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[HanCinema's Drama Review] Nail Shop Paris Episode 2

If I had to use a word to describe "Nail Shop Paris", "depth" would not be it. Perhaps quick or feel-good or breezy. It's kind of like a Sailor Moon episode: good guys face bad guys; good guys work together to rehabilitate bad guys; bad guys come to see that they are wrong; then, everyone holds hands and skips off into the sunset.

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Now, I'm not saying that this rather thin storyline is a bad thing, but if one is looking for depth and intrigue in a drama, I don't think they're going to find it here. It's all about the surface elements and really doesn't dig deeper. It's all about the happy endings. And, it's all about the hot guys. So sue me. I'm shallow like that.

Yeo-joo and Jin from "Nail Shop Paris" Episode 2

Episode 2 didn't really further heroine Yeo-joo's search for her newest story. We got to see how it is coming along complete with Kei posing as the bad guy and Alex, the savior. But other than that, she has no ideas for character development - and the characters in the show have very little development themselves.

The main plot in this episode focused on Alex's stalkerish fan and customer, Tae-hee, the woman who gave Alex hot glue instead of coffee. As you read this review, please remember that she tried to POISON him.

Continuing on.

Alex is pronounced healthy after the glue poisoning (say wha?), and then we proceed to explore Tae-hee's horrible home life and her neglectful, verbally abusive husband. They have a young son who is suffering from the fighting. This son strikes a chord in cold Kei who had experienced a similar childhood. Because Tae-hee has been a long-time customer, the "Nail Shop Paris" family decides NOT to call the police after the glue incident, but to help the woman (who poisoned one of them) put her family back together.

I totally understand that helping people is good, but reuniting a husband and child with a woman who is unstable enough to feed a man glue seems a little...wrong to me.

In any case, the "Nail Shop Paris" team of family therapists help the couple get back together and realize that they really love one another; part of the "help" includes giving the reticent husband a manicure. Heh. Hehe. Heh. HA!

Come on. I can't be the only one who finds this hysterical!

Yeo-joo from "Nail Shop Paris" Episode 2

Another development this episode was that we discover that Yeo-joo really does believe she met a gumiho as a child. It was that experience that inspired her first internet story that was deemed to be plagiarized at the beginning of episode 1; that incident led her to "Nail Shop Paris" to find new inspiration. I mention this because Yeo-joo believes that her new boss lady is either the gumiho from her childhood or a thief. Why? Because boss lady has something that looks an awful lot like a fox bead.

However, the boss lady catches Yeo-joo snooping and that's where this episode ends. I'm guessing the writer wants us to lean towards the possibility of fantastical elements in the drama, but I prefer to think Yeo-joo is delusional.

In case you haven't noticed, I had a very hard time taking this episode seriously. The dialogue, acting, plot and background music had a puffed up sense of self-importance that made it seem campy instead. I used that word last review, "campy", but it's just so perfectly suited to this show.

Written by Raine from Raine's Dichotomy

"Nail Shop Paris" is directed by Park Soo-cheol, written by Seong Min-ji and features Park Gyu-ri, Jin Hyun-bin, Song Jae-rim and Thunder.

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