I continue like but not yet love tvN Mon-Tues drama Record of Youth. I’m more curious over how Park Bo Gum as Hye Joon can keep hard carrying a drama this successfully, as episode 3 increased from last week to hit 7.200% AGB nationwide viewership. Well okay, he had a bit of help from Grandpa as viewers are living their adorable and communicative granddad-grandson relationship. If you backup from the central romance, which feels more like a kindred spirit friendship so far, the family dynamics and side characters get a lot of nuanced writing which can bore people looking for just a strong love story but this isn’t that. This really is a comprehensive mapped out story of two model best friends trying to make it in the hyper competitive world of K-ent and their families and friends around them. Park So Dam’s Jung Ah perplexes me, I can’t decide if I’m just underwhelmed by her character personality and dialogue or I don’t like her underwhelming performance. I hope I warm up to her because I really need her to capture my attention as strongly as Hye Joon has.
Seems like your giving him way too much credit if im honest. Park so dam is just as interesting as PbG.
Happy for bogum but i am finding it really hard to get into it. Also park so dam is also doing a great job give her a little credit
I’m not from SKorea so I never really minded the tv ratings. But due to the pandemic, I’ve had more time to read the comments on ratings since The King, Once Again, It’s Okay to Not be Okay, Flower of Evil, Alice, Lie after Lie. It looks like the SKorean audience loves to watch dramas with family-oriented storylines hence these kind of drama usually get high ratings, which I think what Record of Youth is. I personally skip some scenes with the family since they seem repetitive but I guess some audience like that. I’m more engaged in watching Flower of Evil than RoY but I too am interested to find out how RoY will develop (it looks like the story arc is gearing towards that one’s journey in realizing his dreams if he has a powerful family/backers versus an ordinary person with talent but with no or limited backers)
cloy, IC, dr romantic 2 absolutely not family drama. Not sure what make you think family drama always get high rating.
These dramas can be watched with family members… IOTNOB cannot be watch with family members…an korean YouTuber admitted it. Coz it’s about Mental issue which is still a big taboo in South Korea…plus it’s shows bad parenting.. which obviously parents will not show to there children and it have dark fairy tales..a korean commented that these fairy tales are too dark..which can change the mindset of fairy tale like we used to thought it’s just for fun…but these fairy tales shows harsh reality too.
Why its sound like you trying to find an excuse for IONTBO’s rating…
Not defending just telling you..in Gallup survey of July..korean choose top 10 shows.. only 3 dramas were there other were variety shows and IOTNOB was only cable drama top in top 10.
Lol how could Kim soohyun’s drama not make it to the list, there’s not much good drama that aired in july. It will be so much better if IONTBO make it to Gallup 2020 as well
@eleven, it’s something I’ve noticed too. They seem to USUALLY (which was what you wrote, not always) like family-oriented dramas, sageuks, revenge dramas and some romcoms.
But then other dramas outside these genres have also garnered high ratings so I suppose there are other factors in a drama’s success. Not just genre. Some would say starpower. Others will say good timing. More will say a great story (preferably one that resonates with the audience). And so on.
One thing’s for sure though, high ratings alone is not always an indicator of a quality drama.
@Aurora yes, definitely agree 🙂
Absolutely agreed to that.
@Tiani Haha I know right? IOTNBO fans should just accept that their drama under-performed big time in tv ratings instead of making excuses. Park Bo Gum and Park Seo Joon’s projects delivered. They are currently Korea’s favroite “young”-ish actors and have proven their star power to bring a drama to success as seen through strong premiere ratings and big increases in early episodes. Now, for RoY, rating will depend more on writing.
Do you like Brahms ? !!!
Super cringe writing. I am with you on the lead actress. Chemistry is really flat. Had to fast forward many scenes. Holding on to just watch park bo gums handsome face. His acting is pretty good in this.
@Monica
I agree that the writing and dialogue is super cringey and a tad repetitive. Park Bo Gum and Park So Dam have no romantic chemistry. Period. They make great best friends, though. But in typical kdrama fashion, they have to introduce a romance. Park Bo Gum does NOT look like a model, though his drama bestie does, and has the typical tall, gorgeous model look. However, Park Bo Gum blew me away in those scenes where he acted as a crime boss; someone once commented that he does his best work playing dark characters and I agree wholeheartedly; he expresses menacing looks with his eyes exceedingly well. Hope he can get more villain roles when he comes back from the military. I don’t know why the rating in this drama is so high – other than Park Bo Gum’s scenes, everything else is a snoozefest. And Park So Dam brings little charisma to her role. She says all the right words but fails to strike an emotional connection with the viewer which is of utmost importance in dramas vs. films. Drama actresses, regardless of their talent need to strike an emotional connection with their viewers so the audience can empathize with their characters.
I cringed super hard at her drunk drinking scene. Had to quickly fast forwarded as it was giving me the maximum goose bumps. She’s really unattractive in this show and her acting in that scene was so bad. The forced chemistry .. the forced dialogue, the forced googly eyes. Ahhhhhh… horror! All that said ep 4 picked up for me. Storyline is getting more interesting and yes watching him play the gangster was my favourite scene of the ep. Minus all the scenes with him and the lead actress I think the show will be tons better. Would have preferred even Chae Soo Bin for this role. Park so dam is such a miss for this drama
I like So Dam in Parasite so I was surprised that her acting here doesn’t connect, I thought I am the only one who noticed…and the 2nd lead also doesn’t have that much emotions though he is indeed model looking with his built as well…Bogum can pass up as a model because he has this androgynous aura which is a trend nowadays in modeling..but his acting chops here in Roy is praise worthy so I believe that ratings are high because he can engage the audience and cheer for him..
