Eve (2022)

Tango because you like or you need?

“She is free in her wildness, she is a wanderess, a drop of free water. She knows nothing of borders and cares nothing for rules or customs. 'Time' for her isn’t something to fight against. Her life flows clean, with passion, like fresh water.”
― Roman Payne

Produced by 'Studio Dragon' and 'C-JeS Ent.', "EVE (이브)" is a melodrama cum revenge show with essence of Korean makjang (not a typical makjang). Written by Yoon Young Mi and directed by Park Bong Seop, the show was originally broadcasted on tvN.

The story follows the arduous life of Lee Ra Il (Seo Yea Ji), a Tango dancer, a daughter, a wife and a mother who has the aura that can bewitch even the cupid. Coming from an infamous background, she suddenly garners overwhelming amount of attention of everyone but behind the glamorous façade, she hides a formidable past and burns in her heart, the fire of misery. As life becomes cruel to her at an early age, she comes back with master plans to seek revenge from the devil and make them crumble.

LY Group Chairman Kang Yoon Kyum (Park Byung Eun) is Ra-Il’s prime target who without his awareness serves as the greatest cause to the tragedy. Han So Ra (Yoo Sun) is Yoon Kyum’s wife who can go to any length to save her marriage and her father Han Pan Ro (Jeon Gook Hwan) is the mastermind to every evil deed. Seo Eun Pyeong (Lee Sang Yeob) is an assemblyman and Laa Il’s old acquaintance who is eager to help her by any means. Jang Moon Hee (Lee Il Hwa) is La Il’s foster mother and her partner in conspiracy. Kim Jung Chul (Jung Hae Kyun) and Kim Gye Young (So Hee Jung) are aides to Pan Ro and Eun Pyeong, respectively.

Plot development is amazing at first, in fact stayed the same for the first half; I’d say I loved it till the 12th episode. With a steady flow and several peaks, the pilot episode and the beginning sequences, including the starting scene, were all intriguing and captivating. As La-Il continues to step up, ticking off her list of plans, the show keeps getting more interesting with each episode. There were moments of uncertainties for the characters’ pasts but the way they were dealt with must be acknowledged. The furtherance of the story was as amazing, though there were instances of possible labefaction and the writer seemed lost in her own story. Admittedly, the somehow felt a little draggy two week before finale, as if nothing major was happening, and with everything out to the surface, things were only getting messed. This surely is reflected in my ratings but I also felt the overall quality never went beyond the average mark.

With an experience of over 1.5 decades, Yoon Young Mi jakka-nim seems like a lover of makjang pieces. And as she chose to make Yea Ji the star of her event, she surely has hit a huge with the show that for sure was well decorated by the rookie director Park Bong Seop PD-nim. The show is not exactly character-driven but the characters surely hold the leashes to every mightiness that the viewers were offered throughout. The background narration, the manner of portrayal and the execution as well as storytelling were pleasing to their best. The cinematography with dazzling bright hue accompanied by sumptuous eye-enticing editing were joyful visual treats. The problem with writing is that the last quarter of the show turned typical, with a moderate rush they made it a complex mess where characters went berserk and acted crazy

There are a total of 4 OSTs in the drama and all of them are truly likable, narrating the natures of the four main characters that you see in the show’s main poster. Notably, the pure instrumentals of these tracks are as alleviating.

# My most favourite is “Hold Me Tight” by again, one of my favourite vocalist, Kim Ye Ji is an English track meant for La-Il telling her intentions to make her enemy suffer through lies.
# “Adios Amante” sung by Shin Youme is an awfully intriguing track that begins with piano notes depicting confusions and suspicions and meant for So Ra. Both the lyrics and vocal are strikingly beautiful.
# As a song of remorse “Want to be your everyday” with soft vocals of Sondia is a way for Yoon Kyum to seek the presence of someone who understands and wilfully comforts him for life.
# Lee Hyun sings “Only Way” as Eun Pyeong calls for acknowledgement of his emotions that he realizes are genuine. The track is immensely soulful as well as soulful.

The aesthetics of the show was focused on Seo Yea Ji and does it sound like a complaint? Hell NO! I am beyond happy. The lady is already so gracious and the outfits she wore, were what chose her and defined her. Goosebumps kept coming in and going out every time she came into the frame. How can someone be so graceful? Her character arc as Ra-il is as beguiling and appreciable skills of hers are what should be credited. However, the aura of the character sadly faded in the later half, slowly getting diluted with typicality of the show. I loved that she stayed vengeful till the end, but the initial undertone felt lost.

