This review may contain spoilers
Mistress is a gripping mystery thriller which as the title suggests, revolves around the theme of infidelity or affairs or cheating, call it what you want. The show is written in a way to make you guess the mystery, the who killed whos and so on. Its quite the roller coaster ride of a show and normally, I'm not into shows which have infidelity as a theme. I think my favorite characters would be Se Yeon and Han Sang Hoon. I was shipping them the moment they met. I liked Se Yeong's character since she was the only girl out of the four who didn't have an immoral or adulterous sort of relationship. Although, we find out later that she was the mistress to the Chinese wife without the former even knowing about it. Now, on to Han Sang Hoon. I was rooting for our man Han Sang Hoon despite the show implicating that he is a killer and I was glad to find out that he was innocent and was very happy with the ending where he was alive. As I was watching everyone moving on with their lives after the murder incident, I was literally screaming at my screen "But what about Han Sang Hoon?" and jumped out of sheer joy when they revealed that he was alive. Kudos to the writers for the way that it was presented.
Now, as far as writing goes, the show is written well but there's a lot of plot armor in favor of the four girls. Off the top of my head, one plot armor would be the Chines wife killing and taking the blame for killing Kim Young Dae so that the girls can be proven innocent. Another situation would be when Se Yeon was dropped off in front of the police station by the Chinese wife with the cops surrounding her about to catch her, Han Jeong Won was just right there at the right time to rescue her from the cops. Basically, what I'm trying to say is that you feel no sense of danger for the lives of the four girls. Speaking of danger, I'm sure many were viewers like myself were worried about Han Sang Hoon''s life as he was tortured and held captive over the course of the last couple of episodes. It kinda pissed me off how they didn't go look for him any sooner but I suppose that since they weren't sure about Hoon Sang Hoon's motives, I can let that slide. I was frustrated when the two girls try to see if Hoon Sang Hoon was in the abandoned condominium. I literally screamed "INCOMPETENT!" as they were unsuccessful in finding him. Basically, what I'm trying to say is that throughout the later part of the show, I was very worried for Han Sang Hoon's life as opposed to the four girls despite them being manhandled by Kim Young Dae in the final scene of that abandoned condominium.
Speaking of the four girls, I disliked Han Jeong Won a lot simply because she had a one night stand with her fellow teacher just because of a falling out with her husband when her husband didn't even cheat on her that night. We do later find out that he did cheat on her but with a different woman (can't remember her name) but that was long ago. Either way, that doesn't justify her cheating on him with that fellow teacher of hers who turned out to be psychotic yandere until the moment Han Jeong Won's husband slapped the hell out him as it was revealed in the dash cam video. I was laughing out loud when Han Jeong Won was throwing tantrums accusing her husband of infidelity when she basically had sex with her teacher and got pregnant along with it when she didn't even know about her husband's infidelity. Talk about hypocrisy! Watching her psychologically suffer and be miserable was the only satisfaction I could attain from the show. I mean, seriously, if you're not happy with your husband, just get a divorce and then get impregnated by your fellow teacher and do whatever you want but she did all that one night stuff and when her husband asked to start over, she just went on and agreed to start over as if nothing's wrong. She was the creator of her own self-destruction. Sure, it ends with her being a single mother but the journey of her being a single mother was very entertaining due to how much I disliked the character.
On to the Doctor aka Kim Eun Soo who had a very interesting murder mystery arc. Her arc was very entertaining same as Se Yeon. I think these two girls' arcs are my favorite due to how relevant they are to the overarching plot as compared to the other two which kinda felt like side stories or sub-plot. Kim Eun Soo and her teacher's son investigate as to who killed the teacher she had an affair with. The only negative in this arc would be the writers teasing Kim Eun Soo and her teacher's son as a ship. I'm glad they weren't a couple by the end because that would be sort of disturbing. If that did happen, she could actually use the phrase "but thats not how your dad used to do it!" Haha!
Moving on, I found Do Hwa Young's arc to be nothing more than a filler. Her whole arc with the glasses wearing married guy was just could be skipped and didn't contribute much to the main plot as much as Se Yeon and Kim Eun Soo's arcs did. Also, the glasses guy rejects Do Hwa Young's offer to sleep with him saying that she hasn't changed only for him to sleep with her out of the blue the next night. Like what the actual fuck?!
