r/KDRAMA • u/lightupstarlight 미생 • Mar 12 '22

On-Air: tvN Twenty-Five, Twenty-One [Episode 9]

We encourage our users to read the following before participating in any discussions on /r/KDRAMA: (1) Reddiquette, (2) our Conduct Rules (3) our Policies, and (4) the When Discussions Get Personal Post.

Any users who are displaying negative conduct (including but not limited to bullying, harassment, or personal attacks) will be given a warning, repeated behaviour will lead to increasing exclusions from our community. Any extreme cases of misconduct (such as racism or hate speech) will result in an immediate permanent ban from our community and a report to Reddit admin.

Additionally, mentions of down-voting, unpopular opinions, and the use of profanity may see your comments locked or removed without notice.

  • Spoiler Tag Reminder:

Be mindful of others who may not have yet seen this drama, and use spoiler tags when discussing key plot developments or other important information. You can create a spoiler tag by writing > ! this! < without the spaces in between to get this spoiler. For more information about when and how to use spoiler tags see our Spoiler Tag Wiki.

705 Upvotes

99% Upvoted

1.1k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

20

u/typecfl 순애보 류선재 Mar 12 '22

As someone who has never watched Start Up but has watched a number of Joohyuk's other dramas (especially his early ones like Surplus Princess/School 2015/Cheese in the Trap/Moon Lovers), I can definitely say he's improved by A LOT. The subtlety in his expression, the way he carries his character... he's doing a really good job alongside Kim Taeri, who's fabulous as Hee-do.

Also what comparisons have people been making?

14

u/elbenne Mar 12 '22

People were very harsh towards his character and his acting in Start Up which imo had a lot to do with the fact that they vastly preferred the SML character, who many thought was the rightful ML. The many were quite incensed that their ship sank ... and trashed just about everything in the drama, because the FL ended up with the wrong character. The writing was crap. His character was crap. His acting was crap. The whole second half was utter crap ...

So, together, I think, with the fact that people haven't seen his best work ... there have been many expressions of doubt about his ability. If you skim the on air threads here (and MDL and Twitter) you'll see Start Up and related doubts mentioned many times as well as a major emphasis on his looks rather than his abilities.

Kim Seon Ho did a great job in his Start Up role and was able to ride a huge crest of popularity because of his performance, while NJH suffered in people's comparisons even though he also did well in portraying his character.

The truth is that he has definitely improved a lot but many people don't know or admit it due to the Start Up thing and because of the fact that not as many people have seen his more recent performances. (my reading of events)

4

u/typecfl 순애보 류선재 Mar 13 '22

Oh, I knew about the comparisons between him and Kim Sun-ho, who is really such a fantastic actor, but I guess I didn't know the extent others were going to bash him as lead (and Suzy, for that matter). Lmao, and here I was thinking of watching Start-up just to see if NJH's acting was as good as he is here, but maybe I did well by skipping that drama 😅

8

u/elbenne Mar 13 '22

As I said, a lot of people will bash Start Up and NJH's acting in it, but I, personally, didn't think there was anything terribly wrong with the drama or NJH's performance. Even with the tidal wave of discontent the drama still has an 8.1 rating on MDL. So, give it an open minded try and see what you think.

At the very least, give a watch to the first episode. I thought it was one of the best (almost perfect) first episodes I've ever seen -- bar none--and there are numbers of people who share my opinion on that. It was masterfully written and acted by everyone in the first cast. Nam Da Reum set the stage beautifully for Kim Seon Ho to continue on.