Korean Daily Dramas (Part I)

 

 

I have spent the last few months watching Korean Daily Dramas (in the States we call them “Soap Operas”) and they tend to consume a lot of your time. I have watched eight in total: Suji & Uri; Vengeance of the Bride; The Second Husband; Smile Again; The Brave Yong Su-jeong; Queen’s House; The Third Marriage; and Love Twist. I decided to do a general overview of these series instead of an in-depth review, because it would require a huge epic undertaking – each of these dramas is over 100 episodes long (Queen’s House is the shortest at 100 episodes), which means there a lot of filler episodes where nothing happens. The Second Husband is the biggest offender when it comes to this – there is a love triangle subplot involving three supporting characters that has no relevance to the main storyline; it is there purely for comedy relief and is completely discarded in the shows third act. These three characters disappear from the narrative, and everyone forgets all about them. 
Editor’s note: Even a general overview of these series is much longer than I expected. I was initially hoping to do it all in one post, but that is proving to impractical; I already have written 11 plus pages and I’m not even halfway through the analysis. I plan on breaking up the analysis I three parts. 

The Korean Daily Dramas can be separate into two distinct categories: Revenge Melodramas and Redemption Melodramas. The first one speaks for itself: the main character (usually a working-class female) is wrong by the main antagonist and then vows revenge on that individual. In the Redemption Melodramas – the main character is wronged by the antagonist, and their entire life gets derailed in the process. However, rather seeking revenge, they are determined to get their life back on track and, thanks to sheer willpower and hard work, are able to reclaim their lives. The antagonists often believe that the protagonists are plotting elaborate revenge, but in reality, they are just trying to make a living. Even the antagonists of the series are given a redemption arc – after eating humble pie, they reflect on their lives and are determined to make amends for their wrongdoing. Suji & Uri and Smile Again fall under the Redemption Melodrama category, while the other three are Revenge Melodramas (though, The Brave Yong Su-jeong is a hybrid, because it allows for one the main antagonists to redeem himself in the end). Love Twist follows a similar route – there is a revenge element to the storyline but it only accounts for a few episodes of the drama and most of the antagonists, with the exception of one, are given a redemption arc. It is a show that is less about vengeance and more about forgiveness. Love Twist is also interesting because its two protagonists, Oh So-ri and Park Ha-ru, are largely responsible for the hell they create for themselves. There is more nuance in the characterizations.

All seven melodramas are variations of the same plot – they all offer up similar protagonists, antagonists, tropes, themes and often feature the same actors; Vengeance of the Bride and The Second Husband are so similar to the point they are almost indistinguishable. Smile Again offers an interesting variation on the formula in that the lead protagonist is a male (Dong-hae) instead of the usual female. They are a modern retelling of Cinderella (instead of the heroine being saved by a fairy godmother, they often find a wealthy benefactor who helps them enact their revenge).

This would be the perfect time to explore all the tropes these melodramas have in common:

 

1.     The Wronged Protagonist

The one common trope most melodramas (women’s weepies) have in common is that they really like to pile the misery on the lead protagonist. The lead protagonist in each of these shows often starts off the series living an ideal life – in Suji & Uri, Suji is a well-respected psychiatrist; in The Second Husband, Seon-hwa is in a common-low marriage with Mun Sang-hyeok and has just given birth to the first son; and in Queen’s House, Kang Jae-in is married to Hwang Ki-chan. They have a son, Eun-ho, and are expecting a second child.

When Vengeance of the Bride and The Brave Yong Su-jeong begin, both of their lead females, Su-jeong and Seo-yeon, are children. The opening scene of The Brave Young Su-jeong is of Su-jeong’s mother getting killed in a fire while trying to rescue her daughter while in Vengeance of the Bride, Seo-yeon is the favorite daughter of the prominent Kang family (the father Baek-san is the chairman of a cosmetics company). However, Seo-yeon’s world comes crashing down when it is revealed that she is not their biological daughter (when she was infant, her father was murdered by Baek-san and her birth mother disappeared – simultaneously, Baek-san’s wife, Nam In-soon, gave birth to twin girls, but one of them died. So, her mother-in-law, who just happened to be at the scene of the crime, took the infant Seo-yeon and swapped her with the deceased baby – this all happens while Su-rin was unconscious. For ten years, Baek-san and In-soon raised Seo-yeon as their own daughter (for the first ten years of her life she went by the name Kang Ba-ram), oblivious to the fact that she was the offspring of his former rival. When In-soon finds out that Seo-yeon is not her biological daughter, she gives Seo-yeon the cold treatment and eventually kicks her out of the house – they send the family servant, Choi Yeong-wan, to look after the young girl. Unfortunately, Yeong-wan gets attacked by a bunch of Baek-san’s goons and ends up losing track of the child – Seo-yeon ends up being raised in an orphanage. 
Flash forwards a couple of decades later and Seo-yeon is now a stylist at a salon and is looking to start up her own cosmetic business and ends up running afoul of Baek-san.

The protagonists in each of these series initially possess two distinct qualities: empathy and naiveté. They are all warm individuals (with the exception of Dong-hae) who give everyone the benefit of the doubt, which also makes them an easy target for bad faith actors. In Queen’s House, Kang Jae-in  (Hahm Eun-jung) is a chaebol, who is seemingly in an ideal marriage with Hwang Ki-chan (they have a son named Hwang Eun-ho and another child is on the way) but her entire world comes crashing down when she discovers her husband is having an affair with her best friend, Kang Se-ri (played to perfection by Lee Ga-ryeong). However, it isn’t just her husband and best friend that betrays her, but her extended family as well. When Jae-in and Ki-chan are competing for chairperson of YL Group (her father’s company), her aunt, Kang Mi-ran, and brother Kang Seung-woo side with Ki-chan. Her other best friend, Do Yoo-kyeong also betrays her by signing to the papers to commit her to a mental hospital. Jae-in never harmed any of these people, they simply resent her for social status – Doo Yoo-kyeong has the habit of blaming others for her misfortunes while Se-ri is a sociopath who never shows any remorse for any of her actions. It turns out that her aunt, Mi-ran, is actually Seung-woo’s biological mother (Jae-in’s father took him in at a young age and, to protect his younger sister, lied to his wife that Seung-woo was the product of an affair). Mi-ran can only think of Seung-woo’s inheritance and sides with Ki-chan, because she believes she can work out a deal Ki-chan (he will be the chairman until Seung-woo is ready to take over the company). It backfires big time against Mi-ran – Ki-chan has no intention of stepping and his new wife, Se-ri, is constantly a source of scandal. 

In Suji and Uri, (also starring Hahm Eun-jung), Su-ji is a famous psychiatrist (who has her own talk show) whose life gets upended by multiple scandals. The first one involves her father, Jin Jang-su, who owns a chain of Bibimbap restaurants and wants to expand his business overseas. He uses his daughter’s name (without her knowledge) to persuade investors to put money into his company. However, his partner embezzles the money and flees the country, leaving Jang-su holding the bill. The investors, naturally, want their money back and when Jang-su fails to cough it up, they show up at the hospital Su-ji works at and demand she pay them back. This confrontation ends up on the news and is the first time the public starts to question her character – guilt by association.  Even Jang-su and Su-ji eventually pay back the investors; there are still people who hold this against her.

The incident that derails her career is when a video of her slapping her younger sister, Na-young gets leaked online. Na-young desperately wants to host a talk show and asks Su-ji to put in a good for her, but despite Su-ji’s best efforts, the producer rejects the idea – instead he offers Su-ji an insane sum of money to host the show herself, she is appalled and turns it down. Na-young only hears about the first part (that the producer wants Su-ji to host the talk show) and assumes that her older sibling stabbed her in the back. She never allows Su-ji to explain her side of the story. Later, Na-young meets with the producer and pleads her case and, sensing her desperation, he begins to put the moves on her.  Su-ji happens to be in the restaurant at the moment, witnesses what is happening, and immediately puts a stop to it. This enrages Na-young, who is convinced that Su-ji is trying to sabotage her career.  The two of them get into a heated argument and Na-young brings up a sensitive topic (Su-ji’s birth mother abandoning her when she was six) and Su-ji slaps her across the face. Now, it just so happens that slap is recorded by Na-young’s cameraman (she hosts a TV show that highlights lesser-known restaurant in South Korea) and he sends her a copy on his phone. She uploads the video (out of context) and then plays the victim.  This video, coupled with the scandal involving her father, is enough to turn the public against her. Her patients (who used to idolize her) cancel their appointments, and the hospital (which used her fame to bring in business) eventually fires her.  The only people who stand by her side are U-ri (a fellow psychiatrist at the hospitals and his sympathetic makeshift family (none of the people in household are related by blood).  He persuades his adopted mother, Oh Seon-young (who owns a prominent restaurant, Madang House) to allow Su-ji to rent the spare room in their house.  At first, she is a recluse – she spends most of her time locked up in her room and only comes out to eat. U-ri urges his family to be patient with her and not to force things; eventually she opens up and with U-ri’s support she gets back on her feet. Also (and this is not a spoiler), it is revealed that Seon-yoong is actually Su-ji’s biological mother (but I will get to that later).

