Lee Hye-young and her role operate as backbone and heartbeat of this KDrama
"Kill Heel" is set in the milieu of teleshopping. The pace is leisurely, calm. The light is dimmed sort of. The focus is on 3 women. Their heels are dizzyingly high.At first, the story leaves the audience feeling a bit lost. Just one thing is obvious: the competition in the production company is extremely tough. But over time, the three protagonists get more profile and the story heads in it´s direction.
The driving force that really makes the KDrama worth seeing is, above all, veteran Lee Hye-young, who has experienced a real revival in recent years. Here, in the ambivalent character of Gi Mo-ran, she gave another marvellous performance! In my eyes she (and her role) operate as backbone and heartbeat of this KDrama
It's about intrigues, struggle for survival, hurt feelings and old traumas. The relationship dynamics between the 3 women intelligently intertwine and dissolve in a subtle but unexpected way.
"Kill Heel" has a very unique look and feel to it and comes along with a peculiar pull effect. There is suspense, but at the same time the suspense isn't setting the tone. Sometimes something seemingly builds up, but then everything is completely different again. And after 14 episodes it's over. What a pity, actually...
------ SIDE NOTE: ---Teleshopping---
I wasn't really aware of the impact of teleshopping until now. In Europe within homeshopping Germany is the leader, when it comes to sales figures through teleshopping (compared to online-shopping) . In South Korea, teleshopping accounts for almost 50 percent of home shopping. Similar to sales parties in private circles (Tupper & co.), teleshopping thrives on impulse purchases and customer loyalty, which are promoted by a harmonious, interactive, relaxed sense of community. Within the virtual television community, it is the presenters who foster this intimacy with their virtual customers. Women in particular buy in teleshops.
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I didn’t have any expectations.
When I went into this show, it was purely for the good cast and interesting poster. As the show progressed I was instantly hooked which was surprising since I’m a 2-3 episodes before getting hooked kind of person.The story perfectly captures many different personalities without straying away from how they originally were. Even when more is revealed, those with the fake personalities kept it up until the end and that’s what makes it even more amazing.
The storyline never lacked, in fact it actually got way more interesting in the end and to be completely honest I think having 14 episodes definitely helped. 12 is too little but 16 is a little too much, however, 14 perfectly tells the story and allows for the pace to remain at a great pace without filler episodes or going to fast to keep up.
It’s not going to be my favourite kdrama or even in my top 10 but that’s purely on taste. No matter what taste I have in dramas, this most likely has the potential to be one of your favourite if you give it a chance.
My only issue was with the main character (Haneul) not because she wasn’t good, she was great as always, I just felt her story was too plain and didn’t have time to thrive unlike the other female leads. I also felt like they’d introduced one other female character with hopes of a storyline but that didn’t quite remain consistent.
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What's your greed?
Flash news: I watched this on normal speed and no skips.I never thought I'd enjoy watching this from beginning to end. Admittedly, the first few episodes are seemingly confusing and nonsensical but trust me it gets better. I was intrigued because I couldn't seem to pick out who my fave character is, who'd I root for or the real villain. As you go along, it would make more sense, and it was a pleasant surprise and experience.
9/10 acting for Mo Ran and Ok Sun's character actors. Hyun Woo is probably the least I like character in this show.
My advice is keep watching because it gets better. I love the ending since it wasn't forced. It is not a fairytale or cliche kind of ending that you expect. A part is sad but it ends on a good note.
The plot twists will surprise you. If you are watching it now, keep going because I myself is grateful that I made it until the finale.
One memorable quote I got is from Mo Ran when she said that when you're on top, be careful because you might be really standing on a cliff.
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Let’s start with the fact this is not really a “strong female leads being badass” type of a show. All free leads are emotionally broken in one way or another, selfish, egocentric and cunning. None was worth rooting for and that’s exactly what made the drama a fun watch - you could see them messing with each other's lives, laugh about it and not feel many conflicting emotions.
Character wise, both Go Mo Ran and Bae Ok Sun were fascinating. Completely misguided in their actions, created an avalanche of devastating situations that only made them both feel more frustrated, sad, angry. On the other hand, Woo Hyun was simply poorly written, and the performance by Kim Ha Neul did not help either. Lack of development, ambiguous morals, questionable motivation - this character more or less served nothing.
Production and directing wise, it was fine until it was not. Last two episodes are a pacing nightmare sprinkled with confusing editing. Sadly, the director and production team did not know how to deal with the cut of two episodes, making it impossible to deliver a proper closure that did not feel rushed and out of the blue.
Overall, not a bad watch.
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Not Good Enough
Korean Drama "Kill Heel" is a drama with strong female leads who collide for a place with power.The background stories were pretty interesting, though they flashed by too quickly. The performances were enjoyable as well.
However, the rest of the drama had a lot of issues. The main plot was boring and it was twist after twist that got repetitive. Also, the side characters were used only to fill in the gaps, and ofter were left out completely, with no progress on their stories. Finally, the ending was just okay. There wasn't much explaining when it came to what happened to the past and the whole drama was a letdown.
So, overall, three out of ten.
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Heels!
It's not a good sign when a drama start off on the wrong foot. In this case, we had a poor opening and an equally poor introduction to the story and the characters. Which is unfortunate because earlier parts made it seem worse than it actually is. However, later parts had their own set of problems that were too glaring to ignore. Pacing problems were noticeable after 5-6 episodes. It would have been much smoother watching experience to have the three female leads stories to fully run in parallel. The lack of sensible direction made the drama jarring. At one point, the FL's family was prominent in her life and then they were completely shelved off. Most of the side stories were poorly managed, they started out of nowhere, ended up nowhere and their inclusion did little to nothing. The rivalry within the company and the work environment, which occupied most of its runtime, were all uninteresting in the slightest. With all that being said, after long mundane fights between the three leads, some comebacks were enjoyable but that's where the enjoyable part ended.Was this review helpful to you?
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A Trainwreck....
Personal opinion of this show is that it is a drama whose plot started out interestingly but ended up all over the place without much cohesion.Negatives:
- Hae Soo 's character. Thought it would be expounded in the middle of the series but was wrong.
- The connection among the 3 FLs. For me, the story between Mo Ran and Ok Sun could have been turned into the main plot. Woo Hyun's character was just more of an extra branch on a tree.
- Not liking Kim Ha Neul's character and her acting. Liked her in 18 again, but here, her expression is just one dimensional and as a TV shopping host, Ok Sun had a livelier character which would be more believable of a host.
- The supporting characters. Not one stood out for me. They were too noisy and over the top. The drama could have done without most of them.
- The plot wherein Mo Ran was abused by Hyun Wook's dad and became pregnant????? The story didn't even give a background on why Mo Ran was living with them during her younger years. And how is it possible for her to have a teen son when she already looks like a grandma? The younger Mo Ran looked to be in her early 20's. If that were so, the present Mo Ran should have been in her mid 30"s.
- Ok Sun's husband. A character that the drama could also do without.
- This series felt rushed. The past of the Fl's should have been played out in detail so that the viewer would understand where they are coming from.
Positives:
- well the soundtrack was so-so.
- First time to see Kim Sung Ryung and found her to be really pretty. Would like to see a drama with her as Fl and no one else to fully see her acting chops
Note: To each his own. Respect. You can choose to agree of disagree. This is just my personal view of the show.
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