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The Smile Has Left Your Eyes korean drama review
Completed
The Smile Has Left Your Eyes
15 people found this review helpful
by mangodesu
Mar 3, 2020
16 of 16 episodes seen
Completed 3
Overall 10
Story 10.0
Acting/Cast 10.0
Music 10.0
Rewatch Value 7.0
This review may contain spoilers
I was addicted to this drama from start to finish. There are NO skips necessary. Every episode engrosses you further into the story and there isn't one scene that is dull.

THE PLOT was very interesting to me. Some may just dismiss this drama because of the "good girl meets bad boy" trope, but if you keep watching you'll see that it's not as black and white as it seems. The writing and dialogue were the two strongest points of this, hands down. This drama truly lives up to its title. As serious and melodramatic this is, there are still moments that are softening and endearing to watch, yet as fast as you smile, it will leave your face just as fast as it came. The main cast executed their scripts to a T! The portrayal of their characters really showed, and it definitely helped progress the story. THE PLOT TWISTS ARE UNPREDICTABLE and the final one left me so stunned I was literally SO SHOOK. I was so shocked as to how the story took many twists and turns in ways you never expected.

THE MAIN CHARACTERS were exceptional and outstanding at the same time. The dedication that Seo In Guk, Jung So Min, and Park Sung Woong put into their characters deserves just as much if not more praise for the drama itself. The chemistry between the leads was through the roof. You really believed they were a couple who was just going through the motions. There. were barely any scenes where I didn't believe the emotions that were being conveyed, except for some scenes with Jin Kang. I felt she was too lenient with the actions of her brother and Moo Young, but then again her character was made to be very forgiving. In a way you almost pity her for being so naive and failing to face the reality of things, but that's what made her character so human. Sometimes our love for others blinds us from seeing them for who they really are. Moo young was not a good person, even to her, at times, and the audience knows this, but Jin Kang is so convinced that Moo young is good and he can do no wrong, that he is the way he is simply because life has dealt him a bad hand of cards, and that is so earnestly human. Now I'm going to talk about Moo Young. What an amazing performance. EVERY TIME HE SMILED THERE WAS NO SMILE IN HIS EYES AND THAT WAS INCREDIBLE TO WATCH. you never knew if he was really being sincere with anyone, no matter how convincing he seemed. Seo In Guk delivered the best performance from a male lead in a drama I have seen thus far. I haven't seen him in anything besides this but I will for sure check out more shows with him in the future. What a complex character. Dangerous but somehow approachable at the same time. He is cold, arrogant, selfish, manipulative, and dismissive of other people he doesn't care about(he enjoys messing with people's emotions which kinda comes off as a sociopathic), but under the surface is a severely damaged young boy who is desperate to find his identity and learn the reason behind his suffering and tumultuous past. What's sad is he grew up believing that his past defined him, and how many people out there do the same exact thing? As for Yoo Jin Gook, he played the role of Jin Kang's brother very well. He is very protective of Jin Kang, but only because she's the only family he has. As annoying as it was watching him withhold the truth, he was the perfect example of what happens when you are not honest with your loved ones. I understand that he did not reveal Moo Young and Jin Kang's past because he wanted to protect them, but had he just said the truth early on, it would have prevented a lot of the events leading up to the finale from happening(I just find it wild that he really let his sister sleep with her brother like wow). However what makes him human is the fact that he really thought he was doing Jin Kang and Moo Young justice by withholding the truth from them when in actuality it worsened the situation of everyone involved. I'm sure there was a time where we didn't tell the truth to protect someone we cared about. My only real complaint about Park Sung Woong is I felt like he could have shown off more of an emotional range. A lot times he looked too stoic and lacked the emotion that a scene demanded. Although he is flawed you understand the actions he makes and the reasons behind them. As an orphan he did the best he could to raise Jin Kang and protect her at all costs.

THE MUSIC was so moving and fit the theme of emotion for every scene. Just perfect. The melody to "Lost" really stuck to me and I can't stop thinking about the scenes between Moo Young and Jin Kang.

Overall I give this drama a 10/10. I wouldn't rewatch cause I don't like rewatching things I've already seen even if I enjoyed it, but that doesn't mean it was anything less than amazing. The ending wasn't happy but given the tone of the drama, it wouldn't have felt right if Moo Young and Jin Kang got happily ever after. I felt a certain peace knowing that in the end, regardless of their intertwined pasts and mistakes, The two had fully accepted one another and were willing to face anything together-including death. One thing that stood out to me was that Moo Young was always self-aware of himself so he was never too far gone, and somehow Jin Kang was able to get through to him and convince him to change his ways. Had he had more time, I would like to believe that he would've become a better man. He had already started, but it was too late. It really is inevitable for a person's deeds to catch up to them. The end of their saga was beautiful and tragic at the same time, but I wouldn't end it any other way.
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