I have to believe that reason Hahm Eun-jung took the role of Su-ji is the autobiographical elements to the role. Like the character of Su-ji, Eun-jung’s life was upended by a bullying scandal (I already wrote about the T-ARA bullying scandal in my review for White, so I won’t repeat her).  She, and her T-ARA members, had to face the harsh judgement of the public, who made up their minds before the facts had come out. She also went through a bout of desperation – she would spend entire days in her bedroom and often go days with out showering.  She was eventually vindicated and went on to have a successful career as an actress. She also won the Excellence Award – Actress in a Daily Drama-at the KBS Drama Awards for her performance as Su-ji (she also won one for Queeen’s House).  She went from being ostracized by her peers to being celebrated (similar to Su-ji).

The Third Marriage, Jung Da-jung (Oh Seung-ah) is betrayed by her best friend, Kang Se-ran (Oh Se-young).  Da-jung was separated from both of her parents when she was kid – her mother left at young age after having an affair with her father’s best friend, and her father was accused of murdering an employee at his factory and spent years trying to clear his name. While her father was in prison, the bitter wife of the deceased employee, Cheon Ae-ja, sold Da-jung to a diner and she spent the next few years slavishly working for her tyrannical adopted mother. She eventually ran away and wound in an orphanage. She is a self-made woman and eventually lands a job at a food company, Dream Foods. Da-jung eventually marries Baek Sang-cheol, who also works at the same food company, Dream Foods, as Da-jung. It turns out that Da-jung’s best friend Se-ran is also Cheon Ae-ja’s daughter – the two of them knew were playmates when they are little and eventually reconnected in high school (though, Se-ran is not aware of this as Da-jung was the name given to her by her stepmother – her birthname was Shin Go-eun). Bear in mind, everything I just described happens in the very first episode of the series.  As a result, the first episode feels a bit disjointed at times – to the point where it is often difficult to understand what is going on.

It is shortly after her marriage to Sang-cheol that Da-jung is reunited with her biological father, Shin Deok-su. The two of them hit it off and form a close bond, but Se-ran remembers that Shin Deok-su was the man who murdered her father (or that it what her mother told her) and she decides the best way to get back at Deok-su is by ruining his daughter’s life. Her request for revenge is motivated by a misunderstanding, something she only realizes all too late. Se-ran is jealous of Da-jung and tries to steal her life – she steals Da-jung’s husband, birth right, and even Da-jung’s daughter. It turns out that Deok-su is the long-lost son of Yoon Bo-bae, the chairwoman of a popular restaurant and when Se-ran finds out about it, she manipulates the DNA results to make it appear that her father is Bo-bae’s long-lost son. As a result, Bo-bae believes that Se-ran is her granddaughter and impulsively gives her the role of CEO. She also gives Ae-ja a managerial position. When Da-jung realizes she has been betrayed and that Se-ran is responsible for her father’s death, she seeks revenge of her own, but since the law has failed her, she decides to marry the chairman of Dream Foods, Wang Jae-guk, and use his connections get back at Se-ran. She also effectively becomes Se-ran’s stepmom – in a business merger, Se-ran ends up marrying Jae-guk’s son, Wang Ji-hoon.  However, the ultimately proves to be a huge mistake on Da-jung’s part.

In Love Twist, the romance between Oh So-ri (also played by Hahm Eun-jung) and Park Ha-ru gets derailed by a white lie told by their parents. So-ri’s father, Oh Gwangnam, is having an affair with Ha-ru’s estranged mother, Park Hee-ok. To further complicate issues – Park Hee-ok is also best friends with Gwangnam’s wife, Maeng Ok-hee. When So-ri’s biological father, Park Ki-tae, appears out of nowhere and wants to claim Ha-ru as his own, Hee-ok, at Gwangnam’s urging, claims that Gwangnam is Ha-ru’s biological son. She even creates a fake DNA test so that Ki-tae will get off her back. Her intention was to protect her son from Ki-tae, who is a genuinely evil man (he raped Hee-ok when she was a young and Ha-ru was conceived as a result). She puts on an indifferent front when she is around Ha-ru, but despite her cold exterior she does care for her son. However, Ok-hee, while visiting Hee-ok finds the DNA test, believes that it is genuine, refuses to listen Hee-ok’s explanation, and eventually tells Ha-ru about it. As a result, Ha-ru believes So-ri is his biological sister and breaks it off with her. Instead of telling her the truth, he coldly pushes her away and hooks up with So-ri’s one-time best friend, Kang Yoo-nah, who is pregnant after a one-night stand, and Ha-ru tells So-ri the child is his. It turns out that So-ri is pregnant with Ha-ru’s child but believing she has been abandoned decides to marry Kyungjun, who currently works for her father’s company and intends to use So-ri to fulfill his own ambitions. Kyungjun also helped fake the results of the DNA test; he visited Ki-tae, took a sample of his hair, and claimed it belonged to Gwangnam. Both him and Yoo-nah know the truth about So-ri and Ha-ru but choose to remain silent because it gets in the way of their own plans. Hee-ok and Gwangnam also keep silent because they don’t approve of So-ri and Ha-ru being a couple.

Dong-hae (Carl Laker is his American name), in Smiling Again, is the only protagonist who is kind of unlikable when we first meet him. He is an impulsive individual, with anger issues, and often jumps to the wrong conclusions. He is extremely sensitive when it comes to his mother, Anna, who in her youth got into an accident in typhoon, which caused her to be intellectually challenged – she has the mindset of a seven-year-old. He also never knew his father, “James” who abandoned his mother before Dong-hae was born, which means he has spent most of his life raising himself and his mother.  At the beginning of the series, Dong-hae (Ji Chang-wook) is a member of a short distance speed skating team and is currently in South Korea to compete in a competition; he also has come to visit his girlfriend of six years, Yoon Sae-hwa (played by Park Jung-ah, former member of the girl group, Jewelry), whose aspiration is to anchor the nine o clock news, but currently does a five minute segment for the news station. She is giving a chance to prove her chops when she is given the job of hosting a TV show that reunites people with long lost family members.  When Dong-hae and Anna arrive in South Korea, Sae-hwa is supposed to pick Anna up at the airport (Dong-hae has to go to the hotel with his team) but an opportunity arises and she asks her school friend, Lee Bong-yi, to pick up Anna for her.  Dong-hae begins to worry about Anna and goes back to the airport to get her, when he sees getting on the bus with a strange woman. He immediately assumes the worst, waves down the bus, and confronts Bong-yi inside the bus. He never allows her to explain herself and gets violent with her – he pushes her aside and she ends up injuring her arm in the process. When he has finally calmed down, she explains herself and he feels like a horses’ ass. Bong-yi is such a sweet natured girl that we immediately resent Dong-hae for his ill treatment of her – it takes quite some time before he is able to get on our good side (this is after he has been incredibly humbled by circumstances).

