Great start with bad ending
The plot seemed very promising and entertaining. However, the romance between the main cast made the second half of the drama change genres pretty quickly...and for worse. From a revenge-driven strong female lead ready to take down someone's empire, the drama turned into two women pettily fighting over a man (that did not show much character and chemistry with both main women in my personal opinion) and later into two men fighting over the FL (Seo Ye Ji).Important to say is I also did not see/feel any chemistry from the ML with anyone. No emotion...nothing. His character was empty and not very well-played. Seo Ye Ji had more chemistry with Yoo Sun than Park Byung Eun.
The revenge part of the drama seemed to be put into the shadows during the second half of the drama and only re-emerge in the last four episodes. What a waste of someone's time.
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love as the only way of salvation
This is a beautiful drama that develops on two fronts, one is that of the revenge of a woman who saw her parents killed by people who wanted to take over the family business in an illegal and violent way and the other that of the love's story that develops between this woman and the man that has indirectly was the cause of the death of her family. We have complex main characters, no one is completely good or bad, all struggle with their ghosts and past hurts, and are rooted in dysfunctional families that deeply mark their behavior. RaEl the absolute protagonist of this drama is a woman marked by the pain and loss, for a period of 13 years she puts first her firm will to take revenge on those who ruined her life and that of her family. Yoon Gyeom Kang the male protagonist is a man marked by the murder of his mother, by the contempt of his father and by the deep loneliness in which he grew up. SoRa is the anti-heroine of this drama, she is the daughter of a psychopathic killer who killed her mother, mistreated her, this man used and abused economic and political power to bring profit to her miserable life. Seo Eun Pyung is the sweetest character in the quartet, an orphan boy who is a human rights lawyer, is kindhearted and an eyewitness to the disaster that happened to RaEl's family. He becomes a politician to eradicate corruption and refinds RaEl after 13 years and falls in love with her. Then there are a number of very complex and well-made secondary characters that I will not describe due to lack of space. The pace of the drama is good, maybe a little slow and sometimes too swirling, but overall it keeps you hooked and curious about what's to come. Basically it is the lead couple's journey on a healing pafìth that will lead RaEl to give up revenge for the man she loves, Yoon Gyoem Kang to give up the desire for power and money for RaEl's love and sake and find peace together by stopping to hate and to feel anger as the only way to be happy. The big bad guys pay everyone for their sins, so in the end comes revenge too. Great acting of Seon Ye Ji and Yoo Sun magnificent in their respective roles , I also loved Park Byung Eun in this dark but charming starring role and Lee Sang Yeob does a good job as this kind hearted guy who has unrequited love but still tries to help RaEl even when he knows the woman's heart who he loves will never belong to him. I recommend it and give it a rating of 9.5 / 10.Was this review helpful to you?
Not Quite As Tempting As It Seems…
Before I start this review I have to say that like a lot of ‘ It’s Okay, Not To Be Okay’ fans, I was attracted to the main star Seo Ye Ji being here. I was lucky enough to have seen her in Moorim and ‘ Save Me’ before one of her bigger roles, so I had an idea what to expect of her acting talents. I have to say that as per usual, Seo Ye Ji didn’t disappoint with her acting but even as a fan I can’t say it was the best either. ( Admittedly this was less down to SYJ and a lot down to the way her character was written with monotonous expressions and dialogue in writing and the script.)Nevertheless despite my adoration for SYJ I have to be honest with my genuine thoughts on the show ‘ Eve’. It wasn’t a bad show. By no stretch of the invagination would I say that it was dire. However would I say that it felt a bit disappointing at times? Then yes, certainly.
Without going over all the plot summaries again, the setup is pretty interesting. Initially it did borderline melodrama-thriller territory and helped to buildup a lot of suspense. ( Especially with regards to SYJ’s character.) The female lead’s initial scheming for revenge left a lot of the plot on an incredible high note during the first half but by the second part ( including the costume design) did sort of come crashing down. When I say crashing
, I have to say that one of the biggest problems because through trying to “ top” up the suspense. Rather than a lot of the events feeling as thrilling or on the edge of the seat, it became a bit tiresome and predictable with a lot of what was going to happen. Instead the drama felt as though it was playing out a bit too much like a makjang; a format that I’ve done to despise. ( Although I guess I did walk into that one.)
