My Sassy Girl (2017)

Not for me

This show was, easily, four hours longer than it actually needed to be. If they'd foregone all the "flash-back" repeated scenes and all the long musical montages with characters staring off into space they could have shaved off a lot of run time.

The couple had more BFF chemistry than romantic sparks, which also kinda took away from the love story angle, and the OST wasn't much to my liking either (honestly, there were some weird choices thrown in there like an ACDC cover done with traditional Korean instruments, a Canon in D inspired piece, and a song that sound like something from the OST of The Mummy). I liked the instrumental versions much better than the actual sung songs.

The villains kept smirking out in the open, for everyone to see, every time they did something nefarious. They could have laughed evilly, too, and still no one would have suspected they were behind all the treasonous plotting. So dumb.

The acting was good, and that's the one positive aspect I can talk give this drama. Plus, all the pretty costumes and filming locations, but that's par for the course with Joseon dramas. I wouldn't recommend watching this one, to be honest.

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Why would this period piece be inferior to any other?

I have watched a lot of Korean period pieces. First, any comparison with the masterpiece movie from 2001 with Jun Ji-Hyun is a nonsense. These are completely different everything: theme, idea, period, genre. The cast is very lovely, the subject is nice, the acting is good, so all in all this is a very enjoyable series. Yes, it's nothing new, but except for satellites falling from the sky with green goblins during Joseon era, I am not sure something really new can be added to the hundreds of period pieces created. Do you want a lovely period comedy/drama? Of well, this is a very fair one.

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My Sassy Girl is the remake of the 2001 Korean movie “My Sassy Girls” but, in this remake, although it differs from the movie, the plot is a seaguk in the Joseon era. It's a light romantic- comedy with some palace intrigue, action, and melodrama. It is a lighthearted drama with some heartbreaking moments and a happy ending. The leading couple has a cute chemistry and they portrayed their characters nicely. The ending seems rushed but, overall, it is a nice comedy with some romance, palace scheming, funny moments, and the conflicts are quickly resolved. Enjoy it!

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SASSY MEETS CLASSY Joo Won-nah See This! °8.5° °Excellent°

This show is adorable, with nearly every moment enjoyable. Like Bridgerton, they sometimes wink at historical seriousness and just go for a fun story.

Visually, MSG is a treat. The sets, filming, and costumes are gorgeous. Its budget is clearly more than many historical dramas with its sophisticated fight scenes and costume after gorgeous silk costume.

The story features Princess Hyemyung (Hye) and scholar, Gyeon Woo (Gye). Back in time, we see Hye's mother, the queen, dethroned to open the show. Though assassins were sent to kill her, she was aided in escape and gave birth to Hye's brother, who was returned to the palace. The new queen is backed by the conspirators, and while Hye doesn't know /that/, she knows she hates the new queen. This explains why she grows up surly. Gye just returned from Qing (China) where he excelled. His moniker is: The Treasure of Joseon. Whatever. Hye couldn't care less.

Within days (hours?) of his return home, Gye runs into Hye. She's sauced. She burps in his face, leaving him gasping in her wake. He rounds a corner and there she is again! She's picked a fight with a horseback rider who almost hurt pedestrians. Gye helps diffuse that situation. Hye turns and pukes on him. He's horrified.

Gye has no idea who she is. Hye isn't allowed out of the palace, afterall. He is assigned to be the prince's (soon to be crowned prince) tutor. The prince and Hye are very close, so as soon as he shows up to work, he sees what he'll be dealing with. Of course, they can't stand each other.

It's good ol' plain fun to watch how Gye is thrown off by Hye. He declares her his enemy, but he can't shake her, & his pain is our gain. The device used to bring them together is her lost ring. She demands he help her find it, or he'll be in big trouble. That premise could be improved upon, but just roll with it. That enables her to introduce Gye to fermented skate, which everybody agrees, is some of the worst smelling stuff on the planet. She also feeds him chicken feet. While a somewhat weak premise got the two there, strong stomachs brought us these fun scenes.

Then it all starts. Look for the ring. Who is this wacky broad following Gye around? Gye complains to his friends that he can't shake a crazed stalker. One of them, a popular romance novelist, says they'll go from bring enemies to friends, and then to lovers. She meets his friends as Lady Hyemyung. They love her. They gamble and play a dare game at the lantern festival. She rocks all their worlds. Girls that are interested in Gye hate Hye, but Gye falls for Hye & she falls for him. Gye's parents want him away from that sassy princess! The king engages Hye to a prince from Qing. Gye has to stop that! And they finally tackle the mystery from the past.

It's tagged as a romance/comedy, but though it starts funny, this is no mere romcom. There's teary moments, intrigues and decent action as well. There's many Kdramas that start out like a romcom that go on to be very romdram. In order of importance, MSG is:

1. Romance
2. Drama (even though most of the drama comes later)
3. Comedy
~and to a lesser degree~>
4. Thriller
5. Action.
Do they have a name for a feature filled with all of that?
RomDramComThrAction?
Does simply everything have to fit in a mold? No, thank you.