I watch ROY because it’s light but it’s really slow and had to FF. Though, it maybe relatable to the youth, thus the high rating.
I wonder if 18 Again can be competition to this one.
I think Park So Dam is more comfortable with doing movies. I remembered she was criticized in her first Kdrama lead in Beautiful Mind. Didn’t watch her second kdrama as well. So I guess this will be my first time watching her here as a female lead.
I really not sure when I watched ep 1 & 2 but ep 3 is really good. I enjoyed it. This drama become better and better.
I don’t have problem with the acting. Park bogum absolutely the best one in here, but Park sodam not bad at all. She is good not great, but still good. The rating is high, its mean everyone enjoyed it too. Cant wait for ep 4. Btw giving all the credit to Park bogum is too cruel, the parents did a great job too.
Im liking Record Of Youth. I like Ep better than the first two Eps. because of Park Bo Gum but sorry, Park So Dam, acting is not my cuo of tea. I hope she was not the FL. It’s sad that i had to fast forward so many scenes bec of her.
Unpopular opinion here but really love park so dam and her character here. Really rooting for her success and can’t wait to learn more about her back story. She’s on the quieter reserved side but has this admirable inner strength. She is also very self-aware and really well-spoken. She is not the spunky over-the-top lead, and she doesn’t overact. Have only seen her in Parasite and this is my first drama of hers.
A few of park bo gum’s scenes are a tiny little bit awkward, but overall it’s a very captivating performance from him. When he hits the high, he really does shine on screen! His bestest scene unarguably is the last scene from episode 4. He is SO good there! Love his scenes with his manager noona, they have a really great rapport! Love his manager noona too!
Really like the dialogues of this drama and episode 4 was very very lovely!
Can’t wait for next week!
Park Bo Gum is doing great, but this drama is so boring imo. I guess you can categorize this as a slice-of-life, so I understand the slow-pace, but there are a lot of dramas of this genre that have been written better. I like Park So Dam, but her performance so far has proven that she should stick to movies. She lacks the charisma of a female lead.
I can Lee Jungseok nailing the PBG’s role. He was a runway model and he can act. This role would be pefect for him. But I give props to Bogum, he is carrying the whole drama. I am still watching it but only for his cuts. Some scenes are necessary, I guess. And I think there was miscasting even PSD was miscasted. She is no female lead material in drama but she is great in movies though. Anyway, the drama is doing well, must be the Bogum effect. SK just love this man.
Nahhh, Pbg’s acting isn’t impressive at all. He is awkward in some scenes. He does the crying scenes well but overall performance is just mediocre. It is obvious he is just acting out, no sincerity in his delivery. The character that I like the most is the third friend’s role. He is the most natural out of them all. The haraboji is good too. Story isn’t even engaging.
Disagree. His eyes hard carried. It looks so world weary and a good actor can tell viewers how his day went simple by communicating it through his eyes and facial expression. I read jaded-ness. Flicker of excitement. Sadness. Disappointment. Anger. Happiness in the little things. Hope. He did well…
He’s adept in technique, but the sincerity in delivering/conveying those emotions isn’t sincere. You can tell he is just acting it out. It lacks nuance, if I may say, isn’t naturally delivered, its just manufactured. It is different if with SINCERITY in acting. He delivers his crying scenes well, he has moments of course, but overall performance isn’t topnotch. I have high expectations of him especially some of you are claiming he is hard carrying the drama. This is an objective opinion of mine. Wasn’t impressed, but I still like him.
@mal you mean subjective opinion? Because its impossible for mediacore acting to carry a drama with 7% averange rating. Even Korean media just say a good thing about PBG’s acting… Its just you
@monica @tiani I agree with you both..i connected with his eyes and see his emotions and sincerety!! he can give you so many emotions..@Mal we respect your opinion as well if you think so otherwise..we all have different perspective and personalities!! Peace!!
Just bec it has high ratings, it doesn’t mean their acting is superb. I already explained, he is adept in technique, he knows what to do with his facial expression esp in crying, the problem is sincerity. You don’t feel it wholeheartedly bec it is relying on technique, without earnestness. He still serves, but I cannot say he’s killing it. He’s the main character and the story revolves arnd him 90% of the time. I can picture out the role with more adept actors than him. The other cast members weren’t able to be given a material to work on, how will they carry the drama?
I admit I watched it for PSD but even her character isn’t engaging. What do I expect, she was given limited material to work on. PBG is doing good in the eyes of the viewers bec he’s almost on screen and he is the one given a good material to work on. But then, it isn’t satisfying enough and the drama is so 90’s and outdated, so BORING. Even you giuys see that this drama is boring, right?
“Because it’s impossible for mediocre acting to carry a drama with 7% average rating.”
Lol. As if there are no dramas with mediocre acting that got high ratings.
@Mal, they’ve even admitted the drama is boring as heck and that they’re only watching it for PBG’s visuals. Not his acting.
Yet they’re getting sensitive about your opinion which you’re entitled to.
Oh and by the way, it’s not just you.