This review may contain spoilers
A sleek chic thriller with a deep message but hasty writing and rushed finale
pros: solid acting, great cinematography,strong social commentary message at heart, thriller that leaves questioning who is who right till the end.
cons: chatacters with no depth, story full of plot holes.
the story while it was sharp and intriguing at first pulling the viewer in with not just a whodunit mystery, but the identity of the victim was also left a mystery most of the series. the high paced thriller was so engaging it was easy to look past the glaring convenient coincidences that were utilized to help push the plot faster (for example: fellow detective who happens to recall years-old closed case's suspect's name, a Polaroid picture hanging on the walls of a Cafe near a reservoir where said suspect supposedly committed suicide, the detective who poses as a line sitter to approach the ex-employee who happens to be best buddies with someone who knew FL prior to taking on the Sarah kim persona... and many more)
the more the story progressed and we neared the finale where all loose ends should have been tied, the more we encountered more loose ends. the mystery was built in a way that kept the viewer guessing and imagining different possible scenarios which was a good thing from a writing stand point, but unfortunately the wrapup of all these different possibilities hwas unsatisfactory and rushed.
the intriguing mystery was heightened the moment the fact that someone had been impersonating Sarah kim in public was introduced. And I bet most of the viewers must have then had the same idea as me; "what if the Sarah kim we are looking at was fake"; just a poor girl who stole the name and identity of a real rich cheabol to build up this whole "luxury" brand name from thin air. nay, there is another more intriguing possibility, that the whole con job was a Matroska doll, and that she was faking the identity of the "real" Sarah Kim made possible by the fact that the "real" had been a manufactured luxurious fake right from the get-go, in other terms the con woman was impersonating another con woman.
Though the interrogation parts were enjoyable and felt like a battle of wits, especially when she was faced with the possibilty that her creation and life's work BouDoir was at risk, and she came up with the only solution which was to abandon her persona as CEO of Boudoir. though on paper that seemed smart the intricate details the writers used to work this plotpoint were anything but smart.
I mean, the question of her true identity to merely hinge on a mere vile of tissue sample just didn't make sense imo! she had been acting the part of Sarah Kim for years at that point, during which multiple business heads must have dealt with her, and she surely interacted with dozens of people on a personal level, it couldn't have just been the nox ceo or the department store ceo or her male-host spy who all had reasons to lie to cover for their own mistakes or crimes, there must have been many others among which is her fake marriage partner for God's sake, that could have testified to whether she was Sarah kim or some other nobody who was impersonating her.
details about her past as Mok Ga Hui was left a mystery and I believe that that was a choice by the writers, they chose to leave us scraching our heads about who she really was, who was Mok Ga Hui truely as a person, was she simply an ex-department store employee who landed the job by faking credentials on her resume with ambitions to make it big and becoming rich? or was there some prior mysterious background story behind that person. The possibility wasn't nill that she had a similar background to her future impersonator (Kim mijeong the counterfeit bag artisan), and that she maybe could have used counterfeit ID cards to land the job and she never had proper social identification number.
But considering the fact that she was investigated for fraud selling the brand items she baught via the employee sale with her colleaugues' stolen cards, to ask us to believe that during the investigation back then and even now the police could not manage to find enough background data about her that could help now prove whether she was the real con-artist Sarah Kim who murdered the impersonator, or if she was the fake impersonator Kim Mijeong who murdered the real Sarah Kim to steal her identity, I guess it is either police incompetence or just lazy writing.
wrapping up all loose ends during the finale was too rushed, and the fact that most of the crime solving depended not on solid evidences but majorly on mere speculations from the detective just didn't feel right. and even if we are made to believe that he ultimately chose not to pursue the matter and let her get her way, the whole matter left a bad taste in the mouth, especially considering the fact a life was taken and the only punishment she got was a measly 10 years sentence, and her fake business was left untouched and prosperous felt like a cheat.
on another side note, there were also parts that were brushed too quickly and left me wondering why they were never properly addressed with a reavealing flashback like other plots. like for example, their first encounter on the stairs to the police station when he offered her his tie to wipe her tears and she was wearing a cast on her leg, I was able to deduce that that probably was after she had been abducted by her business partner nox ceo's henchmen to pay back what she owed, and she had went to the police to press charges using her past employee's ID? was she pretending to have a broken leg to get better compensation? is the "one week" she was muttering to herself about was the time left until the Boudoir opening party? did she leave that tie behind after cleaning up the old store on purpose? that felt too oddly convenient. Another instance, was when her lawn Shark/ ex-husband sees her running away from the murder scene with bloody hands, did that actually happen or was it speculation? if so then that must have been prior to his testimony to the police, which would then mean that he was positive at that point that she was not the true murder victim but most probably rather the culprit? these small parts bothered me, much more than the John doe corpse at the reservoir which seemed to bother other viewers here on MDL, I was able to brush by this part but the other ones I wish were properly addressed and covered at least with a small flashback or monologue or anything,.
