Night Light (2016)

It’s very difficult to talk about Night Light. A very unique and uncommon drama than what we’re used to in kdramaland, it almost feels completely foreign in a land of romance melodramas and romantic comedies.

Story
Welcome to the ugly side of the business and enterprise world. The drama talks strictly about the ways CEOs and company presidents try to multiply their revenue, manipulating each other, using and abusing their power and money in order to achieve their goals.

In its core the drama wants to express how in such power games there are no friends, presidents are ready to form alliances to destroy their opponents and then turn their back on their “friends” to become the winners. It is a constant, never-ending battle for power filled with dirty scheming and despicable plotting. Therefore the drama ends up being quite unfulfilling and frustrating as it makes us feel like it goes nowhere.

Night Light focuses on a female ceo who wants to become the richest woman in Korea destroying her opponents, having no friends, using and throwing away people in order to accomplish her ambitious goal.

The drama does not offer any comic relief, no side stories, no romance at all, no sad backstory, nothing. It is firm and brutal staying in the same strict line of corporations.

Best thing I could mention about the drama was the constant turning of tables, the winner never stays the winner for more than 1-2 episodes while the alliances between the power people changed all the time depending on their interests.

My favourite thing however was easily the amazing underlying chemistry of Lee Yo Won and Uee in their roles. Usually in kdramas the female leads are enemies or frenemies at best. Here on the other hand, the chemistry was off the charts and the relationship was a lot more fluid which made the drama very interesting and kept me going. Moreover, i feel inclined to mention the incredible clothes fashion by the main cast that was a pleasure to watch as well as the spotless background music instrumentals that made most of the drama pretty atmospheric.

At this point i feel inclined to talk about the girl power in the drama. The drama is all about female empowerment. We get a female lead who is vicious and strong beyond imagination. Saying something sophisticated and memorable whenever she opened her mouth, slaying men, scheming and plotting, destroying them in their own game. If this isn't stimulating and exhilarating in a sea of weak female characters in kdramaland, i don't know what is!

The first half of the drama was more interesting for me as there was some background story and the relationship between the main characters was quite intriguing as well as the drama talked about relatable stuff like the importance of money. That being said, the second half of the drama focused almost completely in the subtle battles between the companies and that in combination with the characters being completely difficult to empathize with and the situations being thoroughly unrelatable made the drama very difficult to keep up with and rather boring.

Acting
I read quite some viewers had issues with the acting, but I beg to differ.

I could easily say that acting is the best part of the drama mainly because of Lee Yo Won. Her naturally cold aura fitted perfectly with her strong, cold-blooded and ruthless character. I was utterly impressed by her performance from start to finish. Best and most vicious character I’ve seen in a kdrama and best portrayal of such character!

Uee has a lot of haters but I think her acting was equally as good in a very sweet but determined character. She stood well next to Lee Yo Won and in a very weird but beautiful way they complemented each other. It was a blast seeing them on screen together hope they can work together again.

Jin Goo’s character was rather weak and a pushover. I think he didn’t suit the character well at all, it was almost annoying seeing him act but I can’t say his acting was bad per-se, he just wasn’t a good choice I think.

Recommend/Rewatch
The drama is difficult and not for everyone. If you want romance, melodrama, comedy or anything usually found in kdramaland, this is not for you. This is strictly a business drama only for lovers of the backstabbing and the fluidity of such situations which is the beauty of them. I will never rewatch this.

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This Drama is a chess match composed of insight, focus, and will. Understanding the essence of individuals, always keeping one's goal as the decision maker, and the determination to follow through are the strengths of the main character. There is no chosen protagonist. The audience decides. The antagonist is our own bias. If people see Lee Yo Won's character as "cold and calculating", it is a reaction to her blunt honesty in her assessment of people and relations.

I absolutely enjoyed this Drama. It exposed yet another aspect of us. A side of us we so quickly dismiss.

Lee Yo Won is an incredible professional. She is adept at communicating complex and mixed emotions without overt expressions. This is a talent and gift.

Kudos to the writers, directors, and actors. Very well done.

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The main reason I loved Night Light is the relationship between our main female leads, Seo Yi Kyung and Lee Se Jin. In the beginning, there are a lot of mistrust between them, but they grow to care and love each other throughout the story.

I fell in love with both Lee Yo Won and Uee in this drama! Yo Won plays a smart, cunning woman who'd do anything to achieve her goals. Uee gives life to Lee Se Jin, a poor woman whose ambition grabs Yi Kyung's attention. Yi Kyung is cold, but we can see hints of vulnerability, something that really drew me to her character. I loved how capable she was: watching her outsmart those men who were older than her (and who underestimated her) was extremely satisfying. Se Jin was much more light-hearted (at least in the beginning), she smiles and jokes a lot, but deep inside her was a desire to reach the top, something that Yi Kyung saw and wanted to use. Their relationship is complex, as we don't know exactly how they truly feel about each other: do they trust each other? will they betray each other? But the answer becomes clear, because we can see these two women, who have personal goals on their own, grow fonder of each other and even giving some of those goals up in order to protect the other.

