Gangnam Scandal (2018)

I loved this drama. Admittedly in the beginning like all longer shows I wasn't sure about the plot or the acting. I had some doubts about the main couples chemistry and up until the middle I was secretly (or not so secretly) cheering for the second male lead.

Even though there were definitely a lot of things I might have done differently - I like that for the most part things weren't over the top and although there were some pretty unlike-able characters, there really was only one bad apple.

Happily ever after? Sure. But not until the end a lot of struggles and trials. I liked the realistic ending of complicated forgiveness.

I'm trying to keep this review vague so as not to spoil anything. I know a lot of people are probably struggling with why the main antagonist didn't have a harsher end. She was definitely a loathsome character who was caught up in greed due to a painful past. And although I don't fully understand why she did what she did - I do relate to the fact that after she saw her son crumbling emotionally, she was filled with remorse.

So Yoo and Seo Yoon ended up being one of my favorite main lead couple in a drama.

Rewatch value - I don't know. I say no now, only because of the length- but who knows come winter when a good drama is what you need.

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At least the drama had Mi Ri

The first problem became apparent very quickly. Both male leads can't act to save their lives. Seo Do Young was stiff as a brick, the dude barely react or be able to open his mouth more than 0.5 cm. In contrast, Im Yoon Ho was overacting as much as he could while putting silly expressions. I don't want to see him in any other project in the future, the dude is really off putting. The silliness will lure you in but soon enough it will turn into another bloated melodrama minus the silliness. The "illness" plot was too dump, is that the best they could come up with? This made the whole last 30 episodes unbearable.

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This drama was one hell of a ride. I'd never watched a drama that was 60 hours in length - I thought I'd give this a go, since the synopsis was interesting. I admit though, the drama was far too long, and I found myself fast-forwarding a lot in the last 30 episodes of the drama.

I thoroughly enjoyed watching the first 60 episodes of this drama though - I really love the male lead Seo Jun. He's charming, funny, expressive and optimistic. I'd never really fell for a male lead's personality as much I had with Seo Jun. Followed by him, my other favourites were So Ju, So Kyung, Myung Shim and Baek Hee. Unfortunately, I couldn't really bring myself to like most of the characters in the drama. I absolutely hated the rest of the Choi family, Seo Jun's dad and sister are some of the most annoying and problematic k-drama characters I have ever witnessed that haven't been rightfully punished or confined to properly apologising for their mistakes. Then there's obviously the awful dad and his golddigger wife who got a happy ending, even though they ruined So Ju's mom's life, essentially.

A lot of sub-plot elements seem to have been abandoned as well, like the golf guy, Ji Yoon, etc. what happened? What happened with So Hyung's divorce? Ending was rushed considering how long they had to film this drama tbh.

I don't think I'll ever dedicate my time watching such a lengthy k-drama again, because there is so much damn filler its crazy, and *spoilers* it's really disappointing that they basically spent 50 episodes on the male lead's illness only for him to miraculously recover after so much false hope and build up to him dying - its like they needed an excuse to focus on So Hyun's character arc but it was handled poorly imo. I think that they also, in typical k-drama fashion, wanted to keep viewers watching till the very end because its just kind of ridiculous they revealed he was cured in the 2nd last episode of the drama with the last episode obviously being the wedding.

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