Lee Jun Ki and Moon Chae Won Freed From Mediocrity and Attends Criminal Minds Drama Wrap Party

The wholly underwhelming run of the K-drama remake Criminal Minds finished this week, freeing the talented cast to do bigger and better things, or at least snap back to life from their somnambulant state of being for the last 8 weeks. To know that K-dramas is planning to remake Suits next just has me sighing over the pointlessness of doing something in a completely forgettable way. Even having big name leads like Lee Jun Ki, Son Hyun Joo, and Moon Chae Won plus a big budget did nothing to elevate CM into being as decent as the US show or adding a worthwhile K-drama vibe to color the proceedings uniquely. All that’s left is watching the show as a Jun Ki fan for the sole purpose of checking out how visually impeccable he looks these days, and hoping both him and Moon Chae Won pick better projects next time solo or teamed up again.


Comments

Lee Jun Ki and Moon Chae Won Freed From Mediocrity and Attends Criminal Minds Drama Wrap Party — 26 Comments

  1. They should team up again. They have great chemistry. Despite the little interaction their characters have in the drama, they totally oozed chemistry. The two of them should consider doing a romance sageuk to redeem whatever talent and chemistry they wasted in Criminal Minds. Best of luck, Jun Ki. Still love ya, to the moon and back. Now, I’m worrying over my boy Park Hyung Sik. Remake is a big NO-NO-NO!

    • I second this motion.Or since it was meant to be Moon Chae Won’s first time in the crime genre, and it was meant to be a learning experience for her, especially from her seniors Son Hyun Joo and Lee Jun Ki who are experienced in the genre.If they cant do a sageuk together anytime soon(since LJK said he wants to take a break from historical dramas).Maybe it would now be Moon Chae Won’s turn to teach Lee Jun Ki a few things about doing melodramas since she is so good at them.And yes, these two did not disappoint me in terms of their chemistry even with no loveline in CM.

      Special mention to Lee Sun Bin.She is only 23 but girl has a lot of potential to go places.There are many actresses her age who are consistently in lead roles.But their acting skills and aura onscreen is sub par.She’s alright especially since I was watching her for the first time.Also yeah as usual LJK is ❤❤.You can always trust him to bring the eye soothing visuals everywhere.He was sexy in the drama( but this fan is wishing,he would put back a few kilos).

      Also KBS of all stations, doing a remake for “Suits”?!tsk tsk..TVN or SBS would have been a better choice.These two do better in legal genres.I hope they dont waste Jang Dong Gun amd Park Hyun Sik.

      • Lee Sun Bin… thumbs up. she was great last year in Task Force 38 with Seo In‑guk and Ma Dong-seok.

  2. Of all the remakes from the US thus far, this was the oddest choice because it is pretty much a run of the mill procedural. It also isn’t character driven like the The Good Wife, Entourage or Suits so there is just less opportunity to shine. It was odd to read over at Dramabeans people getting so excited when they heard about the remake as if the original was so awesome.

    K-dramas do remakes from multiple countries and sometimes do them well. I see no reason they can’t do the same from Western shows, I just think they should choose more wisely. I still see the remake of Entourage as the biggest lost opportunity as far as story.

    • Of all the remakes, The Good Wife was the best for me. It was a good mixture of having a talented cast and effective adapted storyline. On the other hand, American remake of Good Doctor was disappointing. It didn’t have the charm the original Korean version had.

  3. Sure LJG’s perfect looks what drows me to him first but his charming personality what makes me love him even more and stick to him and not be able to let go of him and that explains why he still has those loyal fans around him till now. He is a diamond among the other actors. He just need a little bit of luck in projects and I really hope that the MB Blacklist thing isn’t blocking his way anymore.

  4. Wow…really bad pics of MCW. She looks so round. Didnt catch the drama but i will nvr forget MCW in The Princess’ Man. One of the best dramas ever. Sad that good dramas are a rare find these days.

  5. I didn’t finish it yet… It’s so boring… I really liked The Good Wife, didn’t like Entourage, this kind of story was not for korean culture.

    I watched the first episode of The Good Doctor (US version) and it was good ! I’m really excited to see the next episodes ! Freddie Highmore is great in this role.

    • Freddie Highmore was great in Bates Motel, and it was a very difficult role . When you see this kind of performance you realize that a lot of korean actors of his generation have a long way to go .

  6. This is the case of good lineup of actors being wasted by mediocre or bad writings. Just when you thought things could hardly go wrong since we have the super talented Son Hyun Joo, Lee Jun Ki and Moon Cha Won and yet the writing and directing screwed everything. Better luck next time My darling Lee Jun Ki and yes for another drama with Moon Chae Won. I was right, they are perfect together on-screen, again shakes my head with their pairing wasted for this type of drama.

