K-Drama Roundup [Part 1 - 2006]

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연어의 꿈 (Back To The Right Places)
Special HD Drama [April 26~27 2006]
2 Episodes - KBS2
PD: 이강현 (Lee Gang-Hyeon)
WRITER: 박성진 (Park Sung-Jin)
CAST: 안내상 (Ahn Nae-Sang), 최수린 (Choi Su-Rin), 박민지 (Park Min-Ji), 박훈정 (Park Hoon-Jung), 오산하 (Oh San-Ha)
THE SHOW: [8.5/10]
Adultery, rape, dysfunctional families and how that ties to success at work. Would certainly make for a nice little film, but hear those few words reading a TV Drama outline, and it's enough to start getting worried. With adultery now one of the major staples of Dramas targeted at an older audience (especially Friday Dramas), rape just a plot device in most cases, and dysfunctional families the main dish of the two most popular TV Dramas of 2006 -- 별난여자 별난남자 (The Bizarre Bunch) and 하늘이시여 (Dear Heaven), the chances of seeing all those touchy situations handled in a mature way are quite slim. Yet, sometimes surprises happen in the strangest of cases, like this 단막극 (Short Drama) aired between the end of 굿바이 솔로 (Goodbye Solo) and the beginning of 위대한 유산 (The Great Inheritance). Produced by Lee Gang-Hyeon, whose past features a collection of unremarkable Daily Dramas, with the possible exception of some episodes of the 학교 (School) saga, along with Park Sung-Jin (whose script for this show was picked via an open contest), this show features one of the most realistic portraits of a dysfunctional family in quite a while.

To be honest my main reason for watching this was the presence of 부활 (Rebirth) alumni Ahn Nae-Sang, but I was intrigued by the good reviews it was getting in the press (KBS World is always a few weeks late, so sometimes that helps). Turns out the acclaim was spot on: this is one of the best short Dramas I've seen in years, joining 태릉 선수촌 (Taereung National Village), 제주도 푸른 밤 (Blue Skies in Jeju) and Kim Ji-Woo's 나의 아름다운 친구 (My Beautiful Friend) in my recent favourites' list. The first obvious point setting this apart from all the other shows dealing with similar subjects is the maturity with which adultery, the meaning of family and marriage is approached. And, lest you might think this is just about that, there's much more: our protagonist suffers from a severe psychological disorder (revealing which one would spoil too much), which ends up influencing his every move -- but for those who don't care, just think about the main issue of one of Ahn Nae-Sang's past Dramas I mentioned here, and you'll be pretty close.

Although what usually shines in short Dramas is the writing, the key here is Ahn's great performance, turning from your usual family man having 'fun on the side' to a man destroyed by his own demons. The way all his problems are taken care of in the show is surprisingly intelligent, as the 'professional help' he gets isn't neither part of the plot in a romantic way (like many Trendy Dramas would do), and its conclusion is the most rational one. Considering the very touchy arguments it deals with, it's remarkable how the Drama never loses its focal point, which, as the English title suggests, is going back to the right places. Where problems started, when happiness became just a feeble hope.

Just like My Beautiful Friend, this show deals with very simple, but important things. And once again KBS shows that they can do things right when they move the focus from the usual tropes of Trendy Dramas to something a little more mature. Despite the serious themes it never turns into Kim Soo-Hyun territory nor it falls into Im Sung-Han's predictable 'guerrilla Family' tactics, and it never tries to jerk tears from the viewers or shock them with cliffhangers. A little gem.

