Miss Ripley

Miss Ripley (The Duo) was released in 2011 fuelled with romance and melodrama. Starring Park Yoochun, Lee Dahee, Kim Seung-woo and Kang Hye-jung, Miss Ripley is a roller coaster I just couldn't adapt to.

Plot

Jang Mi-ri struggles to pay off her step-father's debt in Japan and ends up as a hostess in a bar. Bar owner Hirayama whose strangely obsessed with Ma-ri claims that he'd let her go once she pays off the debt bestowed upon her shoulders, but he refuses once Ma-ri actually pays off her step-father's sins.

Stuck as the face of this putrid bar, Ma-ri attempts to run away. With the help of a friend, she makes her way onto a train. As the doors close, Hirayama claims that he'd find her regardless of where she went and make sure to bring her back to Japan.

Frightened of Hirayama's power, Ma-ri finds herself in South Korea. Almost immediately is she bombarded by stress. To become a citizen, Ma-ri has to situate herself with a permanent job or she'll be sent back to Japan. Working odd jobs and shifts, Ma-ri struggles to find a proper placement because of her educational background. Not having graduated from any university, Ma-ri is pushed in directions of greed and power.

By this time, Ma-ri finds an ally she once knew. Na Hee-joo is a naive and simpleton pushover whose kind acts make it easy for Ma-ri to take advantage of her. Now sharing an apartment with the young woman, Ma-ri forges Hee-joo's college credentials in hopes of nabbing a spot as a fill-in for Jang Myung-hoon's hotel business.

As she begins her work, Ma-ri is tangled in a web of her own lies and finds herself using Myung-hoon to rise within the company. But after Yootaka — who arrives from Japan and also finds himself in the hotel business — squares off with Myung-hoon as the runner up in the company, both men soon find themselves becoming pawns in Ma-ri's web as she takes advantage of both hearts and minds while trying to cover up her scheme.

Overall

Maybe I should just stop watching things that have melodrama and romance in them. It's really not my cup of tea, but then again, I'm a picky viewer and harsh critic of almost everything I watch. I recall picking this up mainly because Yoochun was in it. Honestly, that's the only reason why I even struggled through a handful of these pathetically drawn episodes and 2-D characters.

I did think it was interesting seeing Jang Ma-ri being developed as this desperate girl trying to run away from her past and make a living down in South Korea in hopes of covering up the things that've happened in her life. While Lee Dahee is a good actress to use in the build up of things, I think the repetition used to create Ma-ri became boring and slightly aggravating. I thought it was absolutely ridiculous that she got away with a thousand illegal things in one episode. Also, I feel like if a character is supposed to undergo severe change, they could at least hold a sense of interest, especially if it's a main character.

As the lead actress, Lee Dahee was nothing but a pretty face and I was actually very disappointed. I could think of a thousand other actresses that could have exerted more than just a typical cliche. Even though Jang Ma-ri's character was nothing but a power-hungry woman that went from zero to sixty in a matter of episodes, Dahee's antics were far from amusing or inspiring as a woman reflecting Ma-ri's soul.

I've seen Kang Hye-jung in Oldboy which is a revenge thriller with one too many scenes of graphic intent. So seeing her in this melodrama was something I struggled with. I really don't think her character was fitting or a well-rounded second lead. I see how one could be naive, but Na Hee-joo was just flat out stupid. When her college degree is stolen by Ma-ri to make a duplicate, how could she not know it had to be someone within the house? It was just the two of them, really.

Also, Hee-joo's attraction to Yootaka was innocent and sweet. To be completely honest, their love line was probably the most realistic because it wasn't even a love line. It was a one-sided love with Hee-joo finding Yootaka absolutely stunning. He was outgoing, charming and total eye-candy. And he politely rejected Hee-joo and they remained friends to whatever degree you can assume.

I will commend the interesting aspects of Ma-ri using Myung-hoon and Yootaka as her way of climbing to the top. It was very cunning, sly and definitely hit at her power-infused hunger and need for greed.

I think if this wasn't a drama but more of an hour long movie, I'd have enjoyed it much more. Over the course of sixteen episodes (each being one hour long), there was just too much melodrama. Maybe it's just me, but I like to see strong character development and revelations. Dramas that elongate up to sixteen episodes are tricky in general. Either there's too much or too little of what I want to see. Miss Ripley lacked the use of originality, but then again, I wonder how original you can get by using classy cliches.

Overall, this drama was a sloppy watch. The characters were the farthest thing from interesting, bad acting was strewn all over this melodrama, and half the time it served as background noise for me.