Woo Ri the Virgin (2022)

Either way, a waste!

Having watched the original show “Jane the Virgin”, I was, at first, a bit hesitant because I liked that. But then I thought I should check out how the Kdrama essence changes it. And I am sadly (not really) declaring that they did fail and this was entirely a horrible attempt. It was obvious to compare this with the previous but then I thought I should actually consider it as a separate show because things must have changed with given circumstances, which did happen. Either way, it did disappoint.
Developed by ‘Studio S’ & ‘Lifetime’ and produced by ‘Group 8”, “Woori the Virgin” is a comedy melodrama plus partly romcom drama, adopted from the American satire telenovela “Jane the Virgin”. Written by Jang Ah Mi and directed by Jung Jung Hwa, the drama was broadcasted on SBS TV and internationally distributed by “Viu” in limited countries. Notably, this is not a remake of the original show, rather an adaptation since all the 5 seasons from have been summed into a single season. Also, the show reunites Sung Hoon and Im Soo Hyang after 6 years who, again, happen to have debuted together 11 years ago.
Oh Woo Ri (Im Soo Hyang), daughter to a single mother and raised alongside her grandmother, is a woman in early 30s who has been virgin due to her religious beliefs. During a regular checkup, she gets pregnant due to medical malpractice at her OB-GYN clinic. To her surprise, the sperm owner turns out to be a man Rafael (Sung Hoon) with whom she had a momentary fling five years back. As she decides to keep the baby and the story follows the consequences and unfamiliar events she faces.
Lee Kang Jae (Shin Dong Wook) is Woori’s boyfriend and a detective. Other familiar faces in the story in various major roles were: Hong Eun Hee, Yun Won Kyung, Kim Soo Ro, Lee Do Yeon, Nam Mi Jung, Hong Ji Yoon, Joo Jin Mo and Yun Woon Kyung.
Plot development was the entire problem with the drama. The remake was a bad idea; they could have made a story based on the concept but they went for an adaptation, making foolish decisions. The pilot episode did its job of creating an impression at the end but the episode, as its own, was not very pleasant. However, the furtherance following that and the set of events became interesting with plenty of comic elements and revelations done for the major characters. To my disappointment, it didn’t last long; it seemed smooth till 5th but what happened in 6th and the way the episode ended, I was skeptical about the rest of the show, because it hadn’t even reached its interval.
With only the crime scandal and the main culprit left to be unveiled, everything else became stupid and not worth of watching as soon as the 7th episode started. I can’t say that the mystery plot and the investigation process kept me engaged, it’s just I wanted to know the culprit’s face even when the show had already fallen through, that’s it. It kept getting stupider and logic-less towards the ending and for my habit of not being able to leave anything unfinished, I watched 7th-14th at 3x, ngl.
Emphasizing on my opinion, once again, adaptation isn’t an easy job as it seems. Even if the audience doesn’t expect you to justify the originality, as a writer, you must be careful not to mislay the essence of what’s been presented earlier, which the debutant Jang Ah Mi jakka-nim clearly failed to accomplish. First of all, the idea to adapt a 5 seasoned show was stupid to begin with; secondly, it could have simply referred to the story and created one of their own; finally, bringing all the 5 seasons into one was where they stooped to rock-bottom.
With not being able to create something noteworthy in his almost 15 year caarrer, Jung Jung Hwa PD-nim has again failed to bring another drama to justice. The flow of direction was inconsistent, very much. Things like screenplay management, sound editing and screen editing might have been handled to par but the erratic pacing and irregular development come as annoyances. While the first half was smooth and worth the patience, the latter half becomes too rushed in order to include everything within the predetermined quota. Imo, they could have made to more episodes, minimizing the damage.
Composed by Choi Seung Kwon, the show has a total of 5 OSTs and my ‘Kdrama OST Sucker’ heart couldn’t bring itself to love any single of them. I would say ‘”I’m In Love” by Sin Ye Young was the only likable track which also fits to the drama. While “Gosh” by Jessi is a fabulous track individually, this has no particular essence to be contributed to the show. Other 3 tracks are: “Sunday to Monday” by Woody and “I’m goin’ crazy” which has both male & female versions, sung by Kim Bum Soo & Lee Young Hyun, respectively.
What I liked…
Nothing really
What I didn’t like…
# Sung Hoon’s acting doesn’t improve remarkably even though he has been acting for a while and his irregular casting should be the reason, but it’s obvious he isn’t getting many offers bcs there seems no will power to improve. He could utilize his time in taking classes. (Some of y’all will come at me foe this but fact never changes.)
# Character arcs for many were shoddy; not even the 3 leads had anything significance. Flaws make characters realistic but for a 14 episode fictional drama there were way too many flaws, provided they didn’t have a single fraction of development. In the second half, it wasn’t even funny rather ridiculous.
# Kang Jae’s character was horribly written with no particular sense. As a cop, he didn’t show any trait that would make him a good detective. The number of times he and his wit failed, implied his incompetency and also showed how incapable the police is. In short, this was so very unrealistic and had no logic.
# Chemistry between the 2 possible pairs were zero. While Im Soo Hyang did click with one showing little compatibility, pairing her up with the other was so useless and was presented with cliché elements as fillers only. The original show was convincing, but as the culture and essence have changed with the remake, the same felt extremely stupid here.
# The illogical plot devices were irritating in the sense that they did repeat few just to stall time and match the timelines of different subplots. Then, they used some just to fill the gaps created due to the removal of major events from the original show. Finally, the way of representation was choppy.
Final remarks... Overally, “Woori the Virgin” is not only a bad remake but also a poor quality show if you don’t take the original show into consoider. I came here knowing I might get bored but the stupidity and failures have made me mad. I understand the low budget is where the problems stem from but we have seen enough such cases, where makers have aced the race despite every hurdles. Since the show has way too many cons and almost no pro, I decline to acknowledge it as an average show, even. Don’t watch.

