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List of KDramas and Their Grades

To make your next drama selection a little easier, I have sorted all the Korean dramas I've watched into one list, ranked by grade. They...

Sunday, April 15, 2018

KDrama to Miss: Pretty Man/Bel Ami (2013)


Bel Ami/Pretty Man/Pretty Boy (2013)

Grade: C
16 Episodes, 1 hour each
Viewing Platform: Dramafever

Plucky Kim Bo Tong has only one ambition in life: to marry her longtime crush Dok Go Ma Te. Unfortunately, the pretty playboy has an ambition that is at odds with Bo Tong's goal: to flirt his way to the top, on the backs of the rich, powerful and lonely women he finds. It's all in an effort to provide for his mother, a kind, caring woman who has struggled to make a living their whole lives. His father was never in the picture, but his mother assures him it was for their own protection, and when the time was right, Ma Te would be able to meet his father. Unfortunately, Ma Te's mother is harboring a secret: she is dying. Then a mysterious woman shows up, claiming to know Ma Te's true origins and says he will have to conquer many women in order to learn from them and meet his father. Ma Te must learn to understand things like the true essence of money; how to control people's hearts; networking; perfect timing; the importance of clout; using power; gathering intel; being steadfast; the woman who loves only him; and what makes a Mother, the most powerful and frightening of them all. Will Bo Tong remain at Ma Te's side, as she promised his mother? How will she handle Ma Te's manipulative methods, doing whatever it takes to be in a position worthy enough to meet his father? And how will Ma Te untangle himself from each intimate encounter?

*I enjoyed Jang Keun-suk in “You're Beautiful,” and he is handsome, but this drama felt more like a boring, SLOOOOOWWW soap opera with the love story as the background filler. It was also distracting to have new characters introduced every other episode, only to disappear and never be seen again (with one or two exceptions). It doesn't give the viewer enough time to develop a rapport with the characters; the whole story felt weak. The antagonist's redemption wasn't believable, either. If someone spends most of their life committing unlawful and evil acts in order to ruin people's lives, there isn't enough time for that person to “make things right.” I suppose it was to make Ma Te look good by comparison, and he did go through some character development, but the formula didn't quite work. I won't watch this again.*

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