Word of the Day: Second Male Lead

Second Male Lead n. 1. The supporting male character in a drama. 2. The man who is a lovely human being, but ultimately looses to the jerkish male lead

There will, without fail, be a second male lead in a drama. He is there to create conflict for the main couple so the male lead will eventually step up his game and confess to his lady love. He is also there to break the hearts of the audience. They sit and wish futility that some how, some way, he can win the female lead and live happily ever after. It is nine times out of a ten a wish that will only bring heartache and the fangirls out there are well aware of it.

I have felt this pain a few times, though not as much as the rest of our group. The main one that comes to mind is Cha Chi Soo from Flower Boy Ramyun Shop. I like Cha Chi Soo, okay? I liked him better than Kang Hyuk and that's just the way it is. I'm looking at you Kris.

 
Not all male leads grab me by the heart and don't leave any room for any one else though. Sometimes, for whatever reason, the second male lead weasels his way into my heart and no matter how I fight it I continue my love affair knowing that, in the end, I will probably end up hating everything and/or crying.

So, in no particular order, these are the second leads that left me with a broken heart.

Oh Jin Rok in Flower Boy Next Door

 

I can't really say why I liked Jin Rok better than I liked Enrique, I just did. Maybe it is because he had a personality that was closer to my own as opposed to the ADD puppy that was Enrique. 

It might have also been that he didn't push at Dok Mi like Enrique did either. That is what she needed though. I even think that about myself sometimes. It is nice to be around other quite people, but that can get weird, it's nice to be around loud people sometimes. 

Master in Dating Agency: Cyrano 

I've mentioned before that I liked Chun Hee's character better than Jong Hyuk's, I didn't believe the Sooyoung and Jong Hyuk pairing. I think that it had a lot to do with the fact that he was so much older than her. Their personalities were too different and it just felt awkward. Especially that kiss at the end. It actually creeped me out a bit, is that wrong? 

She and Chun Hee seemed a lot more natural when they were together. He still had eleven years on her, but their relationship didn't make me uncomfortable. 

Kay in Nail Salon Paris 

It's no secret that I hated this drama. I watched it because Song Jae Rim was in it and because he was my reason for watching, he was the one that I wanted to get the girl in the end. As the drama progressed I slowly became more and more unhappy because he was the second male lead and he was going to have his beautiful heart broken.

This was one of the beautiful rare occurrences though that allows the second male lead to rise above all other second male leads. He is one of the second male leads that other others aspire to be like. It is possible! If only the pairing wasn't such a backhanded victory.

Park Se Joo in Mi Rae's Choice 

 

When I think about liking Se Joo more than Shin, I wonder if I was tricked into liking him. Future Mi Rae came in talking about how Mi Rae needed to marry Se Joo rather than Shin so I automatically think, okay, let's root for Se Joo. But then again, Shin just was kind of a sucky person. Not that there were really any great people in this drama. Those characters.......

Lee Hyung Joon in Who Are You? 

 

Why are you dead!? Why!? The chemistry that you had with Shi On was beautiful and so are you. Even though he was wasted in this drama, he was the star, at least for me. Like in Dating Agency: Cyrano I didn't believe that Shi On and Gun Woo really liked each other. I would believe it if they went for a noona donsaeng relationship. I think that fit them a lot better, especially because there wasn't a lot of romance. It was a lot of him letting her have her space while she dealt with her issues.

I guess that this would mean that in the end she would end up alone and that is terrible, but I stand by what I always say about Hyung Joon pulling an Arang or Shi On could just die and then they would would live happily ever after.  

 David in Beautiful Man 

Anyone who says that they didn't like David is a liar! A liar, do you hear me? He was absolutely wonderful and quirky and his character was a nice anti DokGo Ma Te. The second he walked on screen my heart was overcome by his lovely smile and kindness that he showed to Bo Tong. Then, the next time we saw him when he was actually wearing that hat/wig definitely sealed the deal for me. Where can I find myself a David? 