The characters are well written and the acting is fantastic. Joo Won, as ML, Gye/Gyeon Woo, is astounding. He communicates with his eyes like few others. I loved him in this role. Go Na-eun, as Councillor King's daughter, Da-yeon, is fabulous at showing a calm (phony) demeanor while seething underneath. Yun Se-ah, as Queen Park, also gives a riveting performance. None of the performances detract from the whole. The directing is also top-notch. MSG has that lighthearted side, but it runs much deeper at times. The plot and dialogue are intelligent along with being amusing.

The court intrigues are done especially well. The king is weak, and he has deferred to his counselors for too long, his power mostly drained. The tension builds in the background and develops into full fledged drama in the second half of the show, when the past and present meet up. There have been forces at work against the present regime for decades.

Notes on historical context:

I watched MSG before I learned to not read any reviews prior to writing my own. Whenever I read before writing, my review would either reinforce one that I read, or I would rebut it in my review. I know now that I have to keep my head clear. In this case, I had read a review stating that the actors were too old for the parts. Per their bios, they were both born in '87, so that's fair, but they both did a great job, and I wouldn't trade out Joo Won periodt. Another complaint is that the court intrigues are nonsense in MSG. I decided to do a quick fact check on that claim (Wiki). Turns out, MSG is not inaccurate at all.

Per Wiki, "government officials were ranked in 18 levels. For much of the dynasty, a complex system of checks and balances prevented any one section of the government from gaining overwhelming power until the 19th century when political power became concentrated in a certain family or individual.

While the king commanded absolute loyalty from his officials and subjects, the officials were also expected to try to guide the king to the right path. Political struggles were common between different factions of the scholar-officials. Purges frequently resulted in leading political figures being sent into exile or condemned to death. The power of the bureaucrats often eclipsed that of the central authorities, including the monarch." Therefore, rather than a valid complaint, historical accuracy can be removed from MSG's liability column.

MSG was enormously popular in SK when it first aired. This led directly to making the much loved Rookie Historian (which also depicts fights within the bureaucracy) and 100 Days My Prince. Both of those dramas borrowed quite a bit from MSG. That's why the current rating confuses me, though less than 600 people have weighed in so far. Jun Suck Oh is a competent director whose works are all rated over "7" on IMDB except for this one. Two-for-two with me, he directed My First First Love(8), which is also lighthearted fun done right. I am confident the rating for MSG will climb when more people watch - as long as they give it a fair shake, meaning 2 episodes minimum. Ep1's in Kdramas are often set-up for the rest of the show, including introducing the characters as extremes of themselves. MSG is no exception. Princess Hyemyung is slop drunk when we meet her, and Gyeon Woo, though better than the sassy princess, seems 1 tick above a complete egghead. They get adorable with each other pretty quickly.

Gyeon Woo is, perhaps, the primary driver of the show's appeal. Not only is Joo Won enormously talented (MSG is worth watching for him alone) but once he decides what he wants, he works towards it, step by step, one challenge at a time, while being enormously brave and clever. So much for egghead, he can fight, too! With Hye around, that's a necessary skill. So, Don't be scared off by Ep1, and don't be afraid: Gyeon Wu is the only one suffering. Just avoid thinking about fermented skate and the rest should be a stroll through the garden.

Watch again? Did✅+would✅

IMHO
Directing 84
Writing 80
Acting 85
Romance 88
Flutters 76
Warmth 80
Art 80
Thought provocation 60
Ending 70 (due to MSS)

Age 12& up


MSS: Mandatory Separation Syndrome, an overused Kdrama trope in which couples, once get get together, must separate. 'I love you! Finally, we're together! Now I'll catch you later...' Huh? Sometimes, it's a good thing - a generous 15% of the time. On top of that, most of these people are pushing 40. They ain't getting any younger. All flights appear to be grounded as well, because, even if the separation is 4 years, they never seem to visit each other in that time period.

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Princess should have better male lead next her

Oh Yeon Seo created a wonderful character and just like in Korean Odyssey I couldn't take my eyes off her. She is not only beautiful but also talented 💖😎 Princess Hye Myung was amazing with questioning rules and discarding marriage arrangements. I adored how much she wanted to study medicine. Although at first the character may seem insufferable, irritating and unpleasant, it quickly changes. The more you learn about the princess' story and dig in way of thinking, the more you fall in love with her 😍 I love when fictional characters are multidimensional and, just like a human being, they not only change under the influence of time and people, but also gain when you get to know them better 😇

I like a lot the overall idea of the story - two characters who don't get along but find love later on. However the chemistry between the leads was a bit off 😐 Chemistry per se was there, or at least in the romantic tension form, but I couldn't feel the love between the characters. The fact that they would end up as a married couple filled me with doubt 😬 Hye Myung and Gyeon Woo are nice as a couple but not married one. If she was to marry someone, I suggest Eternal Monarch Lee Gon. Not only would they look gorgeous together, his woman on that show is mediocare & lame and he should be with someone better 😇

I speak more about the drama on my blog: https://my-asian-dramas.blogspot.com/2021/05/my-sassy-girl.html
Come and have a look 😇😍

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I was happy most of the time

A key to my watching Kdramas has been the 1.5 speed as it reduces the long staring shots into something a bit more enjoyable. The writer/director succeeded in painting the bad guys as such, but after a while it just got tiresome. Their ultimate comeuppance wasn't sufficient to atone for all the screen time spent depicting them as baddies. A consistent quirk in these shows is the inability for any of the characters to see more than 15 feet in any direction. They can't see eavesdroppers or people in their peripheral vision just a few feet away.

