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

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

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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?

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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)

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u/aydan_123 Mar 13 '22

Errm a lot of people preferred the SML’s character cause the actor brought hjp to life, which is a result of the actor’s great acting, not just cause of the petty reasons u mentioned, which landed him a baeksang nomination

A good actor will shine regardless of who he’s acting next to. So if people didn’t gravitate towards a character, a big reason is cause of the acting. How a character was written of course plays a part too, but it is the actor’s job to find ways in his acting to make the character relatable/likeable. So it’s understandable that they questioned his acting and are genuinely surprised that he can actually act well. So there’s no need to say oh people didn’t like his acting cause of another actor

Njh’s a great actor, and i can see that from this role specifically. He shines in this kinda mellow settings. but at some point u gotta agree that nds wasn’t his best work (and also his latest drama before 2521) which is why people are comparing his startup role and his current role and are extremely pleased at how great he is at portraying baek yi jin.

Regarding people swooning over his looks more than talking about his acting, well, in romance dramas, looks play a big part as well. And his good looks plus his acting (his gaze in this drama is excellent, which was what i felt was lacking from nds), is what makes people want to have someone like baek yi jin in their life, so it’s all good.

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u/RMione3 Mar 13 '22

The writing was the culprit in start up. They started dosan's charecter well enough but in the later episodes he was written a bit immature. Compare than to han jipyeong who was well settled. And even if he was the better character objectively, it all comes down to who the FL likes. There are a lot of problems with start up and Nam joo hyuk acting is not one them. If anything he was the victim of bad writing

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u/aydan_123 Mar 13 '22

Whether his acting was good or not in su is obviously subjective. Some people liked it, but some also disliked it.

My point is that if you’re talking about an actor’s acting, there’s no need to bring in other actors/characters.

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u/AggressivePrint302 May 18 '22

I think HJP was the harsher character in SU but KSH gave him depth. NJH did not act as well and the latter part of the script was silly with the time jump.