Drama Review: Alice in Cheongdamdong (2012)

Rating: 7/10

The Cast:

Park Shi Hoo as Cha Seung Jo

Moon Geun Young as Han Se Kyung

So Yi Hyun as Seo Yoon Joo

Kim Ji Sook as Tommy Hong

The Plot:

A Candy heroine who tired became a Candy and wants to be “Cheongdamdong Wife” while pursue a career as designer. She meets a wacky, mentally disorder chaebol, Cha Seung Jo, old friend, Seo Yoon Joo and fashion designer, Tommy Hong all the way to move closer to live up her dream in Cheongdamdong. 

Review:

A social commentary drama about present day Korea that uphold materialism in form of money, physical beauty, and other worldly things. To be” Cheongdamdong Wife” one must possess money, brain, and beauty and all should be done in elegant manner. Many women want to climb social ladder but only a select and lucky few can be chaebol’s wife. It’s the re-imaginary of Alice in Wonderland story as the heroine Han Se Kyung literally became Alice in a world that have different set of rules and standards, Cheongdamdong district in Gangnam, Seoul, South Korea.  

Se Kyung is smart, capable heroine but intelligence isn’t enough to get decent job as fashion designer. Lack of foreign education and connections means she should be satisfied with rock bottom job in fashion industry. Seung Jo is a very different chaebol that we used to see. He has mental disorder and crazy antics and he rarely makes physical abuse. He is charming, funny, and romantic and it does help that Park Shi Hoo acted with his antic comedy that made me laugh everytime he’s onscreen. The second leads are all interesting. Tommy Hong is awesome, especially towards the end of the drama when he supports Han Se Kyung to get back with Seung Jo. Seo Yoon Joo should get “best frenemy award” in which she isn’t all nice to Se Kyung but provide reality checks and guide. Even the supporting cast, Daddy Cha and Han Family are interesting characters that interact like normal people.

To be honest I like this drama. The character growths are real and didn’t feel like caricature. The romance is fluffy and sweet, the melo is not downright sad or sappy. The comedy is not over the top but it makes me laugh hard especially when Seung Jo seems like manic. Many people find this drama silly but I find it amusing. I even rooted for the second leads to be couple in the end. The story could be packed so much better and not dragged many episodes. The manipulation plot didn’t seem real as I never consider Se Kyung manipulate her feeling towards Seung Jo and Seung Jo just need to wake up to face the reality. All in all “Alice in Cheongdamdong” is a decent drama for me.

Life Lessons:  

If there’s one life lesson that people have to remember from this drama it must be that love is integral. You cannot love someone just because one thing and leave the other things. If you love someone, you need to accept his/her status, personality, money, education, physical looks, etc. You need to love him/her as a whole package.