Their relationship was truly fascinating. I've never seen another drama that focus on a relationship between two women and I honestly don't think I'll get something like this in the near future. As I said, Se Jin and Yi Kyung were my favorite part of the drama, so I was able to easily get through the aspects I wasn't a fan of: the business talk, the slow pace, scenes that were too dramatic. It was so interesting and satisfying seeing two women being successful in an old-men dominated field, that I didn't care for these downsides.

Night Light is an interesting drama that focus on its female characters and the relationship that forms between them. If you don't like business or slow paced dramas, this might not be for you. But if you want an unique drama that portrays a complex, intense relationship between two ambitious, intelligent women, this could be perfect for you.

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I didn’t have much expectations on watching this drama bec im not into politics - corporatation issues -but I watched it bec I trust Yo Won as an actress - true enough her charcter got my attention - but still I can’t trust the plot of the story - I saved my self time and fast forward many scences - I could not drop watching it because It is intruiging and has potential of being an intelligent drama but at the same time can lead to a huge dissapintment- true enough- if i had watched 20episodes closely I would have regret it

Pros
Intruiging characters
Cons
Nothing special with the characters in the end (toinks)

Pros
Ceo’s character is consistent but
Cons
Only until ep 19

Pros
Se Jin’s character is intruging like her motives - psychological effects of things she suddenly got into - like an experiment of putting someone in another planet with the chance to be a new being - and watch how she would react to it -
Cons
It turned out FLAT - nobody’s experimenting - thus all the character became questionable rather than intruiging


Pros
Outfits are nice but
Cons
The never showed inner clothings! I’ve been wondering how the outfits look like only if they take off the coats at times


Pros
The casts are lovely and entertaining to watch like precious vessels
Cons
They were not filled with substance


Pros
The drama is an art (entertaining to look at)
Cons
Which did not turn out to be a master piece (not something you’d buy for price)

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Lamest korean series

The lamest korean series. Totally unconvincing acting, the protagonist always having come out of the hairdresser's, her make up always perfect, never even smiles once, always angry, both actress's wardrobe could easily be used to open up a store, lousy acting. The secondary actress even worse. Smiles when she shouldn' t, taking weird facial expressions, more so to show her dental work. Lousiest acting. The playwright totally unconvincing thinking that this poor girl who works as a cashier at a sm can learn the business world in a month and mess with korean companies that have been around for 40 years. Music constantly playing in the backround. An absolute piece of garbage. The worst s corean series I've seen. A low quality soap opera. The only thing that's worth is the older guys's acting.

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No sé si me ha gustado totalmente este drama o no.

Es una historia que seguramente en unos meses se me olvidará, no ha sido tan memorable. Sin embargo, si voy a recordar a algunos de los personajes con mucho cariño. Sobre todo a Yikyung. Para mí ella era una persona que quería y al mismo tiempo odiaba. Por eso entendí perfectamente lo que sentía Yejin. Realmente si la llegas a conocer la quieres proteger aunque ella perfectamente se puede salvar sola.

Ha sido un drama sin descanso, con una historia tediosa. Si no te llega a gustar los temas políticos este drama no te va a gustar para nada. Aunque en mi caso no es mi género favorito llegué a disfrutarlo.

Me hubiera gustado tener otras tramas que se alejaran del tema principal con esos 20 capítulos que nos han puesto, solo había política y más asuntos de negocios. Pero entiendo que ese es el género del drama y sería muy largo.

En conclusión, una trama muy compleja, pero con unos personajes que recordarás con cariño.

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La lutte d'un "monstre" contre les humains

Night Light (White Nights en France) est un K-drama sur le monde impitoyable des affaires et, dans une moindre mesure du monde politique. C’est l’histoire d’une femme d’affaire très ambitieuse et impitoyable (Lee Yo Won) venue en Corée pour atteindre le « sommet ». Sur le chemin de son ascension, elle devra faire face, entre autres, à son amour de jeunesse (Jin Goo) bien décidé à ne pas se et la laisser faire et à une jeune femme (Uee) qu'elle prendra sous sa tutelle et dont l’aspiration sera vite de ressembler à son mentor et, à mon sens, l'intérêt essentiel de ce drama réside dans la relation très particulière des deux femmes.
Il s’agit d’un drama outrancier, où la cohérence est sacrifiée au profit de l’action. Car oui, ce drama multiplie à l’envie les facilités et raccourcis scénaristiques. On peut même dire que la mise en scène est souvent paresseuse. Exemples, parmi beaucoup d’autres, les scènes de filature sont proprement simplistes et ridicules. Mais peu me chaut tout ces défauts.
Le grand mérite de ce drama, à l’instar d’un Penthouse, War In Life, pour peu qu’on y adhère, est qu’il est terriblement efficace. En mettant de côté son esprit cartésien, on peut aisément se laisse transporter par les multiples rebondissements, les alliances et mésalliances qui ne font que changer au fil de la série.
Le trio Lee Yo Won, Uee et Jin Goo fonctionne à merveille avec chacun leurs forces, leurs faiblesses et leurs sentiments ambivalents les uns pour les autres. Si Uee est l’éclat de cette série, la véritable force motrice captivante de ce drama est véritablement Lee Yo Won dans son rôle de femme d’affaire tourmentée, insaisissable et particulièrement retors.
Alors, même s’il est loin d’être parfait, j’ai pris un très grand plaisir au visionnage de ce K-drama que je revisionnerai un jour, peut-être, mais avec plaisir, assurément.

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