Byung Eun is undoubtedly one of the best in terms of acting and as pleasing was his performance as Yoon Kyum, a man deprived of love and a man seeking liberty of worldly things through his leaning towards music and dance. A man who holds himself back knowing what is demanded of him but for the sake of acknowledgement, he suffers of misery, with no one to lean on. I would have loved to see a character development but unfortunately he stayed the same, with all the expressions and thinking process, the only change that he exhibited was the change in heart and his views of love.

Yoo Sun as Sora did a good representation of someone with multiple complexes and severe mental health issues, who seeks nothing but care and attention from her family. Sang Yeob as a sane character playing the man of influence contributed to the quality of the show but I couldn’t see anything appealing out of his character that would make me want more; his character could have been better written and provided with more screen-time.

One thing I loved the most was the inclusion of Piazzolla’s bandoneon and the underlying legend. The way the writer used that tale to narrate the lives of both leads was ecstatic even though it lasted only for an episode. Also, bringing the deep essence of ‘tango’ and narrating the story in artistic sense was also beautiful.

Some of my favourite dialogues from the show are…
“Dance is a form of rebellion by nature. People who obey orders, don't dance.”
“Love cannot be hidden, it's madly impulsive.”
“There are three things that can't be hidden: poverty, sneezes and love.”
“I will be the master. Not you.”

Final Remarks… I think it’d be wrong to forget the amazing start and the gracious furtherance of the show just because the ending faced a downfall, and rightfully so, I understand why people are mad. But, rationally speaking, I am not gonna rate it absurdly low for the unsatisfactory ending. Despite everything, it was a good show in overall. One problem is that many here perceived this as a makjang story with several moxed genre, where the makers made clear that it is a revenge melodrama. I think it is worth the time and you can speed up after 12 episodes if you want but this is not bad.

Lire davantage

Over the Top Drama and Dumb*ss Ending

So the story is basically about a young girl named Ra El who witnesses her father get beat up, murdered, and framed as a corporate spy just so that the evil guys, the Han family, can take over his company. You have a high society and powerful Han family, who basically act like thugs behind the scenes. It's like they're trying to make the villains seem really evil by adding hungry dogs, vicious beatings, and over-dramatic "evil smiles". Ra El herself gets injured when the same bad people come after her for her shares in her father's company. A human rights lawyer, Seo Eun Pyeong, who tries to help her but fails, sends her away to America to protect her. So Ra El comes back to Korea, under a different identity with revenge in mind to take on the Han family. She started by first getting married to one of the bad guys, (who came after her shares when she was younger), she befriends the daughter, So Ra, of the Han family while at the same time, seduces So Ra's husband, Yoon Kyeom.

The only one who truly recognizes her and suspects her revenge quest is the human rights lawyer, Eun Pyeong, who is now a hopeful presidential candidate. He tries to persuade Ra El to not follow down the revenge path.

There are a few scenes that are a bit steamy but overall, I'm just not feeling the whole seduction theme with Ra El and Yoon Kyeom. All the tango dancing, hand humping, and face slapping are all a bit much. Between Ra El's wide-eye staring with sometimes over-the-top eye glitter or lined eye makeup, we have grown women dancing the tango in a kindergarten school recital. It's so out of place. How much tango can we take if this isn't a dancing show?

No one seems to notice men fighting over Ra El because apparently even her husband, is never around or cares enough to see something is amiss with her. There are older men desiring the younger Ra El and when she finally gets together with Yoon Kyeom, it seems lacking and rushed as we have to watch it in between scenes where his wife, So Ra is throwing ridiculous, childish tantrums.

There's a scene where Yoon Kyeom is playing the piano and Ra El is dancing in the room and while they try to make it sexy, I'm just trying not to roll my eyes at the cheesy scene. Like, "Dude can't see you dancing behind him, lady." (insert roll eyes and snicker here).

Maybe, I'm just not loving the whole older man and younger woman mistress. He's falling for her sexually but they're making it seem like he's "in love" with her. I'm not sure if they're going to make these two the endgame but I'm not feeling it at all. Their chemistry is just so off.

