The summer of 2024 is ending and could become the titular Last Summer of this drama title. K-ent is reporting that Lee Jae Wook and Choi Sung Eun are in talks for a romance K-drama called Last Summer. It’s about a woman who hates summer and a man who is always waiting for summer to come and their romance after a two year break and then reunion. Lee Jae Wook plays an architect and Choi Sung Eun is a 7th level civil servant. TBH this pairing doesn’t excite or offend mostly because both stars can act but I just haven’t fallen for any of their previous characters or performances to become a fan.
Indeed, both can act. I was just thinking actually that contrary to C-dramas cast announcements where we always have the discussion “he/she cannot act for his/her life”, we hardly ever have this discussion in Kdramas. I mean, with the exception of maybe that FL in Lee Jae Wook’s last drama (already forgot the title, something about a Heir), there are hardly any actors in lead roles in Kdramaland that are getting lead roles without being able to act. Not to mention the second leads and support cast, many of whom are terrific actors. I feel that Kdramaland is healthier in that way, no flowerpots survive for long.
Don’t agree. Every time Lee Minho, Shin Sekyung, Cha Eunwoo, Suzy, Song Hyekyo, Go Ara, Kim Youngdae, Song Kang, Taecyeon, Yoona get casted ALL the conversation is about how they CANNOT act. You must be new to Kdrama. I will also add Shin Hyunbin and most idol actors to the list because everyone seems to hate their acting. Some actors manage to redeem themselves in one project only to get criticized for another one.
@Midosa: True but that’s in the context of K-dramas which overall has a much higher bar and talent and skill level than Cdramas. I think even most of those weak K-actors in your list can still outact the vast majority of Cdramas stars.
I think something that has hurt C-actors is the reliance on dubbing for so long. How can you be a truly good actor when one of the most important acting tools-your voice-isn’t utilised in your acting performance?
Now, while I want to respect your opinion, I have to correct somethings, saying ALL the conversation is a needless exaggeration, towards the end you also said EVERYONE, that is just outright delusional. I think all the actors you mentioned are above decent actors, unless you think people giving awards and voting are cockroaches, I believe my min ho has won best actor awards severally. So please refrain from needless lies while stating your opinions
The thing is, even Taecyeon, Lee Minho etc (and not to mention Suzy or Song Hye Kyo who are genuinely good actresses) are so much better than the likes of so many Chinese actors that get casted only for their looks – in idol dramas, that is, because in “serious” dramas of course the acting is on another level. It seems to me that in Korea they don’t really have this culture of idol dramas where every wooden actor can survive for as long as they are young and pretty. The only exception is arguably Cha EunWoo who is a real idol, by the way, and is pretty stiff, but even he has reportedly got better in his last drama with Kim Nam-Joo (haven’t watched it myself and I still have my doubts). Even big idols like V or Jisoo were aborted by the system when it became obvious that they couldn’t act.
@Nena
No, Korea also had such system a decade ago, many idols got main roles and were criticised for their acting skills. Nowadays idols mostly filming in web-dramas, bl or third lead roles.
And Jisoo wasn’t aborted, it seems her agency YG declined offers because as soon as she left agency she started to pick up projects, and one she filmed as a main lead in the drama with Parasite screenwriter.
I read some news about V that he has many offers, but article said he’s very expensive. But it could be false rumors.
BTS V and Jin both have a huge amount of offers which they have rejected because they want to focus on their music career for now. Same with IVE Jang Wonyoung and New Jeans Minji. Drama and movie producers are gunning for their casting but the agencies are strongly against it for now but I assure that when they finally are allowed to act they will not only land lead roles in big budget dramas despite having zero acting experience they will also be the highest paid in actors and actresses of their age category and maybe even overall. It was rumored that BTS V has a fees that’s even higher than Kim Soohyun but apparently he is worth every penny because producers are bringing over backwards to get him to sign on to something. Also no LMH, Taecyeon and SK are NOT better than many Chinese idol actors including Xu Kai, Zhang Linghe and Xiao Zhan and definitely not even close to Jackson Yee. ZLS, ZJM, BL and many other so called idol actresses are also extremely talented and no less than their Korean counterparts.
@rivered
Yes, I read about his salary higher than KSH too, and wouldn’t be surprised if this is true.
I’m not idol hater, just it a surprise for me agencies determined to hire idols even without acting experience, even if idols and their agencies don’t want it themselves. I understand idols can bring a lot of money with cf and ppl, but many actors need to climbing from bottom to got such attention, so I can’t help but sulk about this.
