Flash Review: She is WOW

To be perfectly honest, She is WOW is pretty different from your typical kdrama.

Irreverent and saucy much of the time, and dark, bittersweet and even a little bit mysterious the rest of the time, this show is not for everyone.

I picked up this drama coz of the modest measure of positive buzz that followed it while it aired, and the bottom line, for me, is that while I don’t think this drama is quite my cup of tea, in its own irreverent way, it manages to still be a thought-provoking show that asks some hard questions.

THE MAIN DIFFERENCE

So what makes this show so different from a typical kdrama, you might ask?

Basically, most kdramas work overtly to build family values and bring us the warm fuzzy love feels, whether in romantic, bromantic, platonic &/or familial forms. This drama, on the other hand, adopts a much more satirical tone and, well, subverts it all, pretty much.

With titular main character Go Ah Ra (Oh Hyun Kyung) and her husband Jung Han (Park Sung Woong) spending pretty much all 12 episodes of the drama going to ridiculous lengths to protect their for-show-only marriage, Show shines the spotlight on a very thought-provoking theme indeed.

That is, the lengths people go to, in order to show the world their just-so, oh-so-wonderful, picture-perfect life.

It’s something that I’ve thought a lot about before, and that happens a lot in the world today, with social media.

People put on their best poses and brightest smiles for photos that get uploaded to Facebook, Twitter, Instagram &/or [insert your social media platform of choice], but that doesn’t mean that they necessarily are living the happy lives that they are showing the world.

All we see are the ecstatic smiles. What we don’t see, many a time, is the frustration and tedium and even heartache that really goes on in people’s lives.

Sure, the show exaggerates this phenomenon – & perhaps it’s not even that exaggerated for some people, really – but it definitely brings out the point, and that point is thought-provoking indeed.

Why do we bother so much with the face that we show the world? Does it make us happier if we appear happy to the world? Does it really make us more successful, if people think we are successful? And perhaps most thought-provoking of all, is the question, “Is it worth it?”

Layered on top of this theme, there’s also the accompanying point: when we see other people’s happy facades, most of us tend to covet that “happiness” for ourselves. The question is, if/when we do get what we covet, does that really truly bring us happiness?

[SPOILER ALERT]

One key example of this in the show, is lonely Ah Ra coveting the handsome General Choi next door (Han Jung Soo), who, despite having a loving wife (Ahn Sun Young), can’t help but fall for the top star, who slyly and oh-so-deliberately unleashes her coquettish charm on him.

While it’s played mostly for (ironic) laughs, in the end, the affair further complicates Ah Ra’s already complicated life, and she dumps the poor, smitten General, who’s fallen out of love with his wife in the process and in the end he basically loses, well, everything.

Again, in itself, this is a thought-provoking lesson on choices and consequences. That, and never believing an aging, fading top star desperate to convince herself – and others – that she’s still got her mojo.

[END SPOILER]

LEVEL OF ENGAGEMENT

A Positive Trajectory

Given the show’s jaunty pace and tongue-in-cheek vibe, I was actually quite happily engaged with the show’s narrative, up till about episode 6.

Experimental, impertinent, and sometimes downright saucy, Show felt like a guilty pleasure sort of indulgence, as it unleashed unexpected twists and turns with each episode.

[SPOILER ALERT]

Some highlights for me include:

1. The execution of General’s sexytimes with the wifey for their Make A Baby Project in an early episode, is full of suggestive parallel symbolism, and was a hoot to watch, for the audacity alone. Very cheeky and quite funny.

2. General Choi delivering the sexy kisses in episode 3 – Mmm. Han Jung Soo can definitely kiss.

3. The bed scene in episode 3, between General Choi and Ah Ra, is full of rawr.

After some seriously sexy build-up, though, the scene gets completely turned on its head when Ah Ra bursts out laughing at the size of the strapping General’s, er, package. Which she likens to a pencil.

Pwahaha! Way to whip out the unexpected, eh? But also, poor, mortified General Choi. Snicker.

