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[2022 Year in Dramas] Disappointments, wins, and discovering new actors

By @jerrykuvira

What a K-drama year it has been. This is the first K-drama year where I realized that I dropped so many shows I needed to watch more than the ones stored on my to-watch list. It as also the very first year where I consciously watched a drama to the end just for the bean: Green Mother’s Club. And right there the disappointments start. And many more came in the form of Why Her? (the biggest and most painful one this year), Love is for Suckers (I can’t even start), and the others that drama amnesia is denying me remembrance of. Thank you, amnesia.

 
The disappointments
Green Mother’s Club got the Ctrl+D right after completing the 16th episode. Not because it was mediocre, but because it had so much potential that it felt wasted. Lee Yo-won, Chu Ja-hyun (how did she even get there?), Jang Hye-jin, Kim Gyu-ri. I thought this was a Sky Castle x Penthouse mutant baby drama but what the…?

Other anticipated actress comebacks fell equally flat, with the likes of Artificial City, Sponsor, and Show Window: The Queen’s House. It was a huge disappointment to watch these, and another waste of strong side characters, too.

 
The wins: Who says they can’t be romantic?

In the face of those drama disappointments, though, 2022 gave me many more joys. The very romantic romances that made me think and feel came from a place I never expected: middle-aged casts. Who says we can’t have a romance story between 40 or 50-year-olds (Love ft Marriage and Divorce 3) where we even decide who gets who — not that that pairing had a choice. The all-out love triangle in Alchemy of Souls also gave me these feels, and if anyone deserves the “dolt” nickname, that person is Park Jin. How many times did I “tsk tsk tsk,” shaking my head alongside Master Heo and the Four Seasons as he kept on tanking his chances, while his contender was playing his cards just right.

Most times, we get these dynamics from the younger generation — and I think we did this year? (Or did we not?) But 2022 gave many mature adults a story where they could fall in love, feel butterflies, take a field trip down their youthful years (Our Blues), suffer heartbreaks right after you found the one to make you rethink a life of chaste tea (Alchemy of Souls), and flap their tongues at each other or squee at seeing each other again (Behind the Stars). This year made me realize it’s exhilarating to see these adults enjoy the moment — and not just the romance, but also adults being silly and petty and childish.

But I can’t neglect to mention the gripping introverted love story doled out by the younger middle-aged actors in My Liberation Notes. Who says the words “Worship me” can’t stand in place of the magic words “Will you be my boyfriend/girlfriend?” — and therefore kickstart a captivating story on its own, or the enchanting male lead in Love in Contract. I’ve always wanted to see a silent love story or an introvert in love, and 2022 granted me both desires. Dramatic chaos isn’t for me most of the time: silent chaos is. And as we’ve seen, the fallout here can be as devastating as the dramatic.

 
Discovering new actors
Having a bias for good guys, it’s really important that my first time watching a new actor features them as a good guy. But this year has me taking that thought back. Choi Dae-hoon and Seo Hyun-woo had me glaring at the screen in Extraordinary Attorney Woo and Adamas, but then had me smitten in One Dollar Lawyer, Curtain Call, and Behind Every Star, respectively, with their performances. If anyone told me these two actors had a silly or empathetic side – after my first impressions of them — I’d never agree. It’s rare for me to look out for an actor’s future works following a villain performance — especially if it’s the first time I’m watching the actor. Truth is… I didn’t. But I did enjoy the change in perspective these performances gave me.

This year I got the good, the bad, and the ones that made me drool, squee, or curl my toes. And while the disappointments are really a pain to take note of, the dramas I enjoyed did a good job making me forget the arrgh times. Is it safe to call it a successful year?

 
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@jerrykuvira thank you for this really helpful reflective piece.
I have taken the hope element of meeting new actors and have compiled a list of people to watch in their new work. I am sure if I continued mining I would find even more names to look out for and then see where they end up as I could end up with two wins like getting to see one of the actors from Racket boys a drama I loved become a key ensemble cast member in Twenty five, twenty one my standout drama for this year. Even when a drama has been disappointing I have still been able to salvage something from the experience.

