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| Shopingwang Looi / 쇼핑왕 루이 |
Writer - Oh Ji young
Network - MBC
Episodes - 16
Released - 2016, Sept - Nov
Genre - Romantic Comedy/Fairy Tale
CAST
PLOT
A romance takes place between Kang Ji sung (aka Louie) and Ko Bok sil. Louie is from a rich family, but he has lost his memory. Ko Bok sil is a woman with a heart like an angel. Louie learns about true love after meeting Ko Bok sil.
REVIEW
Squeaky clean childishness done in a fairy tale style with zero reality involved and even less in the way of true romance.
Louie is from Department Store wealth and at present resides in a French Château with a butler and maids.
His parents died, giving his grandmother the impression she is to blame, so the old woman does everything she can to keep her grandson far from her to avoid more tragedy.
One day Louie decides to return to Korea, and at the airport, a family member gives him the slip, letting Louie drive by himself.
Meanwhile, Bok sil, who lives up in the mountains, has lost her grandmother and younger brother.
She later finds a rare ginseng root and travels down to Seoul in the hopes of selling it for a lot of money while also attempting to search for her little brother.
She's down on her luck before meeting Cha Joong won, whom she finagles into purchasing the rare ginseng root.
Then she sees a bum asleep on a stairway and assumes it is her dongsaeng but discovers it is a stranger with amnesia instead.
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| Seo In guk / Nam Ji hyun |
Louie can't remember anything: who he is, where he is, or where he's from.
He clings to Bok sil and insists she can trust him if she will promise not to abandon him until he's recovered his memory.
What follows is a slow-paced getting to know you and constant run-ins with the other characters.
Cha Joong won is intrigued by Bok sil but takes his time having the ginseng root appraised so he can pay her what he owes.
He's a department head at Louie's family store and runs a tight ship while also coming off as a hard-headed taskmaster and being fastidious in work and appearance.
Bok sil finds a cheap apartment to rent and takes in Louie, who behaves more like a seven-year-old boy than a grown man.
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| Shopping King, Louie |
While he is amnesic and demanding, helpless and pushy, he also favors his former lifestyle of luxury, instant gratification, and being catered to 24/7.
Bok sil being the exact opposite finds it somewhat difficult to put up with his childish habits while also growing more fond of him as a lost but devoted puppy type guy.
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| Seo In guk / Nam Ji hyun |
Intrigue ensues as the story closes in on the culprit behind the plot to have Louie disappear.
The love triangle thing between Louie, Bok sil, and Joong won, AND Louie, Baek Ma ri, and Joong won.
Louie's memories slowly returning.
And Bok sil's missing Dongsaeng.
This came with a decent soundtrack that neither overpowered any one scene nor forced us to have to listen to a done-to-death single.
I thought that Yoon Sang hyun did a marvelous job portraying the uppity Department Head with outlandish style and a penchant for clearing his throat in as haughty a range as he can muster.
He was convincing enough to make me want 2nd Lead to win the girl, which says a lot about his acting in this drama.
Seo In guk also did a terrific job portraying the spoiled rich kid with mommy issues, but it was also why I didn't much care for his Louie character.
Too immature for my taste and zero sex appeal to make this a true romance -- since I'm not partial to pedophilia anything -- and this bordered along the lines of older sister with a little boy.
It wasn't the greatest Drama of 2016, but it wasn't a let-down, either.
I'd recommend this to anyone with time to spare and who isn't interested in gaining much more from the watch other than some feels.