I don’t know about chinese actors much, but I watched one chinese drama Untouchable Lovers and one movie Soulmate, and all actors in both of projects were very good, even third leads. I was positively surprised to find out that most of Untouchable Lovers cast are big actors now, they deserve it.
well, for me it’s just the same. I start watching cdrama, and there is many good actor and also bad actor just like in korea. It’s just korea drama is more popular. so it gives an impression their acting is better cause we are familiar with them.
@Nena: I agree. The flowerpot actors and actresses don’t survive for long in Kdrama unless they make a genuine effort and improve fast. Unlike Cdramas where acting ability seems optional as long as ~visuals~ for the majority of the actors who just phone their performances in. I feel like talented supporting casts also get a lot more respect and recognition in K-dramas whereas Cdramas focus is always on promoting and propping up the ML or FL and if the more talented supporting cast shows up the mediocrity of the stars it causes a ruckus like the recent Ju Jing Yi or Hou Min Hao dramas. If either JJY or HMH were more interested in their acting performances than how pretty they look onscreen it wouldn’t be so easy for their co-stars to show them up.
Mostly agree about the caliber of acting in Korea vs China. In Korea, not all actors and actresses have charisma and presence that takes them to a respectable level, but most can at least carry dialogue and expressions okay to tell a story well enough.
Although, I mostly blame the lack in C-dramas on STORY and the parameters put on story telling through censorship. If Chinese writers, artists, entertainers, creatives, etc. had the ability to tell stories and explore characters with depth on a more consistent level, like Korean dramas do, C-entertainers would actually have to work on their craft and improve their performance. Too many topics are off limits that C-ent can only rinse and repeat tropes until everything produced and every performance feels the same. What motivation does an actor or actress have to grow within those confines when the stories don’t necessarily require them to? That’s why, don’t even bother with modern dramas in C-ent. Haha. They’re always going to be the softest fluff stories and so dry since they can only present modern society as absolutely normal devoid of criticism. At least Korea can produce a story like “Extraordinary Attorney Woo” to pick at Korea’s treatment of people with disabilities or people who don’t fit perfectly into Korean standards. When Chinese productions want to go “deeper”, they have to move back a couple decades, to the past century, and all the way through history to borrow the strife of the past because only the past can be criticized (with bias to the govt). Ultimately, I can’t blame Chinese performers for plateauing.
K-stories have sucked recently, so they’re experiencing the same as C-ent right now. Also, enough times, K-dramas can’t help but turn too melodramatic.
(Also also, Suga is the best actor in BTS. Lol. Watch any of their music videos, group or solo, that carries an actual storyline, and only Suga can convincingly tell a story through acting without looking stunted in his expressions. V is a close second.)
You seem to have a strong bias against modern cdrama which probably stems from the fact that most cdrama is mass produced and many very good and well written dramas are often overshadowed by the mediocre ones that make more noise and buzz. Bad Kids and The Longest Night are two of the best written and acted dramas I have ever seen and no kdrama even comes close to their level. The Wind Rises and Meet Yourself are excellent slice of life dramas far superior to most slice of life dramas that kdrama releases including acclaimed ones like My Liberation Notes. Find Yourself was an excellent take on misogyny in the modern Chinese society something kdrama rarely addresses despite the many ‘strong’ female characters it loves to write about. If anything cdrama does female centric dramas much better than kdrama but I agree about the dubbing being an issue however it does not mean the acting is in any way inferior. I will even say that the idol drama Glory of Love was the most rational and mature portrayal of an adult relationship I’ve seen in a long time. Special shout out to the Kidnapping Game for being one of the most amazing thriller/mystery drama to ever exist with the sexiest mature chemistry. Both Korea and China have their strengths and weaknesses and in recent years I see more weakness than strength in kdrama. They have stagnated while cdrama is just getting started and has much more to offer in the coming years. Almost forgot to mention Will Love In Spring and Tale of Rose being two more fabulous modern cdramas with excellent acting, writing and directing and covers very sensitive themes. Even when it comes to ‘noona’ romance cdrama handles it much better and more realistically instead of making it look like a fairy tale.
@lu: That is a very good point about how the censorship and constantly changing restrictions, regulations and rules being another barrier to quality output and acting from Cdramas.
@rubuci I guess I’m looking for everyday (human) stories with depth and/or realism. Many of the ones you listed are sort of dark in nature, which I’m sure are good, but not necessarily shows to casually watch all the time. And then the slice of life stories from C-ent sometimes feel too glamorous. Maybe it’s all in vibes and pacing, which I feel K-dramas have always done better and more intentionally than C-dramas. Not only that, somehow, K-ent modern stories are able to convince my brain often that the characters in them exist somewhere in Korean society, even when the actors and actresses playing the lead characters are, like, top stars (Queen of Stars, The Glory, Start Up, Itaewon Class, etc.) or when the stories themselves are sort of outlandish, but when I watch C-ent modern stories, it’s like most of the characters exist in a completely fictionalized Chinese society, which keeps me distant from the characters and their stories.
