40somethingahjumma

I will definitely be watching this at some point because:

1) It's wuxia

2) I'm fond of Liu Shishi and Fang Yilun

3) It reminds me of 四大名捕. Hopefully this will be better than the one with Zhang Han. 

4) It also kind of reminds me of Vigilantes in Masks 怪侠一枝梅 

Trailer looks great.

6 hours ago, abs-oluteM said:

If not for my love for Wang ZiQi, I may have just given up. The last few episodes went round and round with all the backstabbing and long drawn conversations about what went on in the past that I almost lost my patience. I did chuckle when they kept revealing new stakeholders to the gang - I am like who isn't part of this gang. LOL.  But what was quite sad for me was when Cheng Fan died or rather sacrificed himself at the end. The scene of what really went down in that room with YiHan was tragic ( somewhat heroic)  - it was sadder than when the mum died since Cheng Fan was the one who raised YH.

 

My greatest regret about this drama is  the poorly developed  romance or relationship between Lina and YiHan. Even Sha Fei and his lover had more scenes together . . I felt slightly deceived because the teasers sold this pair quite a bit but it was shocking how little scenes they had together. I guess I should be thankful they both survived and she came to see him at the end. 

The reason why I wasn't as annoyed as you are about the show's final phase was because I pretty much assumed after Episode 15 that Yihan and Nana's romance wouldn't be given a lot of room to breath considering the situation that they're both in -- a kind of Romeo and Juliet situation. What however was more fascinating was that the other two couples which had a lot more time together ended badly/tragically. Cheng Fan and Xiaowan though it didn't seem so at first became the Romeo and Juliet couple because of what her father did. Xiaofei and Yiyi were separated in the end because his insatiable greed. At some point Xiaofei could have stopped in his insistence of going down the road of self-destruction but he didn't. Not even for Yiyi and their child. But the two youngsters who liked each other but were forced by circumstances to hold back for each other's sake, they were able to enjoy the freedom of being with each other in the end. Unencumbered by the past. 

For me that was kind of interesting.

All done. 

Very decent ending for a C drama. Overall not a bad show. Has resonances of Nirvana in Fire and Lost Love in Time. A second chance revenge redressing justice type of show. Doesn't have the gravitas of NiF but the plotting is still decent and there are enough interesting characters to make watching through the roster worthwhile. The pacing somewhere in the middle loses momentum slightly.

I'm probably one of those weird people that's ambivalent about the final pairing and romance. Can't muster much enthusiasm for it.

But it's definitely a show made for a younger audience.

12 minutes ago, Chocolate said:

I have a friend who likes these kinds of dramas, so I caught one of the earlier episodes. That was when she just asked him to marry her instead of her sister, and he then rescued her from being locked in her room by her stepmother ala Rapunzel lol.

 

The problem is I first saw Sung Hoon in Love Marriage Ft Divorce and don’t really think much of his acting. But if he is going to be the next Elvis Han, well then, I should give this a try lol.

 

That said, their chemistry is quite hot.

 

She gets better and a lot stronger as the show progresses. 

Sung Hoon's acting has improved a lot over the years so I know what you mean. And he has this snarky disposition here in this that I quite enjoy watching.

The show is a hoot. It's a trope fest except for the fact that the in-laws are better than her own birth family. The mother-in-law with the beehive (Lee Mi-sook) is terrific too. It is more Cinderella than Rapunzel but it feels like wicked stepmother is turning into Maleficent in the last two episodes as she gets more desperate and her lies catch up to her. 

It's an easy watch. 

54 minutes ago, Tofu said:

@40somethingahjumma I know I need to watch this! My best friend has been talking about it nonstop to me. I feel like I'm going through every emotion with everyone. 

It's truly a lot of fun. The tit for tat especially.

Evil stepmother is really the worst kind of human being. But like all super bitches she has a great wardrobe.

16 minutes ago, abs-oluteM said:

@40somethingahjumma I don’t have time to watch so many hence didn’t pick this up . I am surprised you are watching this 😄. 

