Although I agree that The Great Seducer wasn't a great drama, I wouldn't go as far as to call it a total disaster. Let me start by clarifying I have only watched the original French Les Liaisons Dangereuses. I have neither read the novel, nor watched The Cruel Intentions, so I am not going to compare TGS to Cruel Intentions. I do think that The Great Seducer was a definite step up from the French movie, though. Then again, the show did have a lot of issues.

Let's start with the acting. Mooh Ga Young (Soo Ji) was spectacular. There was so much she could have messed up when acting, but she didn't. She was shallow and evil when she needed to be, yet fragile and broken when the role required it. She was also intelligent and had some redeeming qualities. I think that she was one of the best written and the best acted female roles I've watched up to date. I would also like to applaud Kim Min Jae (Se Joo). I don't think his role was easy, but he pulled it off beautifully. I felt his pain and isolation. No wonder he fought for the only things that mattered to him in life. He made a character who was easy to judge into a character that wasn't. Kim Seo Hyung (Soo Ji's mother) also did a great job. Then we have Joy and Woo Do Hwan. I am the last one to hate on the actors, but I do think that Joy destroyed the role. If there was another actress as brilliant as MGY in her role, maybe the show would have been saved. She wasn't the only one at fault, though. Let's talk about Woo Do Hwan, whom I heard so much about after his role in Save Me. I didn't see good acting on his part. Was it the writing's fault? Was his character just so flat? Shouldn't he make me feel similar emotions that Se Joo did? If he was supposed to, then he failed. Swap those two actors for Ga Young and Min Jae and I would be totally into the romance. However, Joy and Do Hwan didn't do it for me. I couldn't even picture them as being truly in love. Finally, Shin Sung Woo (Shi Hyun's father). I love the guy since I watched The Roommate, but I barely recognized him. He looked stiff and so unnatural in this. I felt like they could swap him with a mannequin and the show would have been totally intact. I wouldn't even notice the difference.

The secondary big issue is the story. I totally and absolutely adored the first 4 episodes. I agree that they were dark and weird, but that was the charm of the show. Then suddenly, we get the puppy - eyed Shi Hyun and the weird turn in the story. It was like two completely different shows! The show somehow picked up during the last several episodes, but it wasn't enough to save the entire production. It seemed as if the writers just had an idea for the beginning and the ending, and then just randomly put several boring events in the middle. There were a lot of really weird things added to this show, too. The mother who used to be the model - what was the point of even having her there? The weird sheltered girl with a grotesque mother and the somewhat annoying friend of Joy were all fillers. That was totally changed from the original story, where the sheltered and pure girl's smeared reputation was a major plot point.

Still, I appreciate the little glimmer of hope that the change from the original ending gave us. I wasn't impressed with the ending, especially since it was so rushed and cliche, but I didn't totally hate it. Would I recommend watching it? I think I still would. There is a reason why so many people talk about this show. There is some spectacular acting and some interesting plot parts in it. Also, I thought that the depiction of the deterioration of the friendship between those 3 was done masterfully. The drama did show character and relationship development, too, even if it was more of a regression for some of the characters.