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

Mi-Rae's Choice

I'm feeling a lot of things right now and happy is the least of them. The last episode of this drama has given us four people, three parallel universes, two men, and a baby. If I was feeling more creative I would make that singable to "The Twelve Days of Christmas", but I'm not, so that is what you get.

This drama had a lot of potential and I was enjoying it. There was time travel, Yoon Eun Hye, Jung Yong Hwa, weird noises when people cursed, and just general silliness. By the end though, it got a little repetitive and it was all I could do to not hit my computer and yell at the people because, seriously, why doesn't anyone tell Mi Rae anything? Do you realize how many things could have been solved had everyone not treated her like she was five? *heavy sighing*

The story made me think of Full House a little in the sense that the male lead is a giant man child and somehow everything is the female leads fault even if it totally wasn't. Granted, it wasn't as bad as Full House (thank goodness) but it was similar.

The story

Our story is about Na Mi Rae, she is 32 years old and works at a call center and has to deal with the stupid people that call in. One day she finds herself on the street, and not in some metaphorical way, she actually meets her future self.

Future Na Mi Rae says that she has come to help present Na Mi Rae have a better life than the one that she is fated to have. Something that I wondered all throughout the drama is where the heck did Ahjumma get all of her clothes. Unless she brought a Marry Poppins bag with her there is no way that she could have had as many wonderful clothes as she did.

We learn that Mi Rae marries the announcer Kim Shin and their marriage doesn't go well and Ahjumma looses the person that she loves the most in life and she is going to stop that from happening. Her plan is to get Mi Rae to marry Park Se Joo instead, the heir to the YBS broadcasting company who is masquerading as a VJ.

With the help of Ahjumma, Mi Rae quits her job at the call center, and rather spectacularly at that, and joins a production team at YBS, much to Ahjumma's dismay because that is where Kim Shin works. To make matters worse, Mi Rae and Kim Shin are on the same team. Also on this team are Park Se Joo, Mi Rae's older brother (who is not happy about his sister's choice), and Seo Yoo Kyung, doesn't that sound like a party.

Mi Rae's brother was also in I Miss You with Yoon Eun Hye and I'm glad that he still has his fabulous hair. 

That is the main story of the drama and it sounds really good, but, like I said, no one tells Mi Rae anything and everyone is keeping all of these secrets and it gets ridiculous. The writer started out strong but by the end, I don't think that he really knew what to do with the story that he had created.

The characters 

Lee Dong Gun as Kim Shin 

 

That sensor thing, I wish that it hadn't gone away so soon. I'm not sure how I feel about Kim Shin. I'm actually not sure how I feel about most of this cast of characters to be perfectly honest. He was just so full of himself and attacked other before he had all of his facts straight, it was hard for him to be completely likeable. I could see that he was a good person, but sometimes I was surprised there was enough room in his house for both him and his ego.

He did grow a lot as a character and that was nice to see, but I couldn't unconditionally love him by the end. I was so irritated by the choices that he had made throughout the drama and the way that he treated some people. I want to like him but his personality throws me off a lot. 

Yoon Eun Hye as Na Mi Rae

That hair.......I just wanted to go at it with a hair dryer and a can of mousse because that is really all it needed. The number one problem is that it wasn't styled, but that is the concept of most female leads, unkempt.

I love Yoon Eun Hye, I do, she is my favorite female actress, but I was not a fan of Na Mi Rae. She was the type of person who let everyone else decide her future and she was so indecisive about everything, it was a little ridiculous. She really only made two decisions in the whole drama, to become a writer in the beginning and then standing up to Grandma in the end.

She did have some good moments while working in the broadcasting station, but overall, she was a little useless and that is too bad.

Jung Yong Hwa as Park Se Joo 

Hello there you beautiful human being. It was too funny that he got a halo in one of the first scenes that we see him in to not use this picture. Se Joo was also a character that wasn't the best, but I did like him better that Mi Rae and Shin. This drama was one of the rare cases where I like the second leads better than the main leads.

I liked that Se Joo wasn't your typical chaebol and didn't think that he deserved everything on a silver plate. He started low and stayed there until his grandma made him come back to the top. Then when he did get to the top he tried to make reforms, even if they weren't the best ideas. He tried though and that is what counts.

Another thing that I both liked and disliked about him is that he wasn't the second male lead that sat back and pined about the woman that he wanted. He took the initiative and made advances toward her. That is something that I didn't like though because he was kind of pushy. I understand that he saw his opportunity and wanted to jump on it, but he needed to take a chill pill.

Han Chae Ah as Seo Yoo Kyung 

When I first met Yoo Kyung I didn't like her, I guess it comes with the Second Female Lead territory. She had far too much aegyo and she was also rude to Mi Rae and I was not having it. As her character developed though, I found out more about her personality and what a hard worker she was and what she put up with.

She was also the only person who acted instead of being acted upon. She thought that Ahjumma was weird so she did a little investigative work and learned a lot of information. She also put up with Se Joo's crap like a pro even though every time she saw him you could see that her heart was breaking. She is probably the only person that I wanted to be happy without any underlying uncertainty.

The ending

Spoilers! Close your eyes! Look away!

May I just say that I am not impressed right now. This drama did what Nail Salon Paris did couple wise, but then Mi-Rae took it a step farther and didn't even tell us who she ended up with. I have no words to correctly express the disgust that I am feeling right now. 

What was the whole point of the story if we don't know what happens in the end? Did Ahjumma really change the future, even if it wasn't hers? That being said, future Mi Rae never buried that box, Yoon Eun Hye Mi Rae did, so how did it get to Ahjumma? Anything that happened to Mi Rae after Ahjumma came doesn't affect Ahjumma so there is no way that she could have received that box. My brain hurts.

I swear, this drama was so close to dividing by zero it wasn't even funny. I'm surprised the universe didn't just collapse in on itself from all the people meeting themselves. 

In the end, I ship Mi Rae and Se Joo and there is nothing that you can say to convince me that they don't get together. NOTHING!

 

In all seriousness though, I was so done with all of the characters by the end and I was confused as to who should end up with who. I really only wanted Yoo Kyung to be happy because I felt that she deserved it the most because she should have been rewarded for being the only proactive character.

Final thoughts

I didn't hate this drama, it did have it good points and there were a lot of cute moments, but the characters were hard to like and the story was a little muddled in the end.

If someone asked me if they should watch this drama, I don't think that I would say no, but I would warn them that it does let you down story-wise and the ending might make you want to flip a table. It makes me sad.

~ Alora