Choi Young Do in Heirs 

Yes, that's right, I liked Kim Woo Bin better than I liked Lee Min Ho. I liked his tragic character better even though the writers could have done so much more with him than they did. He was so sad because his whole life was about fighting back against people and he thrived on negative attention. That is all he knew so that is how he treated Eun Sang.

I'm just strangely attracted to characters like Young Do. If someone treated me like that in real life though they would get a swift kick to the balls.
 
Well, there you have it, all the second male leads that have made me really sad because they don't get a girl, except for Song Jae Rim, and I guess the writers did give David and Jin Rok potential girl friends at the end of their dramas. It's not the same though!

So, what are the second male leads that left you sad at the end of their dramas? Even better, who are the second male leads that were able to rise above the odds and win the girl of their dreams at the end?

~ Alora 

My Drama List of 2013

Dramas are quite different from K-pop because even though I know that I have probably missed a lot of music, I feel good about the amount of things that I have been able to listen to. Music videos are normally over in a matter of minutes and then you can listen to them on repeat afterwords in you like it enough. Dramas take a considerable more amount of time so there are only so many dramas that a person can watch, and it feels like you are playing a continuous game of catchup which you know you can never win at.

After that happy note, there are quite a few dramas that I heard were awesome that I didn't watch this year and hopefully in the future I will be able to watch them. There are also dramas that I have heard I shouldn't go near with a ten foot pole, unfortunately, I watched some of those ones.

So here are all the 2013 dramas that I watched this year from best to worst.

I Hear Your Voice

You know the feeling you get when you are presented with a puppy that just wants to love you? That is what this drama makes me feel, it gives me the warm fuzzies, that is until people start trying to kill each other and then the puppy isn't so cute anymore.

I seriously loved this drama and would totally watch it again and tell everyone I know to watch it as well. There was the giant question that was never answered: where did Soo Ha's powers come from and why did they appear and disappear? but aside from that, it was a very well written drama. I didn't even mind when they threw us the amnesia card because that gave us more opportunities for cute puppy moments and it actually moved the plot forward. The resolution of the amnesia was a little sudden, but I have definitely seen worse.

This is also the first thing that I have seen Lee Jong Suk in other than Secret Garden because I started watching School 2013 and then didn't finish because like got in the way. I know, I'm terrible. I'll finish it eventually.

The Master's Sun

Like I Hear Your Voice, this drama also had a few weird plot moments, but was otherwise amazing. I know that there are a lot of people in the drama community who have been watching dramas for years and have seen all the Hong Sister dramas and they are only content with this drama. I have only seen You're Beautiful and there are a few others that I want to watch as well, Big is not one of them, I've heard stories.

If the chemistry in I Hear Your Voice was cute and made you squeal with joy, this couple's sexual tension was almost tangible through the screen. Gong Hyo Jin and Seo Ji Sub acted off each other so well and you could tell that the actors liked each other too which made their relationship that much more believable.

The one main issue I have with this drama is that the ghost stories were sometimes boring. I really liked the episode with the ghost children but then others like the cheating husband were a little bland. Then there was the whole "sell your soul" to the creepy ghost marriage lady just to have it ended suddenly by Joong Won. I'm still scratching my head over that one. 
 
Dating Agency: Cyrano  

One of the main reasons that I started to watch this drama was because Jo Yoon Woo. I really liked his character in Flower Boy Ramyun Shop and I thought that it was funny that he was cast in another Flower Boy drama in a similar role. It did make me sad that his story ended in a similar way though. You'll get the girl someday. I also really liked Hong Jong Hyeon's character and he was one of the reasons that I decided to watch White Christmas. My friends and I all affectionately named him Roppa (robot/oppa) because that's what we do.

I really liked the story too and the theme that is brought forth about can a person be tricked into liking another person and what happens in the figure it out. I was always interested in the stories too I liked that they were their own stories, but they were also used to bring the main couple together. It was cute.

