Okay, this drama just got wayyyy interesting, though the execution could be wasted. The drama Useless Lies has confirmed the main three leads of Kim So Hyun, Minhyun, and also Seo Ji Hoon, the perpetual second male lead. I like him actually, he is solid onscreen but doesn’t sizzle in the way male leads need to be to get the upgrade. Kim So Hyun plays a woman who can see when people lie and finds her ability a curse. She gets involved with a man played by Minhyun accused of murder but claims he’s innocent. The interesting new detail involves Seo Ji Hoon who plays a cop and also Kim So Hyun’s ex-boyfriend. He was about to propose when he got diagnosed with cancer, so he leaves her with no explanation and returns three years later all cured but she’s got another man by his side. I’m guessing the man is the accused murderer, and him being a cop man this is one tense love triangle. Love this cast and super excited for this drama especially for Kim So Hyun, she rarely picks wrong.
But why Seo Ji-Hoon always is the second lead >_< Give him a first role! He was great in Seasons of Blossom, sadly the younger ones were pretty bad… In Revenge of Others, he was the best part. MinHyun is not a great actor…
Fr man. Why someone who is more experienced has to play second fiddle to the least experinced ml?
I think Koala already gave the reason. Unfortunately he doesn’t have that leading man aura š
In an ideal world, only talent matters in getting lead roles, but unfortunately, actors who played second leads only get elevated to leading man status if they have either the āitā factor or top-tier visuals š
But I have seen Min Hyun in Live on and Aos and he also did not have that aura either and felt like someone who is not ready for the lead role. So, I am rather confused with this criticism. At least Seo Ji Hoon is a better actor and more interesting too.
Yeah, I don’t think Minhyun has leading man aura either, but he does seem to have more fans from his kpop days. Seo Ji-hoon not moving up in his career is a bit of a mystery considering how he has been acting for quite a few years now. He’s got the talent. And he’s good-looking and tall. Luckily, he’s still young. I think he just needs a good role (unfortunately, his role in this drama seems to be a retread of Jung Ryeo-won’s character in My Name is Kim Samsoon). He has a warm aura that I think can fit with one of those long weekend family dramas.
I’m guessing that the drama will be a little more female-lead-centric since they’re pairing someone so green with Kim So-hyun.
@Bubbles Yup, but Minhyun fits korean beauty standards. I said in my comment that it seems like all it takes to be male lead is either have the it factor or the visuals, and Minhyun is undeniably handsome. It’s like with Cha Eunwoo, neither are lead male material, but you know, pretty privilege and all that lol
But let’s see, maybe this is the drama that will catapult SJH to lead status
While while I agree about pretty privilege but turning that into popularity is also a talent which SJH clearly does not have. Lomon also took forever to breakout so itās more about the right role at the right time when it comes to breakout. Talent alone isnāt a good enough reason to be cast as male lead. You need a strong agency and an eye for projects as well. HMH actually turned down the lead role is Alchemy because he knew he didnāt have the talent to carry it so heās definitely self aware. He delivered as Seo Yul so he does have decent acting chops but not a wide range. However considering KSH will be hard carrying the drama anyways itās a good balance to have him carry the popularity aspect of it.
SJH was pretty boring in the first half of Revenge but the last 4 episodes he was spectacular. I blame it on the overall mediocre writing of the drama. Lomon and the actor who played the villain were pretty good but they had the most repetitive arcs ever. I lost count of the number of time Lomon fainted over the course of 12 episodes. It was ridiculous. The dramas that I enjoyed SJH in were Solomonās Perjury and Blossom. Now that I think about it KSH will have acted both the male leads of Perjury. Itās always nice to see talent being recognized. Better late than never.
I mean, some actors are just meant to be supporting actors, even though I feel like such a mean girl for saying that š
I feel the same with jung ga ram, definitely talented actor but I can’t see him leading a drama. Might be the same case with SJH, even though I can’t really judge since I admittedly never seen him in anything
“Not great” is being generous. He’s horrendous and has no aura as an actor. He is only getting these roles because he fits Korean beauty standards and has idol popularity. At least Seo Jihoon has skill and doesn’t get lost on screen. He and Sohyun will be carrying this drama hard, both deserve better.
I hope Seo Ji hoon gets better roles tho. He is always given poor roles but he still manage to shine just like in Revenge of others. I do hope that he will play lead role opposite Sohyun some day.
I am rather more excited for sl than ml because I have been anticipating for his pairing with Sohyhun for a long time. Hope he was the ml instead.
I absolutely adore Kim So Hyun but my god she picks wrong half the time š
River, Radio Romance and Emperorās Mask were all plain crap. She also picks gems like Nokdu and Love Alarm, but I wouldnāt say she has a good eye for scripts. Either way, love her and am super excited for this one. The premise sounds interesting and if they get the chemistry right, could be fire!
I agree, but to be fair, River and Mask sounded really good on paper. Emperor’s Mask seemed like a good project, it’s got Yoo Seung Ho in it, and her role was described as a sword-wielding lady descended from warriors. I felt so bad for her when the role turned out to be just a beautiful girl who the two male leads fight over AKA a romantic plot device. I seriously still can’t forgive the writer for that
And if I were a young rising actress, I wouldn’t say no to the lead role in River described as a badass warrior princess either š¤·āāļø
Hopefully this drama will prove to be a great choice for her. Reading the plot, I’m very interested already lolb
Have to be honest and say Mask was prob the most anticipated drama for me that year. Easily. YSH and her on paper + sageuk sounded like the ultimate perfect intense drama. I was hoping for a Princessā Man type epic.
For River, I suppose. Tho the premise did not sound interesting, but yea. In terms of decision making, itās not a bad one whatsoever. My comment was more against the blogger saying KSH ārarely picks wrongā. Whatever the reason, both those dramas were wrong in my books š¤·š»āāļø
@Slimeball you are absolutely right about both dramas.I still remember how I was very excited for Ruler drama as she was paired with Yoo seung Ho and the synopsis for her character also sounded good but they really messed it up with the execution. But what they did with her character was pretty disappointing. About River, I think that could have also been executed better. Also, that male lead swapping did not help too. So, I am keeping my fingers crossed for her upcoming dramas. I hope writing is good for both dramas.
I actually feel bad for the River cast and crew because itās actually a decent sageuk that got marred by the male lead swap. Both the script and directing was greatly impacted by the change and lead to hasty changes and filler scenes to make up for the rushed filming. Watching the new version with NIW from start to end you realize the drama is predictable but still quite good. Itās the most challenging character Iāve seen KSH play so itās definitely not a miss in my books. For Ruler I 100% agree and Radio the bigger problem wasnāt the dull plot but rather the fact that none of the actors were suitable for their roles. It was a drama that would have done better with a more cohesive cast like Come and Hug Me which was a gem. Overall though I agree with Koala that KSH has pretty good drama picks. Most of them are quality material.
Finally Kim So Hyun has leading actors close to her age! Minhyun (95) and Seo Ji Hoon (97) with So Hyun (99) all of them are just 2 years apart each! The only other times she had close age lead actors were School 2015 (94 and 95), TTON (92 and 95) and Love Alarm (93 and 94)! I love this line up of actors! Minhyun is not a great actor but his visuals really match with So Hyun and them looked gorgeous together at MAMA! Ji Hoon has been in second lead roles since forever but he is a solid actor and this has the potential of breaking him out big time! I’m not sure what her job is but a potential detective/police officer So Hyun sounds amazing! The whole premise is giving me serious Park Hye Ryun vibes so I’m actually surprised its not written by her! As long as the execution and script remains solid till the end this could be a great drama! Either ways a Kim So Hyun drama is always a must watch! She picks interesting characters each time!
i thought i was the only one thinking this sounds like a park hye ryun drama š
speaking of which, i wish phr cast so hyun in one of her dramas again, absolutely loved their collaborations
and yes, hyun-hyun couple appearance at mama sealed the deal for me, they looked runway-ready! gorgeous couple for sure š
Yes to you both, this is very PHR drama sounding plot minus the cancer sub-plot but then again she did kill off the dad in the first episode of Start Up so maybe not. I’m almost thinking she ghost wrote this set up and gave it to whoever the named scriptwriter is for this drama. Anyways this sounds very interesting but I’m worried about the execution so will keep expectations low but this cast line up looks excellent.
Love Love the age appropriateness of the cast for this drama. Everyone is in the 95-99 range which basically makes them peers so I’m hoping for a fun and energetic young set. The plot sounds like a ton of fun if done right which I’m hoping it is and glad its on TVN. Missed having KSH in a TVN/Studio Dragon drama. Currently this is slated for July which feels like eons away but since we survived 2 years of waiting for KSH to return 3-4 months more is doable.
July is still so faaaar!!!!! Need this NOW!!!!!
A KSH comeback can’t be missed and having these two male leads is the cherry on top. I’m impressed by the casts for both her upcoming dramas. CJH, HMH and SJH are all young rising stars but each has a different color so there’s no overlap of image. The fact that she’ll have a romance with each of them is quite interesting too. A mystery romance genre is always tricky but its something new for her so I’m interested to see how it pans out. Glad to see her pick more mature characters now that she’s in her 20s but would still love a cute college drama for her at some point.
The visuals on this drama are on FIRE! Give me the release date now!!!
