'When the Phone Rings' takes Netflix by storm, scores new personal-best ratings
Also known as LIES OF LIES. Airing on: Friday & Saturday | Duration: 1 hour: 9 min.
Hello, dear MDL reader !!
Fair Warning: This article contains major spoilers for episodes 1-8.
NOTE: DON'T READ THE STORY, REVIEWS, COMMENTS, OR WATCH ANY CLIPS RELATED TO THE DRAMA BEFORE WATCHING THE DRAMA FOR BETTER EXPERIENCE.
Honestly, I don’t know how to write an article in English, not my first language. I'm totally out of my comfort zone, but my love for this drama is beyond my fear.
Lie after lie as the title suggests, is a reflection of EUN SOO (played by LEE YOO RI) about her current life that started by hiding the truth to tell lies and faking her identity.
THE SYNOPSIS
Channel A’s “Lie After Lie” is a new suspense-romance drama about a woman who is willing to lie and put her life on the line to be reunited with her biological daughter. LEE YOO RI stars as JI EUN SOO, a woman whose life falls apart in the blink of an eye when she is accused of murdering her abusive husband, the heir to a chaebol family. Despite her insistence that she is innocent, she ends up going to prison for his murder and loses custody of her daughter.
THE CAST
"The most important thing is to protect my daughter... I will not make my daughter go through this cruel world without a mother"
LEE YOO RI did a great job portraying JI EUN SOO, with the range of emotions that she showed. The developing in the personality from the bright lady before marriage to the weak, broken women after her marriage to finally the reckless women who don’t care about anything except her daughter. LEE YOO RI did a magnificent job bringing her character to life.
"too much kindness makes you an easy target"
YEON JUNG HOON as KANG JI MIN, the adopted father of EUN SOO's daughter (played by the adorable GO NA HEE) is the complete form of a nobleman, a guy who devoted his life for the sake of his daughter after his wife left them, a guy who gets hurt by his wife betrayal, but he is too gentle to expose her to his family.
"You destroyed my flower garden which I took care of, so why should I protect your flower garden?"
LEE IL HWA as KIM HOO RAN (EUN SOO's mother-in-law) was the living proverb of "if I can't be happy, no one should be". The loss of her own son was too much for her to accept, so she turns all of the anger toward the only suspect: EUN SOO.
To be honest, this drama has a great cast, but the ones dominating the whole show were LEE YOO RI and LEE IL HWA. Words aren't enough to describe their high-quality acting.
THE DIRECTING
The details - although there are some mistakes – are overall well done. For example, Woo Joo's hair as short as a reflection of her single dad who isn't able to hairdressing properly as his divorced wife did and EUN SOO wearing the hat and hiding her face almost in every scene in the first 4 episodes as a result of losing her self-confidence, she also avoids eye contact with people she doesn’t know, etc. The cinematography overall was very well done.
THE STORYLINE
The whole storyline is strange and interesting with a mixed vibe of TVN hit drama "Mother" and KBS drama "Secret". The writer did a fascinating work in designing the characters, particularly with EUN SOO. You can understand her motives, decisions, and the way of her thinking. EUN SOO is one of the most human characters in the drama land.
The story itself plays with the viewers, between their morals and their feelings towards the main lead suffering story, and that is a point in favor of the writer as life is not white and black; sometimes there are shadow regions between them. This conflict is used a lot in the Korean cinema, like the 2013 movie "The New World, 2019 Oscar-winning movie "Parasite" and it starts to be used recently in the drama land with Netflix hit drama: "Extracurricular (2020)".
The mother-daughter relationship in this drama is one of the cutest, loveliest relationships I have seen recently. The child actress did a good job in her role.
I'm in a love/hate relationship with the main lead couple. They are a cute and mature couple at the same time, but again it's all based in lies mixed with some stalking skills of our female lead. Let's wait and see what will happen.
THE SOUNDTRACKS
Forget about the OST with the great vocalists that are usually used in Korean dramas! The soundtrack used in this drama is completely different, by using classical music the drama gets you to the heavens. The strong violin that starts with every shocking ending is just on another level.
PS: someone tells me where I can find the whole soundtrack, I've broken the internet looking for it.
PERSONAL OPINION
This drama is a must-watch, and I can say with full confidence: it's one of my favorite Korean dramas of all time. Let's hope it will keep on the same path 'till the end.
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Edited by: Cookie (1st editor), BrightestStar (2nd editor)