Now about that main couple. I wasn't really feeling it. I think that Lee Jong Hyuk was just too old for Sooyoung and when they kissed at the end, it didn't feel genuine and it made my skin crawl a little. I mean, he is 15 years older than her! I was rooting for Lee Chun Hee through most of the drama anyways. He still had 11 years on Sooyoung, but I felt that they had better chemistry and she seemed to like him more that Jong Hyuk at times.

Gu Family Book 

This drama was pretty good, but it wasn't amazing. I thought that it was going to focus more on Kang Shi's journey to become human and the battle with his dad and less about his love story with Yeo Wool. Not that I didn't like their story and their chemistry was fantastic but the drama did turn into a giant love story rather than a story about finding yourself.

One thing that I absolutely loved unconditionally though was Wol Ryung and Seo Hwa. That was beautiful and I might have cried a little. You know a drama has some good writers when you cry about some characters you see for a short time at the beginning and then for an equally short amount of time at the end.

But then there was that ending. What was that? Like, seriously. What the heck? Unless there is going to be a part two, there was no need for any of that. I just like to pretend that the last ten minutes didn't even happen.

Flower Boy Next Door 

To be perfectly honest, I don't remember a lot about this drama other than the fact that I did like it. It was cute and playful and didn't require too much brain power. I have really liked all of the "Flower Boy" dramas as well, the best, of course, being Shut Up! Flower Boy Band, wow was that good.

One thing that I do remember is that the second OTP was fantastic. They were so funny and such an odd couple you can't help but root for them to get together. I also had some serious second male lead love for Oh Jin Rok and his stupid pants that occasionally made him look like he was wearing a diaper.

I am also always down for a retold fairy tale, this one being "Rapunzel", kind of. It took that general idea and used it in it's storytelling. I also liked that this drama would be used as an example of a lot of people's lives. How many of us live in a neighborhood, whether house or apartment, but don't actually know our neighbors? Why do we coop ourselves up when there is so much out there to live for?

The ending did slow a lot compared to the zippy pace of the beginning and the ending was a lot like Flower Boy Ramyun Shop, but this drama has the most natural kiss scene that I have ever seen Park Shin Hye give, like ever. Good job Yoon Shi Yoon.

Who Are You?

And the award for worst use of an amazing actor goes to *drum roll* Kim Jae Wook's role as Lee Hyung Joon in Who Are You. Congratulations! Now go sit in the corner and think about what you did. Seriously, he was the best actor in this drama and he spent 90% of it staring longingly and looking mournful.

I would also like a rewrite of this drama that either involves Yang Shi On dying so she could be with Lee Hyung Joon or Hyung Joon pulling a Arang and becoming human so that the two of them could live happily ever after. I don't know what the writers were thinking in making Hyung Joon's character so likable and sad and showing us all those wonderful flashback of the couple before his death. Taec's character didn't stand a chance with me, maybe next time.

All that being said, I didn't love this drama. It wasn't bad, but if someone asked me which ghost drama to watch, I would direct people to The Master's Sun. The story line was a little weak and so was Shi On who supposedly was this honored graduate of her academy, but she was always taken down pretty easily. The ghosts also disappeared from the story and all the energy was focused on Hyung Joon. Not that I'm opposed to that, but it was suppose to be a ghost drama right?

The end was also a little weird. I understand why the writers made it the way that they did in a kind of open ending, "what will the future hold for them?" but I didn't totally buy it.  

Nail Salon Paris 

Thinking about this drama makes me want to weep anew. I'm trying hard to forget that it ever happened. It started out with a good idea, a girl dresses like a boy to get a job and then there is also a dash of fantasy with the gumiho element. I was excited for it to begin, and then I was excited for it to end.

This drama just tried to be too many things at once though and it was it's downfall. There was the easy nail salon, secret girl thing, but then there was also therapy sessions, birth secrets, magic, love triangles, and some near death experiences all within ten episodes. The only thing that kept me watching was that it was such a train wreck, I had to find out how it all ended and Song Jae Rim and to a lesser extent, Thunder.

