Madame Antoine (2016)
Grade:
C+
16
Episodes
Viewing Platform: Netflix
Viewing Platform: Netflix
Go Hye-rim is
a divorcee and single mother working as a fortune-teller in a cafe.
Her gimmick is to claim she channels the dead queen of France for her
inspiration, and she is only caught a couple times when a client
happens to understand her few memorized strings of French. Choi
Soo-hyeon is an award-winning psychologist, and he opens a counseling
center right above Hye-rim's cafe after entering a business deal with
a makeup manufacturer. Soo-hyeon is determined to prove women do not
know or express true love, claiming it is all a temporary
hormone-induced state, of which companies can take advantage in their
advertising strategies. What happens when Soo-hyeon decides to try
and win Hye-rim's affections? Will she fall for the rich, famous
doctor, as Soo-hyeon hypothesizes, or will the psychologist find
himself the victim of his own experiment? And how will Soo-hyeon's
abandonment as a child influence his relationship with the pretty
fortune-teller?
* I
had a hard time seeing Sung Joon as a male lead – he's played the
antagonist in at least a couple dramas, and he just isn't attractive
in my eyes. He has that cold, intellectual, almost mean look to him,
and I'm just not sure this character's vulnerabilities were enough to
see him as anything but the “bad guy.” Go Hye-rim's character was
cute, but having her daughter end up living with her ex-husband
seemed like a shortcut for allowing Hye-rim to be carefree in her
dating, and the deception between the two main characters got old
fast. The old grandma having a crush on the guy 30+ years younger
than her was really weird, too, although it didn't go too far (thank
goodness). This drama had an okay ending, and I liked the
mischievous, playful tone in the main theme song, as well as some of
the initial “who's deceiving who” mind games. Definitely not
scientifically or even ethically sound, though. It's okay for a
first-watch, but I probably won't watch it again.*
