Showing posts with label Lee Jung Jin. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Lee Jung Jin. Show all posts

Friday, 21 May 2021

Korean Drama - The K2

Hello

안녕하세요

(Annyeonghaseyo)

こんにちは

(Konnichiwa)

你好

(Ni Hao)

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The K2 is a 2016 South Korean television series written by Jang Hyuk Rin and directed by Kwak Jung Hwan.
It aired from the 23rd of September, running for 16 episodes and concluding on the 12th of November 2016.

Main Cast:
Ji Chang Wook as Kim Je Ha
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Song Yoon Ah as Choi Yoo Jin
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Im Yoona as Go Anna
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Jo Sung Ha as Jang Se Joon
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Kim Kap Soo as Park Kwan Soo
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Supporting Cast:
Lee Jung Jin as Choi Sung Won
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Shin Dong Mi as Kim Dong Mi
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Lee Ye Eun as Jang Mi Ran
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Lee Jae Woo as Kang Sang Gyu
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Lee Chul Min as Park Kwan Soo's Aide
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Song Kyung Chul as Song Young Chun
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So Hee Jung as Head of JSS Medical Team
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Jeon Bae Soo as Joo Chul Ho
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Ko In Beom as Guk Chae Wan
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Lee Soon Won as JSS Bodyguard Team Leader
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Yeom Hye Ran as Housekeeper
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Kwon Soo Hyun as Bodyguard
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Being depicted with a bodyguard action theme, the drama utilized various fighting techniques including systema, taekwondo, aikido and jujutsu for it's action scenes. It became the first Korean television dram to introduce the Bullet Time effect.

The first script reading was held in August 2016, and filming began in September.
Male lead Ji Chang Wook due to his  casting, became the highest-paid actor for a tvN. He had special training and performed the action stunts in the drama by himself, without a body double.
At the press conference, director Kwak expressed "on top of Ji's splendid action, the drama will tell the story of insatiable desire and political fights between people holding secrets of their own."

The drama received favourable reviews, topping cable channel viewership ratings throughout it's 8-week broadcast. It was praised by viewers for good performances.

As expected, there were songs from the dramas OST that I fell in love with, and take me right back into all the drama.
Check out the songs below.
Kim Bo Hyung - 오늘도 (Today)

Yoona - Amazing Grace

Choi Cheol Ho (Jan) - Anemone

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Kim Je Ha is a former mercenary soldier for the PMC Blackstone. While in Iraq, he gets framed for the murder of his lover Raniya, a civilian. As a result, he runs away and becomes a fugitive. He returns to South Korea and by chance, gets offered to work as a bodyguard by Choi Yoo Jin, the owner of JSS Security Company and wife of the presidential candidate, Jag Se Joon. He accepts the job in exchange for resources that he needs in order to get his revenge on another presidential candidate, Park Kwan Soo, who previously ordered the killing of his lover.
In the meantime, Je Ha gets assigned to guard Go Anna, the hidden daughter of Jang Se Joon, whose life is always threatened because of Yoo Jin, her stepmother. Anna who has been reclused and lonely all her life, starts relying on Je Ha who shows concern for her and protects her at all costs. They slowly fall in love with each other, which make Je Ha torn between having to work with his ally, Yoo Jin, in order to get his revenge and protecting his new found love, Anna, against his own ally.

