cosmiccosmetics

I've never been so excited over a drama trailer in my life. I can't wait until November 6th, I've been anticipating this drama since it was first announced. This is 100% my type of story...

Should read the webtoon first or go in blind?

Wait does my merry marriage have revenge in it? I'll pick it up again if it does lol

I'll be starting Marie and her three dads after work today!

Btw, sunny again tomorrow sounds interesting. Thanks for the recommendation!

Honestly I have to agree with everything you're saying here!

You dropped the drama at a good point because after Serin dies is when the drama enters it's darkest point. by that I mean lowest quality. The guy playing Yeonseok is no Jeon Nomin or even the guy who played the evil CEO from Vengeance of a Bride so his "evil era" was very hard to watch. He should stick to "friendly" roles. The actor who plays Yunjin did a good job although I'm definitely enjoying him way more in a Graceful Liar and The Second Husband. Probably because those two have better writing. Although compared to WIAV, "the bar is in hell" as they say lol

I could enjoy Aera's antics because I'm a 2FL supremacist but I can easily see how people who don't like villainous characters could get turned off by it.

Choi Yoonyoung was good as Serin but after the switch ... I'm right there with you. Eventually she started irritating me lol there's only so many times you can say you're going to "make someone pay for their crimes" while not doing anything to make that happen.

I can't believe the screenwriter got fired, well actually I can lol. I hope they take a creative writing course in their free time... the drop in quality between this and MIAV (which didn't have half the plot holes that this one does) is so jarring it makes me wonder if MIAV was written by a ghostwriter or something lol

The controversies section on Namuwiki is crazy lol it's actually what inspired me to watch this again 😭 whoever gathered all of those is iconic

It's such a shame because this show had such great potential at the beginning 😭

Same here I was rewatching clips of it the other day!

You're right that she'll have to work twice as hard but Eunjung can definitely pull it off. I'm so curious to see the contrast between the twins lol

Not to mention, info on the male leads (which doesn't seem to be out yet)

The writer is the same person who wrote third marriage/, the second husband and pink lipstick as well!

Tbh it's been a while since we've had a daily where the FL plays a set of twins - the promise with Lee Yuri (2016) comes to mind.

Marie and her 3 dads is a KBS1 daily and those are usually more sitcomish/family oriented than KBS2 & MBC dailies. I usually don't watch KBS1 dailies due to the lack of revenge lol although I kind of want to watch the new one because I am kind of curious about the three dads... lol

If anyone is curious there's some info out about the drama that is replacing this one - it's called the First Man. Ham Eunjung will be playing a set of twins and Oh Hyunkyung will be playing the 2FL! Eunjung did such a great job in Queen's House so I'll definitely be tuning in...

Source: https://www.soompi.com/article/1790486wpp/hahm-eun-jung-and-oh-hyun-kyung-confirmed-to-lead-new-revenge-daily-drama

I literally opened up the comment section for the same reason 😭

I have unmasked the woman in the veil because I have finished this drama!

Just as expected, my opinion did not change ... But I added a half star because the scene where Aera confronts Namjoong was well acted and intense...

But now that I finished this I can safely say that this drama is full of plot holes. The lack of reaction after Serin gets murdered is the most obvious case. It's even more jarring for the court scenes because the judge glazes over it when reading out Yunjin's charges. Something else that I wonder is what about the real Aera (the girl who went by Hyunjung)? Is she still in the mental hospital? There was a ten year time skip, I sure hope she's still not locked up lol

Btw a 10 year time skip is crazy work (hands down the biggest post-storyline time skip I've seen) but I guess the narrative shot itself in the foot with that because Yunjin was sentenced 10 years and we HAD to get a scene of him watching Gyeoul and regretting it.

The sister reveal coming out at episode 102 out of episode 103. Didn't really impact the narrative and it felt unnecessary (like most of the "twists" in this drama) Especially as it showed how Hyunju became Gyeoul. Like seriously?

This drama would've been way better if it was pitched as for what it is, Aera getting revenge on YJ. Or if you absolutely had to have Gyeoul as the "FL", have Gyeoul marry back into the Nam family and get revenge that way OR, Serin could've married into the family and the two worked together to take them down that way.

Although I like the idea of Aera as the FL - she's a true revenge incarnate who only lives and dies for her revenge. Which is probably the only things besides OG!Serin that kept me watching.