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궁 (Princess Hours)
Miniseries [Season 1] [January 11~February 30 2006]
24 Episodes - MBC
PD: 황인뢰 (Hwang In-Roi)
WRITER: 인은아 (In Eun-Ah)
Produced By: Eight Peaks
DVD (No Subs)
CAST: 윤은혜 (Yoon Eun-Hye) as Crown Princess Shin Chae-Kyung, 주지훈 (Joo Ji-Hoon) as Crown Prince Lee Shin, 김정훈 (Kim Jung-Hoon) as Lee Yool, 송지효 (Song Ji-Hyo) as Min Hyo-Rin, 김혜자 (Kim Hye-Ja) as the Empress Dowager, 심혜진 (Shim Hye-Jin) as Hwa-Young, 박찬환 (Park Chan-Hwan) as the Emperor, 윤유선 (Yoon Yoo-Seon) as the Empress, 김석 (Kim Seok) as Shin Chae-Joon, 강남길 (Gang Nam-Gil) as Chae-Kyung's Father, 임예진 (Im Ye-Jin) as Chae-Kyung's Mother, 이호재 (Lee Ho-Jae), 이연두 (Lee Yeon-Doo), 나은경 (Na Eun-Kyung), 이윤지 (Lee Yoon-Ji), 최성준 (Choi Sung-Joon), 이용주 (Lee Yong-Joo), 엄성모 (Eom Sung-Mo), 장단지 (Jang Dan-Ji), 전지애 (Jeon Ji-Ae), 권연우 (Kwon Yeon-Woo), 전수연 (Jeon Su-Yeon)
CAMEO: 김상중 (Kim Sang-Joong), 송승환 (Song Seung-Hwan), 최불암 (Choi Buram)
THE SHOW: [6/10]
The beginning of 2006 gave TV Stations quite the wake up call, especially the former 'Drama Kingdom', MBC: ratings were dominated by shows targeted at an older audience (Weekend, Daily Dramas), and Miniseries were slowly but surely losing ground and importance in the ratings war. The outcome of one of all time most popular Drama format probably could be seen right from the beginning, when 질투 (Jealousy) brought in the era of Trendy Dramas in 1992, focusing significantly less on storytelling and more concerned with 삼각관계 (love triangles) featuring pretty and famous stars. With 20 something viewers turning TV off entirely or exploring other entertainment venues (films, VOD, Cable or Satellite), the new paradigm of success for Miniseries has become target demographics, sort of like what happens in Hollywood. So the coming of 궁 (Princess Hours) is an interesting, if somewhat worrying trend.

Focusing its attention on the teenager market, using Park So-Hee's popular manhwa of the same name as its foundation, Princess Hours started as a 20 Episode 사전제작 (100% pre-broadcast shoot) production, but both because of various problems MBC experienced at the beginning of the year, which forced Eight Peaks to rush to an early January broadcast instead of the planned March one (which made the 100% pre-broadcast goal impossible), and the rising popularity of the show leading to 4 additional episodes building to a possible (now confirmed) Season 2, derailed the whole project.

The interesting thing is that Hwang In-Roi, a longtime assistant producer on TV who then moved to films and is now back to TV, wasn't supposed to be the PD here initially, only the Executive Producer. He always had a negative image of how TV Dramas developed over the years, after getting out ot the business when production methods started to change in the mid 90s. Hwang, who worked on classics on TV like 수사반장 (The Chief) and directed Chungmuro failures like 꽃을 든 남자 (A Man With Flowers), brought a new concept to the table, with his new production company Eight Peaks: first moving the focus from the stars (which is what gets you overseas contracts) back to the production, investing more money on sets and art direction than expensive big names with dubious acting talent; and then target intelligently a certain type of audience which will respond to the Drama, in this case the teen demographic, as the original manhwa was a big hit with that age group.

Actually at first they even thought about using famous actors, but Hwang was enraged at what he called a lack of co-operation from said stars (there was a rumour BoA was cast in this at the beginning, but it's just that. A rumour): essentially those stars weren't working for the good of the character, but pushing their own image or what their management wanted them to push. That of course brought a lot of advertisement into the Drama, but once Hwang announced he'd go with an all-new main cast, they almost all ran away scared. This is perhaps the major problem when it comes to pre-broadcast shoots: since you need to secure investment before the ratings are out (box office : Movies = ratings : Dramas), that often leads you to compromise the integrity of the project to give investors the terms they want to pump money into the Drama -- which might not be at Sageuk level, but touching the 5 Billion Won for a normal Miniseries is still quite expensive.

This wasn't the first time Hwang tried this approach, as he helped legendary Sanullim front man Kim Chang-Hwan make a debut in the acting world with the interesting (but flawed) 1994 omnibus drama 연애의 기초 (Love Formula), which he was planner for. And if you've ever seen Kim act, you know he looks born to be in this business (of course he and his brother were much more famous for their work in the music business). But now the problem was dealing with the youngsters he picked: Yoon Eun-Hye, former BabyV.O.X. member, who lost a lot of weight to look the part; Kim Jung-Hoon, former U.N. member -- who did debut in films last year, but if you've seen his first two films then you know why people were complaining; Joo Ji-Hoon, a former model with no acting experience, and finally Song Ji-Hyo, who debuted in 여우계단 (Wishing Stairs) and confirmed the good first impression with her role in 썸 (Some).

