“Delightfully Deceitful” is finally here and we now have twice the dose of Kim Dong Wook each Monday and Tuesday, let us discuss the drama.
Note: this article is a first-impression review, it doesn’t mean this is the writer’s final thoughts on the drama. This is a spoiler review.
I was excited for it because of Chun Woo Hee, an underrated great Korean actress who does not get the attention she deserves overseas. She’s a gem. Her acting in the premiere episodes was the highlight for me.
So how was the premiere? A mixed bag and for many reasons, let us discuss that!
Firstly, I’d like to discuss what I personally liked. Despite the characters seeming, so far, to be very stereotypical, the actors do a good job of bringing them to life. I liked Yoon Park and Chun Woo Hee’s performances in particular. The premiere was fast-paced and very engaging.
I also feel the drama could end up being something worth watching if it does not go the route I expect it to. I also expect a good portion of people to have enjoyed the premiere.
Now onto the issues I have with it, some I believe you’ll agree with, and others, not so much.
I like Kim Dong Wook, he’s a great talented actor. However, with this role its become apparent to me just how much he’s type-cast to the point its becoming funny if you zoom out and see the full picture. He usually plays the tormented male lead who oftentimes has a mental health issue and in search of a truth/solve a crime/ solve a mystery and is an all-around good person. I’d personally love to see him do something else with his next project, perhaps, and I can’t even believe I am saying this, play a stereotypical male lead of the opposite qualities. It would be even better if he played the role of a villain.
I think its time for him to try something new, I’ve seen almost all of his dramas in the past 6 to 8 years and his characters have been the same.
And now onto the plot which was definitely a mixed bag for me….
For starters, this feels like a romantic plot of ‘I can fix him’ but the genders are swapped…. And such types of plots are not my cup of tea whether the person who needs to change is the man or in this case, the woman.
If we take it at face value, and if the diagnosis is correct, then Lee Ro-Woom cannot be ‘treated’ per se, because psychopaths cannot be fixed as adults. Here is a source. So, if this drama is built on the fact that she’s indeed a psychopath and that somehow a man, who is not even a psychologist, can somehow ‘treat’ and make her ‘sympathize’ it will probably become one of the most disappointing plots of 2023.
It took me 5 minutes to research and find multiple sources that says this, I concentrate on this point because it seems it will drive a good portion of the plot and I believe the screenwriter more than has the ability to do a simple Naver or Google search.
I certainly hope she was misdiagnosed and is simply someone who is deeply misunderstood. Thus, it would be much better and more accurate.
The other thing is this…. one of my pet peeves in kdramas is the cliché of ‘meeting in the past’ or as you may know it, ‘the lead characters being acquainted with each other in the past.’ I find this one of the most lazy tropes to use and it annoys me on so many levels. I also have an inkling this drama would have benfinited from him not having known her at all, it would have added another suspense layer, but god forbid we have a kdrama that doesn’t have this trope.
The other reason this point bothered me is because as its shown thus far, its only a fleeting moment, not more than a 5-minute interaction. Not enough to justify someone claiming they can ‘fix’ a woman who has been wronged and even possibly ‘groomed’ to believe she’s a psychopath by an organization. Added to that, it happened to him as a kid, the fact that he can even recall this interaction is in itself a ridiculous claim, on her side, I’d get it, since she has a photographic memory, but for him….
I have a hunch that he might have gotten to know her after that interaction, as in they spent more time together, thus, he knows enough about her as a kid and has interacted with her enough to believe she’s not what she claims to be. I certainly hope this is true and we’ll come to find out that they knew each other more than the moments that we were shown in these two episodes, otherwise, I don’t even know how to begin justifying this dude just believing a random woman everyone says is dangerous just because he interacted with her about 20 years ago or something.
I also suspect he’ll be somewhat involved in this fight, on a personal level.
I like Lee Ro-Woom as a character, and she’s played marvelously by Chun Woo-Hee. I certainly would love it if her character actually turns out to be truly heartless, it would make for a very interesting plot, not someone you can just change, but someone truly rotten to the core. That would be nice to see, although, I highly doubt the screenwriter would even attempt such a thing.
“Delightfully Deceitful” has 16 episodes, I wonder how they will be filled, 16 is a lot of episodes and I don’t think this premise deserves more than 10 episodes, but again, I feel like a broken record repeating the same thing I’ve been saying for 4 years.
For now, the drama’s premiere did annoy me a bit, but I am also intrigued enough to tune in to next week’s episodes, I really hope all my plot ‘fears’ I talked about in the review turn out to be false. Because if I am wrong in my analysis, this would mean the drama is about to be one of the more interesting kdramas of 2023 and I am here for it.
So these are my thoughts on “Delightfully Deceitful” premiere, so what about you guys? did you like the episodes? let me know what you thought in the comment section below.