I heard a lot of good things about it on another platform so I gave it a whirl. Trust me, no one is more surprised than I am about how much I am enjoying it.  It's really a lot fun and it does have a contract marriage thrown in for good measure. I also like good revenge stories as well.

But I think you will like it too even if you just watch it for Sung Hoon who is the hottest thing since Elvis Han this year.

I'm still plugging away at this one and hoping that the modern timeline will get better but it still lacks cohesion. Some of the dialogue feels misplaced. Maybe it's the fact that the characters feel more like plot devices than consistently crafted personalities.

@Tofu I'm rather sad that all we got out of the wedding night was Ri-ta and Do-ha standing face to face and her touching his face. 

5 minutes ago, SilverMoonTea said:

@40somethingahjummaI watched up to ep 6, but sort of a little not sure if I will continue, everyone in this drama so toxic 😅 

 

Btw it's a marriage contract season, you should try My Demon and Park Marriage Contract too haha... 

I didn't think everybody was toxic. :P But I enjoy watching the the leads turn the tables on their enemies.

Besides Sung Hoon is pretty hot.

I will watch Park Marriage Contract for Lee Se-young when I've finished this one and other C dramas. :)

I couldn't find a thread for this so I made one. I am rather surprised that no one on Janghaven is watching or talking about this because honestly if all makjangs were this good, I'd be watching all of them.

Perfect Revenge Marriage has all the elements of a ready-made makjang but also has at its centrepiece one of my favourite romance tropes — the contract marriage. Indeed it is a Cinderella contract marriage story with revenge as it’s plot drive.

Yi-joo is fighting the battle of a lifetime against opposition coming from all sides but one by one, she deals with each courageously and with an attentive clever man by her side. I’m not familiar with Jung Yoo-min but once she sheds the doormat goody-two-shoes image, she and the character comes to life. She bears more than a passing resemblance to Shin Hye-sun at certain angles. Sung Hoon, I remember from Oh My Venus (yup, that was a while ago) and the man really does smoulder well. Also it helps that the chemistry is excellent.

It’s a relief that I can occasionally find a fun, well put together romance-centred show at a time when quantity trumps quality. It also has one of my favourite tropes at its centrepiece -- the contract romance.  Everything here moves super quickly and one gets the sense that Sung Hoon's male lead has always liked Yi-joo. The show is a breath of fresh air even with its use of common tropes and I look forward to Cinderella dishing out her own brand bitter medicine especially to Step-Mother Dearest. In style.

@abs-oluteM @Chocolate @Tofu @mademoiselle @ktcjdrama @OsmanthusTea@SilverMoonTea @UnniSara

Title:  Perfect Marriage Revenge 완벽한 결혼의 정석

Cast:

Sung Hoon  -- Seo Do-guk

Jung Yoo-min -- Han Yi-joo

Jin Ji-hee -- Han Yoo-ra

Kang Shin-hyo -- Seo Jung Wook

Oh Seung-yoon -- Yoo Se-hyeok

Lee Min-young -- Lee Jung-hye

Lee Mi-seok -- Cha Yeon-hwa 

Broadcast Period: 28 October - 3 December 2023

Number of Episodes: 12

Aired on: Saturdays, Sundays

Broadcasters: Viki, Netflix, TVing, Wavve

Genres: Romance, revenge, makjang, contract marriage

Synopsis:

Our protagonist is Han Yi-joo (Jung Yoo-min) the adopted daughter of a well-to-do family married to a man who is actually in love with her sister. One day when her entire family has turned against her, she drives off completely distraught and is involved in a multi-vehicle collision. Not long afterwards, she dies. Heaven, however, is kind to her. She’s given a second chance to alter the dynamics among her adopted parents, sister and fiance and live her life differently. As she recalibrates in this new normal, she discovers that her overindulged adopted sister is besotted with a young successful entrepreneur in his own right and second grandson to a chaebol family, Seo Do-guk (Sung Hoon). Equipped with advice from her reporter friend who is related to the family, she gatecrashes a blind date and introduces herself to the good-looking Do-guk who is unexpectedly eager to go along with her revenge plans. He is unabashedly the prince to her Cinderella although all’s not that well with him.

