South Korea's "The Good Wife" was directed by Lee Jeong Hyo and casted all star actors and actress, Jeon Do-Yeon, Yoon Kye Sang, and, Yoo Ji-Tae. The korean version follows the same storyline as the original only that the story is condensed into 16 episodes. I wondered how this time cut would work out for the show since the American counterpart ran for years and I think its still on the air. When making remakes, you will always have people who will be biased toward Korean drama or the original show. I never watched "The Good Wife" religiously so I didn't have any bias toward the show and I only watched the Korean version because of the cast. I'm a huge Yoon Kye Sang fan plus the others involved have also made a place in my heart as Ive seen them in numerous other productions.
My first impressions of the plot is that the pacing of the show meant business. The director knows that this show only has a certain number of episodes to get to the action. This causes the conflict to be pushed up in your face pretty fast. Other than that, the drama follows the original with a hint of Korean customs mixed in. Sometimes things got scary because I would be sitting there watching to see how much the drama would cross the line over to being not so Korean anymore. It happened at certain times because it couldn't be helped with the circumstances which are very American. Not one episode fell short in throwing all the curve balls and shockers that was needed to keep you coming back for more.
Jeon Do-Yeon is every bit of the character of a song wife caught in the middle of a loser low life husband and the well being of her family. She always emanates an impression of being a strong Woman even in times of confusion. She had the ability to tell her husband and everyone else off who got in her way but the pressure of Korean society to keep your family together hold her back. These aspects of her character are very Korean. Divorces are a big no no in Korea even though people do get them there. Do-Yeon's acting becomes more American when is comes to her being more direct with her feelings. She stops caring about other people and focuses on her own happiness causing he to fight for herself. She had that American mind set that didn't take no shit from her mother in law or the people she had to face in the courtroom. She would have made the original director of the show proud. Noone cant tell me that Yoo Ji-Tae wasn't a gangster in a former life. This man can take a gangster role and play it to the point that I think even he forgets that he is acting. He scares me in ways that some horror films never could. I was actually fearing for most of the characters lives when it came to interaction with him. He just had no means of stopping his evil deeds and it was like walking on pins with needles injected in. Say the wrong thing and he coming after you with switch blades and lemon juice to pour in the wound. It also doesn't help the he is freakishly tall. Soon Kye Sang is the lawyer play boy who wants Jeon Do-Yeon's character's heart but he knows the time just not right. He sticks around and slowly tries to ease his way in there though. Yoon Kye Sang is the king of non vocal acting. His look literally say everything that he wants to say without vocalizing it with his mouth. That dark piercing eye gazing is one of the things about his acting that I love so much. There's a cute playful side to Kye-Sang as well revealed when he has scenes with Do-Yeon. More scenes of them together would have been nice but you could feel the relief of both characters when they finally did have alone time together. The rest of the cast in like ants that constantly move to take down any boredom the viewer might have. None was without a purpose much less personality. By the time you get done with the walk on cameos, you wonder if the director can even keep track on all the actors and actresses involved in this drama.
"The Good Wife" was shot in cinematic drama form mostly used for Korean cable TV. If you take the time to observe the quality of cable Korean tv drama and the Korean drama made for regular television, there is a huge gap in quality. I have always loved the way cable Korean TV drama looked since it has that crisp clean cinema feel. Revolving shots give the viewer a look from different angles. The shot that zooms in on one character or object while blurring out other things seen in the background are some of my favorite shots. You mostly witness these kinds of shots during the courtroom scenes. A good chunk if not all of this drama was shot in Seoul without a doubt. You recognize similar famous areas such as the Han River next to the Seoul bridge. Also Seoul baseball stadium that is a spot of interest since Yoon Kye Sang character loves baseball. Everything about "The Good Wife" looks slick and clear for high quality viewing.
My biggest fault dealing with this show is that it felt incomplete. Awwwww man.... Its just down right awful when good dramas become victim to this problem. Every conflict was resolved but it also could confuse some viewers who are not familiar with the original show. People who know the show will make sense of the ending while some other people might have fallen off the bridge at one point. I didn't care for the ending only because it felt like it had more to tell than what was shown. More episodes might have been a good idea but I'll take what I can get.
The show is a quick thrill ride if your interest includes court drama. I for one loved the acting and presentation but the story's conclusion could be a hit or miss depending on how picky you are with your endings. I also just want to give a shout out to the stylist team who dressed the cast. They had everyone looking like they stepped out of the pages of a fashion magazine.
