KDRAMALOVE
KOREAN DRAMA REVIEWS
The Good Witch
착한마녀전
SBS (2018) 40 Episodes
Melodrama, Romance, Grade: B
Korean Drama Review by Jill, USA
~~~~~~~~~~
I
watched this Korean drama for certain cast members I
loved in other dramas, but honestly I was
disappointed in The Good Witch (2018) for
the most part. First of all the title was stupid.
Lead female actress Lee Da Hae (Chuno)
plays twins, one good-hearted, and the other selfish
and ambitious, so if the writer was going to
concentrate mostly on a good character (and she did)
it should have been called The Good Sister
instead ... the good sister was never once remotely
a "witch". The only spiritual power she had was not
supernatural, based on magic or sorcery, but simply
being a person motivated by goodness who has an
inordinate amount of love and compassion for others,
even people who are sick or twisted in nature. One
can see the writing on the wall early on that she is
going to be taken advantage of by a lot of people.
Second, at 40 episodes this series stretched out
waaaaaay too long. It could have covered the same
basic plot points in twenty episodes or less. I
guess from the actors' standpoint that gives them
more money so they aren't about to complain to
production staff and say, "you know, we're dragging
this story out, it COULD be shortened." :)
Third, I'm getting tired of seeing one of my
favorite actors Bae Soo Bin (Shining
Inheritance, 49
Days) playing second male leads, often
playing twisted characters negatively controlled by
past mistakes or greed. Here he played the good
sister's husband and he really was a weak character
negatively influenced by his family members (mostly
his domineering mother) to the point where it risked
his marriage on numerous occasions. Bae Soo Bin has
the acting chops and the looks to be first male lead
characters but he rarely gets the chance to do so.
Plus in this drama they gave him a very poor
hairstyle and makeup (probably on purpose) and it
was actually painful many times for me to even look
at him! Bad mistake on the part of production staff.
I think they did it so he wouldn't look more
attractive than the lead male character (actor Ryu
Soo Young, Rebirth:
Next).
Lee Da Hae
did a great job playing twin sisters
with opposite personalities
The Story:
Two young teen
twin sisters see their cop father die early due to a
poor on the job decision, and they and their mother are
kicked out of their home and have to seriously downgrade
their already compromised living standards. (I kept
wondering since he died on duty why wasn't there a
pension to his wife / family? Stupid!). In reaction to
his loss and financial stress one sister decides to
overcome evil with good, and the other one plans her
escape through personal ambition, no matter what it
takes or who she might hurt.
Cha Sun Hee the good sister (Lee Da Hae) becomes a
housewife when proposed to by a clown named Bong Cheon
Dae (Bae Soo Bin - yes you read that right - a
professional clown!). Her husband is often unemployed
because he's essentially a silly over-emotional loser,
so she has to take odd jobs when she can to help support
her family. They have a bright young daughter named Bong Cho Rong (Lee Han
Seo) who easily sees the lay of the land on the true
nature of her parents, and she often has to point out
reality to her own mother.
Marrying A
Clown
Cha Sun Hee's twin
sister, Cha Do Hee (Lee Da Hae in a dual role), leaves
home early and sets her ambitions on becoming a great
flight attendant for the aerospace company run by her
elders Oh Pyeong Pan (Lee Deok Hwa) the owner of the
firm, and the female manager Oh Tae Ri (Yoon Se Ah, Just Between
Lovers), who takes an instant shine to her
during her interview process for the job. Do Hee does an
outstanding job and is often voted the best flight
attendant in the company. However she has a rather
contentious relationship with the chief pilot in the
company who is always winning awards for being the best
on his job, Song Woo Jin (Ryu Soo Young).
Although they are identical twins, the sisters have
completely opposite personalities. Cha Do Hee (the
ambitious sister) becomes involved in a situation which
leads to Cha Sun Hee (the good sister) to pretend to be
her flight attendant sister, so they have to switch
roles. While pretending to be her sister she starts to
fall in love with pilot Woo Jin, although fighting her
feelings because of her marriage. He starts to feel
close to her for the first time, not realizing it's a
different person than the flight attendant he didn't get
along with before.
Meanwhile other people on the sidelines are becoming
emotionally involved with this developing situation,
including Oh Tae Ri who really starts to fall apart
emotionally out of competition against Sun Hee (playing
Do Hee) now that she seems so much changed. There are
lots of twists and turns in this story but to an
experienced K-drama watcher there really is nothing here
that is unpredictable or surprising. There's a rather
pat ending which seems contrived, but by that point I
was just glad this series was over and I could find
something else to watch, and that ended up being the
much better My
Mister K-drama.
If you love the actors,
particularly Lee Da Hae, and are curious to see how she
does playing two opposite characters, then by all means
check this K-drama out; you might enjoy it more than I
did. Its production values ARE sophisticated for what it
is, but I would really urge you to watch her in Chuno
instead, if you haven't already. That's a masterpiece
.... and this is tabloid fodder. ;)
