Oh goody, if the first impression has any merit then upcoming OCN fall drama Black certainly deserves props for delivering a solid visual look. Starring Song Seung Heon and Go Ara, both coming off lackluster sageuk dramas Saimdang: Light’s Diary and Hwarang, respectively, going the opposite direction with a dark modern narrative seems to have been a smart choice in taking on a drama about the grim reaper battling crimes and the looming specter of death. The most recent grim reaper involved K-drama was the glitzy star powered Goblin that was more melo than dark and certainly played fast and easy with world building mythology to keep the tone generally light. Here Song Seung Heon looks more than a mob boss than a grim reaper possessed police detective but Go Ara is killing it as a scared woman who can see dead people.
@ockoala. I have read your article before. you are so bias and judgemental. I hope you can be more fair. I like korean drama because of SSH. many people know drama because of him. He is pioneer of Hallyu wave. He is very talented actor.
no need to worry, it’s her blog. she can write her opinion freely. for me, article like this is far better than marriage, pregnancy, maternity stories, all about human breeding, everything we can see them in trash infotainment news.
@misa – this is a Blog!! and this is Ms. Koala’s style. Don’t read if you don’t like it, and stop commenting because the blogger will not listen to you. Lololol…
I thought this article was rather complimentary to SSH! Which sentence(s) offended you?
A Korean report one month ago mentioned talks with Netflix to sell non-exclusive broadcasting rights of Black in more than one hundred countries. Netflix is coming back to Asia and is buying up K-dramas with big-name Hallyu stars. It already bought Secret Forest for US$90000 per episode but is expected to pay more for Black because of two reasons: Song Seung Heon as a Hallyu star with household name recognition in Asia, and the writer whose last project God’s Gift was sold for a US remake. This is seen as encouraging news for K-drama after the loss of the huge Chinese market. K-drama gets a large chunk of its influence/profit by selling copyrights to the lucrative overseas market (mostly TV but also increasingly web streaming sites), particularly Japan, China, Taiwan, Hong Kong and South-East Asia, and Hallyu stars could pull in big viewership in these countries.
Bad acting is already reeking from these stills. Go Ara is pretty in pictures, but in dramas, she loses half of her beauty and charms, really. There are people who look so much better in real life and videos than in pictures, and guess Go Ara ain’t one of them. Song Seung Heon is manly looking for his own good, but his acting remains so-so. He would suit rom-coms but I’ve got no idea why he keeps picking up projects which require substantial and serious acting. The latest thing I’ve watched from him was ’Obsessed’ and he was simply so bad in it. I didn’t understand if he was in love or they had lust.. Im Ji Yeon was even more terrible. Good thing was, her tits were nice.
Go Ara though, she is giving off Hwarang vibes and thats not a good sign..
She’s got the same expression and no subtlety or refinement in her acting. It’s the same in every drama. I’m starting to think that she’s passed her peak already and that was in Reply94. She was great as Sung Na-jung but that’s literally it. Hwarang made me shudder already…
Koala, I find our tastes in dramas and actors are different but I like that you put your opinion our there. That’s why I check back frequently.
(Side note: Google has started serving me up a lot of koala bear related news articles.)
yeah, i like her style too, blogger should not be afraid to voice own opinion. I just don’t understand how some crazy delulu fans will try to defend their Oppas everywhere while clearly people can have different tastes, true? I don’t think SSH and GA can act, they are only pretty faces. Similarly my bias is also not good with acting, but he is super handsome imo. So just admit it and move on. There is no fairness in this world 🙂
I like both leads, but I am NOT delusional. I know they can’t act very well. LOL. I am not offended by Koala’s opinion at all.
I like their smiles. I don’t mind fluffy lighter fare. Just because you enjoy watching someone in dramas doesn’t mean they are good actors and it’s not necessary to defend them to the death. Just enjoy what you enjoy.