Synopsis:
An old woman full of regrets gets a second chance at youth to follow her dreams. Unfortunately there are obstacles along the way to her finally achieving what she has always dreamed of. Her family unit is in tatters, her friend turned enemy is blocking her at every turn, and she can't help but be who she is in a society that has changed.
Review:
Hello dear reader! If you are new here, I rate my dramas on mainly two categories, storytelling, and direction. Under Storytelling, I take into account not just the acting, but the writing, and music as well. It is usually presented as a percentage. Under the category direction, I consider both editing and direction, editing counts for 2 points while direction counts for 3. It'll be out 5. I call them my sticky notes because that tends to be what I write my thoughts on when I'm watching. I've rated Who is She 75% on storytelling and a 2/5 on direction.
Man, this is going to be a hard review to write. So, buckle up dear reader. You may be here a while. In all transparency I was looking forward to this series over many others. This was the one I was most excited for when it was announced. I love the movie that they adapted the series from. Miss Granny is a movie that I watch whenever I have down time and want to see something funny.
It took me a while to get through the first few episodes. In fact, I had to stop halfway
through the second episode and rewatch the movie just to make sure I wasn't idealizing it from memory. My conclusion, I wasn't. Where the movie was witty and creative, the series falls flat. I understand that with a movie as popular and successful as, Miss Granny is going to cast a large shadow. However, instead of embracing that shadow it tries to go its own way, and ends up getting lost in its own plot. I was expecting an adaption akin to Death at Pemberly, or Lost in Austin. Something that is reminiscent of the original piece, Pride and Prejudice, but adds to the story. All the characters share the same characteristics, and the plot is still recognizable.
The series changed the family dynamic, they changed the family as a whole. I liked the family dynamic in the OG plot. They weren't perfect, they definitely had room to grow, but they weren't at each other's throats like in the drama. In the film Mal Sun, the female lead, has a son. This son isn't exactly warm and fuzzy, nor is he extremely loving toward his mother, he's more or less passive in regards to her. Toward the end of the movie you finally know why he is. He feels as if he was a massive burden towards her because she lived such a hard life trying to raise him on her own since her husband died not long after he was born. This was a fact she was always eager to share, her son was a successful professor, thanks to her and her sacrifices.
In the series they chose to make Mal Sun's son a daughter, which . . . fine, but why was it necessary? The daughter's personality is highly unlikeable. The writers tried to redeem her by giving us the perspective that her father was not part of her life thanks to her mother's lie that he had died. Well, okay, fine, she lied. Why hate the parent that raised you? Sure, as a mother she was hard on her daughter when it came to academics, but she still was there and present for her. To top it off she does exactly what she hated her mother did to her daughter. She pushes her daughter to excel academically and completely ignores her daughter's dream.
I don't see why changing from a slightly apathetic son to an aggressive hateful daughter was necessary. If it was to fill the tension in the drama, that's not a good enough reason because there was tension present already without the added daughter/ mother aggression. They still could have kept the storyline from the film between the son and Mal sun (if they wanted it to be a daughter same rules apply) and just given us more context into the child's thinking to help us understand sooner why he was so apathetic towards the mother. The added aggression that the dying father brought was also unnecessary especially since they didn't even address it all that much. He should have stayed dead. Don't even get me started on the stupidity of making Mal Sun a twin.
Another aspect I just couldn't get past was the main lead, female lead, and Mr. Park
love triangle. I mean, come on! In the OG story she does have a short lived romance with the producer. So, fine, they could have kept it. However, in the end she does go to Mr. Park who, let's be honest, she belongs with. It is apparent especially in the drama when they show their history and even in the interactions before he changes they have something. Yes, he obviously loves her more than she loves him, but there is some love there, especially in the flashbacks. They both loved each other they just kept missing one another. Why take all that history and even chemistry and throw it out the window because the male lead exists? I liked the male lead, I had no beef with him, but he had no business being with Mal Sun. I also don't get how they give us all this time between Mr. Park and Mal Sun when she's young and he's old, then after he changed into his younger version that time just disappears.
The acting in this drama. . . oof. It was right up there with Romance in the house, ham-like. Look, I know it isn't easy to pretend to be an old lady in a young body, but some of the acting choices just peeved me.
To start of with, a lot of the comedy in the film stems from her interactions with those she was once younger with then is suddenly on the same page, her actions and reactions. The actor in the series doesn't carry that same charm. At the onset of when Mal Sun changed, Shim Eun Kyung, who is the actress in the film version, has the best "My face isn't that face" moment I've seen. She's talking to a young man who is trying to hit on her and she catches her reflection in his glasses. In disbelief to what she sees she quickly switches to the window, which results in a mind blowing "HOLY SHIT I'M YOUNG ME" I've ever heard. It is hilarious. Then as she gets used to being young again, she doesn't continue to talk like an old lady, in a scratchy lower tone. She speaks normally. Sure, she is a little quirky and says some things that a young person wouldn't. She dresses like it's still the 50's. She's also much bolder with her words, which is normal because she isn't young and that characteristic or personality strength comes with age.
In the series the actress playing Oh Mal Sun, Jung Ji So, just missed me right out of the gate. She throws herself on the floor in an over exaggerated over played response to her transformation. She also continuously speaks in a scratchy voice, trying to sound
like an old woman. She never embraces nor acts like she's young again. I just. . . *sigh.* She makes some choices in her acting, but then so do many others in the drama.
I also loved the music from the OG series. Why was it left out? The song they used was beautiful and haunting. It is what made the producer chase after her. She had that cinderella voice, a one of a kind and a song that projected that. They should have kept it, or at least put it in once. The songs in the series are okay, they're nothing exceptional.
That being said, I didn't hate everything about the adaption. In the original story Mal Sun is quite the fussy and cantankerous woman. She nags her daughter-in-law about every little thing. That was one of the things that constantly bothered me about the OG script, but I understood that it was a beginning point to springboard her on her adventure so that she and her daughter-in-law could grow. In the series the son-in-law are much more friendly and I'd even say that the Son-in-law is much. more affectionate or caring toward Mal Sun than the daughter.
I actually liked the dynamic between Mal Sun and Mr. Park. in the drama. They're playful and they look out for each other, they care. I like how the writers made them friends and removed the whole class system thing where he was her family's servant. They dynamic just worked, also Mr. Park got an upgrade from the movie to the drama. He was a silver fox, and in my humble opinion an awesome character revamp. I also liked that they made him younger faster, but the writers totally messed up that dynamic after he changes.
I also liked that they made Mal Sun's arch nemesis a successful women who thwarted and stole from her friend and that was why she couldn't follow her dream of being a singer. It also created a cool dynamic to the story, it gave the story more depth.
Anyway, I am going to end my rant here. If I continue I'm going to end up going forever and this review is already long enough as it is. As per usual thank you for joining me today. Let me know your thoughts on the series or of you've seen the original story. Goodbye and until next time dear reader.