Bitter Sweet Hell (2024)

Gripping story til the end

I thought this would be the same story as cheating husband - wife finds out - mistress tries to kill wife.

But it’s not.

It’s actually brilliant. I love the mother in law who uses clever techniques to catch the culprits. But it’s the meanings behind the story that really caught me thinking. There are some things I also noticed that this kdrama would addresses. For one, looks like Korea isn’t as openly accepting of queers. Another is how they treat their pets - it was clearly snowing but they kept the dog out in its house plus the dog is mostly tethered during the show.

Also made me wonder - what happened to the cat who went into where Do Hyun was held? Did it ger out? Was it the ghost of the cat Les Se Na killed long ago? That would’ve been a creepy twist. But the mother in law never mentioned the cat.

Lastly, I like how they ended the show. While the wife visited the mother in law in the snowy mountain villa, she slipped in the snow and fell facing up the sky. She said “it’s not bad to slip once in a while.” I find that very clever… when she slipped, she was facing up and saw the beautiful blue sky with the snowy branches of trees in the foreground, and it was a beautiful sight. Meaning it’s not bad to slip once in a while because while you're down there facing up, you’ll realize there is a beautiful sky up there and that made falling down not so bad. If she hadn’t fall, she wouldn’t have seen the beautiful snowy sky/landscape.

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Good Enough

Korean Drama '' Bittersweet Hell '' is a family melodrama with a dark comedy note.

The drama has a pretty basic storyline, which can be found in almost every makjang. Still, what sets it apart from the others was the cinematography which was brilliant, with nice contrasts between light and darkness and sharp camera work.

The relationship between mother in law and daughter in law was another perk of this drama. It got strong and stronger as the drama progressed and it was nice to watch girl power as the two of them worked together.

On the other hand, the drama got boring in the final episodes.

Finally, the performances were all great by everyone in the cast.

So, overall, five out of ten.

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True to it's name this show gives you a bitter sweet aftertaste at the end of it all

I am a huge fan of Kim Hee Sun's shows (ever since I watched her in Faith) so my review and rating could be a bit biased. I started watching this expecting a melodrama but boy it took a violent and thriller turn too soon (glad I didn't check any spoilers). Both Kim Hee Sun and Lee Hye-Yong delivered amazing performances and complemented each other's characters so well. I loved the quirky MIL character from the very beginning.
How does it feel to live in a carefully constructed, masterfully manipulated fairy tale life for so long, only for it to come crashing down on you? How would it feel when. you realize that your very identity is tied to these lies and facing them means facing yourself? Sometimes life is not black and white and there is just too much grey. Ultimately you need to make the choice of pursuing truth vs protecting what matters to you. Also despite their differences, the family comes together to protect their definition of what's important. That's why it's bitter sweet. I do feel a bit conflicted about Hong Sa Gang's actions regarding her son but ultimately her son was all left to her to. However I don't have as much of a patience for her son (Jae In). He seems irresponsible and spineless for the most part.
The villain is so OP that I am flabbergasted. She is a master manipulator and gaslights so many characters and all her victims remain loyal to her for the most part. That's some fantasy level skills there. But the show stays true to her narcissistic and obsessive behavior. She was so good that it would have been impossible for either NYW and HSG to respond to her by themselves. The show definitely nails down the idea that in the face of a common and powerful enemy most personal differences become irrelevant.

Overall this show is a great watch and I think the pacing is just right.

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