Additionally a lot of the characters felt a bit left in the dark too. I definitely thought there were a lot of interesting characters including our heroine and antagonist ( her former husband) but it seemed as though when we got into this second part, the drama wasn’t too sure what to actually do with them. They were sort of strung along in the plot or “ pivotal” moments to keep it interesting but aside from that even as a viewer, I have to say they did sometimes feel a bit pointless being onscreen.
Although we were supposed to be engaged in this potential love match and burning relationship with SYJ’s character and the haughty CEO, I have to say that I was pretty turned off in these scenes. Park Byung Eun and SYJ are both good actors but in addition to sub par onscreen chemistry, there wasn’t a lot to keep me engaged or make me feel incredibly impassioned about their onscreen dynamic. Saying that, Lee Sang Yeob was pretty good here and while his onscreen interactions and dynamic with SYJ was hardly flawless, I did find myself more engaged than with PBE.
Sadly the ending was also a bit of a letdown. I guess in my mind I could hear the sirens going off when I noticed how the plot was dipping in the second-half towards what the outcome would be like, but still I must admit that I was a bit disappointed that my suspicions were true.
Overall thoughts; I think that it’s been said enough times but ‘ Eve’ felt as though it should’ve been a lot more. It had an interesting setup, some good actors and an initially engaging tone but it felt as though it started heading south when it came to the writing being executed. The dialogue felt unnatural and stiff which didn’t help with some of the acting, while characters and onscreen chemistry felt a bit flatlined. Instead of being a brilliant thriller-revenge melodrama, ‘Eve’ felt to me like a glorified makjang with a great shadow cast over it by what it could’ve been. Not saying it was bad and trust me when I say that there were still some incredibly fun parts to the show as well as characters, but not entirely what I expected either. A strong 7.0/10.
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I've never written a review this fast after finishing a drama but...
I've never written a review this fast after finishing a drama but I've been reading the comments, articles and reviews and HOW can this drama be raved by so many as the "best revenge drama I've ever seen»?Sure it was entertaining, but to me this was 14 episodes on Seo Yea Ji's character conflicted love for Kang Yoon Gyeom, while gathering evidence for her revenge, and then the two last episodes where indeed full of drama and with some plot twists that made me gasp.
Seo Yea Ji and Park Byung Eun are GREAT actors but I don't know what kind of direction they got for this drama because the stiffness and endless blank stares in silence with no emotion whatsoever in 90% of the scenes, made me consider dropping this drama so many times.
[START of minor spoiler that does not really spoil the drama but I just want to be safe] Also, can we speak about the kids? Lee Ra El / Kim Sun Bin took care of Bo Ram, and as soon she got divorced, her character - that was described at the end by the love of her life as «you're too good for this world» or something along these lines - LITERALLY turned to the father of the kid and said she didn't want to see them again? Sure she used the dude to get her revenge, but there's no sympathy for the innocent child that she took care for years?
Not to mention the other kid, Da Bi, that not only had a narcissistic, cruel and manipulative mother, but then her father was mostly too busy working, hating his wife or running after Kim Sun Bin. [END of minor spoiler that does not really spoil the drama but I just want to be safe]
Speaking of mother: THANK YOU Yoo Sun for the AMAZING performance. She not only stole the show from Seo Yea Ji and Park Byung Eun, but Han So Ra was on point! What a performance. She was basically the reason why I didn't gave up on this drama.
And major kudos for Jeon Gook Hwan, Lee Il Hwa, Jung Hae Kyun, Son So Mang, Kim Ye Eun and Cha Ji Hyuk, and the actors that portrait the staff at then Han So Ra and Kang Yoon Gyeom's house.
Overall, the story had so much potential, the cast is amazing but the acting of the 2 main ones ruined it or me.
