Expensive Hyeri: Episodes 1-2 (First Impressions)
by quirkycase
It’s a packed set of premiere episodes as we’re launched to our offbeat heroine Shin Hye-sun’s two lives and everybody in them. There’s loads occurring on this drama, which at instances leaves all the things feeling a bit chaotic and rushed. The quick pacing and odd tone makes it arduous to settle into the story and turns our heroine’s severe scenario as a consequence of a psychological well being situation right into a farcical difficulty that feels skirted over and mined for dramatic (or comedic) impact. Not the beginning I hoped for, however it’s early but.
Editor’s word: That is a gap assessment solely. For a spot to talk about your entire drama, go to the approaching Drama Hangout.
EPISODES 1-2
Like many, I got here into this drama primarily excited by the forged, director, and screenwriter trifecta that promised talent a a lot. Nonetheless, after I realized the principle character has Dissociative Id Dysfunction (DID), I obtained involved. Dramaland doesn’t have the most effective monitor document of dealing with psychological sickness in a delicate, correct approach – and with regards to DID, neither does most any media. Nonetheless, I needed to offer it a attempt. Sadly, the dealing with of DID was as I feared. Nonetheless, the remainder of the drama was not fairly what I anticipated, and I don’t know methods to really feel about it.
We’re first launched to an exuberant and playful JOO EUN-HO (Shin Hye-sun) in 2015 when she and her boyfriend JUNG HYUN-OH (Lee Jin-wook) are comfortable and in love. Quick ahead to now, and so they’re barely civil to one another at work, a broadcast station, the place they’re each announcers. He’s thought-about the extra proficient one with a future as an anchor, whereas she has stays largely within the shadows. Regardless of their fixed sniping, they find yourself internet hosting a program collectively, a lot to Eun-ho’s chagrin.
That stated, it’s clear to everybody that the exes will not be over one another. Eun-ho talks about how a lot she hates Hyun-oh just a little an excessive amount of, and he by some means all the time has an inexpensive excuse to throw jobs her approach that would assist increase her profession. Whereas insisting he can’t stand her, in fact.
Eun-ho is a wild card, which doesn’t endear her to everybody. She’s brash, hotheaded, and may be petty if she feels slighted. However her spiritedness and unpredictability have earned her a fan in her youthful colleague MOON JI-ON (Kang Sang-joon) who has been chasing after her for some time. He’s shocked when she, relatively apathetically, agrees to go on a date that turns into a piece tour.
Since Eun-ho isn’t the kind to use somebody’s emotions for her, she tells him outright that she solely “hates” Hyun-oh as a result of she will be able to’t have him. They dated for eight years, and she or he needed to get married. He had no real interest in marriage. Hating him is the one approach she will be able to deal with interacting with him.
Even understanding Eun-ho’s emotions for Hyun-oh stay, Ji-on needs to offer a relationship along with her a shot. He kisses her one evening… and we’re immediately transported. It’s now daytime, and we meet eccentric JOO HYERI as her parking attendant colleague asks if she fell asleep and was dreaming once more. Hyeri has been having goals of being this announcer named Eun-ho who has her similar face.
Hyeri shakes her bizarre dream off in favor of coping with extra urgent issues, like her crush on information announcer KANG JOO-YEON (Kang Hoon) who she sees frequently within the broadcast station’s car parking zone the place she works. She’s bored and in determined want of pleasure, however she’s additionally timid and unable to speak to Joo-yeon instantly. Regardless of her gloomy demeanor – doubtless as a consequence of fairly actually hiding behind her hair more often than not – she takes an optimistic lifestyle.
Quickly, Hyeri will get the prospect to make an impression on Joo-yeon. And oh, does she make an impression. She sees a protestor within the station’s foyer attacking her beloved Joo-yeon with a freaking pickax and is derived into motion. She slaps a field over the assailant’s head and drags Joo-yeon out of the foyer to cover till the girl is apprehended.
All that adrenaline should go to the woman’s head as a result of as a substitute of lastly speaking to Joo-yeon, she provides to the poor man’s shock by kissing him with no warning. Then she turns and walks away and not using a phrase. Suffice it to say, Joo-yeon has had a day.
Amidst these shenanigans, Hyeri has been seeing a therapist frequently. She talks of her reminiscence loss (she will be able to’t keep in mind something about her previous) and vivid goals of this Eun-ho’s life. Her therapist breaks it to her that she is Eun-ho and has been recognized with DID. And right here’s the place we begin to go off the rails.
