Spy melodrama is back, baby! (Can you be back if you were never there before?)

[dangermousie]

Has anyone noticed that sometimes kdramas "come in twos". I find this phenomenon fairly interesting -

Iljimae and Return of Iljimae - about Iljimae - last year
Queen Seon Deok and The Iron Empress - Women Warrior Rulers - last year
Road N. 1 and Comrade - Korean War - later this year

And now it's the turn for the spy melodrama subgenre to come in two. What hath IRIS wrought! :)

Because in addition to an IRIS 'sequel' Athena (I use the term sequel in the loosest possible sense - it has the same theme of evil organizations and hot angsty spies, but other than that, not much in common. IRIS might have a proper sequel in IRIS2 is they get Lee Byung Hun and Kim Tae Hee aboard, but that's a separate (if very welcome) development) we are shortly also going to get Fugitive.

I am not sure which of the two I am more excited for. Let's compare.

STORY
Athena: Angsty spies fight evil organization. If IRIS is anything to go by, plenty of explosions, hurt/comfort, romance, and betrayal will occur.
Fugitive: Described as "spy melodrama", further details yet unknown.
Winner: Draw. They both sound darn good.

CAST
Athena: Athena is Jung Woo Sung's first drama in 15(!!!!) years. My crush on JWS is of unhealthy proportions, not to mention the man can angst like nobody's business, so...yeah. Cha Seung Won plays the bad guy and I am excited for that too. I've only seen him in City Hall but he blew me away. The ladies are a bit more of a mixed bag for me. Female lead Su Ae is a big star and a competent actress but she never had that extra 'something' to make her spark, IMO. Lee Ji Ah plays the secondary lead - I have heard mixed things about her acting in contemporary dramas but in Legend she played my favorite female character ever so not sure how I will take her as a second banana. Still, overall a great cast.
Fugitive: Rain is set to come back for the first tim in 5 years. I think Rain is great at intense and messed-up, and he can certainly do those punishing physical scenes )have you seen Ninja Assassin?). Jeon Ji Hyun is rumored to be his female lead and she is fierce and amazing.
Winner: That's a tough one. If I liked the female cast of Athena half as much as I do the male, Athena would win hands down, but with that handicap, I'd say...screw it, Athena still wins.

PRODUCTION TEAM
Athena: The same people who brought you IRIS
Fugitive: The writer/director combo who brought you the best drama of 2010, Chuno
Winner: This is the toughest of the bunch. Chuno was flat-out amazing, fiercely intelligent, emotional, etc. It gave us some great characters too. But it tended to meander a bit and wander off into about 10 different storylines where tightness in focusing on main plot might have helped it. And IRIS is my favorite drama of all time - emotionally it drew me in like no other drama before it. Still, I am rational enough to realize that a lot of that almost unhealthy attachment was due to Lee Byung Hun in the leading role (he was beyond incredible), and not the script by itself. So, draw.

Comments

[ambergold.livejournal.com]

Fugitive is a hands down win for me cause I actually like Rain a lot as an actor, the title sounds interesting, and of course Jeon Ji Hyun!!

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

This year is being so good to us!

[ambergold.livejournal.com]

I know!!! I'm actually feeling OVERWHELMED by good dramas instead of the opposite! *squiggles*

[alexandral.livejournal.com]

All good things come in buckets, but to be fair, isn't this year an anniversary of Korean war (the topic I have no interest whatsoever - war fiction is something i try to avoid more than anything), and warrior-women sageuks are usually 3 a year , every year (you forgot Princess what-is-her-name? this year)

You know I don't think too much of IRIS, but I think even less of Kdramas capability to do action. I think they are in disadvantage here, it is like making Kdrama copy of coca-cola - it will always be a copy of something else, because they don't have the base. Back to jdrama/kdrama debate, Jdramas have much better base in Japanese action movies. Fugitive - after watching CiTC I noticed one thing - both PD Kwak's dramas I watched are quite awesome, ,but they are VERY similar. Another similar drama (even the title Fugitive screams similarity), even set in a a present day - I am not too interested.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

Yes, I think it's a 60yr anniversary. I love war fiction so I am excited for all Korean War related stuff that is going to come out.

Re: jdrama action stuff. I think quality of action work in jdramas and kdramas is about even (in modern type settings. In period settings I give an edge to kdramas. The few Taigas I have managed to struggle through did not impress me with action scenes). As to quality of story - as you know I loved IRIS and love action kdramas in general - sort of the way I love Bollywood romcoms but not Hollywood ones - they give me the 'taste addition' I desire (Western ones may be smarter and/or with better production values but emotionally they are not my thing).

Another similar drama (even the title Fugitive screams similarity), even set in a a present day - I am not too interested.


Totally understandable. I, otoh, never got over a kid's love for the same story told ten different ways so am on it :P

[robotmatsuri.livejournal.com]

DEFINITELY going to watch Fugitive AND Athena, so it's win win for me. Woo hoo! :Db

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

I am so psyched for both.

[walkwithheroes.livejournal.com]

Did you hear there may be an actual IRIS 2?


Re: Lee Ji Ah. I've watched two (ok, tried to watch) two of her modern dramas: Style and Beethoven's Virus and she was fairly horrible in both. It's a little weird that she did so well in The Legend - her first acting gig ever - and has done so badly in everything else she's done. :(

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

Yes, I heard. I am still dancing around the room :)

Yeah, I haven't seen BV or Style (neither was my type of drama) but she was awesome in Legend, so no idea.