 

This brings me another trope of these Soap Operas……

2.     The Two-Timing Spouse/Lover

In Smiling Again, Sae-hwa breaks up with Dong-hae to chase after Kim Do-jin. She initially isn’t interested in Do-jin until she learns his father is Kim Joon, the newly appointed executive director of the TV station she works at. His mother is Hong Hye-sook, the CEO of the Camelia hotel. Sae-hwa see this as an opportunity to advance her career – if she marries Sae-hwa and gets on Kim Joon’s good side, it is a given that she will get that anchor job on the nine of clock news. She coldly breaks it off with Dong-hae and then tries to pressure him to leave South Korea, out of fear that he will reveal their relationship. Their relationship was already strained after Sae-hwa asked Dong-hae to appear on her show and talk about his long-lost father, but he flat out refuses. However, Dong-hae’s mother, Anna, is desperate to find her former lover, James, and asks Sae-hwa if she can appear on her shoe. Sae-hwa knows that Dong-hae will not like this, but she decides to go through with it any ways – she wants to impress her bosses and will gladly use Anna to achieve this goal. Dong-hae learns about this, rushes to the television studio, and tells Sae-hwa that he will appear in Anna’s place.  He then makes a huge scene and tells Sae-hwa (and her audience) that he has no interested in finding his father – he then grabs his mother and storms out of this studio. Dong-hae’s live outburst gets Sae-hwa in trouble and she is demoted back to the five-minute news segment. Dong-hae does apologize for his behavior, but Sae-hwa uses it as an excuse to distance herself from him, so she can pursue Do-jin. This moment also demonstrates the differences in culture – in the United States, there is no way Sae-hwa would lose her job for a guest’s outburst, in fact, she would rewarded because this kind of outburst would have boosted ratings numbers and gone viral on the internet. Dong-hae’s outburst is pretty minor when you compare it to the things that are allowed on American television.

Dong-hae’s dreams of being short distance speed racer are dashed when he sacrifices himself to save Sae-hwa from an oncoming truck (this is another trope that pops up in these dramas – females walking into oncoming traffic only to push out of the way at the last second by the male protagonist. This is even more comical because often the female in question has more than enough time to get out of the way but chooses to stand still like a deer caught in headlights). Dong-hae is hospitalized and told by the doctor that he will never be able to ice skate again. At first, Sae-hwa is remorseful and gives him money to return to the states with, but when Dong-hae gets a job at the Camelia Hotel, as a chef, Sae-hwa’s paranoid gets the better of her and she keeps pressuring him to leave South Korea. She is responsible for her own undoing, because she constantly harasses Dong-hae that people, most notably Kim Joon, noticed the two of them together and begins to wonder what their relationship is.

The biggest lie that Sae-hwa told Do-jin is that he is her first romantic partner. She paints herself her as a virgin – this is after Do-jin tells her that he could never stand the thought of her being in a previous relationship with another man. However, it proves difficult to cover up the six years she shared with Dong-hae and eventually the truth comes out. Again, this is brought on by her constantly badgering Dong-hae in public places. Revenge was never part of Dong-hae’s plan – he just wanted to get back on his feet and working in the kitchen of the Carmelia offered up such an opportunity. He is even on good terms with Hye-sook – he saved her from a disgruntled ex-employee who confronted her in the elevator. She is also impressed by his devotion to his mother and strong work ethic. Their relationship becomes strained later on, but I will get to that later.

Since Smiling Again is not a revenge melodrama this allows for Sae-hwa a chance at redemption. She does a lot of despicable things throughout the series but eventually all her lies catch up with her, and she is left with nothing. It is a humbling experience and gives her a moment of self-reflection – she has no one to blame but herself. She does atone for her sins and even helps Dong-hae win control of the Carmelia (she has a lot of dirt on Do-jin). It is a nice variation on this character – it also fits well within the theme of the show that everyone is deserving of forgiveness (all they had to do is seek it).

In The Third Marriage, Baek Sang-cheol is a total flake – it doesn’t take much for Se-ran to seduce him. He also can’t make up his mind who is he is in love with, when he is with Se-ran expresses his love for her and tells her he will divorce Da-jung, but he loses his nerve when he is with Da-jung. It’s only after Se-ran is given the CEO title that Sang-cheol is determined to divorce Da-jung. However, the only reason Se-ran is interested in Sang-cheol is because he is Da-jung’s husband, once he finalizes his divorce from Da-jung, she loses all interest in him and moves on to Ji-hoon. She also frames Sang-cheol for assault and he spends the next few years in prison. Like most of the two-timing husbands, Sang-cheol is truly a pathetic figure. When he finds that Da-jung is the true heiress to Bo-bae’s fortune, he tries to get back on her good side. 

In The Second Husband, Seon-hwa’s partner, Moon Sang-hyeok has an affair with Yoon Jae-kyeong, his boss (and whose father is the chairman of confectionary company) and sees this as golden opportunity to further his career.  He abandons Seon-hwa, and their son, and begins a torrid romance with Jae-kyeong (played by Oh Seung-ah, my favorite actress in this genre but more on that later). The interesting thing about The Second Husband is that Seon-hwa and Jae-kyeong initially hit it off with each other – Jae-kyeong is oblivious to the fact that Sang-hyeok is in a relationship with Seon-hwa (and vice versa). The two of them meet up and often talk about their significant other (unaware they are talking about the same guy) but once Jae-kyeong finds out that Sang-hyeok is Seon-hwa’s significant other (and has a son to boot), she doubles down on her affair and rationalizes Sang-hyeok’s infidelity. She now views Seon-hwa as an enemy she must destroy. 

The running gag throughout the series is the physical abuse Sang-hyeok endures at the hands of others – he constantly gets either slapped or punched in the face. He wants to win the approval of Jae-kyeong’s wealthy parents, but they always view him with suspicion. Even though he betrayed Seon-hwa, he still has feelings for her and when she drops hints that she would like to get back together with him (as part of her revenge plot) he is very receptive to the idea. He is constantly weighing his options: Sang-hyeok can give him anything he wants but he was significantly happier when he was with Seon-hwa and she is better “wife material.”  When he sees Seon-hwa with his brother-in-law, Jae-min, he gets insanely jealous. It is actually an entertaining performance from Han Ki-woong, who constantly does his best Rodney Dangerfield “I get no respect” impersonation. Sang-hyeok is so pathetic that he becomes somewhat endearing. He acts like he is in control of the situation, but you can see the constant panic in his eyes.

Queen’s House is interesting because, like Smiling Again, there is an attempt at giving the cheating spouse Ki-chan, an actual character arc. There is a tragic element about his character – the one person who genuinely cared about him, his ex-wife Jae-in, is the same one he pushed away. He comes to this realization fairly late in the series – Ki-chan gets diagnosed with cancer and only has a short time to live. He tells Jae-in about this and, rather than being elated by the news, she tells him he must live because he needs to atone for his sins. Later, he walks in his mother and Se-ri arguing over who will get his life insurance. Neither of them shed a tear over the fact that he has cancer and will die in a few months, they can only think of the money they will inherit.

The second half of the show is when we see a gradual shift in the character – his attitude towards Jae-in begins to slowly change. Ki-chan does a lot of terrible things – he murders an employee (Kim Do-hee) to cover up his corruption and then lets Jae-in’s mother, Choi Ja-young, take the blame; he also is responsible for the death of Jae-in’s father, Kang Kyu-cheol; and commits Jae-in to a mental hospital after gaslighting her into believing she is insane.  He resorts to the dirtiest tricks to cover up the many scandals that involve him and Se-ri. Redeeming a character like this is a tall order, but damn, the series somehow pulls it off (this is largely due to the sincerity of Park Yoon-jae’s performance). Ki-chan realizes that Jae-in will never be able to forgive him for his terrible deeds but he is determined to make amends.  He fadlls back in love with Jae-in after she suffers from amnesia in a car accident (arranged by Se-ri) and lost her memory of the last eight years. She still thinks she is married to Ki-chan and also believes that she has miscarried their son, Eun-ho. Ki-chan decides to take her back into his house (much to the displeasure of Se-ri) and soon finds himself falling back in love with her. He realizes how badly he messed things up – he had the ideal wife and replaced her with a sociopath, who is constantly getting in trouble.  It is revealed  that Jae-in faked her memory in order to get close to Ki-chan to find evidence that will bring him down, and get back at the people who wronged her (most notably her awful mother-in-law).  Hahm Eun-jung’s acting is especially enjoyable in this section of the series – when Jae-in is around Ki-chan she puts on a “helpless babe in the woods” act, but when he is alone with her mother-in-law, she reveals her more ruthless side. It is quite the contrast. 

