Korean media questions “Eve” production team’s casting and points out the awkwardness Seo Ye-ji’s acting
Many viewers found it hard to sympathize with the fateful tragedy in the drama “Eve” because of Seo Ye-ji’s acting.
“Tragedy makes us feel weak because it gives us the fear and shudders through a sense of crisis that pain can come to us and people around us at any time”. In the plan of tvN’s Wednesday-Thursday drama “Eve”, this work is described as a “beautiful tragedy” that tells the story of pain and love. Through this, the intention of “Eve”, which talks about catharsis, seems to aim for the tragedy that Aristotle said.
However, it is not easy to feel the solemn and heavy catharsis given by tragedies while watching “Eve”. In fact, such emotions can come from compassion and sympathy for the fate of people who is in pain. However, “Eve” has the characteristic of a revenge drama, which is too strong and superficial. Above all, no deep sympathy for Lee Ra-el (Seo Ye-ji), the main character who should give such tension, can be seen.
Lee Ra-el suffered a tragedy in which her father died because of Han Pan-ro (Jeon Kook-hwan), a former prime minister who owns the LY Group, and Kim Jung-chul (Jung Hae-kyun), a former NIS agent who is now the vice-chairman of LY Group, and her mother disappeared. The company run by her father was handed over and even his closest aides betrayed him. The tattoo on Lee Ra-el’s back, which is another “painful thing” placed there to cover the wounds she suffered at that time, shows how this character is trying to overcome the pain of the tragedy she experienced – “Some wounds need to be covered with more pain to be healed.”
Just as the wound is covered with a complicated tattoo, the face that Lee Ra-el shows are bound to be multi-layered. Wearing a mask and seducing Kang Yoon-gyeom (Park Byung-eun), Lee Ra-el is shaken by a sense of similarity with that man, who also lost his biological mother because she was a housemaid, amidst her determination for revenge. Lee Ra-el returns with revenge and is carrying out her plans one after another but in front of Han So-ra (Yoo Sun), whom she intentionally approached, she looks like a friendly younger sister.
Although she seduces Kang Yoon-gyeom, this is not for her passion or desire, but because she wants to destroy and avenge, the temptation of Lee Ra-el is both fascinating and sad. In addition, she seems to be telling a rather snobbish but pleasant story in front of Han So-ra, but when she turns around, she has to reveal a sharp knife-like creep. At the same time, she tries to hide her identity from the characters who remind her of Lee Ra-el in the past, which resembles Seo Eun-pyeong (Lee Sang-yeop), but she must contain hesitating emotions that she cannot show there.
So, the appearance of instruments such as Piazzola’s tango and bandoneon is to cast pain and sadness onto this dance, which already contains a fatal fascination, but it is unknown whether this is being expressed effectively. The drama focuses on the tragedy created by a chaotic mixture of revenge and love, which is solved by a character named Lee Ra-el, but these complex expressions seem to be burdensome with Seo Ye-ji’s acting.
Of course, due to her image after various controversies, viewers cannot easily sympathize with the plot easily. However, aside from those non-drama-related factors, Seo Ye-ji’s acting feels too awkward (even in bed scenes or kiss scenes). The audience feels like she couldn’t become the character as a whole and is only touching the outside parts.
Of course, the script itself does not contain such depth as to sound like “tragedy,” but at least the actors will be able to exert their power by filling in the empty corners. For example, Yoo Seon, who plays Han So-ra in this drama, shows a distinct difference compared to Seo Ye-ji’s acting. However, as Seo Ye-ji, who needs to balance the story, shakes, “Eve” continues to edge closer to becoming a crazy drama that sounds deep but is actually not.
In fact, the production team must have been fully aware that Seo Ye-ji was embroiled in various controversies at the time. Nevertheless, if she was cast, it would have been a decision based on her acting ability that is expected to overcome such controversy. However, based on the results, it is hard to understand why they cast Seo Ye-ji, who shows controversially awkward acting. In the end, the ratings, which have fallen to the 2% range, perfectly describe the viewers’ disappointment.
Source: Daum
