Imitation Korean Drama Premiere, Bossam: Steal the Fate – Weekly Reviews 5/8/21

The Imitation Korean drama premiere headlined a slew of drama premieres this week. Others include Bossam: Steal the Fate, Youth of May, and Mine. I am thrilled to get some new watches!

Imitation Korean Drama Premiere

I have been anticipating the Korean drama Imitation for some time. I’m not a huge fan of high school dramas, but I often like dramas with high-school-aged characters that are set outside of schools. I guess I don’t want to go back to school!

Based on a popular webtoon, Imitation tells the story of Lee Ma Ha (actress Jeong Ji So), a rookie Kpop idol who wants to make it big. After a rocky start, she gains attention for her similarity to a popular idol, but earns the ire of other idols in the process. One of those is popular boy bander Kwon Ryok (Lee Jun Young of U-KISS).

I thought I had an idea of what I was getting into when I watched the premiere of Imitation, but it surprised me. It’s not quite what I expected. The first episode took a much more melodramatic tone than one of a standard romantic comedy. This is somewhat normal for school dramas, but less so for musicals. And the characters do sing and dance and almost sparkle on stage, but the theme of this drama is facade and how those use a false exterior do so to exist in a very harsh world.

Watch the Imitation Korean drama premiere on Viki.

Bossam: Steal the Fate

Bossam: Steal the Fate made rating history this week by taking the highest ratings ever for the premiere of an MBN drama. For good reason – this drama sucked me in immediately. It’s punchy and compelling while drawing attention to an unusual custom of Joseon Korea.

Jung Il Woo plays Ba Woo, a destitute father who engages in bossam, or widow-stealing. His character tries to keep a semblance of morality by only stealing widows who want to be married to the men paying for the bossam. Ba Woo decides to quit, but his bumbling and greedy partner (Lee Joon Hyuk) talks him into one last high-paying bossam.

Bullied by her dead husband’s parents, princess Soo Kyung (played by Girls Generation Kwon Yuri) maintains her royal dignity as much as possible. She loyally continues to wear mourning clothes after the period of mourning her husband is over. Her brother-in-law Lee Dae Yeop (Shin Hyun Soo) loves Soo Kyung, but his parents promised him to another. Ba Woo, misdirected by his partner, goes to the wrong house and accidentally steals the princess. Chaos ensues.

Excellent pacing and tone define this drama so far. The story weaves between heavy and light, appropriate for both a historical and a romance. The music jumped from Kpop ballads to bouncy traditional instrumentals, but the uncharacteristic styles sometimes threw me out of the scene. The cinematography choices are strange for a saeguk. The drama has a washed-out tone, almost as if it was being filmed with a VSCO filter.

During the second episode, a plot by the baddie ensues which seems completely illogical, but Jung Il Woo and Yuri manage to make it seem more believable. I hope the plot doesn’t derail or write itself into a corner with the bad guy. Ba Woo’s son Cha Dol (Ko Dong Ha) steals every scene he is in. I look forward to his character development in the series.

Watch Bossam: Steal the Fate on Viki.

So I Married the Anti-Fan

I dropped this drama. I wish I liked it more, because I like Soo Young a lot. But it’s just not working for me at all. The ratings tend to agree, but maybe I’ll give it another chance later if I hear better things about it.

Did you see the Imitation Korean drama premiere?

I think the Imitation Korean drama premiere promised some good things in the future for this drama. Did you see it? What did you think?

Or did you watch one of the other dramas? Share your thoughts with us in the comments!