"Chae Rim is seen in her first comedic role ever, and surprisingly succeeds to a certain extent. Her acting abilities, however, are overshadowed by a seriously mediocre storyline."
SPOILERS ... SPOILERS ... SPOILERS
Korean Title
"Oh! Pil Seung and Bong Soon Young" (the full names of this series' two main characters; 'pil seung' translates to “sure victory”, hence the English title of this series)
No. of episodes
16
Year
2004
Produced by
KBS
Cast
Ahn Jae Wook as Oh Pil-seung
Chae Rim as Bong Soon-young
Ryu Jin as Yoon Jae-woong
Park Sun Young as Noh Joo-young
Moon Chun Sik as Bong Jin-pyo (brother to Soon-young)
Supporting Cast
Yeo Woon Kye as Chairwoman Shin (grandmother to Pil-seung)
Jang Yong as Senior Yoon (father to Jae-woong)
Choo Ja Hyun as Huh Song-ja (friend to Pil-seung)
Lee Jung Kil as Bong Chang-soo (father to Soon-young)
Kim Hae Sook as Park Ok-ja (mother to Soon-young)
Kang Sin Il as Director Min Ki-baek
Plot
Pil-seung is your regular lazy but friendly Average Joe whose less-than-glamourous life is taken for a spin when it is discovered that he is the last remaining blood heir to the Choigo Corporation, currently headed by family matriarch Chairwoman Shin. After the revelation, he is taken back to work at the company as a director, although he knows nothing about a) running a business b) marketing c) economics or d) office politics. The one thing he has going for him is that he is really a decent, likeable guy who has the employees’ interests at heart. Because of this, he has the support of the thousands of grocery store workers who work for Choigo, although he is constantly the butt of the pranks played by the other directors who look down on him.
His new status has him in competition with Yoon Jae-woong, your typical Korean drama rich/educated/handsome/tall second male lead. Jae-woong is the director of marketing at Choigo, and scoffs at Pil-seung’s incompetence. Secretly, however, he somewhat admires his people skills, and is also slightly jealous of him as girlfriend Soon-young seems to have feelings for him. This jealousy is intensified when he discovers that Pil-seung is in love with her as well.
Jae-woong’s desperation to prove that he is better than Pil-seung results in a crisis for Choigo, which is reinforced when suspicions arise that Pil-seung might not be the blood heir to the company after all. Things take an anti-climatic turn at the end, with Soon-young breaking it off with Jae-woong to be with Pil-seung, and Jae-woong finally redeeming his bad ways. Pil-seung is named the new CEO of Choigo, and everything ends in happily ever after. Yippie.
Evaluation of Cast and Characters
None of the main actors here give great performances. They are neither compelling nor particularly charismatic, but they are likeable. Ahn Jae Wook is aw-shucks likeable as the decent and friendly Pil-seung, although his emotional scenes leave much to be desired. Ryu Jin looks like a mix between Kim Rae Won and Ji Sung and is physically perfect for the role of Jae-woong. He emotes better than Ahn, but isn’t that compelling either.
Chae Rim is seen in her first comedic role ever, and surprisingly succeeds to a certain extent. Her acting abilities, however, are overshadowed by a seriously mediocre storyline.
Park Sun Young is rather bland as Noh-Joo-young, while the veteran actors generally do better.
Yeo Woon Kye looks so much like TVB’s Liza Wang that the resemblance is quite scary. If you want to know what Liza Wang will look like with a gray wig, watch this series. Yeo does fine as the cold, authoritative Chairwoman but seriously falters at the emotional scenes. The only wonderful performances come from Jang Yong as Jae-woong’s father and the very funny Kim Hae Sook as Soon-young’s mother.
Missing in Action
There are some big holes in the plot that cannot be ignored.
- Where’s the change in the relationship between Pil-seung and his grandmother? I was expecting it for the longest time and never got it. Shin is supposed to gradually see Pil-seung as a beloved grandson instead of the illegitimate child her son had through an affair.
- Same goes for Pil-seung and his father’s legitimate wife. She should have gradually accepted Pil-seung for his kindness and genuine attitude, but the writers rushed her acceptance, making it happen nearly at the end of the series.
To Watch or Not to Watch, That is the Question
The likeable actors saved this series from being a complete flop, but less patient viewers may find it difficult to make it through the whole thing.
Rating
0 comments:
Post a Comment