[KOREAN TV DRAMA REVIEWS] 그린로즈 (Green Rose)

PD
김수룡 (Kim Su-Ryong), 김진근 (Kim Jin-Geun)

WRITER
유현미 (Yoo Hyun-Mi), 김두삼 (Kim Doo-Sam)

CAST
고수 (Go Soo) as Lee Jung-Hyun, 이다해 (Lee Da-Hae) as Oh Soo-Ah, 이종혁 (Lee Jong-Hyuk) as Shin Hyun-Tae, 김서형 (Kim Seo-Hyung) as Cha Yoo-Ran, 박상면 (Park Sang-Myun) as Lee Choon-Bok, 선우재덕 (Seonwoo Jae-Deok) as Director Seo, 강신일 (Kang Shin-Il) as Detective Jo, 정상훈 (Jung Sang-Hoon) as Kim Dong-Wook, 한진희 (Han Jin-Hee) as President Oh, 서진아 (Seo Jin-Ah) as Hong So-Ra, 이원재 (Lee Won-Jae) as Yoo Gwang-Il, 성동일 (Sung Dong-Il) as Driver Jung, 김두삼 (Kim Doo-Sam) as Lawyer Jung, 유민혁 (Yoo Min-Hyuk) as Taoren, 최상훈 (Choi Sang-Hoon), 정혜선 (Jung Hye-Seon), 김민주 (Kim Min-Joo), 변희봉 (Byun Hee-Bong)

THE SHOW

All the suspects reunited in one room, having dinner together. The detective probably knew already who committed the crime, but he needed that incriminating proof to arrest the culprit. Everyone was staring at each other with suspicion, some trying to hide their feelings, lest they might appear too nervous; some others, knowing what would happen to them if the plot was uncovered, just kept feeling tense. While they were 'enjoying' their meal, the victim of one of those suspects' heinous act was resting in an adiacent room, finally waking up from a three year long coma, ready to confess the truth as soon as he was able to speak. He had to be stopped, but who would make the first step?

No, I'm not talking about a work by Agatha Christie, but 그린로즈 (Green Rose), one of the few truly excellent TV Drama SBS produced in 2005. And the fact the show comes from SBS is important, because the station had been indulging in superficial star vehicles for most of the year, so a well written, intense, intriguing show like this felt like a fish out of water, but a nice surprise nonetheless. Despite MBC's terrible 2005, with bad production choices, a significant slide in ratings and the several scandals which plagued the station, on the quality front SBS was really the worst station of the year. Out of the many Dramas SBS produced in 2005, only a handful were really able to raise above mediocrity: surprisingly effective two-episode specials 하노이 신부 (The Bride From Hanoi) and 내 사랑 토람이 (My Lovely Toram), able to make something out of the limitations of their 'shorter' structure; the Cha In-Pyo/Jo Jae-Hyun/Song Yoon-Ah potboiler 홍콩익스프레스 (Hong Kong Express), which even stars Eric Tsang (!); Lee Jae-Gyu's rousing comeback to the small screen with 패션 70s (Fashion Seventies), full of his usual cinematic humanism, and the breezy, entertaining and well written 불량주부 (Woman of The House), and that's about it. SBS' 2005 was full of the kind of Dramas which fuel the Korean Wave's 'fad', but don't build 'fanbase'. That is, they go for cheap thrills, or better, very expensive thrills (overseas locations, luxurious sets and costumes) decorated by pretty stars with dubious acting skills, shoving ridiculous scripts down viewers' throat. That some viewers in China and Japan have started a backlash against such repetitive, redundant shows is just the beginning of what could turn into a nasty downfall for Korean TV Drama's fortunes abroad.

Take, for example, shows like 해변으로 가요 (Let's Go To The Beach), a sort of love child of Baywatch and 가을동화 (Autumn Fairy Tale), so inept in its characterization it actually made the putrid acting of Shinwa's Jun Jin and muscleman Lee Wan look like the lesser evil; take 봄날 (Spring Days), which raised expectations to gargantuan levels, as Go Hyun-Jung from the explosive 1995 hit 모래시계 (The Sandglass) chose this drama for her long awaited comeback, after a decade of no-shows (she was married to a Tycoon. Now that she's not anymore, TV Dramas look a lot more appealing, isn't it?). And did we wait 10 years for THAT? I understand 삼각관계 (Love Triangles/Menage A Trois) are one of the backbones of Korean TV Dramas, and some fantastic shows have been carved out of the formula. But 'Spring Days' lost momentum after a couple of episodes, and fell into a maelstrom of deadly boring 'looks of death', with our heroes staring into the horizon for endless periods of time because... well, 'cause the writer didn't know what to do with the series after 5-6 episodes. Which leads us to the turkey of the year, at least in terms of ideas: 세입 클러버 (Three Leaf Clover). Take Lee Hyo-Ri, considered one of the sexiest women in Korea, with legions of horny teenagers ready to fall for every single project she takes part in, and allow her to make her long awaited debut on TV. The result? She played a welder.

