Esconde-esconde (2018)

I came into this drama with the lowest of expectations. Having been burned by other lame weekend dramas, I wasn't optimistic but the poster looked interesting so I gave it a go. Booooooy did I make the right decision.

This show has it all: family drama, birth secrets galore, business makjang, murder, White Trucks Of Doom™ which may all seem cliche and typical but you know what it also has? A bad-ass, strong, don't-need-no-man female lead who gets whatever she wants done through her intelligence and diligence. Her only flaw? The desire to be loved by her adopted family. While the first few episodes may just seem like her suffering, believe me when I say it gets better.

Like I said, it's a sleeper hit. A lot of people either dropped it too early or they just skipped it all together (hence the comments) but THIS. SHOW. IS. GOLD.

The OST is amazing (please do your ears a favour and listen to You Are by KLANG), Lee Yoo Ri and Song Chang Eui kill it as the leads and the bad guys are so bad, you want to hurl things at the screen. However this show gave me so much adrenaline and the ending was just PERFECTION.

Please don't just take my word for it, watch it yourself and get to at the very least half of it before judging it. A lot of people are missing out and I really hope people see this show for what it really is, an amazing story about a badass woman who finds people who truly love her and discovers her self worth instead of letting her status as an orphan get in the way.

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Watching this drama felt like driving by a terrible car wreck that I knew I should just turn away from and that whatever I saw wouldn't be pleasant, but I just couldn't stop myself from continuing to look back. I think I tried to drop this drama 3 times, but something kept making me keep watching. It wasn't the acting, or the story, so it must have been my curiosity over how random this Makjang would get before it was finally over. The answer? Very.

In the beginning, I thought I was lost because the story was so complicated, but I was actually lost because the story was so random. It revolves around the adopted daughter of a wealthy yet dysfunctional family. I won't get too into the actual storyline but considering the genre anyone watching should be prepared for a story that's way over the top. Plot points include a kidnapping, child abuse, suicide, adultery, corruption, superstition, and family secrets, and themes like classism, abandonment, jealousy, greed, and of course revenge. I don't mind an unrealistic story, but this drama was nonsensical, and not in a fun enough way for me to at least laugh and enjoy it. I spent most of my time watching being frustrated with every single character, and it's hard to enjoy a show when you hate everyone in it. That may sound harsh, but aside from maybe 2 characters, I thought the entire cast was awful.

I'll start my critiques with leading lady Lee Yoo Ri who plays Chae Rin. I think I was supposed to sympathize with her character, which I never did. She basically has two modes in this drama, Bad@ss businesswoman, and extremely needy. I have not seen this actress as a lead in a drama before, and after this, I won't look forward to seeing her again. She just wasn't likable to me, at all. I don't mind the main character being imperfect or even a bit of a villain, but more than anything else she just bored me. She is matched with Song Chang Eui as Eun Hyuk, who unfortunately had only one mode, 'bodyguard gone rogue'. His character barely had any facial expressions. His character was written with a lot of conflicting emotions, but he barely showed any at all. Together they had zero chemistry, so not only did their relationship feel forced, but I also couldn't get past their questionable start. I felt totally unsympathetic towards their relationship, and I wasn't buying either of their crocodile tears. So needless to say, the romance aspect of the show was a huge disappointment.

The other characters are over the top to the point that they are unintentionally comical. Initially, I thought Uhm Hyun Kyung was the lead since she was the most sympathetic character (yeah, I know she's not in the picture of the show, but still... lol), but eventually, the writers turned her character into someone so ridiculous that I became annoyed whenever she was on the screen. Kim Young Min as Moon Jae Sang was another ridiculously written character. His one-note obsession halfway through the show made absolutely no sense, so he also became a nuisance on screen.

The rest of the cast were either super cliché or forgettable, with 2 exceptions. Lee Won Jong as Pil Doo amused me because he always plays that kind of character so well. At least his character made sense for the entire show, although like most of the characters his actions were pretty repetitive. Then there was
Yoon Da Kyung as Manager Kim, who was possibly the only character I cared about at all. I admit that sometimes I laughed at her over the top moments, but at least she was always very entertaining in her role... Something I can't say about any other character in this whole drama.

Since I disliked most of the characters it's probably safe to guess that I also hated the story. Another safe guess would be that I will never watch this drama again unless someone kidnaps me and forces me to sit through it. I think the story was meant to be shocking, and full of random plot twists, but it's mostly pretty predictable, or just super haphazard... like 'random white truck of doom coming out of nowhere' haphazard. By the end they do their best to resolve the story for all of the characters, keeping things melodramatic till the very last moments, but honestly, the only satisfying ending for me would have been if an explosion took out every single character in the whole show. Ok, maybe that's too harsh? Fine, then I'd only let the Dad and Miss Kim survive.

Overall, I hope I never forget how much I didn't like this drama so I don't accidentally watch it again. If this was enough to stop you from watching all 48 episodes of this hot mess of a show, you're welcome. Even with the short episode format, some of the episodes still seemed too long. For those of you who are diehard Makjang fans, maybe you'll have a much higher tolerance for this drama than I could muster up. At first, I was amused by the ridiculous acting and craziness in this drama, but 48 episodes is a long time to laugh inappropriately at people living their worst lives. If you get halfway through this drama and you think it's the best thing ever, then keep watching because it's only going to get crazier. My guess is that a lot of people dropped this drama as I should have. Let this review be a cautionary tale for anyone who's on the fence about dropping this drama. Just read the spoilers and trust that you should be seeking something else to watch.

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