Successful Story of a Bright Girl (2002)

I started this one a while back when I was on a Jang Hyuk drama spree. I only managed to watch about half the eps before I lost interest. I didn’t plan on dropping it though because I knew I wanted to finish it someday…

Story: One of the first romcoms to be labeled as such, it comes with all the laughs and romance one would expect. It did have a nice plot which was an added surprise. The story is mostly about how the main male character changes from a rich douchebag to a poor guy with a purpose. The first half of the drama is the developing romance and the downfall of the male lead. Then in the second half (after a time jump) it kind of turns into an office drama with the bad guys competing with the good guys. The ending was very cute.

Acting/Cast: Jang Hyuk was awesome but his character was crazy! Like he just goes nuts and starts randomly punching things around him or yelling out of nowehere quite often. He was quite interesting though. Jang Nara matched him very well chemistry wise and I loved her character because she was strong and could handle his wild temperament. The only thing I didn’t like about her character is her accent. It was just too much. As for Ryu Soo Young (My Princess, Ojakgyo Brothers) it was so weird seeing him play the villain. But he played a very good one. As for the rest of the cast I didn’t find their characters that important.

Music: Very old school but I guess it went well with this drama because it is very old!

Rewatch: I liked it so I would watch it sometime in the future.

Overall Successful Bright Girl is impressive for an older drama.

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In my husband's words: this was inept yet adorable

This show is cheesy and ridiculous in so many ways. The characters are cartoonish, the plot is nonsensical, the production values are student film quality. The "romance" has a few really cute moments but is mostly comprised of childish tantrums, miscommunications, and contrived separations. And yet, I can't deny this had a certain charm to it and I did (usually) enjoy watching it. I came into this with a strong pre-existing fondness for Jang Na Ra and Jang Hyuk and I loved watching these early career performances of theirs. Even at this early stage they both had such a star quality about them. It's amusing how the show ping pongs between the lightest fluff and hackneyed attempts at gritty intensity. Sometimes the show would get flat but thankfully I never had to wait too long for it to pick back up again.

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One of the first kdramas that I watched. At the time, it had 40%+ ratings!!!! Perhaps, it was a reflection of the hard economy at the time, so the drama deals with the fallout of losing all your wealth and starting over. Despite the financial difficulties and back stabbing, there is a cheerful, fighting spirit to the characters which makes the drama endearing. This is the sort of drama that you watch during a bad day and you feel encouraged. Both Jang Hyuk and Jang Nara are not that polished as this was one of their first dramas and it was a hit! The chemistry is endearing as the situations are unexpected and unique in many ways. Have seen many dramas over the years but some of the reactions & scenes ehre have not been copied. They have a fun, cute chemistry here and they reunited years later in Fated to Love you.

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