Why is my man, Seo Jihoon, always the second lead? š
Kim Sohyun collecting all the rising young stars like PokĆ©mon. Song Kang, Jung Garam, Jang Dongyoon, Kang Taeoh, Na Inwoo, Yook Sungjae, Nam Joohyuk, Chae Jonghyup, Hwang Minhyun and now potentially Seo Jihoon. Imagine an award show with all her leading men in one room or even better on stage with her. Thatās going to be fun. All of them broke out after acting with her so basically sheās the āstartā of their career breakthrough. Thatās impressive.
Yeah. Personally, I’d love to see her pair up with an actor of equal level to her, just to change things up a bit, but the fact that she’s always paired up with newbies/rising actors is proof that she’s one of the few young actresses who don’t need a popular leading man to carry her dramas, she IS the main attraction ššŖ
She is the main attraction but her dramas barely get 10% ratings even on public network.
(cue rabid SEA fans so Iām going to duck)
Personally I donāt think rookie means bad actor. I think actors like LDH and LJW even as rookies are already more competent than veteran actors like LMH, LJS or even HB. As it is itās better for actors to be in the same age range because big age gap is just gross. I hated her pairing with YDJ which is why Iām not surprised RR was a flop. Even LJH in RWTMR was way too old for her and I didnāt like that annoying love triangle. Thankfully NIW was the actual male lead and they made a damn cute pair. This also why School 2015, LA and TTON are my fave dramas for KSH and LFG is the only exception where the age gap works and the drama was extremely enjoyable. Like someone else said itās great to see KSH with co-stars in her age range because it brings out her more youthful and dorky side. Iād prefer her to act with more rookies and rising stars who are close in age.
@Tom Whatās with the racism against SEA people? I bet they have better standards of living than your country. If you want to talk about ratings then letās talk about all the Hallyu stars and their drama ratings. HJW dramas in the last 7 years have all flopped with low to mediocre ratings and no buzz online or offline, Queen of Cannes JDY last drama had only 1% ratings, every drama by LYA since her comeback has flopped, HB had back to back flops post his military comeback until CLOY, LMH last comeback was a flop in terms of ratings and had even less ratings than RWTMR which was a Mon-Tue drama, every single JCW drama post Healer has been a flop, PMY hasnāt had a single hit post WWWSK. I could go on and on. This despite the fact that these actors are major Hallyu stars with āstar powerā and āmain attraction ā. In comparison KSH has pulled in far better numbers and buzz especially within her age bracket. She has the most consistent results and always delivers good numbers and feedback. KSH is only 23 and has more success and name reputation for her acting than any of her peers and is always the first billed. I think that speaks volumes to how much attention she pulls in from the general public.
@Tom Not sure why you’re baiting fans to fight with you, but whatever, I’m just chillin here lol
Anyway, I blame the ratings of her dramas more on bad writing (ie. Ruler and River, both of which had good initial ratings but quickly went downhill because the writing downgraded). Not even senior A-listers can make people watch if the drama has atrocious writing lol.
Ha*ters can blame the ratings on her all they want, but it will never make sense because koreans always praise her performances and she even got nominated on a prestigious award recently despite River not being a big hit š¤·āāļø
She doesn’t have the best luck in choosing projects, but no one can deny her immense talent. That’s why PDs still keep trusting her to carry their dramas, they know the ratings aren’t her fault.
Also, nothing would change the fact that her name is always being used to hype up dramas and to elevate rookie actors. All her previous rookie male leads have blown up in popularity after co-starring with her. How many actresses in her age bracket can do the same, hmm?
@Pearlgirl Oh no, don’t get me wrong, I’m definitely NOT saying that rookies are automatically bad actors and longtime actors are automatically better! In fact, I’ve been blown away by many rookie actors’ acting (Lee Do Hyun is one of my dream male leads for her)! I guess what I’m saying is I’d like to see So Hyun with a young actor of equal popularity/buzz or equally critically acclaimed. Maybe like Yang Se Jong or Lee Jae Wook? (Too bad YSJ is already booked in the upcoming Suzy drama).
As I’ve said, she can carry dramas all her own but I think it will be more impactful to the audience if she’s paired with someone equally popular/critically acclaimed (think LMH-PSH in Heirs, both can carry their own dramas but the impact when they paired up was insane). Doesn’t have to be older actors because I hate large age gaps too. And like I said, just want to see some changes. I understand it’s hard tho, because k-ent doesn’t have much male breakouts in recent years and the really big stars are much older than her (maybe except Park Bo Gum). I wish we’ll have more Lee Min Ho/Kim Soo Hyun/Song Joong Ki level of breakouts soon, this generation is seriously lacking in male superstars of that magnitude š
Anyways, I’m super excited for this. And yes, So Hyun’s past male leads are undeniably talented even when they were rookies that time (with some exceptions, you know who those are lol), so I’m definitely not bashing rookie actors.