Also what really annoyed me about the final scene with Gyeoul and Aera? The fact that Gyeoul really thinks Aera killed Hyuntae when it's been established that it was Yeonseok. Did the screenwriter forget this detail? After all, that's how Yeonseok ended up in jail in the first place, but whatever! Gyeoul is also very smug and self righteous for a revenge drama FL that doesn't really do anything, but I'm glad it's over and I can check Woman in a Veil off my list.

Here's a positive, this daily, for all it's flaws, probably has some of my favorite wall art in it (like set design). Ie ... I'm obsessed with the Jerry (from Tom & Jerry) pop art that's in Yunjin and Gyeoul's (and later Yunjin and Aera's) bedroom. Like I'm trying to ID it and hopefully hunt it down and buy one for my apartment because I like it that much.

But all in all, I don't recommend this daily. Justice for Serin 😭

What Hanyang did to Sujeong's parents is dirty work.
What Hyera did to Jiwoo is even dirtier.

Sujeong's revenge glow up is everything, I love Crystal lmao.

Hamin and Youngae are hilarious btw. Hamin showing Youngae the soap opera and telling her to be mean to Hyera like a "true mother in law" is probably one of the funniest things I've seen in a daily lately lol

Idk why but I find KBS2 dailies easier to watch live/as they air but MBC dailies are way more binge worthy...

So I'm on episode 98/103. I'm not finished yet, but I'm reviewing it anyway because I don't think my opinion will change within the next 5 episodes. I used a spoiler tag but i gotta say this review is full of spoilers and if you are interested in watching this, stop reading now

First of all, this will be the first daily in a while that WON'T make it on my "daily dramas I would rewatch again" list. And why not? Well...

I found Aera the most interesting. All your usual daily drama archetypes are here, but in this drama, the characters are flat and boring. I found Aera the most interesting, and apparently, so did the screenwriter. Villains getting their way in dailies is nothing new but Aera took it to ridiculous levels. She has a solution for everything. A morally questionable solution, but still a solution none the less. Either way, I probably got through this drama because I fooled myself into believing this is the "tragedy of Joo Aera".

That will lead to my next point: the tone of this drama was very jarring and bumpy, like a rollercoaster ride. It's like every 25 episodes or so, the tone shifts. There's no build up so a lot of this comes off as random, or like the screenwriter threw darts at a "makjang trope" dartboard whenever they got writer's block. That's exactly what this drama feels like:

First quarter - Serin and Gyeoul are living their own lives. Like I said in a previous comment it felt like your run of the mill affair daily drama. For the exposition, it's not bad. Until...
Second quarter - the body switch and this was surprisingly my favorite part because this is the most active you will see Gyeoul, the supposedly "FL". She actually proves to be a decent match for Aera, messing with her employment and staging an affair with Yujin and getting in on his family... at this point this felt like the natural progression of things. The story is leading you to believe that Gyeoul is going to (re)marry into the Nam family in Serin's body and cause havoc to Aera. Sounds way more interesting than what happens instead...
Third quarter - Taeyang and Gyeoul fall in love with each other. Aera scams her way back into the Nam family and her motive is revealed. Gyeoul's revenge falls on the back burner and this is when Youngjun and Taeyang start doing the heavy lifting/Gyeoul indirectly benefits from Aera's acts of revenge. There's also relationship and daughter drama and the fact that the souls changing are revealed. This part (minus Aera's schemes) was boring until Serin woke up and shook things up again. The story leads you to believe that Serin and Gyeoul are going to work together to get revenge on Aera. But then Serin dies, leading us to...
Final quarter - the worst part of it. Shortly after Serin gets murdered (which is handwaved by the characters btw) it gets revealed that Aera didn't kill Hyuntae, but the CEO did! Of course he did. I know this is commentary about how all rich people are evil or something but it would've been way more interesting if Aera was the culprit. No offense to the actor who plays Yeonseok but he is so uncharismatic in this role. It doesn't help that for the majority of the drama, Yeonseok is largely a minor character, the one who seems the most upright, straight-edged (boring) member of the family. But nope... He's actually a greedy mf who caused Jiseok brain damage. Also knocked his father into a coma. There are evil chaebol characters i can get behind but Yeonseok is not one of them... Aera should've been the final villain - the screenwriter wrote Aera as the main character and thankfully, Lee Chaeyoung understood the assignment. She definitely carried the drama on her back imo

Oh and btw - Taeyang just so happens to be Jiseok',s son, making him a heir to the company (🙄) I don't really like Jiseok as a character (he's annoying and I dislike his "witty" one liners to Youngran , there I said it) so this part is dragging for me. Not to mention, I haven't gotten to the twist that Aera and Gyeoul are sisters (Namuwiki spoiled me) yet. Like most plot twists in this drama, the birth secrets feel unnecessary, like they were thrown in at the last minute. Maybe not Taeyang, because it was foreshadowed when he first met the honorary chairman, but absolutely not Aera and Gyeoul.