3.     The Wicked Step-sister

Since most of these series are essentially a retelling of Cinderella, there are often characters who function in the roles of the wicked Step-mother and Step-sisters. They can be literal step-sisters (like Jin Na-young in Suji & Uri) or symbolic (like Yoon Jae-kyeong in The Second Husband and Kang Ba-da in Vengeance of the Bride – both played by Oh Seung-ah). The all share a same common trait – they all are deeply insecure; suffer from a victim mindset; blame the lead character for all of their misfortunes; are habitual liars; rarely show remorse for the actions; and will resort to all sorts of dirty tricks to bring down the protagonist. 

In Suji & Uri, Na-young is Su-ji’s younger step-sister who resents her older sibling. She hosts the Korean version of Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives – where she eats at the more out the way restaurants. While this program pays the bills, her real ambition is to be the MC of a talk show. She lives in the shadow of her more famous sibling and resents Su-ji’s success. Though, despite talking behind her older sibling’s back, Na-young’s face lights up when she finds out that Su-ji knows the producer of the talk show she is auditioning for and pleads with her sister to put in a good word for her. Su-ji actually does this, but the producer is not interested in Na-young, instead he wants Su-ji to host the show. Su-ji declines the offer.  However, when Na-young finds out about this, she believes Su-ji has stabbed her in the back.
The two of them get into a heated argument outside, which ends with Su-ji slapping Na-young (after Na-young makes a comment about Su-ji being abandoned by her birth mother). It turns out that Na-young’s cameraman on the Food show witnessed this exchanged and recorded it on his cellphone. He shows Na-young this footage and she leaks it online, which results in a backlash towards Su-ji. This, coupled with the fact that Su-ji’s father was accused of fraud by angry investors (the way he got them to invest in his product was by dropping his famous daughter’s name -without Su-ji’s permission), tarnishes her image and the public turns against her. She was once the face of the hospital and now, after the scandal, they try to distance themselves from her. Na-young believes this newfound sympathy from the public will translate into a successful career but the opposite proves to be true – the TV stations further distances themselves from her because she was involved in the scandal. She eventually hooks up with Su-ji’s well-meaning but dense ex-boyfriend, Han Hyeong-seong, gets pregnant, and uses the baby as leverage to move in with Hyeong-seong’s wealthy family – his mother is a chaebol and his father is a prominent surgeon at the hospital Su-ji and U-ri work at. If there is a flaw with the series is that this character is so loathsome in the early going that it’s hard to sympathize with her later on, especially when she tries to atone for all her mistakes – she is given an ambiguous ending.

In The Second Husband and Vengeance of the Bride the wicked stepsister is played by Oh Seung-ah, who is easily the best part of both of these dramas. In fact, her performance in both of these dramas is hard to top – to the point than when I watched other Soap Operas, I kept thinking to myself, “This would be so much more entertaining if Oh Seung-ah played the villain.” There a few similarities between her and Hahm Eun-jung: they were both idols (Eun-jung was a member of the girl group, T-ARA, while Oh Seung-ah was part of RAINBOW, and the sub-units Rainbow Blaxx and Rainbow Pixie); both of their groups debuted in 2009; both of them were born in 1988; and they both went on to have successful acting careers. I’m surprised the two of them haven’t acted in a drama together – this needs to happen. My ideal scenario - they play squabbling sisters who form an uneasy alliance when the family company is under attack from a sinister third party. The first half would feature lots of hair pulling, face slapping, backstabbing, and a random scene where the two of them have a karaoke face off.   The main difference is that Eun-jung is usually cast in the role of the protagonist while Seung-ah is cast as the antagonist (the sole exception is The Third Marriage, where she is cast against type as the heroine of series).  I should also point another actress who pops up in Smile Again, Lee Joo-yeon was also a member of a group, AFTER SCHOOL, that debuted in 2009 (however she was born in 1987), but more on that later (I’m a big AFTER SCHOOL fan – their Japanese release, “Ssh” is one of the greatest, and most criminally underrated, K-pop tracks ever released).

The best word to describe Oh Seung-ah’s acting in both of these series is frantic – with her quivering voice and bug-eyed expressions, she always looks like she is on the verge of a nervous breakdown. Her characters wear a mask of confidence but the fear in their eyes always gives them away. She dominates the proceedings that the lead actresses in both series, Park Ha-na, in Vengeance of the Bride, and Uhm Hyun-kyung, in The Second Husband, often come across as background extras in her presence. Neither actress is bad, but they don’t have the screen presence that Oh Seung-ah brings to her roles (I suspect this is a result of her idol training, which requires its stars to have great stage presence).

In Vengeance of the Bride, she plays Kang Ba-da, who grew up believing that the heroine, Eun Seo-yeon (when Seo-yeon was a child she went by the name Kang Ba-ram), was her biological twin sister. She resented Seo-yeon growing up because her parents favored Seo-yeon (her father, Kang Baek-san viewed Seo-yeon as his potential replacement and her mother, Nam In-soon, smothered Seo-yeon while often ignoring Ba-da). When it is revealed that Seo-yeon isn’t their biological daughter – In-soon kicks her out of the house and it seems that everything has worked out for Ba-da. With her number one rival out of the way, she is given the education and cushy job that would have originally gone to Seo-yeon.  Her father is the chairman of cosmetics company, LeBlanc (it is later revealed th0at he stole it from Seo-yeon’s true biological father), and Ba-da is put in charge of developing new products.  Seo-yeon works at beauty shop and just so happens to run into her former mom, Nam In-soon, who doesn’t recognize her. Also, since Ba-ram changed her name to Eun Seo-yeon (after the parents who adopted her from the orphanage), there is no reason for her to suspect that Seo-yeon is the little girl she raised for ten years as her own. Seo-yeon doesn’t bear any ill will towards In-soon and the two of them actually hit it off.  This is the main difference between Ba-da and Seo-yeon – despite the many hardships she faced, Seo-yeon refused to play the victim and kept a positive attitude towards life while Ba-da is a perpetual victim. In fact, if Hollywood remade this melodrama, the Ba-da character would probably be the protagonist, given how Hollywood aggressively pushes the victim mindset.  One the side, Seo-yeon is trying to start up her own cosmetics business and gives her new face mask to In-soon. Ba-da gets hold of the face mask and attempts to claim it as her own. It’s also this incident that puts Seo-yeon on Kang Baek-san’s radar. Ba-da’s attempt to steal the facemask gets thwarted by the older brother, and his best friend/Seo-yeon’s love interest, San-Deul (who knows Seo-yoen’s true identity).  When Baek-san’s attempts at intimidating Seo-yeon fail, he goes with the “if you can’t beat them join them approach) and offers her a job at LeBlanc. This further annoys Ba-da, who once again is forced to play second fiddle to Ba-ram. Ba-da is also in love with San-Deul but has been in love with Seo-yeon/Ba-ram since childhood and rejects Ba-da’s advances.  San-Deul is also played by a familiar face, Park Yoon-jae, who played the two-timing husband, Ki-chan, in Queen’s House.

In The Second Husband, Seung-ah plays Yoon Jae-kyeong, who not only steals Seon-hwa’s husband, but (accidentally) kills Seon-hwa’s grandmother and then, finally, frames Seon-hwa for murder.  Seon-hwa spends four years in prison, patiently plotting her revenge. Like Ba-da, Jae-kyeong is incapable of admitting any wrongdoing and her non-stop lies eventually catch up with her. Seon-hwa’s revenge is a bit on the ridiculous side, but I will get into that later, because it is so absurd that it needs its own paragraph. It was Seung-ah’s performance as the conniving Jae-kyeong that gave her recognition as an actor. She would usually be cast in villainous roles – though, in The Third Marriage, she was cast against type as the heroine, Jung Da-jung. It’s interesting to contrast this performance with her villain roles, because it requires her to dial down her performance.  She is not bad but, in my opinion, the Seung-ah who chews the scenery in The Second Husband and Vengeance of the Bride is more entertaining than the restrained Seung-ah in The Third Marriage.

