Musings of the Obsessive Kind

1. The fantasy/comedy/melodrama (yes, all of these) Secret Garden about an icy businessman and a tough stuntwoman who swap bodies and fall in love starring Hyun Bin, Ha Ji Won, Yoon Sang Hyun and Lee Philip starts this weekend. They released this amazing, swoony MV. Oh, I am melting just thinking about it.



One distraction - Hyun Bin is normally drop-dead gorgeous, but he really needs to eat here!

2. The trailer for the drama about lives of college students in a musical department, What's Up is finally out. I am very excited in part because Im Ju Hwan is the lead and that man deserves more fame than he has, but even more so because it is written by the writer of Eyes of Dawn/Sandglass/Kaist/Legend/Slingshot, i.e. a woman who has yet to write a bad drama. I love the vibe of the trailer.



It is a bit weird to hear "This is the Moment" in Korean :)

3. This one is a bit mixed for me - the upcoming drama about the stockmarket, Midas has just landed Mr Intense, a.k.a. Jang Hyuk for the leading role!!!!!!!!! (So much more my thing than his earlier rumored now squashed participation in Poseidon). A fly in the ointment - Lee Min Jung is the leading lady. Now, I know a lot of flisties like her, but she is my least favorite drama actress bar none. I will grit my teeth and ff through her scenes and, who knows, maybe a miracle will occur and I will like her.

So far, these are the dramas I am following:

M/T dramas - the charming, quirky, irresistable Mary Stayed Out All Night and stomp-out-my-heart Giant are both a go. I also have the first four eps of Queen of Reversals all raring to go as soon as I finish my Gloria marathon. I love the cast so if the story is halfway decent, I am in. Which means I will be watching three M/T dramas, which is sort of insane. No Dr Champ for me though - it sounds about as much fun as eating paint.

W/R dramas - only Daemul for me. Love it so much. Fugitive is a waste of time and I can't even remember the name or actors in the MBC drama, that's how little it interested me.

S/S dramas - my obsession and true love Gloria. Plus when Secret Garden starts, it is a must (though I will wait for a batch of subs). I want to check out Let's Get Married, which is in full swing, because of the wonderful Lee Jong Hyuk having (finally) a leading role, but it may have to wait until a slot opens.

Random question - why are there no dramas on Fridays and what do they show then?

After watching ep 1 of Fugitive, I gave up on it - it was a boring, disjointed mess and I couldn't have cared if all the characters in it blew up at the same time (I can persevere with a drama if the first ep leaves me indifferent but not if I actively dislike it).

I was reading dramabeans' write-up on halfway point of this drama and decided to check it out again - her and my tastes are pretty much polar opposite but I was curious if my opinion improved at all from the horrifying premiere. Being me, I went for the scene which interested me most in her write-up. If you guess it involves manpain, you are correct.

Mainpain! Bruises! Offering to die in place of OTP! Indeed.



My opinion of Fugitive certainly rose about 1000% after watching this - it looks like, now, I will actually watch the entire drama, even if I will likely wait until it's all over and marathon with liberal fast-forwarding. But if I were to say I am madly in love with this drama after this clip, it would be lying. The vibe reminds me a lot of those somewhat wacky Japanese procedurals - think Tokyo Dogs. That's not necessarily a bad thing, but it's not really something I go rabid for - I need my emotional investment as opposed to light interest, and it's not there.

My opinion on its lack of emotional connection holds - I enjoyed the scene quite a lot (why not, it's as if it was target-written for me) but I don't know - I could stay detached and enjoy the angst as opposed to writhe in vicarious agony the way I did in e.g. Rain's angst scenes in Sang-Do (time for a rewatch!) or A Love to Kill. Granted, I am not familiar with the characters here the way I was in those dramas, but a truly good visceral scene grabs you even if you don't know what is going on (what drew me to Bali, for example, was a scene of Jo In Sung breaking down. I had no idea who he was at the time but I felt that emotional punch in the gut and HAD to watch more. That hyper-reality is missing).

Also, I cannot believe this is done by the Chuno guys - the colors are so washed-out, the cinematography, so pedestrian.

What really strikes me the most, the strongest emotional reaction I get is regret. I am not fond of Lee Na Young (her looks do not appeal to me; she's never been in a drama I could tolerate) but she is no doubt a competent actress. The rest of the cast is competent too. And then there is Rain. There are kdrama stars I love better, but none who've imprinted on me quite so much. Full House was my first kdrama. A Love to Kill was the first kdrama which broke my heart. Sang Do completed breaking what was left. I love Rain. Let me modify this - I love Rain. I don't find him particularly good-looking (even if his body is a dream), but I don't even care because he can portray steely vulnerability (yes, I mean that contradictory term) so perfectly. He is a nuanced, underrated actor who is best at intense. When I think of his performances in A Love to Kill and Sang Do (and the more serious parts in Full House - yes, I know it's fashionable to rag on it, but it was my first and I loved it and I still love it and will defend it to the death or at least a light maiming), I can't help but look at Fugitive and get so angry at the total waste. It's his first drama in 6 years and what did they do? When I remember the plans for that angstorama melodrama by Sang Do/ALTK writer about a mercenary and a foreign correspondent with him and JJH and how it fell through and now we are stuck with this I want to cry and then to hit things. He is doing his best, but there isn't much there to do it with! And who knows when and if he ever comes back to doing a drama again.

