Madame Antoine

This drama, with its cross between fortunetelling and psychology, explores a unique idea. Sung Joon is a very convincing actor and plays the part of Choi Soo Hyun particularly well. We are persuaded of the fact that he is disbelieving about love and doesn’t really care for much else apart from his research experiment. Birth of a Beauty actress Han Ye Seul is our female protagonist and believably or not, she plays a mother. Although the show doesn’t focus on her daughter all that much, we are just made aware through photographs and phone calls how close their bond is. As mentioned before, the plotline is somewhat different from the usual kdrama, in the sense that its not about the Aegyo but showcases adults and the difficulties they face. However, being a psychology student myself, I felt that some of the information pertaining to psychology was a little misleading. Or maybe just that it wasn’t put across properly. I found that to be one of the minus points for the show.

This drama also plays around with some trite concepts like love triangles, unrequited love etc. But then again I suppose they are very much in keeping with real life experiences that people have so I guess in a way its justified. Choi Sung Chan and Won Ji Ho help Soo Hyun with his experiment and in doing so end up liking Hye Rim too. I found that a little hard to believe. I mean what are the chances that three men, who barely know this women; are meant to deceive her and yet fall for her? That being said, Ji Ho is a bit of a childish character and doesn’t really grasp what’s happening around him. He doesn't even get the fact that Yoo Rim has liked him for so long. The dialogues on the other hand are well written, entertaining with a dash of humor. Somehow I didn’t really like the chemistry between Hye Rim and Soo Hyun for a majority of the show. It felt a little forced and not real. Even though, supposedly, she actually liked him the whole time, I didn’t find it genuine up until the last few episodes. She helps him face the troubles of his past, and after that everything sort of falls in place. The soundtrack of this drama is decent – nothing outstanding though. All in all, its definitely an enjoyable drama but we’ve seen better from the lead actors and the writer.

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This started out with a BANG. The firs episode was awesome because of the strong female
lead that butts heads with this cool-hearted psychologist. I was really looking forward to a good strategic fight between these two... but then it changed.

Very soon she fitted more the usual too nice and almost naive female lead. I was dissappointed.
But I kept going on because the mood of this drama in general was nice and there were some funny moments. But it got worse... She needed almost the entire show to realize something she should have
realized in episode 2 or 3 and the romantic behaviour between these two became totally erratic, unlogical, unrealistic and many more things. It was really weird.

The last two episodes I had myself to force to watch, that was sad.

I really like the actors, though and the setting and everything else (but the plot).

It is nice for in-between and not a huge disaster or sth like that, but I had much higher expectations after the first episode.

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O plot da série é simples, mas tenta abordar temas complexos como a psicologia, o que acaba não funcionando bem. O drama tenta adicionar profundidade ao tratar da dualidade de personalidade, mas o desenvolvimento dessa questão é superficial. A tentativa de aprofundar a trama com esses temas mais intelectuais não é bem executada, o que enfraquece o impacto emocional da série e a torna um tanto cansativa de acompanhar.

As histórias secundárias, que no começo parecem promissoras, começam bem, mas rapidamente se tornam arrastadas e mal resolvidas. O arco do personagem que acredita ser um agente secreto, por exemplo, teve grande potencial, mas o desfecho foi apressado e decepcionante. Isso demonstra uma falta de consistência no desenvolvimento da trama e nas motivações dos personagens.

A história principal, que envolve o relacionamento entre Soo Hyun e Go Hye Rim, é provavelmente o maior ponto negativo do drama. A trama se torna repetitiva e forçada, principalmente quando Soo Hyun continua a enganar Go Hye Rim, mesmo depois de já estarem em um relacionamento. Depois que ela descobre tudo, ao invés de haver um desenvolvimento, ambos se enganam mutuamente, entrando em um ciclo de "terminam e voltam". A insistência do Soo Hyun no experimento, mesmo depois de ser perdoado, não tem base lógica e só torna a trama ainda mais cansativa e sem sentido. O final, que deixa várias questões sem respostas, como o destino da doutora com câncer e os conflitos familiares de Soo Hyun, não oferece uma conclusão satisfatória para os arcos apresentados ao longo da série.

As atuações, embora não sejam desastrosas, são bastante medianas. Não há grandes destaques entre os personagens, o que acaba prejudicando a química entre os protagonistas e diminuindo o impacto emocional do enredo. A trilha sonora também é razoável, mas não faz grande diferença na experiência, já que não há músicas marcantes ou que realmente se destaquem durante a trama.

Apesar disso, "Madame Antoine" tem alguns momentos pontuais de reflexão e cenas interessantes, mas, no geral, não consegue manter o interesse por muito tempo. O desenvolvimento da história e a falta de um desfecho satisfatório fazem com que o drama seja difícil de recomendar, principalmente para quem busca uma narrativa consistente e bem estruturada.

No fim das contas, é um drama que tenta mais do que realmente entrega. O roteiro falha em muitos aspectos importantes e, com isso, a experiência acaba sendo mais frustrante do que agradável.

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