Song was the only one with a future in this business at the beginning, and after watching the show things haven't changed a bit, but since her role wasn't the focus of Princess Hours, then we were essentially dealing with three newcomers. And that's when people started complaining. In theory, Hwang's modus operandi was actually right: since big stars would carry an image with them, that'd work against their making the characters (high school students) feel fresh. Of course the rest of the cast was made of people who had the ability to save the day, like veterans Kim Hye-Ja, Shim Hye-Jin, Im Ye-Jin, Gang Nam-Gil and Park Chan-Hwan, but you know the deal, this is a Miniseries, and they'd only get to try and do some damage control.

But even if casting might have been a problem, the rest of production was top notch: In Eun-Ah, who was in the writing team for the lovely romcom 좋은 사람 있으면 소개시켜줘 (A Perfect Match) and even Jang Yoon-Hyun's 텔 미 썸딩 (Tell Me Something); Art Director Min Eon-Ok, who won awards for her excellent work in 혈의 누 (Blood Rain); Visual Supervisor Min Byung-Cheon, director of 유령 (Phantom: The Submarine) and 내츄럴 시티 (Natural City); music by indie group 두번째 달 (2nd Moon); food experts who worked on 대장금 (Dae Jang Geum) to give more colour to what was served in the Palace, and more. And that reaped fruits right from the beginning: this is one of the best looking Dramas of recent memory. It's not on par with 신돈 (Shin Don) and 주몽 (Jumong), but those are ultra-expensive Historical Dramas where production values are an essential part. Music is quite a few notches above your average Miniseries, and PD Hwang's assured direction makes this look more like a film than a Trendy Drama.

But above all that, the main item was the most creative thing: strip Historical Dramas (rarely watched by teenagers) of their more heavy-handed, complicated nuances (conflicts and political intrigue still remains, but it's like 5% of your usual Sageuk) and maintain their major possible appeal to this target demographic: their sumptuous sets, production values and that air of 'familiar unfamiliarity' which the Joseon setting always gives to Koreans. And, here's the key, bring all that to a modern setting. Yes, Princess Hours deals with a Korea still in the Joseon Dynasty, essentially, but also enjoying all the benefits of modern technology and pop culture (the cover of the manhwa which inspired this Drama has the Princess dressed with a traditional Hanbok and a mobile phone on hand). The first few episodes playfully work around this idea, that even though it's still everyday Korea with Lee Hyo-Ri, silly school fights and all the trips and traps of Korean teenagers, we're not dealing with a Republic.

This approach is important, not only because it brings young teenagers closer to their roots in a way that doesn't alienate them -- unlike, say, what Im Kwon-Taek did with 춘향 (Chunhyang). And, if things actually ended up as Hwang had promised before the show, Princess Hours could have bridged the gap between age demographics, as it brought Trendy Dramas closer to older viewers' world than the Andromeda satellite it appeared for all these years. As an avid Sageuk fan, I have to admit the first few episodes of this show were quite fascinating, and some of the best performances in a while from the veterans made it all the more interesting. Then, of course, problems started. MBC, hungry for anything resembling a ratings increase, stuck with the show a little too long, adding 4 unnecessary episodes which only ended up stretching a script that had already serious pacing problems.

And now they're even giving us a Season 2, as clearly they will never get tired of ratings between the 25 and 30%. This gap to fill, these extra 4 episodes made the show hard to stand, not only because the story was simply going nowhere (and, quite frankly, moving from the initial interesting premise to the usual Trendy Drama cliches, this time with a Palace setting), but also because the putrid acting of the main trio (especially an almost embarrassingly bland Kim Jung-Hoon) made things even worse. Nothing happening here has any impact, you can hardly care about the characters, and sometimes you'd wish some more focus was spent on the 'ancillary' characters: the best scenes of the show involve Chae-Kyung's interaction with her family, and the political intrigue surrounding the Royal Family's problematic past, with Kim Hye-Ja and Park Chan-Hwan in particularly splendid form.

