This review may contain spoilers
Director Was NOT Serious…
I really wanted to like this drama because the premise sounds perfect on paper: betrayal, a secret child, a rich mistress and a woman entering her ex-lover’s new family for revenge. Unfortunately, the execution is painfully lifeless.
The drama takes an absurdly long time to reach the story it is actually supposed to be telling. Dong-woo and Young-joo barely share enough meaningful scenes to establish a believable attraction, yet their relationship is suddenly presented as an irresistible forbidden affair. Their kissing scene was especially awkward. Instead of passion or tension, it looked like two actors falling on top of each other while the camera desperately tried to hide the fact that they were not really kissing.
Yun-hee is equally frustrating. She is supposed to become the emotional centre of a revenge melodrama, but for far too long she does little beyond suffering silently, staring sadly and accepting Dong-woo’s increasingly obvious lies. A slow burn should gradually build tension, motivation and emotional attachment. This drama mostly repeats the same conversations until somebody becomes teary-eyed and the episode ends.
The production is also shockingly poor, even by late-1990s television standards. I love old movies and the hazy atmosphere of early Korean dramas, so age is not the issue. The problem is the complete lack of visual storytelling. The camera angles are flat, the blocking is awkward, the editing has no rhythm and the music rarely adds anything to the scenes. The cast is clearly talented, especially Shim Eun-ha, but the direction somehow makes accomplished actors look stiff and amateurish.
I understand why the premise and dialogue may have felt provocative when it originally aired, but popularity does not automatically make something well made. Korean dramas improved enormously in directing, pacing, music and emotional storytelling during the early 2000s, and Trap of Youth makes that difference painfully obvious. A potentially addictive revenge story is buried underneath lifeless direction, weak romantic development and endless staring.
Not a slow burn. Just a drama that takes forever to begin.
The drama takes an absurdly long time to reach the story it is actually supposed to be telling. Dong-woo and Young-joo barely share enough meaningful scenes to establish a believable attraction, yet their relationship is suddenly presented as an irresistible forbidden affair. Their kissing scene was especially awkward. Instead of passion or tension, it looked like two actors falling on top of each other while the camera desperately tried to hide the fact that they were not really kissing.
Yun-hee is equally frustrating. She is supposed to become the emotional centre of a revenge melodrama, but for far too long she does little beyond suffering silently, staring sadly and accepting Dong-woo’s increasingly obvious lies. A slow burn should gradually build tension, motivation and emotional attachment. This drama mostly repeats the same conversations until somebody becomes teary-eyed and the episode ends.
The production is also shockingly poor, even by late-1990s television standards. I love old movies and the hazy atmosphere of early Korean dramas, so age is not the issue. The problem is the complete lack of visual storytelling. The camera angles are flat, the blocking is awkward, the editing has no rhythm and the music rarely adds anything to the scenes. The cast is clearly talented, especially Shim Eun-ha, but the direction somehow makes accomplished actors look stiff and amateurish.
I understand why the premise and dialogue may have felt provocative when it originally aired, but popularity does not automatically make something well made. Korean dramas improved enormously in directing, pacing, music and emotional storytelling during the early 2000s, and Trap of Youth makes that difference painfully obvious. A potentially addictive revenge story is buried underneath lifeless direction, weak romantic development and endless staring.
Not a slow burn. Just a drama that takes forever to begin.
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