Why Her? (2022)

WHY didn't I drop this sooner?

I was so excited to watch this show back when it was announced because of the cast, because Seo Hyun Jin and Hwang In Yeop are brilliant, so the show must be great as well! Well, turns out I was wrong. This was sooo boring and cringeworth, it felt like a telenovela that came straight out from Kwai.

The cast is good, and they acted good, I won't deny it. the reason I didn't drop this kdrama was mainly because I'm a huge fan of HIY, and I like Seo Hyun Jin too. She acted well as Oh Soo Jae, but poor HIY couldn't shine as much as he deserved, this is the first kdrama where he finally got to act as the main lead, it's a pity that things ended up like this. He is an awesome actor, I watched pretty much all of his kdramas except for Tale of Nokdu, and I can guarantee that he slayed on all the dramas he acted until now. His facial expressions are incredible, that's how he managed to shine even on his support roles like in 18 Again, and managed to steal everyone's hearts in True Beauty even tho he wasn't the main lead. But here, he was just... Plain. Boring. Blank. It didn't feel like Gong Chan was a main character, instead it felt more like he was Oh Soo Jae's loyal dog or whatever, everything he did was about Soo Jae, it was like he had no life of his own to care about. They mentioned his story with his half sister every now and then, but his focus was mainly on Soo Jae, it was kinda disappointing actually. It felt like the only reason for him to be on the show was to show up and save Soo Jae every now and then, run after her, and maybe, sometimes, think about his sister. While she was worried about her daughter stuff, her past, her present, her future, TK Law firm, the contracts, Choi Tae Guk, Ju Wan, and her other thousand problems that she had, Gong Chan was solely focused on her problems, and her. He was shallow, that's how I felt about his character. He could've been so much more. They could've had their development together on the story, but it seems like the only developments were given all to Soo Jae. That way, HIY didn't even have opportunities to show people his amazing acting skills, which is such a pity, what a loss. Some people met HIY for the first time on this kdrama, and I've seen people saying that he is a bad actor, that he is boring and etc, but that's just the character's fault, too bad that this is staining the actor's image.

About the romance. Gong Chan was solely focused on Soo Jae the entire series, but she seemed so distant from him tho. While she was on her own world, he seemed to be fully in love with her, in an obssessive way even, I'd say. But she didn't give that much attention to him, she kissed him once, they went out together a couple of times, and that was it. No chemistry at all. I could almost say that there was no romance at all there. The second male lead sucked as well, if he wasn't present on the kdrama it wouldn't even make a difference, honestly. Choi Yoon Sang tried to ruin things between Gong Chan and Soo Jae, and it didn't even bother me, he was such a weak character. Besides, why did he try to ruin things between Soo Jae and Gong Chan when there wasn't even anything to ruin from the start? Their love was cold as ice, idk what Yoon Sang tried to finish ruining there. Then he tried joining his father, which made no sense, then he betrayed his father, which was weird as well. Anyways, he was the most boring character there. He and Soo Jae barely had any interactions, I could even say that he didn't feel like a second male lead.

The rest of the characters were boring as well. Everybody's lives revolved around Soo Jae, it was like nobody had anything else to care about. The whole team of students were like Soo Jae servants. She was the perfect definition of a Mary Sue for me.

Some of the other things that bothered me on the story:

-Jae Yi's death. She barely had any screen time, we barely got to know her, and barely had time to find out that she was Soo Jae's daughter, then she suddenly died in a dramatic scene with flowers flying everywhere, and Soo Jae hugging her corpse later. We didn't have enough time to feel connected to Jae Yi and her story, so, I'm sorry but I couldn't feel so sad about her death. Not as sad as they wanted me to be at least.

-Soo Jae's heart disease. Why was it even mentioned there? It didn't make much of a difference in the story, except for some hurt/comfort scenes, which weren't even necessary. Her fever scene didn't make sense as well, and I'm a fan of whump scenes.

-Choi Tae Guk saying to Soo Jae on his last minutes that she didn't win the game, that something more was about to come, that this wasn't the end, and actually YES, this was the end because everybody had an happy ever after when he died. I was expecting something more when he said that. A final trap, maybe? Something vile, like his character was on the entire series? Idk. I was just disappointed.

-The rise and fall of Choi Tae Guk. He made hell out of Soo Jae's life in the entire show, right? The bigger they come, the harder they fall, I was expecting something UGLY on his defeat. But it was also... disappointing. He just heard everything everybody had to say and killed himself. That's all folks. Gone. He didn't even try to kill someone along with him, just, killed himself. Boring.

-Everybody decided to become good guys on the last episode. The guy who killed Na Jung apologized to Chan, turned himself in, the corrupt guys were caught, everybody decided to follow the laws, to live life happily later, and suddenly everything was good again. What the eff. I know this is a work of fiction, and it isn't supposed to be like in real life, but honestly, it was cringe to see everybody suddenly being good and lawful.