The therapist (and drama) acts like Hyeri and Eun-ho are two fully separate individuals who stay in a single physique, hinting that Hyeri is a fictitious identification created by Eun-ho. We don’t get the entire story but, however we do see flashbacks of what appears to be Eun-ho and her sister Hyeri, so I’m assuming Hyeri died and Eun-ho supposedly adopted her sister’s identification as a consequence of grief which… isn’t what DID is. *sigh*
Actually, why even name her situation DID? Simply make up a pretend situation or depart it unnamed relatively than misrepresenting an actual dysfunction to suit the premise. I received’t go into all of the questionable particulars about how DID is portrayed, however some issues are too unrealistic to even make sense. You see, Eun-ho and Hyeri swap at precisely 4:00pm and 4:00am each day. I suppose having her DID work on a handy schedule is the one approach her two lives wouldn’t intersect. I don’t see how that’s even attainable when she was relationship, and seemingly residing with, Hyun-oh for eight years. Possibly the drama is suggesting she didn’t have DID then, which once more, isn’t how that works. Both that, or Hyun-oh is ridiculously oblivious.
Again to Hyeri, she tries to keep away from Joo-yeon after her assault kiss, however he manages to confront her. He’s fairly calm about the entire scenario, however he does demand to know why she kissed him. All Hyeri can do is burst into tears. She’s so distraught she will be able to’t even type phrases. Someway, his justifiable anger shocked her. At the very least she does now perceive that what she did was disrespectful and will even get her sued for assault.
She folds him a bunch of paper stars and writes him a letter to reply his query by confessing her emotions. He as soon as once more seeks her out, and this time she apologizes. For some purpose, he additionally apologizes for being too indignant. He doesn’t appear significantly upset that she kissed him and as a substitute finds her intriguing.
Not solely does Joo-yeon forgive her, however he invitations her to his dwelling to talk extra. (WHAT.) This man is infamous for being chilly and stoic, but he trusts this random girl who assaulted him sufficient to let her into his home and inform her about his lifeless brother and his ensuing survivor’s guilt. It’s solely their second dialog and he’s already opening up about his household trauma. Then, he lets her sleep at his home as a result of it’s late. I don’t know what is going on.
Including to the already complicated scenario, the swap occurs like clockwork at 4:00am. Eun-ho wakes in an odd place and sees a person she’s by no means met sleeping on the sofa. She hightails it out of there however does handle to glimpse his work badge and get his title on the best way out.
Moderately than dwell on her mysterious scenario, Eun-ho dives into work by agreeing to do an expose on a fishing transport operation. It’s a crappy gig, however she’s keen to take something at this level to assist her climb up the profession ladder. Together with secretly taking photographs of fish in a refrigerated truck.
When she enters the freezer container with a digicam, she finds a lifeless man on the ground. (We’ve actually obtained loads occurring on this drama.) She finally ends up locked in with the physique and her colleague on website isn’t answering the cellphone. She does, nevertheless, obtain Eun-ho’s hilariously matter-of-fact textual content about being locked within the truck alongside a photograph of the lifeless man. Nonetheless, it’s Hyun-oh who reveals as much as save the day, and we get a protracted staring sequence from the 2 exes who completely, most positively, hate one another.
I ought to by no means be shocked when a homicide thriller enters the chat anymore in a drama. At this level, I’m not clear on what this drama is attempting to be. A romcom? A office drama? A melo story of a girl’s trauma? There’s loads occurring, and it’s not managing to completely come collectively for me but. I don’t know if even this robust of a artistic staff can wrangle all these items and switch them right into a cohesive story.
My essential difficulty, apart from the problematic DID portrayal, is that I don’t care about any of the characters. Shin Hye-sun is nice, as standard, however I discover each Eun-ho and Hyeri relatively unlikeable. It’s arduous to care about what’s occurring after I’m not hooked up to anybody. And issues simply didn’t make a lot sense, together with the weird, lightning pace relationship between Hyeri and Joo-yeon. I can’t recover from how creepy she got here off – like nearly stalker degree – but he acted prefer it’s cute by some means? If she weren’t a girl, nobody would discover that habits cute.
What actually threw me was how fantastical all the things felt. I anticipated a extra grounded story or a minimum of a extra severe vibe. This nearly felt… zany at instances. I want they’d gone all in on the unbelievability and made Eun-ho/Hyeri’s scenario some mysterious state of affairs a la the physique switches in The Magnificence Inside. Then, the twin identities may’ve been performed up for laughs or drama with out feeling insensitive or tonally jarring.
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