MaryMeKpop

I’m never gonna complain when I get to see Kim Dong-wook on my screen twice as much and four times a week. His new tvN drama ‘Delightfully Deceitful’ alongside Chun Woo-hee aired this past Monday and Tuesday (which also happens to be the same days of the week that his other drama ‘My Perfect Stranger’ also airs, haha). Though I wasn’t as impressed with the premiere of ‘Delightfully Deceitful’ like I was with ‘My Perfect Stranger’, I think I’ll stick to the drama for now primarily due to the talented cast.

‘Delightfully Deceitful’ stars Kim Dong-wook who plays Han Moo-young, a lawyer whose biggest character trait is his ability to empathize with people. He ends up representing Chun Woo-hee’s character, Lee Ro-woom, who was falsely convicted of murdering her parents. Ro-woom’s personality is the exact opposite of Moo-young’s and she specializes in conning others. Rounding out the cast includes Yoon Park who plays Ro-woom’s probation officer, So-jin who plays Moo-young’s psychiatrist, and my personal favorite, Lee Yeon – the intelligent hacker on Ro-woom’s team.

I’ve been looking forward to this drama since its promotional teasers and videos so I was excited when the first two episodes aired. Upon watching the first episode, I have to admit that I wasn’t as intrigued and impressed as I would have liked. There was just a little too much going on in the first half of episode one and then the second half felt completely different from the thirty minutes prior. The first half of the first episode primarily revolved around Moo-young while the second half showed Ro-woom doing her thing in conning others and making money after she was released from prison. The drama felt different when Ro-woom was on screen compared to when Moo-young was on screen and this was an observation that extended even into episode two. I think the drama still needs some time in hashing out its story which will allow it to better balance both characters and their stories. One moment, you watched as Ro-woom pulled off her antics and then the episode shifted to Moo-young so things suddenly felt darker and more serious. I don’t feel strongly about either characters so far but I do think the drama just needs some extra time to warm up and to get a better feel in building a more consistent tone and mood.

I also wasn’t the biggest fan of some of the directorial choices, in particular when it came to Ro-woom. Going back to episode one, the first half was a pretty straightforward type of storytelling where we watched Moo-young do his thing and we gained information on Ro-woom’s background as well as the context behind why she was in prison. Then once she was released, we followed her moves of conning others and going to a casino to make even more money. During this whole process, she spoke directly to the camera to us viewers as we followed her and watched her do her thing. I think I would have been fine with this directorial choice if the first half of the episode just didn’t feel so different. Sometimes, it felt as if I was watching two completely different dramas. But I also don’t think it was necessary to have Ro-woom talk to the camera while she was doing her thing; I would have just preferred stylistically for it to be a lot more straightforward. The whole talking to the camera thing then back to the acting and then talking back to the camera again felt a little jarring and odd at times. There was a little too much going on and my personal preference was just to watch her do her thing and not have her talk to us. I can get why the drama decided to go this route and paint Ro-woom’s character to be this way but I wasn’t the biggest fan of it.

With that being said, the biggest bright spot for this drama in the first two episodes was definitely the cast. I’m booked and busy with Kim Dong-wook’s dramas which I’m definitely not complaining about. Along with this drama, he’s also in ‘My Perfect Stranger’ so it’s been great seeing him on the screen twice a day and four times a week. I like Chun Woo-hee and though I may not always watch every project that she’s in, I think we can all agree that she’s a great actress and her character as Ro-woom will allow her to play a variety of roles and showcase new sides of herself. The other cast member who I really like is Lee Yeon who I first noticed in ‘Crash Course in Romance.’ I then went on to watch her other projects ‘Kill Boksoon’ as well as ‘Duty After School’ and I became a fan ever since. She’s definitely one of my favorite up-and-coming actresses and I’m looking forward to seeing her not only in this drama but in her upcoming work. I also was a bit surprised by how much I liked Yoon Park’s character, Go Yo-han, in this drama. That’s not a diss at Yoon Park at all but more so a compliment because I actually found his character to be so refreshing. Moo-young’s a bit more serious and charismatic, Ro-woom’s a sneaky and sly character, and then Yo-han is a bit more relaxed. I found his interactions with Ro-woom to be pretty funny and entertaining so far and they make such an odd and unlikely couple which also makes them charming in a way.

All in all, the first two episodes of ‘Delightfully Deceitful’ was not as delightful as I would have liked but I do see potential for improvement. If there’s a reason as to why I stick with this drama, it would definitely be because of the cast members. I’m also hoping the directing will improve given that the director of this drama also worked on ‘Find Me in Your Memory’ which I enjoyed. So going back to Kim Dong-wook, it’s great seeing you on my screen this many times in a week and I hope ‘Delightfully Deceitful’ delivers just like how ‘My Perfect Stranger’ has been doing so far.