 

And this allows me a smooth transition to talk about the evil step-sister in The Third Marriage, Kang Se-ran, who is a complete psychopath (played to perfection by Oh Se-young, who gives Oh Seung-ah a run for her money for the most entertaining villain in a Korean Soap Opera). Se-ran is the type of femme fatale that popped up in a lot of Cecil B. DeMille’s silent melodramas (Oh Se-young would make an excellent silent film actress); she is the ultimate sinner (she breaks all of the ten commandments). She steals Da-jung’s husband, steals Da-jung’s inheritance, kills Da-jung’s father, kidnaps her daughter, and even attempts to murder Da-jung. She fakes being pregnant to prevent her husband Wang Ji-hoon (Wang Jae-guk’s only son) from divorcing her. She burns all bridges with her best friend due to a misunderstanding – she believes that Da-jung’s father murdered her father. The irony is she spends most of the series sucking up to the actual culprit (Jae-guk). She is so blinded by vengeance that she never bothers to ask if it is worth it. She is enabled by her greedy mother, Cheon Ae-ja (played by Choi Ji-yeon).

(The end of Part One. INTERMISSION!!! Be sure to pick up some snacks at the Concession Stands. Today we have a two-dollar special on small popcorn and small drinks are dollar. WHAT A DEAL!!!  Part Two will be posted sometime in the next two years.) 

Wanted: Dead or Alive (1958-1961)/ The Rebel (1959-1961)

It has been months since I posted on this blog. The main reason for the lack of activity is pure laziness on my part: I moved into a new apartment in August, and I am now living on my own – this disadvantage of living by yourself is that you’re not as motivated to do things as you are when you have other people pressuring you. I have been writing an epic post about Korean Soap Operas – I have watched half a dozen of them in the last few months, but I am currently suffering from writer’s block when it comes to this entry, so I thought I would do short post about two old school westerns that I recently began watching – Wanted: Dead or Alive (starring Steve McQueen) and The Rebel (starring Nick Adams).  These are two shows that I began watching at dialysis (I go in at five in the morning and the only thing worth watching at this time is old westerns and Perry Mason). Since I have seen almost every episode of Perry Mason, I decided to give these two westerns a watch. Both of them immediately drew me in that I started watching them on Tubi and YouTube. I also own the first season of Wanted: Dead or Alive – my dad gave me his copy after he bought the entire series on DVD. 

Wanted: Dead or Alive helped springboard Steve McQueen into superstardom – it was his role as bounty hunter, Josh Randall, that got him cast in the 1960 western (and Seven Samurai remake) The Magnificent Seven. It should also be noted that Wanted: Dead or Alive premiered four days (September 6, 1958) before the cult classic The Blob (September 10, 1958) opened in movie theaters – meaning that McQueen may have been the first Hollywood actor to have a hit TV show and hit movie in theaters showing at the same time.  Yes, The Blob was a hit movie. Josh Randall was a departure from the tall, square jawed males that populated westerns at the time (John Wayne, Randolph Scott, Joel McCrea, to name a few). Josh Randall was an early example of the anti-hero – he was a bounty hunter, who was motivated by money instead of individual responsibility, though there are episodes where you see his softer side (like when a little boy pays him eight cents to find Santa Claus). He was also a man who loved his vices – gambling, alcohol, and women. He wasn’t the first western anti-hero – James Stewart in The Naked Spur (where he also plays a bounty hunter) and John Wayne in The Searchers (as the racist, Ethan Edwards) are two earlier examples of anti-heroes, but it was the role that helped McQueen craft his “King of Cool” persona. The other iconic aspect of Wanted: Dead or Alive was Josh Randall’s gun, “Mare’s Leg” – a sawed off .44-40 caliber Winchester 92.

Wanted: Dead or Alive was a spin-off of the western, Trackdown (starring Robert Culp). The character of Texas Ranger, Hoby Gilman, was more in line with the western heroes of time – tall, handsome, and a morally upstanding individual. He would fit right in with the cast of Rio Bravo, while Josh Randall would probably be comfortable hanging around Will Kane in High Noon. For the record, I regard both films as two of the best westerns ever made.  Just like Wanted: Dead or Alive catapulted McQueen to superstardom, Trackdown launched the long career of Robert Culp (who exudes charisma in his portrayal of Hoby Gilman). I have only seen a few episodes of Trackdown, but it deserves a brief mention in this review. 

The show often followed “The Villain of the Week” format – Josh Randall would be hunting down a “baddie” and would often rely on help from a local to capture the villain. In some episodes, the villain might be a third party who is also interested in collecting the bounty on Randall’s prisoner. There was the occasional episode that would stray away from the formula; in season three, there is a charming episode called “The Voice of Silence” where Josh is hired to look after a deaf-mute girl while her father is a way on business. There is very little dialogue in the episode, but McQueen and the actress, Carolyn Kearney, have great chemistry and able to convey so much emotion with the small of gestures. It is one of the few times that Randall contemplates settling down with a woman. There is part of me that would like to think Randall returned to the girl (he promises to do so at the end) and married her. The episode was also directed by future blockbuster filmmaker, Richard Donner.

While Wanted: Dead or Alive marked the beginning of Steve McQueen’s career, The Rebel was the peak of Nick Adams’ career – he is probably best known for his role as Astronaut Glenn in the Japanese Monsterfest, Invasion of Astro-Monster (or Godzilla vs. Monster Zero as it commonly known as). Interestingly, McQueen and him would co-star in the war movie, Hell is for Heroes. Prior to The Rebel, Nick Adams was a star on the rise – he was a close friend of James Dean and appeared in Rebel Without a Cause in a supporting role (he played a Chick, a member of the gang that harasses Dean’s character throughout the movie). He appeared in various movies and television credits (including the pilot episode of Wanted: Dead or Alive, where he, along with the pre-fame Michael Landon, played the villains of the week) before landing the role of Johnny Yuma (a character he co-created) in The Rebel. If The Rebel is remembered, it is mainly due to theme song that was sung by Johnny Cash (“Johnny Yuma was a rebel.....")

The Rebel was one of the first existential westerns – the show revolves around Johnny Yuma, an ex-Confederate soldier, roaming the west to find inner peace, and often finds himself getting involved with a local dispute. He also keeps a journal of his travels and sends pages to a newspaper editor from his hometown. Johnny Yuma anticipates anti-heroes like Billy and Wyatt in Easy Rider, and John Rambo in First Blood (before the character turned into a G.I. Joe action figure come to life) – disillusioned individuals who wander aimlessly across the country looking for a place to call home.

Even though, The Rebel and Wanted: Dead or Alive have similar premises, their two leading men are worlds apart- McQueen brings an easy-going charm to his portrayal of Josh Randall, who always finds away to get the upper hand. On the other hand, there is a lot of anger in Adams’ portrayal of Johnny Yuma – he is the kind of character who can explode at any moment. He was a soldier for the losing side of the Civil War (probably suffering from PTSD) and now is an aimless drifter trying to find his place in the world. He works the occasional job to help pay for his lifestyle but there is no place he can call home. He doesn’t seek trouble, but rather trouble seems to find him. The phrase “No good deed goes unpunished” applies to Johnny Yuma – he often has the best intentions, but the locals misunderstand him and believe he has ulterior motives. In School Days, Yuma agrees to be a temporary schoolteacher, but one of the locals, Troy Armbuster (Warren Oates) believes that Johnny is making a move on his girl, Peggy O’ Shea. Though, this is a rare episode that has a happy ending – Troy finally confesses his love to Peggy, the two get married, and Troy buries his grudge against Johnny. Plus, Warren Oates rules!

A name associated with The Rebel that Star Wars might recognize is Irvin Kershner – he directed a huge bulk of the series and would later helm The Empire Strikes Back. The Rebel was a good training ground was Kershner to hone his skills for later projects. Wanted: Dead or Alive and The Rebel were starting point for many future stars (both in front of behind the camera): Richard Donner (director of The Omen, Superman, The Goonies and Lethal Weapon, to name a few) helmed six episodes of Wanted: Dead Alive. Verna Fields (who later won on Oscar for her editing on Jaws) was the sound editor on Wanted: Dead or Alive. Warren Oates was a guest star on both shows. Wanted: Dead or Alive had a more impressive eye for spotting future talent: Michael Landon, James Coburn, James Best (Sheriff Roscoe), Richard Anderson (A face you recognize even if you don’t know the name), Martin Landau, Dyan Cannon, Mary Tyler Moore, and others popped up in guest roles.

