[Discussion] Miss Ripley

http://www.mydramalist.com/front/dramalist-ajax.php?dramaid=1929



Synopsis

Two very different men fall in love with Jang Mi Ri, a woman whose life is a complicated web of lies, propelled by her greedy desires that stem from an unfortunate childhood. Jang Myung Hoon is an ambitious hotelier who maintains perfect control of himself and his life, while Yutaka is the warm and gentle heir of a Korean-Japanese hotel conglomerate. Their love for Mi Ri and her tragic ambition eventually leads them down the path of destruction. Miss Ripley is based on the real life case of Shin Jung Ah, a university professor and art curator at Dongguk University who was discovered to have forged her creditials in order to get hired, with the help of her boyfriend (then presidential secretary) Byun Yang Kyoon, and embezzled funds from the art gallery’s corporate sponsorship.

Still waiting for the subs to be released...

First episode with English sub is on http://www.mysoju.com/korean-drama/miss-ripley/

Second episode with eng sub on: http://www.dramacrazy.net/korean-drama/miss-ripley-episode-2/
http://www.natnatvip-online.org/2011/06/miss-ripley-episode-2-english-subbed.html

Summit wrote: What do you guys think? Is this a drama that's highly entertaining/ In other words, should I start watching it? Or wait and watch it later?

My first impressions: I think the writers were a bit heavy-handed when it came to the melodrama. The music was a bit overwhelming as well to the point where it made me want to laugh during the scenes that were clearly meant to be sad. And you'll know which scenes are meant to make you cry, not because of the story or the acting, but because of that damn violin or piano or orchestra ensemble piece that just oozes melo. The music played was also a bit messy, going from pastoral to Godfather to flamenco---it was a huge distraction for me.

I was disappointed in the female lead Jang Miri. I'm going to attribute that mainly to the poor promotions for this drama, which I supposed they couldn't help what with Micky Yoochun basically being banned from most programs thanks to SM Entertainment. Knowing that the drama was based on the real-life scam perpetrated by Shin Jung Ah, I thought Jang Miri would be kind of an anti-heroine, purposefully embroiling herself in lie after lie to get ahead, and the thought of rooting for such a character was what drew me to the show initially. However, the writers went out of their way to show that Jang Miri is a victim of her circumstances who can't be blamed for her lie, which is...less interesting. But she's feisty. I like feisty. All of the other actors are pretty solid, and Yoochun actually surprised me here. Then again, it's not that difficult playing a nice guy, but I imagine that when the sh*t hits the fan, he'll have a chance to stretch his acting chops a bit. I have a feeling his character is the one that's going to kill me the most, since he's so inoffensive and oblivious of himself and his privilege that watching him go through changes is going to be like watching someone drown kittens.

As for whether you should watch this now or now, this isn't going to be a pleasant ride. I mean, the opening sequence basically established that it's not going to end well. So, if you're still reeling from the ending of 49 Days, I would say wait. But if you're ready to move on to a drama that's upfront about how it's going to put your emotions through a wringer, I'd say give it a chance.

Sachiko-chan13 wrote: My first impressions: I think the writers were a bit heavy-handed when it came to the melodrama. The music was a bit overwhelming as well to the point where it made me want to laugh during the scenes that were clearly meant to be sad. And you'll know which scenes are meant to make you cry, not because of the story or the acting, but because of that damn violin or piano or orchestra ensemble piece that just oozes melo. The music played was also a bit messy, going from pastoral to Godfather to flamenco---it was a huge distraction for me.

