This review may contain spoilers
Love in Sadness is one of those dramas that will lure you in making you want more and more as you get deeper into the story. Throughout the entire 40 episodes many different topics are hit including deep ones like obsessiveness, abuse, cheating & heartbreak. The main character Ma Ri is shown throughout the series as a weak woman but throughout the story she learns how to deal with everything causing her to evolve into a strong woman that her friends wanted her to be. Her husband Kang In Wook although a little psychotic/obsessive you will in the end start too feel some sympathy ( just a tad & the ending will hit you hard) after you learn his backstory of why he is like this. The surgeon's Seo Jung Won was a wonderful addition too since he brings out the best in Ma Ri and will do anything for her. You will learn to hate some of the side characters in this story due to their actions and in the end I still don't understand why some of them did what they did to the others but it happens in plots like this. The acting in this was amazing especially Ryu Soo Young's he did a great job portraying Ma Ri's husband and his obsessiveness. The music was okay at certain parts it didn't really resonate with me since I was more interested in the story. There is a slight rewatch value to this drama due to the emotional value but once you watch it you'll know everything that already happens so it wont be as strong. Was this review helpful to you?
Story: The plot is simple, and has some of the stereotypes. But, it's done so well! You will be completely captivated by the story of the main characters, and having the whole plot being mainly just about the main leads, and still keep you entertained, kudos! I watched all 40 episodes in three days, and I was at the moment in the middle of my exams. That means, over 5 hours a day when I am preparing for my exams, and I care! I just became some captivated by the story, I could bearly take a break.
Acting/Cast: The casting for this drama was well done, I am personally not well acquainted with the main actors of this story, but they did a fantastic job. And the acting, with very few exceptions, was superb and outstanding. The cast really did make you feel everything you were supposed to.
Music: The music was well picked for giving the right vibe to the drama, and scenes as well. And I would actually listen to it from time to time. That's quality!
Rewatch: I think this would be a great rewatch when I want to watch something a little gloomy and poetic again.
All in all: A great, and entertaining drama, that will captivate both your eyes and heart. Sincerely #7.
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What do I mean by this? In the beginning everything seemed ordered and to have a definitive direction. For about the second half of the show, I began to notice flaws, plot holes, and poor writing. The actors for the most part did a fantastic job and brought these characters to life. What I think is at fault here is the writing.
Actor Ryu Soo Young did such a fantastic job and I can't say this enough. In no way do I endorse his character, Kang In Wook and his behavior but I feel that this actor did the best job. This man deserves an award!!
Some things I would have liked to see were:
- Yoon Ma Ri with some strength, confidence and empowerment. I feel like an opportunity was missed here! Park Han Byul and Park Ha Na did a good job portraying her but I feel like there was no character development. To add insult to injury, there were moments where she made some seriously questionable decisions. This character clearly could have been more well written.
- More screen time with Woo Ha Kyung. For some reason I really liked this character because she was interesting and a perfect foil to Ma Ri. I wish they would have explored her backstory a bit more.
One final thing I will say is that the screenwriters could have made some smart choices in the writing of the script. Yes, they gave us a handsome hero, a damsel in distress, and a truly malevolent villain but it would have been a more attractive prospect for Ma Ri to find her own strength. I think she relied too much on the men around her.
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This review may contain spoilers
First of all the soundtrack to this show is beautifully haunting. The show itself is an amazing show to watch in my opinion. I fell in love with the story from the first episode, The story is about a girl who is in an emotionally, physically, and mentally abusive relationship so she goes to a surgeon to change her face to live a normal life, however her husband wont give up and the way the story just plays itself out along with each character having their own growth especially the female lead she was amazing. The show isn't going to be for everyone but I would recommend this show to anyone. It is quite lengthly with a total of 40 episodes so it is one to stick with. I watched the whole series in two days and I will probably do it again very soon. I loved it! Was this review helpful to you?
Story: Honestly speaking as a psychologist I am unable to understand this story... A plastic surgeon whose wife is bedridden is ready to involve with other girl just because she was victim of domestic violence... as a plastic surgeon a lot of cases were observed by him where people were in more miserable and pitiful conditions... then in the beginning FL admitted that she was ready to leave everything behind because of her husband then what now? He was abusive yes I admit but as a psychologist I can see he was one of them who can be tamed just with love care and trust... so basically story is not about a victim wife or abusive husband...it is more of a woman who wants independence and a man who is mentally scared by past and failed to cop up and this failure resulted in his violent nature... I have seen many cases like this... if its some other genre I bet this abusive husband could be a ML where the FL ready to leave everything... duh... She was scared of him?????? are you kidding me... if you want to know what being scared watch that Turkish drama... here FL not only expressed her hatred for her husband but also tried to run many times... stop kidding guys... just to get sympathies this stunt was not enough...