Trailer:

I like it. It's a good watch and I didn't realise there's a detective element. I waited 10 episodes to see Zhang Zhe. Okay not bad. I can see what the fuss is. 

I really like Zhang Linghe in this more than My Journey to You. I gave up on that one rather early. This is decently paced.

8 hours ago, abs-oluteM said:

@40somethingahjumma  what episode are you at ? I think they must have cut out a lot of scenes that the hinted romance seems just weird ? The leads barely have any scenes together and here she is in the bike with him asking about who he likes 😄. If it weren’t because they were the CP from the Imperial Coroner, I would be so against this underdeveloped love line 😂

 

Anyhow , this Pei Xin guy is really cunning. Don’t really know if the mum is even alive at this point . With deep fake technology etc, can’t trust that video was her . 

I've finished the entire series. The last six episodes are already available (but not subbed) so I watched them last night and this morning. LOL. Yeah, the romance was very underdeveloped but I think there's a bond between them because they're both looking for parents and answers about the past. But I think he liked her from the first moment he caught sight of her. They want to be forthcoming about liking each other but the Northwestern Western Wolves issue keeps hanging over their heads. She's also trying to protect him and his reputation as well by distancing herself from him.

The resolution wasn't too bad. I think they did drag it out a little with all the surviving gang members gathering in one place having a big pow wow and then double-crossing each other. But the plotting of this show is the highlight even if occasionally it requires some suspension of disbelief.

It's an easy watch with plenty of action and thankfully there's very little flag waving in this compared to other shows.

The first couple of episodes were a bit cringey especially Joon-oh's antics and the very awkward set-up of the romance. But somewhere in Episode 3, it got better. Saved largely by a better written, more disciplined Three Kingdoms timeline. I like Pyo Ye-jin (She was great in Taxi Driver) and she's decent as Han Ri-ta but as the firefighter, I don't buy it. There's a reason why there are so few female firefighters in the world. In fact the whole firefighter angle is entirely disposable. So far. She could be a paramedic or doctor or nurse.

I'm largely watching the show for the historical aspect which should have been its own drama.

@abs-oluteM

The editing is definitely an issue and I'm inclined to think that there are scenes that didn't make the final cut one way or another. Frankly I could have done without all the mentors taking up a lot of the show's oxygen and focus more on the gangsters and the romance but it's a C drama. They have to moralize about everything. At least it's better than Johnny Huang's Chasing the Undercurrent. Usually the cop shows have to feature the older generation trying to keep the young ones in line.

The show just goes from strength to strength. The last few episodes have kept me on the edge of my seat. The cat and mouse game among the various interested parties intensified in Episode 11 and 12 with measures, countermeasures and shifting alliances. Some interesting reveals along the way as well. It's great to see all the threads beginning to coalesce in these two episodes. What's also endearing to see is how resourceful Nana is despite having no skills outside of dancing. She's also pretty level-headed for a lass her age in a crisis situation.

This show is far more unpredictable than I expected.

Previews for Episodes 11-14

@abs-oluteM

I've seen all 8 episodes -- found the other two at a C streaming site. I'm enjoying the heck out of this most probably because of the fast-moving action-packed storyline. There's also enough unpredictability to keep the viewers on tenterhooks. Of all the gangster dramas I've watched this year, this is probably the most fun I'm having even with the body count.

I don't think the cops really have much of a choice in terms of a good undercover candidate. Yihan is probably the best suited because he is a bit of a loose cannon. He can think on his feet and make stuff up as he goes along. His survival instincts are firing on all cylinders. He's got the swagger and the bravado to pull off that perpetual defiance. Wang Ziqi is doing really well with everything so far. As for whether his mother is alive, I think the probability is quite high that she is. I don't think Xiao Fei (fake Gun) is privy to as much as he thinks.

Like Imperial Coroner I don't think romance is a big part although I like the way it's subtly inserted. Su Xiaotong's character Na Na is still at the periphery at this point because even she doesn't know what her family's up to. I imagine her role will expand once her brother-in-law inadvertently drags her into the mix. I liked the little girl who played her -- very cute and confident. I can't be sure but I suspect a Romeo and Juliet scenario here.