What do you do when you're given more of a dish even though you're full? And, even worse, what will the makers of the second Season give us, with writer In Eun-Ah out of the picture, and a script which needs to be written from scratch (Season 2 won't have an original source this time)? Frankly, I just hope these are early (mis)steps in the slow but inevitable move to 'Seasonal' Dramas, because if this is more of what we'll get, then we'll be left with a Panorama full of shows written like Friends. That is, shoving uninteresting characters in uninteresting situations down people's throat for years, hoping they won't notice there's something better to watch. As a concept, Princess Hours was brilliant. What we got at the end, a little less. Time to reflect on those mistakes, and come back with something better next Season. Because those Princess 'Hours' felt like decades to me...

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내 인생의 스페셜 (The Special of My Life)
Miniseries [February 6~28 2006]
8 Episodes - MBC
PD: 이재원 (Lee Jae-Won)
WRITER: 박경수 (Park Kyung-Soo), 이천형 (Lee Cheon-Hyung), 노은정 (Noh Eun-Jung)
CAST: 김승우 (Kim Seung-Woo) as Park Gang-Ho, 명세빈 (Myung Se-Bin) as Yoon Hye-Ra, 성지루 (Sung Ji-Roo) as Baek Dong-Goo, 신성우 (Shin Sung-Woo) as Jung Hyung-Seok, 강은비 (Kang Eun-Bi) as Yoon Ye-Rin, 백일섭 (Baek Il-Seop) Hye-Ra's Father, 박주아 (Park Joo-Ah) Kim Boon-Rye, 김뢰하 (Kim Roi-Ha), 김영옥 (Kim Young-Ok) as Hyung-Seok's Mother, 김학철 (Kim Hak-Cheol) as Man-Bo, 최종원 (Choi Jong-Won), 안석환 (Ahn Seok-Hwan), 이형철 (Lee Hyung-Cheol), 장동직 (Jang Dong-Jik), 정동환 (Jung Dong-Hwan), 최지나 (Choi Ji-Na)
THE SHOW [7.5/10]
It was January when we reported about the accident Moon Jung-Hyuk and Han Ji-Min suffered on the set of the MBC Miniseries 늑대 (Wolf), which ended up into a series of delays, pushing the show from a possible May return to what looks to be November now (and by all accounts the Drama we get might be completely different than the few episodes of Wolf we were able to see). Perhaps the best possible example for those who wish the industry went to a full-fledged, American-style 사전제작 method, shooting the entire show before broadcast, unlike what usually happens in Korea. And with Go Myung-Hwan's serious accident on the set of 해신 (Emperor of the Sea) and Jung Hae-Young's pregnancy affecting her character in 변호사들 (Lawyers) last year, along with the recent accident Seo Do-Young suffered on the set of 봄의 왈츠 (Spring Waltz), a debate which had been raging for years within the industry has now exploded into a full on war even the mainstream press has become interested in.

Most of those who favour the 'pre-shot' approach note how the quality of the shows will increase, as with more time and attention to detail all the problems which often surface with Trendy Dramas or other 'on the fly' shows will slowly but surely disappear. Of course there's also people who disagree, as shooting an entire Drama before it airs will mean they have no chance to change anything to fit with the audience's requests; it will be harder to secure investment and use PPL (product placement), and of course some of that 'wild' atmosphere Dramas often create to secure the attention of the viewers -- in some ways similar to the production methods of the Hong Kong film industry in its Golden Age -- might slowly vanish. That it could eventually brings us to a world of finely produced empty vessels with nothing to say, like all the CSI clones and bland sitcoms infesting American TV.

One of the examples those against this 'new' production style bring up is Eight Peaks' 비천무 (Bichunmoo). Adapted from the popular manhwa which gave us Kim Young-Joon's 2000 film of the same title, this was a China-Korea co-production starring Joo Jin-Mo and singer and sometimes actress Park Ji-Yoon. Already completed over a year ago, and screened in the Chinese Market (with a DVD already out in Hong Kong, sadly with no Korean tracks, which is the original one), the Wuxia Drama still hasn't found a home in Korea, as Historical Dramas have been experiencing a downward spiral in terms of ratings after the feats of 대장금 (Dae Jang Geum) and 태조왕건 (Wang Gun). Replacing Wolf right in the middle of an intense ratings war with SBS' 서동요 (The Ballad of Seo Dong), MBC's 내 인생의 스페셜 (The Special of My Life) was facing the exact same problems of its much more 'prestigious' counterpart, still without a station and with very little hope of surfacing in the near future. Completed before broadcast, the show not only marks the first (in order of broadcast, that is) serious attempt at working within the boundaries of this 'pre-shot' concept, but that is also one of its main charms. Replacing the '15 hours a day, 6 days a week' frenetic schedules of the current system and using a shorter, Japanese-style format of 12 Episodes instead of the usual 16 to 24, Special ended up on MBC by coincidence, but it made people -- those who watched, at least -- forget Wolf pretty quickly.

