Wednesday 29 July 2015

15th Completed Drama: High Society

High Society
Synonyms: Chaebol's Daughter; The Privileged
Episodes: 16
Country: South Korea
Aired: Jun. 8, 2015 - Jul. 28, 2015
Network: SBS
Duration: 60 mins.
Genres: Comedy, Melodrama, Romance
Viewers Rating: 7.6/10
My Rating: 6.5/10

Synopsis: Jang Yoon Ha is the youngest daughter of a chaebol (family owned conglomeration). Even though her family is extremely wealthy, she holds a part-time job at a food market. She hides her background as an heiress and attempts to find a man that loves her for herself.

Cast: Uee - Jang Yoon Ha
Sung Joon - Choi Joon Gi
Park Hyung Sik - Yoo Chang Soo
Im Ji Yeon - Lee Ji Yi

Review
Contains a lot of spoilers!

General Impressions:
This drama was so good at first, but then it just got worse. There were too many family problems and issues and not enough time for the main characters to properly develop. The only thing that actually made the drama worth watching was Chang Soo and Ji Yi's relationship, but once Chang Soo's mother started getting involved, that gradually started getting annoying as well. Park Hyung Sik's hair, handsome face and acting skills are the only reason anyone should watch this drama properly.

Story: 7.0/10
When I first read the summary of the story, it sounded very interesting and felt like a nice change from most chaebol dramas. However, the drama did not stick to the summary for very long. Yoon Ha quit hiding her background and her part-time job before we had even reached the half way point of the drama. Anyway, the story was alright at some points, especially when Yoon Ha joined the Taejin company. If the writers didn't focus so much on the parents and siblings of Yoon Ha and Chang Soo and their issues, High Society could have been a really good drama for anyone to watch.

Acting/Cast: 4.0/10
Oh God, this cast was awful in lots of areas. Park Hyung Sik was the only actor that did a good job throughout the drama, and I can't be biased on his part because this drama was the first time I'd heard of him. Not only is he extremely good looking, his acting skills are superb. During the scene where he was crying for Ji Yi and saying that he didn't like her, he loved her, that felt extremely genuine and I couldn't help tearing up myself. Plus, his hair is extremely fluffy and I love it. Anyway, Uee and Im Ji Yeon did do well in some parts of the drama, but they also failed a lot as well. Uee's acting felt fake during the first half of the drama, but when she broke up with Joon Gi and turned extremely badass, I started to really like her acting skills then. For Ji Yeon, it was the exact opposite. She was good during the first half, but turned fake during the latter half. And lastly, Sung Joon. I wasn't expecting much from him because he didn't do very well in his role of Yoon Tae Joo in Hyde, Jekyll, Me, but his acting hasn't improved whatsoever. He is very handsome, but that's the only thing going for him.

Music: 8.5/10
The music was pretty much the only decent thing in this drama. I especially love Hyung Sik's recent release of You're My Love for the High Society soundtrack. It was only played during the last two episodes, but it fitted in really well with the scenes that were being acted out, and since I had listened to it so many times before actually watching Episodes 15 and 16, I was mouthing along with the words. It's not Hyung Sik's usual sort of music, but it was still very beautiful and touching.

Re-watch Value: 3.0/10
There is not much chance in hell that I would watch High Society again. I would only go back for Park Hyung Sik and the music, but that's not enough to convince me to go through a whole 16 hours of pointless chaebol stupidity and annoyance.

Final Verdict: 6.5/10
Overall, there is a lot of stuff that could do with improving in this drama. Firstly, the writers would pretty much need to rewrite the whole story to include less family problems and more of the actual character development. The director and staff would need to pick an almost entirely new set of actors to play the parts as most of them did not play their parts well enough. And lastly, they just need to make the entire drama more enjoyable. High Society was so hyped because of the amazing cast, but pretty much everyone was let down by the lack of drama.

Yoon Ha, Chang Soo, Joon Gi + Ji Yi.

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