Acting; yes yes yes… I can tell you how good actors are... each and every character played their role so well... their expressions their dialogue delivery and above all their skils to portray their grieves remarkable....
For me its a no but you can give it a try.....
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Unexpected, Instant Favorite
This isn't my usual drama genre, but I am super happy that I came across this recommendation randomly a few days ago on tik tok. Coming into this, I knew I was getting myself into a melodrama about a woman trying to escape from her marriage due to domestic violence, and convinces a plastic surgeon to reconstruct her face in order to hide. What she later realizes is that she is given the face of the surgeon's dead wife. I thought I was going to watch a dark and but classic soapy drama due to the fact that homie gave her his dead wife's face and thought it was going to be brushed over by all his friends and family.Instead, the writer and director gave us a very twisted and dark story and turned it very light and full of flowers (and flower metaphors). They made this drama very enjoyable and easy to watch as the director paired every character with their own "theme song" to light classical music.
One of the things that I loved about this as well was how simple the characters were, but also complex. They were complex because they all were battling something within themselves - Dr Seo and his love for his wife Ha Hyung; Ma Ri and her internal battle of standing up to her abusive husband and learning who to trust; In Wook with his obsession with Ma Ri and his other's death; Hae Ra and her obsessions with Dr Seo; and Sung Ho and fighting a dark secrets. But regardless of their internal battles and these things being HUGE motivators for these characters, they were simple people who grew throughout the drama. The writer and director did an amazing job where we knew these people inside and out and whenever they were faced with a specific situation, the audience knew exactly how each out them would react. And this is to a t until the very end, when everything started to explode, and everyone was tested - but oddly, I just sat there happily watching because I knew that Ma Ri and Dr Seo wanted to help and fight for love and freedom the right way on their own terms. If they were given a shortcut, they wouldn't take it, knowing that it would come with strings attached and would help them get to their goal quicker, but turning them into someone they were not. And it was very refreshing to watch these characters grow as people, but also never stray from their morals.
Another thing I loved was how devoted a lot of these characters were - I believe my favorite character(s) in this drama were Dr Seo and In Wook's lackies due to their devotion to their people. And that is why Dr Seo and Hae Ra wouldn't have worked - Dr Seo is a romantic and would give up everything he has worked for in order to help get Ma Ri out of an abusive situation, where as when Hae Ra was put in the same situation between helping someone else who was in a bad situation and her gallery, she would chose her gallery and her hard work. And there is nothing wrong with this, they are just driven by different things. I honestly think that Hae Ra would feel suffocated at a certain point if she did marry Dr Seo. But I think the MVP award would have to go to In Wook's lackies; they were devoted to him and his wild goose chase and not by the business. There were many times when In Wook's father would try to override a command and they would not budge. Even to the very end, his main guard genuinely seemed to care about In Wook - I got the vibe that he was worried about him and hopefully by being on his side, he could protect him and hopefully persuade him to not do anything crazy.
I would have loved to give this drama 10 stars, but ultimately, it came down to the ending. I LOVED everything about this drama except for the very end. It just seemed like it ended like any other episode, even after the "final battle," where there was a huge after event... it just ended. We didn't get anything else and ended on yet another flower metaphor. I feel that I needed another episode - there were 40 25 minute episodes where we would spend an ep or two trying to fix something after an event happened which I enjoyed every minute episode, so it was very out of character for this character to just sum everything up in the last 5 minutes.
Other than that, I enjoyed the journey and the story of all the characters. There was a lot of "melodrama" to this, but there was also a lot of depth and a story about a woman learning how to tap into her courage to fight as well as her learning what true love actually is. It was also a story about a man who wanted to pretend like everything was okay and masked his hurt with fake love for wife who seemed like two different people, but learned how to accept and heal from it. And it was a story about a man who was traumatized by an abusive father and the death suicide of his mother, who turned into a monster, and refused help.
