It’s nice to see Kim Jung Hyun back on the small screen and whatever happens with audience reaction to him after his Time bad behavior scandal in early 2021 it’s up to him to have the ability to deal with. On a drama note, Season of Kok Du sounds so interesting to be but of course execution and chemistry is key. The first stills are out showing him in both his Grim Reaper form who looks like a sageuk boy band member just missing his one earring and some strategic guyliner, and his human form when he ends up in the body of a modern doctor. He looks healthy and really charismatic in character here.
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This whole thing is so fishy. There’s just no way in hell MBC would give Kim Junghyun what looks like a potential hit (Yeah, that plot sounds like a potential megahit if executed properly) if he truly had ruined their previous project on a whim. Even if he begged until his knees started to bleed he wouldn’t have been given such a big comeback project UNLESS there’s more to what happened than what we know or what the press has informed.
This show has quite a big budget (Several locations all over S. Korea, CGI and even a Ferrari!) and you don’t splash that amount of cash on an actor that ruined a previous project to please his girlfriend. Sorry, no one on the entertainment business is that generous.
I have 2 theories: 1) the blind item about Seo Yeji blackmailing him with suicide threats to the point she made him mentally & physically sick is true (so MBC took pity on him & is helping him restore his career) or 2) the changes to the Time scripts had been arranged between the MBC higher ups & Kim Junghyun because he needed some piece of mind while struggling with his eating and sleeping disorders (they removed the potential SYJ drama nightmare from KJH’s list of stress factors to ensure he could continue the drama but many people on set didn’t like these decisions and the atmosphere on set grew more and more complicated to the point the opinion on KJH was quite divided and some liked & believed him and others did not) You can see that some people from the staff gave him flowers and looked concerned about him on the video MBC released after KJH announced his departure from Time. I think the staff were divided on their perception of him, it wasn’t a homogeneous dislike for him.)
My #1 theory is that the blind item was 100% true. He started shooting the drama hanging out and having fun with Seohyun & the rest of the cast and his behavior changed from one day to the other. Every time I think of the Time presscon (I watched the whole thing) I visualize the fear and desperation in his eyes & body language & can also perceive how his anxiety keeps growing gradually. He knew he was about to destroy his name and that the media headlines were going to sweep the floor with him, but he felt he had no choice because he was between a rock and a hard place. If you read his apology he always says he apologizes because he did not handle his illness properly, or because he should have handled the situation in a better way. He never apologizes for being deliberately mean or intentionally rude… I don’t think his behavior was deliberate or that he wanted to hurt anyone at all. I think he was acting out of fear because he did not know how to handle the threats & toxicity in his relationship & it affected his work. I think he’s been trying to leave that past behind him because, as he’s said in several interviews, those have become fragmented memories due to the PTSD he suffered (he didn’t specify why his memories are fragmented but if SYJ gave him so much trauma that he had to be hospitalized, then that’s why he’s blocked those memories). The #1 pillar for this theory is what a member of the cast of Mr Queen said KJH initially struggled to establish physical contact when he and SHS first met. Why? Why would someone flinch because his hand grazed another woman’s hand? What kind of trauma makes physical contact feel like a threat? I’ll leave it there… food for thought.
I think by this point, most people have accepted the fact that SYJ was an extremely possessive and jealous gf who was unhappy with KJH kissing and being touchy with Seohyun. What most people are divided on is whether he should’ve been more professional, manning up and standing his ground against his possessive gf’s ridiculous demand
It’s different. One thing is thinking SYJ is a jealous girlfriend who sabotaged the project & KJH an obedient boyfriend who listened to her at the expense of his career, and another completely different story is a girlfriend who threatened their partner with suicide to get her way. If the blind item is true and KJH decides to open up about what she did to him (now that he has an agency he can rely on), then SYJ will be on a whole new level of trouble. A person who traumatized her partner to the point she made him physically and mentally ill is nothing short of a monster and the backlash against her would be far worse.
That kind of abuse is not something you can ‘man up’ against because the sole idea of having to forever carry the guilt if your partner chooses to end their life is the stuff of nightmares. That’s I believe why he was suffering from insomnia and vomiting from the stress. I wouldn’t wish it on my worst enemy.
Anyways, I’m only pointing out how fishy the whole thing is and how the blind item works as the perfect explanation for everything that happened back then. I don’t know for sure but I’m inclined to believe SYJ is that kind of person & that’s the kind of stuff a narcissist like her would definitely put a partner through.
That was my impression as well – like people thought they both made a mistake, but not bad enough to be shunned.
In the years between Time and before the tabloids blew the story up, he didn’t have problems with CLOY and Mr.Queen – two hit dramas! It showed that what happened with Time was an anomaly, and even the Time director said he’d worked with him again. If there is investor and audience interest, then the actor is a go! I’ll bet that he probably had to sign morality clauses with provisions for high penalties for breaking them.
I feel like those in the k-ent industry has seen worse stuff. Just that those bad things don’t come to light
* Sorry. It wasn’t a member of the Mr Queen cast but a member of the Mr Queen crew.
Also, look at how his ex co-workers from Mr Queen are joining his project together with an ex co-worker from Jealousy Incarnated. Shin Hyesun’s agency and agent (Sunny) are also very supportive of Kim Junghyun… I don’t know I just don’t buy his scandal happened the way the press narrated it at all. If KJH spoke, I think several heads would roll…
I will pass this one. I don’t specially like the main actors, neither the PD.
Season of kok. Snicker. Yes, I am ten.
Rooting for this man. Seohyun, the production team, and MBC already forgave him, that’s enough for me as it’s not an apology for me to accept anyway.
Reading about what he went through was just sad. Hope he heals from the emotional abuse. He’s one of the few rising actors in recent years who I really like and think are deserving of success as he’s so talented and not just a pretty face like the other new actors