Considering all of this:
if you are looking for a makjang, this is not it (and it is not what I was looking for, so don't come after me if you enjoyed this drama and hated my review), but it does have something starting with the over the top (and can we consider these already...) classic scenes that an ordinary person could NEVER pull off (not even the filthy rich - it's just sometimes so over the top that you question if sci-fi is one of the genres).
And if you came here with the promise to watch the best revenge drama ever, hold your horses and go watch Flower of Evil or Married Life instead. Thank me later.
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Could've been so good
While not perfect I'd been watching on the edge of my seat since i started out of curiosity.The start got me hooked and the feel flowed for me, they'd tease something had happened then go back and I'd be interested to see the how.
As it went on some things started to feel repetitive, not plots but more the characters thought patterns. I'm not saying people can't be consistent, it just needed action to mirror that or something to counteract and balance. If I'm thrown the same thing as the tension more than a few times i will start becoming desensitized.
The end definitely disappointed me. Could've been so good and satisfying but it was not.
To summarise i don't regret watching it, i was definitely entertained. It's another of those where the idea had something but somewhere in execution it's not quite right.
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Unsatisfying
If you're planning to watch this, be prepared for a ridiculous plot filled with unlikeable characters. I honestly believe it had potential, the beginning episodes were interesting, but by the end of it I disliked basically almost every character. Some parts were so ridiculous and overexaggerated/acted that I unintentionally just burst out laughing during serious scenes.I really wish that they fully committed to the revenge plot instead of throwing the cliche twin flames, star crossed lovers thing into the mix. Honestly, they should have just thrown the whole romance aspect out the window and it would have probably upped my enjoyability of this show tenfold. I've mentioned this before, but what these people need is to therapy, not relationships. Also, the styling for this show is pretty bad imo, to the point here it just takes me out of the show.
Promising plot, terrible execution, decent acting, awful characters.
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Disappointing
Well, that drama got lost along the way. The story was driven by revenge and simply put a forced romance making the protagonist lose all power and everything she took more than 10 years planning.Yoongyeom wasn't directly connected to what her family and she went through, but he was indirectly connected. He kept a bloodstained contract and continued to take advantage of the success of the company that was robbed, he knew that Sora killed someone but pretended not to know, Lael's mother went to protest at LY and he didn't give a damn about her. Also, he assaulted Lael.
Lael choosing to stay with him despite everything was the same as betraying her parents
Eunpyeog was the only character I loved from start to finish and I was glad he was safe and sound.
And about the little girls, they just didn't appear in the last episode and it's not known what happened to them, and they should have ended them since they played an important role in the story.
Apart from these negatives and speaking of the positives, at least everyone paid for what they did. Han Panro, Kim Jungcheol and Kang Yoongyeom died. Sora went crazy and was admitted to a psychiatric hospital.
But what I liked most of all were the impeccable performances, especially Seo Yeji's. You could see her feelings just by the look and facial expressions on her face. Facial expressions that changed quickly and were impactful. Seo Yeji rocked this role, she always rocks, she's a queen.
Anyway, I think this love plot spoiled the whole story that had enormous potential to be considered one of the best revenge dramas. That said, I don't think it's worth watching.
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Let me give you a taste of your own medicine
Or better, let me give you a taste of mine.Flirting with revenge and lust, ‘Eve’ tried very hard to escape from norms and bring a groundbreaking revenge story on the scheme, but in the end, the drama wasn’t as great a seducer as its protagonist.
That being said, ‘Eve’ is a revenge-focused drama with many dark elements which contains both physical and psychological traumas. Considering also its sexual context, Eve is a drama I wouldn’t easily recommend to someone. But even if someone can deal with brutality, would I recommend Eve to them? Well…
I highly doubt it because, even though ‘Eve’ wasn’t that bad, it has several problems in almost all the aspects. I will try to identify these problems one by one as I analyze some factors. So, let’s begin with the most important one:
The Story
The main theme of the story is the revenge of a girl whose normal and peaceful life was rodded by the evil rich guys. What is special about this story, is how character-driven the plotting and the execution of the revenge is, since everything was defined by how this girl would react in a specific situation like it’s a butterfly effect.