Really, what went wrong here, why is SBS putting so much money and effort on projects which look dead in the water from the beginning? Because of another triangle (Bermudas Triangle?), that of the three-tiered demographic target the station is focusing on: teenager Korean females, South East Asian women, and Japanese housewives. Of course I'm generalizing, not because I think every single 'member' of such groups loves those Dramas, but because producers and investors think along the same lines. They think every single Japanese housewife loves vapid, saccharine pap with grown ass men depicting their characters with empty 'melancholic' gazes for half hours, and Drama Queens who can't do a thing other than look hot and cry as if an onion factory was planted right on the set; they think all those women in Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and Indonesia go crazy over puppy love stories with ridiculous characters, cop out techniques which would make Michael Bay look like Shakespeare, and agonizing collections of violin arpeggios which would probably make Stradivarius damn the day he even dreamed of making violins. And, worse of all, they think all the young girls in Korea love this stuff, it's what they want, what they need, the only thing they'll watch. Ohhhhh! Oppa!

Why is this going to ruin the entire industry, you ask? Because people are already misinterpreting what Korean TV Dramas are, especially abroad. All they get is this recycled cow manure, with the same scripts over and over, so when they get tired of it, they won't say 'let's check whatever else Korean TV has to offer.' No, they'll simply turn everything off, and go watch some SMAP Drama, or their own country's shows. By continuing to push this kind of show, Korean TV Drama producers are shooting on their feet, as they don't allow those age demographics to experience how varied, how multifaceted the Drama world is in Korea. I'd have nothing against the export of series like 천국의 계단 (Stairway To Heaven) and 슬픈연가 (Sad Sonata), if only gems like 부활 (Rebirth) and 불멸의 이순신 (The Immortal Lee Soon-Shin) were given the same chance. I'd have no problem with Choi Ji-Woo's popularity in Japan, if only names like Eomsama (Eom Tae-Woong) or Jinsama (Choi Jin-Shil) existed there. But it's not happening, and the fault shouldn't all go to viewers who choose to watch shows like that. It's the producers, who would rather make a quick buck instead of building a loyal fanbase who will support your products over the years. But just knowing something like 'Green Rose' exists, and it came from SBS, makes me hope for the future.

Unfairly compared to 'Rebirth', for sharing similar themes and modus operandi (a man thought dead takes revenge against those who wronged him, and he can't reveal his identity to his loved one until the end), 'Green Rose' is a whole different monster. While the amazing KBS show focused more on the psychological underpinnings of the doppelganger syndrome, 'Green Rose' is just a very intriguing, old school 'badass whodunit'. The story is quite straightforward in its development, but you never get that nasty 'here they go again' feeling while watching, you're just reminded of similarly good shows you watched in the past. And another point the show shares with 'Rebirth' is starting slowly. Better yet, the first 2-3 episodes of 'Green Rose' are almost brutal to watch. I seriously thought of stopping watching the show on my first viewing, as it covered more or less the same ground as the kind of shows I detest. But then the only 반전 (reversal, swerve) of the show turns out to be the one I least expected: it turns into a great show!

Once upon a time lived a criminally sweet 'daddy's little girl.' The fact daddy happened to be the ruler of a 재벌 (chaebol) kingdom made it all the more difficult for our Prince Charming. The only castle in the story is that of Oh Soo-Ah's (Lee Da-Hae) wealth and status, impossible to reach for Lee Jung-Hyun (Go Soo), so much she hides everything to him, even as they start dating each other. Our lovebirds consume their passion (off screen, obviously), and our Prince Charming even introduces daddy's little girl to his mother, who's obviously the kindest person on earth. But really, why isn't Soo-Ah revealing the truth to her man? Because Jung-Hyun works at daddy's company! And of course the moment he realizes that, he'll run into a period of despair, after which the whole repertory of violin sonatas will be played over the following ten episodes, so I kind of agree with her. Daddy (Han Jin-Hee) himself is a very straightforward person, not bad, but it's clear Jung-Hyun would have to prove himself to ever enter his graces. Shin Hyun-Tae (Lee Jong-Hyuk) is a much better target: he's rich, an able manager at his company, good looking, and he beat Kwon Sang-Woo to a pulp in 말죽거리 잔혹사 (Once Upon a Time in High School), so who could ever resist his charms? He wants them to marry pronto, but then his little girl pops up and introduces this man to him, the nerve!

