Secret Holds Script Reading with Ji Sung, Hwang Jung Eum, Bae Soo Bin, and Lee Da Hee

I guess it’s a good thing the upcoming KBS drama Secret is a modern story otherwise I can’t imagine how the production would fare if it was a sageuk and there is four weeks remaining before it’s scheduled to premiere after the end of The Blade and Petal. I never procrastinate and it’s actually a pet peeve of mine to see dramas scrambling into live shoots almost immediately after it airs. It makes me nervous and worried for the cast and crew. Casting was finalized only last week and everyone assembled this week for the script reading at KBS studios. Led by Ji Sung, Hwang Jung Eum, Bae Soo Bin, and Lee Da Hee, the rest of the cast is completed with lots of my favorite heavyweights from Lee Duk Hwa, Kang Nam Gil, Yang Hee Kyung, and Kang Shin Il. I’m totally amused at the real life serendipity of both leading men getting married within weeks of each other, smack dub during the filming for this drama. Ji Sung is slated to tie the knot at the end of September with his actress girlfriend of 7 years Lee Bo Young, while Bae Soo Bin is walking down the aisle in October with a non-celebrity girlfriend who is described as a grad student 8 years his junior. Hwang Jung Eum has a serious boyfriend as well so that leaves Lee Da Hee likely the odd-man out in this cast without a significant other. The story revolves around Ji Sung playing a cold revenge-minded chaebol who lost his beloved in a car accident, and this takes revenge on the woman played by Hwang Jung Eum who goes to jail for the accident. Turns out she merely took the fall for her boyfriend played by Bae Soo Bin, who ends up ditching her when she’s in jail and shacking up with Lee Da Hee’s rich girl, who has always nursed an unrequited crush on Ji Sung’s character. The synopsis does sound like a re-jiggered version of Nice Guy (The Innocent Man), but that also wasn’t the most innovative of stories. A good melodrama works by creating a taut atmosphere with well-written characters and good actors to bring them to life. This cast isn’t must see based on their track record, but is overall solid enough that imma definitely checking this out and going in with an open mind.

I still have a hard time getting my mind around how any scriptwriter could just title a drama “Secret”. I have yet to watch a K-drama that doesn’t have a secret in it, and most have so many it gets buried under a secret avalanche. I get the simplicity and elegance of a one word title that encapsulates the main theme, such as Revenge (which couldn’t actually figure out its main theme and this is also called Resurrection and Rebirth as well). But Secret is just so darn bland.