Considering the story’s character-driven plot, the protagonist’s character plays a very important role. The protagonist, Ra El, is blessed with the charisma to seduce and manipulate everyone around her. Despite being The Great Seducer, she is very smart but at the same time vulnerable due to her haunted past. Determined by all these factors, her character is multi-dimensional and at the same time very dynamic and interesting, yet, something feels wrong.
What is wrong is the character’s presentation through the story. The writers, along with the direction, presented the protagonist as a queen (see drama’s poster), a goddess, like she is something beyond the humans of this world, when she wasn’t. The deification of Ra El and the beautification of her actions are so forced that there isn’t any space for the audience to make its own opinion about this matter.
In other words, the drama was yelling “Look Ra El IS a top-notch seducer. She is also this and that” and I just have to accept it. The fact that Ra El is charming was not my own conclusion based on several scenes I’ve seen, it was something I was forced to believe from the very beginning. It really felt like I was watching a long-running advertisement. Sorry, but even if there were actually some awesome and badass scenes of Ra El, I won’t buy it thank you.
Moving on to the story's structure, the story is clearly divided into parts (which I won’t analyze ‘cause spoilers) and also, there is a flow and escalation of events which lead to the closure. Although the story has good coherence, there is a fact that can’t be ignored, the fact the story is chaotic and illogical. This leads to a question:
Is ‘Eve’ a Makjang drama?
Yes, but actually YES
This question is controversial among the watchers, but for me ‘Eve’ is clearly another makjang drama for various reasons. For those who don’t know what a makjang drama is, let me use a defection of an article (source on comments): a drama is a makjang “when plot devices involving extreme, or outrageous instances of life are dealt with in an illogical or twisted manner to assure or hook the viewers”.
Likewise, ‘Eve’ consists of a decent amount of nonsense, alongside with craziness, all over the top behaviors and exaggeration of events. More specifically, like other makjang dramas I’ve watched, ‘Eve’ has the all-time classic affair-thing in which revenge is based on, the unfortunate little kids and my “favorite”, slaps.
Thus, as I said before, ‘Eve’ tried to be a revenge drama which would be different from others, but it ended up as a combination of makjang dramas like ‘Penthouse’, ‘High Class’ and ‘Golden Mask’ for me. I can’t consider ‘Eve’ as a bad makjang drama, but it wasn’t the best of its genre either.
The last thing I want to say about the story is the center of the plot. I believe that even though the main theme is revenge, the romance (which is the tool for the revenge) is highlighted more, making the revenge losing its importance.
The acting
The main lead is portrayed by Seo Yea Ji. SYJ’s acting was what made me start this drama and also finish it. The direction took advantage of her skills and by using them wisely they created many amazing scenes. The second female lead who is portrayed by Yoo Sun, was the most entertaining character and also YS had great chemistry with SYJ. These two give the drama a sparkle of vividness and enjoinment.
On the other hand, the acting of the male lead, who is portrayed by Park Byung Eun… wasn’t so good. The male lead was supposed to be cold, distant and emotionless, so was the actor directed to play the character this flat? Maybe, but personally I believe that both the actor and directing are at fault. PBU pairing with SYG didn’t feel so awkward because of SYJ's good acting.
Lee Sang Yeob as the second male lead, in this drama was rodded. He did a pretty good job and his character had potential to do many interesting things but he didn’t have much screen time. Also, his chemistry with SYJ was certainly better than PBU with SYJ.
The production
Nothing about the production amazed me enough to say that it is great. Of course, it isn’t bad but, I have seen better. I mention some of the directing problems I had in the story and acting section of my review. What remains in the music consists of some pieces I really liked but in general, the soundtrack didn’t impress me as much as it should. The pieces also weren’t a lot and some of them are covers of the OST ‘Hold me tight’ or very close to its ‘theme’. Thus, there isn't much variety in the drama’s music. Lastly, the styling of the drama felt, meh. Seo Yea Ji’s eyebrows will haunt me in my dreams.
