Thursday, December 12, 2013

The Best Secondary Characters Of 2013


Have you ever gone into a drama and instead of liking the main couple or lead actors, you instead fall in love with one of the supporting characters.  Come on, admit it, it is impossible to not have those warm fuzzy feelings for some of the side characters.  They might have only been on screen a small portion of the drama but your heart and soul are caught and you begin to wish that they were the leads.  I personally am a total sucker for a good actor, especially when they are paired with a good character so here are my top characters that I wish would have their own dramas. Also I don't have plans for doing a breakout performance list for 2013, but if I did then most of these actors would be on it.

Jin Young as Gong Min Kyu - She is wow

Gon Min Kyu was a shining light in an otherwise dismal show.  The only son to two big time celebrities with a sham marriage, he is hidden away in foreign schools because of his lack of grades (He has repeated his senior year multiple times since he keeps getting kicked out of schools) as well as being a reminder of their actual ages.  He comes back to Korea unannounced and begins blackmailing his parents.  You have to really appreciate a character who sees what he wants and lets nothing (not even a really messed up family get in your way).  I really wish the whole show had been about his character since the rest was so messed up and a confusing jumble of plots and ideas.  This drama had plot holes that you could drive a tank through but I stuck it out (only for 10 episodes thank goodness) for Jin Young's amazing performance.   And since this is 100% for sure on my do not watch list I added this scene in.  Getting into trouble at his school he gets sent to the counselor who happens to be his dream girl.  Not letting a fact of age or decorum stop him he slides across the desk and starts making out with her.  LOL  Again I wish we could watch a whole drama just about him because that is one confident kid.



Yoon Hyun Min as Kim Hyun Soo- Heartless City
I LOVED this character with an emphasis on the word LOVE.  This was Yoon Hyun Min's first acting role and he hit it out of the park.  Playing Kim Hyun Soo, super thug extraordinaire and Jung Shi Hyun's BFF/second hand man.  He went through life in Korea's underworld in style and was always identifiable by his bright and stylish clothing.   Hyun Soo goes through hell and back for his BFF and he is one half of one of my favorite Bromances of 2013.  There had been rumors of him taking the 2nd lead in Age of Feeling, however they never panned out so I am still impatiently waiting for his next project.  Crossing my fingers that it is a great one, and maybe if we are lucky he will jump over into the Leading Man slot.


Shi Hyun and Hyun Soo - Epic Bromance MV (warning their are some spoilers but is a seriously awesome FMV)


Choi Woong as Choi Gwang-Soo  in Secret Love
I challenge anyone to say that they did not fall a tiny bit in love with Secretary Gwang Soo in Secret.  Always close by his boss Jo Min Hyuk, Gwang Soo was the super secretary who somehow managed to find out anything his boss required be it women, info, or photos from years in the past.  No request was beyond his ability to fulfill.  I kept thinking how awesome it would be if we could see the same events happen from his perspective.  I imagine it would be more of a comedy since he had one amazingly crazy boss.  Since this is his first character with many scenes actor Choi Woong is still an unknown to me, however I would be interested to see him in a different roll since he sure won my heart in this one.


Kim Yoo Jung as teen Baek Won in Gold Rainbow
This next one is not so much a love of the character per say but the love of this specific actress playing the character.  Kim Yoo Jung is a seasoned performer and has been acting since she was five. She is well known for playing the younger versions of characters in many dramas.  Last year she nailed the part as the younger lead in The Moon Embracing the Sun and everyone was very sad when her character grew up.   And in my opinion she is doing it again in her drama Gold Rainbow where she is playing the teenage version of Baek Won to Uee's adult version.  I am very sad that she is not going to be the main girl all the way through since her heartfelt acting and natural beauty often eclipses her older costars (and since Uee is just an all right actor to begin with I dont see her doing justice to Yoo Jung's younger version.)  I cant wait for the day when she is considered old enough to pull off a lead roll.  I suspect that we are only a year or so shy and I for one am very excited to see her future work.

Kim Yoo Mi as Lee Jin Sook in Heartless City
A hooker with a heart of Gold is a good description for the character of Lee Jin Sook.  One of the leading figures in Seoul's underworld, she made her way up from a street hooker to President of her very own illegal organization.  Secretly in love with her young protege from the streets she kicks butt supporting him in her own way and is as scary as any man while doing it.  It is rare to find a drama which manages to keep a truly strong female character from start to finish but she is one of the very few who accomplished it in 2013.  I kept expecting them to fall back on the standard women scorned cliches but instead I got to enjoy a really well thought out and developed character who had true emotions.  She chose those she loved even when it caused her pain and I can really respect that.  So Kudos on the writers of this drama for writing a truly awesome roll for an actress.


Kim Woo Bin as Choi Young Do in Heirs

Kim Woo Bin has been having an amazing year.  Coming out of one of the best Bromances in the history of Bromances in School 2013, he was signed early as second lead in Heirs.  I was initially sad since I had hope he was going to make that jump into leading man territory rather then do another supporting role but I am so happy he chose to do this character.  Woo Bin plays Choi Young Do the heir to a hotel fortune and all around bad boy. Woo Bin stole the show from his costars (and keep in mind that his costar is Lee "the most perfect man" Min Ho.) and made me wish that he was the lead and going to get the girl.  He is everything that you usually want in a leading kdrama character.  Horrible parents, inner angst, and a slightly sadistic mean streak, he brings a huge edge to a show that would have been very vanilla without his charismatic and slightly scary character.  I just want to know if it is to much to hope that we could see Young Do get his own romance in the future.  I really want to see what kind of girl actually does claim him as her own and of course see him get his happily ever after.  I guess I will just have to wait for him to make that ever important jump to leading man and, if I had to guess, I would say it is very soon given his newly increased popularity among viewers.
There are not really any spoilers since we know who gets the girl in the end of this drama.  It is a Lee Min Ho drama after all but you can get a feel for his chemistry in both of these MV's. 

And just as a special Bonus - Here is Woo Bin doing a cute wake up call in various personas..................  Why they had him do these I have no clue but I am glad they did because he is adorable and can wake me up anytime.


That concludes my list of favorite Secondary Characters.   I hope that all of these actors can use this year as a means to jump into better roles in 2014 and I cant wait to see if my future predictions for their fame come true.  Have a wonderful kdrama filled week and I hope you tune in later this week as I discuss the best and worst Comedies of 2013.

Sincerely,
Kmuse

2 comments:

  1. Seeing as how I've only seen Secret and Heirs from this list, I'll have to limit my agreement to those two alone. Definitely liked the secretary in Secret - he rocked. And Woo Bin as Young Do in Heirs.... yeah. He really did steal the show with how awesome he was. (and I'm now watching School 2013 just for him) I haven't seen the final episode yet, but I sure hope he gets some sort of happy ending, otherwise there might be riots in the streets of Seoul.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You will LOVE School 2013. It was one of my favorite dramas of last year.

      Delete

We love comments! Just please remember to keep it clean and keep it nice or you won't survive the moderation round.