They try to make the dramatic scenes even more "dramatic" by adding over-the-top background music, like some kind of Game of Thrones orchestra, and then adding slow-motion or still scenes of just staring. The music builds up and then it's like... nothing. Lol. Getting really repetitive and boring. Also, the FL's voice is so tonal. There's something off about it. I get that she's playing a fake persona, but her voice always has the same "fake-ness" in all the scenes. Maybe it's just the actress.

I'll update my review, (watched up to Ep6 as of writing) if I can make it to the end but so far I'm not loving this. I'm not too keen on her sleeping her way through revenge.

Update: (More major spoilers below)

So I watched up to EP12 and barely made it... took me a few weeks to re-start and continue and then I watched EP 13 and I was like, "OMFG... what f*cking farce is this show?" Of all the surveillance and gadgets the FL, Ra El has, the ML, Yoon Kyeom manages to easily waltz into her "secret" lair and discover the truth about Ra El's goal to take down his company. Was this the best the writers could do?! So pathetic. What a cop-out. Not to mention he got angry for her stealing files out of his own vault that HE gave her the code to access in the first place.
-Let's also talk about how Yoon Kyeom finally realizes Lee Ra El's intentions and her reasonings that it all had to do with her father's stolen company, Gediks. The Gediks contract/ledger was stored in his vault this entire time. It was a contract with blood splattered all over it. Like that wasn't a major clue to Yoon Kyeom that something murderous transpired to obtain the company?? Ya' okay. He acts all surprised when he finds out the truth.
-The two leads declare their love for each other and it's so dumbass. After Ra El discovers all that happened with her mother's death and the death of her "fake mom" on top of all that, she's still in love with the Chairman? Like WTF. Their stupid love made me wanna vomit a little.
-By the last two episodes, basically, everyone losing their sh*t...
-You got the head of the Han family, an old man, trying to lift a sledgehammer and his daughter So Ra wearing a stupid dress with gloves and wrecking furniture with a hammer. Then she puts on some dark makeup to give us vibes that she's a crazy person but in the morning scene, her makeup looks normal. So then she reapplies crazy makeup again. Whatevs man. Okay, we get it, she's losing it. Enough with the clown makeup.
-The old man's brother tries to attack Ra El with another hammer and there's a fight between them that's just stupid, stupid, stupid because as usual, the FL gets rescued.
-Then the ML decides that the best way to end everything is by taking his ex-wife, So Ra, and driving themselves off a not-so-high cliff. He dies and she doesn't. Another WTF, laughable ending. We don't really feel any sympathy and for all the FL's acting and crying, you feel nothing. And you feel nothing for the Han family or Kyeom's side of the family. Like nothing. The only ppl you feel sorry for are the two young innocent daughters. The FL just basically wants nothing to do with the stepdaughter anymore, so that daughter loses out on a stepmom who once doted on her. Not to mention, her "fake" grandmother had also died. The ML's daughter is basically left orphaned. Why these kids were included in the first place was just so that ML could look at the FL like she was some kind of protective mother when really, in the end, she just used these kids for her own selfish gains. Sure the step-daughter wasn't hers biologically but that doesn't mean she had to be a heartless, b*tch stepmom in the end.
-In the end, Ra El's goal to take down the Han family was concluded because no one could keep their sh*t together. The Han family doesn't really "pay" for their crimes.

I changed my rating to 6.5 to 5.0. Don't watch this crap! I pushed through the last four episodes and sacrificed four hours of my life I'll never get back to save you from misery!

Lire davantage

Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer.

