Review: My Fair Lady

Warning: This review may contain a few spoilers (nothing major) and is highly flammable (no, not really). But this is my sole opinion, not anyone else’s, so read with caution.

Well I’m a bit late, but I just finished KBS’s My Fair Lady and to be honest, I probably would’ve given up on this drama pretty early on if it wasn’t for the actors/actresses. The plot wasn’t too original–Kang Hyena (Yoon Eun Hye) was dubbed the female Gu Jun Pyo so she gets basically the same plot treatment–but I don’t mind unoriginal plots. It’s when things get too repetitive or doesn’t make much sense or starts to go nowhere fast that I start to A) get frustrated B) go watch something else and then go back when I feel like it C) wish it could be over D) all of the above and more E) drop the drama like it’s hot. For this case, it was option B. But I managed to I buckle down these past 2 days to finish the 7 episodes I had left, hoping it would surprise me and do a complete 180. Well 180 it never did, more like a 90 degree downward slope.

Before I open up a can on My Fair Lady, let me point out some positives in this drama:

1) The cast. When given a moment to shine, they really deliver. It’s happy times when they’re smiling and it’s hold your breath angst when they start getting teary-eyed (the tears wanted to fall but it’s just lingering there!). Unfortunately, aside from the 2 leads this cast didn’t have a lot to work with.
 
2) The chemistry. Put the four main characters in each corner of a square and you can draw interaction lines every which way. They had great chemistry not only with each other but with the supporting cast as well. It looks like the chemistry also applies off-screen.

3) The shots were vivid with colors. The director got pretty creative and the scenery were beautiful. I always love it when a screencap looks like it can be a postcard.

4) The clothes, particularly Hyena’s amazing 2-3 outfits per episode. Even the boys look very daper with the best dressed going to little Wang Seok Hyun. He was adorable! The only problem I had was Moon Chae Won’s outfits. Come on, poor girls can have good fashion sense too!

Now for the negatives. I think the story got a bit tiresome right around the time when Jung Il Woo changed his hairstyle. The stylist was probably trying to hint to us that this drama was only going to get ugly from there on (see above birthday picture of his hair was opposed to the following picture):

1) There were news that Jung Il Woo grew frustrated because he didn’t really understand his character, Lee Tae-yoon. I feel him. Tae-yoon and Hyena had some sweet moments at the beginning but their relationship never had a chance to develop. So it was a bit ridiculous that Tae-yoon was even considered a love rival to the Hyena/Dong-chan dynamic and even more ridiculous when he refused to let go when Hyena fell for Dong-chan (Yoon Sang Hyun) even though he said a few times that he was just going to give up. Tae-yoon and Hyena never even shared a kiss and there were talks of marriage? Oh puh-lease!

2) Dong-chan quit one too many times. If I had a nickel every time Dong-chan quit/got fired I would have a quarter (maybe 30-35 cents). It’s not the quitting but the fact that this was one of the many repetitive things about this drama. Seriously, how many times can Hyena run away and how many dates can a busy heiress trying to prove herself capable of leading a company have time for? If they cut down on everything they repeated numerous times, the drama could’ve possibly ended at 10 episodes as opposed to 16.

3) Hyena. The only explanation for her to act like such a b*tch at the beginning was because of a first love that never got explained. Hyena is weak and dependent and her best quality is her exceptional fashion sense and artistic ability to make birthday coupons and paint walls . Wow. Also, I don’t know if it’s because she seems like such a nice person in real life, but I didn’t really buy Yoon Eun Hye’s snotty, selfish, rich girl type. But I won’t delve into that too much now since there’s been discussions on this already.

***big spoilers in #4***

4) The ending. Although a very sweet ending, it was extremely fluffy and it looked like everyone just wanted it to be over. Even the villian, Uncle Chul-gu, stopped being a villain for the sake of ending things.  So the big conflict of the drama revolves around Hyena being heiress meaning she has to prove herself and she can’t be with Dong-chan because he doesn’t match her status. But who cares about this big ol’ conflict because she’s gets to be with Dong-chan anyways and she doesn’t even go abroad to improve herself.

5) This negative is the mother of all negatives and is the main reason why the other negatives exist: the script. It was riddled with repetition and barely made sense. The scriptwriters ran out of material, fast. All the foundation built in earlier episodes pretty much went to waste, which is a pity because it seemed so promising.

Overall, I give it a 2.497 out of 5 stars for its cast and the bit of entertainment value it had. I managed to pull through because Yoon Eun Hye is one of my favorite actresses and I watched it for her. Yoon Sang Hyun was great in his character. I wouldn’t watch it unless you like one of the Yoon’s, you want to catch some fashion tips, or you don’t really mind all of my complaints. As for myself, I’m just going to move on and pray that this talented cast gets better projects in the future. Did anyone watch it? What are your thoughts?