Entertainer

Entertainer

6/10

Entertainer

Genre:                                  Episodes: 18                         Year: 2016

Romance

Melodrama

Synopsis:

After falling out of favour with the entertainment company he works for, Shin Suk Ho is left with no money, no credibility, and no artists. As the new entertainment company Suk Ho created struggles, he scouts high schooler Jo Ha Neul after hearing him sing in hopes of producing an album. Suk Ho promises to create a band for Ha Neul, but Suk Ho’s old company will do everything they can to see the rookie band fail. The band consists of Ha Neul- wrongly framed for sexual assault, Kyle- a Juilliard guitarist, Yeon Soo- a single father, and Jae Hoon- a mamma’s boy.  

Cast:

Ji Sung (Shin Suk Ho)

Kang Min Hyuk (Jo Ha Neul)

Lee Hyeri (Jong Geu Rin)

Gong Myung (Kyle)

Lee Tae Sun (Na Yeon Soo)

L.Joe (Seo Jae Hoon)

Heo Joon Seok (Kim Joo Han)

Ahn Hyo Seop (Jinu)

Chae Jung An (Yeo Min Joo)

Yoon Seo (Lee Ji Young)

Jo Yeon Ho (Na Chan Hee)

General Thoughts:

It could have been an amazing drama- but it just wasn’t. It didn’t really know what it wanted to be: an endearing struggle of young musicians trying to make it big? A heartbreaking bromance? A sweet and funny romance? In the end it just sort of ended up being a hodgepodge mess of all of these things.

What story are you trying to tell?

It’s not to say the drama didn’t have its moments, because it definitely did. When it hit its melo stride it tended to bring the emotions on quite nicely, but somehow I found that the conclusions of most of the drama’s plot points were resolved in unsatisfactory ways. Except for Jo Sung Hyun’s story which was pretty perfect from start to finish (except for that one moment where he looks at his family’s photo before committing suicide- like, what?).

Jo Ha Neul is the one for me

The darker aspects of the show were definitely its most intriguing points, and for probably the first time ever I found myself more interested in the company shenanigans than in the romance. Because it was kind of a super unconvincing romance, and I had some pretty serious Second Male Lead Syndrome. The weaknesses in the love department can probably be considered mainly due to the casting. Hyeri wasn’t bad in her role (though I still fail to see the point of her character other than they needed at least one female in the story), and she played the happy-go-lucky girl well, but also did a fairly decent job in the few scenes that required more emotion. But the simple fact is that she’s just so much younger than Ji Sung. I wouldn’t care about that 17 year gap should they actually look like they might possibly have a chance of working well together- but they didn’t. Hyeri looked significantly younger than Ji Sung, which kind of confused the point of her character and her character’s relationships- issues that probably could have been avoided had the role been cast older. It felt like the drama was forcing me to want Geu Rin and Suk Ho together- but I just didn’t. Geu Rin looked more age appropriate to be dating Ha Neul, and their maturity seemed to be on the same level, whereas I thought Suk Ho came across as more of a respected mentor than a love interest.

Pretty much sums up the differing maturity levels of our two leads

It was also a touch confusing that Geu Rin seemed unable to view Ha Neul as a man because he was sooooo much younger than her when it looked like she would only be 3 or 4 years older (Kang Min Hyuk is in fact 3 years older than Hyeri). It just created a whole buttload of question marks about Geu Rin as a character, because I wasn’t sure how old she was (though I’m sure it’s mentioned in one indirect way or the other that I missed), what stage of life she was in, or really anything about her at all that went beyond living with Ha Neul after her parents died.

Kang Min Hyuk looks like an Oppa, not a Dongsaeng

And even though we knew a lot about Suk Ho, I still didn’t really understand what would have drawn him to Geu Rin. The emotions were there from the actors, but something in the writing prevented me from comprehending this couple, and I didn’t really care if they ended up together to not. Ji Sung’s acting was pretty fab throughout, but did seem like a bit of a step-down from ‘Kill Me, Heal Me’ last year.