Rael is introduced as a femme fatale: "Aphrodite" as a vengeful goddess of beauty, the biblical "Eve" as a temptress, seductress, a serpent. We also see really fast- the vulnerability behind her facade.
She’s traumatized and engages in self-harm once triggered.
There is a reason why makjang dramas are always getting some type of recognition, mainly because most people don't experience it in real life or see it anywhere else except on TV.
In the context of dramas, makjang is a stylistic, tonal, or narrative element in dramas that chooses to play up outrageous storylines to keep viewers hooked despite how ridiculous the stories become, which you will experience throughout this drama. This type of drama is difficult to understand or accept based on common sense and moral standards of an average person. These dramas will often feature things such as forced situations/settings, tangled relationships, affairs, and birth secrets
Seo Ye-ji came back with a new tvN drama called 'Eve' , which is characterized as a high-quality, intense revenge melodrama.
It has quite a painful yet simple plot actually, whose main focus is revenge and betrayal.
---"Eve" in Hebrew is "Ḥawwāh" and is most commonly believed to mean "living one" or "source of life".---
Some might be disappointed by it because, if they've seen her previous works such as being a desperate girl in 'Save Me', an iconic lawyer in 'Lawless Lawyer' and interesting, mysterious writer in 'It's okay not to be okay', Seo Ye-ji is limited to mechanical smiles, blank, wide-eyes and bouts of weeping – all of which do nothing to show the so-called fire of revenge burning inside her, unless you focus on more episodes and her intense eyes and actions she does throughout the drama.
Her voice, facial expressions, and the way her emotions quickly change as she turns bolder gave me even goosebumps sometimes. Or even a slight jump scare when she randomly raised her voice at Han So Ra. Terrific!
The drama has a promising start - the story is interesting enough that you can't wait to watch the second episode.
The wardrobe of the female characters looked insanely awesome, atleast in my opinion, where as the others could've found it funny or not so attractive.
Most of Seo Ye-ji's clothes were from interesting brands, such as DIOR, Ports, Mango, etc with a varation of prices going from 500-1000$! Through newer episodes, her clothes become bolder, her eyebrows become bleached and her makeup becomes bolder aswell which is quite metaphoric as if it's showing her 'other' side.
I might even expect for Seo Yeji to win Baeksang Arts Award for Best Actress of this year with this drama, as much as there are mixed opinions about this whole drama, it's extremely interesting to watch every character unravel in their own way.

Lire davantage

Changed my rating again after the last episode

***May cointain spoiler***
I changed my rating to 5/10 because I can no longer take how cheesy and ridiculous the story is.
I hate how they are pitting 2 women over a man (as if he is some great reward). More than 10 episodes with just two women plotting against each other to win a man.
La El's revenge waa supposed to be about what happened to her family, her hate was supposed to drive her mad to the point of not caring about anything else except revenge.
Yet, the story only shows them fighting over chairman's love and to justify her action- they made Sora (the wife who supposedly love her husband so much) cheat on her husband, so "it's okay, she's cheating too"

La el's revenge should be on Sora's father - the man behind it all, fearsome and cruel - yet, he was doing nothing but scold his daughter, get angry, only words but no action - he wasn't doing anything, not investigating, no schemes- nothing at all.
I really don't get why the focus was getting chairman, as if getting the chairman's love will make the villain's poor.

Now if there will be a plot twist where chairman may be the one behind it all and the real culprit that will be interesting, however it still doesn't change the fact that the story has lots of ridiculous plot holes.

The casts did a great job acting..the cinematography is great and honestly speaking, Seo Yeji is carrying this drama. Her acting is what's saving this series, her acting is like a cover up for the messy plot.
****
Edited: I changed my ratings again, from 8 to 5 and dropped it to 3 after the last episode. I cannot believe how this series turns out. It started really strong but dragged in the middle and ended up really disappointing. I really don't understand why the write pushed that love story between La El and the chairman... when it doesn't even make sense and they have zero chemistry. I don't really expect La el to end up with anyone. I am starting to wonder if things would've been different if they casted a different actor for the role of chairman.

I hated that the long planned revenge just ended up like that... it's as if the writers tried to make the story (and La El) into this smart avenger but doesn't know how. It's really such a waste...

Lire davantage

Tango, Tango and more Tango... Oh and did I mention the bandoneon?

WARNING: This drama should only be watched if you throw all semblance of logic and critical thinking out of the window. You'll be in for a rough time if you try to take this seriously. Plot holes the size of buses, ridiculous over the top events and non-existent character development are all in the forefront in this show. I commented that the revenge plans in the other drama "Remarriage and Desires" was too lame, but Eve takes this to another extreme.