Things are bound to get hot and escalate even among the syndicate members. It seems there was a falling out in the past and the environment is very low trust as it is. There are at least the two families who may or may not start working together again.

I'm really liking all these short C dramas. Fake It, Ripe Town and now this one.

I've seen all the available episodes. 4 half hour episodes so far. It's an easy watch and loads of fun. In these 4 episodes there are already about 4 action sequences. The Imperial Coroner leads don't have a lot of scenes together yet and she's not really in it that much at this point. It's mainly a police procedural and Wang Ziqi's character is Chu Yihan who is going undercover to bring down the head of syndicate/gang known as The Northwestern Wolves named after the wolves in that region. There's also some nice desert landscape shots. He's also in search of his mother (also a cop) who was sent to infiltrate the gang a decade earlier but disappeared 5 years ago. Initially his superiors are reluctant to involve him (although he is raring to go) but after receiving a mysterious message, they send him to make contact with an individual called Lao Qiang or Gun. 

Su Xiaotong is Gu Lina -- a dancer from the northern region who has a couple of quick encounters with Yihan. She also happens to have the same surname as Gu Mulan the head of Northwestern Wolves.

Looks like this show will air for no more than 2 weeks. 

Another trailer with some spoilers...

Quick translation of trailer:

The Northwestern Wolf Cartel/Syndicate/Group

Arms trading

Drugs manufacturing

A short period of disaster on the online fringe (?)

The moment every weapon or bullet that gets into society

Will end in a fatal catastrophe

(We've) seized the weapons

Even Gu Mu Lan (?)

I am the most suitable candidate

Only about 50 hours

This is our only opportunity

We must create a new Long Qi

Conceal yourself beside Old Qiang

You can join us and become my brother/ one of us
 

Retreat!

It does look good.

I may have time to watch it before I go travelling or I could download it and watch it on my flight.

1 hour ago, IpohBanana said:

@Tofu @SilverMoonTea @40somethingahjumma are you watching Kunning Palace??

No. Any good?

I've been watching The Heart. 

It's okay. Nothing that really stands out or hasn't been seen before elsewhere. Pacing's good -- no messing around. It zeroes in on the criminals and cops. It looks and feels pretty much like a superhero graphic novel.

The journalist is fairly reprehensible though using the whole vigilante angle to sell tv and get ratings numbers. It's not as if she really cares about the original victims and she's even willing to put them in jeopardy to get her scoop. Don't know if it's the actress or how she's written but there's something very stiff and artificial about her delivery. She does angry very weirdly. 

A lot of people are comparing this to The Killing Vote. I can kind of see why with the media involvement but Ji-yong tends to remind me more of The Punisher or Daredevil. He really does need  a mask at some point if he's going to do this long-term. 

Yoo Ji-tae really bulked up for the role. I wonder if he's just a cop that plays rough. What if he's got some skeletons too?

On 11/2/2023 at 11:55 PM, abs-oluteM said:

 

What episode are you up to now @40somethingahjumma?

I'm up to Episode 4 trying to stop myself from going too far too fast because there aren't too many episodes with subs out. But it's really good the way the show combines human psychology and the law in the way Shin Ha-kyun's character thinks -- I like that. The set up for his character is really well done.

Watching a few things on D+ while I have the subscription. If you haven't watched Big Bet, I recommend it highly. Starts of slow but it's a clever show. I can see why Choi Min-sik agreed to do it even though he doesn't usually do dramas.

I've seen 3 episodes so far and it's underpinned by a really good script. As expected the leads are nailing it. Shin Ha-kyun is reliably amazing. He is undoubtedly one of SK's finest actors. Perfect for the role.

It's a pity that this one seems to be going under most people's radar because this could be as good as or better than The Worst of Evil. I make the comparison because this is a noir thriller featuring gangsters but somewhat on the unpredictable side.