His fantastic crying skills were a little overused

The writers completely overused Ji Sung’s crying to the point that I didn’t feel all that bad when Suk Ho had a crisis and burst into tears- because it happened about every second episode. Knowing what a brilliant actor Ji Sung is actually made the flaws in the writing stand out, because at times Ji Sung came across as very cheesy and unrealistic, and I’ve not really seen his acting have mood swings like that before (and let’s all hope we don’t see it again). While Suk Ho’s progression from unsympathetic corporate man to loving leader of bromance was handled smoothly and consistently, Suk Ho’s character could sometimes feel a bit schizophrenic. He would be depressed and grounded in one scene, and then be fake laughing and rather horrifically superficial in the next moment, which made Suk Ho feel like a character that’s been written on paper, rather than a man who truly lives and breathes out in the world somewhere. On the other hand, Kang Min Hyuk completely smashed his role. Rather than Suk Ho (our male lead), I found Ha Neul to be the emotional crux of the show, and felt more connected to his character than anyone else in the drama.

I kind of wish Ha Neul was our male lead

Kang Min Hyuk’s had a few drama appearances, and he’s always been a good actor, but this was the role that separated him from his previous idol-gone-actor roles. Usually when I watch an idol from a band I love (long live CNBlue), I find myself struggling to remember their character’s name. While the idol-actor can be acting well, it always tends to be difficult to separate the character from the idol that you know and love.

♥♥♥♥♥

But in this series, Kang Min Hyuk was just Jo Ha Neul. He didn’t give you time to think about how much you loved him as the drummer of CNBlue, because you were too busy being invested in his storyline and concentrating on his wonderful performance. The role of Ha Neul allowed Kang Min Hyuk to delve into emotions that he hasn't had to express before, and he did an excellent job of showing us every victory and every heartbreak of Ha Neul. Jo Ha Neul wasn’t a simple character to act out and had a lot of complexities. He was a man who tended to keep his struggles to himself and put up an emotional wall to distance himself from others. The danger of these types of characters is that they can often come off as unemotional or uninvested in the situations around them, but Kang Min Hyuk perfectly portrayed every thought going through Ha Neul’s head, even without the use of dialogue or monologuing. While the drama had its many shortcomings, it's made me excited to see Kang Min Hyuk’s acting career expand and develop. Also, he has the voice of an angel. Just sayin’. The other band members were aways fun to watch, but had significantly less screen time than Suk Ho and Ha Neul, and tended to lean more towards comic relief rather than structured, emotional characters.

The beginnings of bromance

Gong Myung (and many of the 5urprise boys) have been taking on a lot of drama roles this year, and their performances tend to be pretty good. I like Gong Myung as an actor and thought he did a reasonable job bringing in the bromance and a bit of comedy. L.Joe of Teen Top was ignored for most of the series and was only there because the band needed a drummer.

Guess who's missing

He has one or two episodes in which he gets a decent amount of screen-time before disappearing into the background where his character got no story and no development. Lee Tae Sun made his drama debut and absolutely smashed it.

Jo Yeon Ho was one of the best kid actors in Dreamland this year

He gave heart and grounding to the optimistic single father, when it would have been very easy to have Yeon Soo come off as a smiling idiot. Instead, Yeon Soo’s story was focused on good things that come from suffering, and he became an endearing, loveable character. Jo Yeon Ho was brilliant and adorable as his young son, and the two were just so cute together. Throw in the Noona Romance and it’s one big cute sandwich. Despite being a drama that was heavily focused around music, I didn’t find the music to be all that compelling. The Ddanddara boys only had two songs- the first was nice, but wasn’t anything exceptional (despite Kang Min Hyuk’s fab vocals), and while the second song was beautiful, I kind of preferred Jo Sung Hyun singing it solo. Narrative wise, the duet between brothers was emotional and impactful and was a great moment in the series- but going on only the music, I preferred the original acoustic version. The momentum of the series seemed to be a bit odd. While the big conflicts were built up as something huge, they had a tendency to fizzle out come the conclusion of that story arc. It seemed almost as though the writers were too afraid of our main characters doing something that viewers may consider harsh or mean, and then opted for the golden forgiveness route. Every. Single. Time.

So much pretty

At the end of the day, there were a lot of great things about ‘Entertainer’, but some of the execution fell a bit short, and it became another of those series that is just a whisper of the beautiful, emotional drama that could have been.

