Have the Hong sisters lost their mojo? While I personally loved Big for admittedly very subjective reasons unrelated to its quality (or lack thereof), the sisters don’t seem to have that buzziness about them. While You’re Beautiful was their biggest splash in years in terms of net buzz, My Girlfriend is a Gumiho did reasonably well and was quite popular and Best Love got pretty good ratings and some critical acclaim. So did Big kill their momentum entirely, because there seems like decided lack of excitement over their upcoming horror romance The Master’s Sun. Or is it that leads Gong Hyo Jin and So Ji Sub don’t command quite the fan base like some younger K-actors or actresses that have all the affection but very little substance and experience to show for it. I for one am looking forward to two mature seasoned actors having a go at something different in terms of story and pairing. I really love the just released individual posters featuring the two leads as themselves and an alternate visage in the mirror. This is definitely not your grandma’s usual “stand straight and strike a pose looking happy/sad/constipated/confused” against a solid color backdrop. I was a little overwhelmed with Gong Hyo Jin’s fresco painted dress in the earlier group poster but it really is visually striking here in her solo shot. I like that the two Tae Gong Shil’s immediately evoke different personas – the living Gong Shil is contemplative while the mirror Gong Shil seems sneaky. It’s moments like this when I truly appreciate having leads who are experienced actors, Gong Hyo Jin’s subtle facial shifts make all the difference in conveying a different perception. Similarly So Ji Sub’s solo shot, while it does overwhelm the senses with his beyond-red suit, but I suppose that’s part of what makes these posters really stand out in the mind’s eye. His portrayal of the two Joo Joong Won’s doesn’t have quite the distinctive separation that Gong Hyo Jin brought to hers, but it still evokes a sense of melancholy and a bit of the campy horror vibe that appears to be the tone for this show. I like how the two mirror versions of the leads are checking out the living versions with this piercing interest, like maybe the mirror selves want to take over the living body. Right now I’m game for whatever far-out concept the Hong sisters have in store, as long as it’s a cohesive package and not just a fun idea that disappears midway and the story lurches to a wholly unsatisfying conclusion. Also check out the first official stills of second female lead Kim Yoo Ri modeling a wedding gown as her character prepares to get married in a lavish wedding at the start of this drama.
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Gong hyo jin is looking so good!!
So excited for this show :-)
I'm really excited for this drama too, i reaaly hope this is a good one because big was just a horrible and unforgettable waste of Gong Yoo Opa!!!!
I happen to love Gong Hyo Jin and like So Ji Sub in the right role, but I am not particularly excited about this one. I am not the world's biggest fan of 'funny' dramas to start with, but added in is the fact that Hong Sisters make me nervous (their track record is too uneven for me to be automatically excited - I loved Delightful Girl Chunhyang, My Girl, Hong Gil Dong and Gumiho GF, and disliked-loathed Fantasy Couple, YAB, Best Love and Big).
To add to it, I seem to like their later dramas less and less - Gumiho Girlfriend was the last Hong Sisters' drama I liked (and to do a count that way would mean skipping over my loathing for You're Beautiful) and I find them, overall, more and more 'mannered' with every drama, not something that appeals to me.
Add to it the fact that I associate GHJ + Hong Sisters bring back memories of Best Love, which I thought was appallingly bad and emotionally phony like a two-dollar bill, and SJS isn't exactly known for his comic chops - and I am decidedly meh.
I mean, the three upcoming 2013 dramas I am excited for are Heirs (in part because I do love LMH unabashedly, but in an even larger part because I am yet to dislike anything written by KES - I adore all her stuff). Who Are You (because of my goodwill for tVN and underdogs and my soft spot for So Yi Hyun - yes, I fully realize she is a limited actress but she has earned my goodwill by Gloria), Basketball and that dramas set in Shanghai the name of which I am blanking on (because the 1930s setting is a guaranteed hook for me) and Hwatu (because I am a sucker for sageuks plus my girl Ha Ji Won). Master's Sun just doesn't seem to compare with my excitement for them. Doesn't mean I won't love it when it comes out (I am currently loving I Hear Your Voice after swearing I'd never touch it. Btw, you should watch the legal scenes for the insane LOLs - they are worth it. I adore IHYV but their legal scenes are written by monkeys on LSD).
