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[SKorea]Ibeon Saeng-eun Cheo-eumira/Because This Is My First Life

[img(414px,153px)]https://scontent.ftxl1-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/22279862_489653298079134_1512025628003761177_n.jpg?oh=04a41f96f935fbd70e4d162f16a73f12&oe=5ACDFED4[/img]

[img(160px,320px)]http://image.hankookilbo.com/i.aspx?Guid=201798bf1cbd8107b4b35901f36d2138923a6&Month=Entertainment&size=640[/img][img(336px,186px)]https://pop1gasa.files.wordpress.com/2017/11/2360439.jpg?w=672&h=372&crop=1[/img]

Type: romance

Genre: society, modern relationship, comedy

Year: 2017-Oct-09 to 2017-Nov-28

Synopsis:

Nam Se Hee, a house-poor man with a strong sense for an orderly planned life, requires a tenant to pay for his life plan. Yoon Ji Ho, a passionate drama writer waiting for her breakthrough, has become homeless and desperate for a new job and home.

A misunderstanding of genders led them to become landlord and tenants until it was discovered. In the end, Se Hee and Ji Ho decide on a marriage contract for economic reasons. They deceive their associates to ease the process…

Critique:

This drama is Korea’s answer to the Japanese drama “Nigeru wa Haji da ga Yaku ni Tatsu/We Married as a Job”. Except for the basic idea this drama is focused more on the social side and explores the individual goals of each character in far greater depth.

It’s one of the few Korean shows that surpasses their Japanese predecessors. The show starts slow and requires some patience to go through the first episodes but it’s worth it. It’s different from your common Korean drama shows yet not so obvious.

It features the best 3-women friendship group I’ve seen so far. The group has the best chemistry and all. The men’s group is just average, though. The cast is well chosen and pretty much all exceptional actors.

Lee Min Ki as Nam Se Hee, plays the main hero who’s become an emotionless man leading an equal boring but secure life. It’s not a life he had chosen but rather a life he had no choice but to lead. He gets upset whenever his daily routine is disturbed. As the ace of his company everyone has to accept his oddities. This role appears simple and straight forward but the devil lies in the details. Lee Min Ki was a rising ace actor and this role was his return to a leading role after a decade. I suppose it posed some challenge for him.

Jung So Min as Yoon Ji Ho, plays the main heroine. Ji Ho is becoming an old maiden and still inexperience in life. Despite her intelligence and talent she had not been able to climb in the industry. Se Hee’s house offers her the best option in her state of affairs. After determining he was safe she easily agrees to their contracts. Jung So Min is an exotic, exceptional actress and probably the smartest actress. Her only weakness is being short and not quite fitting the media’s ideal look, hence, she’s been kind of stuck in her roles but all her shows are worth watching. She’s the Korean Horikita Maki. Like Lee Min Ki she doesn’t get to go all out in her role. Her real name was used for her role’s rival.

Kitty/Woori (“Us”), the cute all-white cat heroine of the show. She had the attention of both main actors and often seen patiently waiting for her part. Sometimes she’s seen playing in the background.

Although, less obvious there are other good/ace actors among the supporting cast, too.

Unlike the Japanese show this show doesn’t discuss a lot about the economics of marriage. It doesn’t go into the troubles leading to marriage either. For that watch Jung So Min other shows. However, the show explores the life and goals of six different people in depth. It discusses their individual points of view, their choices, pitfalls and so on. This is where the show shines aside from the good acting and scripts. I like it and enjoyed it a lot.

Like the Japanese show this show is also very much culturally localized with a lot of Korean specifics. It has some nice songs, too, with one obviously licensed & translated from the Japanese. The show was shot a bit over a year after the Japanese and obviously they wasted no time in doing some extensive literature research. It’s a typical live-format show and the shooting ended the same day it aired. Meaning it ended just yesterday.

Verdict: 9.5

Cast 9.5

Cast performance 10

Script/Directing: 9

[BBvideo]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BcDhueggFjc[/BBvideo]

[BBvideo]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3AG46o-jc0c[/BBvideo]

[BBvideo]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b8CAZqJceCI[/BBvideo]

actors boredom on the fly action