After the long reign of melodramas in Kdrama industry, romantic comedy made its way to the peak. Now, Korean dramas, as well as Taiwanese are known for having light plots, bringing laughter and cuteness to the viewers most of the time.
But recently, I’m seeing a lot of Koreanovelas with a heavy and much more dramatic, darker plot. Those dramas remind me of Filipino teleserye -the goons and guns, the greed for money and power, the violence and the ‘you-badly-want-to-go-to-hell’ villains. Producers may now want to try these kind of themes, giving Korean dramas a new face, offering fresh stories to their viewers. But really, I’m tired with these kind of things. The light story and irresistible cuteness are the main reasons I love Asian dramas. But even though I hate the idea so much, I think I will be seeing less of these for the time being.
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| The Innocent Man (Courtesy of KBS2) |
As I try to embrace this new face of Kdrama, I watched The Innocent Man. The popularity of the series made me curious about it. Another thing, I kind of love how Song Joong Ki acts in Sungkyunkwan Scandal. To see another side of him in a more serious and mature role seemed interesting.
Surprisingly for someone who love light dramas, I seemed to like this series a lot. It didn’t make me laugh as often as my favorite rom-com dramas did but there’s something about this series that makes you want to watch it over again! And I find that so ironic. Haha.
I can’t think of a reason but maybe I like how this drama brings pain in my chest to the point that I can hardly breathe. I remember shedding tears as well. (I don’t know why and when I started to become a cry-baby when watching Asianovelas. Before, I couldn’t seem to shed even just a single tear when I’m watching dramas like One Liter of Tears.)
The actors and actresses are great. No doubt about that. They gave justice to the roles they played. It’s great that even though its heavy-themed, there’s no “de-kahon na karakter” (purely black or white characters). What Filipino dramas need is to get rid of it. Even in real life, people are not extremely bad nor good. They do not do unjust things just because they are born villains. On the other hand, being a martyr has a limit as well.
That’s why I like the character So Eun Gi. She’s strong and smart, opposite from the typical weak, super kind, “Maria Clara” heroines. I understand why she finds herself hateful but I still adore her personality. Eun Gi left me wondering if someday I lost all my memories and I’m getting to know who I am little by little from the people around me or maybe from this blog and other social networking accounts, will I find myself someone who I really wanted to be? Will I be satisfied finding out who [insert my name here] is? Will I change? I wonder…I wonder… I wonder…
Going back to the drama, if there’s a thing I do not like about the story is how the writer used the “n-years-later” strategy to skip the aftermath of the climax. That’s for me is cowardice. But yeah, there’s no perfect drama after all.
Well, to sum it up, even though it might be new to you like it is to me, I do not deter you from watching heavy-themed Korean dramas. If you want to get started, just keep a box of tissue beside you. No, just kidding! If you want to try these genre, I suggest The Innocent Man to be included in your list. It’s good and I highly recommend it.
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