[END SPOILER]

Amid all the shenanigans, I eventually developed the softest spot for Ah Ra’s and Jung Han’s son Min Gyu (Jin Young).

Fresh-faced and audacious, Min Gyu brought a nice quotient of fresh to the show’s overall flavor.

With both Mom and Dad too preoccupied with keeping up appearances to actually care about him, Min Gyu effectively becomes an outcast in his own family, and the scenes centering around that idea of Min Gyu being marginalized by the two people in the world who should have been caring for him, were some of the most poignant in the show, for me.

At the same time, this raised another key question in the show: What makes a family?

[SPOILER ALERT]

If you can’t acknowledge your father or your mother and have to pretend you’re somebody else, does that still make you a family?

[END SPOILER]

Min Gyu’s fairly random romance with teacher’s assistant Nan Hee (Yang Jin Sung) also added equal measures of cute and bittersweet to the show, even though some of their scenes felt too protracted and quite arbitrary.

Where It Started to Go Downhill

As Ah Ra’s and Jung Han’s lies start to catch up to them, everything starts to unravel by mid-episode 6.

And as everything unraveled, more and more complications and side characters got introduced to our narrative, to the point that I actually felt confused about who was supposed to be involved in what. I even became convinced that I wasn’t actually following everything there was to follow.

Eventually, I just kinda stopped caring. It didn’t help that tonally, the show also became a lot darker and a lot less fun to watch.

IN THE END

By the show’s end, everything got decently wrapped up with several casualties on the side, even though I questioned the logic of some of the story’s developments.

The manipulative fake-out was used more than once in the final episode, which is a device that I despise abhor disdain don’t appreciate, in principle.

The final episode’s sudden emphasis on family also felt unnatural and forced, after the show’s earlier flagrant treatment of the concept of a family and what that means.

So while the show started well, to me, it lost its grip on its tone midway through its run and never quite recovered from it.

Ultimately, though, She is WOW dared to be different, and dared to experiment, which is commendable.

Although this show is sort of touted as a show about affairs and infidelity, it managed to make some pretty hard-hitting, shrewd statements about facades and truth, and provoke thought in a way that few kdramas manage to.

Not a bad achievement at all, for a show that didn’t quite live up to its potential.

THE FINAL VERDICT:

Starts out outrageously bold & zippy, and even manages to be thought-provoking. Too bad Show loses its way towards the end.

FINAL GRADE: C+

TRAILER:

MV:

For those who had a soft spot for Min Gyu’s bittersweet romance with Nan Hee, here’s a little MV for ya.

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Outrose
Outrose
4 years ago

(SPOILERS!!!)

I first watched the show when I was around 15,16 and I didn’t like the show as I couldn’t understand the ending. However, when I rewatched the show recently, I finally understood all the dark implications of the show. This show is NOT for minors, it has no happy ending, and all the nice, innocent, good guys die in the end. The ending was open for interpretation but there was no doubt that someone in the family murdered sungki. or maybe all 3 of them (as much as I would like to think mingyu is just a naive and dumb guy with no idea of what’s going on). It is truly cynical and shows the dark side of society and the lengths people would go just to keep their facade. What happened to sungki is truly tragic and it really gives me goosebumps when I saw his demise.

kfangurl
4 years ago
Reply to  Outrose

That’s really interesting, that your experience of the show changed so much over time, Outrose! I’ve had that happen to me before with other shows, like Chuno, whose ending I only came to appreciate on my second watch. I must admit, it’s been too long since I watched this show, and the details are now too hazy for me to fully appreciate your insights. I’m curious though, what made you decide to watch this again, since you didn’t like the show to begin with? 🙂

1sunnylady
8 years ago

i will comment just for the sake of it. I.AGREE 😀

kfangurl
8 years ago
Reply to  1sunnylady

HAHAHA!! You crack me up, Sunny! XD Thank you for agreeing!! You sweet thang, you <3

