Title: 청담동 앨리스 Cheongdamdong Aelliseu
English Title:
- Cheongdamdong Alice
- Alice in Cheongdamdong
Language: Korean
Year: 2012
Episode: 16
Cast:
- 문근영 Moon Geun Young
- 박시후 Park Shi Hoo
- 소이현 So Yi Hyun
- 김지석 Kim Ji Suk
- 신소율 Shin So Yool
SYNOPSIS
Jean Thierry Cha manages the luxury brand Artemis. He thinks he achieved success in the fashion industry by exploiting women's women's pathetic attempts to stand out and have the best things that money can buy.
Jean Thierry Cha was actually Cha Seung Joo in the not-so-distant past. Seung Jo was betrayed by his old girlfriend who left him when she found out that he lost his inheritance by choosing to marry her against his father's wishes.
Han Se Kyung is a smart college graduate who wants to work in the fashion industry. She believes that if she works hard and she does things the right way, she will always succeed.
Se Kyung gets hired as a temporary worker in a fashion company but she later finds out that she's the glorified personal assistant to the chairman's wife, who turns out to be her high school classmate Seo Yoon Joo.
REVIEW
I had some expectations that Alice in Cheongdamdong would be like a how-to guide on becoming part of the elite and rich people in Cheongdamdong area so I thought the drama would present interesting information such as how the elite think and act, or what their values and priorities are. I suppose the drama is like that but to a lesser extent than I expected so I was a little disappointed.
It is possible that Han Se Kyung did not get proper guidance on how to be a Cheongdamdong daughter-in-law because her mentor Seo Yoon Joo is also an outsider. Yoon Joo may have managed to become a Cheongdamdong daughter-in-law but her strategies frankly sound half-baked.
Journal Guide to Success
- Chapter 01: If you’re going to be ‘dirty’, might as well be dirty all the way!
- Chapter 02: Follow the White Rabbit.
- Chapter 03: It’s not being a knock-off that makes it cheap, it’s the mind that makes it cheap.
I like how the main conflicts in Jean Thierry Cha / Cha Seung Joo and Se Kyung's relationship is brought about by the differences in their thinking and values. In some ways, some things that Seung Joo thinks is normal is extraordinary for Se Kyung such as opportunities to study abroad and connections for career advancement.
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청담동 앨리스 Alice in Cheongdamdong
