The Greatest Seducer: First Look
Revenge. Deception. Love. These words best describe the first four episodes in a nutshell. The Greatest Seducer (Tempted) is based on a French novel “Dangerous Liaisons”. It revolves around a “trio of elite troublemakers” and an independent, headstrong, girl who falls victim to their games.
What we know till now:
Choi Soo Ji (played by Moon Ga Young) is dumped by a man, Lee Ki Young, that her mother sets her up with. Soo Ji’s mother and Kwon Si Hyun’s (Woo Do Hwan) father announce their engagement. Soo Ji and Si Hyun, being best friends, find this awkward and unacceptable. To stop them, Si Hyun proposes that the kids get married first. As a way to test his sincerity, and to revenge Lee Ki Young, Soo Ji tells Si Hyun to use his notorious speciality to seduce Eun Tae Hee (Joy) – Lee Ki Young’s first love – date her and then leave her. We also know that there is literally nobody who has a normal relationship with their family.
Characters:
Kwon Si Hyun (Woo Do Hwan), the seducer, is a natural at flirting with women and making them fall in love with him. His mother passed away. As soon as he graduates from high-school, he is thrown out of the house for not living up to the standards of his father, who is not his biological parent. He’s charismatic and has a bad boy aura to him. However, while Woo Do Hwan seems comfortable in his role, he has yet to show us anything profound.
Eun Tae Hee, acted by Red Velvet’s Joy, is a high-achieving college student who is not easily swayed away by men. My favourite lines yet belong to her: “What are men, anyway? Would you die if you don’t date?” This character seems disparate, yet better, from Joy’s previous role in The Liar and his Lover. While the first two episodes (each of thirty-five minutes) did not give us much of an insight into Tae Hee’s life, the third one showed us that her parents are divorced, and her mother is a famous ceramic artist. I am looking forward to what new elements she brings to the drama.
Moon Ga Young plays Choi Soo Ji. A spoilt daughter of a hospital owner, Choi Soo Ji’s parents are divorced, and her father is in prison for business fraud. This has impacted her immensely. She makes sure to take revenge on the people who have hurt her. The last time I saw Moon Ga Young was in EXO Next Door, where she was an innocent but mischievous girl. In The Greatest Seducer, seeing how she took on a role that is paradoxical to her looks, impresses me.
Kim Min Jae’s Lee Se Joo is probably the best character in the drama. Min Jae has a good-boy face, and his previous roles (in ‘Because It’s Our First Time’ and ‘Hit The Top’) have shown him to have an obedient and responsible personality. But, in Tempted, he is the definition of troublemaker. Se Joo is a womanizer and the source of all comedy in the melodrama. He is the youngest son of a billionaire, and although we don’t know much, he seems to have a past, with his mother being the centre. Watching Kim Min Jae play Lee Se Joo is an absolute delight!
Love Triangle:
You have a troublemaking trio but no love triangle? No way! In this drama, Lee Se Joo loves Choi Soo Ji, and is willing to do everything for her. Soo Ji is possessive over Si Hyun, saying if she can’t have him, nobody else can. Kwon Si Hyun, however, as we all know will end up liking Eun Tae Hee. So, wait…. Lee Se Joo, Choi Soo Ji, Kwon Si Hyun, Eun Tae Hee…...Does this make it a love square?
The editing department also deserves praise for colour grading the drama in such a way that sets the mood for the serious and cold vibes the show releases. Overall, The Greatest Seducer is intriguing. Even with an obvious plot, I’d like to see how they unfold the story.