It can’t be just me that thinks some of the recently announced drama pairings are just a bit…….. off? I don’t even know what word to attribute to how I feel about them. I don’t all out hate them, but ever single one makes me raise my eyebrows and go “WHAT? REALLY?” So in order to share my confusion, I dragged my co-bloggers in to discuss what we feel about all our upcoming OTPs (One True Pairings).
This was my expression with every announcement we are discussing, so had to share.
Hyeri and Ji Sung – Entertainer
**SYNOPSIS: Ji Sung was once a manager at an agency handling the nation’s top singers, and is now the CEO of an agency repping the most pathetic rookies. Through various struggles and incidents, he’ll learn to become “a genuine manager.”
KMUSE: I am willing to give Hyeri a shot, but putting her opposite Ji Sung is like throwing a newbie swimmer into the Olympics and telling them to do their best. It is just going to not work. Maybe I can look at it as a wonderful older actor taking a struggling newbie under their wings and helping them with their craft.
CLKYTTA: Even without a love line, this is going to be tricky. I see Ji Sung carrying the show because what will happen is they will have Hyeri be a total brat who turns into a star at the end. I’m not so sure I’m in on this one, I’ll watch for Ji Sung, but it sounds trite and overdone already.
TurtleMaknae: I don’t see this one at all. Probably because I don’t like Hyeri’s acting. If Ji Sung can pull the best out of her then Yay! but if she is working with him and doesn’t improve it’s not going to look good for her acting future. I’m not sure so I’ll wait until someone says its great or something.
Ryu Joon Yeol and Hwang Jung Eum – Lucky Romance
**SYNOPSIS: Bo-Nui believes in fortune-telling. One day, she hears from a fortune teller that if she does not sleep with a male virgin born in 1986, the year of the tiger, she will die. Afterwards, she seeks out someone that matches those criterias. She then meets Soo-Ho who owns her studio building. Soo-Ho tries to kick her out, because she has not paid her rent. They struggle with each other. Bo-Nui then learns that he matches the conditions set forth by the fortune-teller. Meanwhile, Soo-Ho is a cheap person who will not believe in sex before marriage.
KMUSE: I love Ryu Joon Yeol so my first reaction was pretty much “no no no no no no!” It just felt like the pairing was completely wrong. Until I read the synopsis which makes me a little less against this OTP. Sure, Hwang Jung Eum wouldn’t be my first choice for a co-lead for my newbie bias, but I do like around half of her dramas and feel that the description of the characters fit both actors. I am being cautiously optimistic now that the initial jerk reaction has dissipated.
CLKYTTA: The synopsis sounds like it has potential, the pairing, not so much. I am not a fan of Hwang Jung Eum, her acting is just too over the top for me. I adore Ryu Joon Yeol, and I think he is going to be overshadowed by HJE. I haven’t been able to finish any drama with her in it except Kill Me, Heal Me and that took a huge amount of effort. I feel protective of RJY, I don’t want him paired up with her because I sense that this can go down the drain really quick and he’ll get overlooked on his next project.
TurtleMaknae: I can’t do it! I can’t! Ok maybe. I again don’t like the acting of the leading lady but I’m willing to try this one. I mean I don’t find Ryu Joon Yeol attractive so this is kind of iffy for me anyway. Also the premise of the show sounds too off for me.
Kim Rae Won and Park Shin Hye – Doctors
**SYNOPSIS: When Hye Jeong was young, her life was difficult. She was good at fighting, but also studied well. Overcoming her tough situation, she is now a doctor.
KMUSE: There are so many things I don’t like about this drama (the writer being the #1) that I highly doubt I will be watching this regardless of casting. However, I did have a really negative reaction to the news that Kim Rae Won is being courted for the lead male role. These two just don’t mesh at all. Kim Rae Won is raw charisma that slams into the viewer like a freight train and Park Shin Hye …… isn’t. Don’t get me wrong, PSH does very well with her style of drama and maybe she is finally trying to get out of the rom-com hole she is in. But I have noticed that she always seems overwhelmed when being paired with a really aggressive actor and they don’t come more aggressive than Kim Rae Won. I guess I will just have to wait and see if this works or not.
CLKYTTA: Yeah, not so sure about this one either. I’ll give it a couple of episodes and see. She has improved with her acting so maybe he will be experienced and aggressive enough to pull her out of her wooden shell and they could have good chemistry.
TurtleMaknae: So I don’t know Kim Rae Won. I’ve never seen him before but I have seen Park Shin Hye and it’s hit or miss for me. I think it really depends on the writers and I don’t pay attention to who they are. I only care about the story and the script itself. However it seems like they picked Shin Hye based on Heirs, just saying.
Yoon Shi Yoon and Jailbait Kim Sae Ron – Mirror of The Witch
**SYNOPSIS: The drama will be taking a fantasy-fusion turn on the youth and love of famed Joseon royal physician Heo Jun, who wrote the book Mirror of Eastern Medicine.
KMUSE: I actually really like both actors and usually, would have no problems what so ever with their pairing or even the age gap. Except for the huge, neon flashing, problem of Kim Sae Ron being only 15 years old. Even then, I would not really have issues except that it has already been proven that the extremely conservative South Korea can not do that big of an age difference in a drama. Case in point is the mess that was Secret Door. They cast Kim Yoo Jung in her first “adult” role and then promptly gave in to netizen pressure and dropped the love line and kicked her out mid-show for an older actress. I really fear that Yoon Shi Yoon’s comeback will be ruined by the age issue and I hope they don’t even attempt a love line at this point. Better to not write it in, then screw it up half way with last minute rewrites.
CLKYTTA: Wow, this poor girl needs to not be an adult leading lady. She needs to have a lead closer to her age and a storyline more appropriate to her age. She is a fantastic actress and I think if anyone can pull this off, she can, but and this is a huge but, she is moving way too fast into adult roles. She does not have the world and life experiences to really make this believable and all anyone is going to do is look at them and say “how many years apart are they?” I love me some Yoon Shi Yoon though, and maybe he can make this not come across as creepy as I already feel like it is.
TurtleMaknae: I actually don’t have a big problem with this pairing for two reasons, one is that I like older male-younger female pairs (underage is still no go!), two is that back in that time period, older men often took young brides. The men needed to be settled before they started a family and younger females can bear more children and survive better than women the same age as the males. My only problem is that she is in fact 15. However if she plays a character her age and not an adult, it won’t bother me. Another thing that is weird about this whole thing is (putting the fact that she is underaged aside) that Secret Love Affair had an older woman-younger man with an age gap of 19 years 48vs29 while this one is 15 years. Not that big of a difference between the two. I actually have this whole rant I can go on about age gap relations. Maybe another time. Anyway I’m going to watch this one!
So it is official. We are concerned for our future shows, but will that keep us from watching? Only time will tell. What do you think? Are these future OTPs a YEA or NAY for you? Tell us in the comments and let us know if there are other future castings that have you wondering if the casting directors are going a tad bit crazy.
Til next time,
The Fangirls
**Synopsis from My Dramalist and AsianWiki
I loved Secret Love Affair so it seems kind of hypocritical to say I’d look sideways at a RL couple with such a large age gap. Even so I would be ok with the YSY/KSR pairing is she wasn’t actually 15. I rarely watch sagueks anyway so this is out for me. I’m not familiar with either of the Reply 1988 leads, but I love Ji Sung and Hwang Jung Eum is hit or miss so I’ll probably try both dramas.
I don’t mind the age gap, but when she is so young I know it will effect how the write the characters. That just is how they are. Hopefully it will still be a good drama regardless.
I don’t mind age gaps nearly so much as unbelievable pairings. The Yoon Shi Yoon/Kim Sae Ron pairing is in a SAJEUK set in a time when that pairing happened ALL the TIME – which makes it REALISTIC. She is such a great actress :d Plus she looks more mature than her age, & YSY just still looks like a baby LOL
The Ji Sung/Hyeri thing – meh. I love him, like her, BUT I’m glad it’s not a loveline. The Lucky Romance couple – everytime they do a romcom w/the GUY not being easy just makes me go ‘really’? Not that there aren’t guys like that in the world. I’ve not met any, but still I do know they exist….
Doctors? only problem there is her – she’s always been a decent actress (except for the whole kissing/whatever thing) & she did fantastic in Pinocchio.
I don’t have problems with the age gap, I have problems with the story being warped because netizens in Korea have hissy fits over the age gap. I just don’t want it to mar YSY’s comeback like it did Lee Ji Hoon’s.
Ryu Joon Yeol and Hwang Jung Eum, I have no problem with that, i think it can work. The webtoon is good so they can pull it off no prob. Age gap is not a problem, RYL is a pretty intense actor anyway so it would be a match,
As for the others, well… Hye Ri must be so lucky and For Ji Sung this is just a job. When a story doesnt hv a loveline isn’t it boring?
Park Shin Hye, a doctor? A Vet,maybe? Too young for the role. Maybe a younger Kim Rae Won would match her but not this presenT KRW, but who knows they just might pull it off if the story is good.
Yoon Si Yoon and Kim Sae Ron, it’s like they don’t pair leads like they use to, they just do whatever they want and hope for the best.
I find a few of the synopsis to be little off as well.. There is next to nothing that can attract me to Entertainer or Doctors than a fantastic script writer..
@CLKYTTA : I feel protective of RJY too..!! The PD needs to clamp down on the Hwang Jungeum’s shouty, manic acting style ..
More than anything, I felt that the leads of R88 felt a bit too pressurised to accept more work very fast. Hyeri’s barely recovered, Bogum could have done a movie instead of another drama .. In that way, RJY has his bases covered with that upcoming movie of his