I don’t watch all that many Korean action/spy shows and I’m especially hesitant to watch any while they are airing. So many have gone wonky at some point, one way or the other. There’s just often too much of The Stupid in them. Yes, most action shows tend to be the same world over. Plenty of explosions, car chases, violence that tends to lean on the gratuitous side and so forth, pretty basic stuff. To make any show stand out in a sea of similar content, is the writing, execution and actors. I know there are plenty of people who are happy with just “thrills per minute” but I get bored if there is nothing else to latch onto. I want a good , engaging story no matter what the genre is!
The Veil… no, I refuse to call the drama that. I don’t know why they decided NOT to go with Black Sun as it’s pretty much what the original Korean title 검은 태양 means (검은 = black, dark). So, I’ll stick to that.
Got to admit that the main draw of Black Sun was Namgoong Min. He’s just so mesmerising in this type of roles, even when the drama itself doesn’t come up to much. I’m eternally thankful to who or what made NGM play serial killers few years back as those roles seemed to unlock something. He was so bland and generally came off as smarmy before. 😀 Well, Namgoong Min delivers again. If the show falters it ain’t gonna be because of him. He’s turned out to be quite the action star too, his fight scenes are impressive. I’ve read that he trained physically really hard for the role. Going method paid off as he looks very, very fit.
I didn’t have any real expectations of Black Sun, it could just as easly be a hit as a miss. I’ve had way more of the latter over the years. I’ve now watched all 4 aired episodes and I’m hesitantly optimistic. It’s a solid start, I’d say. I also didn’t abuse the ff-button nearly as much as I usually do these days, I guess that says something.^^ The story so far seems to be pretty standard fare but it’s fast paced and has a complex enough plot, with interesting characters who are all hiding something. Like NGM’s amnesiac agent, we can’t take any of them at face value. I’ve seen people harping about Park Ha Sun and Kim Ji Eun’s characters but I don’t have any beef with either of them, at this point anyway. As expected, there’s also quite a bit of violence right of the bat and I’d like them to scale it back somewhat. I don’t think we need to see all the gory details going forward, they pretty much used all of the shock value already.
Right now I’m quite looking forward to new episodes of Black Sun. I haven’t watched much of kdrama in the past couple of years and many of those I tried out were given Das Boot very early on. This could be a keeper but only time will tell.
A Touch of Drama 
I read positive things about this drama, and from the snippets i’ve seen of it, Namgoong Min looks completely convincing, but it also sounds too dark and serious for my mood at the moment… On a side note, i chuckled at your ‘smarmy’ description of him. I haven’t watched much of his works, much less his leading roles, but i think i did have that impression, too. 🤭😅
And yes, not reaching for the ff button much while watching a drama is definitely a good sign for me, too. 🙂
Ooh, glad to hear you’re enjoying a drama, Timescout!! I’m curious about this one coz I’ve finally grown NGM appreciating eyes, after Stove League. 😅 I so agree with you that he used to be really bland! What an excellent turnaround!
Ah, I’ve watched few others as well, none of which I felt compelled to write a separate post for. I’m planing on doing another grab bag post for those. Hopefully sooner rather than later.
Oh yes, my appreciation of NGM has risen by each of his projects. He’s proven to be pretty good with all sorts of genres, but action really seems to suit him. 😁