Today’s drama review is an MBC production that aired in 2018. Tempted (a.k.a. The Great Seducer) is a drama written by Kim Bo-yeon and directed by Kang In.
This drama is loosely based on the french novel ‘Les Liaisons dangereuses’ and stars Woo Do-hwan as Kwon Shi-hyun, Moon Ga-young as Choi Soo-ji and Kim Min-jae as Lee Se-joo.
The Story
The drama tells the story of the friendship between Shi-hyun, Soo-ji and Se-joo, and how they use power, family connections and money to obtain what they want. While plotting a revenge to get back at Soo-ji’s ex, they meet Eun Tae-hee (Park Soo-young, a.k.a. Red Velvet’s Joy) who is supposedly the ex’s first love, but things don’t go exactly the way they want.
Throughout the first episodes Shi-hyun tries to seduce Tae-hee. The narrative of the story follows the original story line from the book only partially with the mental games and plots of the three friends, but Shi-hyun ends up falling for Tae-hee. That changes many things and it definitely changes the plan he and his friend had agreed to.
At some point, the drama becomes more of a romance with a lot of drama than a thriller, and things get complicated with the constant lying, plotting and backstabbing.
The love story between Shi-hyun and Tae-hee gets complicated and toxic at times, but they had cute and heartfelt moments that I absolutely adored.
The Actors
One thing that is undeniable, is the performance of the actors. Woo Do-hwan and Moon Ga-young portrayed the roles flawlessly and I could really see the struggles, fears and feelings of their characters.
Joy’s acting took me by surprise. She is really good in this drama! Her character was written at the beginning to be a strong, independent and hard working female, but at one stage I felt that part of it was lost because of the romantic relationship plot. Thankfully, her character pulls herself up and goes back to being the strong person she was.
Kim Min-jae’s role left me with mixed feelings. During the first episodes, I felt that the character had a complicated story that could develop even more, but at some stage I felt that his personal story was left on the backburner and then the romance took over.
Friendships
One aspect that got me hooked to this drama was the friendship between Kwon Shi-hyun, Choi Soo-ji and Lee Se-joo. The characters had great chemistry and even though the relationship between this trio was complicated at times, they still had a sense of brotherhood that was great to watch.
Their friendship was honest and fun to watch but it started to lose its meaning as the drama progresses, and I felt that more could have been done for the three of them and their story.
Final Thoughts
‘Tempted; was a drama that I started with high expectations. The cast was fantastic and the acting superb, but I felt that some parts could have been written differently and some of the relationships and personal stories could have had more development and different endings.
Overall, ‘Tempted’ was a great drama to binge watch and it also had some stunning visuals, so make sure to check it out. Check the trailer below:
