Journalist, Author & Syndicated Columnist
It’s not easy for two well-known celebrities to immerse themselves in their roles so well that we don’t see them, but rather their characters. But watching IU’s music video for “Love Wins All,” I didn’t see pop stars IU and V, but rather a pair of anguished characters who were trying desperately to survive in this post-apocalyptic inferno.
IU, D.O., V, Suzy, Park Hyung-Sik and Chanyeol are a few of my favorite Triple Threats. Who are your top picks?
When Yoo Ji-Tae was doing press interviews to promote”Healer,” he said he was confident about signing onto the project when he heard that Park Min-Young was the female lead. Why? Because Park is one of those actresses who has the magic touch when it comes to picking projects that will become hits. He wasn’t wrong. That got us wondering: Who else has the golden touch when it comes to K-Dramas?
“My Ahjussi” is a satisfying K-Drama focusing on Dong-Hoon, a mid-level engineer who lives a mundane life. He works hard, hangs out with his brothers every evening and goes home to a house where his wife is rarely there. And if she is, she holes away in her home office and ignores him. It can’t be a coincidence that the set designer chose an apartment complex that looks more like a prison than a home for their residence.
Hotel del Luna is a gorgeous five-star hotel that only accepts dead souls, before they move onto heaven or hell. Yeo plays a Harvard-educated hotelier who is forced to work at the eponymous establishment, due to an agreement his father had made years ago. His boss is the otherworldly Mal-Wol, who has run Hotel del Luna for the past 1,300 years. She is neither dead or alive, but can’t peacefully enter the afterlife until she has settled her personal business on earth. Though the pair’s relationship starts off contentiously, they slowly fall in love and feel they are tied together by a force that can’t be explained.
“Producer” is Kim Soo Hyun’s followup to the phenomenally popular series, “My Love From Another Star.” A light, romantic comedy, this K-Drama series touches on how ruthless Korea’s netizens can be over what they perceive to be an unforgivable lie.
“Dream High” is one of those series that starts off with a ridiculous premise. But, if you stick with it, you’ll be amused, angered and (at times) deeply touched. Yes, this is a glossy high school musical with a love triangle. But it also deals with child abandonment, sexual assault and the abuse of children by the system set in place to manufacture “idols.” This isn’t just a Korea thing. Think about all the American boy band members who have revealed how they were abused by their predatory management.