A “little” lie that created a HUGE mess. That’s how this story got started ^^
The female lead from Princess Hours/Coffee Prince AND the male lead from Hong Gil Dong got together to star in this romantic comedy… how special is that or what!
Ok, so im on episode 2 and im sooo loving how it’s going so far. Here I was worried that this drama is not so good ‘coz I heard that they changed director in the middle of production at around episode 10(?). to me when that happens, it spells disaster so let’s see how this drama goes and no worries, despite my obvious bias ‘coz I love the leads here, I will honestly tell you if this drama is great… good… bad or awful!
The STORY… For me who simply likes to be entertained when watching a rom-com, the plot of Lie to Me is… to put it bluntly… good enough. you know me, given a choice I’d always go for the shallow uncomplicated romantic comedy. This one has a cute storyline that could open a lot of romantic and humorous possibilities given the right script and director. Again the plot is sooo similar to one of those cheesy romance pocketbooks I read in my teens. THERE in the book that I read, the junior secretary announced that she was engaged to her boss when she overheard him saying something insulting about her. HERE in this drama, the female lead deliberately made a “poisonous former school friend” believe that she is married, and events that transpired after that LIE now have her “married” to an eligible and rich guy. And all this brouhaha because of a slight accident that happened in a public place that involves her and the rich guy. NOW, he wants to sue her for spreading the rumor while she maintains her innocence ‘coz according to her, she never said the name of the guy she was married to. as if their situation is not complicated enough, let’s add into the picture his “missing” free-spirited younger brother who believes that he is fated to meet this same girl who just happens to be his hyung’s(older brother) “wife”! The younger brother who blames himself for being the cause of his hyung’s broken engagement 3 yrs ago now finds himself again in the middle of a complicated situation... another love triangle with yet again, his older brother! Interesting huh? you bet, specially when the hyung’s ex fiancée(2nd pic below this paragraph), the girl he gave up for his younger brother, comes back into the picture and that relationship still has no closure ^^ Could history be repeating itself??? Welll… not exactly… BUT…
The SCRIPT… What can I say… its not as brilliantly written as let’s say The Greatest Love, welll, but that’s because scripts like that are more of an exception than the norm. this one is more often than not… predictable *have I seen too many dramas that I can predict what’s gonna happen next?*. anyhoo, if I may sum up how best to describe The Script… its ordinary, nothing to get excited about the lines/dialogues. I had no moment of like… “whoa, that’s a great line!” or “excellent come back!”, im afraid no such thing here. Don’t be too disappointed though, truth of the matter is, those moments for me are rare. For some reason, there were 2 or 3 lines in the last episode that I was impressed with BUT, 2 or 3 lines in an entire 16 episode drama is a little, "too little too late"… at least its there^^ but I have to commend the other interesting characters that was a welcome addition to the story… the female lead’s “friend” Yoo So Ran played by actress Hong Soo Hyun AND the love triangle senior citizen edition between the female lead’s dad and his longtime companion/girlfriend and the artist/cook.
The DIRECTOR… what can a poor director do if the problem is the script? I think whoever that person may be, he/she gave it their all, in fact, I enjoyed the first few episodes and there were burst of good cinematic scenes here and there even if its so few and far between specially in the latter part. And what the h*ll happened in that housewarming party… can the host just disappear without explanations as to the reason why? Haaa… sooo badly done >.< its a good thing i was totally distracted by that kiss from out-of-nowhere...
The ACTORS… Yoon Eun Hye(YYH) who plays Gong Ah Jung still does her awkward and funny acting habits. I love her cute adorkable face. I love her sad crying face. I like her fashion sense(well, most of the time^^). She’s one of those rare breed of former “idols” who can actually act. Yes people, they do exist^^ I cant seem to say a lot about her role here because it seems to be a weak characterization that’s why she became unexciting in the latter part. Maaan, Kang Ji Hwan(KJH) who plays Hyun Ki Joon is really good in the crying scenes, im just reminded again of how good he was in Hong Gil Dong. He’s always got this “naughty boy” glint in his eyes that I cant resist. With him it’s the opposite. His character started quite boring and made a turnaround in the second half. His role started acting out-of-character… gone is the stiff businessman and and now comes a man often acting on impulse. Aaahhh, I love their scene in episode5(3rd pic below after this paragraph) among the Sakura Trees(cherry blossoms), sooo beautiful in more ways than one ^^ KJH’s solid acting saved the very public declaration of love in the streets scene(4th pic below) from becoming uber cheesy. Actually, the hopeless romantic side of me luv, luv, luv it!
