Miss Mermaid


Miss Mermaid is a South Korean television series starring Jang Seo-hee and Kim Sung-taek. It aired on MBC from June 24, 2002 to June 27, 2003 on Mondays to Fridays at 20:20 for 248 episodes.
Miss Mermaid became a nationwide hit upon airing, reaching a peak viewership rating of 43.6%. The cast won several trophies at the 2002 MBC Drama Awards, notably the Daesang for Jang Seo-hee. The series led to Jang's pan-Asian popularity, particularly in China.
But Miss Mermaid was also criticized for Im Sung-han's sensationalistic writing and unrealistic plot twists, as well as the show's multiple extensions.

Plot

Eun Ah-ri-young is a successful television drama screenwriter with a past. Her father Eun Jin-sub had an affair and left their family for the other woman, and shortly after her autistic brother died and her mother Han Kyung-hye went blind. Ah-ri-young's unrelenting hate for her father throughout her childhood and adolescence drives her to meticulously plan her vengeance. Knowing that Jin-sub's new wife Shim Soo-jung is a popular actress, Ah-ri-young works her way up the ranks until she earns enough cachet in the TV industry. Then she writes a script that's a thinly veiled autobiography of her father's affair and its aftermath, and casts the unsuspecting Soo-jung in the role of the blind mother to make her feel guilty. To complete her revenge and cause the maximum amount of pain, Ah-ri-young also plots to steal the fiancé of her half-sister Eun Ye-young, the gentle-natured Lee Joo-wang. Helping Ah-ri-young in her plans is Jo Soo-ah, her mother's friend whose ulterior motive is that she wants Ah-ri-young to marry her son Ma Ma-joon. But Ah-ri-young finds herself falling in love with Joo-wang for real, and she eventually realizes that there is more to life than hatred and learns the true meaning of forgiveness.

Cast

Main

Supporting

  • Seo Kwon-soon as Hong Mi-sung, the mother of Ah-ri-young's ex-boyfriend
  • Yoo Hye-ri as herself
  • Jeon Mi-seon as Yoon Sung-mi, a reporter who is friend of Ah-ri-young
  • Choi Seon-ja as Dong-jin's mother, a housekeeper of the Lee family
  • Sa Kang as Yoo Jin-kyung, Ma-rin's friend
  • Park Tam-hee as Baek Soo-rim, Mi-sung's ex-daughter-in-law

Awards

2002 MBC Drama Awards