I admit I wasn't too excited by this Drama when it was first mentioned by the press. The combo of Kim Seung-Woo and Myung Se-Bin made me think this would be a melodrama, genre which is certainly not Kim's forte -- and Myung only works in preppy black comedy mode. Problems didn't finish there, as PD Lee Jae-Won's previous works didn't exactly promise well: the Hwang Shin-Hye/Ahn Jae-Wook romcom 천생연분 (Perfect Match), which if it weren't for Lee Ju-Hyeon's vibrant supporting performance would have been a complete waste, and especially last year's 세잎 클로버 (Three Leaf Clover), Lee Hyo-Ri's embarrassing debut in the TV Drama field. But then again I didn't look at his supporting work, which often tells you more about a PD's style. Lee worked on the fantastic Historical Drama 홍국영 (Hong Guk-Young) and Kwon Seok-Jang's excellent 앞집여자 (The Woman Next Door), works which are much more useful to explain what happened with this little gem.

Edited down from 12 to 8 Episode, for no apparent reason other than MBC's hunger for ratings and their decision to start 넌 어느 별에서 왔니 (Which Star Are You From) as soon as possible, Special shows the potential of pre-shot Dramas, and why it's becoming such a huge trend in the industry. Of course I'm not saying you can't make a good Drama using the original Korean system, or the kind of hybrids which are surfacing now (half pre-shot then the rest on the fly), method which started with historical dramas several years ago, but has become popular recently with the increase in production values and the advent of overseas location shooting. But if the writer isn't as talented as people like Noh Hee-Kyung, In Jung-Ok or Kim Ji-Woo; if the PD isn't quick on his feet and able to adapt to every new situation, while at the same time giving the show its own colour, like a Park Sung-Soo or Park Chan-Hong, then problems begin.

There's plenty of writers who would benefit from the pre-shot system, especially in the comedy field. How much better would 마이걸 (My Girl) have been if it didn't lose itself in a third act full of redundant attempts to circumvent cliches (attempts which didn't quite succeed), because of the pressure of ratings? How much would a LK (Lee Seon-Mi/Kim Gi-Ho) work become without teenagers asking to focus more on pretty faces who can't act, ruining Dramas like 달콤한 스파이 (Sweet Spy)? At first this idea of the pre-shot Drama seemed only viable for things like 다모 (Damo), which needed time to take full advantage of its excellent crew and give the script justice. But hybrids like 연애시대 (Alone in Love) have shown production values aren't the only things this format can improve.

It might be a pleasure lost on those not familiar with Korean Dramas, and even feel ordinary to those used to Western TV, but one of the biggest pleasures of watching Special was its lack of urgency. There's no 'shocking' revelations uttered in the last 3 seconds of an episode, you never feel like the writer is waiting for feedback from netizens to write the next episode, or that the TV Station will cut the show in half because of low ratings (although they did cut it down, we knew from the beginning we'd get 8 episodes). The atmosphere is very relaxed, production values are more in line with a mid-budget film. There's nothing really flashy here with a few exceptions, like the subway accident on Episode 1, but there's also a welcome lack of those little problems plaguing Dramas shot on the fly, like faulty continuity and the repeating of the same two songs every 10 minutes.

8 Episodes is not much to deal with, and because of the rushed editing (by MBC, not the Drama's producers) at times you feel like you're losing important parts of the show (thankfully it will broadcast in its entirety on cable, so if a DVD release appears, that's probably the version we're going to get), but Special is tremendously tight, from the script, to the balancing between action/suspense and character development. Most importantly, unlike comedies turning into melodramas or viceversa, this is a black comedy through and through, in the vein of Jang Jin's work (although not as well written). We meet four 'imperfect' characters: Park Gang-Ho (Kim Seung-Woo), who after losing his wife is trying to save money to move abroad -- using not too 'legal' means, at least on paper; Yoon Hye-Ra (Myung Se-Bin) has been a prosecutor for years, but she's really no different from a traffic cop, doing errands for big suits and reprimanding small time scoundrels; Jung Hyung-Seok (Shin Sung-Woo) is a corrupt lawyer in the making, and Baek Dong-Goo (Sung Ji-Roo) a 'No.2' looking to receive a warm welcome from the family after years spent in prison. They all experience how difficult living can be, and in some way find the easy way out, or at least what looks like one. The 'special' of the title might not only refer to the nature of the show, but also to the question this easy way out poses them: what's really special in your life? Money, friends, your job, success, happiness? What?

