The Third Charm Review: An Unpredictable But Emotionally Frustrating Drama

I took up this drama after my friend strongly recommended it to me. Also, I had never seen a Seo Kang Joon drama before and was wanting to watch one. Now I’m not sure if ‘The Third Charm’ is his best work because he was quite good in it. Actress Esom is also good in the drama. When the two leads are so good the drama must be a treat to watch, right? Well, that’s debatable because my friend loved this drama a lot while I’m just okay with it. The way the drama started I thought I would love it too but Esom’s character frustrated me to no end and I wanted to connect my head with hers only to understand the motivation behind her actions. ‘The Third Charm’ can be credited for being a realistic drama because in real life too women can be as indecisive, unreasonable and annoying as Young Jae. Real men can be overly attached, emotional and dependant as Joon Young. But despite everything I failed to fully understand these two characters. However, the show did successfully made me aware of the fact that people in this world are as different as the fingers on our palms.  

 

 

The Third Charm (2018) (16 Episodes)

On Joon Young (Seo Kang Joon) is a nerdy university student whose life revolves around his books and nothing else. He loves cooking and prepares meals regularly for his family. At the university, his friends go on a group blind date and he tags along. On the blind date, he meets Lee Young Jae (Esom) a hair stylist who, despite his thick glasses and uptight appearance finds him cute and goes on a date with him. On the first date, they accidentally exchange their bags which prompts them to meet again. The second time they meet, they end up kissing each other thereby cementing a special bond between them. However, circumstances change drastically for Young Jae who then breaks up with Joon Young stomping mercilessly over his heart. But their story does not end here because they meet again and again in life.

Let’s weigh this cutie cute yet really real drama on our drama beam balance and weigh the goods and bads of this drama. 

 

 

Good Weights

I enjoyed watching ‘The Third Charm’ because…

…Seo Kang Joon was just fab. Seo Kang Joon’s character Joon Young goes through a lot of changes in life which alters in his personality. However, what doesn’t change is his body language. His mannerism continues to be that of the diffident nerd, which he originally is.

I appreciated the fact that getting lenses and taking off braces does not really change the person entirely. Kang Joon effectively portrays a gamut of emotions that his character experiences.

 

…Esom was just perfect for this role. I liked her in the drama ‘Because This is Our First Life’, in which she played the role of an ambitious working woman.

Her personality in both the dramas is quite similar. She is grumpy and no fun. But then Young Jae’s personality balances out Joon Young’s naivety. I have a lot of problem with her character but I think she did a good job on the acting front. The character’s mood clearly reflected on her face. Young Jae goes through various complicated emotions and Esom portrayed that to perfection.  

 

…I loved Joon Young’s sister Ri Won a lot. Ri Won is that annoying younger sibling we all hate from the bottom of our hearts. She is a major snitch and sees through her brother’s lies too easily. She hardly has any screen time but she is there in every episode and I really enjoyed watching her scenes. As her love story develops in the show, she gets even more interesting and funny. Do watch out for her because she is too cute.

 

Bad Weights

I did NOT LIKE ‘The Third Charm’ because…

…for probably the first time ever I HATED the male second lead. I have one entire blog post dedicated to my beloved second-leads. This drama is an exception because the second lead was too fake and forced in the story. It felt like the writers were held at gunpoint to add the second lead and they did so without giving much of thought behind his existence. The most annoying thing about Ho Chul was the fact that he is always smiling. ALWAYS!!

I get that second-leads to have to be unusually sweet and kind so as to look better than the main hero to tempt the female lead to even consider him as an option. An ideal second lead has to be smart, rich, and lovable. Ho Chul is all of this but visibly fake. His character lacks depth and seems too unreal. Who smiles like that? He smiles even while talking about his divorce. I bet he must be smiling even in his sleep. 

The way he meets Young Jae and falls in love with her is too easy and again FAKE! The kind of coincidences between these two making them bump into each other time and again is too convenient and clearly forced. Now, Kdramas have flourished over the years because of a ton of such coincidences. So, it is nothing new for a regular drama watcher. But, sometimes these coincidences become too much to swallow. How can the doctor be at the same place at the same time as the heroine not once, not twice but every time? Every meeting of theirs was an eye roll moment for me. Let me just say it, I hate the doctor guy. And it’s not even because he is ‘supposedly’ the third angle but because his character is clearly shoehorned in the story.

 

…Young Jae frustrated me a lot. I personally believe that our state of mind is in our hands. Life is never a bed of roses. Not for anybody. Everyone faces his or her share of challenges and facing them is inevitable. But how we do it is entirely up to us. We can go through the difficult times in our life crying and complaining or with a smile on our face and a hammer in our hand smashing each problem in our way. Young Jae, I feel likes to be sad. Never once did I see her work hard towards being happy in life. She finds herself gloomy and lonely because that is what she picks for herself. I’m not judging her but I personally would not want to befriend such a negative person. One tragedy in her life shakes her completely. I get it. But I hate the fact that she ruins the life of the person with her only because she is sad. She does that not once but several times and to people who truly love her. It’s sickening to see someone acting this selfish.   

…I could not accept Joon Young as a policeman. Yes, I said that appreciated the fact that Kang Joon was in character throughout the drama but making him a policeman while retaining his pet peeves makes no sense.

Joon Young fears the sight of blood and is almost neurotic about germs and hygiene then how does he nab criminals without taking them down? For the kind of job he is in, I found it difficult to believe he is a detective with such nit-picks. He looks perfect as the brooding lover. Perfect as the romantic lover. But certainly not the perfect policeman.

 

…the trajectory the show takes is not predictable. In fact, it is completely shocking. But I felt it was also nonsensical. I felt that the writers added just anything to make the show look thought-provoking when it was clearly just frustrating. The stupidest part is how Joon Young changes his career line each time he has a breakup. And it’s not even like he switches jobs or jumps over similar profiles. He opts for a completely unrelated and new careers every single time. Who does that? Is that even possible to make such drastic changes in ones’ profession? Once again, I feel the writers did this probably to make the show different. ‘It doesn’t matter how irrational the storyline seems as long as it is different it is good’ was probably what they were thinking while bringing ‘supposed’ twists to the story.

 

 

‘The Third Charm’ may boast of a good cast but the script is heavily flawed which causes this boat to sink eventually. I finished this drama a while ago and what still remains with me is its OST. The song ‘Think About You’ by YONGZOO is the obvious best one.

I give The Third Charm 2.5 out of 5 ratings. The Third Charm starts well, staggers in the middle and then falls flat in the end. The only good thing about this drama is the cast. Seo Kang Joon and Esom do full justice to their characters and so do the supporting cast. Sadly, the script fails them.

 

Where To Watch ‘The Third Charm’ – Amazon and Viki

 

Feature Image Courtesy: Amazon.com

Screenshots Courtesy: JTBC 

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