İyi Seyirler Dileriz.
Bad Guy (2010)
Bad Guy
나쁜 남자
(May – Aug 2010)
who’s in it
Kim JaeWook (Coffee Prince)
Kim NamGil (Queen SeonDuk)
Han GaIn (Witch Amusement)
Oh YunSoo (Jumong)
Jung SoMin (Playful Kiss)
Kim HyeOk (Sons of Sol Pharmacy)
what’s it about
Hell if I know.
I lie, I do know:
Kim NamGil is our Bad Guy, and I’m not killing the suspense by adding that the title is meant to be somewhat ironical. Obviously, our hero is not really evil since we drama viewers will need to find a reason to like him for 17 hours. I apologize, I’m already editorializing.
Back to the plot: as a child, Kim NamGil suffered a grave scar (literally and figuratively) at the hands of a rich and powerful family. This heartless family maneuvered the fates of people they considered below their social class and pretty much screwed everybody over. If you guessed “birth switching” story, congrats! Imagine confetti and balloons showering down around you in jubilee.
Kim NamGil grows up to become a stoic, brooding, and somewhat badass stuntman, one with a vendetta against the whole of the aforementioned rich and powerful Hong family. Like most pseudo-sociopaths, he’s nurtured this obsession to the point of actually believing that he wants it, when in actuality, he’s just crying on the inside. His hate runs fairly equal for the entire family, but for the sake of keeping it within 17 episodes, he gives special focus to the offspring: the tormented youngest bro Kim JaeWook (his doppelganger, although it could be argued Kim NamGil is actually Kim JaeWook’s doppelganger), older and uptight sis Oh YunSoo, and the youngest sis, tart Jung SoMin, who is the only one who seems relatively happy in the show (initially).
In Kim NamGil’s defense, this family does make revenge really easy for him. Lambs to the slaughter.
director
Lee HyunMin (Sorry, I Love You, Winter Sonata)
You can see where this is gonna go...can’t you?
screenwriter(s)
Kim JaeEun (IRIS)
commitment
17 episodes
network
SBS
first impressions
Very stylized…cryptic. Cinematic, even. Any show that starts with a roof and a blood splat on the pavement below sets a tone, I do believe, and it’s not a cheerful one. For some reason, Old Boy popped into my head almost immediately, and that made me exceedingly anxious, as years later, I am still woefully traumatized by Park ChanWook’s psycho-claustrophobia-inducing revenge film. I hated that film. I really, really did. That movie had a lot of themes I loathe. It was an excellent film, to be sure, but I still hated it. What can I say? I’m a sensitive soul. Moving on.
The hero you’re supposed to root for:
Kim NamGil
He seemed like he was capable of carrying this thing…there was definitely some good eye-charisma being utilized at appropriate intervals.
The heroine you want to like but kinda maybe sorta don’t:
Han GaIn
As our main female protagonist, I found her a tad disappointing. As usual, her perfume was far too fragile to play any kind of a strong female role, but on the hopeful side, she did share with us some surprisingly intriguing emoting in the early scenes. She was reaching deep to find her inner “spurned woman looking to climb ambition’s ladder” character. This could be the role that will make me believe in the Han GaIn I want to like, but have not found yet in her previous works.
The tormented second female lead:
Oh YunSoo
Personally, I find her to be one of the most beautiful Korean actresses around and she is quite capable of doing heavy, so I knew she was going to be splendid here. No doubts in this corner.
The one that may steal the show:
Jo SungMin
This was an interesting new face, youthful and carefree, yet a hint of malice there as well. The perfect casting to play a young rich girl looking to rebel with the wrong guy. Even after only a couple hours time with Jo, I hoped her role would be encompassing enough for us to really sink our angst. She was quite a compelling character. Naïve yet callously cold.
The real reason why you’ll watch this drama:
Kim JaeWook
Okay, he totally blew my socks off (and I wasn’t even wearing socks at the time, now that’s talent). Who was this guy? Surely not that waffle dude from 1st Shop of Coffee Prince! Not that pretty boy from Antique Bakery! Oh, but it was! Who knew he could act—so feckin’ completely? When he broke down (which was often), I totally believed this guy was about to lose his mind, lunch, and all his internal organs. All that was missing from his acting was the “I’m about to go batshit” involuntary eye-twitching, which as you know, is physically impossible to manufacture on cue, even for veteran actors.
The whole setup for this drama was convoluted and filmed with such creative production that it felt like something special...
Besides, I needed to find out out why everyone was so damn upset.
wildcard
Kim JaeWook v. The Entire Show
Kim JaeWook was awesome and there were some other great performances scattered in there as well, but the show itself was a histrionic mess. Not only was it the kind of show that required constant rewinding—“WTF just happened?”—and constant leaning forward—“WTF did he say?”—but worse of all, many a times it simply MADE NO SENSE.
Start this one if you are ok with being unsatisfied by the end. If you’ve ever dated, you know the feeling I’m talking about. Think about it for a sec. Yep, that’s the one.
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