three friends mature throughout the story, having the most character development out of everyone within this drama. They learn from their actions in a painful and realistic way. Though this is still set in an aristocratic society, the drama focuses mainly on the relationships being made and broken. In this way, the drama depicts by far the most realism I've seen. I could relate to each character in some way, and feel their pain. The amazing acting helped to solidify this.
What I can say though, is that the way each character is intertwined with each other is extremely clever, but it was a bit overdone. It could be hard to follow at times.
I can't usually rewatch dramas or shows I've watched but nevertheless this was a great drama!
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This review may contain spoilers
I think what caught a lot of people off guard is that they thought this drama was suppose to be dark and eery. However, it's a very dense drama, mostly focusing on the romance aspect. It's completely different from how I expected it but I don't think it is as bad as others might say it is.Story - 8.5/10: The start between Shi Hyun and Tae Hee was quite cute. How their relationship and feelings develop for one another is satisfying but I was always worried how Tae Hee's feelings was going to be hurt after he reveals the fact everything was for a bet. It's a cliche of a plot but they developed it pretty well. I feel like it gets overwhelming at some points and that's what made it bad to others.
Acting/Cast - 10/10: I watched a ton of behind the scenes videos of the main leads and their chemistry was incredible together. AfterJoy's last drama, she indeed improved a lot on her acting and I hope she acts in another one as soon as possible. During the award ceremony, their interactions with one another is adorable!
Music - 9/10: I don't have specific comments about the music and since I've watched it quite a while ago, I don't have exact memories on how it sounded like but I don't remember it sounding bad!
Rewatch Value - 10/10: Writing this review makes me want to go rewatch it right now so that's what I'm going to do :)
I've heard more negative opinions on this than positive ones but I encourage you to at least give this a chance and whenever it starts getting frustrating, you can choose whether or not to drop the series.
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1. Charecters- How they made the characters act and persu there emotions was amazing at some point while researching I noticed little moves that they did that I never noticed and it made it better.
2. Plot- Some say this show is like a different Kdrama and such but this show is very unique for at least for as much I have seen and I have watched alot.
3. Music- The songs in this show is just fumnaminal they had great chellos,pianos, and emotinal songs too some of the songs alone i would cry too.
This is why I love the show why you should watch it.
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It seemed to me like a PG-rated fan-fiction version of Cruel Intentions, since I didn’t have the pleasure of reading “Dangerous Liaisons”. I had been waiting for Do-hwan to lead solo for so long. Loved him in “Save Me” and “Mad Dog”. I thought this would be a great opportunity for him. And Cruel Intentions being one of my favorite movies, I was counting the days to this lethal combination. For me, he was the perfect choice for Sebastian's character, if written properly. He has that dark sexy stare that sees into your soul. But alas, the shoddy writing didn’t give him enough scope to show his talent to the optimum. What a letdown.
I didn’t mind the other actors except for the “best friend”, I mean which pesky planet did she come from! Have been a Min-Jae fan since Romantic Doctor, like Moon Ga-young too and they were good, as much as the script allowed them to be. A special mention to Joy’s acting which has been a blazing subject of criticism throughout. I am not a “Red Velvet” or Joy fan, so completely an unbiased opinion, she isn’t that bad considering her lack of proficiency in acting. In fact, I quite liked her in this role. Since all the characters felt inadequately written to me, she didn’t especially stand out to be disappointing. I think she will improve while working. There are many popular actresses(not naming any) who are acting for a long time but still can’t deliver emotions through their acting skill.
The OST was nothing worth humming or remembering (at least to me).
The ending I really didn’t care about since the journey was so smudgy and sluggish. I am not a sucker for happy endings. I would rather take a sad ending than a rushed or vague one (talking to you That Man Oh Soo).
Overall, there is nothing “Dark” or “Seductive” about this drama, as the title and theme suggest. I watched Cruel Intentions for the 50th time after watching this for cleansing my palate and planning to read Dangerous Liaisons now.
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The actors pierced my heart!
What to say, this drama was actually quite good. The story kept me going, it was particular, one of those shows full of drama, secrets, misunderstandings and obstacles (there was a bit of cringe sometimes, but not the worst).The actors were incredibly good at portraying deep emotions (especially the trio of friends) as fear, desperation, sadness, pain.
Do Hwan was extremely good, his eyes were so expressive... My heart melt and hurt when seeing him (not to mention his versatility, he could be both very sensual and extremely cute).
Joy's acting was decent, her characher had some flaws (just like every character) but it was a good one overall, strong when needed.
I liked the characters and their development, the way they were hurt so much that they sometimes went a little bit insane, building walls between them and others. Their relationships were very interesting, complex and deep.
Finally, I was moved by how love was portrayed as a potential cure and a source of strength, of wanting to be a better person.
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