The premise is fairly intriguing: FL (Seo Yeaji) tries to take revenge by seducing a wealthy chairman of a company and causing his company to implode, sort of like the corporate version of a honey trap. However, what ensues is a lot of awkward tango, bandoneon music and cheesy talks of twin flames and what not. Sadly, 0 chemistry whatsoever during these tango scenes. Part of it due to the subpar writing, and the other part due to the ML's looks. Unfortunately, the ML isn't a silver fox/sugar daddy/DILF type of a guy and more like a normal man from the street. He doesn't have the kind of smoldering good looks that make you go "hot damn!" even when he isn't doing anything. This, together with the fact that the producers insisted on having a cold, stoic expressionless CEO results in a one expression not-so-attractive ML who just kind of glowers at everything the whole time. I hate to say it, but if they had casted someone more attractive it would have gone over way better. Seo Yeaji's acting wasn't anything to write home about as well. Her crying scenes (of which there were many) weren't great and felt so unnatural. Luckily she was able to pull off her psycho and seducing scenes or else it would have really tanked this show. Star of this show was really Han So Ra (Yoo Sun) who was really carrying the show on her back. She was the main source of entertainment and I would have dropped this long ago if it weren't for her. Her character was also the most interesting and developed out one of all. I won't even bother talking about the second ML who's existence is just purely based on simping for the FL and saving her ass.

OST was ok, but I got tired of the same old song coming on whenever there was a sex scene. Btw almost all the sex scenes felt awkwardly choreographed and bordered on comedy. Cinematography was average and I found that Remarriage and desires has better cinematography.

So well, there's that. A true makjang with its gaping plotholes, shoehorned romances and a lame ass ending to boot. She got her revenge but didn't get her guy, but its ok as she still has second ML simping for her. I wouldn't say I regret watching this series as it had its fun moments but the romance was truly off putting and the ending was really flat. Watch only if you can stomach having scene after scene of tango related scenes and cheesy romance talk.

Lire davantage

In 10mins I wrote a better EVE

The problem wasn't the romance, it wasn't the age gap, it wasn't even the fact that ceo was trash. But the problem was the execution. Ceo had 0 sympathy, 0 chemistry, 0 personality,, and 0 common ground with rael
They never had proper conversations, they never connected on anything (beside ceo projecting his mom being treated like trash to having his own mistress he didn't treat like trash)
He saw her pain, he never pushed her to explain, but he never tried to comfort her. He never tried to get to know her.
This is a bit of spoiler from Misty, but there they start off as a married couple losing touch, and the ml makes so much effort, they connected again and build a relationship. Then the spoiler part, then the writer snatched our hearts and stabbed us right in the feels and showed the ML was the murderer.. so he was "the bad guy", but he had depth, he had a backstory, he had a connection with the fl, he had a relationship and they took us on that journey with them then broke our hearts

Here, sure I was team eunpyung (and I'll talk more about him later), but here the ML starts off by lusting over the FL. He pushes her down and tells her to be his dog. He then becomes the dog because he wants to have her. He starts doing things he was missing in his marriage and projecting it on rael. The rose house with the kids, the laughter. It was all his playbook of a happy life. Then he gets angry at her for ignoring him.. then he hits her, pushes her badly and hurts her while she runs away scared and he doesn't stop, he continuedchasing her and hurting her.. until she pushes him once and he falls like the fragile old man he is..
Non of those are love. And his redemption? "Whoops, the company I wanted, and the guy that died, was your dad? Oh no..."
It didn't matter he killed. It didn't matter he killed her dad.. he was "sad" he was the reason her life fell apart.. and his solution? Pretend to run away to die.. and he just goes to his favorite church looking perfectly ok. No pain. No drinking to ease his pain. No regret. No tears. He was jut walking in to throw a pity party but rael was already there..

SHE had so MUCH more emotion. He didn't return or deserve.
Though her emotions are wrong too. His greed was the reason her dad died. He wasn't innocent. He didn't care he killed. He never treated her right. She was practically his victim, the victim he mentally kidnapped, until she thought he was showing her kindness and love

It's not even toxic love. It's a cheap attempt at makjang that failed miserably cuz the ML horribly portrayed his flat character

And what the writer didn't realize. The real HOT painful healing torturous love and chemistry could've come from eunpyung

He was the only person she showed her true face, her true heart. But she didn't think she deserved happiness or love so she'd run away from him. but once she wavers for 1 second eunpyung would've embraced her for a passionate kiss. Then she'd again feel guilty cuz all she wants is revenge. She doesn't think she can survive and her only goal is to break them all down and possibly kill/die. So she pushes him away. But his love would be too much for her so she'd cave, and they'd have had all the sweet scenes in the beach and church, but he gets hurt so she pushes him away again. And then that church scene at the end would've been them. With the people out for bloody murder being sora, and ceo who like his scene when he found out the truth, couldn't live with the idea that rael actually loved eunpyung and never him