Something drove my obssessive compulsive(OC) tendencies mad in this drama. im sorry but i need to rant about this. its nothing “big” really, its really tiny BUT its capacity to distract me is tremendous ^^ Whatever it is that KJH is always wearing on his lapel, you know that tiny “thing” that looks like a flower and/or ribbon or whatev, is driving me crazy in its ridiculousness. Everytime our male lead is wearing a suit, my eyes are always drawn to that “thing”, it’s driving me insane. HAAAAAA… what the heck is that??? our business tycoon looks like he is about to attend a wedding instead of just going to the office. Its not even funny to me, I couldn’t find humor in it, not even an ounce of fashion sense in that style. I would have ripped it off that jacket if it was anywhere near me! Haaay, it just doesn’t seem right specially in a corporate setting… wellllll… not unless he is a gay wedding planner ^^ or in some “artsy” business. *hehehe, I really neeeed to calm down, don’t i?*
Cant exactly pinpoint when, how, or why it happened, but halfway through this drama, things just went downhill. It was not a rapid freefall but it definitely didn’t stay as good and entertaining as the earlier episodes. The love story part between the main leads is not the problem. In fact, the occasional “sweet and lovey dovey scenes”, even if our male lead was acting really out-of-character is what saved this drama from falling even further and landing with a loud and painful “thug”. Remember their “cola kiss”?(people, see the 1st pic below this paragraph) Whew… hot, hot, hot! While I may have “some” objection to the marked change of character by our male lead *can somebody really change that drastically because of love? Or was it the change of director midway through this drama that was responsible for it?*, the biggest contributor to this drama’s downhill trend was the “broken” storyline. The two love triangle in this drama was a pretty solid storyline and it has a promising potential to attract and hold the viewers attention emotionally… Two brothers orphaned from a young age found themselves in love with the same girl , and when it seems that history was about to repeat itself this time with another girl, one of the brother(2nd pic below) was conspicuously missing in crucial parts of the story. what happened??? Was it you Mr/Ms Director or you Mr/Ms Writer who forgot his existence and went on to proceed and take on a different path. And then, as if they suddenly realized that someone was missing, he re-appeared in the story with a different aura that seems to be totally devoid of the heavy-hearted “feel” that he was emitting the last time I saw him. Hello, can people “turn off” emotions that easily by a mere night spent in drunken stupor??? What brought this sudden transformation was never fully explained and addressed in the story. the older brother didn’t even know that his dongsaeng(younger sibling) was carrying a torch for his main squeeze, ehem… I mean, his latest love. To make matters worse, the what I thought was the “all-important younger brother character” totally disappeared from the scene in the final episode. Dear god, whatever happened to him??? Haaay, are we suppose to “fill in the blanks”???
SURPRISINGLY, I liked how the last episode turned out. I thought, the final episode will be a disaster and I sure am glad its not. it was mature, non-hysterical, realistic by drama standards. Ah Jung’s realization that she may not be the most suitable wife for Ki Joon is a good and smart twist in the story. A career woman’s fear of losing her independence and be totally dependent on a man is a “real” and a “legitimate” consideration for every woman. To some, its like losing a big part of yourself to be with the one you love. How can you be with someone if you yourself is broken? Its not an easy choice to make for some women and rightfully so. In the end, I don’t exactly know what it is that she was looking for, nor was I able to completely wrap my brains around how she found what it is that she's lost(in that crisis in her Jeju workplace) … aaahhh, I have an idea because of what Ki Joon said to her in that Jeju museum but my brain is too exhausted now to fully grasp it *so no questions please about it and let me watch that particular scene another time^^* Another surprise in the final episode is the poetic lines with a reasonably decent depth that are sorely missing in the script, *practically in the entirety of this drama* is present in the final episode. Hmmm, it’s a testament that the writer is capable enough to produce some good lines… *next time put some of that brilliance on display early and more often in a drama ok Mr/Ms Writer?*
That’s all I have to say about “LIE TO ME” folks. Next stop is a Japanese drama… cya!