What Was Great:

The Bros:

Bromance is always a winner. Even the most horrific of dramas can be pulled into mediocrity by an excellent bromance. ‘Entertainer’ isn’t a horrific drama, and the bromance gives it a wonderful lift. There were so many going on- between the Ddanddara boys, the boys and Suk Ho, Suk Ho and Jinu, Suk Ho and Man Shik, Suk Ho and Sung Hyun.

Cute male friendships are always a winner

The relationship between all of the boys was infinitely more entertaining and interesting than the sort-of-love-triangle around Geu Rin, and added a heap more emotion to the series than any of the love-lines. While Suk Ho could tend to be a character that was difficult to like or understand, it was always clear that he loved all of his artists, and would do anything for them.

Suk Ho loves all his boys

This ultimately becomes the biggest issue in the series, as he constantly has to choose between Ha Neul and Jinu. It was like making him choose between his children. What do you do? Do nothing and let one of the kids be falsely accused, or personally throw the other under the bus to clear his name? Suk Ho showed enough distress over making the choice, but eventually chose to clear Ha Neul’s name. The constant support from the other boys in the band was delightful, not just of Ha Neul, but also Yeon Soo (because let’s be honest- Kyle and Jae Hoon didn’t need a lot of support). I do wish that Jinu had been pulled into a bromance with the younger guys as well, seeing as Suk Ho was the main character and not Ha Neul. It would have been a nice touch to have his two favourite boys become buddies rather than having one of them piss off to study abroad. Seeing as Jinu was such a huge motivator for the plot, he was rather uninvolved with the other characters. Oh well, everyone else got a sweet bromance.

The Melo:

The dramatic parts of the plot definitely won out over the romantic aspects. And most of those dramatic aspects tended to revolve around Ha Neul- who was my favourite character, and just a pretty fab character in general. It was interesting to see the drama go into the darker parts of the entertainment industry.

Poor sad puppy

While corruption in the higher-ups and those that already have power are often portrayed, ‘Entertainer’ took on a bit of a different tone by examining the horrible things the younger people would do to get into the entertainment industry, and then what they would do to stay there.

He's in a position of power so he's obviously a giant tool

Ji Young had no issue with falsely accusing Ha Neul of sexually assaulting her, or using a manipulated video of Jinu to blackmail and get what she wanted. While Jinu was more conflicted than Ji Young, he still wasn’t willing (at first) to sacrifice his own career to save Ha Neul from a false accusation that had, and would continue to have, detrimental effects on his life. Then there’s all the higher-ups who are obviously going to be corrupt and power hungry. Are they ever not? While I do wish that we got a bit more background and development for Lee Joon Suk that went beyond ‘he’s a money-grabbing asshole’, he was a great antagonist for Sung Hyun (who I also wish was a teeny bit more developed). Sung Hyun was one of the saddest story arcs in the series for sure, and he had an interesting impact on Suk Ho and Ha Neul. It might have been nice if the drama had focused a little more on the buildup to Sung Hyun’s struggle and suicide, because there was so much around that character that could have been explored more. He was basically the person that was behind Ha Neul becoming who he was, and the obstacle that prevented Ha Neul from being what he wanted to be.

Get ready to weep

It was interesting to see the way the writers slowly unravelled the past surrounding Sung Hyun and the impact that the truth of his death had on his loved ones once they found out how horrifically abused Sung Hyun had been by the music industry- specifically KTOP. The melodramatic moments in the series were definitely the points that opened the characters up to us and gave us a plot that went beyond four cute boys starting a band.

What Wasn’t:

All the Forgiveness:

While the buildup to these melodramatic story arcs was always brilliant, almost every conclusion felt weaker than its set-up, which is disappointing to say the least. The drama seemed like it was being a serious, emotional story, but then the conclusions seemed like rainbows and magic kittens from a fairytale where everyone was happy and no one got hurt.

