Jinxed at First – Full Review
Welcome to Jinxed at First – Full Review. A shaman with the ability to foresee the future falls in love with an unlucky fish monger. If you haven’t watched this drama yet, I recommend checking out my unspoiled review here.
Jinxed at First
♥ Aired: June 15 – August 4, 2022
♥# of Episodes: 16
♥Where to Watch: Viki
♥Genre: Romantic Comedy
♥Starring: Seo Hyun and Na In Woo
The Story
Two women with the ability to see the future, have spent their lives locked away to be used as a tool by a powerful hotel mogul and his family. One day, Lee Seul Bi escapes their prison and runs away. When she finds Go Myung Sung just outside her door, she is immediately drawn to him and clings to him for safety. The two spend a day together before Seul Bi is captures and sent back home. From that moment, Myung Sung is plagued with bad luck and is forced to create a new identity. But Seul Bi has never forgotten him, and when she runs away again, 2 years after their first meeting, she goes looking for him. And despite his hesitations, Myung Sung, who now goes by Gong Soo Kwang, doesn’t have the heart to turn her away. Seul Bi’s greatest wish is to just live a normal life and Myung Sung agrees to help her. But those who have relied on her powers to succeed in business won’t let go easily.
The Leads
Seo Hyun as Lee Seul Bi
Lee Seul Bi was born in the secret room of a hotel, where she has lived her whole life with her mother. The 2 women are female shaman with the ability to see the future and therefore bring good luck. Before she was even born, a young boy named Go Myung Sung reached out to touch her mother’s stomach and bound them by fate. So, when Seul Bi escaptes her room and runs into Myung Sung “by accident”, she feels an instant connection. They spend a day together before Seul Bi is captured and returned to her “prison”. Seul Bi dreams of being able to live a norm life, free from her isolated existence. So when she runs away again, she goes looking for Myung Sung one more time. And when she finds him working in his mother’s fish shop, she settles in, determined to stay by his side. She befriends the people he works with at the market and stays in his house. But Seon Sam Joong and Min Joon need her too much to let her go. Luckily, Myung Sung will do everything he can to help her find her own happiness.
Lee Seul Bi grew up sheltered, with only her mother and books to keep her company. Because of this, she is innocent and naive. Truthfully, at first, I wasn’t sure I apppreciated her abundance of immature enthusiasm. But just like Myung Sung, I found myself slowly charmed by her sincerity. Seo Hyun was endearing in this pure role and her character growth was one of the few highlights for me. I wish they had spent more time exploring her relationship with Myung Sung and less time on the whole cousin/ business story.
Na In Woo as Go Myung Sung/ Gong Soo Kwang
Go Myung Sung just recieved a highly coveted position as an intern working for Geumhwa Hotel. But while celebrating with his best friends, he runs into Seul Bi and helps her run away. When they find Seul Bi and bring her back, Myung Sung is with her, and from that moment his life begins to fall apart. He loses his internship, his mother is killed, and he barely escapes his own death with the help of a kind “stranger”. He creates a new identity and tries to put his life back together while running the fish shop his mother had owned. So 2 years later, when Seul Bi shows up again, Myung Sung is less than thrilled. But no matter how much he tries, he can’t ignore his feelings for her or his desire to help her.
Go Myung Sung is intelligent and hard working. Even when he is treated like a harbinger of bad luck, he smiles and continues to treat those around him with kindness and generosity. Myung Sung never realizes that Seul Bi’s mother is the woman who came to stay with his mother when he was just a young boy, even though that event sealed his destiny with Seul Bi. Na In Woo played this character well enough, but unfortunately the role was rather flat, with nothing very unique or interesting about it. I think more time interacting with Seul Bi might have given his character the depth he seemed to be missing.
Supporting Characters
Jeon Kwang Ryul as Seon Sam Joong
Seom Sang Joong is the CEO of Geumhwa Hotel. Like his father before him, he has taken a female shaman captive to help him succeed in his business. He is also the father of Min Joon and Seul Bi, although he thinks Seul Bi’s father is someone else. He truly loves Seul Bi’s mother but his guilt over using her talent for his own greed causes him to put up an emotional wall between them.
Yoon Ji Hye as Mi Soo
Mi Soo is Seul Bi’s mother. She fell in love with Seon Sam Joong when she was young, but like Seul Bi, she has always wanted to live a normal life with the man she loves. Even though she doesn’t think she will ever be able to have that, she hopes Seul Bi will find happiness with Myung Sung.
