This drama is horrifyingly engrossing. I mean this in an affectionate way.
"Glass Slipper" DVD Box 1 contains the first 21 episodes of this 40 episode series. At about an hour per episode, this is a good 21 hours of drama and romantic angst. This drama is so…. melodramatic. It is a true soap opera. There are incredible coincidences, unbelievable near-misses, and outlandishly fiendish villains. The heroines have to put up with dying parents, amnesia, sudden wealth, gangsters, betrayal, illness, and love triangles. For most of this series, almost every single adult figure surrounding Tae-hee and Sun-woo (aside from their departed father) is a total waste of a human being. In Tae-hee's case, everyone is cold, unfeeling, selfish, and wealthy. For Sun-woo, they are poor, greedy, foolish, and lazy. "Glass Slipper" is the poster child for Korean drama clichés— I seriously think they must have been working from a checklist here— yet I really enjoyed it. I admit it, the twists and turns of the plot and all the disasters that befall the sisters had me glued to my TV, even though, most of the time, it was dreadfully obvious what was going to happen.
"Glass Slipper" does suffer from extremely obvious plotting. They place too many hints and clues too far in advance about bad things that are going to happen, so it is easy to predict what the next disaster is going to be. And there always is another disaster looming just around the corner. The characters have no idea of course, so the audience can only watch helplessly as they walk into what seems like such an obvious trap. The writers throw every bad thing they can at the two heroines, and at times it can all feel a bit cartoonish. Everyone has a secret agenda they are trying to advance for their own greedy ends.
However, in spite of all the clichés and the obvious plotting, I was still somehow invested in the characters and could not resist watching disk after disk to see what would happen next. Sun-woo is such an annoyingly perfect character. She is TOO unselfish and pure. Yet I still ended up hoping things would go well for her. Tae-hee is a more complex personality— she strong and capable, but blinded by what she wants to see. After watching this box set, I really wonder how they can keep up this drama for another 21 episodes. It seems almost exhausting, but I look forward to finding out!
Video:
"Glass Slipper" is presented in a full screen 4:3 aspect ratio. It looks great.
Audio:
This set has one audio track- a nice Korean Dolby Digital 2.1 track. This series is almost entirely dialog-driven, wit very little in the way of fighting, except for the occasional gangster fistfight. It does not really require a dramatic full-stage audio treatment. I found the Korean stereo track to be more than adequate. There are English and Chinese subtitle tracks.
Extras:
With 21 hours of video in this box, there are no extras to be found. Those are saved for Box Set 2.
--Miscellaneous--
This DVD set comes in a lovely box that is nicely designed. The cover art is minimal yet eye-catching, and the packaging is very sturdy. The box is sealed with a small magnet. Opening it reveals three multi-disk keep cases. The first two cases contain 3 DVDs each, with three episodes per DVD. The last case holds one disk with the last three episodes in the set. The box is lined with a nice velvety-fuzzy paper. YA Entertainment produces some great box sets.
Film Value:
This drama is horrifyingly engrossing. I mean this in an affectionate way. I seriously couldn't look away from my screen. How much bad stuff could possibly happen to these sisters? How many coincidences could the writers come up with? How many clichés could the fit into 21 hours of drama? The crazy plot twists, scheming bad guys, hopeless love triangles, and shameless melodramatic attempts to play on the audience's sympathy had me glued to my couch. This is great stuff. Now I need to watch box set 2!
"Glass Slipper" does suffer from extremely obvious plotting. They place too many hints and clues too far in advance about bad things that are going to happen, so it is easy to predict what the next disaster is going to be. And there always is another disaster looming just around the corner. The characters have no idea of course, so the audience can only watch helplessly as they walk into what seems like such an obvious trap. The writers throw every bad thing they can at the two heroines, and at times it can all feel a bit cartoonish. Everyone has a secret agenda they are trying to advance for their own greedy ends.
However, in spite of all the clichés and the obvious plotting, I was still somehow invested in the characters and could not resist watching disk after disk to see what would happen next. Sun-woo is such an annoyingly perfect character. She is TOO unselfish and pure. Yet I still ended up hoping things would go well for her. Tae-hee is a more complex personality— she strong and capable, but blinded by what she wants to see. After watching this box set, I really wonder how they can keep up this drama for another 21 episodes. It seems almost exhausting, but I look forward to finding out!
Video:
"Glass Slipper" is presented in a full screen 4:3 aspect ratio. It looks great.
Audio:
This set has one audio track- a nice Korean Dolby Digital 2.1 track. This series is almost entirely dialog-driven, wit very little in the way of fighting, except for the occasional gangster fistfight. It does not really require a dramatic full-stage audio treatment. I found the Korean stereo track to be more than adequate. There are English and Chinese subtitle tracks.
Extras:
With 21 hours of video in this box, there are no extras to be found. Those are saved for Box Set 2.
--Miscellaneous--
This DVD set comes in a lovely box that is nicely designed. The cover art is minimal yet eye-catching, and the packaging is very sturdy. The box is sealed with a small magnet. Opening it reveals three multi-disk keep cases. The first two cases contain 3 DVDs each, with three episodes per DVD. The last case holds one disk with the last three episodes in the set. The box is lined with a nice velvety-fuzzy paper. YA Entertainment produces some great box sets.
Film Value:
This drama is horrifyingly engrossing. I mean this in an affectionate way. I seriously couldn't look away from my screen. How much bad stuff could possibly happen to these sisters? How many coincidences could the writers come up with? How many clichés could the fit into 21 hours of drama? The crazy plot twists, scheming bad guys, hopeless love triangles, and shameless melodramatic attempts to play on the audience's sympathy had me glued to my couch. This is great stuff. Now I need to watch box set 2!
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