all In all it was a good fast paced thriller murder mystery, and yes imo there were flaws with the story and writing, and the main leads' character could have been given more background to give them depth, but still it was a fun and thrilling watch.
cons: chatacters with no depth, story full of plot holes.
the story while it was sharp and intriguing at first pulling the viewer in with not just a whodunit mystery, but the identity of the victim was also left a mystery most of the series. the high paced thriller was so engaging it was easy to look past the glaring convenient coincidences that were utilized to help push the plot faster (for example: fellow detective who happens to recall years-old closed case's suspect's name, a Polaroid picture hanging on the walls of a Cafe near a reservoir where said suspect supposedly committed suicide, the detective who poses as a line sitter to approach the ex-employee who happens to be best buddies with someone who knew FL prior to taking on the Sarah kim persona... and many more)
the more the story progressed and we neared the finale where all loose ends should have been tied, the more we encountered more loose ends. the mystery was built in a way that kept the viewer guessing and imagining different possible scenarios which was a good thing from a writing stand point, but unfortunately the wrapup of all these different possibilities hwas unsatisfactory and rushed.
the intriguing mystery was heightened the moment the fact that someone had been impersonating Sarah kim in public was introduced. And I bet most of the viewers must have then had the same idea as me; "what if the Sarah kim we are looking at was fake"; just a poor girl who stole the name and identity of a real rich cheabol to build up this whole "luxury" brand name from thin air. nay, there is another more intriguing possibility, that the whole con job was a Matroska doll, and that she was faking the identity of the "real" Sarah Kim made possible by the fact that the "real" had been a manufactured luxurious fake right from the get-go, in other terms the con woman was impersonating another con woman.
Though the interrogation parts were enjoyable and felt like a battle of wits, especially when she was faced with the possibilty that her creation and life's work BouDoir was at risk, and she came up with the only solution which was to abandon her persona as CEO of Boudoir. though on paper that seemed smart the intricate details the writers used to work this plotpoint were anything but smart.
I mean, the question of her true identity to merely hinge on a mere vile of tissue sample just didn't make sense imo! she had been acting the part of Sarah Kim for years at that point, during which multiple business heads must have dealt with her, and she surely interacted with dozens of people on a personal level, it couldn't have just been the nox ceo or the department store ceo or her male-host spy who all had reasons to lie to cover for their own mistakes or crimes, there must have been many others among which is her fake marriage partner for God's sake, that could have testified to whether she was Sarah kim or some other nobody who was impersonating her.
details about her past as Mok Ga Hui was left a mystery and I believe that that was a choice by the writers, they chose to leave us scraching our heads about who she really was, who was Mok Ga Hui truely as a person, was she simply an ex-department store employee who landed the job by faking credentials on her resume with ambitions to make it big and becoming rich? or was there some prior mysterious background story behind that person. The possibility wasn't nill that she had a similar background to her future impersonator (Kim mijeong the counterfeit bag artisan), and that she maybe could have used counterfeit ID cards to land the job and she never had proper social identification number.
But considering the fact that she was investigated for fraud selling the brand items she baught via the employee sale with her colleaugues' stolen cards, to ask us to believe that during the investigation back then and even now the police could not manage to find enough background data about her that could help now prove whether she was the real con-artist Sarah Kim who murdered the impersonator, or if she was the fake impersonator Kim Mijeong who murdered the real Sarah Kim to steal her identity, I guess it is either police incompetence or just lazy writing.
wrapping up all loose ends during the finale was too rushed, and the fact that most of the crime solving depended not on solid evidences but majorly on mere speculations from the detective just didn't feel right. and even if we are made to believe that he ultimately chose not to pursue the matter and let her get her way, the whole matter left a bad taste in the mouth, especially considering the fact a life was taken and the only punishment she got was a measly 10 years sentence, and her fake business was left untouched and prosperous felt like a cheat.
on another side note, there were also parts that were brushed too quickly and left me wondering why they were never properly addressed with a reavealing flashback like other plots. like for example, their first encounter on the stairs to the police station when he offered her his tie to wipe her tears and she was wearing a cast on her leg, I was able to deduce that that probably was after she had been abducted by her business partner nox ceo's henchmen to pay back what she owed, and she had went to the police to press charges using her past employee's ID? was she pretending to have a broken leg to get better compensation? is the "one week" she was muttering to herself about was the time left until the Boudoir opening party? did she leave that tie behind after cleaning up the old store on purpose? that felt too oddly convenient. Another instance, was when her lawn Shark/ ex-husband sees her running away from the murder scene with bloody hands, did that actually happen or was it speculation? if so then that must have been prior to his testimony to the police, which would then mean that he was positive at that point that she was not the true murder victim but most probably rather the culprit? these small parts bothered me, much more than the John doe corpse at the reservoir which seemed to bother other viewers here on MDL, I was able to brush by this part but the other ones I wish were properly addressed and covered at least with a small flashback or monologue or anything,.
all In all it was a good fast paced thriller murder mystery, and yes imo there were flaws with the story and writing, and the main leads' character could have been given more background to give them depth, but still it was a fun and thrilling watch.
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