Oh My Lady - Oh Such (a) Pity!
I was clearing off some backlog in my drama list - finishing some dramas where I had only few eps prior to ginormous binges on Baker and Gloria. The first on the list was Oh My Lady. I sort of followed it as it aired in the spring but kept losing more and more interest, and finally just dropped it with only two episodes left. Well, four months later, I finally watched eps 15 and 16 and completed OML.
As you can guess, for someone who is obsessive enough to watch dramas she likes raw and learns new tech methods so she could watch as soon as she can, waiting four months to watch the final episodes and then only doing it as a part of "clean slate" program, is quite a judgment on the drama.
And so the final verdict is: it's a plotless, directionless mess which could have been worse, true, but also could have been so much better!
I was excited for OML from the moment it was announced - a story of a younger superstar and an older housewife who ends up being his manager - I had visions of Last Scandal and similar. Alas, it was not to be. OML had a cute premise and a mostly decent cast (I liked Chae Rim in Powerful Opponents, Coi Siwon is not just gorgeous but one of the few idols I think can act, and the kids were adorable), but it was wrecked by the following 3 huge flaws:
1. No chemistry between the leads. None. I have NEVER seen this little chemistry between a leading man and his supposed love interest. Never. See this scene:
It is supposed to make me go "squee" instead of feeling rather icked out, as if siblings or, worse, a parental figure and the kid were kissing. Siwon and Chae Rim (who each had chemistry with other costars in other dramas) have not just zero chemistry, they have negative chemistry. This is something that a plot-driven drama can overcome (I don't find the lead pair in Giant to have much chemistry - though nowhere near as abysmal as the leads in OML - but it doesn't matter much because the OTP is one of many many story strands all the rest of which work, and some of them involve another OTP which is more satisfying). But a romcom, especially such a fluffy one, lives and dies on the chemistry of its leads. If it isn't there, there is nothing left. Take Personal Taste, another flawed spring romcom. The reason I stuck around for so long was the crazy chemistry between the leads - it was not much better written than OML nor more plot-driven - but it mattered much less because Son Ye Jin and Lee Min Ho burned up the screen.
2. If the makers could not help chemistry, they could help the writing and the pacing. The characters remain absolutely static from ep 1-14. Siwon's character is little different in ep 14 from ep 1 ad Chae Rim's is identical. I can buy that Siwon's character matures a bit in those 14 eps but not enough for me to view him as either genuinely grown up, ready for parenting; or grown-up for Chae Rim. Yet, after this static lack of development, the makers cram everything into the last 2 eps. It does not work. Crazy chemistry may have tided them over but it is nonexistent and without it being forced to believe that purely platonic/sibling/never saw you this way characters (they honestly felt like siblings to me and not in a 'fakecest' way, either) decide they love each other and want to get married, just appears insane. I don't need a drama to be heavily plot-driven to enjoy it (I am charmed by Mischievous Kiss and it's very low on plot) but I need believable character interactions and progession to buy what the show is selling. These stories and characters basically go nowhere.
3. The cast - more accurately, the lack of proper use of the leads and horrendous secondaries. I like Choi Siwon. In fact, he was the main reason I wanted to watch this drama. And on the ogling front it stisfied just fine.
But there is no question that while promising, Siwon is pretty much a newbie and cannot compete with someone like Jang Hyuk or Lee Byung Hun or Lee Bum Soo or Hyun Bin or ____ (insert name of veteran actor here). What I mean is, he cannot fill in the blanks by himself if the character is very underwritten, the way his was. (Contrast him with someone like Micky Yooochun in Sugkyunkwan Scandal. I find their acting levels about equal but Yoochun's character is really well-written so I swoon for him).
And then there is the human wooden block who is Lee Hyun Woo. I know he comes from a very connected family and that must be the only explanation for him continuing to be cast. Every time he enters a scene, my eyes glaze over. And yet a big chunk of story is devoted to him. Ugh.
Chae Rim is an actress I like but not adore, but in any event, she basically coasts through this, doing a low-rent reprisal of her Dalja's role.
Park Han Byul seems like a cool lady in real life (she'd have to be, to put up with the insanity of dating Se7en for years) but as an actress, she is the female equivalent of Lee Hyun Woo.
And except for adorable kids, the rest of the cast does not even register.
