I really, really wanted to like this one, you guys.
I mean, it’s headlined by Seo Hyun Jin, whom I think is an excellent actress, and Show’s promos made Seo Hyun Jin’s character Soo Jae look like a force to be reckoned with.
Ooh. I couldn’t say yes fast enough, basically.
Unfortunately, despite my best efforts, I find myself dropping out, after 9 episodes.
Still, I hope you guys find this Dropped post useful, in helping you figure out whether this one’s for you.
So, full disclosure, this wasn’t submitted as an actual Dear kfangurl question. Rather, on my post on scene stealers, J3ffc left a comment which included this following paragraph:
“For CLOY, I would have pegged scenes stolen by second leads Seo Ji-hye and Kim Jung-hyun, but then it occurred to me that that might be a category unto itself – second leads that outshine the main leads. A discussion with the good and bad examples of second leads – ones we love and then ones that we hate – would be fun.”
..And I thought, why not?
So here I am, with a list of my favorite and least favorite second leads. I hope you guys enjoy. ❤️
Thanks to everyone who took the time to vote on The Poll!
The results are in, and, as promised, I’m here to announce the winners – and also, tell you where my votes would have gone, if I’d voted.
Come see? 😃
Where has 2021 gone, seriously? This was a strange year, in that it felt like time was passing really fast, but it also felt like we were stuck and frozen in time – or is that just me? 😅
I think it’s safe to say that it’s been a tough year for us all. For hanging in there; for continuing to put one foot in front of the other; for continuing to look for and appreciate the good in your world: You’ve done well, my friends. ❤️
Even though things in Dramaland have continued to evolve, there’s one thing that remains constant, and that is, our dramas are always there for us, ready to whisk us away into another world, at least for a little while; ready to introduce us to new friends, as we meet new characters; ready to offer us vicarious experiences, even if we’re in the thick of a lockdown and can’t leave our homes.
Just like it was last year, dramas helped to make life a little brighter and sweeter for me, and I hope they’ve done the same for you too. ❤️
In case you missed it, we’re doing something special and different to end off the drama year this year! Guests posts, by patrons on Patreon!
You can read more details, and check out Shahz’s inaugural post, here. You can also find JJ‘s post here, Trent’s post here, Sean’s post here, and Martina’s post here!
After today’s post, there will be one final guest post by a mystery guest writer, whose identity will be revealed when their post goes live. And then we’ll cap everything off with a poll, where you’ll be able to pick YOUR favorites for the year, from among the gems identified in these posts. How exciting! 🤩
Today’s post is brought to you by lotusgirl, who happens to be a very talented photographer and artist, on top of being an avid drama fan. She’s just beginning to make her work available commercially, and some of her paintings have already sold!! Wow! You go, lotusgirl!!
I took the liberty of including one of her paintings below, just to tempt you a little extra, to pop over to lotusgirl’s blog, where you can browse more of her fabulous work. 🤩 (Edit! You can find her on Instagram @lamosscreative too!)
I hope you guys enjoy!
~ KFG ❤️
I had good intentions of wanting to like this one, particularly since it was enthusiastically recommended to me by Carulhein. She mentioned that she really enjoyed this one, despite Show’s low ratings, and that gave me hope that I might like it too.
However, 1.5 episodes in, I’ve come to the conclusion that while Show may have its fans (and said fans really do love this show a lot), I just don’t think it’s for me, unfortunately.
Hopefully this Dropped post will help you to figure out whether this one could work for you.
I really enjoyed Im Se Mi in 2020’s True Beauty, where she plays a feisty, candid older sister to Moon Ga Young’s female lead, so I totally perked up, when I saw that she’s the female lead in this little drama special.
On top of this, I also liked the idea of Im Ji Kyu being her male lead. Essentially, both of them have played so many supporting characters, that I just liked seeing them be the protagonists of the story, for once.
In the end, this does turn out to be a rather pleasant hour of drama. It’s low-key and down-to-earth, yet still sweet and hopeful. That’s not bad, right?
Vaish writes:
Hi kfangurl,
I am now a kdrama fan for quite a few years with several dramas under my cap. Of late, I feel that I’ve grown too critical. The kdrama world is no longer my escapist fantasy and stress buster.
I keep nit picking. I feel disappointed (there’s that magic charm missing) by recent dramas (True Beauty, Lovestruck in the City just a few examples). I would have enjoyed these premises earlier.
Should I just keep watching old dramas? Can you help?
THE SHORT VERDICT:
True Beauty doesn’t exactly re-invent the drama wheel in any sense of the word, but it’s fun and endearing, even while it’s being tropey and silly, and altogether, it works out to be a reasonably good time, especially if you’re in the mood for something that doesn’t tax the ol’ brain much.
As a bonus, thematically, Show manages to shine a bit of a spotlight on the importance of inner beauty, even as it plays with the contrast between our female lead’s bare and made-up face.
The acting in this show may not be the most skilled or nuanced, but our characters are generally earnest, well-cast, and pretty to look at.
Moon Ga Young and Cha Eun Woo are picture perfect as our story’s leads, and share decent chemistry as the sweet OTP at the center of our story.
It’s second male lead Hwang In Yeop who ended up stealing my heart a little extra, though. I do have a bit of a weakness for broody bad boys with hidden marshmallow hearts, heh.
Far from amazing, but a solid pick for a bit of sweet, mindless froth.
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.