Shin Ha-kyun is Han Dong-soo a lawyer that has seen better days. At the start he is back canvassing for work in prisons after being suspended for something that happened at his former workplace Moon Law Firm (something along those lines). Like Walter White from Breaking Bad due to pressing financial issues at home he is forced to run an errand for psychopathic gangster Seo Do-young who is serving 8 months in jail for a drunk driving charge. It is an unusually long period of time for a drunk driving case and so his suspicions are aroused. 

Dong-soo and younger brother Beom-jae (Shin Jae-ha) spy on Do-young's girlfriend as he suspects her of cheating on him and they find themselves cleaning up after an angry Do-young who is finally released from jail. As a result, they inevitably find themselves struggling to extricate themselves from being under Do-young's thumb. 

@abs-oluteM I"m sure you'll really like this one.

23 hours ago, Chocolate said:

 

I didn't find MJ a very likeable ML character. There was not much to support as a "hero" of the drama except that he is a good person who protects the children and somehow seems to have above average strength. I thought he would grow some smarts later to contribute to resolving the situation (since he obviously had high enough IQ to be selected by the older Mr Choi) but...

 

 

Was it Singapore? I thought the lady spoke Thai... Anyway, I don't really understand the ending. Does Ro Hee have a twin or are they clones? What was Ro Hee trying to tell Dr Mo? 🤔😅

 

From the start, I thought the show harping on Myeong Joon surrendering himself for kidnapping quite tenous. Nobody had any proof of kidnapping - that video showed MJ just came across Ro Hee on a public road and she fainted. There were many ways to spin this and Ro Hee could say anything she wanted to help the situation.

 

They couldn't let him upstage Ro-hee at any point. Even Sang-yun who is on top of his game for most of the show wasn't allowed to upstage her.

I saw the Singapore flag flying outside the building and assumed it. But maybe the building is owned by the sinister Singapore company that Jaden was working for. The Boys from Brazil reference was to cloning. I expect that's what they up to in the end. The problem is I'm not sure what they hope to do with cloned geniuses or clones that get turned into geniuses. I'm disappointed that they spent so little time on this only to give us some kind of obtuse ending. Are they creating geniuses? Why? To what end? Probably not helping Down Syndrome kids. Why are they spending all this money on this kind of research?

That final scene in Singapore reminds me of that 1978 film, The Boys from Brazil. Ugh. Creepy.

I really wanted to like this one a lot more than I did. The premise was good but the execution was patchy. I don't remember the last time I was this frustrated with a show. This was definitely not a 12 episode drama. I'm not sure that it was even a 10 episode show. If it weren't for Park Sung-hoon's character Sang-yun, I think I would have thrown in the towel after Episode 8. 

Part of the problem was that we knew exactly who the culprits were fairly early on. If you're a seasoned watcher of murder mysteries, it was not that hard to work what's what by the end of Episode 2. It's actually a very simple straightforward police procedural. Sang-yun was on the right track from the first. When the audience is two or three steps ahead of the characters, there's no complexity only fillers and delaying devices. I desperately wanted Sang-yun, Myeong-jun and Ro-hee to work together from Episode 3 or 4 onwards. It took them far too long. I understand the rationale initially but it got a bit ridiculous after a while.

The other problem that I had with this show was Yoon Kye-sang's character. Yoon Kye-sang was terrific in the role but his character is too much of a pushover. He let himself get walked over by a 12-year-old. He's a dad FCOL. Regardless of whether she's a genius the dumb dad shtick got a bit old. It is supposed to be funny in an odd couple sort of way and it was... occasionally. But after a while, a child trying to patronize an adult especially in that context, breaks immersion.

The third problem I had with this was the research side of things. Okay... it turned out to be primarily a plot device to bring Jaden and reticent tattoo guy into the picture and send the cops into some kind of wild goose chase. The show made reference to the research and hinted at something explosive but everything seemed to fizzle out in the end. I guess they wanted to give Ro-hee some breathing space and normality so they closed the cases making no reference to it. 

It's a decent enough watch. At times I was put off by Ro-hee's behaviour but at least the show acknowledges that she's socially inept and despite her incredible IQ, she's still a vulnerable child in need of some adult supervision.