So angry.

OK, this is turning into a downer post and it shouldn't be. Fugitive = much better than I initially thought. But still, sadly, not enough.

After watching ep 1 of Fugitive, I gave up on it - it was a boring, disjointed mess and I couldn't have cared if all the characters in it blew up at the same time (I can persevere with a drama if the first ep leaves me indifferent but not if I actively dislike it).

I was reading dramabeans' write-up on halfway point of this drama and decided to check it out again - her and my tastes are pretty much polar opposite but I was curious if my opinion improved at all from the horrifying premiere. Being me, I went for the scene which interested me most in her write-up. If you guess it involves manpain, you are correct.

Mainpain! Bruises! Offering to die in place of OTP! Indeed.



My opinion of Fugitive certainly rose about 1000% after watching this - it looks like, now, I will actually watch the entire drama, even if I will likely wait until it's all over and marathon with liberal fast-forwarding. But if I were to say I am madly in love with this drama after this clip, it would be lying. The vibe reminds me a lot of those somewhat wacky Japanese procedurals - think Tokyo Dogs. That's not necessarily a bad thing, but it's not really something I go rabid for - I need my emotional investment as opposed to light interest, and it's not there.

My opinion on its lack of emotional connection holds - I enjoyed the scene quite a lot (why not, it's as if it was target-written for me) but I don't know - I could stay detached and enjoy the angst as opposed to writhe in vicarious agony the way I did in e.g. Rain's angst scenes in Sang-Do (time for a rewatch!) or A Love to Kill. Granted, I am not familiar with the characters here the way I was in those dramas, but a truly good visceral scene grabs you even if you don't know what is going on (what drew me to Bali, for example, was a scene of Jo In Sung breaking down. I had no idea who he was at the time but I felt that emotional punch in the gut and HAD to watch more. That hyper-reality is missing).

Also, I cannot believe this is done by the Chuno guys - the colors are so washed-out, the cinematography, so pedestrian.

What really strikes me the most, the strongest emotional reaction I get is regret. I am not fond of Lee Na Young (her looks do not appeal to me; she's never been in a drama I could tolerate) but she is no doubt a competent actress. The rest of the cast is competent too. And then there is Rain. There are kdrama stars I love better, but none who've imprinted on me quite so much. Full House was my first kdrama. A Love to Kill was the first kdrama which broke my heart. Sang Do completed breaking what was left. I love Rain. Let me modify this - I love Rain. I don't find him particularly good-looking (even if his body is a dream), but I don't even care because he can portray steely vulnerability (yes, I mean that contradictory term) so perfectly. He is a nuanced, underrated actor who is best at intense. When I think of his performances in A Love to Kill and Sang Do (and the more serious parts in Full House - yes, I know it's fashionable to rag on it, but it was my first and I loved it and I still love it and will defend it to the death or at least a light maiming), I can't help but look at Fugitive and get so angry at the total waste. It's his first drama in 6 years and what did they do? When I remember the plans for that angstorama melodrama by Sang Do/ALTK writer about a mercenary and a foreign correspondent with him and JJH and how it fell through and now we are stuck with this I want to cry and then to hit things. He is doing his best, but there isn't much there to do it with! And who knows when and if he ever comes back to doing a drama again.

So angry.

OK, this is turning into a downer post and it shouldn't be. Fugitive = much better than I initially thought. But still, sadly, not enough.

It will likely surprise nobody that I was very eager for the action-mystery-romance drama Fugitive (also known as Runaway). I loved (most of) the cast and the writer-director team was the one which brought us Chuno, my favorite drama of the year.

You can imagine my eagerness as I started playing the first episode with shiny new subs courtesy of WithS2.



Sad to say, by the end of the epiode my eagerness was gone and what was left was largely blank astonishment that any team that brought us such an amazing, raw, visceral drama like Chuno could have given us such a pointless waste of celluloid like Runaway. I remember when IRIS was airing last year, some people who were not fans of it criticised it for beng slick but soulless. I did not agree with their assessment (IRIS was my favorite drama of 2009 and I was unhealhily emotionally invested in it - I cried for hours when it ended) but their slam came back to me after I finished episode 1 of Runaway.

