Korean Drama : Miss Ripley Review

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Starring: (From left to right) Kim Seung-woo as Jang Myung-hoon , Lee Da 

Hae as Jang Mi Ri, Park Yuchun as Yutaka / Song Yoo-hyun and Kang Hye Jung as Moon Hee Joo.

I have been watching Korean drama since my childhood, but recently I have been busy with school activities, so I rarely watch Korean drama nowadays. However, while flipping through the available TV channels, I saw that a new Korean drama was running in ABS-CBN. I decided to watch Miss Ripley because I wanted to find out what it was all about. As I started to watch this Korean drama, I started to like it and became addicted to it.

Miss Ripley is the latest Korean drama I watched. It is directed by Choi Yi-sub and Choi Won-suk, and its story was written by Kim Sun-young. The story is based on Shin Jeong-ah's case who once worked as a professor of art at Dongguk University and as a chief curator at Sungkok Art Museum. She was elected as artistic co-director for the 2008 Gwangju Biennale, but it was later revealed that Shin Jeong-Ah forged her college credentials and was soon fired from her position. She was also romantically linked to the former presidential aide Byeon Yang-Kyoon, who helped Shin Jeong-Ah gain employment at Dongguk University. Miss Ripley is a story of a young woman, Jang Mi Ri, who lies to get her way and how her greedy ambition has lead to the downfall of two men who has fallen in love with her.

Plot/Summary:

Mi Ri was abandoned by her mother when she was nine-years-old. Her mother had chosen to leave the family and to marry a rich man. After the death of her father, Mi Ri was sent to an orphanage where she befriended Moon Hee Joo. One day, a Japanese family wanted to adopt Hee Joo, but Hee Joo didn’t want to be adopted by them. She had a stomach ache and because of this, the orphanage sent Mi Ri instead. Mi Ri was then moved to Japan with her adoptive parents, where she had a miserable life living with them, as they treated her badly.

Her father then obtained huge gambling debts, so Mi Ri was forced to work in a bar. She worked for a man named Hirayama to be able to pay off her father’s debt. One day she escapes from her work place and decides to move to Korea to get a better life. She tries to find a job but was unsuccessful due to her lack of experience and qualification. She was hopelessly looking for a job, for if she could not obtain a permanent job, she will be forced to return to Japan.

On her way home, she met a man named Myung Hoon by accident. This man is a hotelier who was in need of someone who can speak the Hataka dialect to serve an important guest at the hotel, which is extremely rare in South Korea. He had heard her speak the Hataka dialect, so he immediately offered her a job. Since she was still hopelessly looking for a job, she lied to him about graduating from Tokyo University and upon hearing this, Myung Hoon did not think twice and hired her immediately. That was where all her lies began.

Since he is the manager of the hotel, Mi Ri stayed with him and tried to become close to him so that she would be able to get Myung Hoon’s power. In less than a month, she became the manager of the Hotel A because of her lies. On the other hand, Myung Hoon became the president of Hotel A. Later, Mi Ri discovered that Yutaka -- also known as Song Yoo-hyun -- is the greatest shareholder of Hotel A, and he was soon to be the heir of the Mondo Resorts so she immediately changed her plan and tried to stick with Song Yoo Hyun. Since Yoo Hyun was already interested in her, she caught him easily. Now both men fell in love with her, but her greedy ambitions caused the downfall of the two men.

Opinions about the Drama:

The way of acting is one of the highlights of this drama and the big reason for me to LOVE it. In my opinion, the whole cast has done a wonderful job portraying their characters, especially Lee Da Hae. I liked how she portrayed Jang Mi Ri, how she got all the way out by showing us the character's inner feelings and evil side and made us seem like mind readers knowing what Mi Ri is thinking by watching her. She totally succeeded to show the anger and hate Mi Ri felt towards the world and how a small unintentional lie led her to eventually be that monster who wove a big web of lies with every step in the way. She totally improved her acting skills because you can really see the big difference from her previous Korean dramas, which was My Girl. The story was totally different because My Girl is a comedy type of drama, while Miss Ripley is a thriller kind of drama. I kind of expected her to be funny, but I was surprised when I saw her portray as Jang Mi Ri.

I also liked how the story flows; the director and the writer sure knew how to attract the audience. I liked how the director and the writer have made this drama through a different approach. Usually, the heroine of the drama is to be liked by the audience, and they are the innocent ones. They are not the cause of the drama. However, in Miss Ripley, we can see that the heroine is very unlikeable and manipulative which is the cause of the drama. This is something we usually do not see very often in other Korean dramas.

The ending of the drama totally caught me off guard. I definitely did not see that in the end, Mi Ri's mom would be the step mother of Song Yoo Hyun. Basically, they are like step brother and sister, but with different mothers and fathers. It is kind of surprising to know that in the end. I am glad to know that Mi Ri found her mother again. I am satisfied with the ending because everyone was able to resolve their problems and find their happiness. Though the drama ended with love's after taste, I kind of expected that Mi Ri would not end up with either of the two because I don't really believe that Mi Ri truly loved either of them because she tricked them.

Rating: 7 / 10

by: CJ Peña