In both vrs, the perfect ending is bloody murder. With ceo of course being the one dying
and updating this as the drama ended but, I'm satisfied with the bloody murder🤣 I've been bamboozled by drama endings before, a happy romance ends up a tragedy, a makjnag ends up a romcom with a wedding scene ending, and many many dead leads come back at the end, I didn't trust them one bit
but this is the best option, he never repented or even acknowledged his wrongdoings, but atleast with his death rael could move on from all her pain, and with eunpyeong going to her, I can happily imagine their reunion. though no one mentioned the poor kids at the end🤣

▪︎Acting:
• Rael = 100/10. She carried the whole show with her expressions and emotions
• Sora = 8/10. She was a bit penthouse dramatic, but she was also all talk and not much bite. For someone who has killed before she was intimidated by Rael too much
• Ceo = 1/10. The only time he showed character and passion was when he tried to steal his father's company. Almost all of his other scenes were 👁👄👁
• Eunpyung = 8.5/10. He did have a bit of 🥺 face too much

▪︎Character:
• Rael = 8/10. She was crazy, not afraid, diabolical, tempting, captivating and dangerous. But her suckup persona was too unbelievable, if a person tells you what you want to hear in that low voice it's clear they're lying. Her passion and love for ceo made no sense even as someone who lacked love and couldn't differentiate between love and toxicity
• Sora = 6/10. She did all she wanted but she feared her dad. I'd have assume she'd have done more to Rael, fought back more and spread rumors instead of crying and screaming 90% of her time
• Ceo = 1/10. Zero personality, zero passion, zero drive. All lust, cheap traumatic past. Had no sense of responsibility, only cared for his child when he opposed his wife. Wanted a mistress to treat her like his toy. A murder but also a pity party thrower.
• eunpyung = 7/10. He had more potential, he ruined his character when he asked her if she liked ceo, then dug his own grave when he kept telling her she can't then put the final nail in his coffin when he told her to go after ceo..
His slow love, his care and passion for her though were beautiful, he ruined it when he became too devoted to her. But that scene when he cooked for her, and his confessions were my favorite scenes


▪︎Plot = 6/10. It was just another revenge drama, the cheating was supposed to make it different and it had potential
▪︎Plot development = 1/10. By ep 12 I just thought to myself, what did I watch for 12+ hours? Basically nothing. No character development, no move in revenge plot, and the cheating scandal became so flat and stale. The biggest tension was the kid's birthday party but it never went anyway

▪︎Romance = -100/10. I'm not a romance fanatic, I never supported the normal jerk ml/naive fl plot move. But this was even worse than that. There was no reason, no passion, no connection, no use. This should've 100% been Rael using him till the end, and then the Ceo losing his sht and showing his trash personality, which he did in ep, 12? But then they did a 180, with no real redemption and just went back to acting he was hurt. And then he would see how he was just as trashy as Sora.

▪︎OST = I love the main song so much, the whole ost was on par to seo yeji's mood and acting

▪︎Rewatch = I actually never Rewatch tho I did Rewatch some scenes to make edits and I wish I was a bit better at editing so I could take all of this and make it about Rael and Eunpyung

Lire davantage

Great start with bad ending

The plot seemed very promising and entertaining. However, the romance between the main cast made the second half of the drama change genres pretty quickly...and for worse. From a revenge-driven strong female lead ready to take down someone's empire, the drama turned into two women pettily fighting over a man (that did not show much character and chemistry with both main women in my personal opinion) and later into two men fighting over the FL (Seo Ye Ji).

Important to say is I also did not see/feel any chemistry from the ML with anyone. No emotion...nothing. His character was empty and not very well-played. Seo Ye Ji had more chemistry with Yoo Sun than Park Byung Eun.

The revenge part of the drama seemed to be put into the shadows during the second half of the drama and only re-emerge in the last four episodes. What a waste of someone's time.

