Bel Ami - A Lackluster Story with Lee Ji Eun Carrying

Bel Ami features our iconic and favorite Korean popstar, IU, who goes by Lee Ji Eun. In this drama, she plays Kim Bo Tong, a happy go lucky 20s woman who is in love with a man, gifted wit charisma and roguish good looks. She suffers through several setbacks until she is hired by Dokgo Ma Te to be his secretary in a new business: socks... That's pretty much the gist of the story. Underneath its hood is complexity of the characters, slowly unpeeled and revealed in layers.

But this show is not without its own faults. I am going to caution you here that this might be considered a spoiler; to me, it's not. It would serve to help those who *hate* episodes with toxic dynamics. For the first 8 episodes, the character Dokgo Ma Te keeps leading on, misusing, and ignoring Kim Bo Tong, who has the strongest affection for him. This is really one of the most aggravating storylines I've ever had to watch. It kills off Bel Ami's potential in these 8 episodes. For the sake of romance and a possible non-toxic storyline, start with episode 9 and proceed from there. This will show how Dokgo Ma Te tirelessly works to build his business, starts chasing after Kim Bo Tong, and trying to make amends with his own family.

How the writer took the time to write the first 8 episodes is beyond me; these don't explain so much why Dokgo Ma Te would do a 180 after episode 8. For this, I gave the story 5.0. Had the story been revised to make it look like he's working toward a harrowing journey to understand himself, trying to make amends and slowly get closer to Bo Tong instead of ruthlessly hawking her as his own woman in his own mind, this could have been a 7.0-8.0.

The rewatch value is hit or miss. It may be a great show to those who were young and watched it in 2013 but for those who haven't seen it in the early 2020s to now, this show may have passed on, losing some of its veneer to the societal mores of Korea today. This drama is really only good because of several reasons.

1. Lee Ji Eun
2. Lee Ji Eun
3. Lee Ji Eun

While the supporting cast played exceptional characters like Hong Na Ran, Hong Nu Ra, or Miss Electric Fairy, they cannot hold a handle to Lee Ji Eun's youthful appearance, stellar acting, and rising star power in the years to come. Though the supporting cast held together Bel Ami (with Dokgo Ma Te trashing its potential in the first 8), I gave this one 6.0. It may be considered a trash drama but to be honest, the first 8 episodes were trash. The way IU (as Kim Bo Tong) was being mistreated by Dokgo Ma Te... Yeah, that's enough for me.

I gave music 5.0 because I am deaf. So from now on, music will be 5.0.

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