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dangermousieI might be one of only 10 people out there but I am madly, ridiculously "can't tear myself away" in love with Worlds Within (also known as The World They Live In). I am currently on episode 3 and if it continues to be half as good, it's going into my favorite dramas of all time.
What is the story? It's a bit hard to explain - it is set in a television studio and involves lives of a number of characters but Hyun Bin and Song Hye Kyo are the protagonists. They are both production directors and they used to date some years ago and the relationship ended because of his going back to his ex-girlfriend with whom he has a dyfunctional off-on relationship and because Hye Kyo was "easy" (I don't mean sexually - thankfully this drama treats adult sexuality in an appropriately adult fashion - but emotionally facile - not exhibiting any depth or power in her feelings - seemingly shrugging everything off too easily.) But despite the relationship's end they are friends, even best friends, arguably. And as the story starts, it's clear that spark is still there ready to be rekindled.
WW came out last year and despite starring the popular (and beyond gorgeous) Hyun Bin and Song Hye Kyo flopped in the ratings like a stone. I can see why - it has its own rhythm and is, without doubt, the most understated drama I have ever seen from any country, double shocker because kdramas, unlike jdramas, usually wouldn't know understated if it came and bit them.
Normally I am all for big splashy "in love with my terminally ill stepsibling" type dramas but for some reason WW grabbed me and won't let go - maybe because somehow it feels so freaking real that it's not at all like watching a drama but peeking into someone's life, real life, without them knowing. Its conversations and interactions, skipping from poetic to mundane but avoiding any melodrama utterly feel like those I could observe between people I know - I could see myself as one of the characters, which has never happened to me with any drama.
Hyun Bin and Song Hye Kyo have ridiculously amazing chemistry together, one of the best I have ever seen and it carries through all their interactions - there are no grand over-the-top gestures but the drama is shot through with their comfort and familiarity - the scene that really stands out to me is when they are in some diner and she is engrossed in reading a script and he sees she is about to reach for her cup of tea which is a bit out of her reach so he quietly moves the cup closer so she could find it without taking her eyes away from the page. It's just --- I know I keep saying it, but it's so realistic.
It's a drama if a French arthouse movie makers made one, or the people who made Before Sunrise/Before Sunset. I am so very very in love.
The beauty that is Song Hye Kyo:
Hyun Bin being left, this time irrevocably, by his 'grand passion' girlfriend:
They have such easy intimacy!
He asks if she would go out with him again but when she (either not hearing or not believing her ears) asks 'what did you say?' he says 'nothing.'
Seriously. Chemistry.
Hyun Bin in the aftermath of the break-up with his girlfriend. I must say, nobody in kdramas breaks quite the way he does.
An awesome shippy MV for the drama:
I know a number of flisters tried and didn't care for this drama. Fair enough. But if you haven't, I really recommend checking it out - you might love it. I certainly did.
What is the story? It's a bit hard to explain - it is set in a television studio and involves lives of a number of characters but Hyun Bin and Song Hye Kyo are the protagonists. They are both production directors and they used to date some years ago and the relationship ended because of his going back to his ex-girlfriend with whom he has a dyfunctional off-on relationship and because Hye Kyo was "easy" (I don't mean sexually - thankfully this drama treats adult sexuality in an appropriately adult fashion - but emotionally facile - not exhibiting any depth or power in her feelings - seemingly shrugging everything off too easily.) But despite the relationship's end they are friends, even best friends, arguably. And as the story starts, it's clear that spark is still there ready to be rekindled.
WW came out last year and despite starring the popular (and beyond gorgeous) Hyun Bin and Song Hye Kyo flopped in the ratings like a stone. I can see why - it has its own rhythm and is, without doubt, the most understated drama I have ever seen from any country, double shocker because kdramas, unlike jdramas, usually wouldn't know understated if it came and bit them.
Normally I am all for big splashy "in love with my terminally ill stepsibling" type dramas but for some reason WW grabbed me and won't let go - maybe because somehow it feels so freaking real that it's not at all like watching a drama but peeking into someone's life, real life, without them knowing. Its conversations and interactions, skipping from poetic to mundane but avoiding any melodrama utterly feel like those I could observe between people I know - I could see myself as one of the characters, which has never happened to me with any drama.
Hyun Bin and Song Hye Kyo have ridiculously amazing chemistry together, one of the best I have ever seen and it carries through all their interactions - there are no grand over-the-top gestures but the drama is shot through with their comfort and familiarity - the scene that really stands out to me is when they are in some diner and she is engrossed in reading a script and he sees she is about to reach for her cup of tea which is a bit out of her reach so he quietly moves the cup closer so she could find it without taking her eyes away from the page. It's just --- I know I keep saying it, but it's so realistic.
It's a drama if a French arthouse movie makers made one, or the people who made Before Sunrise/Before Sunset. I am so very very in love.
The beauty that is Song Hye Kyo:
Hyun Bin being left, this time irrevocably, by his 'grand passion' girlfriend:
They have such easy intimacy!
He asks if she would go out with him again but when she (either not hearing or not believing her ears) asks 'what did you say?' he says 'nothing.'
Seriously. Chemistry.
Hyun Bin in the aftermath of the break-up with his girlfriend. I must say, nobody in kdramas breaks quite the way he does.
An awesome shippy MV for the drama:
I know a number of flisters tried and didn't care for this drama. Fair enough. But if you haven't, I really recommend checking it out - you might love it. I certainly did.
