Review: The Exhibition of Fireworks



Is there such a thing as too much Kang Ji Hwan? I guess not. The only reason I re-watched the Exhibition of Fireworks was him and the vague memory that I liked the drama.

After spending 17 hours (I didn’t use the magic button and really sat through those 17 episodes) I come to conclusion that the only worthwhile thing about this drama is Kang Ji Hwan.

I’ve got to see him showing off his assets and then… dancing! Seeing him shaking those hips is enough to make me forgive myself for wasting 17 hours of my precious time.

Now, what is this drama about? Simply put: it’s a bunch of clichés we’ve found in most dramas such as:

1. Brothers in love with the same woman.
2. A heroine who is dumped by her lover/fiancé after she sacrificed so much for him.
3. A world class bitch.
4. A noble idiot.

I don’t mind clichés and I never demand for originality because I know how hard it is to be original when the drama land has used almost every plot available out there.

But to have them all written into a nonsensical story that even I with my love for Kang Ji Hwan couldn’t bring myself to love his character Na In Jae is just too much.

I don’t think I get Na In Jae.


Is he a man who falls in love with his sister in law (Park Eun Hye’s Cha Mi Rae) but then realizes that he falls for another girl (Han Chae Young’s Sin Na Ra)? Or is it his guilt for his brother’s death that forced him to marry Cha Mi Rae? Or does he love them both?

I don’t get the cultural context either that it’s such a taboo for him to marry that world class bitch. She’s not really his sister in law. She was only engaged to his late brother. That’s all. They weren’t married. And the big brother was already dead.

Whether she slept with him is beside the point (although judging from her character, the bitch was probably jumped the poor guy every time she needed distraction).

And I am dissatisfied with how this drama doesn’t clearly deliver the message about Na In Jae’s feelings. What? They do? How? That drunken scene where he murmurs I miss you Na Ra? Meh!

I normally squeal with delight when watching ‘revelation scene’ but when I watched that scene I was like: ‘Really? That’s all you can do show?’

Am I supposed to take that as a sign that he loves Sin Na Ra and not the bitch he wants to marry defying his mother, defying all reasons? I refuse to do so.

Not when he never shows any preference for her over that sister in law of his. He would do anything for that bitch. All she has to do just ask. I think even if she asks him to kill Sin Na Ra he will do it just to please her.

No one will be able to convince me that he does that because he feels guilty for his brother’s death. It’s hard for me to erase the image of his smile while he waits for Cha Mi Rae to come to their engagement party.

If you insist that he does that out of guilt out of pity. Then all I can say is that Na In Jae is not the noble idiot. He’s the idiotest male lead in kdrama land. Ever.

There’s nothing noble in marrying a woman who killed you big brother. There’s nothing noble in marrying this scary deceitful woman who lies to everyone who loves her.

There is nothing noble in marrying a bitch who slept around with another guy then told you that she has your baby. There’s nothing noble in hurting the woman who you love and has done nothing to deserve you hurting her like that.


How could Kang Ji Hwan end up with this disappointing character is beyond me. And then there’s Han Chae Young’s Sin Na Ra, our heroine. Sigh.

She’s supposed to have brain. But she ends up being a thirty year old who fails to fulfill her parents’ dreams – because she’d been slaving away for the man she loved and being abandoned by that very man.

Then when she falls in love with Na In Jae, he is also stolen by the same woman who steals her first lover. And what irk me the most is that she never once slaps that bitch!

I would feel so much better if there was a cat fight or a pulling hair scene or a swearing session where Sin Na Ra does the pulling or the swearing.

The most hated scenes:

1.      When Kang Ji Hwan’s character Na In Jae waits for Cha Mi Rae then smiles as he thinks about he’s getting engaged to her in just a few minutes.

Dude, you just told Sin Na Ra last night that you love her so how could you attach yourself so readily and happily to Cha Mi Rae? And how could you still insist on becoming her husband after the bitch told you that the baby she’s carrying is not even yours? Noble idiot? Nope. Just idiot.

2.      When Sin Na Ra keeps asking Na In Jae whether he loves Cha Mi Rae or not.

Girl, you have asked him that question a million times before! Stop it already! He doesn’t love you. At least not enough to choose you over that bitch you treat so well.

You should stop making threats about getting your men back. The only way you’ll get them back is if that bitch tells them she doesn’t want them any more.

Honestly, you’re the sorriest heroine I’ve ever seen!


ps: I hereby declare that I don’t like this drama as much as I think I did before.

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