cosmiccosmetics

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.

So I'm basically at the halfway point ...

That's true lol

I find her an interesting foil to Hyera. Nansuk didn't abandon her daughter but she treats her as a tool whereas Hyera abandoned her daughter but seems regretful.

So far the best mother in this show is Jeongwon's "step mother", even though they aren't blood related nor related by marriage

I think so too. Especially since we've seen Jeongwon been treated badly just because of her name, which is a stark contrast to how Youngchae is treated. The first 5 minutes made me think that when it's time for "everyone to go back to where they belong", Jeongwon is going to fight tooth and nail to prevent that from happening...

Manager Gong is Kong Nansuk / Lee Seungyeon's character ... the "wall street investor" lol I'm trying to get the character's names down by Friday lol

Same here I know Lee Shia as an idol (she was a member of a shortlived group called CHICHI) this is my first time seeing her act and I'm enjoying her performance so far and hoping she reaches more success as an actress!

You're a better fan than me because I know what daily you're talking about and I dropped it in the first week 😭 still she's one of my favorite actresses so I'm looking forward to her next drama!

Yes I think that Jeongwon will become a villain especially as we see more of her. Looking at how jaded she is, and how she has a clear link in her mind to her mother's abandonment to when things go south...

She's far from a bright personality type (who would've hustled her way out of these circumstances and been reunited with a loved one/caring adult) and seems rather beat down in life. I think this will extend to wanting to keep the Joo Youngchae ruse going. Speaking of which, shes going to end up working with manager gong... that in itself says a lot because we see what kind of person she is!

But those are my reasons behind why I think she's going to be a villainous FL!

(And I think Park Hana and Lee Shia look a bit a like too!)

Jeongwon just may become my favorite makjang female lead of all time. I'm looking forward to tomorrow but it seems like the only "good" main character so far was Haneul. very early to tell, but if it turns out that way things will be very interesting.

This kind of reminds me of Apgujeong Midnight Sun with the abandoned daughters revenge trope and the female leads are giving similar vibes... I'm here for it.

Manager Gong is wild. That bathroom scene was just... crazy. She makes Myeongji from Cinderella Game look like mother of the year

Strong first episode, I'm already hooked. I am SO here for Jeongwon's villain origin story!!!

Episode 5 was insane btw....! Lahee faking her death when Monet "poisoned" her was crazy enough but what really shook me was Matthew hacking Min Dohyuk and Kang Gitak's car 😭 probably the most bone chilling thing I've seen a K-drama villain do

I'm on episode 5 now and it's just as much of an emotional rollercoaster as the first season 😭