Slick but soulless describes this to a T. It is clear money was poured into this and the actors are nothing but competent but all the money cannot help with lack of any emotional connection or any emotional truth in this. And the actors - why shouldn't they acquit themselves OK? A well-trained robot could do well in roles which require this little depth, nuance and emotion (when I think of the wonderful performance Rain turned in for A Love to Kill, I want to strangle someone for wasting his talents this way). None of the characters, with the exception of Lee Jung Jin, bringing all he can to the cliche role of hard-driving cop passed over for promotion in favor of a useless colleague with connections, even register. I need some sort of connection with the characters - I do not have to like them, but I have to at least find them interesting. It's not as if Runaway's plot is so complicated that it can cover over character deficiencies anyway.

It reminds me of one of those Japanese procedurals I do not care for - a sort of cross between Unobore Deka if it was less out there and Tokyo Dogs without the cast chemistry.

Does it have anything positive in it? Well, yes. Any drama that gives me this is doing at least one thing right.




But I can buy a beefcake calendar if that is all I want. It won't take me 20 hours of my life to peruse it.

I am going to give this drama though ep4 - I usually do, to see if a drama improves, they often do. But so far, what a horrible disappointment.

Just a public announcement - waiting for the first ep of Rain's Fugitive (also known as Runaway) to be subbed is torture. It has spies, it has international chases, it has a variety of hot men sans shirts and twisty ladies, and is directed and written by the same people who did Slave Hunters, i.e. the best drama of the year.

The first ep broke 20% for its rating, which is sort of insane.

Not to mention Rain - yeah, the guy can rock shirtlessness like nobody's business, but I also thought he could act, too, if A Love to Kill and My Girflriend is a Cyborg were any indication.

The eps just aired, it will take withs2 at least a week to sub them and I am not even bothering to check viikii due to this being a KBS drama so...torture! I want!

Have this, in conclusion. Nope, sadly not from the drama :D

Just a public announcement - waiting for the first ep of Rain's Fugitive (also known as Runaway) to be subbed is torture. It has spies, it has international chases, it has a variety of hot men sans shirts and twisty ladies, and is directed and written by the same people who did Slave Hunters, i.e. the best drama of the year.

The first ep broke 20% for its rating, which is sort of insane.

Not to mention Rain - yeah, the guy can rock shirtlessness like nobody's business, but I also thought he could act, too, if A Love to Kill and My Girflriend is a Cyborg were any indication.

The eps just aired, it will take withs2 at least a week to sub them and I am not even bothering to check viikii due to this being a KBS drama so...torture! I want!

Have this, in conclusion. Nope, sadly not from the drama :D

1. Teaser for Rain's Runaway is out and it did leave me rather breathless. Seeing that Runaway is brought to us by the same PD/writer team who gave us Slave Hunters, a.k.a. not just the best drama of 2010 (IMO) but also a drama that ended up in my Top 10, and that I am a Rain fangirl, I am VERY excited for this, especially after such an excellent teaser (to be honest, I liked the teaser better than Athena's, even though I liked the latter too).



2. Park Shi Hoo, who can do no wrong in my eyes, has joined the cast of upcoming Queen of Reversals. Yup, it's a sort of sequel to Queen of Housewives (with an AU story and a different cast except for the leading lady. Not really a sequel at all, thankfully). Between him and Jung Joon Ho as the leading man, I am not sure whether I will be able to concentrate due to all the heart palpitations. (Much as I love JJH and want him to get Kim Nam Joo, please don't leave poor Park Shi Hoo out in the cold, drama).

3. The latest for My Princess, the upcoming romcom starring Song Seung Heon and Kim Tae Hee (the drama henceforth to be known as "the prettiest drama ever") is that it's set for premiere in early 2011 - January, I believe. YES. KTH is a hidden princess who ends up taking over SSH's inheritance (his grandfather decides to leave everything to her for some reason) and SSH, not too happy about it, has to tutor her in the ways of the polite world. One word - YUM.

4. And now for the weird. Remember the upcoming Secret Garden, the fantasy/melodrama about bodyswaps and what not, from the writer of Lovers dramas/On Air/City Hall and which was set to star Jang Hyuk, Ha Ji Won, and Yoon Sang Hyun. Well, the drama is still on, only now Jang Hyik is out and Hyun Bin is in. I am completely torn over these news. On one hand, Hyun Bin is probably my favorite kdrama actor (after Snow Queen, Worlds Within and Friends, he can do no wrong in my eyes. Ironically I dislike his name-making Kim Sam Soon). And the fact that he will be able to squeeze in a high-profile drama before his military service is certainly a cause of joy. OTOH, Jang Hyuk! I love Jang Hyuk to a ridiculous degree, and after his amazing performance in Slave Hunters, he certainly earned another high-profile project (also, it would heal the wounds left by Hunters - just because I shipped Lee Da Hae with Oh Ji Ho, didn't mean I was impervious to Jang Hyuk's incredible angst). More importantly, it does not seem to be his choice - he had no say in the matter and it's a reuslt of his agency playing bizarre games with the production, trying to get its newest hot idol singer a role. Which is just appalling.

So yes, torn.

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.

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.