I had only seen Song Jae Rim in Flower Boy Ramyun Shop, where he sits in the background with his hair and cheekbones and The Moon that Embraces the Sun where he also flaunts his hair and cheekbones but he also gets to do a little acting. He was also the shinning light it a sea of bad acting. It's not even like it was this phenomenal performance, he just didn't suck.    

The only thing that this story did that brought me any joy though (SPOILERS) was that Song Jae Rim, our second male lead, got the girl in the end. It was kind of a backhanded victory with the whole "is he or isn't he" angle, but at least I got something for my pain.

Mi Rae's Choice

This drama had so much potential to be awesome, but unfortunately the writer got tangled in his own web which caused this dramas web to become unsalvageable.

This dramas one saving grace is that everyone got to see that Jung Yong Hwa's acting skills have vastly improved. Even though he has gotten better, his character was not a great character. But let's be honest, nobody's character was that great with the exception of Yoo Kyung. All the characters were so indecisive and annoying and because of that, the plot never really went anywhere.

Something else that left me scratching my head was, what was Mi-rae's choice? She never made one! Future Mi-rae goes back to the future and somehow receives the box that Present Mi-rae buried (which breaks the rules that they set up). Then Present Mi-rae never chooses a man! It is left annoyingly open! After all that time and all that set up, nothing happens! I think I need a drink.
  
Heirs 

Yes, Heirs is last. Why? Because I didn't even finish it, I read recaps for the last four episodes. I was bored to freaking tears and it became a waste of my time to watch it. I was sad about that too because the acting was good but I didn't like all the characters which also added to the boredom.

Everyone in this drama, especially our main trio, were always being acted upon instead of them making decisions on their own. This resulted in the same situations happening over and over because they didn't know what they wanted and even if they did, they rarely did anything to remedy their situation.

