Perry

It was a fun watch but could have been better.

Before we begin, please don't come here thinking a 6.5 rating is something bad, it is literally slightly above average. But due to MDLers dishing out constant 8s and 10s, the rating system has kinda lost its value. So please know this before thinking that I'm calling this show bad.

Okay so let's begin with what I liked about this show:

-The villains: without even a hitch I can tell you the villains were the most interesting thing about this show for me, even the empty ones that were dumbly frustrating (like the old manager guy) made this show the charm that it is today.
Be for real with me right now, without them, most of our main characters would be meh.

-Park Minhwan's active involvement in Kang Jiwon's downfall , compared to the webtoon were he took a back sit and was more like a roach while Sumin did all the work.

-The changes that were made pertaining to Jihyuk's involvement in the story: unlike the original work were he was more of a pretty backdrop, this time around they gave him a backstory and a reason to exist in this world instead of being "Kang Jiwon's rich and powerful husband".

-The fact they didn't drag out Yang Juran's story.

- Hwiyeon! Just Hwiyeon. Some may say she was a bit too much and almost cartoonish, but I liked her since day one, she's a bundle of sunshine and I just wanna pinch her cheeks.

-The overall story was interesting and fun to follow. Especially if you had to watch it while it was airing, each episodes left me at the edge of my sit (at least before we went past episode 12, but I'll get back to that).

I think this is were it stops, now unto what I disliked or what they could have done better:

-The MCs. Oh my goodness where do I begin? They were bland asf and it's not even subtle. I won't judge Kang Jiwon too harshly because I realize she's sorta supposed to be this character that anyone watching can use to experience the high of getting revenge on your enemies (kinda like how power fantasy characters are written, Solo Leveling for example).

Even then she was way too perfect for me and felt unrelatable, since her only flaws were being naïve and nice. However, I'll admit that I enjoyed how the writers had her fail multiple times when going up against Sumin before realizing what a monster her "friend" truly was. After that, I can't tell you anything else I found interesting about her.

I don't have much to say about the leading guy. He was boring and just a tool used by the writers to get KJW to her preferred location. You know how I said, "I like changes that were made pertaining to Jihyuk's involvement in the story..." ? Well the more they involved him, the more I realized just how boring he could get.
I skipped through most of it, you did well Na In Woo but even you couldn't save this one.

-The romance, I didn't like it in the webtoon and neither do I like it in the remake. It's all related to the fact the author/writers wrote the MCs to be almost flawless that even their romance took a hit. I can't tell you for the life of me, why Kang Jiwon likes Jihyuk or the other way around, yeah they tell us but I feel they didn't show us enough of it.

Their lack of real conflicts was appalling, and you might say but they did have a conflict about Yura...really? That was barely a conflict with its blandness, made no sense and was so empty. I felt nobody truly grew from said conflict because it was resolved by their circumstances and not the people involved. It was also a great tool used to extend the episodes...

- Oh Yu-ra. Need I say more?
She was just an empty shell used to fuel the drama and extend the episodes. I said I liked all the villains, except once you get past episode 12, she makes her entrance and from the get go I could tell they just wanted to extend the watch time. Her motives were okay but her way of going about it was so dumb and made no sense whatsoever. Her whole existence in this story made no sense and she could have been dealt with faster.

-The number of episodes: be for real with me, if you've seen the show, you can admit that it dropped in quality the moment we it the 12 episode mark. This should've been shorter and episode 14 would have been a great place to end it but they dragged the conflict all the way to 16. I'm very outspoken about not liking the 16 episodes formula because most of the dramas I used to watch and liked usually see a decline of quality around the 12 episode mark because they're trying to warp the story into a format that is not meant for them.

- The fact they removed Hwiyeon's mom really made me sad. She was a really fun character I would have been happy to learn more about.

- The fashion... were we truly in 2013? Were are the bright colors? The crazy patterns? The bangs? For reference The Heirs came out in 2013.


So yeah, overall this wasn't a bad show but it wasn't great either, the characters lacked personality especially those on the good guys' side. I would still recommend it because a lot of people enjoyed it , myself included, because yes you can like/enjoy a show while still being critical about it. Thank you for listening to my rambling if you made it this far and feel free to disagree if you feel I got some things wrong.

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It was quite grounded for a fantasy drama.

So first thing first, I don't think this is a 'woah, this deserves a daesang' sort of drama, no, it's pretty simple and slow but I kinda like it.
If you are like me and really enjoy a romantic drama without anything dramatic inconveniencing it (ie. mother-in-laws, superficial childhood traumas, family debts where the main lead's family did something wrong to the other, ceo of a company,
unreasonable unforbidden love... the usual) then I think you should give this one a try. Not to say there won't be a reason keeping our main apart, but it will feel reasonable and will be overcome.
Now I know I said it's grounded in reality for a fantasy drama and I stand by it. It's sort of realistic in a sense where the main don't really fight for the stupidest reasons, they are open and honest with each other and their love feels earned. It's nice to watch them enjoy the small things in life, not going after an imminent villain that they have to have a showdown with at the end.

Which leads me to my second point, the lack of an actual villain was really a good thing for me, I know halfway there is the gumiho turned evil spirit but they were only there for half an episode. I like that the fact that the main being a gumiho kept them apart and it felt quite realistic.

But then, without a looming threat to overcome, i think this drama would have been better if it had been shortened. It didn't really need a full 16 episodes, I feel like it would have been better shorter, excluding the whole thing with the evil spirit gumiho. (Also some of the episodes' climaxes were hit in the middle of said episodes ,I'd get up to start a new episode thinking, this is probably gonna be a cliffhanger, only to find out I haven't even finished half of the episode)
It dragged on some episodes that should have been dealt with in 1 episode but stretched into 3 full episode ( the whole Lee Dam acting like she had lost her memory...) and the whole "I'm a gumiho, you're human, we can't be together" thing starts to become very repetitive.

In the end anyways, the supporting characters and the others have good plots on their sides that are interesting and even the main leads are great, they have really good chemistry that make you forget the pacing of the show. The two other supporting roles Do Jaejin and Yang Hyesun are a cute couple in the making and I just loved seeing how expressive Kim Dowan was as Do Jaejin. It's nice to see men allowed to cry on screen.
I also liked the cameos, and although I love Go Kyung Pyo with all my heart but Han Ji Eun and Kang Mina were my favorites (honorable mentions, Jung Somin and Kim Doyeon).

In conclusion if you want to feel fluffy and lonely because you don't have a boyfriend/girlfriend , I recommend this sweet and soft drama, you're just gonna have to deal with the pacing a little bit

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