Explosive, colorful, exciting, dangerous, elusive… Fireworks! The real ones, yes… but not this one. I would have liked it a lot more if there had been less deceit going on. Well, come to think of it, there were several things about this Kdrama that bothered me. I’ll tell you about them a little later on.
The plot? Well, the story is about 4 people, all caught up in a love…??? What is a love triangle involving four people called? A love square? Anyway, these four people are all over the place – A and B are in love but then B falls in love with C, however, C loves D and D loves C and A, and then A decides to dump B and go for D because B had cheated on A with C who was still in love with D while having the fling with B. Clear as mud, huh? For some crazy reason we are still able to follow this complicated mess of love, though. So, which letters end up together? Or does it end with everyone alone?
Fireworks is one of those “done” ending shows. You know, the kind of drama that doesn’t do a wind down ending? La la la la hum hum hum STOP. Those endings, if you can call them endings, really bother me. Fireworks has 17 episodes where 16 is considered usual. Wouldn’t you think that with an extra episode the writers could have slowed things down instead of slamming on the breaks?
Why is it that in Kdramas the cunning, devious, lying, selfish, border-line evil people are almost always women? Well, Fireworks keeps with tradition there. And what makes it worse is when the rotten woman is passed off to the world as a lovely, good person.
This drama broke with tradition in that the dumb person who still loves the evil person even though they know they’re evil, is a man! Yep, we have a guy that will stand by, love, and help the ruthless witch this time around. When the woman refuses to give up a jerk we think, “how pathetic.” But watching this guy do it just made me think, “how stupid”. Doesn’t the stereotype say that guys are more rational and women are more emotional? Well, if we go by that, the rationally thinking man in this show was an idiot!
Han Chae-Young is the female lead, Shin Na-Ra. She’s a very talented actress who I have seen in a number of Kdramas. She did a great job playing the he-done-me-wrong Na-Ra. You can’t help but feel sorry for the woman when she loses two men to the same rotten woman. I think I’d hope the witch would be abducted by aliens as I cried, wondering, “What’s so bad about me and so good about her?” Na-Ra holds it together pretty well, though.
Kang Ji-Hwan is Na In-Jae, the male lead. He’s a wonderful actor and an A+ kisser, although you really can’t tell in this show. For some reason the director had him hold back in this drama. Why? Maybe because Fireworks is an old 2006 drama. If it hadn’t been for the director of Lie to Me we would have never found out about his talented lips. In-Jae drinks a lot and it ends up getting him in big trouble a couple times. He places himself in a really tough spot that I’m not sure anyone else would have done any better getting out of.
Park Eun-Hey is very convincing as despicable Cha Mi-Rae. She did such a fantastic job at being evil that I really don’t have any desire to see her in anything else. Mi-Rae’s just “bad”. And I really dislike it when writers try to make us feel sorry for the bad person, in the end. The poor girl. We all ought to forgive her… NOT. That kind of sympathy just doesn’t work on me. Maybe I’m just -heartless.
Yoon Sang-Hyun’s character is pitiful Kang Seung-Woo. Although I like Yoon Sang-Hyun, I disliked Seung-Woo from start to finish. He’s not evil like Mi-Rae is but he’s selfish and uncaring. He’s the stupid one who can’t realize that even though you may love someone, they might not be the best person for you to spend your life with.
The clothing style is very old, because the drama is very old. I liked what the wardrobe folks had In-Jae wear but everyone else should have had an entire clothing make-over. Yuck. In-Jae’s baggy jeans were nice. Now days, the men’s tight skinny jeans don’t appeal to me.
I wasn’t impressed with the music, but I’m almost positive there was a song Kang Ji-Hwan sang. I recognized his wonderful voice. He sang one of the songs in Lie to Me so it’s very possible he sang for the Fireworks soundtrack, as well. Yoon Sang-Hyun is a famous singer, especially in Japan, so he might have sung one of the songs, too. But I only recognized Kang Ji-Hwan’s voice.
Most of the scenes are shot in the make-up store or the characters’ apartments. I think the writers missed a good opportunity for some fun scenery. So many dramas have business companies go on outings to promote company spirit and unity. That’s a great time to shoot at a different location with different scenery. The writers could have had the make-up company employees go to the mountains or the ocean or… and with everyone all there together it would have been fun to see the fireworks fly in a social yet, still business setting.
I’m glad I saw Fireworks but it left a lot to be desired. It was just too deep and serious. Not as fun as fireworks should be.
Score: 3.5
The Good:
The actors
The mixed-up relationships
The Bad:
Clothing
Na-Ra’s dysfunctional home life
Pitiful characters
A STOP ending
Heart and Seoul 