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It's boring!!!!

Just don't waste your time watching this.. ?
It's so dry and meaningless... Worst plot twisted ending I've seen... It sucks... I wish somebody remakes it and lets Woori and Raphael end up.... Bullshitty ending ?‍♀️viewers will get frustrated after watching it... Also Kang Jae's character is super irritating... And you let Woori end up with Kang Jae!!??? ?ewww... Just ewww... It's a No-No...
Too Boring... Doesn't deserve even a half star... ?‍♀️?‍♀️?‍♀️?‍♀️?‍♀️?‍♀️?‍♀️?‍♀️?‍♀️?‍♀️?‍♀️?‍♀️?‍♀️?‍♀️?‍♀️?‍♀️?‍♀️?‍♀️?‍♀️?‍♀️?‍♀️?‍♀️?‍♀️?‍♀️?‍♀️?‍♀️?‍♀️?‍♀️?‍♀️?‍♀️?‍♀️?‍♀️?‍♀️?‍♀️?‍♀️?‍♀️?‍♀️?‍♀️?‍♀️also... It's like Woori gonna have 2 husbands... Wth.... Greedy???? Hmmhmm... No.... This is so not like a kdrama... This is so fake... So irritating for the viewers... Better make a season 2 and let Woori end up with Raphael.... If not.... Almost everyone is gonna hate it for the tasteless ending....

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Sit down let me tell you why this is dog shit

Have you ever been cheated on? That how disappointed you will feel after watching this drama.

Let’s get this straight: I’ve never seen the OG version of this drama, so I’m purely going off the mess I’ve tortured myself with.

What I know is that this drama is seriously SERIOUSLY lacking in the writing department and people have waited a year for what could’ve been the romcom of summer 2022 but turned out to be a booing festival.

The biggest irony of this drama is how the FL is a scriptwriter but the actual script is of the drama is ass. FL and ML chemistry is nonexistent, they wasted 70% of screen time on a crime plot that doesn't matter and no one cares about, the love story with her ex has so much more substance and screen time that it gave all the viewers second male lead syndrome, the father-daughter relationship is barely explored, heck the FL character is also barely explored. From the scriptwriter's profile it seems like this is her first work, and it shows. I’m so sorry but this is truly wasted ressources and potential.

To sum it up this is the drama:
19% romance with sml
70% crime plot
1% baby
5% romance with the ml
2% found my long lost father

This could’ve been great, some people may even like it but the execution is too bad not to be frustrated and disappointed. Come ooon. You just had to write it better ( and cast another FL) , the budget was there

UPDATE:

*Ending Spoiler*

In what world is this series of event not asinine:
-Breaks up with SML because: baby
-Falls out of love with SML
-Falls in love with ML
-Dates ML
-Talk about future as family with ML
-ML proposes, she gets angry
-She breaks up with ML
-Her brain, literally, I kid you not, resets to factory setting and suddenly she doesn’t know who to get back with. Girl weren’t in a committed relationship 2.5 seconds ago??
-Goes back to SML
-The end

huh???? HUHHHH?