As to why the net fandom is relatively quiet about it, I think it part it is the fact that SJS and GHJ don't have huge rabid internet English-speaking fandoms - though I don't think it's entirely because of age. If SJS was cast in this post a huge hit like MiSa, I am pretty sure the net would be buzzing. But he had a long string of largely bad and/or rating-dead dramas, which erodes a fandom quite a lot (remember Road No 1? Yikes. And Cain and Abel, which I enjoyed but it was a bad drama. And Ghost, which may have had decent ratings but was also a romanceless procedural, not something to reel in the fangirls).
And Hong Sisters' last effort seems to have turned a lot of their fans against them (even ones who liked previous dramas of theirs, Best Love included), so people are also cautious…
Regardless, I do hope Master's Sun is good and I hope they write a decent female character at last. They have an abysmal track record even in the industry which is not known for complex and strong women characters - the heroines of Chunhyang and My Girl were awesome but those are really old dramas, in dramaworld terms, and their recent heroines have been dumb as planks and often helpless (I mean, I loved Hong Gil Dong and liked Yi Nok but she was severaly mentally deficient and it's gotten worse since. The only way I liked SMA in Gumiho was because she wasn't a human, so the sisters got around their issue of writing a believable complex human woman character by not having to do so).
Anyway, mini-rant over :)
Apparently I can't count - three dramas are obviously supposed to be five :) Maybe I shouldn't be commenting on HS' skills as mine seem to be lacking :)
Totally agree with about everything you wrote! I haven't liked a Hong drama since YAB (which I was sucked into at the time, but looking back it was pretty shallow). Their last few have lacked the emotional hook for me, whether due to storytelling or tepid chemistry (especially for Best Love).
I also don't care much for Gong or So Ji Sub. Their past work is good, but neither have done anything for me in years. Additionally, Gong was one of the reasons I dropped Best Love - she was so boring and colorless in that role and had next to zero chemistry with Cha. I can see the same thing happening with SJS, so am very wary.
i think for now...as long as it's NOT sageuk, time travel, and noona-dongsaeng kind of drama...i'll be excited to watch.
I'm with you! recently they have been too much noona-dongsaeng dramas both in Korea and Japan! what is this lack of ideas? I'm tired of it. And sageuks? no, thank you! I only agree with sageuk if Choi Jin Hyuk dresses all in black and plays a bad gumiho ^^UUU
I like Gong Hyo Jin quite a lot but find So Ji Sub incredibly underwhelming, so that sort of tempers my excitement. And... I kind of wish they'd chosen another actress, because I fear that, given the Hong sisters' poor history when it comes to fleshing out their female leads, GHJ's character is just going to be Ae Jung V2: the Sixth Sense Edition.
I'll watch the first few eps at least, but, after Big, I'm keeping my expectations low.
love the pics!!!! waiting for this drama :)
thanks for sharing
There's a lack of excitement? Aw, didn't know.
I think i'm looking forward to it since it's something quirky and different and not a milked concept in k-dramaland nowadayas.
But i also think it's the tone and mood(understated, dark) as to the reason why people aren't rabid about it.
I'll just wait until it airs to see what the director/writers have in store considering I find teasers and trailers to be deceiving.
Gong hyo jin FTW!!!
Never does she choose idiot scripts. Counting on her good sense. Hope this is going to be a good one. . .
I think it's a nice to have experienced actors in the role for once instead of having talentles idols as the leads.
And GHJ is such a great actress, I have qualms about SJS mainly because I don't know can he do comedy.
Another reason why this doesn't have that much attention is lack of idols, sadly if this production would have a idol like Suzy then this production would also get more attention.
About chemistry we'll have to see about that. YAB was not my favorite, it had funny moments but the jdorama version was actually more solid and well put together.
I'm so hoping this will be good, please please please.
I like Gong Hyo Jin, she's a very good actress, so it's a given I'm going to watch this. Whether she and the dude have chemistry is to be seen, I hope they do, because if the story loses intrigue that's what would keep me interested.