Lire davantage

love as the only way of salvation

This is a beautiful drama that develops on two fronts, one is that of the revenge of a woman who saw her parents killed by people who wanted to take over the family business in an illegal and violent way and the other that of the love's story that develops between this woman and the man that has indirectly was the cause of the death of her family. We have complex main characters, no one is completely good or bad, all struggle with their ghosts and past hurts, and are rooted in dysfunctional families that deeply mark their behavior. RaEl the absolute protagonist of this drama is a woman marked by the pain and loss, for a period of 13 years she puts first her firm will to take revenge on those who ruined her life and that of her family. Yoon Gyeom Kang the male protagonist is a man marked by the murder of his mother, by the contempt of his father and by the deep loneliness in which he grew up. SoRa is the anti-heroine of this drama, she is the daughter of a psychopathic killer who killed her mother, mistreated her, this man used and abused economic and political power to bring profit to her miserable life. Seo Eun Pyung is the sweetest character in the quartet, an orphan boy who is a human rights lawyer, is kindhearted and an eyewitness to the disaster that happened to RaEl's family. He becomes a politician to eradicate corruption and refinds RaEl after 13 years and falls in love with her. Then there are a number of very complex and well-made secondary characters that I will not describe due to lack of space. The pace of the drama is good, maybe a little slow and sometimes too swirling, but overall it keeps you hooked and curious about what's to come. Basically it is the lead couple's journey on a healing pafìth that will lead RaEl to give up revenge for the man she loves, Yoon Gyoem Kang to give up the desire for power and money for RaEl's love and sake and find peace together by stopping to hate and to feel anger as the only way to be happy. The big bad guys pay everyone for their sins, so in the end comes revenge too. Great acting of Seon Ye Ji and Yoo Sun magnificent in their respective roles , I also loved Park Byung Eun in this dark but charming starring role and Lee Sang Yeob does a good job as this kind hearted guy who has unrequited love but still tries to help RaEl even when he knows the woman's heart who he loves will never belong to him. I recommend it and give it a rating of 9.5 / 10.

Lire davantage

Not Quite As Tempting As It Seems…

Before I start this review I have to say that like a lot of ‘ It’s Okay, Not To Be Okay’ fans, I was attracted to the main star Seo Ye Ji being here. I was lucky enough to have seen her in Moorim and ‘ Save Me’ before one of her bigger roles, so I had an idea what to expect of her acting talents. I have to say that as per usual, Seo Ye Ji didn’t disappoint with her acting but even as a fan I can’t say it was the best either. ( Admittedly this was less down to SYJ and a lot down to the way her character was written with monotonous expressions and dialogue in writing and the script.)

Nevertheless despite my adoration for SYJ I have to be honest with my genuine thoughts on the show ‘ Eve’. It wasn’t a bad show. By no stretch of the invagination would I say that it was dire. However would I say that it felt a bit disappointing at times? Then yes, certainly.

Without going over all the plot summaries again, the setup is pretty interesting. Initially it did borderline melodrama-thriller territory and helped to buildup a lot of suspense. ( Especially with regards to SYJ’s character.) The female lead’s initial scheming for revenge left a lot of the plot on an incredible high note during the first half but by the second part ( including the costume design) did sort of come crashing down. When I say crashing
, I have to say that one of the biggest problems because through trying to “ top” up the suspense. Rather than a lot of the events feeling as thrilling or on the edge of the seat, it became a bit tiresome and predictable with a lot of what was going to happen. Instead the drama felt as though it was playing out a bit too much like a makjang; a format that I’ve done to despise. ( Although I guess I did walk into that one.)

Additionally a lot of the characters felt a bit left in the dark too. I definitely thought there were a lot of interesting characters including our heroine and antagonist ( her former husband) but it seemed as though when we got into this second part, the drama wasn’t too sure what to actually do with them. They were sort of strung along in the plot or “ pivotal” moments to keep it interesting but aside from that even as a viewer, I have to say they did sometimes feel a bit pointless being onscreen.

Although we were supposed to be engaged in this potential love match and burning relationship with SYJ’s character and the haughty CEO, I have to say that I was pretty turned off in these scenes. Park Byung Eun and SYJ are both good actors but in addition to sub par onscreen chemistry, there wasn’t a lot to keep me engaged or make me feel incredibly impassioned about their onscreen dynamic. Saying that, Lee Sang Yeob was pretty good here and while his onscreen interactions and dynamic with SYJ was hardly flawless, I did find myself more engaged than with PBE.

Sadly the ending was also a bit of a letdown. I guess in my mind I could hear the sirens going off when I noticed how the plot was dipping in the second-half towards what the outcome would be like, but still I must admit that I was a bit disappointed that my suspicions were true.