@Uaena I can say with 100% confidence we will never have Hallyu stars like KSH, LMH and LJS ever again because the era of solo stans has completely ended and so has the celebrity obsession. Itās the same in Hollywood there will never be superstars like Brad Pitt and Leonardo DiCaprio ever again. The attention span of people has reduced dramatically and everyone is looking for the next big thing. Even KSH, LMH etc donāt have the rabid fandoms they once did nor do Hallyu stars guarantee ratings these days. The closest this generation of Kdrama will ever have to Hallyu is Song Kang and Cha Eunwoo. In Chinese entertainment there is the term ātraffic actorsā or liulang and thatās what the current breed of actors are. They ones who bring in most online traffic and buzz are the new Hallyu stars and the pool of Hallyu is basically anyone with a buzz drama and that buzz tends to be limited to that specific drama and does not carry on to their entire career necessarily. Constant traffic for every single drama will be impossible but as long as they have large Instagram followers theyāll stay in hot demand. This is the new definition of Hallyu that we need to get used to. Trends rise and die at the speed of light these days.
@jujube Yeah, fair enough. I guess the closest we have right now is Song Kang and Cha Eun Woo in terms of popularity? But yeah, they’re more āonline-popularā compared to absolute household names that even grandmas know like the older Hallyu actors lol
Lol @Tom, we have another ratings-obsessed dummy here when it’s already proven that it’s super rare to have a ratings hit nowadays, doesn’t matter how popular you are or how much of an A-lister you are š
Song Kang and Han So Hee are the It Boy and It Girl right now, but do they have certified ratings hits like DOTS, MLFTS, or CLOY? They have successful Netflix dramas, sure, but they don’t have the traditional domestic hit dramas under their belts and they’re still big names. That’s because the metrics for success is different now, please get that through y’all’s thick heads and stop obsessing over ratings. Even a D-lister like that actress from that Young Lady and Gentleman drama can have a hit drama, but that doesn’t mean she’s bigger than KSH or other popular young actresses, I can’t even remember her name š
Same with the young cast of Penthouse and Sky Castle, you’d think they would make it big because they were in monster hits, but Kim Hye Yoon is the only one who maintained some level of popularity and buzz.
My point is, ratings š don’t š mean š sh!t š in š this š day š and š age š
Get it now?
Ratings don’t indicate an actor or actress’ popularity/status, not in this era of social media and streaming.
Popular actresses like KSH will always stay in demand even without a 20% rating drama. As we can see, she even has TWO upcoming dramas lol. And the fact that her dramas even got those ratings despite mediocre writing is a testament to her star power and audience pull.
But whatever, people like you don’t want to hear facts, so you’ll just dismiss our very valid arguments as being ārabid fansā š
BTW, I’m not even Southeast Asian, but screw you too for the casual racism š
Thank you everyone for shutting down Tom and their obvious racism. I like discussion about new hallyu because its true the standard for hallyu has changed. Ratings have not translated to success of the actors and this year even the KBS Weekenders have failed to bring in ratings. I think tv is a disappearing breed all over the world and OTT has taken over just like how tv killed radio. New metrics of success need to be identified now but nobody knows what that is yet so we are arguing over ratings because nothing else has been identified but its obvious social media and online buzz are the new measures which people haven’t fully accepted. The truth is that the biggest actors in the 20s are as people rightfully said HSH, SK and CEW while KSH, LJW and LDH are the most critically acclaimed. There is no doubt about KSH being in hot demand because she has always given results and has a Baeksang nomination for Best Actress to back her up along with over 12.4 million followers on social media. Her dramas come with big budgets as well.
Interesting discussion going on here (ignoring the racist tr*ll above lol). I think the same thing is happening in Hollywood, the current most popular ones are Timothee Chalamet, Zendaya, Tom Holland, Florence Pugh, and Saorsie Ronan, probably Jenna Ortega gonna be added to the list soon if she keeps her momentum rolling. But looking at their filmography, none of them have Top Gun or Titanic-level of super mega hit movies (Holland has his Spiderman movies, but they’re superhero films so unless the writing is absolutely sh*t, it’s already given those movies will do well). Yet, these young actors are undeniably so popular. Definitely proves that there’s a different kind of stardom now.
Again, interesting discussion. Just ignore the tr*lls lol
@Runnin so you are saying Hwang Min Hyun turned down the ml role in Alchemy and went for second lead. Is that true?
@Runnin so you are saying Hwang Min Hyun turned down the ml role in Alchemy and went for second lead in the same drama. Is that true?
@Uaena I have pretty much same thoughts about her male lead. Like I don’t have problem with rookie actors but it would be good to see her with someone of her experience and fame so that the she doesn’t have to carry the drama alone and that load can be divided equally. I would love to see her with Lee Do Hyun, Park Bo Gum, Kim Min Jae and Yeo jin Goo who are as experienced as her.
They officially started filming today! Good luck to the cast and crew!
I just want to watch to watch it noww!! been waiting and waiting. But as long as Kim so hyun is there i can wait longer