Monday, May 16, 2011

First Impressions: 내게 거짓말을 해봐/Lie to Me


SBS's Monday/Tuesday romantic comedy 내게 거짓말을 해봐/Lie to Me starring the lovely Yoon Eun Hye and dashing Kang Ji Hwan is off with a bang. In this instantiation of the K-rom-com we've got ourselves a bud and an onion. Yoon Eun Hye's character Gong Ah Jung is the flower waiting to bloom and Kang Ji Hwan's Hyun Ki Joon is the onion waiting to be peeled.

I've been really looking forward to seeing Yoon Eun Hye again in a drama. I know she didn't do so hot in her previous drama 아가씨를 부탁해 as a spoiled rich girl, but I think she's now back in her element playing the late-bloomer, girl-next-door. I'd like to believe it's all the training from X-Man that got her to emote so well that 뻔뻔한 당당함 in the face of penultimate humiliation. It's that in conjunction to her naturally quirkiness that makes her so well suited for this type of role.

Kang Ji Hwan plays much the same competent character he portrayed in Coffee House probably because he does masked seething hatred so well. Maybe I'm in part expecting a repeat performance of Coffee House but I'm looking forward to watching his character unfold as the drama progresses. I think I'll be looking for similarities and differences between his two characters.  

I liked the first two episodes that I've watched so far. I like the leads. I like the supporting characters. I even liked the extras. (I thought the CG bees in the first episode was a bit much, but I can live with it as long as they don't use any more CG in the future.) But what I feel was the real hook for me was the way the writers handled this idea of the rumor.

The rumor about the secret marriage between the two leads is the instigating factor that propels the drama forward. The writers did a wonderful job of breathing life into that rumor. I find that dramas often use rumors too opaquely as a plot devices, but I found it refreshing to see a new take on the use of the rumor in drama. In this case, the rumor is not single-sourced. The characters put themselves in many compromising situations that lead to misunderstandings and the substantiation of the rumor. I really appreciated how the drama showed the rumor growing into a story where the rumor spreaders were themselves being absorbed in the motives and reasons and consequences of the people involved. It didn't just stay a pithy remark about the shameful or blameworthy actions of the individuals. I am pleasantly surprised to see that the rumor has almost legitimately become another character in the story.

I am very excited about this drama. I have high hopes for it and I really hope it will deliver. Now I just have to live through the torture of waiting for the next episodes to air.

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