Overall thoughts; I think that it’s been said enough times but ‘ Eve’ felt as though it should’ve been a lot more. It had an interesting setup, some good actors and an initially engaging tone but it felt as though it started heading south when it came to the writing being executed. The dialogue felt unnatural and stiff which didn’t help with some of the acting, while characters and onscreen chemistry felt a bit flatlined. Instead of being a brilliant thriller-revenge melodrama, ‘Eve’ felt to me like a glorified makjang with a great shadow cast over it by what it could’ve been. Not saying it was bad and trust me when I say that there were still some incredibly fun parts to the show as well as characters, but not entirely what I expected either. A strong 7.0/10.

Lire davantage

I've never written a review this fast after finishing a drama but...

I've never written a review this fast after finishing a drama but I've been reading the comments, articles and reviews and HOW can this drama be raved by so many as the "best revenge drama I've ever seen»?

Sure it was entertaining, but to me this was 14 episodes on Seo Yea Ji's character conflicted love for Kang Yoon Gyeom, while gathering evidence for her revenge, and then the two last episodes where indeed full of drama and with some plot twists that made me gasp.

Seo Yea Ji and Park Byung Eun are GREAT actors but I don't know what kind of direction they got for this drama because the stiffness and endless blank stares in silence with no emotion whatsoever in 90% of the scenes, made me consider dropping this drama so many times.

[START of minor spoiler that does not really spoil the drama but I just want to be safe] Also, can we speak about the kids? Lee Ra El / Kim Sun Bin took care of Bo Ram, and as soon she got divorced, her character - that was described at the end by the love of her life as «you're too good for this world» or something along these lines - LITERALLY turned to the father of the kid and said she didn't want to see them again? Sure she used the dude to get her revenge, but there's no sympathy for the innocent child that she took care for years?

Not to mention the other kid, Da Bi, that not only had a narcissistic, cruel and manipulative mother, but then her father was mostly too busy working, hating his wife or running after Kim Sun Bin. [END of minor spoiler that does not really spoil the drama but I just want to be safe]

Speaking of mother: THANK YOU Yoo Sun for the AMAZING performance. She not only stole the show from Seo Yea Ji and Park Byung Eun, but Han So Ra was on point! What a performance. She was basically the reason why I didn't gave up on this drama.
And major kudos for Jeon Gook Hwan, Lee Il Hwa, Jung Hae Kyun, Son So Mang, Kim Ye Eun and Cha Ji Hyuk, and the actors that portrait the staff at then Han So Ra and Kang Yoon Gyeom's house.

Overall, the story had so much potential, the cast is amazing but the acting of the 2 main ones ruined it or me.

Considering all of this:
if you are looking for a makjang, this is not it (and it is not what I was looking for, so don't come after me if you enjoyed this drama and hated my review), but it does have something starting with the over the top (and can we consider these already...) classic scenes that an ordinary person could NEVER pull off (not even the filthy rich - it's just sometimes so over the top that you question if sci-fi is one of the genres).
And if you came here with the promise to watch the best revenge drama ever, hold your horses and go watch Flower of Evil or Married Life instead. Thank me later.

Lire davantage

Could've been so good

While not perfect I'd been watching on the edge of my seat since i started out of curiosity.
The start got me hooked and the feel flowed for me, they'd tease something had happened then go back and I'd be interested to see the how.
As it went on some things started to feel repetitive, not plots but more the characters thought patterns. I'm not saying people can't be consistent, it just needed action to mirror that or something to counteract and balance. If I'm thrown the same thing as the tension more than a few times i will start becoming desensitized.
The end definitely disappointed me. Could've been so good and satisfying but it was not.

To summarise i don't regret watching it, i was definitely entertained. It's another of those where the idea had something but somewhere in execution it's not quite right.

Lire davantage

Unsatisfying

If you're planning to watch this, be prepared for a ridiculous plot filled with unlikeable characters. I honestly believe it had potential, the beginning episodes were interesting, but by the end of it I disliked basically almost every character. Some parts were so ridiculous and overexaggerated/acted that I unintentionally just burst out laughing during serious scenes.

I really wish that they fully committed to the revenge plot instead of throwing the cliche twin flames, star crossed lovers thing into the mix. Honestly, they should have just thrown the whole romance aspect out the window and it would have probably upped my enjoyability of this show tenfold. I've mentioned this before, but what these people need is to therapy, not relationships. Also, the styling for this show is pretty bad imo, to the point here it just takes me out of the show.

Promising plot, terrible execution, decent acting, awful characters.

Lire davantage