Brenda
Brenda
8 years ago

I enjoyed the first episode or two, but after that I grew to hate it more and more until the end. It lost its comic, satirical edge and became cheap, sleazy, cynical and ugly. This drama received a 2/10 from me, which is the lowest score I have ever given a drama. I was so disappointed in it, because it began well, starred several gifted actors, and wasted all of that potential.

kfangurl
8 years ago
Reply to  Brenda

You’re absolutely right, Brenda. This show started out funny and satirical, and ended on a much less funny note. I didn’t enjoy the ending much myself, but I wonder if that shift was intentional from the beginning? Like, did the writers intend that message to come through, that “it’s all fun and games until the truth catches up with you and bites you where the sun don’t shine”? It wouldn’t surprise me, given that kdramas, at their heart, strive to uphold family and moral values, and this show started out subverting them all. We may never know the answer to that, but it’s definitely food for thought? 🙂

Lady G.
8 years ago

Saucy indeed! Shocking, almost, to someone who’s still a little new to Kdrama and readjusting themselves to that type of TV. Like trying a spoonful of Gochujang thinking it’s a mild salsa. (The kind I buy resembles salsa. lol)

This series was very much like a dark American show. Of course with the Korean flair.

I liked your comment about Social media, it’s really one big fake-out at times. Unless you know someone personally, all you can believe is what they choose to put out to the world.

I don’t think I was ready for this crazy shift in tone at the time, but all the dark twists and fake outs kept me on my toes. I don’t mind a good fake-out, if it’s done right. I particularly did not like the lead family much at all. So I wasn’t completely surprised by the last minute turn of events. You really weren’t sure who to root for in this crazy stew. And that ending still kinda leaves me scratching my head.

The opening theme song, along with some cool instrumentals later, were very catchy.

I was just thrilled to see something that kinda/sorta starred Han Jung Soo. And impressed he took on a role that totally emasculated him. (Wonder how many jokes he endured in real life about it?) Because in appearance, to me anyway, he’s an epitome of manliness.

<3 SWOON! <3

He totally won people over with his earnest Secretary Ko in Blade Man last year, even though the series tanked. It wasn't by any fault of his. I wish he'd be considered for a leading role – I think he'd be perfect for the non-cotton candy dramas OCN and TVN offer. Hardboiled Detective, striking secret agent, tough-as-nails prosecutor, Sageuk hero-general-KING, or an aging gangster with a change of heart and loyalties…

Why is he always overlooked?

And I'm sure it didn't fly over your head that HJS' character's name was General CHOI?? ;D Part of the ironic, tongue in cheek laughs you mentioned. Direct descendent? My beloved Choi from Chuno would hang his head.

kfangurl
8 years ago
Reply to  Lady G.

You’re absolutely right, this series has a distinct American flavor to it, in spite of it still being a kdrama. All that sauciness has a Desperate Housewives sort of vibe to it, I think.

I wasn’t prepared for the shift in tone either – it was too big of a departure from the initial outrageous irreverent vibe, and it almost felt like a completely different show. I respect a fakeout that’s well done, but I have little patience for what I call the manipulative fakeout, where audiences are strung along on purpose, and there’s little build-up or context to support the fakeout on hindsight. At its worst, shows even use differently filmed versions of the same scene to support their manipulative fakeout. I don’t find that particularly clever, and don’t appreciate it when a show uses that approach to try to appear smarter than its audience. I didn’t find the final fakeout in this show very clever, to be honest. But points for trying? 😛

Aw, Han Jung Soo. What a good-natured bloke he must be, to have accepted a role like this! And YES, I totally thought of his role in Chuno – what’re the chances of him being General Choi in both shows?? XD I would recommend Prosecutor Princess for a bit more of Han Jung Soo’s stoic charm, except that there are so many things that grated on me in that show that I hesitate to push the idea. The OST is not great AND it’s applied in a very heavy-handed manner, plus I didn’t much care for Kim So Yeon’s ditzy character in it. I’ve also since fallen off the Park Shi Hoo bandwagon, which doesn’t help. But.. Han Jung Soo is stoically charming and handsome in it, and even has his own little loveline. Does that help? 😉