Much like this review, this drama is really all over the place and I think the screenwriter really challenged herself to fit as much makjang tropes in a daily as possible and she paid the price in terms that she hasn't written for a daily since. It's very hard to believe this is written by the same person who wrote Man in a Veil. That's one of my favorite dailies tbh...

Besides that... the writer is VERY fond of using eavesdropping as a plot device. If something is found out, that is 95% the way the character found it out. But cosmiccosmetics, you say, isn't eavesdropping normal in dailies? Yes, it is! In fact, a few times is expected. However, after the second half, it seems like we get a scene in every episode where someone - usually Gyeoul/Aera - is eavesdropping. This adds to the episodes feeling super repetitive in the 2nd half... which quickly gets boring. This is also one of those dramas where a good portion of the action happens off screen. Make of that what you will.. but to me that's bad storytelling lol

It's also safe to say that the side couples don't do it for me. I fast forward through all of Yuri/Youngjun and Malja/Youngsoo's non plot relevant scenes. I don't think Malja and Youngsoo have chemistry. They feel more like clowns. Everything I said about Yuri in my previous comment still stands but I don't like Yuri/Youngjun as a couple because he uses her multiple times to get revenge. She even notices it, calls him out on it, but somehow still likes him? Okay lmao. I don't really like Youngjun for that either as it felt so unnecessary for his character. He could've easily used his brains to get the info he wanted as it was established that he is smart af. I also want to pour one out for Seyeon and Serin. They both felt super underdeveloped especially Seyeon. I feel like she died way too early... I am also annoyed because I wanted to see what Serin would do since she had accepted that Taeyang doesn't like her. Serin could've been written out by flying to the US or Japan or something if she absolutely had to be written out.

Final words: this is far from the worst daily I have watched (it DID keep my attention at some points which counts for something) but I won't be watching it again. The interesting parts of the drama (Serin, Gyeoul's initial revenge plan, etc) get shafted or written out. Not even the body switch could save it, although like many have said, this drama could've been done without it. I realized how pointless it was when the other characters get told/find out about the soul switch and handwave it. Gyeoul is truly the most lukewarm female lead I've seen in a daily in a very long time... But you know, it's Joo Aera's world, and we're living in it! Like I said above, everything goes her way. She's the FL, and that's the truth. She stands out the most in the poster above for a reason...

Like Gyeoul said regarding the soul switch, "I don't know how to explain it", I could say the same for this drama. I can't wait to give this it's 4/10 rating. I heard the time skip at the end of the series is very bad, so I'll be back to comment on that lol

Currently on episode 71 and I'm glad to say that I am liking this way more than I thought I would! I was fooled by the brightness of the poster but this daily gets quite dark...

For woman in a veil I have basically gaslighted myself into believing that Aera is the FL and Gyeoul is the villain lmao. From that perspective, it's pretty tolerable 😭 ...(Although I still could've done without the whole freaky Friday twist lol)

Still can't believe it's written by the same person who wrote man in a veil because I loved that one. Plus the quality drop is so jarring😭 but I guess you can't win them all lol

Same here same here. I welcome all complexand/or evil 2FLs with open arms lmfao (my icon says it all 🤣)

Oh yeah ... I started secrets and lies but I never finished it 😭 I last got to around episode 46...

Wife Returns is pretty fun! I'm still in the beginning but the exposition doesn't seem to be dragging and from what little I see I'm going to like Yookyung. I'm not sure why the mom in law forced yoohee away from her baby but I'm sure it's probably just toxic chaebol bs lol

Also I find it amusing that Lee Chaeyoung is in here because I'm also currently watching woman in a veil 😅

omg I'm definitely going to start secrets and lies after I finish something on my watchlist lol. Hell, I might even drop this and replace it with S&L lol. Hwakyung sounds like she's a fun FL

It's so funny with the MBC dailies because I LOVED Witches Game and Meant to Be! When MBC wants to hit it out the park, they do!