  7. i feel guilty for saying ljk has terrible taste in dramas when the truth was he was blacklisted by the government for speaking his own mind on issues.

    the entertainment industry is as hard as it is and being blacklisted would have make it extremely difficult for him,he must have make do with the little choices of projects that came his way at that time period.infact i now congratulate him for surviving.

    i hope and pray lady luck will smile on him and moon chae won for their next project.

    • Not only did he survive, but he gave and poured 100% in each and every project including the latest one.I really do hope the movie industry opens its doors to him now that everything has been revealed.Hopefully good offers come his way.I need him to create another box office hit.Anyone who has watched his growth as an actor, can agree that he has what it takes to deliver, even in K-movie today where good acting is essential.Extra credit for giving a wonderful performance for this drama.He had to deal with the aftermath of the April drama.All the relationship drama to the end, and even after the end and still had a sane head.

      In fact if you go on Naver and read the k netizen reviews on the drama as a whole.No one is blaming any of the actors for poor acting.Everyone is agreeing that the writing but especially the directing was poorly done.They acknowledge that the actors are what kept this drama together.Also if we are talking business nothing to do with the acting, story or directing. TVN drama in the second half of the year with stellar actors, has had only two original dramas with good ratings, and that’s “Stranger” and “Live up to your Name”.

      Even in the first half, TVN original drama such as “Tomorrow with You” had average of 1%, Chicago Typewriter had 2%.So really I wish the both the best.These two have proven their competence over and over again. LJK has transitioned well back to the modern well.Moon Chae Won did the best that she could, with the horrible directing and script, she was subject to.I also recommend that both should stay away from the remakes for a while.It seems the writers and directors are half assing their jobs, and expecting the actors to do their job for them just because they are good actors..

    • may i know why he was blacklisted? was there any particular incident?
      thanks
      i only like LJK after watching scarlet heart (totally didn’t like the show but was super impressed with his acting)

      • There are loads of speculations, since the NIS never gave the exact reasons reason why he and all the other artists were blacklisted.They just said they blacklist them because they were deemed to be “left leaning”.But for some context:

        Some speculate because of this:
        Read: https//coolsmurf.wordpress.com/2008/06/02/lee-jun-ki-slams-the-korean-government-over-resuming-us-beef-imports/amp/

        some think its because he starred in the movie “May 18” which is about Gwanju Massacre.

        Also just click the “lee jun ki” tag here on koala.The second blog entry below this one..is about this issue.Read the comments and you will get the idea.

  8. Love the drama, and all the happy NCI family. Love LJG’s character the most. Now that it’s over I’m gonna miss it badly.. But I will have my life back again
    CM fighting!!!

  9. The first K thriller drama that got me bored so much. Sigh.

    I just hope there’s no Cold Case K-version, cuz J-version already killed it.

    Potential actors with bad script? No… Some actors just couldnt show their potential *cough*moon chae won*cough*

  10. the drama was great actually. i mean, if u are interested in forensic psych. i’m a psych major so i really can relate to it. the scriptwriting wasn’t that bad. & of course the leads acting was superb, lee joon gi as always. maybe genre like criminal minds isn’t a thing in korea.

    • They also did say besides entertainment.The other aim for the drama was to bring awareness to a social issue going on in the city of Seoul.They wanted to bring attention to “violence against women”(date rape, hidden camera shootings and domestic violence).I dont know how well their campaign went, but they said they would spread the message via, all TVN social media channels.They also said they would be featuring <60sec text to explain to citizens, the women's safety policies for Seoul to try and nake the city safer.If you watched the drama..you could see how most of the victims were women and children.Only two of the many serial criminals were women.They even had a whole episode focused on serial rape and moon chae won drove the narration from start to finish and nailed it.

  11. and please stop mentioning about LJG’s blacklist thing. I mean, he moved on, he’s surviving. how on earth can people forget about it, if there are some keep mentioning it. geez.

    • I think because there are certain actors that get the “he can’t pick good projects” comments and the blacklist thing makes viewers realize that crap went down and probably continues to go down behind the scenes that we have no idea about. I don’t just mean about LJG but other actors as well. But, yes, he certainly seems to want to move on, but I just wonder if he had any inkling of what was going on or not back when the blacklist started.

  12. I find that this adaptation should be the easy one cause they have the layout and big pool of episode to pick without need the 1 line story like another adaptation,
    but then the execution shows that the actors are not feeling or showing anything that makes the viewer stays.

    What a disappointment

  13. Moon Cha Won took such a great part in Good Doctor..
    She would have to be one of the most beautiful actresses ever seen in the Korean dramas bar none!!
    MCW needs to star in more shows..

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