The Fabulous Review: Excellent If You Seek Refuge In The Predictability Of Situations

Cast: Choi Minho, Chae Soo Bin, Lee Sang Woon, Park Hee Jung

Director: Kim Jung Hyun

Streaming Platform: Netflix

Filmyhype.com Rating: 3/5 (three stars) [yasr_overall_rating size=”large”]

A new Korean series The Fabulous has arrived at Netflix that is attracting the attention of subscribers, and it made its appearance just in the days in which a similar but already consolidated title debuted its third season. This is the review of The Fabulous, the Korean Emily in Paris if you will. But let’s see why the comparison, and what the new series of Asian matrix looks like.

The Fabulous Review: The Story

Seoul: Pyo Ji-Eun (Chae Soo-bin) is an employee of the advertising agency for luxury brands Audrey; Ji Woo-Min ( Minho Choi ) is a freelance photographer and Ji-Eun’s ex; Lee Sang-woo is an emerging designer Joseph and Park Hee-Jung is supermodel Ye Seon-ho. Four longtime friends trying to navigate the harsh environment of fashion, Netflix informs us, but in reality, we’ll see how The Fabulous focuses more on the first two and the inevitable I-still-want-but-don’t-know between them, relegating (unfortunately) the others to “main but not too much”.

However, it is precisely the latter, together with secondary characters such as Esther, Mrs. Oh or Mrs. Hong, or even Joseph’s mother, who is the most successful in terms of writing (one of the best characters in the show could even be classified as a guest star), as their path is the result of a more natural and consistent development. The two “really supporting actors”, however, Ji-Eun and Woo-Min (who seem to have very little chemistry between them, although the actors’ performances are not bad, especially as regards Chae Soo-Bin), remain victims of that forced construction that intends to impose them as such, that wants at all costs to get the viewer to take an interest in them and cheer for them, but without combining them with real personal development. The hoped-for feeling, which for some viewers may even present itself.

The Fabulous Review and Analysis

The situations we see on the screen are what one might expect from a TV series set in this world, but one never really dares. The outcome of the story is never really questioned by the narration which (contrary to many other Korean series) does not have to worry about giving false hopes to the audience since it immediately makes clear the direction that it will inevitably take not only every episode but the story in general. On the other hand, a bit like what happens in Emily in Paris, we already know that the consequences for the mistakes of the protagonist (but not only) will never really have an impact. In the next episode, we will start directly with a new “challenge” for the characters which, even if not everything goes as planned, will never have an outcome that can be categorized as negative. This could be seen as a positive feature, such as that lightness so coveted by a good portion of the public, but more often it is more of a mask that The Fabulous (as well as similar products) cannot always afford.

If we then take into account the duration of the episodes (which range from 45 minutes to more than 1 hour each), it is easy for The Fabulous to have a pacing problem, as happens at various points of the show, but which is partly counterbalanced by the happy intuition of flashbacks, used to give depth to the protagonists and their past together, and generally well positioned.

Some episodes of the series written by Kim Ji-Hee, and Im Jin-Sun and directed by Kim Jung-Hyun end up being more enjoyable and inspiring than others – the fourth one is especially significant, which focuses on the guest star/supporting character we’ve mentioned before, and yet it also serves as the engine and new blood for the stories of the main characters and the entire series – and you tend to have more repeat situations with similar solutions. But now and then, The Fabulous has its flashes of depth (which however remain at most occasional) and becomes the mouthpiece of interesting food for thought (such as when it comes to the increasingly prevalent dominance of influencers to the detriment, often, of models by profession).

The few moments of sincere emotion (but that is obviously at the discretion of the spectator) or of greater emotionality derive, as one might expect at this point, not from the two protagonists, but from other characters (Seon-Ho, Joseph, Ji-Eun’s grandmother, Thierry Henry…) as well as many of the nicest and funniest ones (for example the interludes with Mrs. Oh and Mrs. Song, or the unpredictability of Do-young).

The Fabulous Review: The Last Words

If you approach The Fabulous with few pretensions, Netflix could also be a series to watch when you have the will to disconnect. But when there are already titles around such as The Bold Type or Emily in Paris herself (which certainly aren’t masterpieces, speaking of little pretensions, but they certainly present themselves in a more lively and captivating way in some ways) the competition becomes more lockout.