From 'the only person I want to destroy is you' to 'it's cool, don't charge her'

Except Sung Hyun. Who’s still dead. The first antagonist we’re given is Ji Young, who (falsely) accuses Ha Neul of raping her. Yeah, that’s a huge d*ck move, especially as they were close friends. For almost half the series we watch Ha Neul struggle under the title of ‘sexual assailant’, and watch as all the clues unravel and point towards Ji Young being a selfish b*tch who has no problem framing multiple innocent young men to get what she wants. Finally our characters gather all the info and all the evidence needed to bring this girl down and…they forgive her. And she doesn’t go to jail. Or face any sort of consequence. Apart from being booted out of the entertainment industry. But when you’ve manipulated one boy so it looks like he’s assaulting you and used it to blackmail him while simultaneously framing another for an assault he actually tried to prevent- is that really enough? Despite being a totally anticlimactic finish to a great story-line, what I hate most about this lukewarm forgiveness is that it minimises the brutality of Ji Young’s crimes.

Because falsely accusing someone of rape is actually a HUGE F*CKING CRIME

If it were the other way around and a girl was forgiving a boy for sexually assaulting her and he received no punishment whatsoever, there would be huge amounts of outrage in the viewership. What annoys me so much is that the writers have taken a topic that is very rarely expressed in the media (false sexual assault accusations), and then made it seem like its not really that big of a deal. Which is total bull because it is a huge deal, and it angers me to no end the lighthearted way this writer dealt with Ji Young’s punishment, as if everything was all okay because she got caught out in her lie.

WHY DO HER ACTIONS HAVE NO CONSEQUENCES?! WHYYYY?!

Except that it's a lie that could have destroyed the lives of two innocent men had she not been caught in it. But apparently we’re all going to ignore that because the power of love and music and blah blah blah that b*tch still should have gone to prison.

Ending:

This drama so didn’t need the two episode extension (99% of the time they never do). The drama didn’t exactly have a heap of plot material to begin with, so the final episode was just basically watching our characters live their lives with no conflict or plot at all.

'What should we put in the last two episodes?' 'How about nothing?' 'Nothing sounds good, let's do nothing.'

Which is not always a bad thing, but in this case it is. Had it just been an episode about the boys finally enjoying their success and Mango growing as an entertainment company, that would have been fine, but no.

Who the hell are you, and why are you here?

The writers decided to make some dramatic (and dare I say unwanted) changes in the final hour. To start with- Jae Hoon quits the band. Yes, the band that we’ve watched struggling for 17 episodes finally has the chance to revel in their fame and glory, and their damn drummer quits so he can study. Lame, lame, lame. We’ve also watched Ha Neul have a cute yet heart-breaking crush on Geu Rin for 17 episodes, but apparently he got over that in the drama's last moments, because suddenly he’s crushing super hard on the newly introduced female drummer who came to replace Jae Hoon. Ha Neul is only the second most important character (first in my books), and you give him some random chick as his conclusion? No thank you. It felt like everything I’d watched for the last 17 hours was undone in the final episode, and it felt far too cheesy for how emotional and relatively dark the rest of the show had been.

Re-watch?

No. While Ha Neul was a fabulous character and I loved him and his story dearly, the other characters didn’t grab me. Suk Ho was rather unlikable for a male lead, and it would have made no difference whether Geu Rin was in the story or not- she is the most irrelevant female lead ever.

Maybe try again, but make Ha Neul the lead this time

Reply 1988

Reply 1988

8.5/10

Reply 1988

Genre:                Episodes: 20                    Year: 2015

Family

Comedy

Romance

Synopsis:

It’s 1988, and five neighbours have been friends since childhood as they have all grown up on the same block. Though each family has different circumstances, the neighbours support and comfort each other as though they were family. The story follows the five teenagers as they mature, and learn about family, love and friendship through various hardships.

Cast:

Lee Hyeri (Sung Deok Sun)

Park Bo Gum (Choi Taek)

Ryu Jun Yoel (Kim Jung Hwan)

Go Kyung Pyo (Sung Sun Woo)

Lee Dong Hwi (Ryu Dong Ryong)

Sung Dong Il (Sung Dong Il)

Lee Il Hwa (Lee Il Hwa)

Ryu Hye Young (Sung Bo Ra)

Choi Sung Won (Sung No Eul)

Kim Sung Kyun (Kim Sung Kyun)

Ra Mi Ran (Ra Mi Ran)

Ahn Jae Hong (Kim Jung Bong)

Kim Sun Young (Kim Sun Young)

Choi Moo Sung (Choi Moo Sung)

General Thoughts:

The ‘Reply’ franchise returns with it’s latest instalment- and boy does it deliver. You’d think that by the third time around, the series would have lost a lot of it’s mystery and charm. But you’d be wrong. So, so wrong.