Overall, the show was intense, thrilling and very binge-worthy. Not to mention the mystery surrounding the story. It keeps you guessing and wanting for more. The investigation didn't really make sense at some points in the story but despite its flaws, its a solid show. Great acting, beautiful cinematography and an amazing score!
However, I wish they didn't have to ruin the moment of closure during the final minutes of the show with that phone call and the person behind it. I doubt we'll get a season 2 due to its low ratings. Here's hoping there's a season 2. Cheers! =)
Now, as far as writing goes, the show is written well but there's a lot of plot armor in favor of the four girls. Off the top of my head, one plot armor would be the Chines wife killing and taking the blame for killing Kim Young Dae so that the girls can be proven innocent. Another situation would be when Se Yeon was dropped off in front of the police station by the Chinese wife with the cops surrounding her about to catch her, Han Jeong Won was just right there at the right time to rescue her from the cops. Basically, what I'm trying to say is that you feel no sense of danger for the lives of the four girls. Speaking of danger, I'm sure many were viewers like myself were worried about Han Sang Hoon''s life as he was tortured and held captive over the course of the last couple of episodes. It kinda pissed me off how they didn't go look for him any sooner but I suppose that since they weren't sure about Hoon Sang Hoon's motives, I can let that slide. I was frustrated when the two girls try to see if Hoon Sang Hoon was in the abandoned condominium. I literally screamed "INCOMPETENT!" as they were unsuccessful in finding him. Basically, what I'm trying to say is that throughout the later part of the show, I was very worried for Han Sang Hoon's life as opposed to the four girls despite them being manhandled by Kim Young Dae in the final scene of that abandoned condominium.
Speaking of the four girls, I disliked Han Jeong Won a lot simply because she had a one night stand with her fellow teacher just because of a falling out with her husband when her husband didn't even cheat on her that night. We do later find out that he did cheat on her but with a different woman (can't remember her name) but that was long ago. Either way, that doesn't justify her cheating on him with that fellow teacher of hers who turned out to be psychotic yandere until the moment Han Jeong Won's husband slapped the hell out him as it was revealed in the dash cam video. I was laughing out loud when Han Jeong Won was throwing tantrums accusing her husband of infidelity when she basically had sex with her teacher and got pregnant along with it when she didn't even know about her husband's infidelity. Talk about hypocrisy! Watching her psychologically suffer and be miserable was the only satisfaction I could attain from the show. I mean, seriously, if you're not happy with your husband, just get a divorce and then get impregnated by your fellow teacher and do whatever you want but she did all that one night stuff and when her husband asked to start over, she just went on and agreed to start over as if nothing's wrong. She was the creator of her own self-destruction. Sure, it ends with her being a single mother but the journey of her being a single mother was very entertaining due to how much I disliked the character.
On to the Doctor aka Kim Eun Soo who had a very interesting murder mystery arc. Her arc was very entertaining same as Se Yeon. I think these two girls' arcs are my favorite due to how relevant they are to the overarching plot as compared to the other two which kinda felt like side stories or sub-plot. Kim Eun Soo and her teacher's son investigate as to who killed the teacher she had an affair with. The only negative in this arc would be the writers teasing Kim Eun Soo and her teacher's son as a ship. I'm glad they weren't a couple by the end because that would be sort of disturbing. If that did happen, she could actually use the phrase "but thats not how your dad used to do it!" Haha!
Moving on, I found Do Hwa Young's arc to be nothing more than a filler. Her whole arc with the glasses wearing married guy was just could be skipped and didn't contribute much to the main plot as much as Se Yeon and Kim Eun Soo's arcs did. Also, the glasses guy rejects Do Hwa Young's offer to sleep with him saying that she hasn't changed only for him to sleep with her out of the blue the next night. Like what the actual fuck?!
Overall, the show was intense, thrilling and very binge-worthy. Not to mention the mystery surrounding the story. It keeps you guessing and wanting for more. The investigation didn't really make sense at some points in the story but despite its flaws, its a solid show. Great acting, beautiful cinematography and an amazing score!
However, I wish they didn't have to ruin the moment of closure during the final minutes of the show with that phone call and the person behind it. I doubt we'll get a season 2 due to its low ratings. Here's hoping there's a season 2. Cheers! =)
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