Conclusion
‘Eve’ is an average makjang drama. I was quite hooked at first and there were many scenes I enjoyed, especially some dance scenes but after the excitement of “new drama with Seo Yea Ji'" faded away, I wasn’t so interested anymore. Though I personally wouldn’t recommend this drama to someone, I believe that there are some people who would enjoy it, because of some events of the story or/and Seo Yea Ji’s and Yoo Sun’s acting. Whatever you’ll do, I hope you’ll make the right, for you, choice.
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Unfulfilled Revenge
The first 15 episodes of Eve are really good. The story is engaging and there are a few things that I dislike but overall it’s a good watch.What I enjoy about Eve is the development of the characters and the constant questioning that the viewer has as to who to like or who to root for. Dramas that keep people guessing and thinking are entertaining, and the drama really succeeds on that end. As for wrapping up the story as a whole the series does, but the revenge and the goal for the characters aren’t fulfilled at all. I am really getting tired of drama endings falling flat- but this one is almost insulting.
Here’s where the spoilers start:
The whole idea of someone so close to happiness and peace but having that taken away isn’t good- I’m talking about the chairmen ultimately dying. That is a lazy way to write a quick ending, and it’s been done so many times before. I’m so disappointed because this drama does many things that others haven’t. It handles Ra Eli’s traumas so well, and Seo Ye Ji does a more than amazing job at portraying it all. I love how unhinged she is and how she wants revenge and will do anything to get it, but is still a good person and doesn’t completely wish those who don’t deserve pain any.
The story between Ra El and the Chairman was beautiful, it was something I didn’t expect to turn out the way it did. I didn’t think that the direction would have them both being in love. But the Chairmen undoubtedly loved her, not by seduction- there are subtle moments that shows he loves her to care for her. It’s the purest love to love someone enough to be able to vulnerable around them. The Chairman had his pain and he recognized Ra El did also, they grew closer through moments of sharing their vulnerabilities. I won’t list all the moments between them that displays this. But their story is done so much better than people are giving it credit for. And I’m really disappointed that the Chairman died, it was horrible honestly. I could go on and on about why I dislike it, but flatly I’ll just say I do. The moments between them aren’t all genuine, but there are a lot that are- they loved eachother and Ra El in the end understood he had no plans when it came to her families death- it was his wife’s side of the family. He isn’t even apart of his own family legitimately even.
What confuses me is why so many people like the lawyer. His character was ruined the moment he told Ra El he had loved her the whole time. So his motivation was because he loved her- and not like a sister. I find it really creepy how he knew her since she was a child and claimed he was living his life to bring her justice because he loved her. It disturbed me because he knew her since she was 14 and that’s when she suffered the injustice. His character is horrible and you don’t know anything about him at all. Unlike the chairman he doesn’t get a motive that has depth- the chairman wanted to be powerful because of the expectations he had. The constant pressure, with it all the more layered by him being illegitimate to the family and being the second child. But the Chairman wasn’t dumb and I loved that about him- the lawyer was dumb. The Lawyer just did every it for Ra El- his whole character revolves around her. Their whole relationship is weird to me. And it’s heartbreaking that the only person Ra El has is him- he is really bland.
