Bride of the Century

Owiiee. Another drama introduced to me by YouTube. So I saw a short clip from the series last week and read a comment that it stars F.T. Island’s Lee Hong Ki (To the Beautiful You‘s Jeremy). I remember I do have a copy of the drama sitting on my HD so I searched for its synopsis, deemed it quite interesting and started watching.

Bride of the Century (Courtesy of TV Chosun)

The story features Na Doo Rim, a cheerful but not-so attractive girl who lives by the ocean together with her grandmother. She looks exactly the same as Jang Yi Kyung, the daughter of the wealthy family who owns Hanshin Construction.

Jang Yi Kyung’s engaged to Choi Kang Ju, the heir of the rich and famous Taeyang Group. She doesn’t like how Kang Ju coldly treats her—if not like a puppet, a good-to-have ornament for business sake. However, she can’t easily break the engagement off as Hanshin is currently financially unstable and needs Taeyang Group’s investment and support.

Na Doo Rim (left) and Jang Yi Kyung (right)

Yi Kyung disappeared on the day of Kang Ju’s inauguration as Taeyang Group’s new chairman. Remembering how a delivery girl he met recently looks exactly the same as Yi Kyung, Jang Yi Hyun, her step-brother, came up to the idea of having Doo Rim pretend as Yi Kyung until they find her. Doo Rim, in need of money for her grandmother’s medications accepted the proposal.

And that’s where the story rolls off. Basically, the cold Kang Ju started to warm up with this livelier, sweeter, and somehow weirder version of Yi Kyung (who’s actually, yeah, Doo Rim).

Meanwhile, there’s a strange rumor about the Choi Family that has been going on for the past hundred years. It is said that the first wife of every generation’s firstborn son will die after the first night of their wedding. This curse plays a big part of the plot. It is actually the basis of the series title, Bride of the Century. This twist also spices the drama, adding a splash of horror to it. Well, not really horror as it’s not even scary. It’s just a gloomy ghost that ironically, can be super funny at times.

I know. I know. It’s Yang Jing Sung drama after another. Like in No Min Woo’s case, this is purely coincidence. It’s not like I’m fangirling over My Unfortunate Boyfriend whatsoever. Haha. She’s kind of cute but I just don’t like her as much as I like her outfits. Hahaha.

I did watched the drama mostly because I’m curious with how’s Lee Hong Ki doing now, years after You’re Beautiful. I was actually surprised to see him act again as I thought he never pursue this career and just focused on F.T. Island.

Well, it’s both nice and funny to see him do a complete 180 from the cheerful, mood-maker Jeremy. On the down side, I think he still needs to improve his acting skills. There are times when I see those cold Jang Geun Suk’s characters (Hwang Tae Kyung included) in Choi Kang Ju. Not sure if he’s trying to imitate him or just their characters are supposed to be alike or something but it would be great to see him in another character interpreted Hong Ki’s style. 🙂 But yeah, small thing. It’s noticeable but didn’t degrade the series that much (at least for me).

I was able to finish the drama without stopping so I think it’s good enough to rate it slightly above average. I just think that the two leads’ feelings for each other develop rather faster than expected. And there were some over cheesy lines that gross me out. Hahaha. But the ending give a nice round down to all the characters which is a big plus to me.

P.S.

These two might really be best friends in real life ah (and even if it’s not, I’m sure they’re pretty close now).