Mysterious Personal Shopper (2018)

A TV drama with a dragging storyline, but still worth watching

This has been the longest K-Drama I've watched, the last one being My Only One and Queen Seonduk. I originally planned to watch all 103 episodes in about 2 weeks, but managed to finish in just 5 days. I must admit that in the beginning, I got really annoyed on how the story is dragging especially on the mid part, but I've grown to like it until the last episode.

This is a "makjang" drama. Main plot twists are quite predictable, especially the main character's arc. But what makes a makjang drama effective is not just a great storyline and script, but also having superb and amazing actors to pull off such story.

Park Ha Na and Wang Bit Na are truly amazing in this drama. Kyung Hye (Wang Bit Na) is the character I'm attached the most. Kyung Hye somewhat reminds me of another Wang Bit Na's character Boo Young in the period drama Hwang Ji Ni. Both characters started off as villains, but eventually became the likeable ones towards the end. It is no wonder that both Park Ha Na and Wang Bit Na won awards for playing Se Yeon and Kyung Hye, with Ha Na winning the Best Actress in a Daily Drama award and Bit Na winning the Top Excellence Actress award back in 2018.

Can I also say that Kyung Hye and Se Yeon's affection towards each other is lowkey gay? To be honest, Se Yeon and her boyfriend Jae Jun have no chemistry at all, but Se Yeon and Kyung Hye? I ship them like the Titanic. I prayed hard they'd end up together, but the writers decided to make them straight and that's very disappointing. I've read somewhere that the writers might be testing the waters by writing such characters to see if Korean audience is ready and accepting. But man, international audience is thirsty and dying.

103 episodes could be too much but hey, it's not bad especially when you're under quarantine. I recommend this drama.

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If only the writer put in a little bit more effort...

At first glance it seemed interesting with the impulse control disorder which quickly turned out to be a very poorly written plot device. Around mid way the disorder became whatever the writer wish it to be then it completely disappeared without any mention or cure as if it never happened despite being a major plot point at the beginning and part of the drama's dvertisement. Apparently it's easier to write a generic story-line instead of attempting something slightly different. Anyway, the drama had also an awful love story-line, both were mostly awkward and had no chemistry or whatsoever. The romance was only included out of obligation, might as well remove it.

The drama also had pacing issues whether it's regarding the main story or any of the side ones. The main story felt limited in the number of characters it involved, there were mainly 6 characters it was cycling through. There was a desperate need to include more characters to contribute to the main story. The support characters weren't given enough attention and most of their stories were cut short anyway. I low-key wanted to see more of the erratic behavior of Se Yeon's sister. Aside from the earlier parts, the drama didn't have anything interesting.

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