Found out the Soompi forums were killed by the site for whatever (I'm sure bullshit) reason, and I went looking for something from the Jang Hyuk thread on the Internet Archive. Turns out one of the pages saved from oblivion was one to which I posted a giant fangirl screed/survey, so I decided to preserve that silliness here for posterity.
Since we’ll be waiting a while until the new film comes out, I thought it might be fun to do some listy survey questions about JH’s work/characters and maybe prompt some thoughts/discussion. Totally not serious and half of it is just fangirling, so let’s try to argue light-heartedly. I do get to a bit of an embarrassingly terminal fangirling level, in fact, but I figure this is the right place for that.
(Top three for each, in order, with #1 being the highest)
(I was originally going to have five works/characters for each category, but I decided to cut down to try to keep it a semi-reasonable length lol. It was also somehow making it harder to choose my favourite and best work lists, so I went with three.)
Overall Best Work (taken as a whole, the highest quality across all aspects of the production and the best execution)
Your Favourite Work (because I think favourite and best are distinct categories; so this is for those shows/films you love in spite of undeniable flaws, or which just appeal a lot to you personally despite not being anything groundbreaking, or one particular aspect is way too good for the rest of it, etc. AKA: these are the ones you like and rewatch the most even if they’re not necessarily the first ones you would recommend to a non-fan or defend as being Great Art)
Best JH Performance (trying to be ‘objective’ here, looking for what you think best demonstrates his skill, range, and craft rather than just the characters we liked the most; the one you’d show someone to convince them he’s a great actor)
Bonus Extra Shallow Round: Most Beautiful Role (as in Sheer Peak Physical Beauty without taking into account how much you enjoyed the story or performance and whether the character's personality would be off-putting or unattractive irl: pure pretty factor)
My answers (and I’ll apologise in advance for length even though I will try not to write too much):
3. Beautiful Mind (the plot is chaotic and OTT and there’s a bunch of dangling threads that didn’t get resolved, plus the abrupt shift in focus away from the murder mystery- a lot of big structural problems. But it has some of the best dialogue and deepest characterisation I’ve ever seen in a kdrama, with a universally interesting and engaging supporting cast, so it makes up for a lot of its weaknesses. Characters > plot for me, and the character arcs are really strong if you give them a chance to get going. The radical tone switch around the middle is rough, but the show ends up much better for it. One of the few shows that would have benefited from more episodes- and I mean even more than the original 16 before it was cut down- though ideally with better planning as well.)
2. Robber (brave, gritty, idealistic; its unusual groundedness and willingness to be ugly makes its determined optimism infinitely more impactful, there are some scenes that I find so incredibly touching that I'll never forget them. I’ve got a huge problem with the last five episodes, but it’s a rare gem despite the shaky landing.)
1. Money Flower (at last no caveats; it's just phenomenal. the race is not close for me, this is the one time the writing is every bit as good as all the best parts of the rest of the production. The only kdrama I have ever watched where I was never once annoyed with how it chose to use its screentime or tempted to let my attention wander; the direction, the acting, the writing, the cinematography, the score- it's so good, so purposeful, so intelligent, so artistically sumptuous. It comes the closest I've seen any long, serialised drama get to being actually perfect. The only flaw is that the last two episodes have some issues in execution. The actual ending was sublime, though, so ultimately those flaws are very minor. I'd give it every award.)
3. Shine or Go Crazy (I have an acrimonious love/hate relationship with this show, but there are parts of it which cater directly to me personally that I’ve already watched a bunch of times and will definitely keep coming back to in future; so it really belongs on my list and it’s certainly more fun than not as long as you're willing to practice some forbearance and ignore the stupid ending)
2. Tell Me What You Saw (the main mystery ends up being fairly ridiculous and the overarching plot has many flaws, but the pacing is excellent and every individual episode is really entertaining, the characters have tonnes of potential and I love the dynamic between Oh Hyun Jae and Cha Soo Young even though I would have liked for it to be developed a lot more. It’s perfect shipping fodder for me and they did give me plenty to work with there. The show also has a wonderful, very satisfying emotional ending for the leads and doesn’t do anything to ruin its themes or suddenly change the stakes, so it’s a nice, consistent comfort watch in a sea of dramas that give me whiplash. I can rewatch over and over without wanting to skip anything, which is pretty rare.)