As I wrote before, it feels like Kim Seung-Woo made an U-Turn after getting married. I don't know if becoming a father made him change his outlook on acting as a profession, but this is one of the many good choices he's made in the last year or so. Mixing dramatic acting with the silliness of black comedies which made him a pretty decent draw on the big screen -- best of them being the glorious 라이터를 켜라 (Breakout), although Cha Seung-Won, Park Young-Gyu and Lee Moon-Shik are the ones carrying the film -- this is one of Kim's best performances, and makes me look at his next projects (melodrama or not) with much more confidence. Also, finally, a Myung Se-Bin performance she can be proud of. Hye-Ra, in contrast with most of Myung's Drama Queen roles, is goofy, insecure and with enough bitchy charm to make her stand out.

And despite Shin Sung-Woo's tendency to go overboard and Kang Eun-Bi's usual embarrassment [she did win an audition for 몽정기 2 (Wet Dreams 2), but this is acting. Not mugging] the rest of the cast improves things considerably, especially as it features many black-comedy regulars like Kim Roi-Ha, Choi Jong-Won and Baek Il-Seop. Yet, the best thing about this show is Sung Ji-Roo. Finally getting a leading role -- just like in the black comedy 손님은 왕이다 (The Customer is Always Right) -- after years of excellent supporting parts, he makes Dong-Goo one of the most memorable characters of recent years, not just your usual dumb gangster with an heart of gold. Seeing him run away in a pretty impressive (by TV Drama standards) car chase with Choi Jong-Won, while a remake of 80s rock classic 세상만사 by Songolmae loudly surrounds the proceedings is one of the many 'special' things about this little Drama.

I don't know if we'll ever get to see the full 12-eps version, but so far this is one of the highlights of the season. Well written, well acted, creating suspense without going overboard, making you laugh without begging for it, and with witty dialogue from beginning to end, The Special of My Life takes everything that CAN be special about Korean TV Dramas, tossing what sometimes makes them a little less special out of the window. And it was just supposed to be a quick fix....

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마이걸 (My Girl)
Drama Special [December 14 2005~February 2 2006]
16 Episodes - SBS
PD: 전기상 (Jeon Gi-Sang)
WRITER: 홍정은 (Hong Jung-Eun), 홍미란 (Hong Mi-Ran)
Produced By: Kallistar
DVD (English, Korean Subs)
CAST: 이다해 (Lee Da-Hae) as Ju Yoo-Rin, 이동욱 (Lee Dong-Wook) as Seol Gong-Chan, 이준기 (Lee Joon-Gi) as Seo Jung-Woo, 박시연 (Park Shi-Yeon) as Kim Se-Hyun, 조계형 (Jo Gye-Hyung) as Ahn Jin-Gyu, 황보라 (Hwang Bo-Ra) as Ahn Jin-Shim, 이언정 (Lee Eon-Jung) as Yoon Jin-Kyung, 변희봉 (Byun Hee-Bong) as Seol Woong, 김용림 (Kim Yong-Rim) as Jang Hyung-Ja, 안석환 (Ahn Seok-Hwan) as Jang Il-Do, 최란 (Choi Ran) as Bae In-Seon, 이사비 (Lee Sa-Bi)
THE SHOW [6.5/10]
Let's admit it: Miniseries are experiencing a dark age, a huge crisis that seems to find no solution. Ratings are dominated by Weekend and Daily Dramas simply because women between 35 and 55 have become THE target demographic. Teenagers and young 20 something viewers tend to watch movies or watch series through the Internet or other media, which is why Miniseries rarely pass the 20%. Weekend and Daily Dramas focusing on 가족주의 (family-ism) or stories of adultery are on the rise, and miniseries -- especially their ugly, evil sister, Trendy Dramas -- need to show something new to succeed. That is why 마이걸 (My Girl) was so appealing, at least at the beginning. Focusing on the 10-20 target demographic and the romcom genre was a risk in a way, because most post-내 이름은 김삼순 (My Lovely Sam-Soon) romcoms have failed big, by either trying to replicate its success ('old broads' as leads) or falling into the usual traps of the genre (unimaginative menage a trois, trite character outlines and the like). Battling it out with 궁 (Princess Hours) during the Winter vacation, the perfect time to grab those younger viewers with a lot more time to waste, My Girl started with a bang, going over the top with comedy, yet it surprisingly worked. Why it worked is probably more interesting than the Drama itself.

