My Sassy Girl follows the story of a sassy, troublemaker princess (Oh Yeon Seo) who gets involved with a cultured scholar (Joo Won). The pair discovers an old secret that tore apart the royal family, and they try to uncover the truth.
We have Oh Yeon Seo as our sassy, troublemaker princess, Hye Myung. She has a bold personality, and much to everyone’s dismay, she likes to climb over the palace walls to venture out into the city. Oh Yeon Seo is made for comical roles like this where she gets to showcase her hilarious talents.
I’m always excited to see Joo Won on my screen. He plays Gyun Woo, a cultured and well-traveled scholar. He’s a bit uptight which nicely contrasts our princess. This was a fun role to see Joo Won in. He gets to bring the comedy for a while and then eventually gives us a more subtle, emotional performance.
Jung Ki Joon (Jung Woong In) plays one of the court ministers. He’s our villain looking for power and causes trouble for the royal family. Jung Woong In always does the villain roles so well.
I thought most of the supporting characters were a bit weak. They were underdeveloped and not really utilized that well. We have Da Yeon (Kim Yoon Hye) as Hye Myung’s rival for Gyun Woo’s affection. She’s your classic spoiled and conniving second lead.
Then there’s Joon Young (Lee Jung Shin) who is the loyal palace guard who has a soft spot for Hye Myung. Both of these characters could have done a lot more, but in the end they were pretty one note.
My Sassy Girl was a nice enough watch that’s mostly light and breezy. The drama has very nice cinematography complimented by some lovely costumes. The lush colors were definitely pleasing to the eye.
There’s a fair amount of humor, especially in the first half. I really enjoyed the comical interactions between Joo Won and Oh Yeon Seo. Of course, Oh Yeon Seo is always fun and makes some of the best faces.
I also loved getting to see Joo Won in a role where he could let loose a little bit and do some comedy. He too makes some very humorous facial expressions that I really got a kick out of. Joo Won and Oh Yeon Seo completely had that fun, bickering chemistry that was very enjoyable. The romance itself is more subtle with a slow and sweet development.
The plot was a little thin in the first half, but the characters and humor made up for it. The plot thickens in the second half which causes things to become more serious. It definitely had a change in tone.
I think the drama would have benefited from giving us more story in the very beginning so we felt that the stakes were higher rather waiting until halfway through the drama to really get the story going. Plus, a lot of the back story waits until the last few episodes of the drama. It just wasn’t plotted that well. Even then, it’s still a very easy watch overall. The whole drama had a nice, comfortable pace with the episodes moving by quickly.
All that being said, My Sassy Girl simply felt average. I wouldn’t actually say there was anything terrible wrong with it, it just didn’t do anything to wow me. But average worked well enough in this case, and I found it to be a decent watch from start to finish. A talented main cast, a sweet romance, and a little drama delivered a nice story.
My Rating: 6.5/10
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Kdrama Kisses 
Well, this was a great review, but I will be skipping this one. I was already pretty much convinced that this one wasn’t really for me, but this review comfirms it though. As always, thanks you for sharing your thoughts 😊
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Yeah, probably a good idea. I would stick with Ruler: Master of the Mask, Scarlet Heart, or Seven Day Queen when you go for a historical 🙂
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I tried to see this drama, but I couldn:t. The story did not catch me. I can;t believe the story of the princess running through the city drunk during the night during Joseon or Goryeo era.
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Yeah, it definitely uses a more exaggerated comedy style with the situations and how they act. Luckily, it’s a style I like. And they do tone it down a lot about halfway through and it’s more like a normal historical. It was decent, but still pretty average overall.
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I wanted to watch this because I’m a big fan of Joo Won. Then I heard bad things about the drama and so wasn’t going to watch it but if you have given it a higher score I was going to watch it. Your review has definitely confirmed for me that I won’t be watching it. Such a shame as I really wanted to watch Joo Won. Once again thanks for a great review. What will you be reviewing next so I can look forward to it.
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Yeah, from what I’ve read from other fans I was probably a lot more generous with my review than what a lot of people thought. I definitely didn’t think it was a bad watch, but it wasn’t great either. I’m also a huge fan of Joo Won and I really enjoyed seeing a more fun side to him in this. But the exaggerated comedy style is also not for everyone. I’m glad I watched it, but it’s not one I’m likely to recommend except for die hard Joo Won fans, hehe.
I plan to review Solomon’s Perjury next. Sadly, it’s another one that didn’t quite work for me, but it had a few things I liked, and I enjoyed writing the review 🙂
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Haha die hard Joo Won fan? Perhaps I should just watch all the Joo Won scenes. Thanks Kay – I will be looking forward to reading that one. Though that wasn’t in my radar to watch. 😊
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Well, that would make up about half the drama, lol. Maybe just save it for a day you’re really craving some Joo Won 😉
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Yep true 😉👌🏽
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I started to see it because I love the two protagonists. But I looked silly and did not look at him.
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It’s definitely on the silly side for the first half. I love both Joo Won and Oh Yeon Seo, so that helped my enjoyment of it overall. But it was definitely lacking.
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I’m a big fan of both Joo Won and Jung Woong In but sadly, I couldn’t manage to get through this one. As much as I enjoyed seeing JW let loose a little as well, it was a touch of awkward and boring for me. I’m not big into romantic comedy either so that probably contributed to my struggle, but I’m glad to see I wasn’t the only one that had some issues with the character development and pacing. Still thankful he took on a more lighthearted role before his enlistment though!
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Yeah, if you’re not as into rom-coms this one would be problematic since the first half is basically a historical rom-com. I think my love for the cast definitely helped with this one for me. Plus it was shot very beautifully. But yes, definite character, plot, and pacing issues. I tended to swing between finding it interesting and boring. I guess that’s why it ended up feeling average, lol. But I did enjoy Joo Won and am glad I got to see him one more time before enlistment 🙂
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I think the use of a very exaggerated and campy rom-com style for some of the scenes was the biggest turn off for me (the puke scene comes to mind). Ah true! That’s one thing I must give the show credit for, it was very visually striking from the moment I began watching it. I haven’t seen the original My Sassy Girl either so they might have done it justice/stayed faithful to it for all I know lol.
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Haha, yeah it definitely uses that exaggerated comedy style. It’s a style that I like quite a bit, but even I don’t go for the puke and toilet and humor 😛
I don’t know why they even bothered to call the drama My Sassy Girl. I think it was completely a marketing thing. The first episode makes use of a few classic scenes from the movie, but other than that, it’s really its own drama. I kind of figured that’s what would happen when it was announced as being a historical. I didn’t care for the movie at all, so I actually found the drama a major improvement, but again, they weren’t really much the same, hehe.
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Yea, it wouldn’t have been so bad if they hadn’t taken that puke/toilet humor part so far into the gross department. 😷 Oh well, lol.
Really? omg that’s very interesting. Though, I can’t say I’d be completely surprised if it were simply a marketing ploy. At least you ended up enjoying the drama more than the movie. 😂
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I think the 2 main characters, plus the Chinese prince is quite a joy to watch this drama. I know the plot will thicken but this drama up to episode 19 did not do a heart attack on me which I quite like. I dislike too much suspense and cruelty in any dramas and prefer a faster approach to capture the perpetrators in the palace namely the queen and its compatriots.
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How great that you really enjoyed this drama 🙂 Yes, it’s a lighter watch with a sweet romance. Very easy to watch not to intense 🙂
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