Ki Do Hoon as Seon Min Joon
Seon Min Joon is the son of Seon Sam Joong and the heir of Geumhwa Hotel. He was best friends with Myung Sung before Myung Sung’s disappearance 2 years ago. His father has arranged his marriage to Jo Jang Kyung as a way to help the business. But Min Joon falls in love with Seul Bi and wants to marry her. His father is against it because he doesn’t want news of Seul Bi’s past to get out. But little do either of them know she is also his half-sister.
Things I Liked
♥ Jo Jang Kyung
I liked Jo Jang Kyung as the second female lead. She was honest and straightforward about her feelings for Min Joon, but she never treated Seul Bi as competition. And when her parents threaten to break off the engagement, she leaves home. Because for her it was never about a business arrangement. She never sulks, and sets out to win Min Joon’s heart with positivity and sincerity.
♥ Modern Fairy Tale
The concept of this drama was very interesting and I liked how, in the beginning, Seul Bi felt like kind of a modern day Rapunzel. Everything about her first trip out with Myung Sung felt like a fairy tale, complete with the Prince in a crown. And while any true fan knows that fairy tales have their dark side, the last half of the show lost it’s magic for me. I wish they had focused more on the actual fairy tale, and less on the strange sub-plots.
♥ Wang Yoon Ho
I always love a gangster with a heart of gold. It was great how once Seul Bi helped Yoon Ho with his son, he was absolutely devoted to her. He never wavered, even when his own life was at stake. His bond with both Seul Bi and Myung Sung was sweet, and having him on their side really gave them the edge they needed. And I was thankful that they didn’t try to use him for comic relief, which they like to do with gangster types.
Things I Didn’t Like
Secondary Characters
This drama was packed with so many characters, and yet I didn’t feel like any of them had a decent storyline of their own. Even Min Joon, who is supposed to be part of the main cast had very little substance apart from pining for Seul Bi. It felt like this drama tried to create too many characters with all the marketplace people, instead of focusing on a couple more detailed secondary stories. I especially think they should have shown more of Min Joon and Jang Kyung’s story. They had a nice chemistry, but we didn’t get to see their relationship develop at all.
Min Joon’s Uncle
I don’t really know why we needed the story about Min Joon’s uncle and cousin trying to steal the company. The storyline wasn’t that interesting and felt like a waste of good screen time that could have built more interesting side plots. It didn’t have that much bearing on the primary storyline anyway, and they could have achieved the same result without going into so much detail about the business side of things.
Curse Story
The whole curse story from this drama seemed randomly constructed and made up as they went along. We never really hear how Seul Bi’s aunt managed to break her pendant and live an ordinary life. How come Min Joon’s grandfather lived with the curse for years, but when his father took it from him, he ended up on his deathbed almost immediately? Why did the curse skip Min Joon anyway? And why did his cousin end up with it in the end? It all felt slapped together with no cohesiveness.
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The Ending
“Jinxed at First” has one of the weirdest endings I have ever seen in a kdrama. First we see Seul Bi’s mom take the curse from Sam Joong and die. Sam Joong is left alone in the countryside somewhere. From Mi Soo, the curse is passed to Dong Shik, who has joined his father in prison for trying to kill Seul Bi and Myung Sung. Min Joon and Jang Kyung are doing well together and preparing a wedding date. Seul Bi saves Myung Sung’s life, but then disappears. Myung Sung and all Seul Bi’s friends spend their time searching for her. They finally find her in some small town, but she has no memory of her previous life or any of her friends. It takes some time, but Myung Sung finally convinces her that they knew each other and she should come home to try to regain her memories. But Myung Sung realizes that Seul Bi has a lot of painful memories that may be best left forgotten. So he suggests that they just marry now and start life over. And she agrees. So they get married and have a baby, and their life seems full of joy. 5 years later, Seul Bi takes their son to the church Myung Sung likes to visit. When Myung Sung arrives, their son tells him Seul Bi has been showing him the rocks that say “I love you”. Myung Sung looks at Seul Bi with a question in his eyes, and she smiles and nods her head gently. It would seem that her memory has finally returned. And with that, it appears that the couple will live happily ever after. It’s a strange start to a marriage, and a weird way to end a love story, but all is well that ends well, I guess.
Should I Watch
“Jinxed at First” is a romantic comedy that gets progressively darker as the series goes on. The concept of a lucky shaman who foretells the future was interesting and showed a lot of potential in the beginning. But unfortunately the writing and plot development were kind of a mess. It was at once too heavy to be considered a sweet, light-hearted rom-com and too random and all over the place to be a good romantic drama. Of course, this drama does have some bright spots with a unique storyline and a large cast of familiar faces. I give “Jinxed at First” a 6 out of 10 ramen.
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