Kim Nam Gil and Son Ye Jin Lead the Cast of Shark at Script Reading Session

I have to admit I’m starting to get iffy on the upcoming revenge drama Shark. I know I was super excited about it last month when I reported that Kim Nam Gil and Son Ye Jin were in talks to headline the final drama in the Revenge Trilogy from the famed production team behind Resurrection (Rebirth) and Mawang (The Devil). I put aside their last non-revenge anomaly that was Fermentation Family as the outlier and was super thrilled they were going back to their bread and butter. But the more I think about it, the more I’m worried. Even famed production teams don’t always deliver time-after-time. Take the Giant and History of the Salaryman Team, currently churning out the ridiculous and boring stinker Incarnation of Money. When I read the synopsis of Shark, it also raised major red flags because neither the leading man nor the leading lady characters sounded sympathetic or appealing. He’s all out for revenge, changing his face and uses even the woman who loves him, she’s engaged or married and still can’t get over a first love and lets him use her. Seriously? I hold out hope that the synopsis is merely scratching the surface and underneath will be some truly compelling character development. The cast gathered this week for the script reading session led by Kim Nam Gil and Son Ye Jin, along with second leads Han Suk Jin and Honey Lee. I’m not a fan of either of the second leads but this is overall a very unexpected cast in general and that sometimes is a good thing because lowered expectations make for sleeping easy at night rather than anxious for a drama to premiere. Shark airs on KBS Mon-Tues following Queen of the Office. One super hilarious aside about this drama – I thought the title Shark was symbolic for the cutthroat hotel business world dealings that will be the primary conflict in this drama, but when I saw the cover of the script with a little shark swimming in the ocean about to eat the title “Shark”, I seriously shed tears of mirth at how it destroyed any sense of tension this drama’s subject matter is supposed to elicit. I keep thinking it ought to be a Korean version of Jaws or something. Except funnier.


Comments

Kim Nam Gil and Son Ye Jin Lead the Cast of Shark at Script Reading Session — 18 Comments

  1. Incarnation of Money is brilliant. It’s much better than History. It’s just that the first half was a bigger set-up for the second half. It didn’t seem that way and was a rather weird string of events. I seriously didn’t expect it to play a big role but the PD-writer know what they’re doing. Threads they throw in early will be used later on. It happens all the time. I don’t think you should judge the drama because of the first few episode. I think you would personally enjoy analyzing the alliances and how Ji Se Gwang and Lee Kang Seok outwit each other. The love story really doesn’t leave much to be desired but it takes a back seat in the second half so I think you should give the drama a second chance.

    • I also agree with your post. It’s a good drama and seeing the good guy and the baddie march wits and try to outwit each other is awesome.

      • Me too ! Totally agree I love incarnation of money it is on of the best written , and produces revenge story ! Cuz it’s not about revenge against love it’s just revenge between two extremely smart ppl and it’s friggen awesome ! I wonder on what bases do you choose your preferences !
        Give it a chance koala you night like it !
        Btw ! It’s beautifully recapped at dramabeans ! To whom might care !

    • I don’t know if I like Incarnation better than Salaryman. I don’t think I do, but I do agree it is brilliant! I wish it were getting more love! The problem was that it started off a little slow and silly but it got soooooooooooo good after ep 12. I’ve never seen such smart characters battling it out. I never find myself facepalming at the good guy or the bad guy doing something epically stupid like I normally do during Kdramas. It’s a really smart show. Love it!

  2. Incarnation of Money is not as genius as Hisory of a Salaryman or as epic as Giant but its one of the better dramas airing this season. Im not a Kang Ji Hwan fan so maybe thats why i dont love it. The writing is fine but the characters im kind of meh about.

    • Actually that’s true. I admit the story is good but the characters aren’t. I think that’s the biggest weakness of Incarnation. What made Giant and History more memorable were the likable characters. I still haven’t forgotten how hilarious Yeo Chi but I’m sure after awhile I’ll eventually forget Lee Cha Don and Bok Jae In.

  3. Son Ye Jin has such questionable judgment when it comes to picking drama roles that I’ve no doubt this will be a stinker.

    Plus, the whole ‘first love conquers all’ trope is making me barf at this point.

  4. For me incarnation of money is one of the best drama ..yeap the first few eps are a little boring but gradualli the story are becoming more and more interesting.and I love incarnation of money more than history of salaryman.

  5. Totally off topic but I want to ask if anyone else keeps getting messages that this blog is an attack site? It’s usually cleared up fairly quickly but it seems to be happening more frequently. Is it just me? Is someone targeting this blog and making false reports? Is it some random hack? I dunno, but whatever it is I wish they would leave this awesome blog alone!

  6. LoL! The thread of discussions seemed to focus more on Incarnation of money! I cheated coz I jumped from first episode straight to Ep 13. So after reading some comments here looks like my instinct was quite right ha ha!

    I didn’t expect to keep on checking & following this drama since then. As much as I’m sick with the revenge & silly love u not romance between JaEn & ChaDon, the one that really makes u tick watching it is the villain Ji Se Gwan (did I get the names right?) can’t wait to see how ChaDon going to fight against the prosecutor with the alleged embezzlement allegation…

    Anyway since I’m not Kang Ji Hwan fan either & can’t stand his voice too, I’m just curious to watch the end of this battle 🙂

    Still hoping for RMPW quick return though not veery soon I know.

    I’m drained with what to watch & not keen fo start with the ones just started. if there ‘s any rom-com that anyone can suggest? Any recommendation someone?

    Cheerio!

  7. I’m enjoying Incarnation Of Money a lot!! 🙂

    Can’t say I’m excited about Shark….the story sounds too common as far as revenge melodramas are concerned.

  8. i will definitely watch “Shark” because it is Kim Nam Gil’s drama series..no matter what others may say, for sure Kim Name Gil will give justice to his role to make this drama a successful one.:-)

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