Anyway, what a pity, OML. Despite what you may gather from my LJ, I do love romcoms and not just angstfests (My Girl, Pick the Stars, Last Scandal, Chunhyang, Coffee House, Prosecutor Princess, even first half of BOF etc). Too bad this wasn't one of them.
As you can guess, for someone who is obsessive enough to watch dramas she likes raw and learns new tech methods so she could watch as soon as she can, waiting four months to watch the final episodes and then only doing it as a part of "clean slate" program, is quite a judgment on the drama.
And so the final verdict is: it's a plotless, directionless mess which could have been worse, true, but also could have been so much better!
I was excited for OML from the moment it was announced - a story of a younger superstar and an older housewife who ends up being his manager - I had visions of Last Scandal and similar. Alas, it was not to be. OML had a cute premise and a mostly decent cast (I liked Chae Rim in Powerful Opponents, Coi Siwon is not just gorgeous but one of the few idols I think can act, and the kids were adorable), but it was wrecked by the following 3 huge flaws:
1. No chemistry between the leads. None. I have NEVER seen this little chemistry between a leading man and his supposed love interest. Never. See this scene:
It is supposed to make me go "squee" instead of feeling rather icked out, as if siblings or, worse, a parental figure and the kid were kissing. Siwon and Chae Rim (who each had chemistry with other costars in other dramas) have not just zero chemistry, they have negative chemistry. This is something that a plot-driven drama can overcome (I don't find the lead pair in Giant to have much chemistry - though nowhere near as abysmal as the leads in OML - but it doesn't matter much because the OTP is one of many many story strands all the rest of which work, and some of them involve another OTP which is more satisfying). But a romcom, especially such a fluffy one, lives and dies on the chemistry of its leads. If it isn't there, there is nothing left. Take Personal Taste, another flawed spring romcom. The reason I stuck around for so long was the crazy chemistry between the leads - it was not much better written than OML nor more plot-driven - but it mattered much less because Son Ye Jin and Lee Min Ho burned up the screen.
2. If the makers could not help chemistry, they could help the writing and the pacing. The characters remain absolutely static from ep 1-14. Siwon's character is little different in ep 14 from ep 1 ad Chae Rim's is identical. I can buy that Siwon's character matures a bit in those 14 eps but not enough for me to view him as either genuinely grown up, ready for parenting; or grown-up for Chae Rim. Yet, after this static lack of development, the makers cram everything into the last 2 eps. It does not work. Crazy chemistry may have tided them over but it is nonexistent and without it being forced to believe that purely platonic/sibling/never saw you this way characters (they honestly felt like siblings to me and not in a 'fakecest' way, either) decide they love each other and want to get married, just appears insane. I don't need a drama to be heavily plot-driven to enjoy it (I am charmed by Mischievous Kiss and it's very low on plot) but I need believable character interactions and progession to buy what the show is selling. These stories and characters basically go nowhere.
3. The cast - more accurately, the lack of proper use of the leads and horrendous secondaries. I like Choi Siwon. In fact, he was the main reason I wanted to watch this drama. And on the ogling front it stisfied just fine.
But there is no question that while promising, Siwon is pretty much a newbie and cannot compete with someone like Jang Hyuk or Lee Byung Hun or Lee Bum Soo or Hyun Bin or ____ (insert name of veteran actor here). What I mean is, he cannot fill in the blanks by himself if the character is very underwritten, the way his was. (Contrast him with someone like Micky Yooochun in Sugkyunkwan Scandal. I find their acting levels about equal but Yoochun's character is really well-written so I swoon for him).
And then there is the human wooden block who is Lee Hyun Woo. I know he comes from a very connected family and that must be the only explanation for him continuing to be cast. Every time he enters a scene, my eyes glaze over. And yet a big chunk of story is devoted to him. Ugh.
Chae Rim is an actress I like but not adore, but in any event, she basically coasts through this, doing a low-rent reprisal of her Dalja's role.
Park Han Byul seems like a cool lady in real life (she'd have to be, to put up with the insanity of dating Se7en for years) but as an actress, she is the female equivalent of Lee Hyun Woo.
And except for adorable kids, the rest of the cast does not even register.
Anyway, what a pity, OML. Despite what you may gather from my LJ, I do love romcoms and not just angstfests (My Girl, Pick the Stars, Last Scandal, Chunhyang, Coffee House, Prosecutor Princess, even first half of BOF etc). Too bad this wasn't one of them.