Wanted: Dead or Alive and The Rebel often highlight the advantages of episodic television. Most modern television shows are serialized – there is an overarching storyline that runs through the entire series. Most of these television shows are built on a Mystery Box – the show opens on a mystery and then slowly unravels it as the series progresses. Each episode ends on a cliff hanger to set up the next episode – if the show is executed well, this well leave the viewers wanting to watch more and can result in endless hours of binge watching. The one fatal flaw to the serialize format is that often one bad episode (or a weak finale) can derail the entire series. The most recent example is the final episode of Stranger Things, which left a lot of plot threads hanging. This is the moment that series has been building up for the last decade and it ends on a wet fart.  The advantage of the episodic format is that each episode is its own self-contained story (beginning-middle-end) and a few bad episodes is not going to ruin your overall enjoyment of the series. The episodic format also allows for a greater flexibility for story telling – since the show is not beholden to telling one storyline, it allows the showrunners to do different genres: one episode might be somber piece about the social issues of the day, while the next could be a  more light hearted affair (like Josh Randall being hired to find Santa Claus). There is a famous episode of Bonanza where the Cartwrights encounter Leprechauns – it would be out of place in a serialized television show, but in an episodic series like Bonanza, you’re response would likely be, “Well, that was a weird episode,” then you would shrug your shoulders and tune in next week to watch the further adventures of the Cartwrights.  If Leprechauns randomly showed up in Strangers Things or Game of Thrones, you would scratch your head and wonder how it is relevant to the main storyline. It might even dissuade from watching the rest of the series.

My Girlfriend is a Gumiho (2010)/ The Accidental Couple (2009)

The idea of the unlikely romance is nothing new to storytelling, it predates the written word. They are a staple of K-drama romances, but the results can be mixed at times. The success of these types of dramas depends greatly on the chemistry between the two romantic leads – if the pairing of the actors fails to ignite sparks, then the entire series falls flat. It doesn’t matter how good the writing, direction, and supporting cast is, it is entirely up to the two romantic leads to carry the series. My Girlfriend is a Gumiho and The Accidental Couple are the unlikely romance done correctly and offer interesting variations on the formula. 

In Korean folklore, the Gumiho is a shape shifting nine tailed fox that, in order to become human, drains energy from humans. Depending on the media, the Gumiho can either be a total monster (who eats human livers) or a more benevolent that finds a willing partner to take the energy from. They drain off the energy by inserting an orb (via kiss) into their victim’s body and when it has sucked the person dry, they take it out. In My Girlfriend is a Gumiho, Mi-ho is a more benevolent creature (or least tries to be, sometimes her killer urges kick in).  She has spent 500 years trapped inside a painting and it is accidentally let out by Cha Dae-woong, a college student and aspiring action star. He is, initially, afraid of Mi-ho and tries to flee from her, but seriously injuries himself in the process. While he is unconscious, Mi-ho, to keep him alive, places her orb into him and he wakes up none the wiser. The orb also enhances his abilities, so that when he auditions for an action movie, he blows away the director, Ban Doo-hong. The two of them come to an understanding – if Dae-woong helps Mi-ho become human, she will help with his movie career. 

In order for Mi-ho to become human, Dae-woong must keep the orb inside of him for 100 days and she must drink the blood of a half human/half supernatural being, Park Dong-jo, which takes away her supernatural powers – as the series progresses, she begins to lose her tails. What Dong-jo keeps secret from Mi-ho is that once she extracts the orb from Dae-woong, he will die. It is not specified what kind of supernatural being Dong-jo, all that is shown is that he has lived for a long time. The reason he takes an interest in Mi-ho is that he reminds of her of goblin, Gil-dai, who he slayed after she begged him to do so. Dong-jo has traveled all the country and held many jobs (he is currently a veterinarian). He doesn’t allow himself to get too close to humans, because of the pain that comes when they pass away.  He has become weary at his old age, while Mi-ho, after having spent 500 years in painting, is excited by the world around her – she is a fish out of water.

The main reason that I chose to write about My Girlfriend is a Gumiho is talk about the lead actress, Shin Min-ah, who is slowly becoming one of my favorite actresses of all time. In the last couple of months, I have watched multiple dramas starring Shin Min-ah (My Girlfriend is a Gumhio, Oh My Venus, and Tale of Arang) and she always impresses me. If you want to see an example of an actor carrying a film, then check out the 2005 romantic comedy, The Beast and the Beauty, where she plays a woman who has regained her eyesight, after receiving eye surgery, and is looking for the man who was by her side when she was blind. The movie isn’t very good, and the lead male is irritating, but it’s worth watching for Shin Min-ah’s sweet natured performance. It’s also one of those romantic comedies where you feel that the heroine is given a raw deal – the movie’s secondary male lead is more likable than the male lead. Flash forward to 2024, she is cast as a cynical businesswoman, who views everything in gains and losses, in No Gain, No Love and doesn’t miss a beat.

Her performance is My Girlfriend is a Gumiho is one of her most impressive, because of the depth she brings to the role – in one scene she is flirty with the male lead, doing her best aeygo, and then in the next she is crying up a storm (literally) because she believes she has been abandoned. She can be sweet in one episode and intimidating in the next – there a couple of times throughout the series where Mi-ho reverts to a more feral state and Dae-woong can only satiate her thirst for blood by feeding her raw meat. The premise to the series is ridiculous and there are two approaches Shin Min-ah could have taken with the material:  the first approach would be to play it with her a wink – she could occasional break the fourth wall and let the audience know she is in on the joke (this is basically what acting in most Hollywood franchises has been reduced to) or she could go with the second route and play it in a sincere manner. She opts for the latter approach, and the show is all the better for it. Despite the ridiculous premise, it is easy to root for Mi-ho.

There is an innocence about Mi-ho – she has been around for centuries, but because she has spent the last five hundred years trapped in a painting, she is naïve to the ways of the world. This innocence also means that she has no filter, which means that she will openly say things that offend the cultural norms – there is one moment where she is in heat and tells Cha Dae-woong that she wants to mate with him. He can’t believe how frank she is and throws a huge hissy fit – one of the most irritating aspects of K-dramas is how puritanical the male leads can be at times. In real life, if an attractive female told a male she wanted to mate with him, he would either take her up on the offer, or he might find it odd but would still be flattered. In K-dramas, the dude freaks out and runs out of the room, or pushes the female lead out of his house and locks the door. Hell, often there is a scene where the lead female will confess her feelings to the lead male, and he acts like she is selling him life insurance. “I don’t knooooooow! I need to think about it!”  Do women find such indecisiveness sexy? I genuinely want to know – being an angry senior citizen who is suspicious of everyone, I rarely know what motivates people, especially women.

My Girlfriend is a Gumiho has one of the more entertaining B-stories – the budding romance between the extreme action director, Ban Do-hong, and Cha Min-sook (Dae-woong’s aunt). The two of them first meet on the elevator of a shopping mall – Cha Min-sook farts in the elevator but Do-hong covers for her by apologizing to the other occupants. Do-hong runs an action school and Dae-woong is one of his top students, so he constantly runs into Min-sook. Do-hong is a huge fan of Chow Yun-fat’s performance in A Better Tomorrow and dresses up like the lead character – he also emulates Yun-fat’s performance and often quotes the movie when he is trying to court Min-sook.  When he is not dressed up like Chow Yun-fat, he wears the outfit that Bruce Lee wore in Enter the Dragon. 

Ban Do-hong is played by Sung Dong-il, who played the lead female’s father in the Reply trilogy. Just like in the Reply trilogy, the daughter of his character, Ban Sun-nyeo, is played by a K-pop – Hyo-min from T-ara (who goes for the “cute nerdy girl” look by wearing glasses).  Sun-nyeo has a crush on Dae-woong, but he is, initially, too infatuated with fellow actress, Eun Hye-in, to notice. It isn’t much of a role, it just requires Hyo-min to look cute, and she manages to excel at that. 