New actors to me:

Kim Youngdae - Shooting stars ML
Park Juhyun - Love All, play FL
Chae Jonghyeop - Love All, play ML
Kang Hyoungsuk - Love in contract supporting role FL’s best friend extradinaire
Lee Daehwi - Love is for Suckers supporting cast FL’s work husband
Son Hwaryeong - Love is for Suckers supporting cast alternative FL
Park Yeonwoo - Love is for Suckers supporting cast alternative ML

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It's fun to waltz through each drama watching experience. But some did leave lingering reflective moments.

I noticed and noted Kim Young-dae in Penthouse. He's grown more as an actor since then of course. I never knew he had a comedic timing but it's pretty accurate in The Forbidden Marriage.

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Yes Youngdae was funny in Shooting stars too. I didn’t watch Penthouse. I looked through all the above actors previous works and I had either not seen them or did not recognise them as the same person. This is not hard with my face blindness but some people look completely different to me. I still can not believe the nephew in Still 17 is the same man who played the male lead in Business proposal.

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Was I’ll Find You on a Beautiful Day the drama you didn't recognize Kim Young-dae in? His cameo was pretty heart fluttering, and he had chemistry with Park Min-young.

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Thank you for mentioning this because I totally forgot about his cameo! And you're right: he was definitely heart fluttering in that role.

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The only person I am wondering if it could have been him was an ex boyfriend or an unrequited love who met up with her briefly in current times? I can’t remember if he tried to get her to consider him again. If it’s not that guy then I must have missed him.

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@Reply1988 The unrequited love was on his side, but that's him. He was the most popular boy in school who tried to confess to her at their high school reunion. https://www.dramabeans.com/2020/03/ill-find-you-on-a-beautiful-day-episode-6/

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Thanks for the link yes I remembered the role because at the time I remember thinking the actor playing him was striking but I did not register that it was him.

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@panshel: He was no match for Eunseoba’s quiet and sweet charms but he was a good kid in their school. Fortunately, not a bully.

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Ahn Hyoseop was unrecognizable for me in Business Proposal. Of course I knew it was the same guy from Still 17, but it was so distracting, I couldn't stop comparing the different looks in my head ><

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@Lelly19: I agree. Of course people change physically but he was groomed to the nth degree for this role. He also has filled out from the lean young person he was in ‘17 Again’, has either had his skin bleached or the filtering gave that impression (I deplore this reality or trend) and has had dental work as well as other procedures.

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@reply1988: It is not because of your face blindness. They created an almost entirely different Ahn Hyoseop for BP. And, I do mean ‘created’.

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THE DISAPPOINTMENTS: It sounds like the title to a bad B-movie. But some k-dramas were worse than that. WE ARE NOW BREAKING UP had an interesting setting (fashion industry), a glass ceiling office worker, career over relationships plot, but it failed miserably on all accounts. The worst show of the year. Also, THIRTY NINE had all the elements to be a great show: 3 career women reaching 40 with personal, relationship and health issues. It was supposed to be a slice-of-life healing drama amongst friends but it turned out to be the overwrought, overbearing SYJ show to the detriment of the other leads. It also broke the unspoken rule that actors' real personal life should not interfere or overshadow the show's run. (In contrast, BECOMING WITCH had a 3 female lead series with the exact same issues but WITCH hit on all points with humor and fun.) Except for the complete cameo arc by JYJ in the first episode of BEHIND EVERY STAR, this show has been a repetitive plot grind even with the other star cameos.

THE WINS: I found more consistency in viewing pleasure with lesser, middle of the road series that delivered on what their stated premise was at the beginning. These above average shows were like a light, flakey crust on a warm chicken pot pie: FANLETTER, PLEASE; KILLER'S SHOPPING LIST; ORDINARY JAE-WAE and OUR BLUES, the latter which showed you can have a good episodic ensemble cast series (ALCHEMY is another example.) Also, as a footnote, the one series that actually made epilogues work: STOCK STRUCK which used those minutes to actually teach real stock investment principles. Also, the trend of having less than 16 episodes is a positive.

NEW ACTORS: Jeon Mi-do became a household name with her last two TV series, but sadly she has returned to her stage/musical career. The main teens in ALL OF US ARE DEAD got many well-deserved TV and movie offers.

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I don't even want to start with Thirty Nine. It's my worst ensemble of the year and most detrimental casting. And this is just putting it nicely cause its effect was worse than this.