I was hoping that there would be a moment when the two leads talked about their time spent in the woods together (when they were both ten) after the tragedy. Nope, unless I missed it. I thought the whole "I wanna be a doctor" was out of character and thrown in to satisfy someone other than the audience. Perhaps I'm wrong on this point, but the Princess taking off to study medicine didn't seem to fit the timeline.

My brother had recommended this show to me a couple of years ago and he likes the romantic happy ending type of series. And there were enough romantic moments to keep me smiling in between clicking 10 seconds forward. I wouldn't watch the whole series again, but I could see popping in to see a few select scenes every once in a while.

I'm finally figuring out that some of my best liked series have a similar storyline: Awesome guy and a bratty girl who eventually realizes how awesome the guy really is.

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BECAUSE I LOVE YOU OST

I love the OST 'Because I love you' and I think that's the highlight of this drama. A boy famously known as 'Joseon's national treasure' misunderstood situation that messed up situation that caused an abdication of a queen and a little princess Hye-Myung losing her dearest mother. He then lost his memory and got sent of to his grandfather then went to China for further education, as an adult he came back to Joseon and got a job as Prince's tutor. He met a princess accidentally and hated her sassy behavior, he found out later that she's the sister of princely student as he's being introduced, they became friends and towards the end fallen in love to each other. The sassy princess Hye-myung (Oh Yeon-seo) who doesn't have the best reputation among the people. She often sneaks out of the palace in search of her mother that she believed still alive. She wouldn't say anything to anyone including her father, the King, as she saw it that no one would want disgraceful dethroned queen back to the picture.

Pretty simple love story, the current queen and Jung Ki-joon, Left Minister (Jung Da-yeon's father) made this story more twists and interesting plots. Since the current queen was so jealous of former queen, she'd do anything to increase her influential and status...manipulate situation into her benefits. At the end though, she died with her former fiancee that fiercely loyal to her.

Hye-Myung refused the marriage proposal because she'd like to be a physician and intended to go to China for her medical training. One year later, they reunited and she proposed marriage to him. Sweet...sweet....I apparently watched this drama twice without realize it and how much I've forgotten scenes and story. I love (Jang Young-nam) Lady Heo, Gyeon Woo's mother - she's a devoted mother and also very expressive...anyway I love all the OST.

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A Guilty Pleasure

My Sassy Girl (2017) is a historical romantic-comedy Korean drama that reimagines the 2001 hit movie of the same name in a Joseon-era setting.
The story follows a free-spirited and headstrong Princess Hyemyung (played by Oh Yeon-seo) and a scholarly but pragmatic commoner, Gyeon Woo (played by Joo Won). The princess, notorious for sneaking out of the palace and causing trouble, is determined to uncover the truth about her mother's mysterious death. Meanwhile, Gyeon Woo, known as the "Nation's Treasure" for his intelligence, unwittingly gets involved in her antics, leading to comedic misunderstandings and romantic tension

Personal Anecdotes:
Nothing grandeur about this drama. It pulls off cliches just fine i guess and has its balance.

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Inizialmente pensavo l'avrei amato. Adoravo la protagonista un po' fuori dalle righe come in altri drama sulla stessa scia che ho appunto amato. Qui però si cade miseramente in fallo. Anche se la storia non avesse nulla di nuovo e sembrava di star guardando sempre le stesse cose, riusciva a donarmi un sorriso con i suoi momenti pazzi intervallati agli intrighi di corte. Poi non so effettivamente che sia successo ma tutto è andato in rovina. Non appena la storia d'amore principale trova il suo culmine, sembra che i due protagonisti diventino apatici e semplicemente si facciano trasportare dalla corrente. La storia generale del drama è ridotta in una noia profonda per poi chiudersi in un finale a dir poco affrettato. Tanta suspence e poi sto schifo? Anche meno, grazie. Potevamo avere di più poichè nonostante non ci fosse nulla di nuovo c'era del bel materiale su cui lavorare, eppure sembra che gli "scrittori" abbiano voluto solo trascinarla. Che peccato.

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Oh Yeon-Seo looks so cute in those outfits

Apparently, Oh Yeon-Seo was a last minute fill in, and she hits a walk-off grand slam with this. She looks so cute in those outfits that you want to take her home and put her on a shelf, which is not easy for a relatively tall asian actress. The drama is supposed to be part comedy, part drama, and part romance so the people who just wanted one of those probably downscored it. If this was dubbed into English by Netflix the score would jump dramatically. Netflix only swims around the bottom half of the Korean drama barrel when they look for dramas to dub as they don't want wholesome dramas like "My Sassy Girl" to demonstrate to the West how morally degenerate Hollywood has become!

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