2020 Round Up
Day 14 – the drama that could have been but wasn’t

I really, really wanted to like Private Lives. It had a good cast, a fun premise, a slick James Bond feel, and so much possibility. And it started out great! But in its motivation to deliver on the flashy and suspenseful caper it laid out for itself, it tripped over its own enthusiasm and instead left me with a lot of whiplash, a head scratched so much it nearly bled, and a much-exercised FF button. Some of this certainly could also have been helped by tighter editing (if you’re going with episodes over 60 minutes, you really need to be sure that you’ve got a story to tell the whole way through).

I finished it because a) I truly did like Seohyun and Go Kyung-pyo – they had great OTP chemistry with an interesting meet-cute and story arc, and both of them delivered solid performances despite some clunky writing, and b) I really did like all the disguises – that was a lot of fun! The ending made me heavy sigh because it tried to be a tease (for those who watched Tale of the Nine-Tailed, it was a similar gotcha approach they gave us there in the last few minutes), but at least it more or less wrapped it up.

It could have been a great show, and I hope that all the cast get a better, more streamlined story next time around.
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    I really wanted to watch this, but as it was on Netflix I decided to wait until it finished (Netflix only releases dramas on my zone when they have finished airing in SK), but after reading so many not-so-good comments from beanies, I think I’ll skip, but even without having watched it, I understand what you say as the premise looked fantastic to me.

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      I think my region is the same set up as yours – the whole show dropped into my queue on Dec 3, once it had concluded airing in SK. Honestly, I think you’re wise to skip it. I probably FF through 50-60% of it. It worked a bit better as a binge (I’m sure I would have dropped it if I’d been live watching), but ultimately I’m sure your list is already a mile long with better dramas on it. It’s a shame, but that’s how it goes sometimes.

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    I have watched some scenes with the leads, and they seem to have a great chemistry, but of all the comments I have read about the story, not a single one was positive!

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    So true. This drama changed its mind about three or four times about the story it really wanted to tell. It was unfortunate how things turned out.

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      Exactly. It just tried to do too much and muddied the waters.

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    I was interested in this because of GKP, but I there was exodus of Beanies jumping overboard after the first few episodes, so I figured it didn’t live up to its potential and didn’t bother starting it. I feel bad GKP, who’s really talented as an actor.

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      I thought both he truly did as well as he could with what he was given.

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