October 2018

Supernatural/paranormal/fantasy dramas have been receiving much love from viewers worldwide. Some examples include “My Love from the Star”, “Goblin”, “Legend of the Blue Sea”, “Korean Odyssey”.

Ever since the overwhelming success of “The Master’s Sun”, we face a shortage of Suspense-Thriller-Rom-Coms with a tinge of dark humour (that grip your hearts). There were probably a few attempts, but none really satisfied that innate desire like “Master’s Sun” did. “Lovely Horribly” is a combination of “Master’s Sun” and “W- Two Worlds”, where it has defined its unique genre.

You would be intrigued to find out more from the very 1st episode, with many mysteries & questions waiting to be unraveled. It has a mixture of ill-fated destiny, ghosts, unknown powers of the supernatural, zero-sum romance, thriller, suspense, comedy, and how eerily that tragic events in the script would eventually become reality.

The one element that makes this drama stand out is the zero-sum fate of our lead couple.

It piques your interest to want to find out if it were the supernatural forces, ill fated destiny, or humans who caused this “zero-sum” fate.

They are polar opposites – when one is enjoying all the success, luck, happiness in life, the other would be extremely down on luck and be plagued with misfortunes.

How should these 2 persons co-exist then? If only 1 between the 2 can live on, who will it be?

The initial 7 to 10 ep were fast-paced and full of suspense. However, it fails to live up to its expectations for the last few episodes. Viewers may start to get weary after the story begins to unravel and you kind of know where the plot is leading you to.

Many characters in the drama harbour dark secrets and have their own agenda. It makes you wonder, if the unknown like supernatural beings are scarier than human beings or vice versa. As you age, you would fear for the safety of your loved ones more than other things.

The great CGI and sound effects attribute to how the drama has managed to grip audience’s interest. The “tock tock” sounds of the high heels, the landslide, murder cases, errie music and dark runways were all portrayed very well. I watched 80% of this drama during wee hours and it is so SHIOK, since it was packed with mysterious and eerie elements, and many bizarre happenings left you lingering for more. You would applaud at how they could all link one seemingly small scene to big incidents.

It’s cute watching how these 2 loggerheads bicker and slowly fell in love with each other. The chemistry is there but not compelling enough to make you totally believe the “I will die for you” rationale.

I love the funny interactions whereby Eul Soon would always be Philip’s life savior, be it during the “stabbing” incident, landslide and many more, where he would clutch on to her and find ways to make her stay around till the end of the drama filming. The one scene that Philip trimmed Eul Soon’s messy hair for her would send ripples through your heart.

It seems that Park Si Hoo is a little restrained in expressing the role. I can’t feel the depth of his love for Eul Soon as compared to Eun Soon’s love and sacrifices for him. There isn’t much 发挥空间 for him, except to add some comedic elements.

Song Ji Hyo has always been a natural and versatile actress, since “Wishing Stairs”, “Princess Hours” and “Emergency Couple”. She has the good looks, intelligence, wittiness and the ability to act with her heart.

She had messy hair, no makeup on for half the drama, had the worst of luck, no true friends or family members with her. From time to time, your heart would cringe when you see how sad her life has been and some of the flash backs with her foster mother.

This drama wouldn’t have kept up to its good raves and exciting pace without the help of the supporting roles.

Jang Young Nam was the key person to link through the story. As a mum to both of them (birth mother and foster mother), we see how she sacrificed for her children and took pains to make sure both of them would be safe, whether she was alive or dead.

Lee Ki Gwang’s role as Lee Sung Joong, a PD who has a hidden ability to see ghosts is a good addition. He’s Eul Soon’s “Black Knight” – the one who will always support her and catch her back whenever things happen.

Eun Jung always has her way in making her 坏女人 roles very convincing. She does irritate the hell out of you as someone who is over possessive over the man she loves and would do anything for him. She did not feel a tinge of remorse or guilt for what she has done in the name of “love”. We feel that she has a lot of potential to unleash in future works.

You would dislike Choi Yeo Jin in this drama. All the unscrupulous things that Eun Young would do to succeed would make you cringe. I also like the last few episodes where she “sold” her soul in order to be able to write better than Eul Soon.

I like how Ji Seung hyun depicted his character as a group mate who turned jealous and sour over Philip’s success and felt that Philip was responsible for the plight he is in.

Isn’t this mentality just so true to everyday life?

It’s always easier to blame others for the “plight” that you are in, than to really seek inner answers, which you already have.

There was one scene in Ep 6 which had very meaningful quotes and life philosophies.

“偶然不存在的。都是选择。偶然以及命运，都不存在什么无可奈何，因为一切都是我们的选择。所以，选择改变了，结局也会跟着改变。”

Human beings often ttribute whatever that has happened (that’s beyond our logical thinking) to a coincidence or destiny.

It is like a “butterfly effect” in life. When you make a conscious decision, it will affect how things will eventually fold out. If you chose to do something differently, the end result would have been different as well.

Love comes in all forms and magnitudes. It’s natural that we feel unfair if we love someone more than they love us, because we would end up the ones making more sacrifices in the end. This would lead you into doubting the other party’s love for you.

Such is love. It cannot be seen, can never be balanced at a 50:50 ratio, and may change any time. Too much possessiveness not just brings about destruction to others, but also to you.We need to learn to let go at times, when we feel that we couldn’t take it anymore.

It’s just that we never realised how strong we all are, till being strong is the only way.

To sum it up, if you enjoy some thrills and even chills along the way when chasing a drama, loves to also laugh out loud at rom-coms and have an investigative desire to solve mysteries, this is certainly one drama worth watching.

It still remains exciting till the very end, just that you would have satisfied most, if not all of your curiosity by then.Read More →