1. Fated to Love You (once again I have serious plot complaints, but the strength of the characters and the fact that the show is so fresh and clever and full of heart means it ultimately transcends its problems; it's really special. This calibre of characterisation and acting applied to classic romcom tropes played with total sincerity is priceless. It’s a screwball comedy that takes its story and characters seriously and it endears itself to me immensely by being about a couple who are both genuinely loveable and actually good for each other and organically push each other's arcs. This is how you write fairytale romance.)
3. Dae-gil, Chuno (I've already written an essay and I'm not even halfway done watching, so I'll refrain from getting into it here)
2. Bang-won, My Country (he elevates the entire show, that disappointing quagmire of directionless fictional leads and underdeveloped fictional relationships unable to compete with way more interesting historical figures, which does not deserve how good this character is or how good this performance is; he's mesmerising throughout but his last thirty seconds were world-class storytelling conveying novels worth of introspection using only his face. It is 100% worth watching solely for him, he carries the whole thing on his back.)
1. Pil Joo, Money Flower (on a completely different level, the restraint and subtlety and absolute command of his whole body down to every micro-expression and the very blood in his veins are like nothing else. I thought JH was super charismatic and very talented before watching MF, but I had no idea he was capable of that kind of total mastery. I didn't realise he was a generational artist. Hands down, no contest, the best performance I've ever seen in a drama and one of the best I've ever seen, period. It's never showy, you can never 'see' him acting, he inhabits the character to the point artifice disappears. He is so tightly controlled, everything kept beneath the surface, yet he radiates energy. It's the most contained, deliberate, nuanced performance he's ever done and the magnetism is off the charts. Never a single misstep. Career best so far, imo.)
3. Wang So (the contrast between his brilliance and his badassery with his playfulness and compassion, the secret identity and flipping from affable to dangerous, the epic hero moments, the clever political chess- great stuff. this is one of my all-time favourite archetypes and he's so good at it. I've got criticisms of this character and this performance, but I do also love him/it a lot. This is my crack and like I said, I will be watching it over and over forever.)
2. Lee Gun (so weird but so wonderful. He is considerate, deeply kind, and mature in a way you almost never see in romantic leading men. In other ways, obviously, he is hilariously immature, but the fact that he’s such a guilelessly nice, supportive person who addresses things directly and is honest about his emotions is precious to me. That he's so reasonable and undramatic about taking responsibility even when he doesn't have to or arguably shouldn't. It sounds bizarre to say given how he comes off at first, but Gun is a sensitive gentleman and a knight in shining armour in the full, best, and unironic sense of those terms while still being a well-rounded, flawed, believable human being.)
1. Bang-won (my precious, precious sad murder prince, he’s so upset about what a ruthless jerk he is and yet he feels unable to choose differently because he’s inexorably destined for kingship by birth, conviction, and temperament; he’s so self-aware and he is the only character in this whole show who has a consistent moral standard to which he holds himself accountable, knowing he’ll be lonely and guilt-ridden because of the things he does but pressing on because too much has already been sacrificed to let it be for nothing- he achieves his ultimate victory at huge cost and immediately cries about it despite masterminding and executing the whole thing with relentless determination- I love him so much. He is magnificent.)
3. Pil Joo (ultra-capable, unflappable genius who is secretly a socially stunted emotional trainwreck deeply, self-sabotagingly in love with a woman of opposite strengths and weaknesses: yes, please. Super powerful men who are also extremely vulnerable and fragile in specific ways are my favourite.)
2. Bang-won (so scary, so majestic; needs a hug. When he was in all white with his hair down I thought I might die of angelic prettiness. He looks so good in white?? It suits him. And then he touches his throat and glares murderously and fjdkfjkdjk.)
1. Oh Hyun Jae (you might be sensing a pattern. He’s brilliant, he’s troubled, he broods and plays mind games from on high, and he’s always 17 steps ahead of you. I love him. OHJ is absurdly OP in the best possible way and it is so SO sexy, this is like the fictional character version of a guilty pleasure except that I don't feel guilty. Once again ultra-capable, once again an emotional trainwreck who is a complete disaster outside of his ‘mission’. Profoundly insightful and perceptive, masterful in manipulation, but a total failboat at normal human interaction because the giant brain does not switch off and has alienated him from others. He’s so cool, everything he does is effortless and awesome, he can beat the living daylights out of dozens of dudes or scale a wall without breaking a sweat but then he’s incurably awkward with the girl he likes even though she’s already his fiancée in the brief scene we get of them together. When Soo Young calls him on his lack of tact or boundaries after he has begun to respect and value her, he gives her this helpless ‘...welp’ expression like he has no idea how to proceed. He looks like an anime character, he’s unrealistically gorgeous and stylish, but there’s still so much brokenness and vulnerability there. Irresistible! He feels things very, very deeply and takes them to utterly to heart without knowing how to moderate or express his emotions in a healthy way. Isu and then Soo Young put him in touch with his humanity and help him connect by refusing to be frozen out of empathising with him.)