I was disappointed in the female lead Jang Miri. I'm going to attribute that mainly to the poor promotions for this drama, which I supposed they couldn't help what with Micky Yoochun basically being banned from most programs thanks to SM Entertainment. Knowing that the drama was based on the real-life scam perpetrated by Shin Jung Ah, I thought Jang Miri would be kind of an anti-heroine, purposefully embroiling herself in lie after lie to get ahead, and the thought of rooting for such a character was what drew me to the show initially. However, the writers went out of their way to show that Jang Miri is a victim of her circumstances who can't be blamed for her lie, which is...less interesting. But she's feisty. I like feisty. All of the other actors are pretty solid, and Yoochun actually surprised me here. Then again, it's not that difficult playing a nice guy, but I imagine that when the sh*t hits the fan, he'll have a chance to stretch his acting chops a bit. I have a feeling his character is the one that's going to kill me the most, since he's so inoffensive and oblivious of himself and his privilege that watching him go through changes is going to be like watching someone drown kittens.

As for whether you should watch this now or now, this isn't going to be a pleasant ride. I mean, the opening sequence basically established that it's not going to end well. So, if you're still reeling from the ending of 49 Days, I would say wait. But if you're ready to move on to a drama that's upfront about how it's going to put your emotions through a wringer, I'd say give it a chance.

Thanks for that. I think I will wait a bit since i'm not one for sad dramas or dramas that end like that. Plus it's always more fun to marathon 10 episodes.

Utauh wrote: There were scenes meant to make me cry? Just kidding. I agree with you. The music is not great in this drama and sometimes it really was overwhelming.



This would be quite interesting to watch.

I've only watched one episode and I'm not convinced that I should keep watching it. I'm just going to wait for a couple more episodes to be aired and then I'll decide if it's a keeper or not.

Ooh ooh, I just finished watching the second episode, and rushed here to see if anyone else was watching/talking about it here on the site. Yay LisNoir!

I thought the second episode was much better than the first on all counts, and I'm beginning to feel the stirrings of addiction coming on. There were still some bits that were eye-roll inducing (like why does her ex-pimp think that a former call girl would be hiding out in one of the most exclusive hotels in S. Korea?), but overall I really liked it. This might be spoilerish--I definitely liked that at the end of the episode, we get to see Miri be a little more calculating than she has been. I hope to see more of that in the future.

What's attracting me most to the show is that it's drawing from me a different reaction than what I'm used to. I usually watch rom-coms, and with rom-coms I usually get really anxious when something terrible is going to happen, no matter how far in advance I see it coming. With Ripley, however, I'm REALLY looking forward to when everything explodes. This is definitely one car crash I won't be turning away from (at least for right now).

cryinglady wrote: Ooh ooh, I just finished watching the second episode, and rushed here to see if anyone else was watching/talking about it here on the site. Yay LisNoir!

I thought the second episode was much better than the first on all counts, and I'm beginning to feel the stirrings of addiction coming on. There were still some bits that were eye-roll inducing (like why does her ex-pimp think that a former call girl would be hiding out in one of the most exclusive hotels in S. Korea?), but overall I really liked it. This might be spoilerish--I definitely liked that at the end of the episode, we get to see Miri be a little more calculating than she has been. I hope to see more of that in the future.

What's attracting me most to the show is that it's drawing from me a different reaction than what I'm used to. I usually watch rom-coms, and with rom-coms I usually get really anxious when something terrible is going to happen, no matter how far in advance I see it coming. With Ripley, however, I'm REALLY looking forward to when everything explodes. This is definitely one car crash I won't be turning away from (at least for right now).

I think I was hoping, a little too much, to see her less weak than she was shown in the first episode. Especially since she was supposed to be a very manipulating woman, but, like you mentioned, she was shown to be a victim because of certain events that happened in her life. I think I was a little disappointed by this. Those little tidbits of information should have been thrown in halfway through the drama (maybe even in the last half of it), so we could all be on this great love-hate relationship with her character and even "awww" over poor girl a little when we found out what had happened in her life. I'm pretty sure if it had been done like that, I would have shed a few tears, that is unless they had used the same music. They really needed to have a less distracting track for those scenes. BUT if she's already showing more of her calculating side I might keep watching to see where it goes.

I really want to see a different kind of woman in dramas, especially if she's the main lead. I'm kind of tired of these nice, selfless girls. *sigh*

***Possible Spoiler Alert!!!***

BaT,do you think she dies at the end because of how the drama started?