[mslee's thoughts] Temptation - First Thoughts, First Review and Screen caps

First thoughts as I watched the first 10 minutes of the drama is that I can't wait to share my thoughts about it. I am excited! There was something about how the story unfolds that kept me glued and anxious for the next scenes. 

If the writer keeps this pace, which I love, with the flashbacks already shown in between, putting the pieces together for easy understanding and laying out the background details of each character, then I guess, the drama will be successful in gathering audiences for a good storytelling.

Haven't felt this way for a long time now in a melodrama where all characters are intriguing and showing good individual stories of their own. All four, Yoo Se Young [CJW], Cha Seok Hoon [KSW], Na Hong Joo [Park Ha Sun] and Kang MinWoo [LJJ] have made an incredible screen time. All their scenes were great. I have a glimpsed of their past but the mystery is still there, especially in Kang Min Woo's character. 

I love the couple for the sweetness and love they have for each other. It's rare I get to watch an incredible pair playing husband and wife and get to see how it is to be a couple. For first episode, even for short scenes, I can gauge how deep the love this couple has for each other. Even in troubled times, in financial difficulties, Cha Seok Hoon cares deeply for his wife Hong Joo. There was a scene when she tried to commit suicide by drowning. Actually, this scene was already in the teasers, pre empting what's to come and I was dismayed by how she can easily give up on life. But watching the scene with subtitles, understanding the situation they were in, trying to justify her love for her husband, instead of calling her a coward, I think that scene clearly showed how she loves him and how she must save him at the cost of her life. It is wrong but I think the story just relayed the bond she and Seok Joo has as a couple. Good thing, she was saved in time by Yoo Se Young.

I want to write down first a short recap of episode 1 but these thoughts inside my head are so many I am afraid I would loose them if I put them for later. So for now, I am talking randomly about the story, about the characters.

When Seok Hoon first caught the back of Se Young walking away in the lobby of the hotel, I already sensed something although not sure if it was attraction or curiosity, but of course, I was wrong. They already knew each other before. But what's teasing me is that the chemistry [as actors] or even as their role in the story gave so much intensity by just mere look. There is already that invisible electricity surrounding Seok Hoon and Se Young which also makes me as a viewer feel giddy for what's awaiting them. But then again, I do love the couple Sek Hoon and Hong Joo already as real husband and wife, so now I am in a dilemma, knowing I care for marriage but at the same time, the allure of temptation is in the air and it's also provocative at the same time.

An indecent proposal that just came in time to save the couple from financial agony, but also a risk towards their marriage and relationship. A very tempting offer from a wealthy businesswoman who is at the middle of menopausal stage with health issues and the possibility of no longer becoming a mother in the future. Se Young's gaze at Seok Hoon signifies her attraction and interest in him. Is she toying with him and his emotions now at it's lowest? His self esteem is very low which makes her a some kind of wild animal waiting for her prey. A spider weaving web for Seok Hoon to get caught on it.

Another character that gave an impact in the pilot episode is Kang Min Woo, a wealthy President of his own company. Someone who irritates Se Young, or maybe not. Someone who never even bothered to come after her? He has a wife and two daughters already. But he also has a son outside marriage from a woman in HongKong who died. His first glance at Hong Joo, Seok Hoon's wife was not ordinary. Hong Joo in her own way captured his attention.

I can't wait for episode 2! I want more. Give me makjang if you must, writernim, but this first episode already made all the characters stand on their own. Even Park Ha Sun gave a very convincing performance as Kwon Sang Woo's wife. Personally, I am satisfied by their acting. Great cast.

Okay, will just share a short recap...

Yoo Se Young : CEO

Calculating and smart businesswoman. She is already in the first stage of menopause and has to undergo surgery. Her father questions her of being happy. She just shrug off all about it. She went to Hong Kong for a business trip.

Cha Seok Hoon and Na Hong Joo : the husband and wife

In trouble. Their company was gone bankrupt. A man who also works with Seok Hoon embezzled money and ran away. They are in deep debt. They went to Hong Kong to see the man and get the money.

Kang Min Woo : President

A husband with wife and daughters. But he seems to have lived in a frivolous way. He has a son with a different woman. Sadly she died leaving the son. His wife is pregnant and nagging him to make his mother stop from making her produce more children, particularly a son. She wants to live. I wonder if he loves her wife. I wonder about their relationship. As an easy character with lovable aura, he indulges his wife but I see that she is not happy in their marriage. He also went to Hong Kong.

Their paths crossed in Hong Kong. With different goals, they found each other. Hong Joo fell in love with the shoes already reserved by Se Young. Hong Joo met the son of Min Woo and she gave a nice and comfortable assurance to the boy. Se Young saved Hong Joo from drowning. Seok Hoon came to face his foe, Se Young.

-mslee1107-

screen caps