I'd seen The K2 pop up a few times on my spotlight on Netflix and knowing that Yoona was one of the main cast I decided to give it a watch, as at the time I'd not watched any of the Girls' Generation members in their acting roles.
I really enjoyed this drama, and I struggled to stop watching and found myself as one episode concluded, wanting to get straight into the next one to see how the series progressed and concluded.
I don't think they could have picked a better cast, each cast member brought something to the series, and they each did their role justice and perfectly.
I really enjoyed the plot of the series and I felt I never knew how it would end or how the plot would go.
I'm excited to check more of Ji Chang Wook's drama's as  I was blown away by him in his role as Kim Je Ha, I was even more impressed knowing he didn't have a body double and did it all himself. I loved watching him with Yoona, they showed amazing chemistry in their scenes, which made their performance more believable. I liked seeing his character grow and while still wanting revenge for his lovers death, he was still able to move on and find someone new to protect.
I think Song Yoon Ah was amazing as Choi Yoo Jin, she's the typical power hungry evil bitch, that knows how to get what she wants, and she doesn't care how she obtains it. We often see her being cold and calculating, but we often see her walls come down and show more of her emotions, we later find out that she's hiding a big secret, and I couldn't help but wonder if she kept quiet because she was protecting someone she knew or because she had gotten what she wanted.
I loved Im Yoona as Go Anna, she really brought her role to life and really brought an innocence to he role, while she was cut off from the outside world, she wasn't naive when it came to the world and those around her, I think the main growth we see is that she is willing to forgive, even for something that has destroyed her life and made her to be hidden from the world. The main thing I think Anna wants is acceptance, not only from her father, but also from her stepmother, I think with that she can let things go and live her life in the open.
I couldn't help feelings sorry for Jo Sung Ha as Jang Se Joon, he's seen as power hungry as well as cold towards his daughter, Anna, while Anna sees it as him not acknowledging her as his daughter, he's actually doing his upmost to try to protect her and keep her safe from her stepmother, even if it means tarnishing her deceased mothers memory, whom you can tell he truly loved.
I'm starting to think that Kim Kap Soo only seems to play evil politicians, which is his role as Park Kwan Soo, like Choi Yoo Jin, he will do anything to obtain what he wants, no matter if it's trying to kill his rivals wife, kidnapping his daughter, or selling weapons to the enemy and killing loved ones in the process, one thing I will say about Kim Kap Soo, is that he plays these roles extremely well, which is possibly why he's often cast in them.
I originally saw Lee Jung Jin as our villain in The King: Eternal Monarch, his role as Choi Sung Won in The K2, showed me a new side to his acting, as we see him play the devoted uncle, only to be cold and calculating in the background, trying to take his stepsister down and using Anna for collateral damage, to gain the power he desires.
After falling in love with Shin Dong Mi in Record of Youth, watching her in her role as Kim Dong Mi made me feel slightly uncomfortable, but it also shows how versatile she is as an actress, Kim Dong Mi is like her boss, she's cold and calculating and doesn't trust those that Choi Yoo Jin brings in, even without orders trying to kill both Kim Je Ha and Go Anna, I'd definitely love to see her in more roles like this one.
Lee Ye Eun often made me laugh as Jang Mi Ran, she definitely added some of the comedic value to the series and I loved seeing her relationship change with Go Anna, while she just sees Anna as her job at the start, you can see as she gets to know her they form a close friendship and bond, which makes her want to protect her even more than at the beginning, she also the main person Kim Je Ha trusts to protect Anna, because he knows she's doing it for the right reasons.
Lee Jae Woo as Kang Sang Gyu was another to be added for the comedic value, I loved watching his interaction with both Kim Je Ha and Jang Mi Ran, you can see even his outlook on things change after meeting Anna.
The whole cast were amazing in The K2, and we got to see a lot of character developments over the series upon meeting both Kim Je Ha and Go Anna, I think even by the end of the drama, your own mindset changes on some of the characters and it shows what knock on effect parenting can have when parents are power hungry themselves, especially when those children crave their parents acknowledgement and acceptance.
Overall, I highly recommend this series, it was exciting and exhilarating to watch, there's plenty of action to go with the romance, so I think it's a perfect series for anyone to watch.

Have you watched The K2?
Were you a fan of the cast?
Did you enjoy the script and plot?
Let me know in the comments below

See you soon!


안녕
(Annyeong)
さようなら
(Sayonara)
再见
(ZaiJian)
Bye

Saturday, 7 November 2020

Korean Drama - The King: Eternal Monarch

Hello

안녕하세요

(Annyeonghaseyo)

こんにちは

(Konnichiwa)

你好

(Ni Hao)

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The King: Eternal Monarch is a 2020 fantasy romance drama that premiered on SBS TV and Netflix globally on the 17th of April.
The series is written by Kim Eun-Sook and directed by Baek Sang-Hoon, Jung Ji-Hyun & Yoo Je-Won.
The series aired from the 17th of April 2020, airing for 16 episodes and concluding on the 12th of June 2020.

Main Cast:
Lee Minho as Lee Gon
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Jung Hyeon-Jun as Young Lee Gon
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Kim Go-Eun as Jeong Tae-Eul
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Kim Si-Woo as Young Tae-Eul
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Woo Do-Hwan as Jo Yeong/Jo Eun-Sup
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Kim Kyung-Nam as Kang Shin-Jae
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Jung Eun-Chae as Koo Seo-Ryeong
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Lee Jung -Jin as Lee Lim
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Supporting Cast:
Kim Young-Ok as Noh Ok-Nam
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Jeon Bae-Soo as Jeong Do-In
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Seo Jeong-Yeon as Song Jung-Hye
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Park Won-Sang as Park Moon-Sik
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Kim Yong-Ji as Myeong Na-Ri/Myeong Seung-Ah
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Kang Hong-Seok as Jang Michael
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Lee Hae-Young as Yoo Kyung-Moo
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Hwang Young-Hee as Min Hwa-Yeon
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Baek Hyun-Joo as Secretary Mo
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Lee Hong-Nae as Seok Ho-Pil
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Tae In-Ho as Chairman Choe Min-Hwan

The first script reading took place on the 17th of September 2019.
The series was hailed as one of the most anticipated series' in the first half of 2020, due to it's ensemble cast, screenwriter, extensive publicity and production budget.
The series also set a record for SBS's highest 2020 Friday-Saturday drama premiere ratings. It maintained the No.1 spot on the weekly Wavve drama chart for 8 consecutive weeks, and GMA News Online termed it a "hit Netflix drama" due to it's popularity overseas.
The series received mixed reviews and lower-than-expected domestic TV viewership ratings on later episodes.

Check out the trailers for The King: Eternal Monarch below.
Teaser Trailer #1
The Swoon

Trailer

Like many Korean dramas that I have watched there are songs from the OST that take me right back in and bring back all the emotions, below are some of my favourites.
Hwasa - Orbit
Stone Music Entertainment

Kim Jong-Wan - 연 (Gravity)

Yongzoo - Maze

Davichi - Please Don't Cry

Paul Kim - Dream

Zico & Wendy - 나의 하루는 다 너로 가득해 (My Day is Full of You)

Gummy - My Love

Lee Gon, a modern day emperor of the Kingdom of Corea, attempts to cross the barrier into an alternate reality where the Republic of Korea exists in the Kingdom's stead. He comes across detective Jung Tae-Eul, whom he recognizes from an identity card he obtained during the turning-point of his childhood, his fathers assassination.
Lee Gon's half-uncle, Lee Lim, who assassinated the previous King, Lee Ho, is in hiding and assembling armies whilst traversing back and forth between the two parallel worlds.

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My main interest for this drama was because of Kim Go-Eun, I loved her in Guardian: The Lonely & Great God and I was excited to see her in a new drama, one of which Netflix had gotten it's hands on. The cast for this drama is amazing, each and everyone of them blew me away in their roles, I honestly couldn't imagine anyone else in those roles. While I loved this drama, there parts for me that were a little hit & miss, but it was the cast that made it worth watching. There's characters to hate, characters that have you constantly laughing and moments that you can't help but cry.
This is actually my first drama with Lee Minho, I'm familiar with him and do have some of his dramas in my watch lists but this is actually the first time I've watched one of his dramas, and it definitely won't be the last drama I watch of his. Let's be honest is there anyone better to play Lee Gon than Lee Minho, if you were unfamiliar with him and just took one look at him you would think he was already royalty with his prince looks. I loved Minho's acting in this drama, I think he was spot on, I couldn't help falling in love with him, he's very charming.
In some ways Kim Go-Eun's character is similar to her role in Guardian: The Lonely & Great God, in that she's strong, works hard and doesn't take crap from anyone. The difference is Luna, if you haven't watched this series I won't day too much about it but watching Go-Eun as Luna was amazing, it as nice to see her acting darker and more vengeful.
If I'm being completely honest, for me Woo Do-Hwan stole the show, if any drama was going prove he's a versatile actor, it's his dual roles of Jo Yeong and Jo Eun-Sup. His characters were total opposites of one another and he really pulled them both off exceptionally. After getting to know Jo Yeong, when we were first introduced to Eun-Sup, I couldn't help being in a fit of hysterics.
I loved Kim Kyung-Nam as Kang Shin-Jae, I felt that while his story was expected, it still had me shocked and heartbroken. I loved that he had a cold exterior but his weakness was his mother and Tae-Eul. You could tell when it came to it turning his back on the people he loved, his exterior and personality became colder and harder.
This is extremely horrible to say but I think Jung Eun-Chae has resting bitch face and you can't help but think she is a bitch, but I would love to see her in other dramas in more softer roles, because lets be honest Koo Seo-Ryeong is your typical bitch that thinks she's better and above everyone else and thinks because she wants it she deserves it, so much so we see her go to any lengths to achieve her goals.
All dramas need that villain that you can't help but hate and want to see them fall from grace, and Lee Jung-Jin was perfect as Lee Lim. He's the bad guy you can't help but hate and despise, from the very first episode you see how greedy he is for power and will stop at nothing to destroy everything and everyone to get what he wants, even when that means assassinating his brother and almost murdering his young nephew, something he wants to eventually succeed in.
I'd love to talk about all the cast, but if I did I'd be here all day and I'm sure I'd end up boring you, with how long I could go on for. So let me just say again how amazing this cast is, each one brought something to the table and I couldn't imagine their roles without them.

I'd happily sit and watch this drama again just for the cast, I loved the ending, it wasn't something I'd seen before, which for me kept it new and fresh.
I really do recommend giving it a watch and witnessing yourself the amazing acting.

Have you watched The King: Eternal Monarch?
Were you a fan of the cast?
Did you enjoy the script and plot?
Let me know in the comments below.

See you soon!


안녕
(Annyeong)
さようなら
(Sayonara)
再见
(ZaiJian)
Bye