I didn't know that JSY is in thorn flower! I have another reason to watch it now lol.

I don't think I ever finished an SBS daily but I'm liking Wife Returns and Temptation of a Wife so far...

I'm trying to decide if I want to stick this out and complete it or drop it and attempt it when it's done ... I haven't watched since episode 50 (queens house stole my attention and a graceful liar is looking excellent) but I feel like everything started to fall apart once Seolhee had her revenge glow up and Seonjae found out within 5 episodes....

There's something about Lucia that annoys me as a lead. I actually prefer Gyeongchae...

Next drama in this time slot is rumored to be called "the fourth man" which is apparently written by the same woman who wrote third marriage and the second husband ... I'll give it a shot but I've yet to finish a currently airing MBC daily and it doesn't seem like I will in the foreseeable future 😭

I like how Youngchae and Jeongwon are frenemies. Their friendship is toxic (see: Youngchae lovebombing Jeongwon to keep her around, and since jeongwon's in a vulnerable position she takes the bait) and despite the clear power dynamic between them, I know jeongwon isn't going take this art theft laying down. It's not like other FLs with toxic friends who are blissfully unaware or in denial... (remember in the very beginning of Miss Montecristo when Serin stole Eunjo's designs to win a scholarship and Eunjo just let her get away with it? lol) I'm not sure what's going to happen next but Youngchae kicked the hornet's nest with this one. Like ... what is Jeongwon planning to do with Kyeongshin? 👀

Haven't watched today's ep (5) yet but it seems like we're getting the scene from the very beginning of episode 1. Wasn't expecting it this fast but considering how it's a Friday episode I'm expecting some craziness to go down before the weekend...

For how many dailies feature fashion designer FLs this is probably the first one where I've actually liked her designs lol

Been waiting for this ever since this was first announced. I'm going in blind and going to read the webtoon after ...

First of all, Gyeoul is the FL but this drama becomes way more entertaining if you pretend Aera is the FL. Disregard everything and view this as "The Rise and Fall of Joo Aera" like everything goes her way which is par the course for a makjang villain but Aera's success rate is something different... I want a wingman as loyal as hers lmao

It's kind of hard to cheer on the FL here because of the circumstances of how she's getting revenge. The Freaky Friday twist is fun only if both characters are alive. Right now we're basically watching Gyeoul freely live Serin's life and fraud her family. Honestly, the screenwriter should've done a plastic surgery switch (like Ruby Ring, the FLs were misidentified after a car crash and that's how they switched faces)

The side couples (Yuri and Youngjun [spoiled to me by namuwiki] and Malja and Youngsoo) annoy me so I fast forward through all their scenes. Yuri especially just comes off as a dumb brat. I usually don't mind the "airhead younger sister" trope but I definitely mind Yuri. It doesn't help that she uses aegyo a lot but it just makes her look stupid lol. She should've gotten fired after the whole patent leak. Funny enough I liked Malja and Youngsoo as individuals but as a couple ... ehhhh

I know Jiseok and Soyi/Haneul's relationship is supposed to be foreshadowing but a grown man (developly disabled or not that's still a grown man) befriending and playing with a little girl who's a stranger gives me the ick for ... reasons. I actually sighed of relief when Taeyang put his foot down and told her not to go back there anymore.

The Nams are terrible people (I feel like the honorary chairman is going to be the final boss) so when "Soyi" was like "my dad's going to fire you!" I'm not sure why Gyeoul was surprised? I got annoyed when she blamed herself when like Youngjun said, the fault lies in the kidnapper. And is it really surprising that a rescued kidnapped child may have behavioral issues? Unfortunately Yujin was right, to everyone else, Serin is just a stranger to Soyi. But with Kyungsook moving in, it'll be interesting to see how Aera scams her way out of this one...

Where I'm at in the story we seem to be going in circles... I feel like it's going to continue to be love triangle stuff (Taeyang vs Yujin regarding Serin) + "Gyeoul looking for evidence" until Aera marries Yujin and/or the original Serin wakes up. That might be why I'm progressing fast with this... I want to see what happens when the real Serin wakes up (around episode 60 iirc). I know she's going to be pissed but you know what? I don't blame her.

Youngjun is my favorite character of the good guys, Aera is my favorite of the bad ones.