What happens then? All hell breaks loose. Jung-Hyun is summoned to daddy's mansion in the countryside, but then he finds the janitor down, bleeding to death. He ears someone lamenting, and it turns out to be Soo-Ah's father, Mr. President. He tries to save him, but someone hits him in the head, and sets fire inside the house, not before he leaves Jung-Hyun's fingerprints all over the weapon used to hit the president. Oh my... then it's a mess. Jung-Hyun is accused of trying to murder the president, simply because he refused to allow them to marry (that's so 60s Korean melodrama...), the same president who's now in a coma, unable to speak and save Jung-Hyun. Thrown in jail, he luckily escapes, to fall to his death in the Han River -- maybe he met the monster of Bong Joon-Ho's 괴물 (The Host) there? That's it, end of story. See you next week.

But that's not exactly how it ends, as the show picks up from there, and shows this 'rebirth' and 'revenge' I talked about, in impressive fashion. Those first few episodes will severely test your patience, especially if you're not used to Korean TV Dramas. But stay with the show, and it will reward you at the end. That reward comes as super-solid storytelling, the kind you rarely see in Dramas of this scope. Our hero resurfaces in Shanghai, and builds a secret life for himself, in order to get revenge. Helped by a Korean immigrant (an excellent Park Sang-Myun), a femme fatale with an unlucky past (Kim Seo-Hyung) and a charismatic Chinese Tycoon, Jung-Hyun takes a slow, methodical and intense preparation to show he wasn't responsible for the murder, which ends up involving the police, corrupt or honest as they might be. It unfolds almost like a giallo from the 60s, or an Hitchcock film (without the magical tricks Hitch showed, but still, it's great storytelling). It's not concerned about swerving the viewer, but presenting a believable story out of its seemingly far-fetched premise. And that's impressive for something which looked so... SBS?

Although there's several factors making this one of the best TV Dramas of the year, the most important is certainly the writing team. And that's where the major clue as to why this show is so gripping lies: co-writer Yoo Hyun-Mi has been involved with TV Dramas for a long time, writing several one-two episode specials (on all those Open Drama, Best Theater and Dramacity format shows), but it's Kim Doo-Sam who gives the show its edge. Kim was part of the 10 men script team for the landmark police procedural 수사반장 (Inspector Chief) -- you know the show Song Kang-Ho and his crew race to see in 살인의 추억 (Memories of Murder)? That's the one -- which went on for two decades. But before being added to the script team in the 80s, Kim actually debuted as an actor in 1976, after which he moved to writing. The influence of both the show and Kim's writing style is obvious, as he even hints at themes present in his latest book 경마장 사람들 (Racetrack People), with a character suffering from 'racetrack syndrome' and betting all his money on horse races. But best of all, he's actually in the show, acting a very important part, that of Lawyer Jung, who helps the main character in his search for the culprit. Although dialogue could have been better, character development and pacing are excellent, and most of the show focuses on the revenge/whodunit plot itself, and not on love triangle shenanigans.

Another factor deviating from SBS' norm is the acting. I've never been a huge fan of Go Soo, but the guy always gives a lot of effort, which is something I appreciate more than when people with talent sleepwalk through their entire career (Kwon Sang... what's his name?). He's completely off as the everyday guy, and seeing him struggle with even simple dialogue is one of the show's few major flaws. But once he turns into 'mysterious man plotting revenge' mode, his charisma and screen presence make the difference. As for Lee Da-Hae, my first impression of her acting in 낭랑18세 (Sweet 18) wasn't that much wrong: she's one of the best new talents to come in a long time. It's not just the ability to show vulnerability (her crying scenes are fantastic, just about the best I've seen on TV this 2005), but also maturity, mental toughness. Her breakthrough role was in the 2004 MBC Daily Drama 왕꽃 선녀님 (Lotus Flower Fairy), for which she received the 'Best New Actress' award, but if her improvement here and in the new, hilarious SBS Drama 마이걸 (My Girl) is of any indication, she'll go places pretty fast. The rest of the cast, especially Kang Shin-Il, Park Sang-Myun, Kim Seo-Hyung and Seonwoo Jae-Deok turn in very effective performances, helping deliver the somewhat hackneyed dialogue in a convincing manner.

'Green Rose' has flaws, as sometimes it seems to fall back inside the warm, comfortable cover that is SBS' 'cliche format'. But thanks to a very intelligent script, capable acting, and very intense pacing it's able to overcome all that, delivering one of the most entertaining shows of 2005.

AVAILABILITY

DVD - Korean Version (English Subtitles)

Only one version available, but at least it has English Subtitles. Lots of extras (around 65-70 Minutes), some really interesting -- the one showing Go Soo's way of seemingly talking in Mandarin when there's only music is priceless. By now it will be a little hard to find, but it's a worthy purchase. Hopefully YesAsia Entertainment will give this show a chance, as it deserves an US release. I never expected to like it this much, but it's truly one of the biggest surprises of 2005.