I commented in the past how LK (Lee Seon-Mi and Kim Gi-Ho) of 신입사원 (Super Rookie) and 달콤한 스파이 (Sweet Spy) are great when it comes to outlines and introducing their characters. Super Rookie had a character named Kang Ho (Korean for Jiang Hu, the underworld in Wuxia Novels), and Sweet Spy had plenty of quirky characters. Problem of course is doing something interesting with those characters, which is something the famous Duo rarely do. If you take the Hong Sisters, the other queens of comedies on TV, then they are the opposite: their characters are quite ordinary, but the situations those characters fall into often make for very entertaining viewing. Reunited with PD Jeon Gi-Sang of 쾌걸춘향 (Sassy Chunhyang), the Hong Sisters came back with another dose of great comedy, thanks to the explosive screen presence and talent of young Lee Da-Hae -- who did so well in 그린로즈 (Green Rose), one of the best new talents emerging in the last 4-5 years. The first 6-7 Episodes of My Girl are not just funny, they're delirious: we get parodies of Hollywood tearjerkers and Trendy Drama cliches, hysterical characters portrayed by great actors like Byun Hee-Bong and Ahn Seok-Hwan, and even the 사각관계 (love rectangle) was easily digestible -- save perhaps for Park Shi-Yeon's 'The Road To Constipation' emotional histrionics, or lack thereof.

Problem, of course, is the PD. I think the Hong Sisters would be better suited for sitcoms, where meeting people like PD Noh Do-Cheol of 안녕, 프란체스카 (Hello, Francesca) (meaning, someone who can handle what they write) -- would allow their talent for finding the hilarious in the ordinary emerge even more. When the expected melodrama-enhanced 반전 (twist) happens, then the show slowly enters the pits of hell, dragging like an elephant until the final episode. It's a shame, really, as the show was so breezy and enjoyable at the beginning it would be hard not to fall for it. But be it because of the annoying music, the ordinary direction and glacial pacing, or Park Shi-Yeon's ridiculously bad acting, the second half of the show transforms into the same kind of tripe, victim of parodies in the first half. Sort of like a pot calling the kettle black.

Although the show concludes in a way that defies conventions of the genre -- to a degree -- getting there is not really that interesting, and what saves the show basically is the performances of (some of) the actors. Lee Da-Hae seems born for this role, exploding on screen with cuteness (but it's not the Han Chae-Young kind, as in PD's Jeon former work. Lee looks mature when she needs to, and she's convincing at that) and dominating the show from beginning to end. I hesitate to call it her best performance to date simply because she wasn't given much to work to begin with, but she's just a joy to watch. Surprisingly, Lee Dong-Wook lives up to her standards in most cases, neither trying to become the new Hyun Bin nor going for the usual SBS path (say, what Go Soo would do with the role). Also, watching veterans like Byun Hee-Bong, Ahn Seok-Hwan and Choi Ran give it all in a relaxed setting like this is a pleasure. And for the fans out there, yes, Lee Joon-Gi is quite good, too.

I don't know if it's the usual syndrome SBS shows fall into past their middle mark, but there's something really annoying about the second half of this show. It's as if the station wasn't satisfied with the ratings (which were quite good, especially compared to other Miniseries), and asked its makers to up the ante in the melodrama antics to grab a few more % points. It feels like oil and water mixing together exactly at the wrong time. Thanks to the two leads and their chemistry, it never stoops to Yoon Seok-Ho levels of tearjerking, but most people will feel like a show they were enjoying quite a bit was stolen under their eyes, replaced with SBS' usual Trendy pap. And, just like Sassy Chunhyang, PD Jeon shows his works tend to expire a little too early than expected, as the 2004 show with Jae Hee and Han Chae-Young was quite fun as well, up to the middle part and its turn into a nearly unwatchable mess. Perhaps the Hong Sisters need to change working partners...