Monte Cristo Drama
Lakia Limthong
Yep, definitely one of the better daily dramas. I liked these last several episodes that tied up things nicely without adding silly fluff to take up space. The last episode was superb and well written to neatly summarize the drama. I guess EJ's future is up to anyone's interpretation, but I'll assume she was too mentally unstable to offer anything very coherent during any kind of questioning by the authorities. HJ's final words were lovely and showed he had matured through a harrowing family crisis. The acting was superb by everyone.
Just saw it w/ subs. To be honest, this was a rather pedestrian ending, but it's very hard to wrap up an sustained plot with many character threads in half an hour. Some of them did not resolve as I think they should, such as EJ's culpability with law enforcement (though that was implied with the sirens in the final scene), the disposition of Ji Wang Industries, etc. But at least Ga Heun's legacy will live on in a hot new video game as the face of Phoenix in HJ's new software venture!
Hero - While there is certainly nothing wrong with a Hero struggling with the darkness inside them, and that struggle is certainly part of many different tellings of the MonteCristo story, having that struggle play out in an almost bi-polar nature took away a large portion of the stories credibility - Again JMHO
Characters - Again, when taking on the retelling of the MonteCristo story, characters should have had more clearly defined roles in relation to the source material - this would've made the drama more enjoyable to follow
Eun-Jo/Miss MonteCristo - Eun-Jo as character started fine - she was young overly optimistic and naive in the ways of the world - Her transformation to Miss M was believable, and that pretty much is where things began to go down hill. While Edmond was revenge driven, he was not abjectly cruel to innocents, nor did he struggle with his own sanity - After spending the entire drama hissing and spitting both veiled and overt threats at Ha-Ra, to suddenly try to save her as she is about to do EXACTLY what you planned for her to do was an EPIC failure of this character. Poor story telling, especially at the end.
Ha-Ra - Ha-Ra had flashes of brilliance, but again more failure in storytelling. The writer/PD hinted at Ha-Ra's madness, but that madness never fully materialized, and in the end was far eclipsed by Se-Rin's character insanity. Far too many ridiculous character choices to mention. Should have been, far and away, the lead villain. In the end, just one of many.
Se-Rin - Underutilized talent - The actress playing Se-Rin was wasted in the role until the final 3rd of the drama. Having the character of Se-Rin be subservient to Ha-Ra was fine, but to have her be so completely oblivious to almost everything was beyond ridiculous. Once she became more confident/defiant, she was a joy to watch, and the acting during Se-Rins decent into madness was top notch. The actress could easily carry lead villain duties in any drama. JMHO
Cha Sun-Hyuk - While Uni Oppa's undying love certainly mirrored Mercedes from the source material, his perpetual black cloud certainly didn't. I spent about 80% of this drama waiting patiently for the "Lone Wolf" they kept hinting at to appear, but other than mere glimpses, NOTHING.
Oh Ha-Jun - DF Oppa is the clear winner among this drama's characters, and interestingly enough his character doesn't seem to be directly drawn from the source material. ( Sorry guys, He is not a male version of Haydee ) DF Oppa character arc is by far and away the most complete among all characters, and he carried much of the later episodes. Minus Miss M, DF Oppa was the drama's Hero.
Thank YOU. I know you will come around and give a big round of support for HJ. @LeftCoastOppa
It looks like Jewang is managed by honest professionals now. It is a common wish among kdrama writers that conglomerates are not controlled by families. Perhaps it is the new feudal system.
and I was always wondering what her revenge was. So she's taken back many things from HR who committed suicide at the site of her death, that's pretty good. Reversing the hanging seen was what I expected too, but having EJ regretting and jumping in as well, WTH?
@maribella Actually I saw the suicide part coming admittingly, she was so caught up on revenge and not wanting her family to know even if they hated her, it was better than them knowing the horrible truth. The problem is with revenge its a double edge sword you have to push everyone away from you so they dont influence you. By the end she has got her revenge but also hurt everyone around her, if anything it was Bo MI I think it was who did the most damage. She tried so hard to get her to turn back but eventually the words "Don't ever go back to being EJ" rang true to her I think, she knew it was hurting and pushing those around her further away, so in the end she threw herself off as well.
