Mary Stayed Out All Night (2010 TV Series)

Thursday, May 31, 2012

There was a lot of buzz on Twitter about this one. I felt left out, because, being the K-entertainment guru that I am, I should know about these things... So I set out to find it, and I did. But was it worth it?


Almost everyone in this one is stupid. Honestly

The Rundown
Behind the name: Also Known as “Marry me Mary!”
Country: South Korea, 2010
 Genre: Romance, Comedy
Network: KBS2
Director: Hong Seok-Ku, Kim Young-Kyoon
Cast: Moon Geun-Young (as Mary), Jang Keun-Suk (as Kang Mu-Gyul), Kim Jae-Wook (as Jung-In), Kim Hyo-Jin (as Seo-Jun), Park Jun Gyu (as Jung-Suk), Park Sang-Myeon (as  Mary's father), Lee A-Hyeon (as Kim So-Young), Shim Yi-Young (as Director Bang), Lee Sun-Ho (as Lee-Ahn)           
Compare with: Full House
Hate it or Love it?  Take it.  

Synopsis in a Sentence: Poor, dense girl meets indie rocker under unfortunate circumstances, but girl is too stupid to realise that her time is better spent with someone else who would be the perfect partner for her

An original Korean story based on an internet comic, Mary Stayed Out All Night seemed like a modern rendition to Full House, with some plot twists, of course…


On Writing: The Plot 

The plot’s honestly, not that great. And that’s a recipe for disaster. If you’ve seen a few Korean series, you already know the skeleton plan for this plot, and you’ll know the “big parts” too. It’s the usual: boy meets girl under unfortunate circumstances, girl and boy have to associate due to reasons unforeseen, boy and girl fall for each other…then comes the third party love interest to complete the love triangle. And of course, the same characters end up together. Stating this isn’t a spoiler because the scenario is so overplayed. How do they not expect us to know the end before it happens? Points deducted for lack of creativity. Many points.

(2/5)


 On Acting: The Cast

The cast actually wasn’t bad, but the leads weren’t great. Best actor in this one goes to Kim Jae-Wook for playing a reasonable Jung-In, and best actress goes to Shim Yi Young for playing the detestable Director Bang. 



Quite honestly, I cannot understand how the leads got accolade for their portrayals here. They honestly can do (and have done) better in other productions. Oh well…

(3/5)


On Production: The Creativity

If the plot’s not great, of course creativity will suffer. So, creativity? None. Even in production it wasn’t great. Just average.

(2.5/5)                                             


On Resolution: The Conclusion
Here the producers try to deliver a ‘different’ ending to a South Korean series. Different in that it’s not quite something you’d expect. So the resolution is slightly better than any of the other parts; not because it’s great, but because it’s an attempt at something great.

(3/5)


The Verdict: Not recommended. South Korea is capable of producing better TV series, and quite honestly, your time would be better spent watching less cringe-worthy moments of 'romantic comedy' totalling up to 16 hours... And I wasn’t the only one who thought so. But see it for yourself and decide.

Overall Score = 10.5/20

 
 



0 comments

Post a Comment