Tag: heard it through the grapevine

My 5 Favorite Male Villains in Kdrama

Posted on by Audrey

I had a great time compiling my top five female kdrama villains last week, so I figured I should further indulge my evil side by making a comparable list of male villains. In no particular order, here are the five who made the cut:

#1 – Min Joon-gook from I Hear Your Voice

Usually villains have a signature style, a preferred way of doing things, but Min Joon-gook liked to branch out. He started off with a car crash + bludgeoning, escalated to bludgeoning + arson, and rounded out his body count with a staged drunk driving incident. That’s not to mention his propensity for charming his victims before killing them, kidnapping, violent rages, and trying to ruin the hero’s very soul. He was equal parts fascinating and terrifying, and the show made sure to reveal the tragedies in his background—while still condemning the choices that made him into a villain. Continue reading “My 5 Favorite Male Villains in Kdrama” →

My Top 3 Ensemble Kdramas

Posted on by Audrey

While I haven’t had the chance to check out the recently finished Age of Youth, I’ve heard some great things about its memorable female characters and ensemble format. It’s definitely going on my watch list, but in the meantime, it has made me think about the ensemble kdramas I’ve watched.

Ensembles often run the risk of having their many characters and sprawling plot threads not resonate with an audience. Under-performing characters/plots often get shunted to the side and neglected, weakening the overall strength of the show. I’ll admit that I can drop ensembles really quickly if I don’t like a majority of the characters/plots, but these three shows did a great job of giving their characters enough space to grow without losing focus or forcing us to endure lackluster plots.

#1 – Heard It Through the Grapevine
(Rich boy and poor girl become teen parents; their families heads’ explode.)

heard-it-through-the-grapevine

This was from the team who gave us Secret Love Affair, so I knew I had to give it a shot even though the length and the dark comedy/satire description made me a bit nervous. There was no reason to be worried: straight out of the gate, I wound up with teenage parents who desperately loved each other and their baby and wanted to figure out how to carve out a life together despite the class warfare perpetrated by the boy’s high-strung rich parents. The upstairs/downstairs divide and absurd comedy frequently were some of my favorite parts as was the development of minor characters. The final arc slowed down a bit too much for my taste (and kept the young couple from achieving OTP status), but this drama ultimately reinforced my love for this creative team. What’re you going to bring us next?

Continue reading “My Top 3 Ensemble Kdramas” →

Sex, Murder, and Drama News

Posted on by Audrey

This week I ran into a number of interesting articles/casting news, including the state of sex/sex education for teens in South Korea, murder and the statute of limitations, and teasers for people who desperately miss Signal.

  • “Korean teens fight for rights to birth control, sex life.” This piece from The Korea Herald was brought to my attention by Outside Seoul. It discusses everything from school punishments for dating, 19+ age requirements to get info online about birth control, forced adoption and abortion, among other things. I was reminded of the few lines we got between In-sang and Bom in Heard It Through the Grapevine when In-sang confessed that maybe the condom he had was too old or was damaged during sex (or that he didn’t use it properly). This article casts that discussion in a new light–it’s likely that these two very intelligent teenagers simply didn’t have access to the knowledge they had needed in order to prevent Bom’s pregnancy (and the rest of the plot from unfolding).

Continue reading “Sex, Murder, and Drama News” →