But the ending itself was weird, it didnt really overly fit the revenge plot line, especially being in bed and seeing hara etc, I understand what they were trying to do but the way it came together just didnt fit.
I don't like that she has selective amnesia, I was hoping she would recover all of her memories before the end...but no luck. But I guess if they wanted an ending that doesn't deal with how dark EJ got, this was the easy way.
Also what is the long term plan. Is he going to abandon Hoon because he can't explain it to EJ. I mean are they planning on hiding the internet from her for all time. She at some point would be looking thing up.
I don't like that she has selective amnesia, I was hoping she would recover all of her memories before the end...but no luck. But I guess if they wanted an ending that doesn't deal with how dark EJ got, this was the easy way
A bit angry that SH didnt want EJ to know the past for her health and then later on he wants EJ to be investigated after getting out of the hospital? Wouldnt she be traumatized more as she doesnt know.anything still? He should have waited more until she remembered and EJ should have been the one who surrendered. A timeskip ending would have been nicer....
I dont think the police would have minded to wait if she was just a witness or resource person unless they were given evidence of all of EJ revenge (but who had given them the info? SH? why would he when he didnt report HR or is it stepmom? but stepmom is already mental when she knew HR died...) OR how nice for the kdrama police to easily connect the dots at the end.
Pity that HR died where she should be in SR's place also... Even a HR in prison clothes like stepmom would be okay and off herself after. She got off easily on her own terms (knew about the posts beforehand) so no satisfaction of one upping her which didnt really make the revenge satisfying. And that ghost/dream sequence is really weird...(HR in a white dress? even in afterlife, she didnt suffer) HR had to be a ghost and suddenly want EJ to wake and be a good friend, she doesnt seem to regret anything even at the bridge, she was just happy to have EJ as a friend and regret losing EJ as a friend but did not apologize for her wrongdoings. The story did not really flesh out the events which should have led to this.
sorry but really dont like HJ (bordering between neutral and slight dislike) haha even as CEO he seemed childish (and still leaving it to others to do things: mr park, and SH before they resigned from management) and still mooching off grandma and a bit obsessed with GH/EJ (2D form in the game, maybe obsession runs in their family?! they should have gotten at least one female employee for HJ in his company for his budding love interest) and HJ even followed SH/EJ in the ending?! weird if SH would tell
but finally the drama is finished. the ending is okayish (finally we got the revenge and finish this drama) but still bad storytelling wise and agree that following original monte cristo would be better. anyway, off to other dramas.
It speaks a lot when your fam chooses a pic y'all took from a forced editorial column family photoshoot for your burial placement... Hara never had a happy family to begin with. They never did any family activities together 'cause she was stuck in her own world deluded about her actress title. I don't get how she got nominated for best actress because she deserves no pity - a daughter (coming from corrupt/murderous backgrounds) chose her life over responsibility. And like a Cady once said "half of you are mad at me and the other half only liked me because they think I pushed someone over a bus". So who trolled and voted for her? Keyboard warriors? That movie's trailer seemed like a mess so I cannot understand how it was even released.
It sucks that all this... Eunjoo gets hit with the amnesia. Like for reals? 3 people in the drama concluded with altered/broken memories. Stepmom, Serin, and Eunjoo all mentally unavailable & live denying the events that took place. The only good here is that the chairman and stepmom are rotting in jail. I previously said it would suck for Eunjoo to end up with Sunhyuk - It sucks even more that they're together when her memories aren't even intact and he's suppressing all that info 'for her sake'. How you gonna explain to her you f'ed her bff and had a son together and now she's dead from suicide? Or you're gonna call Hoon her new Byul? So many unexplainable things on EJ's side.
It was interesting to see that every character that took their revenge also sought to turn themselves in and pay for their actions just as responsibly. I do wish that Sun Hyuk wouldn't have called the cops to pick up Eun Joo like that though, she's still recovering and I'm not sure how she'd react to the questioning, especially when she can't remember anything. I hope she never remembers anything, what's done is done and she deserves to finally live her life and recover the last few years which were taken from her. Not sure what the legal implications may be though, Eun Jo is legally dead and she's now Ga Eun but doesn't know it? Loads of loose ends that I don't really want to think of anymore.
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