Dear kfangurl: Do you have difficulty seeing an actor in a different role?

Elaine writes:

I have a Dear kfangurl question to ask! My question is whether you’ve ever had a problem watching the same actor in a different role, because you have such a strong impression of him/her in the first show you saw the actor in?

Asking because I just started watching K dramas last year, and i started with highly rated ones like Crash Landing on You and Healer, where the OTPs are so smashing that I was reluctant to see the actors in other shows as it would feel to me almost like they were cheating on their original OTP! Lol.

So far I haven’t “repeated” any actors besides Lee Jun Ki – I first saw him in Arang and the Magistrate and a few months later in Flower of Evil. But to me that felt ok as his performance made the two characters feel completely different. It probably helped that his Flower of Evil character was supposed to have antisocial personality disorder so has flattened emotions.

But now almost a year after watching Healer, I’m watching Park Min Young in Her Private Life and I keep getting flashbacks to her Healer performance, especially when the two characters overlap on certain traits like optimism, pluckiness and sunny smiles.

It’s probably a personal quirk but I do wonder if anyone faces this issue too! For now there are so many dramas out there that I can avoid repeats of actors but soon it won’t be an option! Ha ha.

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Newly Taken With: Park Bo Gum

It’s official, you guys. I am officially very much taken with Park Bo Gum.

Which, if I’m being honest, is a sentence I never thought I’d write.

I mean, I’d always found him pleasant enough, and on the extreme end of pretty, with his perfect skin and beautiful features, but to be officially, undeniably, strongly, hearts-in-my-eyes smitten with him?

Now that’s something I never saw coming.

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Review: Marriage Contract

THE SHORT VERDICT:

A fairly typical contract-marriage-meets-terminal-illness sort of melodrama that doesn’t pack many narrative surprises.

The surprises mostly come in the form of the fantastic deliveries by the main cast. Namely, UEE is flat-out fantastic in this. So is Lee Seo Jin, and so is little munchkin Shin Rin Ah. The chemistry between these three, any which way you slice it, is golden, and alone is worth the watch.

Heartfelt, heartwarming, and solidly engaging.

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Flash Review: Wonderful Days

It’s funny how I ended up watching Wonderful Days. After all, I wasn’t in a family drama sort of mood, nor had I heard lots of positive buzz about this show.

Basically, I was still sorta in a fond sort of haze over Lee Seo Jin after enjoying his recent, fabulously grumpy, and inadvertently cute variety appearances. On top of that, I’d happened to catch him being charismatic and smoldery in a romantic context in Love Forecast, in which he’d played a supporting role.

Lee Seo Jin actually acting romantic instead of being his fabulously grumpy self? Yes, please. I lapped up his (limited) screentime in Love Forecast and found myself hungry for more.

It hit me that I really, really wanted to see more of Lee Seo Jin being a romantic leading man, and I figured that Wonderful Days would be just the ticket.

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A Renewed Fondness For: Lee Seo Jin

Oppaaa~!

I must tell you guys, there was a time when I was rather smitten with Lee Seo Jin. And even though over time, other k-loves have since taken up residence in my fangirl heart, I’ve continued to have a soft spot for Oppa despite going for a good long stretch without seeing him on my screen.

I’m just so pleased that he’s now popping up so much in variety land, and making quite the splash while he’s at it too.

It’s definitely time to show Oppa some love. 😉

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Review: The Technicians [Movie]

THE SHORT VERDICT:

Quite smartly written, but not quite so smartly paced, The Technicians might feel underwhelming for those looking for a zippy, jaunty caper movie.

Despite its relatively slow set-up and its consequently somewhat sluggish feel, though, Show boasts a cohesive narrative with heart, and it doesn’t even ever get too melodramatic while going about it either.

Add on a cast of likable main characters and a good dose of pretty (Woob! On my screen! Eee!!), and The Technicians is still a solidly entertaining watch.

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Pure Pretty: Eric

Blame my previous indifference to Eric on the facts that:

(a) I’m technically still a complete kpop noob and know next to nothing about Shinhwa, the legendary group of which Eric is leader and rapper; and

(b) I’d never seen him in anything of significance, since I’d bailed early on Myung Wol The Spy (2011), and hadn’t been terribly impressed by his outing as second lead in Phoenix (2004). Fine.

That last bit was also coz I’d been so completely distracted by Lee Seo Jin at the time, who was basically the only reason I even decided to watch that show, heh.

Now, blame my current state of spazz-puddle on Eric’s wonderful performance in Discovery of Love (2014). I mean, just, where had this manly man, oh-so-sexy version of Eric been hiding, all this while??

I likey. I likey very much.

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