With all of that, there was a lot of wasted talent in this drama that was filled to bursting with some fantastic actors and actresses, namely Choi Jin Hyuk. Hopefully, in his next drama he can be given a roll where he actually does something.

~~~~~~~

As for what I am watching right now, Beautiful Man is going to finish up next week and I have been fully enjoying that. The way that the writers wrote Myo Mi out was sloppy, but whatever, I can deal with that. I am really sad that I will probably have my heart broken though because I am totally in love with David. I will go down with my ship!

I am also watching My Lover From the Stars which started recently and that it also fabulous. I will not be suffering from Second Male Lead love here because I totally love Kim Soo Hyun and the second male lead is a little desperate and annoying.

The last thing is Golden Rainbow which is a weekend drama and will have, by the end, a whopping 50 episodes. I will not give up on this one like I did on Cruel Palace though, and I would like to pick that up again. I like the family angle that is being played along with all the intrigue that is going on within the Golden Fisheries. It will be interesting to see who comes out on top and who comes out dead, because I feel like a few people might come out dead in the end. Hopefully it's not our main people.

Well, I had a bit of a mixed bag this year, but there were a lot of good dramas that came out and I know there are a lot more excellent dramas that I need to watch. Drama watching is seriously a never winning battle or catch up.

Here's to another great year!

~ Alora

Heirs

I'm going to be honest, I didn't watch the last four episodes of Heirs, I literally couldn't do it, so I just read the recaps on Dramabeans. For the last six or eight episodes, I had been falling behind because I just didn't care about anything that the drama was doing. Tan and Young Do are fighting over Eun Sang? You mean like the million other times it happened, cool. Dad is an annoying dirt bag? Seen it. Oh, people are crying again, awesome, I should probably be feeling sad about this. Tan and Eun Sang are fighting again, how original.

This drama was so drawn out and because the story wasn't going anywhere fast, every episode just felt like a repeat of the last. In the end, the Chairman got sick, Madam Jung made her move, Young Do started to be honest with himself, Won started to be a better person, why didn't that happen in the middle instead during the last three or four episodes?

I have been thinking about Boys Over Flowers a lot in this drama because that was also really drawn out and you just wanted everyone to stop dragging their feet and confess and stop being incredibly annoying. At least with BOF though, it was funny so you almost forgot that the drama was staying in the same place, almost. Heirs was just so full of drama and tears though it was a lot  more noticeable that we were stuck in the same place because amid the monotony, there was nothing fun to take you mind from it.

The story  

I was pretty excited when I heard that this drama was going to come out, even though I did think that it might just be a rehashed BOF. Even if it was that, maybe Heirs could fix the things that didn't quite go right in BOF.

The first hook in this drama is the fact that Lee Min Ho is playing the main character. That is probably one of the best ways to get anyone to watch or buy anything. Then to make the deal even sweeter, the second male lead is Kim Woo Bin. The two of them used to be friends, but they had a falling out and now they hate each other.

Two angst ridden men, sounds good. This can also grab the people who watched School 2013 in the hopes that they can see another budding bromance to rival that of Kim Woo Bin and Lee Jong Suk. Yeah, right, that could never happen.

These two boys are fighting over the poor, yet spunky, Cha Eun Sang. She meets Tan in California and Young Do in Korea and they are both fighting for her affection. I have come to accept this in dramas, the boys fighting over the girl, but the reason that this rubbed me the wrong way is because it was almost like Eun Sang wasn't even a person to them. She was the prize in their contest to see who had the most testosterone.

Eun Sang also lost all that spunk that she had in the beginning. I liked her for that because she seemed to be able to take care of herself, but in the end, she became that girl that let herself be wrist dragged from one person to the next.

Something that I did like about the story, at least at first, was all the allusions that were made to Joseon in these chaebol groups. These students weren't allowed to be children, they were always the successor to "the throne" and they were expected to act in such a way that would not embarrass their parents. There was also the arranged marriage of Tan and Rachel and company merger weddings. Then we also had Madam Han the "concubine" who was woman of the house, but nothing more.

I really did like all this in the beginning, but along with everything else that happened in the story, it got old and boring by the end.

The only thing that I liked about this drama from beginning to end was Chan Young and Bo Na's relationship. In a sea of unhappy people, they loved each other and that was a very welcome breath of fresh air.

The characters 

And, oh man, are there characters. I'm going to separate the characters that I liked from the characters that I didn't like to make everything a little more interesting. Let's do this.

Characters that I liked 

So these are the "kids" and adults that I liked in the drama. For some reason I really liked Young Do's character. Yes, he was a giant turd bucket, but he was such a sad character and you could see why he was that way as well. He was kind of a tragic villain and I am a sucker for a tragic villain.

Here we also have the only good couple in the drama, Chan Young and Bo Na. They were happy and they cared about each other and there wasn't any wrist grabbing either. Whenever they were on screen, especially Bo Na (after I realized that she wasn't a terrible person), everything seemed better.

Lastly for the kids, we have two rather minor, yet good, characters, Myung Soo and Hyo Shin. Myung Soo, like Bo Na and Chan Young was a breath of fresh air in this angst ridden drama. He was so happy and ridiculous I knew that something funny would happen when he was on screen. He is the Jeremy in this drama. Then we have Hyo Shin. He is so sad, but I loved him and I don't know why. I'm glad that he was able to have a good, I guess it can be called that, ending.

