because this is basically the premise of this drama, let me open this review by asking you to answer Mary's famous line in this drama, “what’s more important between Trust, Hope and Love? … No, not love, its LOYALTY!”.
Owww Kay…because of my prolonged hiatus from watching asian dramas lately, my sister saw ”Mary…” before I did and she gave this drama a “thumbs down”, WHAT?!?!?! Was it a case of too “high” expectations? We really shouldn’t do that, its like setting ourselves for a big disappointment more often than not. anyhoo, I have to admit, my excitement was quite dampened by that vote of no-confidence by my sister, BUT, how can I turn my back on JGS in all his cuteness and not even give this drama a chance. SO, on the strength of JGS’s good looks alone, I gave in to the shallow fangirl part of me(which I think, is the bigger part of me, haha) and ive decided to go ahead and at least feast my eyes on him. Welll, I didn’t have to wait long to satisfy my cravings, there he is on the 1st episode, looking oh sooo cool in his bohemian/rockstar character, I like, like, like :) MGY on the other hand, is the classic poor, coarse but with just the right amount of spunk in her character with a useless pain the neck father that you often find in a korean drama heroine. Mae Ri(sounds like Mary, hence the title) is poles apart from MGY’s last role in Cinderella Sister which I absolutely adore so how I will take her in this role is still a big question mark. Truth be told, because ive always liked JGS and MGY, no matter what roles they portray, I don’t think I’ll ever hate ‘em, that’s just how it is with me, welll, usually. So, lets see if this drama can hold my interest beyond the eye candy…
The story was made clear to me by episode 2. as far as im concerned, characterization wise, it is perfect, it has all the right ingredients ...welll, except for a major thrust in the story. and that is ...if there’s one thing so totally stupid in the plot it’s the 100 day and the “living together, one day here, one day there” deal, is it that simple??? Cant those “brilliant “ writers think of a more believable twist in the plot than that??? who in his/her right mind would agree to something like that when there are no sure guarantees for all parties involved??? What can I say, this could only happen in a drama. Ok, I’ll let it rest, I will let that slide ‘coz THIS, is a rom-com. If I want some literary piece, I’ll set my sights elsewhere. Anyway, I’d rather write about the leads now ‘coz im beginning to really like them and im only on ep5 as im writing this part of the review…
What i like about this drama …
*the storyline that involves Moo Kyul and his young mother and that whole twisted mother and son dysfunctional connection in the drama fits in perfectly with the story. Im sooo digging the immature young mom and the sensible but sometimes cynical young son relationship, its actually beautiful to me even if the mom is more often than not a real pain. A parent acting like a dependent child and the child being responsible for the parent … well, it does happen sometimes even in real life. I just love, love, love that confrontation scene between the two of them, when the son finally lost his cool and said a mouthful to his mom after the she pawned Mary’s ring.
* I also like it that the “other man” and the “other woman” in this drama are not hateful evil characters. They actually portrayed their roles well and are pretty likeable. Mary described the second male lead as “exasperatingly polite”. An apt description. He is handsomely refined and classy and of course, rich. And yet, the girl fell for the free-spirited struggling musician who doesn’t live by the rules and who spells “trouble” from all sides…haay, don’t I always say, the “bad boys” always get the ladies in the end no matter how difficult it is to be with one, what with their erratic behaviour and all that. I have seen the second female in previous productions and have always liked her cool relaxed acting style. I can smell a pro when I see one. I dunno if I should commiserate with her character here …the poor girl who cant let go of somebody who doesn’t love her back …between a man/woman relationship, is there anything more pitiful than that? actually, in this drama, her unrequitted love is sometimes more pathetic than pitiful.
* how the two men got to hang out and be buddy-buddy in a crooked sorta way in the last maybe 15 minutes of the last episode is nice and pretty amusing despite it being quite impossible to happen in real life, but what the heck, this is a tv drama after all.
Much as I love both leads here, I cannot close my eyes to the weakness of the material that they had to work with. The first few episodes are ok but by episode 7, my brains are blurring whatever eye candy is in there to attract me in this drama in the first place. it is indeed true that physical beauty is only skin deep, its what’s inside that could hold my interest in the long run. Even if there are some pretty absurd twists in this drama, it could have been saved by a good storytelling. Unfortunately, there was no consistency here. There are parts in the middle of the drama where it became stale, boring, dragging …i, i, i couldn’t write a thing to add to the review at some point. Just to give you an idea as to how I gauge how bad or how good a drama is, usually, if what im seeing on screen is sooo good, I couldn’t wait to write it down, in the same manner that when its sooo bad, I also couldn’t wait to write about it. Here, I was maybe excited to write until about episode 6 after that I realize it is already episode 9 and I have nothing left to say. So I guess you can say, its not that good and its also not that bad, which is also …NOT a good thing. Anyway, it happily picked up a notch by ep10, and I now know the reason behind the slack in the previous episodes …it veered away from its original intent, ‘coz in ep10, it went backto its roots … to being a light rom-com! The story was cruising along just fine until that whole kidnapping fiasco that came out of nowhere. Why oh why do writers resort to this kind of cheap sub plots before a drama ends? Did they think we will be looking forward to it that’s why its reserved for the latter part of a drama, like some sort of a highlight? NOT!!!
*The best thing about this drama ...THE LAST 15 MINUTES OF THE LAST EPISODE of this drama should have been how the entire production should have been styled …romantic, quirky, unconventional, funny …haaay, if only this was the direction taken on the entire 16 episode production …if only…
*The worst thing about this drama ...the total lack of coherence on the storytelling. no clear direction, you dont know where the h*ll the director is taking it next! there are some pretty good scenes and yet they were not put together is a way that makes it more exciting, hence a finished product with a lack of connection, illogical, inconsistent, sabog(scattered). just when you think the are on to something, it falls short ...and i guess next worst thing is the waste of talent(MGY & JGS) specially when their characters seems pretty interesting.
Welll … was my sister right when she gave this drama a thumbs down? yes and no. were my expectations met? thumbs down. but, I was after all STILL in most parts, entertained by it so, i would STILL recommend it with the warning ...dont expect too much from this drama. lemme go back to how I would rate the success of a rom-com as far as “i” am concerned:
*MGY is the hands down best in acting in this drama ...sorry JGSsshi, please be comforted by the fact that youre still by far, prettier than MGY. a statement that im sure she will not disagree with :)
*did this drama make me laugh? …again I’ll be generous and give it a 3 out of 5.
*Did I fall in love with the love team? …I already love them individually before this drama even surfaced in the writer’s imagination, but together as a screen couple I’d be generous because IM OPENLY BIASED(just so everybody knows..haha)and give them a 4 out of 5.
…so please do the math to get the average, Thank You Very Much ^^
