Eve(2022) is acalculated revenge plotseries that is powered by a tragedy. From the day it was announced, fans were attracted by its aesthetic scenes, calculated dialogue, and star-studded cast. It made the show one of themost anticipated K-Dramasto watch this year. Directed by Park Bong-Seop,Eveis evenly spread over 16 episodes, where each one delivers a new twist. With one of the most talented casts delivering fully embodied characters,thrilling plot lines and turns, intense, but alluring music scores, and explicit scenes adding to its mature outlook, Eve has already grasped a big audience. Its popularity even left behind some of themost anticipated filmsof 2022.
The story follows Lee La-El (Seo Ye-Ji), whose father was brutally murdered by then politician Han Pan-Ro’s (Jeon Kook-Hwan) men. In order to take over her father’s successful business and gifting it to Kang Yoon-Gyeom (Park Byung-Eun), Han Pan-Ro orders to kill her father. With the help of a human rights lawyer, Seo Eun-Pyeong (Lee Sang-Yeob), La-El manages to escape to the USA to save her life. She spends 13 years of her life concocting a plan to get revenge on Kang Yoon-Gyeom, chairman of LY Group, and Han Pan-Ro, who is now Prime Minister. La-El changes her identity to Kim Sun-Bin, a delicate and charismatic ballet teacher and tango dancer who lives the perfect suburban life, and befriends Han So-Ra, wife of Yoon-Gyeom and daughter of Han Pan-Ro.
Unlike other main leads, Lee La-El/Kim Sun-Bin is a very calculating and manipulative character who has been hurt in the past and wants to get her father’s revenge. Though other leads would take the higher road, Lee La-El is someone to fall on the level of those who did her wrong to make them pay. She becomes a part of the trillions of Won worth of divorce settlement that shakes the entire country and makes the cut-throat elite drag each other around.
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What Worked:
The first thing anybody who is watching or has watchedEveinstantly notices is the cast and their acting prowess. The stars of the show completely embody the characters they are assigned, and deliver stellar performances. Though getting involved in a scandal last year and giving out a formal apology at the start of this year, Seo Ye-Ji made a brilliant comeback on screen, and in people’s hearts throughEve.Seo Ye-Ji is the perfect lead for Lee La-El/Kim Sun-Bin. Her acting versatility has previously been appreciated in shows likeLawless LawyerandIt’s Okay Not to Be Okay.As the lead of Eve, she portrays the duality of her character through her spine-chilling performance as the innocent lamb in the first few episodes. Her character builds up to show her as the revenge-fueled La-El, who has the most thrilling, yet charismatic expressions throughout the series. In order to seduce Yoon-Gyeom to get her revenge, she delivers her lines in the most alluring way that even viewers get attracted to her instantly. Her quality of acting throughout the series as Lee La-El is extraordinary and defines her as an actress to look out for.
The supporting cast was also a spectacular choice, evident from the depth of each character. Park Byung-Eun (KingdomandAssassination),plays Kang Yoon-Gyeom, LY Group’s chairman, whose married life is shown to be as un-amusing as his actual life. Kang Yoon-Gyeom is depicted as someone who perfectly compliments Lee La-El, and someone who only feels emotions after Kim Sun-Bin enters his life. He brings out an agitated and uneasy environment with his character, that viewers are bound to feel. And then, onto the powerhouse, Han So-Ra (Yoo Sun), the obsessive wife and spoiled daughter. Yoo Sun makes Han So-Ra absolutely vicious and a remarkable parallel to Seo Ye-Ji’s Kim Sun-Bin.
One ofEve’s most exciting parts is the simple plot’s unpredictability. Written by Yoo Young-Mi, every newly aired episodebrought another twistthat would keep viewers on the edge of their seats. Most of the intense scenes in the drama are also accompanied by a beautiful musical score and great cinematography, including most of La-El’s tango performances. The intense climaxes and character development, along with the storyline, are executed to perfection so that they do not seem forced. Viewers see Han So-Ra become more authoritarian,La-El falls in lovewith Yoon-Gyeom, and Seo Eun-Pyeong develops such strong feelings for La-El that he would go to the ends of the world to help her.
Each member of the cast features emotions that send chills through the hearts of fans. The show also talks about power dynamics between a man and a woman as a recurring theme. The characters on the show do not suspect Kim Sun-Bin to be the mastermind behind their new shortcomings, because she acts like a simple housewife. Moreover, we also see the power abuse from the elite that ends up ruining a lot of lives. These elitists are also shown as people who do not have the perfect lives they claim to have.Evealso targets the passing of abusive behavior in families from parent to child. This is most evident through Han Pan-Ro’s abusive behavior toward So-Ra, making So-Ra verbally abusive to her daughter Da-Bi.
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What Didn’t Work:
Though not much bad can be said about this mind-boggling series, there are a few things that did not sit well with viewers. One of them being the naivety of Kang Yoon-Gyeom as he falls prey to some of the most apparent tactics of seduction. Those watching were expecting a more dramatic flare from Yoon-Gyeom towards the seduction attempts. However, they were let down as they could easily predict the next scene. Viewers have also commented that, as his character is that of the main lead, it could do with less blank-faced scenes. This aspect did not match well with his ruthless businessman image. This confused viewers if he was actually the lead character with whom everybody was falling in love.
Despite the expression discrepancies, viewers were still put off by Yoon-Gyeom becoming the sacrificial lamb in the end. Though it meant that La-El’s revenge was complete, and the ending of the drama lived up to what the story was building towards, Yoon-Gyeom dying for love seemed too obvious and predictable. For many, it did not live up to the suspense and thrill of what the show was about simply because the storyline became stagnant right at the end.
Additionally, but not necessarily, fans were not fully confident in Seo Ye-Ji’s acting. It has been critiqued for being limited to wide eyes and blank faces in most of Kim Sun-Bin’s interactions with Yoon-Gyeom, which also brought doubts about their chemistry.
