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Cautionary Tale

I watched the k-drama My Dearest Nemesis because I'm ready to start watching Korean dramas again, and it sounded like a cute romance. It was, only with an antagonist I seriously disliked. I rarely react so strongly to older female antagonists, but Ban Hyo-jeong was probably the most hateful of all time.

The story begins with Baek Soo-jeong (beautifully played by the ever-luminous Moon Ga-young) and Ban Joo-yeon (the odd-voiced Choi Hyun-wook, who only just managed to keep up with his costar), two teens who meet online through a game and develop first a friendship, and then a crush on each other. It's all heart-pounding first love stuff. This drama should be a cautionary tale to any kid who falls for someone online, too.

Anyway, when they finally meet, 19-year-old Soo-jeong discovers Joo-yeon is much younger than her, is into hard rock and acts like a complete (but sweet) idiot. This breaks her heart, and when he chooses a very public and dramatic way to confess his love to her, she explodes with rage and crushes him completely. You really end up sympathizing with both of them, which is very tough to pull off in this particular situation.

Many years later a much harder and impressive Soo-jeong (known at work as the Director Killer) awaits the arrival of her new boss, who just happens to be -- you guessed it -- Joo-yeon. Here's the real irony: they don't recognize each other, and proceed to fall in love. Again.

I liked this drama because it packed a lot of story in just twelve episodes. The romance isn't really plausible, but I decided to buy it anyway. There's also a wonderful secondary romance between the leads' best friends that almost eclipses the main storyline. Finally, there are enough twists and turns in the conflict to keep you interested right up to the final episode. The grandmother antagonist is super horrible, though, so that may be triggering to anyone who has suffered emotional and physical abuse at home. Available on Viki.com.

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