3. Shine or Go Crazy: I could write an entire dissertation on this show and its inexplicable choice to constantly undercut its own enjoyability. There's a lot to unpack. One thing that is pretty simple, though, is that at the point in the series where JH's own hair had grown long enough for them to use his real hairline and fringe and he started dressing as a prince all the time it became 1000% worth watching no matter how uneven the quality was. I'm usually totally against facial hair, but it works for him and he is so stunning that it is legitimately distracting. I'd forget to follow the dialogue because I was staring at him. No joke, for real. He's too beautiful for me to pay attention to the plot. The hairstyle, the robes, the regal bearing; it's so much. It takes like 10 episodes to arrive, but holy crap it's a good look when it gets there. You sat through the bad wigs and other iffy choices at the beginning, now you're rewarded. He actively doesn't seem real he's so perfect; mind-boggling to think he was nearly 40 because there are times So looks insanely young.
Anyway, there's apparently debate about whether he was hot in this? Really??:
Reallllllllllllllyyyy??? Not from me, son. Top tier. 11/10. Would marry would definitely not abandon him to a life of loneliness prophesied to make him lose his mind without me for literally no reason /shitty ending butthurt.
And just like with Bang-won, the longer his real hair got, the better he looked. It's also good because they stopped covering his skin with foundation and did a thin, natural make-up. I like to be able to see that freckle under his lower lip that lines up with the one in his cupid's bow. Ever since someone pointed it out on Instagram, I always look for it lol. SoGC and BM are where you can see it best. Am I in too deep yet? I'm also obsessed with the beauty mark on his neck.
2. Innocent Thing- the movie was very messy and doesn't seem to know what it wants to say, but wow that kiss was hot and wow he looked good. One could argue the best thing about this film is its casting because the actors were all phenomenal- way better than the confused story really deserved, and it's certainly appropriate that JH is playing a mania-inducing heartthrob the girls all lose their minds over. If anything, they're underplaying how insanely attractive he is, especially for a captive audience at an all-girl school.
1. Robber; this, imo, is his beauty at its peak. The pinnacle of how perfect his face can be, a Renaissance Angel level of serene perfection, with no babyfat and the full glory of his cheekbones and jawline on show. It’s amazing how significantly slight changes in his weight show in his face and how different he can seem just from that, but to me around this level is where he looks his absolute best. Traffic-stopping gorgeous. When he’s bulkier (like MF or BM) some of that glorious bone structure is obscured and the planes of his face aren’t as sharply defined, which takes the ethereal sublime perfection down a notch from the unbearable to the merely super duper pretty. When he’s shredded he gets so painfully beautiful you can barely look directly at him, like looking into the sun.
The only quibble I have about his look in Robber is that some of the fashion is a bit questionable and his hair I go back and forth on. I do really like it, I will take any longish hair except that horrible hairspray helmet from the Chinese drama, but it's also covering his forehead and he nearly always looks better if most of his forehead is showing. The straight-across-fringe bowlcuts are so tragically unflattering people can almost be forgiven for not noticing how handsome he is. Almost.
Although, probably his real most beautiful moments aren’t dramas at all but that show where he was wearing the yellow jacket from 2010 and the 'This is Your Life' style show with his childhood crush and other people from his past.
I don't think any drama has ever fully capitalised on how staggeringly gorgeous he can actually be. They always tend to rough him up a bit. Except maybe Tell Me What You Saw. Oh Hyun Jae is peak aesthetic with his natural porcelain white skin, flawless long flowing hair, slick all-black wardrobe, and perpetual shades. But they're definitely prioritising him looking cool rather than pretty, cool was the intent. It's just that he's naturally so pretty that the Matrix-esque coolness they were going for makes him look like a gothic romance hero who should be constantly surrounded by shoujo bubbles.
Okay, I'm now officially ashamed of myself for this post
turnnoffyourmind
jimmyeatworldofficial
blakekathryn
yousharknotpass
ellievsbear