In the first few episodes, Dae-woong is hopelessly in love with Hye-in, but she just shrugs him off. It’s only after Mi-ho has entered the picture that Hye-in starts to notice him – she can’t stand the fact he is no longer paying attention to her and let’s her jealously get the better of her. She starts to spy on Mi-ho, hoping to dig up dirt she can use to discredit Mi-ho. She simply can’t understand why Dae-woong choose Mi-ho over her and is convinced that something wicked is afoot. Both Dae-woong and Hye-in have been cast as the second leads in Do-hong’s action epic, but Hye-in is not satisfied with being the second banana and tries to persuade the Do-hong into casting her in the lead role. Do-hong is obsessed with capturing “real action” film and when she catches Mi-ho powers on full display (he sees her jumping over trees), he wants to cast her as the female lead in his movie. The problem is that he can’t find her – whenever Mi-ho sees him walking in her direction, she runs away. When Hye-in discovers Mi-ho’s secret she uses it to her advantage; she blackmails Mi-ho into being her stunt double on the movie. She gives this ultimatum to Do-hong: the only way Mi-ho will work on the movie is as a Hye-in’s stunt double and if Do-hong casts Hye-in in the lead female role. Do-hong reluctantly accepts the terms – because he knows that Hye-in isn’t leading lady material. Even though Hye-in is given the lead role, she still can’t stand to see Dae-woong lavishing Mi-ho with attention.

Hye-in isn’t the only one who is trying to separate Mi-ho and Dae-woong; Dong-jo falls in love with Mi-ho and keeps trying to convince the two of them to break up. Dong-jo initially was going to kill Mi-ho but he has become so infatuated with her that he wants her for himself. He opts for the more subtle approach; he tells Mi-ho and Dae-woong separately that they would be better off without one another. He uses the old logic, “If you truly love this person, then you will let them go.” Dong-jo’s pitch to Dae-woong is that he is the only one who can truly take care of Dong-jo and Dae-woong would just be a hindrance to her. He also tells Mi-ho that he can prevent her from dying – as Mi-ho loses her tails she becomes progressively weaker. Dong-jo promises Mi-ho that if she stays with him, she will regain her strength. Dae-woong makes the noble sacrifice, returns Mi-ho’s orb to her, and walks away. Of course, we all know this temporary. There is no way the writers would end a romantic comedy on a downbeat note. Mi-ho has quite the character arc – she makes friends, makes enemies, falls in love, gets her heart broken, falls back in love, and even works a few part-time jobs – is there anything more human than that?

My Girlfriend is a Gumiho is an entertaining show with interesting twist and turns. It is the kind of premise that should fall flat on its face, but it succeeds thanks to the imaginative direction, clever writing, and sincere performance. I should also point out that over a decade later there was a TV show called My Roommate is a Gumiho that starred Lee Hye-ri as a female college student who falls in love with a male Gumiho (played by Jang Ki-yong). It is also an entertaining TV show that has the same plot beats as My Girlfriend is a Gumiho but also manages to add its own twist and turns – like incorporating the Red Thread of Fate into the storyline. I still prefer My Girlfriend is a Gumiho, mainly because of Shin Min-ah’s performance.

The interesting thing about Accidental Couple is that it has the exact same plot as the Buster Keaton silent, Spite Marriage. In both stories, a rube is talked into entering a sham marriage with a famous actress. In Spite Marriage, Elmer (Keaton), the owner of a dry-cleaning business, marries famous stage actress, Trilby Drew, who uses him to get back at her leading man/lover, Lionel Benmore, who has become flirtatious with a female admirer. This happens on a whim – she has too much to drink and asks Elmer if he would like to marry her.  Elmer has been an admirer of hers for awhile (he has seen every performance of her current play) and naturally says yes.  The next morning, she wakes up sober and leaves it up to her manager and Lionel to clean up her mess – they persuade Elmer to go away, so Trilby can divorce of him on the grounds of abandonment. Through a series of contrivances, Elmer and Trilby end up meeting again on a yacht, and she falls in love with him after he saves her from gangsters who have commandeered the boat.

In Accidental Couple, Gu Dong-baek (Hwang Jung-min) is talked into entering a sham marriage with the famous TV/movie star, Han Ji-soo (Kim Ah-joong) to help cover up her relationship with Kim Kang-mo (Joo Sang-wook), who is the son of mayoral candidate, Kim Jung-wook.
To help cement his win in the election, Jung-wook has arranged for his son to be engaged to Choi Soo-yeon, whose father owns a prominent news organization (that Kang-mo works at).  Kang-mo assures Ji-soo that this is only temporary – once his father has won the election, he will break off his engagement and come back to Ji-soo. However, a tabloid journalist, Reporter Baek, suspects that two of them are secretly seeing each other and hopes to catch them in the act. When Kang-mo and Ji-soo get into a car accident (while fleeing from Reporter Baek) he believes he will finally snap the incriminating photo. However, Dong-baek just happens to be at the accident scene (he was walking home from an awards show) and is persuaded by the frightened couple to take Kang-mo’s place in the driver’s seat while Kang-mo slips away.  Like Elmer in Spite Marriage, Dong-baek is so enamored with Ji-soo that he agrees to their request. Baek shows up at the scene but is disappointed to find Dong-baek in the driver seat.

They initially believe they have successfully pulled the wool over the reporter’s eyes, but while looking at a photo of the accident scene, Baek sees a figure standing in the background and, correctly, assumes that it is Kang-mo and is determined to expose the truth. Sang-mo and Ji-soo realize they are not out of the woods yet and ask Dong-baek to carry one with the deception. Dong-baek biggest strength is also his biggest weakness – he is good natured to the point of being a pushover. Despite his initial reservations, he agrees to go along with the deception. The next thing he knows, his name is trending all over social media and his face is plastered on all of the newspapers. To further complicate things, Kang-mo’s father leaks it to the press that Dong-baek and Ji-soo are going to get married. Ji-soo is so determined to go through with the deception that she agrees to a sham marriage with Dong-baek. 

The one question that never enters Ji-soo’s mind – Is Kang-mo worth it? What kind of man would not only ask the woman he loves keep their relationship a secret, but idly stand by and allow her to enter a phony marriage to appease his father? He even agrees to take their wedding pictures. Part of the reason Ji-soo agrees to tall of this is that she owes a great of her career to Kang-mo – the two of them met at college and it was Kang-mo who used his connections to help Ji-soo get acting gigs. While Kang-mo did provide her with the break she desperately needed, it was her genuine talent that catapulted her to superstardom. Her loyalty to Kang-mo is understandable, but she gets nothing out of this current arrangement – she can only watch from the sidelines while the man she loves publicly touts that he is going to marry another woman. As a result, Ji-soo is constantly depressed.

While Trilby was won over by Elmer’s heroic deed, Ji-soo is ultimately won over by Dong-baek’s good-hearted nature. The main difference between the two female protagonists is that there much more depth to Han Ji-soo while Trilby Drew is one dimensional (the heroines in Keaton’s movies were usually props to drive the story than they were actual characters).  The most surprising aspect about The Accidental Couple is the terrific chemistry between Hwang Jung-min and Kim Ah-joong. Hwang Jung-min will never make “the most handsome” list and is a decade older than Kim Ah-joong, but there is nice give and take between these two talented actors.

Their relationship goes through a believable progression from complete strangers to eventual lovers. At first, Dong-baek is in complete awe of Ji-soo and this leads to awkward exchanges, because he is near speechless in her presence. What baffles Ji-soo and Kang-mo the most is the fact that Dong-baek isn’t asking anything in return for continuing the deception; Ji-soo even admits she would feel more comfortable if Dong-baek asked for money, because she at least would understand his motivation. His “nice guy” seems to good to be true. The second stage of their relationship is Ji-soo giving Dong-baek the cold treatment – she basically views him as “a prop” and doesn’t want to get too close to him, because eventually she will return to Kang-mo and he will go back to the life of a postman. In private, she ignores Dong-baek while publicly puts on a show of affection. This also does wonders for her image; the public is transfixed by the story of a famous actress dating an ordinary man. She also snaps at Dong-baek multiple times – Reporter Baek overhears a conversation between Dong-baek and Ji-soo’s manager, Cha Yun-kyung and it seems to confirm his suspicions that their relationship is a scam. 