-Choi Ju Wan judging his father. He raped that girl, he thought he had killed Na Jung, he did a lot of atrocities throughout the show, but when he found out that his father killed the girl he was like NO WAYYY. That made no sense.

-Baek Jin Ki's planned revenge failed. After planning it for years and years. That was just.. disappointing. Then they solved everything in a whole other way, which made his former plannings pointless.

Anyways, I had my hopes that the show would get better maybe. It didn't happen. Before anyone says "maybe you just don't like melodramas", I DO like melodramas, I like mexican soap operas, the thing is that THIS ONE was so poorly written I can't stand it.

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Better title "Why Me?" As in, "why am I stuck watching this show?"

This show started out great! I was at the end of episode two, at which time I had just a couple of issues, and I texted a friend and said that this was the type of show that I could lose sleep over just to binge watch. Unfortunately, that feeling didn't last much longer. I spent a lot of time angry with the writers as I watched this, and I never felt like they redeemed themselves.

I'll start with my positives:
Acting - all of the acting was good, but especially Soo Hyun Jin as Oh Soo Jae. Oh, my goodness, I hated her at the beginning. I did wonder why that, in order for a woman to be strong and successful, they have to be a complete B***ch, but the brief times of humanity were understated and suited her personality completely. The writers did a good job here, in giving us back story following some of her worst moments that would clarify what actually happened. Heo Joon Ho as Choi Tae Gook was amazing. He was the embodiment of evil. I don't like watching this type of character, especially since he doesn't even pretend to be a good guy, but he just drew me in. Then there is Bae In Hyuk as Choi Yoon Sang - he fascinates me. I've seen him in numerous things, and there's something about that little lisp he has... and, finally, Han Joo Hyun as Choi Jae Yi - what a precious little girl!
Found families - between Gong Chan and his hyungs, and the law school students working together, I enjoyed these relationships. I just wish they were developed better/further.

Now for the negatives: SPOILERS!)
1) For me the biggest elephant in the room - why the heck did they use two different actors for the male lead?!?! The younger version of Gong Chan looked older than the Hwang In Youp version! They didn't resemble each other in any way. I kept waiting, throughout the show, for the writers to give us an explanation, but that never happened. It actually seemed like one actor dropped out and Hwang In Youp stepped in at the last minute. I know that's not the case, but that's what it looked like to me. When Oh Soo Jae says to herself, "Why didn't I recognize him?"
2) Romance - They would have been better off leaving the romance out of this show, for many reasons. First, the age disparity - perhaps not so much in chronological age, but in emotional age. He was like a puppy chasing after her, and he seemed more like a high school student than a college student. Plus, the fact that she was a lawyer settled in her career already. And he liked her because she believed in him? That's it? The fact that he kept telling her she was "cool" cemented his immaturity. We had a few brief scenes with them together as a couple. The rest of the time he was either saving her, trying to save her, or holding her while she cried. This was definitely not a give and take relationship. I didn't ship them at all as a couple, to be honest. He called her "Professor" throughout the entire show. At some point in time, if you are truly in a relationship, you use first names!
I loved watching Hwang In Youp, but his character was not well-written.
3) Plethora of bad guys/evil characters. Probably a ratio of more than 2:1. There were so many names to keep straight (especially all the people in the same families), from the past and in the present. Each seemed more evil than the last. The number of things that these people got away with was astounding - multiple people get away with murder (literally), yet they want to draw attention to themselves by bringing her before a disciplinary committee?! And for all the evil done, minimal consequences.
4) Unnecessarily complicated storylines. It seemed like every few minutes they introduced a new character to confuse us. I lost count of the number of storylines that I was trying to keep track of.
5) The direction they took Bae In Hyuk's character Choi Yoon Sang - this one was hard for me to swallow. He likes her, he specifically mentions that he has finally found, in Gong Chan, someone that he can be friends with, yet he threatens pouts and blindsides these characters!? With so many bad guys, I would have much preferred he remain a constant in the ever-changing lives of the two main leads.
6) Too much drinking. Is no one able to solve problems without binge drinking?
7) Vulgar language. I don't know if these were actually the words or just due to the translators, but I don't find bad language necessary.
8) "Stupid heroine" moments. Your office has been broken into, yet you go on in. The guy that attacked you in said office runs out, but rather than leave you go to the roof?!?! What was that about!? Someone calls you to meet him at a deserted place late at night and you go by yourself. Apparently, she's never watched any type of horror film - the stupid characters are usually the first to die.
9) Wow, the labs were doing a booming business in this show. The number of paternity tests and DNA tests that were being run were ridiculous. And finding out that Choi Jae Yi was actually her daughter? I saw it coming from a mile away, and it really made me mad. It just seemed like something else to throw into this mess of a story.
Which brings me to -
10) The truck of doom. I can't even begin to tell you how much I hated this. It was just mean and could have been avoided completely if the stupid paternity storyline hadn't been introduced in the first place.

So, upon reflection, for me, the writing was where the problems were. I'd say, if you have a high tolerance for things that are implausible, watch this show for the excellent acting.

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