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Definitely a must watch
I really loved this drama and the acting by the cast was pretty good. It's a very dark story and be warned there are scenes of abuse but they aren't really graphic. To be honest the ending dragged a bit but it wasn't that bad. I loved how the characters were portrayed. I still felt like there were some things unresolved in the ending like what actually happens to the father but overall it has a nice ending. I honestly felt a bit bad for the villain at times which is impressive because I don't tend to feel that bad for many of them. I think if he had a normal childhood he would have turned out much differently and I honestly wanted him to go to prison and reflect on what he did. I actually felt sad about his ending. I really do think he loved Mari but just didn't truly know what love was. Absolutely hated the father, he honestly deserves to die.Was this review helpful to you?
Rough, Not for the faint of heart.
This drama is absolutely heartbreaking! Kudos to the cast and everyone involved in making this show what it was. They did a wonderful job on showing their viewers just how serious domestic abuse is. This was very real to watch it all unfold, it's scary and not for the faint of heart. This Woman's story was so hard to watch, and it showed her from many different point of views and the husband's illness was also very well portrayed. Domestic abuse is very much swept under the run and not talked about and the abuser is usually kept guarded by those around him and that was exactly the case here you actually really saw it for how it is in reality. Most abuse victims have a hard time leaving and I feel like that was also portrayed really well. Also it's so easy for on lookers to say "she could have left, she's just being pitiful, it's an act." and we also saw pieces of that from "HaeRa". I have nothing bad to say about this drama. It is very much hard to watch and can be a trigger for some. The romance that we get is beautiful and how he respects and helps to heal her is so precious. I will probably not rewatch this though just because it was a hard one.Was this review helpful to you?
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Too good
Very first I like to express my views towards the acting part of every character especially the one who played negative role ,too good ,bravo ,amazing . Then about others so they also did great . Everyone is just perfect in their part .Know about story then it excute very nicely ,connect the drama till end . I like to see their marriage and she conceive also because his ex wife conceived but she aborted it .so if they add this so it become a nice happy ending.
Song which played at the starting of the drama is totally connected with situation.
It is little violent and negative story .
I liked it .
Obssession destroy the life..
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Everything in this drama screams...for help
for comfort... in pain... in loneliness... in sadness... in desperation.The aesthetics in this drama are no joke; both music and visuals. It's art.
I found their stories heartbreaking.
Though you watch the drama in sadness, you also watch it in hope.
The story is dark but the people are pretty clear and painfully nice and good.
A melodramas with some suspense.
It’s something that you like or you don’t.
She was his sunshine, his way of coming back to life, a way to correct his regrets.
He was her savior, her comfort, her light, her sunshine.
They were made for each other. They were the opposites of whom they used to be with.
The music is amazing. It felt like older melodramas.
The episodes flew by.
It's an overlooked drama. Well made story. Intense.
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A bad guy that you actually like
Even though I have seen similar tv shows and movies with abusive husbands I have to say that this somehow managed to bring something new to the scene. Let me start with the main couple first. These two had almost no chemistry and I blame mainly the FL for this because she is a bad actress. For me, she is just the typical damsel in distress that needs a knight in her life. Apart from this, we understand at the end that she never loved her husband which poses the question- Why marry him in the first place? Her personality was very boring, her expressions were really bad and some of her actions...pufff let me just leave it here. The ML was the good, kind, and " boring " guy that got cheated by his loved one because was not appreciated enough by her. I liked him a lot and his character development was good as well. I think he is the type of guy that will never get over his wife no matter what. He wanted a new start with this new woman but in my opinion, deep down he still looks on her as his ex-wife. Human emotions are complex and being with her and doing everything to save her from her husband is totally understandable. Now let's move on to my favourite character - Mari's husband. He was great on all accounts. The acting the psychological characteristics were very well portrayed. Somehow I wanted her to stay with him and properly heal the wounds from the past. The sad thing is this guy can truly change for the better and turn into a loving husband if he received love from her. He tried desperately to do that but her words and behaviour provoked him on numerous occasions. While violence against a woman is a big No, in this case, it could have been avoided by understanding him and treating him better. In my opinion, his wife was the source of his unstable behaviour that resulted in him killing himself. I don't see her as an innocent woman but rather as a cold emotionless woman. She did not deserve the love from these guys. I reallly felt dorry for the bad guy and his ending that's why the so called happy ending did not satisfy me.Was this review helpful to you?