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The worst drama I have ever seen.

This is the worst drama I have ever watched.
The ending was really the dumbest thing ever.
It looks like woori married Kang jae just to have s*x.
It portrayed that woori is a 30 year old and after 30 she did all types of things just to have s*x.
She is just a s**t.
She is so selfish and dumbest person ever.
She never thought of the baby.
But she kissed her father because of a f**king dream.
She did all sort of things to make Raphael feel for her and dumped at last .
She is soo f***king irritating.
This drama is soo meaning less.
I don't even know what the writer was thinking while writing the last episode.
I don't know what the sh*t was going in their mind while writing the last episode.
The last episode sucks.
THE DRAMA SUCKS.
DON'T WATCH IT.

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Ads lied, the series disappointed me more than anything I have ever watched

The way it is advertised lies about the content of the show. I thought I finally got lucky finding a series about a woman with two husbands but I found another boring, misogynistic series about a man who has slept with every woman he has met and I absolutely HATE the writers did not let Woori the virgin confront him about it. Instead, they made it so she would get embarrassed and humiliated when pointing out what an absolute whore this rich man is. I dropped the show the moment that happened. Biggest waste of my time. Would recommend nobody wastes their time with it.

Not only did they not deliver as promised but also gave me a misogynistic disappointing show. If you want more women to watch it don't just advertise it as a female fantasy then fill every single part of the series with male fantasy.

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Such a HUGE disappointment (do not waist time with this one)

It has been a long time since I posted a review. I've watched quite a few different dramas that I felt I had to go and write a review about it as soon as I finished watching, but I never did. This time I was so disappointed and frustrated with the ending to be more exact that I couldn't hold myself and I had to write about what I feel. I can even accept the fact that the writing was not that good when being a screenplay writer is part of the story line. I can even accept that there were so many things that felt short, unfinished, not even necessary, but to not even satisfy with a good ending or at least a more normal ending, that I have a hard time to accept. I considered Raphael first male lead and Kang Jae the second male lead based on the synopsis.
First, I have to say that the connection between the couples was not quite there, or for me was not equally the same. Oh Woo Ri and Lee Kang Jae even thought they were dating for so long I really didn't feel them as a couple. Maybe because I didn't like the male, I didn't warmed up to him. Oh Woo Ri and Raphael I felt them a little bit more and maybe just because the way the part was written for them but I know they were not quite perfect either. They were talking about a first kiss, he was talking about believing that faith has somebody better for him and because the way they filmed the moments between the two, with all the memories and the dreams they both had and the fact that she even reached to kiss him first which she did not do with Kang Jae, made me believe that she liked him more or at least she was feeling more attracted to him. The connection between her and Kang Jae felt awkward and cringe worthy at times, like the time they hold hands in the car and then they said they have to go pray because they held hands for too long. I mean what the heck.......... what is that? With the relation between her and Raphael I thought since the writers were pointing out that he didn't grow up with the type of family he always wanted, they will give him the family he was dreaming of by keeping him together with her. But to my disappointment it didn't happened.
Second thing that bothered me was the way I felt the two male leads were portrayed at times, and to me it looked like they were both stupid.
Third and not last thing that bothered me, but this really frustrated me was close to the end when they were both trying to win her back it was not fair that Raphael did not get one chance not even one chance to talk to her alone, but Kang Jae did have that chance at the memorial of his parents. After that the next day at her mother proposal party she had her mind made up. That was not correct if you want to give them both a fair chance. And the whole complications that are going to arise from having the baby with one guy and being married to another guy. Why do you have to complicate that baby's existence? I don't understand why? If you emphasize the fact that the female lead and Raphael had a first kiss and then a baby together, than why don't you keep that baby's parents together? Why put it in the movie, if you are going to throw the connection between them out the window? Even more, they also emphasized the connection that was building between FL and Raphael with all the times he was there to save her, and they still didn't end up together. I really do not see the point of having those scenes. I've seen dramas before where I wanted the FL to end up with the second male lead, but this was not one of them because of that baby which she should have had her both parents. If you have the pen in your hand and you write the ending, then why not keep families together? For the FL lead since she was a virgin, she would have been better paired with a man that had more experience and proof is the honeymoon moment when you have two virgins trying to do the grown ups thing and just ended up being another cringe worthy - I want to throw up moment. And don't even get me started on the stupid friendship between Kang Jae and Raphael. That was another moment that I felt I was going to throw up. Really? Really? Really writer or writers? I mean you have them fighting over FL like two roosters just to make them best friends? Really? Really? I am shocked that this script was even approved to make it to the screen. I can just keep going on, and on, and on but I'm too frustrated and the drama doesn't deserve my energy to continue writing.