It’s funny because I expected the Chairman to be the bland one, but his acting is down superbly and the writing for him is better. He is selfless in the end and isn’t selfish. As for the Lawyer- he is also a major simp- but he is a bad character. He doesn’t have the motive, he doesn’t have anything character traits I can think of really. I could go on and on about this guy also but he agitated me a lot. He’s kind of pathetic, I hated him for saying he was helping her because he loved her- not because of his integrity or own morals- he loved Ra El- since she was a child .. weird
Han So Ra was perfect if the idea was to get me to hate her. The twist around episode 5 when it was revealed she pretty much killed Ra El’s mother was thrilling. It made me instantly hate her and I grew to hate her more. I hate how arrogant she was even though she was losing everything. So for what the drama was trying to do with her worked and I give the actress a lot of credit. Her writing and overall story I’m really bitter about. She should’ve died- not the chairman. The ending really didn’t need Ra El to find herself again.. how many people have to die in her life? She finds someone she cares about outside her family, she undoubtedly loves him after so much time and development. So what is the point of killing him off? For drama? I guess this one is over the top, and I was liking all of the outfits and makeup and grand houses- but the grand ending idea of killing the chairman was dumb. It was so obvious how he could’ve gotten out of trouble because he wasn’t associated with the family in the first place. He was illegitimate and a victim himself- no he wasn’t perfect- he was human and had his flaws also- Ra El got out of many things she did.. don’t know how- but the Chairman’s ending was just insulting. The ending was insulting.
To sum it up this drama is painful. Not the good kind of death like in I’m sorry I love you.. I recommend to people that like a sort of soapy drama. But not for those who want a happy ending.. like for real- this is just cruel. What about their children? The sweetest kid Da Bi loved her dad and for some reason she kept her mom? This is a drama- like a flip of the coin who died and it was the chairman? So so dumb to me. No thank you- but as for what the drama was- it was fun until he drove off a cliff so Ra El would have a more peaceful life.
Not to mention I don’t know what role the company has. What role RA El has, what she does other than going to Buenos Aires. The lawyer didn’t even get her so why even have him bring up he love her. It just made him suck..
Long story short I hate the ending of someone dying when the characters already had been through too much pain.
I already had to accept that she was getting with the Chairman. If not why not just have her go for all the revenge? I can only say so much.. this drama could’ve been better
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Abject plot and character development
In a world where recent times we were graced by TWOM and The Glory I wonder how this script went on air. This was gutter-level plot writing and lazy.Plot was illogical, stunted character development in exchange with short term lust scenes, and mediocre acting.
Specifically for Seo Yea-Ji, this was suppose to be her magical comeback but it ended up showing how lacklustre her acting skills are. Those awkward evil laughs in the movie were amateurish.
It was so hard to finish it.
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I’m not mad just disappointed
I’m going to keep this as short and simple as i can , i was so excited for this show because i thought it was going to be about a badass female lead that was set on getting her revenge which i guess it was for about half the series and at the very end she did get her revenge but it was not as satisfying as i hoped it would be. As the story was coming to a wrap i despised the whole ‘twin flame’ crap. That shit got on my nerves so much. That final episode had me speechless for all the wrong reasons, literally pulled a page from season three of penthouse. Random romantic getaway ending in a dramatic murder then leads to a kidnapping which then leads to a dramatic anticlimactic death of the chairman……like okay sure. So ra having her batman moment was pretty funny not gonna lie. I tried my best to be in tune with the rest of the episode but i just couldn’t get over what happened in the first thirty minutes. Such an amazing start and middle of the season but such a disappointing ending.Was this review helpful to you?
Story with a lot of potential but lack in execution
I guess this drama is not exactly my type. If you checkout the summary, you can't help but expect a story with a lot of scheming, wit and betrayal. In a way there are some parts with a touch of those elements but I see this drama as a showcase of style, personality and lifestyle even more so than the whole story plot. They are pretty smart when it comes to incorporating some interesting folk story about "Twin Flame" and tango but I don't see this drama any more than an expensive production of a story of seduction.The execution is bad in many areas:
- You have characters who are meant to be evil but have only shown violence instead of brains. Han So Ra is no more than a spoilt brat, Han Pan Ro and Kim Jung Cheol are no different than those rich gangsters with money but no class. Lee Ra El is always a step ahead which makes the villains in this story really underwhelming.
- Kang Yoon Gyeom and Lee Ra El are meant to be in love with each other but they have shown little to none chemistry. Other than the obvious attraction KYG has for LRE, there is really nothing else emotion wise.
If you're into fashion, it's pretty obvious they have invested quite a bit in that area. Other than that, I don't think this is one drama I'd rewatch
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