@ally-le congratulations on writing and being published!!! You are so right about Jina's mother! And I also dropped the show because of that hateful rotten ugly woman...

I love actors who play villains and really go for it. On the one hand it's probably much more fun than playing the nice good person but on the other hand, they have to enter that creepy mindset time after time.

And yes, that kid in Lookout was really disturbing.

Great article @ally-le Congrats on being published!

Your introduction was perfectly worded, so was your description of SiWan! Thanks for a fun read.

@ally-le Nice tribute to the actors who get hated for the evil role they played with conviction and commitment. I enjoyed it! 😄

LEE IN JWA!!!!
I’m currently trying to finish JACKPOT (on ep. 21). While I agree that the actor played him perfectly, the writer clearly favoured him: letting him survive so many times by pure luck, or somehow sweet talking everyone into becoming stupid and letting him go. By now it’s just funny, and I think the actor knows it’s ridiculous. For example, when he gets caught red-handed by the king ringing a bell to start his rebellion, he has the nerve to say “Your majesty, this is all a misunderstanding, and there is no evidence.” 🤣🤣🤣

As for pure evil characters, yes, they exist. There was the weirdo villain in KING2HEARTS.

Nice tribute to the villains in drama :)
I always wonder how mentally taxing it is to dive into this type of characters for the actors. Namgung min said in interview how he got affected playing Gyoo man in Remember having anger outburst that he normally never have in his private life. So in some way I to worry how this affect them mentally having to understand their characters corrupted mind.
but with that said. you can also see that many actors have funn playing this characters. I imagine it also is somewhat satisfying being evil on screen doing things you would never do in real life.

Thanks Dramabeans! You’re so kind to me! Some backstory (more than you’ll get from these villains —and don’t you all love a good backstory?). I didn’t think I would write anything this month. But this was an unpublished scene-stealers piece that I thought would be perfect for this month, but didn’t realize it until I was on vacation, where I could indulge my kdrama-loving self. And thank goodness for laptops.

Congratulations on getting published! This is so well written.
Like you, when the villains in a show are so extraordinarily awful I wonder how the actor is doing while playing them.
So I mentally imagine them being sweet and funny and kind off the camera.
Some people are born evil - and others become evil due to their circumstances. I don't know what would be worse.

Again, well done @ally-le!

Jeon Gwang-ryul was a big reason why I think Masked Prosecutor is underrated. The main premise was just subtly funny to me, but his villain was one of the creepiest I can remember. The drama is worth watching just for him.

As for sinister kids, Shi-wan was pure evil, but my vote for most blood-curdling murderous psycho goes ex aequo to D.O in Hello Monster and Lee Joon in Gap Dong.

I like that you brought up some villains that I wouldn't have listed immediately. The traditional "go to" villains are Shin Seon Rok, Namgoong Min and, for me, Um Ki-Joon. You recognize the first two right away, but that last was the big bad in both Innocent Defendant and in Phantom.

I follow supporting actors and villains almost more diligently than leads because I find their work interesting. Thanks for posting ^^

great piece, @ally-le !
*Beanie finger hearts*

Beware of ROOM NO. 9 Spoilers! (below)

Manseh, @ally-le Ally! Congratulations on the publication of another fine essay. <3

I had to chuckle when I saw LOOKOUT’s poster child for evil incarnate, Yoon Shi-wan. Bwahaha! I knew you’d have to include in your Hit Parade of Villains the sociopath so chillingly portrayed by 17-year-old Park Solomon. He was appallingly convincing in the role. But don’t forget: the apple didn’t fall far from the tree. Shi-wan was a chip off Choi Moo-sung’s dastardly Chief Prosecutor Dad. He reminded me of a shark with cold, dead eyes – a far cry from his daebak heroes in MR. SUNSHINE and NOKDU FLOWER. His predatory machinations and concealment of crime, plus his wife’s denial of their son’s disturbing hobby, enabled the little hellspawn to get away with murder. It wasn’t until suspicious mom (played by the late, lamented Jeon Mi-sun) got a taste of being in her son’s crosshairs that she finally took action to stop him. Not to protect his innocent-but-stupid prey, but to save him from himself. The whole family was horribly bad news.

I was in high dudgeon when Writer-nim failed to divulge Shi-wan’s fate after Jang Do-han thwarted his murder attempt on Officer Soo-ji. We saw his mother rushing into the ICU, so Shi-wan was still nominally alive. Did he succumb to his injuries? Did he end up as a vegetable? Did he survive as a quadriplegic, sentenced by Fate to incarceration in a helpless and broken body for the remainder of his life – potentially half a century or so? Would he meet an even more sociopathic “angel of mercy” who would “relieve” him of his suffering à la VOICE’s Mo Tae-goo?

Beware of ROOM NO. 9 Spoilers!

Speaking of father-and-son sociopaths, ROOM NO. 9 has such a duo. Prolific veteran actor Lee Kyoung-young plays impoverished chaebol bastard Ki San, who stole his legitimate half-brother’s identity. Ki San goes on to make life hell for a secretary (Kim Hae-sook), whom he frames for a murder she did not commit. What’s even worse: he dates her to get access to the company safe, and then manipulates her into a suicide pact he does not intend to honor, only for her to survive an overdose of pills and his half-assed attempt at death by auto exhaust. He is truly despicable, and tramples anyone and everyone he deems an obstacle to his greed and lust for power.

Ki San amasses immense power, influence, and wealth, and is later joined in his murderous pastime by his son and heir, Ki Chan-sung (One / Jung Je-won, aka young Ta-gon in ARTHDAL CHRONICLES). Junior is overly protective, and murders one of Daddio’s old friends. Oh Dae-hwan’s dogged cop Oh Bong-sam pursues the culprit until Chan-sung realizes the jig is up, and attempts to commit suicide by motorbike. Let’s just say that he gets the ending so many LOOKOUT fans would have loved for Shi-wan. There is a god in Kdramaland heaven after all. ;-)

Congratulations on being published again, ally! It gave me a chill to hear that your husband's professional opinion is that some people are just born evil.
I'm binge-watching Haechi right now and was thinking that Prince Milpoong deserves to be written up this month. Currently (around ep 30), he's exiled to a "house surrounded by thorns" and awaiting his own (gruesome but fully deserved) quartering - but I know there are too many episodes left and he will escape to cause more villainy soon. It will be such a relief for the whole country when he's finally dead!

@ally-le,
I didn’t watch PRETTY NOONA, but your description of Gil Hae-yeon’s evil mom reminded me of a few of my own nightmare mamas. BTW, she was rather creepy as the loyal housekeeper in NAKED FIREMAN. ;-)

Nam Gi-ae traumatized the heck out of me in my first DB live-watch, OH HAE-YOUNG AGAIN / ANOTHER MISS OH. She portrayed male lead Park Do-kyung’s profligate and parasitically-avaricious mother, Madam Heo, a producer of lousy movies, which she coerces her filial son into financing. (NGA later played a has-been pron actress in MY SECRET ROMANCE. She was terrific as Queen Inwon in HAECHI.) Lee Yu-ri memorably portrayed Madam Heo’s odiously abusive younger self in a cameo in ep. 10 opposite young Dad (Lee Pil-mo), the sound engineer in whose footsteps Do-kyung has followed. Mom is utterly vile, has been married numerous times, and is engaged to the equally appalling CEO Jang – who had formerly been married to “gold” Oh Hae-young’s mother. In one of the most satisfying instances of Kdrama comeuppance, “dirt” OHY’s formidable Mama Hwang declaws Madam Heo, and sends her skulking off to lick her wounds.

The pair of moms in TEMPERATURE OF LOVE are both seared into my memory as paragons of horridness. Scriptwriter Lee Hyun-soo’s holier-than-thou, covertly-judgemental mom, played by Jung Ae-ri, drives me up a wall. I had a violent knee-jerk reaction when she showed up in THE SECRET LIFE OF MY SECRETARY as Do Min-ik’s stepmother. But it’s chef On Jung-sun’s creepily co-dependent cougar mom, Yoo Young-mi, who takes the cake. Kudos to Lee Mi-sook for making my skin crawl with her narcissism, invasiveness, and total lack of boundaries. Come to think of it, she might not be so whacked out were it not for the heinous emotional abuse heaped upon her by dad On Hae-kyung (Ahn Nae-sang). I ended up despising Hyun-soo when she insisted on currying favor with her future mother-in-law instead of honoring boyfriend Jung-sun’s request to avoid contact with her. He had worked hard for years to detach from his toxic parents, and Hyun-soo’s high-handed dismissal of his legitimate need to limit contact with them made me see red. It totally killed my earlier love for the show.

Lee Mi-sook followed up that role with Madam Jung Mal-ran, an epically diabolical villainess, in MONEY FLOWER. Mal-ran is daughter-in-law of even nastier big bad chaebol Jang Kook-hwan, portrayed to amoral perfection by the wonderful Lee Soon-jae. Watching Jang Hyuk’s cat-and-mouse games with the two of them had me on the edge of my seat, as they will stop at nothing to achieve their objectives.

That Lookout kid was creeeepy. Evil adults are one thing, but evil kids are another level.

I didn't watch past the middle of Pretty Noona, but it must have been hard for that actress at the time. I'm sure she got a lot of hate comments from the people who have trouble distinguishing reality from fiction. This is always what worries me about people playing these kinds of characters.

Great post!

I'd like to add Choi Won-young to the list of drama baddies. He's so good as psychopathic villains his baddie characters always creep me out.

nice write up!

i want to send out a memorial *thumbs up* to the recent passing of Rutger Hauer, the Nexus 6 replicant Roy in Blade Runner -- one of the best villains in cinema...

good write up...Lookout is on my watchlist; also i have seen few episodes of Jackpot, agree on the villain bit. haven't seen PNWBMF yet but in general i've noticed in Kdramas, the the actors who play supporting roles & usually in similar type mostly, but there is variances, hence its also a welcome to watch them again.

I only saw this today and im glad i didnt miss it. GREAT write-up. I do agree with your husband. It’s hard to believe but some people are so broken that they WANT to be evil for the sake of it. The compassion gene is non existent, and you gave GREAT examples.

@Ally nice article , probably one of the article , Because of what u said I would definitely watch and check the recap for jackpot.

I remember the actor who played the baddie in I Can Hear Your Voice saying that while the drama aired, people would crowd to the other side of the elevator when riding with him. It must have amused him.

Congrats @ally-le! I was creeped out by the kid in Lookout. He was so....evil.

For the actors who dare to be hated, bravo! It takes a certain bravery to play such abhorrent characters, and a certain gumption to give in to your dark side, at least for a few weeks.

This!! Bravo indeed to all actors and actresses who dare to be hated. Dramaland won't be the same without them. As much as they are fictional, fiction does at times if not always, mirror real life.

I would like to nominate as villains the boys of RETURN, the whole lot of them.
Perhaps some forget that that is the drama where actress Go Hyun-Jung dropped out about half way through because of differences with the PD.

Urghh...yoon shi wan that little @#$%^@
I wish all the bad things happen to his character while watching lookout but admittedly Park Solomon is so good in that drama
he is the reason why I ended up watching sweet revenge tbh. I just want to see whether i watch him without seeing yoon shi wan and he is good
I look forward to his future projects