Our third wonderfully wonderful 'Reply' heroine

The writer (who has apparently sold her soul to gain the most majestic, tear-inducing writing abilities) gives us a whole new group of down-to-earth, painfully realistic, completely loveable characters. ‘Reply 1988’ recaptures much of the magic and charm of the original, and takes us on another journey as we grow up with a brand new set of characters. Unlike it’s predecessors, ‘Reply 1988’ chooses to focus less on the romance, and more on the differing family relationships and dynamics. This choice has both an upside and a downside, but it did feel refreshing to have the focus on the families after how laser-visioned ‘Reply 1994’ was on the romance. The show had a huge cast- which it needed in order to fill up those insanely long episodes. I mean honestly, is it really necessary to have 20 episodes that all go over 90 minutes? Disregarding the insanely long episodes, the cast were spot on. Mum and Dad return (hooray!) along with a trio of children.

It just wouldn't be 'Reply' without Sung Dong Il and Lee Il Hwa

It was enjoyable to have our leading lady have some siblings (that are alive), unlike in the previous instalments. It added a whole new set of relationships into the mix that had our leading lady at the heart of it all. We got to experience being a younger sister, an older sister, and a middle-child all through Deok Sun- and it was appropriately touching. Every family dynamic that could be explored was  explored through our many neighbouring families.

It would be so hard to choose just one

Each series has approached the husband mystery differently, and ‘88 is no exception. In '97 we had a clear contest between two brothers. The series effectively used time-skips and flashbacks to continue the mystery. In ’94 we had a name- but no face to put to that name. Here in ‘88 we had a face- but no name, due to using different, older actors to portray our married couple in the present.

All aboard the Taekie train! Choo choo!

It’s a cute quirk of the series that while it may be redoing something it’s done previously (in the way of the husband mystery), it always goes about it in a different way. The overall tone of the series was more serious than either ‘Reply 1994’ or ‘Reply 1997’. It downplayed a lot of the romance (while still keeping the husband mystery going) and focused more on fading youth and a time you can’t return to. While all three segments of the franchise have included this reminiscence of youth, it was felt more strongly in ‘88 than in either of the ‘90s series. It was truly a bittersweet farewell to a simpler time that is long gone. It says a lot about this writer and these actors that they can make me so deeply nostalgic for a time and place that I was never in, and so completely attached to these people I’ve never met. 

What Was Great:

Less Hurt Love Feelings:

It happened. It finally, finally happened. The boy I was rooting for got the girl. Third time’s the charm. I loved Taek from the get go- though he did remind me a little of Chil Bong, so I was a little nervous that I would be on the losing team again. Being on Team Taek, I can’t exactly comment on how those on Team Jung Hwan feel, but I personally felt that the franchise did a much better job in the handling of the love-triangle than it did the previous time around.

At least it wasn't as bad as last time guys. The triangle of '94 was just plain brutal

I think they could make a thousand more series in the ‘Reply’ franchise, and none would be able to top the original, so we just won’t even go there. In ’94 the series focused too much of it’s time and energy on the love triangle and the competition between the two boys, which inevitably left some people (us Chil Bongie shippers) out in the cold come the close of the series.

The girl can't choose you if she doesn't know you're an option

Personally, I thought that ’88 did a fantastic job of explaining why one man was able to get the girl and the other wasn’t. Adorable and swoon-worthy as Jung Hwan’s crush was- he never acted on it. The times he came close, he always covered up his true feelings with a joke. Whereas Taek was always ready to take the next step forward with Deok Sun, rather than keep his feelings hidden. The episode where Jung Hwan realises this himself is a great close for his one-sided romance. It’s sad, and your heart bleeds for him, but seeing as he wasn’t getting the girl, it was a satisfying way to conclude his Deok Sun crush. I’m sure the those cheering for Jung Hwan were disappointed, but at least there was a legit, tangible reason that his romance with Deok Sun never worked out, that went beyond Deok Sun just liking Taek more. That being said, I do wish Jung Hwan had been given some kind of conclusion in the adult present. He wasn't heard from or seen, which was a huge disappointment. He is the first 'Reply' second male lead to not end up in a clearly defined relationship with someone who isn't our heroine.

