Now that I’ve finally managed to get The Epic Re-watch done, I’ve had some time to spare for the new kids on the block. 🙂 There’s been a gaggle of new dramas starting this month and I’ve given some of them my best school try.
Signal
Let’s start with the one that appealed to me most. The first two epis of Signal were just what I hoped they would be. Suspenseful and intriguing, with enough questionmarks to make me want to know more, asap. The Team is sill in the early stages of forming but I’m sure they’ll come together as the story progresses. They complement each other, though they can’t see that yet. I really like the cast. It’s great to get people who know their stuff for once, instead of some flavor of the month/year with questonable acting skills. I’ve also liked several of the previous works of the PD. As for the writer… well, I hated the ending of Sign but loved Ghost all the way through. Let’s hope Signal aligns more with the latter than the former.^^ I truly liked what I’ve seen so far, so I’m crossing my fingers and toes that it’ll stay the course. As we all know, a good start is no guarantee for a smooth full run. Unfortunately.
Verdict: a keeper (for now anyway)
Madame Antoine
I had no expectations for this one but it turned out to be surprisingly entertaining. Definitely the best turnout for Sung Joon I’ve seen in a while. He seems to do much better when portraying someone who’s more on the cranky side, petty and a bit childish. Someone you don’t particularly care for at a first glance. There were moments I really wanted to punch Soo Hyun. Which probably was what they were aiming at. *g* Han Ye Sul is fun and I already like her Hye Rim quite a bit. I’m looking forward to her getting the upper hand in this ‘contest’, heh. The secondaries aren’t that well constructed but they fill their puropose, I suppose. Most romcoms either bore me or annoy me, Madame Antoine managed to do neither. 🙂
Verdict: shows promise
Moorim School
I wish I could say this is so bad it’s good but it’s just all around bad. I don’t know which is the worst offender – script, acting or directing. It’s also taking itself SO seriously but only ended up being unintentinally hilarious. I’m sure I was guaffing in places that weren’t supposed to be funny. I think they would have done better making Moorim a comedy and funny for reals, ala cdrama Go Princess Go. THAT I would probably have watched the heck out of.
Verdict: hell no!
One More Happy Ending
Not feeling it. The first ep was kinda ok and even funny in places but the 2nd ep already bored me so I had a hard time getting through it without the trusty ff-button. I like all the actors but i’m not feeling much for any of the characters, nor the overall storylines. I’m also not all that fond of the brand of humour the show is sprouting. I guess it’s not wonky enough for me. 😀
Verdict: pass
Fragile
This year’s winter season jdramas haven’t sparked much interest in me. I picked this one mostly because it’s been a long while since my last Nagase drama and I do like procedurals. Only, Fragile is a bit too predictably generic to be really interesting. There’s no real ‘kick’ to make it stand out from gzillion others like it. Dunno if oggling Nagase will be enough for me to continue with Fragile. We’ll see after I’m done with ep 2.
Verdict: undecided
A Touch of Drama 
Madame Antoine : Gosshhhhhhh!!! Sung Joon gets on my nerves. I am a fan of a guy whose dramas keep irritating me. So far I have not liked any of his dramas where he was the lead, due to different factors that rarely had to do with his role. For this one…. I don’t know maybe I dropped it too soon but I was just sick of the female character, which is rare.
Moorim School : Tried it… really doesn’t do it for me. Then again, I may have dropped it too soon but it feels like I have so much to do and so little time that I have become less patient. But just the first scene in the forest already annoyed me, then I watched a bit and was through.
Signal : so many people rave about it I will give it a try.
I’ve since given Madam Antoine the boot as well. ALL the characters started to annoy me. I don’t know if it’s that Sung Joon keeps picking wrong characters to play but it feels like he’s regressing as an actor.The only drama I truly liked him in was Shut Up Flower Boy Band and he was more or less ok in White Christmas too. He should really lay off from playing older than his real age, he ain’t convincing at all.
Signal is still very good indeed.
About his age, this is not the first time I’ve heard that he wasn’t convincing playing older than his real age. xD However I never felt that way. But after seeing your comment, I had to google his age because I couldn’t give him one, to me he looks like an old-looking young guy, he has one of those “could be 20 or 35” faces. I thought he was older than that though, he’s only 25??? WOW! Shocked.
About his choices, all I know is that I am now questioning his ability to carry a lead role. Romance 3 was stupid, I only kept watching because he was the nice guy who won. He did a decent job but he is much better in second leads. In Lie To Me (great show) he was awesome, and in Hyde Jekyll Me (though I hated the drama), I enjoyed his performance. Goodness, High Society was boooooring. Sung Joon has been frustrating me lately.
First two episodes of Signal are so good i can’t wait for the third one already. Gripping, suspenseful and intriguing, although i wish the night scenes were better lit, definitely a keeper (for now) ^^
I’m still undecided about which J-doramas to watch this season, partly due to lack of subs, but if Fragile is procedural, then i think i’ll pass on it.
Yup, it was a very good start for Signal. Can’t wait for the next two epis.
Well, Fragile is a medical procedural, the lead being a pathologist who is the best in his field but a real crankypants. He doesn’t get along with the doctors as he’s good at pointing out their mistakes in diagnosis. There are different case/s each week. It’s quite similar to many other procedurals, stock characters etc. In fact, you could move all the chars + the plot to e.g. a police procedural and they’d work just as well.^^
I’ve also checked out ep 1 of Kaito Yamaneko now and it’s promising, humorous but with a distinctly darker undercurrent. Reminds me of Joker somehow. Kame’s actually pretty decent in this. We’ll see what I make of it after couple of more epis.
Signal and Madame Antoine are the two on my watch list; the former due to its PD and the latter just because it’s Sung Joon. Would like to see him in a successful drama. Seeing that these two shows get a thumbs up from you is making me even more hopeful 🙂
Those are the two that did stand out for me. Signal’s start was very good indeed and promises more to come. Madame Antoine isn’t doing that well in the ratings game but I’ve never paid much attention to that as ‘I like, what I like, regardless’. 🙂 It’s early days yet and it’ll probably take few more episodes to see which direction these two are heading. I’m hoping for the best.
I’ll probably wait until most of the episodes have aired before I check them out. I’ve learned that I don’t do too well with the waiting game. And will be checking back to get your thoughts on it 🙂