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Sorry but nope.

I watched this drama purely for Sung Hoon (ML) but unfortunately this made it to the “dramas that I do not recommend list”.
While I understand this drama was a remake from “Jane the Virgin” (which I didn’t watch), I am not sure I understand the plot at all.
I lost focus on the drama (and had been fast forwarding parts) because I felt that the drama tried to cover too much. There wasn’t much emphasise on the lead characters. Even if there were focus on the lead characters, there wasn’t enough depth.

Frankly, the drama was quite tiring to watch after a while, so I fast-forwarded to the last episode and yet it was disappointing.

I don’t recommend this drama at all.

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Somebody left the writers keyboard in a baby's room.

I really wanted to enjoy this but......the writers lost me. So much was missing. They could have save this around episode 6 or 7. It just seemed like they really didn't want to make it worthy of us watching. I really hope they get better roles. Especially Sung hoon i hope thats correct ...the ML. Whoever suggested his last few roles must really hate him. ?. His last few roles didn't fit him.
It was like watching a horrible accident in the making
All in all i was disappointed for the cast it got to a point were you know it must have been felt weird on set to finish.

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This is dog poo

Never watched the original story so I thought this was an engaging plot with lot of potential. In the end, there is a few good thing and huge bad bad things.

1/ STORY
Romance part: The cause of the pregnancy is convoluted but the evolution of the story is interesting. It was a good and understandable progression considering the personalities of the three characters involved. The story of the original couple SML and FL drifting apart and breaking up was well presented. The part of the FL and ML getting closer was badly told and even totally unbelievable. And the end is.. omg... You would have wanted to mock your audience you would not have done anything different.

Thriller part: Very convoluted from start to ending. Chasing after a drug dealer, SML and the other cops go through events and clues which appears out of the blue. At the end, the writer gave the nice role to Kang Jae when he did wrong all that time... lol... of course.

2/ CHARACTERS / ACTORS:

Woori : Interesting character with a quiet personality and not confident. She is not assertive and let others take the lead professionally and in her couple. But pregnancy makes her take decisions and evolve to become confident about her baby, her life and happiness and her job. And suddenly in the end .. taddah!!! I owned you.

Raphael : Allegedly grew without loving parents and cured from a cancer so he is a very human guy who cares about family and wants to build his own. There was a wrong characterization of him as the writer put most of the goofy and silly tone on him when he was the ML. He appeared very inconsistent, not likeable and the actor was too wooden face to make him endearing.

Kang Jae: Not the right guy for Woori but strangely the most wholesome guy of the drama. From start to finish, he is himself: selfish, self-centered, workaholic, reckless … he does plenty of bs but in the end taddah! He is now the greatest guy ever because suddenly the writer gave him a great Deus Ex Machina background story out of the blue.. Poor guy was raised by not his father... OF COURSE!!!.

Ma Ri: Silly daughter who is an accomplice of a bigger schemer to con other people but finally has a conscience and saves herself. The most interesting character in the end who ultimately did right. I love her.

Woori’s mom : super annoying
Woori’s dad : useless character
Woori’s colleague: She is fun and supportive.

3/ OST
OK, nothing specially out of place

4/ Rewatch value:
Zero.

5/ OVERALL:
A very good idea in the beginning but spoiled and wasted by terrible directing with bad editing, scenes badly cut, convoluted situations, uncontrolled misplaced goofy cartoonesque moments. ML’s actor was a bad choice of leading actor, or they asked from him what he could not do. SML was the worst and then in the end it is a miracle of the writer, he is the cream of crop because these stupid idiot writers understood how lame they turned the ML to be so they gave the big prize to the SML...

Seriously? This drama just mocked the audience. 1/10 because I could not give 0/10. Fck them.

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