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For me the standout win was the first 15 1/8th episodes of
'My Liberation Notes' and the standout disappointment was the last 7/8ths of episode 16 of 'My Liberation Notes'.

The first 'new actor' standout that come to mind is Ko Sung-hee, the female lead in 'Gus Electronics'. Though it appears I did actually see her before, playing the world's worst mother in 'Mother'.

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Just here to say I “discovered” Chu Ja-hyun 2 years ago with My Unfamiliar Family and fell in love and I can’t wait for her to do something that good again. Green Mothers’ Club was certainly… something, but I must admit Chu Ja-hyun had me enjoying it much more than I probably should have!

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Her cameo appearance in Arthdal Chronicles was all it took to make an impression. And she's one of the 4 reasons I watched My Unfamiliar Family.

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I watched My Unfamiliar Family this year! I loved her in that and in Little Women. She has one of those faces I want to watch.

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My breakout new actor of the year is Moon Sang-min in Under the Queen's Umbrella. Grand Prince Seongnam was the perfect character, and Moon Sang-min has it all -- visuals, charisma, height, voice, age. He's going to be a star.

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I kept thinking that while watching him, stardom should come easily to this kid. He’s got a great *twinkle*.

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What a great post! I especially enjoyed the section about some of the best romances of the year being between people well out of their 20s. For me, the best romance of the year was definitely Gu and Mi-jeong in "My Liberation Notes." Every on-screen moment between them--whether it involved them eating together in silence or talking about wild dogs and dead frogs--was electric. Even their utter misery during the years they were apart was romantic to me. It's notable, too, that there's really only one scene of romantic passion between them, and the camera cuts away from their kiss so quickly we barely see it anyway. And yet, the chemistry never seemed lacking or unbelievable. I didn't love the way the writers undercut their own portrayal of alcoholism as serious and deadly with the depiction of Mi-jeong's refusal to ask Gu to stop drinking as evidence of her pure, true love for him. But overall, their love story moved me more than any other this year.

As far as new actors, I'd never noticed Chae Jong Hyeop in anything before, but I absolutely loved him in "Love All Play." He's exhibiting the same effortless charm, and dimply smile in "Unlock My Boss."

I feel like I've already talked a lot about disappointments like the ending of 25/21, the never-ending frustration of "Love is for Suckers," and Cafe Min being a terrible SIG vehicle. The other disappointments are minor, and all center on a feeling of "this could have been so much better": "Wish Upon Me," "Today's Webtoon," and "39."

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My discovery this year was Song Duk Ho.
I have apparently seen him a few times before but never noticed him particularly.
He was quite a revelation in Link. I was more interested in his storyline than the main story, and was glad that he had a meaty role and good long screen time.

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He was terrific in Link, and he's good in Tracer and May I Help You?, too. He's been busy in 2022. I hope he doesn't get typecast as a cop.

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Thanks @jerrykuvira for a fantastic review! You hit upon the many highlights. But, not having seen Love ft. Marriage and Divorce 3, you also mention what remains a major pet peeve for me: the usual failure to depict seriously even a secondary romances for "middle aged" couples.

Your citing of Eun-Hee of Our Blues brings up to me a perfect example of what is wrong with the usual "serious" kdrama perspective of these relationships. She is portrayed as a sentimental dupe, trying to relieve a high school (high school! not young adult??) relationship, before she wises up, sends him away, and is just wistful.

Again, I don't know the other drama you mention, but I for one await a happy ending romantic story of a middle aged relationship that doesn't make the couple out to be comedic sideshow or a bittersweet attempt to recapture young love!

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Oh! We had a romantic ending for a middle aged couple and middle-veteran aged couple in Love ft Marriage and Divorce 3. And, it wasn't comedic or bittersweet. It took us back to those times instead of recapturing it.

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Great post, @jerrykuvira!!

Love that you have highlighted three of my favourites:
- Chu Ja-Hyun: love her since My Unfamiliar Family but what a fascinating turn in Little Women.
- Choi Dae-hoon: his complex self-loathing role in Beyond Evil is among the most unforgettable performances in recent times and turns me into a big fan of him. He disappears into every role he plays.
- Seo Hyun-woo - the best in Behind Every Star.

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