When Dong-baek tells Ji-soo about this, she loses her temper and hurls insults at him. It never occurs to Ji-soo how this deception is affecting Dong-baek’s life. It was during this scene where I wanted Dong-baek to grow a spine and tell Ji-soo off, especially when she demands he take part in the sham marriage. Bitch, he doesn’t owe you shit! Most men would have told Ji-soo to piss off and then spilled the beans to Reporter Baek (who was offering a decent sum of money to hear Dong-baek’s story).  Dong-baek excuses her appalling behavior and agrees to the sham marriage – Dong-baek is the type of person who always looks for the best in people (even when they don’t deserve it).

There is also another incident that threatens to derail the whole act – Ji-soo invites Dong-baek to hang out with a few of her actor friends. When she leaves the table to use restroom, one of the male actors makes lewd remarks about Ji-soo. Dong-baek is offended by the man’s crude language and confronts him in the restroom – he gives the man ten seconds to apologize and, when the guy fails to do, Dong-baek head butts him in the nose. This upsets Ji-soo, because she is worried the actor might press charges and that the story will be plastered all over the media. Ji-soo’s team does buy the man’s silence, but this incident further divides Dong-baek and Ji-soo.

It is also a matter of time that Dong-baek’s co-workers begin to notice inconsistencies in his story – he claims that Ji-soo and him had been dating for months, but it was only recently that he showed interest in his co-worker, Park Kyung-ae. In fact, he even asked her to attend the award show with him, but she declined his offer. It is also only after Dong-baek starts “dating” Ji-soo that Kyung-ae begins to show interest him. This leads to a rumor that Dong-baek was two-timing Ji-soo and the result is a huge backlash from the public. They are appalled that an average “Joe” like Dong-baek would cheat on a goddess like Ji-soo. The post office initially exploits Dong-baek’s relationship with Ji-soo by making him the face of the post office – they put up posters and cardboard standees of Dong-baek all over the building. When the scandal breaks out, they take down the posters and standees and try to distance themselves from Dong-baek.

However, it is around this time that Dong-baek and Ji-soo’s relationship takes that next step – from work acquaintance to friend.  Ji-soo can’t help but to charmed by Dong-baek’s simplicity, and the fact that he is an inviting individual. While Kang-mo is too ashamed to introduce Ji-soo to his father, Dong-baek proudly introduces Ji-soo to his younger sister, Gu Min-ji, and to all of his co-workers. When she hears about the two-timing rumors, she actually laughs – she knows that Dong-baek is not that type of guy. This is also the first time she begins to realize how this deception has derailed Dong-baek’s private life. He has two potential love interests, Kyung-ae and Min-ji’s best friend, Jo Seung-eun, but he cannot pursue either because he is committed to helping out Ji-soo.  Even before Dong-baek met Ji-soo, Seung-eun was already considering going out with him.  To be honest, Seung-eun is probably a better match for Dong-baek because of their similar backgrounds and worldviews – neither of them are looking to make a splash, they just want to live ordinary lives.  It is also not surprising that Seung-eun dislikes Ji-soo.

Dong-baek also ingratiates himself to Ji-soo by befriending her estrange younger brother, Han Sang-chul. One of the things Dong-baek has in common with Ji-soo is that they lost their parents at a young age and were forced to raise their younger siblings. Min-ji lives with Dong-baek and they have a close relationship. After Ji-soo became famous, she sends her young brother to attend college in Australia. The two of them haven’t spoken in years – Sang-chul always interpreted his sister sending him to Australia as her obeying Kang-mo’s orders. Sang-chul has a strong dislike of Kang-mo and blames him for the distant relationship he has with Ji-soo. However, despite his disagreeable demeanor, it is apparent that Sang-chul still cares about his older sister. He just really wants to see Ji-soo be happy. When he first meets Dong-baek, he is naturally skeptical.  Dong-baeks let him in on the secret that his relationship with Ji-soo is a sham.  Sang-chul is initially tempted to expose their deception to Reporter Baek but changes his mind when he notices how happy Ji-soo is whenever she is around Dong-baek. She is always miserable when she is with Kang-mo, but Dong-baek has the ability to make her smile regardless of the circumstances. Sang-chul becomes determined to turn their sham marriage into a real marriage. Dong-baek also has the ability to diffuse a potentially ugly situation; there is a scene where the Gu siblings persuade the Han siblings into going on a picnic. Ji-soo and Sang-chul get into a heated argument that is about to turn ugly when Dong-baek and Min-ji challenge the Han siblings to a game of soccer.  At first, Sang-chul rolls his eyes at the idea, but as the game progresses, he becomes more involved and even celebrates with his sister when they score a goal. 

To further keep up the ruse, Dong-baek moves into Ji-soo’s house. He sleeps in the upstairs guest room while Ji-soo sleeps in her room downstairs. This further strengthens their bond – they often pass the time by playing board games and Dong-baek even teaches Ji-soo how to cook. This is also when Kang-mo begins to feel uncomfortable about their relationship, which makes Sang-chul happy. This often results in Kang-mo pulling Dong-baek aside and issuing all sorts of threats. Ji-soo also doesn’t know how to feel; she enjoys Dong-baek’s company, and even has grown close to Min-ji, but she can’t get over her feelings for Kang-mo. To Sang-chul, and the viewers, it is a no brainer – Dong-baek is the perfect guy for her, but it is also easy to understand her feelings. She wants things to remain as they are, but she is inevitably going to have to make that tough choice. If she marries Kang-mo, there is no way he would allow her to stay in touch with Dong-baek. If she picks Dong-baek that essentially ends her relationship with Kang-mo. It is only after Dong-baek moves out of her house that she realizes how much she misses and loves him.  To quote the classic Cinderella song, “Don’t know what you got ‘til it’s gone.”

The premise of The Accidental Couple is formulaic (which is why I brought up Spite Marriage) but that is not necessarily a bad thing. In fact, the fact that it is so unapologetic about adhering to the formula is one of its charms. There is something satisfying about seeing an average Joe win the heart of a famous movie star – it is the ultimate wish fulfillment. I also must admit that it took me longer than usual to write this review, and I have watched a few K-dramas since then, so there are many details of the two shows I reviewed that I have become iffy. However, it speaks volumes about My Girlfriend is a Gumiho and The Accidental Couple that performances by the lead actors in both shows (Shin Min-ah and Hwang Jung-min) have stuck with me weeks after watching them. They are both master classes in acting.

 

Credits

My Girlfriend is a Gumiho
Cast:  Shin Min-a (Gu Mi-ho/Park Seon-ju/Gil-dai), Lee Seung-gi (Cha Dae-woong), No Min-woo (Park Dong-joo), Park Soo-jin (Eun Hye-in), Sung Dong-il (Ban Doo-hong), Yoon Yoo-sun (Cha Min-sook), Byun Hee-bong (Cha Poong), Kim Ho-chang (Kim Byung-soo), Hyomin (Ban Sun-nyeo), Hyunwoo (young Cha Dae-woong), Im Hyun-sik (Buddhist Monk), Kim Ji-young (Samshin grandmother), Uee (art student), Park Shin-hye (Go Mi-nyeo).

Director: Boo Seung-chul
Writers: Hong Jung-eun, Hong Mi-ran
16 episodes ~ 60 minutes

The Accidental Couple
Cast: Hwang Jung-min (Gu Dong-baek), Kim Ah-joong (Han Ji-soo), Joo Sang-wook (Kim Kang-mo), Lee Chung-ah (Gu Min-ji), Baek Sung-hyun (Han Sang-chul), Jeon Mi-seon (Cha Yun-kyung), Lee Soo-young (Jo Seung-eun), Yeon Mi-joo (Park Kyung-ae), Moon Jae-won (Yoon-seob), Kang Hee-soo (Tae-won), Kim Hyung-gyu (Kim Suk-hyun), Kim Kwang-kyu (Team leader Go), Yoon Joo-sang (Director Yoon), Jung Dong-hwan (Kim Jung-wook), Lee Hae-young (Reporter Baek), Park Ha-sun (Choi Soo-yeon), Jo Sang-gun (President Choi), Shin Ki-joon (young Dong-baek), Im Si-eun (young Ji-soo), Lee Jua (young Min-ji), Cha Jun-hwan (young Sang-chul).

Director: Ki Min-soo
Writers: Jung Jin-young, Kim Eui-chan
16 episodes ~ 60 minutes