I’m from neither society, so I can’t speak to the nuances of each, but as an outsider, I always feel like it’s easier to grasp onto the emotions of the characters in K-stories vs C-stories. Maybe that’s acting? Environments/setting? Plot? K-ent just seems to have more freedom to tell a variety of stories using a variety of emotions (again, not that all of it is good, because, like I said, K-dramas have been suffering lately).
I, like you, feel that C-dramas are on the come up though!
@Lu, I agree with @Sunny. You made good points. Although Kdrama in 2024 is almost forgettable so far, it still has outperformed Cdrama collectively by far.
@Nena, so true. You reminded me of that nightmare of LJW’s last drama with one of the worst actresses in the acting department around the world. I’m not exaggerating. LOL.
K-ent has much better writers and PDs than C-ent in general. Pedestrian actors in Kdrama have more opportunities to grow through interesting projects. Cdrama is just the opposite.
@Midosa, you might be outdated about who can and cannot act. True there used to be a lot of qualms about the actors in your list. But some of them have obviously improved a lot to even to award-worthy levels, Suzy, SHK. I also think SSK and GA decent, given right scripts and characters they played. I did enjoy SSK’s Arthdal Chronicle 2 and GA’s Do Do Sol Sol La La Sol. GA as a pianist in DDSSLLS was 1000% better than Yang Zi as a celloist in the Oath of Love. YZ obviously didn’t do her homework to act like a pro musician at all, very unprofessional.
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I love Lee Jae-Wook but I don’t like his dramas as a lead. DDSSLLS was a disaster, Impossible Heir was really bad. AoS 1 was OK but AoS 2 was really bad and it was clear he didn’t understand his character anymore, his acting wasn’t as good as in the first season. I wish he gets a good writer once.
I really liked Choi Seun-Eun in Behond Evil but not so much in The Soung of Magic.
Same I thikn he’s a fantastic actor, tends to border on the dramatic – and needs to pick more dramatic roles to show his acting range a little more. Similar to his kill bok soon role. He tends to pick duds to act in though. None of his recent roles have interested me. He was good in AOS Season 1.. but not enough for me to go beyond just being a casual fan.
It sounds interesting. I need to know something about the writer and director to decide on which place I will put that drama on my watchlist.
Same director as the train wreck which was “The Impossible Heir”. Approach with caution. But at least this actress can act.
For real? Oh… Well, now I’m a little less excited.
What really? I won’t watch it then 😑
That director must be blind to let hong suzu become the female lead. The story is shit but him casting her just make it shittier
LOL Kaola’s comment is exactly why popular actors get roles. 2 serious actors and top of their acting game among their age pairs but doesn’t excite people. For this reason along, I should show more support. I love it when great actors get their shinning moment.
Finally there’s news about my boy LJW. I also like CSE in Beyond Evil. Nonetheless, the photos of CSE Koala posted did a bit disservice to the actress’ visuals. She looked very beautiful in BE and definitely can act. I’m happy about this pairing since LJW was paired with one of the worst “actresses” in the Impossible Heir, which was a downer and LJW’s acting talent doesn’t deserve it.
Well, the same PD as TIH? Too bad! The PD gave me an impression he’s lazy just bcos the script wasn’t good enough and the FL was just too bad for him to even make any efforts? LOL.
Anyhow, I don’t know how LJW picked scripts. He is one of very few new gen of K actors that are versatile and also charismatic. I was appealed to him in Alchemy of Souls and binged his dramas (as ML or supporting roles from his debut) right after. I can fairly say he’s very versatile with acting talent. His visuals aren’t my favorite but his charisma on screen totally outweigh his looks, not to mention he’s tall enough. LMAO. I’m not excited about this new drama given the genre and 2-line synopsis in Koala’s post. But I definitely will check and watch every single new drama of LJW, just to see his acting development. I hope to see him become great. It’s always exciting to see potential actors you rooted for years ago excel and evolve into outstanding actors. One such example is Nam Gong Min. I rooted for him while he’s still taking supporting roles drama after drama. See where he’s got now! Not only NGM’s talent and visuals, but his work ethics and the risk and the diversity of the projects he’s been taking has made him stand out even more. Similar wishes for LJW!
Choi seung eun is incredible HOT in my name is loh ki hwan and manage to have good chemistry with Song Joongki.
She is incredible.