All the Feelings:

The different families brought on so many different emotions. It would take a million years to talk about each one in detail. Which is probably why the series went for a million years. Learning from it’s mistakes in ’94, ’88 chooses to (successfully) attempt to evoke emotion through different types of love- be it friendship or family.

Did you honestly go into this series expecting not to cry?

Some standouts were: Sun Woo and his mum, Jung Hwan and his parents, and Bo Ra and Dad. Oh, and of course the undying love between Taek and Jung Hwan- the reason no one got the girl in their teenage years. The relationships were heartwarming as they were just so true to life. No one was happy all the time. No one got the relationship right all the time. Everyone had to work hard in order to understand each other and build a relationship together. 

Ensemble:

What can you say, everyone was brilliant. I’ve yet to watch a ‘Reply’ series where I’ve been unhappy with a single member of the cast. The actors in ’88 don’t disappoint. Good job team.

The kids were fab, the parents were fab. Everyone was fab

What Wasn’t:

Less Seen Love Feelings:

While I appreciated the romance taking a back-seat to all the other relationships in the series, unfortunately this did mean that our main couple got less time to shine. Unfortunately, it also meant that our leading lady, Deok Sun, fell behind the other characters in the way of character development.

I wanted so much more of this than we got

Which couldn’t be helped when her feelings were purposely hidden from us in order to prolong the ‘Who’s the Hubby’ storyline. After it was revealed in the second-last episode that Taek was our husband in question, I totally expected to see a nice, long episode about how they exposed their romantic relationship to their family and friends. But then this was glossed over in favour of Bo Ra and Sun Woo’s relationship. Which was enjoyable in it’s own right- but the whole time I was watching, I couldn’t shake the niggling feeling that this was taking away from time I could be spending with Taek and Deok Sun when they were all loved-up. And they were so damn cute when they were all loved-up. Much as I adored the awkward, finding-their-feet teenage years, I do wish the show had spent a little more time on our characters when they were in their twenties. When you consider that 90% of the relationship development between your leading couple happens in the 90s, it seems silly that 90% of the series happened in the 80s.

Behold the cuteness

I must admit, when the series finished I was satisfied on many levels, but I was left feeling hungry for more on Taek and Deok Sun- as we were really given the bare minimum on their actual romantic relationship.

Grown Ups:

It was a different twist to have older actors playing our characters in the present. I completely see why it was necessary- as I just don’t believe Lee Hyeri (or any of the young cast) would have been convincing as people in their 40s/50s. However, it did leave me feeling a little alienated from our cast as their older selves. It was understandable that older Taek didn’t act completely like younger Taek, as that would have given away the husband story.

WHAT ARE YOU DOING?! WHERE'S THE REST OF THE GANG?!

But at the same time, when it was revealed that it was Taek in the present, I felt like he’d changed so much- and we as avid viewers had missed out on so much, whereas I always felt invested and connected to the characters of the previous series. Also I nearly threw a fit when we didn't get a little heads up on what our other characters were up to. We heard Sun Woo on the phone- but never saw him. Poor Jung Hwan and Dong Ryeong didn't even get a mention. Boo to that.

Crap...there's still a whole 50 minutes to go...

It’s Long Again:

Hoo boy did those episodes drag on. Unlike ’94, I never felt bored while watching, but there were times when I was consciously aware of how long the episodes were going for. There was enough content to fill the episodes, what with the different families and all, but they were just...so...long. A lot of the beauty of ’97 came from the hard-hitting emotional blows that followed one after the other. It’s undeniable that ‘88 delivered some storylines with big emotional impacts, but these moments were once again separated and distanced by less emotional scenes. It’s just ridiculous to think that the last two episodes sat at around 2 hours long. ‘Reply 1988’, I love you, and I love your characters- but that’s insane.

Re-watch?

I would like to. But another downside to the extreme length of the series is that much as I love the story and characters, I just can’t justify spending that much time on something I’ve already seen. No matter how great my love for this series is.

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