Now we have the adults and our lady romance of the drama. Why isn't there a female equivalent to bromance? These two were amazing together and it was cute to see them interact because you knew that they needed each other, but they would never admit it.

There is also one honorable mention in this category and that goes to Jay the Surfer.

Even though he is every single Southern California stereotype wrapped up into one awkward character, he has a special place in my heart.

Characters that I didn't like or didn't care about 

And here is a visual of why I was bored of the drama, I disliked a lot more than I liked, and many of those people were the main characters. 

To be perfectly frank, Tan and Eun Sang were really annoying. Tan was way too mopey and he had trouble putting his plans into action. He always talked about escaping, but then when he did, he would end up giving up. He also treated Eun Sang like she was his possession more than a person which is not okay. This isn't just his fault though because Eun Sang let herself be tossed around between Tan and Young Do. She was more teary and ridiculous than Tan was and that made me even more angry. 

Finally, with Rachel, I did feel bad for her for about a hot second and then I just stopped caring about her. Sometimes feelings of sympathy would pop up because she really did like Tan and Tan was a giant jerk to her, but she was a giant jerk back. She almost made it to the like category, but, meh. I can't say that I like or dislike her, she just is.

Now, with all those adults, I wish I cared about them, especially Secretary Yoon, he also almost made it to the "like" section. They were just there and were mostly an annoyance to move the plot forward because apparently the kids in the drama were unable to do anything on their own.

Final thoughts

I'm really bad at saying "don't watch a drama". I always hesitate and say, "you can watch it if you want, but just know......." because there is always something that someone is going to like, but I cannot say that for this drama. I'm sure that there are some people that like it, (the rating sure said so) but I couldn't even finish it.

I was excited for it in the beginning, but by the end, I had no emotional connection to the drama and I felt that it was a waste of my life. The only way that I would have finished it is if I spoke Korean or if I had a dubbed version because then I could at least do other things around the house while I watched it.

This drama was hyped so much and I was cautiously excited for it, but now I'm just sad, especially since I was also let down by Mi Rae's Choice. Hopefully the drama that is taking Heirs time slot, My Lover From the Stars, will be good because I don't know how much more disappointment I can take.

~ Alora

Heirs - First Impressions

Well you guys, it has finally begun; and when I say finally, I mean FINALLY because holy crap we have been hearing about this drama since freaking March. MARCH! But now we have the question, will all the hype that we have been getting match up to what the drama will give us in the end? We'll see.

After watching the first two episodes, I think that I can say that I am optimistic about this drama. Aside from the fact that there are painful English stereotypes and actors galore, I have liked it. I'm sure that Asian people think the same thing about Asian actors in American movies though. There are really only three main parts to fill: the beautiful male martial artist, the beautiful female martial artist, (these parts can be either good or evil) or the dorky male friend.

This particular white guy has really struck a chord with me though and I am a little sad that he is probably gone forever. Even though he was a little painful to watch, he was probably one of the best English speaking actors that I have ever seen in a K-drama. I'll miss you surfer bro. We also have almost matching hairstyles which is both funny and a little weird.

One thing that I really like from this drama is that even though it is a modern drama, there are definite sageuk chords that are being played. All of these young adults, or heirs, are working to take their parents place as head of the family business when they come of age. This also ties into one of main issues with Min Ho's older half brother chasing him out of the house so there would be no competition for his succession to the "throne", or dad's business. There are also business merger marriages, both old and young, and there is a live in mistress in Tan's (Lee Min Ho's) household. She is really only there so that the real wife can keep an eye on here, but mistress she was none the less.

I am also liking all the characters that we have been introduced to and let me tell you, there are a lot. I guess that also adds to the feel that this is a little sageuk-y.

Thus far, I really like Lee Min Ho's character. He is not your usual male lead in the sense that he is a jerk that you would like to Falcon Punch in the face. He puts up a front of nonchalance and a play/party boy attitude, but in reality he is really just kind of sad and lonely.

 
Then we have Park Shin Hye's character who sadly is jut your average, poor, female lead. I do like that she is spunky and that she initiated the female wrist grab (something not often seen in a Kdrama), but there doesn't seen to be anything deeper to her character.

Then, of course, you have the crap ton of other character that this drama gives you and here are some of the main young actors with a two word description of how I feel about them.

Choi Jin Hyuk - Jerk half-brother (to Min Ho)

 Kim Woo Bin - Terrible person

Kim Ji Won - Terrible Person (fiancee to Min Ho)

Kang Min Hyuk - Best friend(?) (to Park Shin Hye) Krystal - Needy Girlfriend (to Min Hyuk)

There are a few other characters as well, but I haven't been given enough information about them to sum them up in two words yet. If it continues is the way you see above though, they will probably all be jerks as well.

So, yeah, that's the first two episodes of Heirs severely boiled down into a few paragraphs. I am excited to keep watching and hopefully it just gets better from here. 

~ Alora