Currently Watching: Falling for Innocence

Currently Watching

Falling for Innocence

Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay… Assa!!! Aja!! Hurray!! Hallelujah!! Long Live jTCB!

So I was excited about this. Of course I would be when Kim So Yeon - who is one of my very favourite actresses - and Jung Kyung Ho - whom I passionately hated in Sorry I Love You and struggled between hate and love in Jo Myung Jo but finally fell for in Endless Love - which I only finished for him-are there.  So in addition to other supporting actors I like and the fact that it’s a romance comedy on a cable channel, there was no way I wouldn’t be aflame.

I have this syndrome called loving-a-drama-to-death-but-getting-busy-and-putting-it-on-hold-forever. No matter how addicted I would be to a drama, with the little time I have left in my day after work, I would focus on the dramas I write articles on and forget about the others – imagine that I haven’t finished Kill Me, Heal Me yet!. But this drama would have me going back to it each week; I know that much.

I don’t know if it’s the awesome writing, my love for So Yeon or the eccentric and intriguing character of Kang Min Ho but this drama is driving me nuts and I’m loving it with all my existence.

Let’s get to the drama. Ya Park Chohwa, do you think this is your diary or something?!

So our antihero, Kang Min Ho (you should know by now it’s Jung Kyung Ho) is a cruel businessman who only cares about profits and doesn’t give a damn when it comes to people; he’s even nicknamed serial killer. We come to know that Min Ho turned that mean after his uncle betrayed his father causing the father’s death and swallowing his company. Min Ho doesn’t believe in emotions and everything for him is numbers. He has inherited the family disease and has heart problems and a month to live.

After he collapses one night, the miracle he doesn’t believe in happens and he receives a heart that matches - which is 1% possible. After the heart transplant, sudden and strange changes start occurring. Min Ho finds himself drawn to Secretary Kim Sun Jung – whom he abhors because she’s the daughter of a man who betrayed his father and because she’s so loyal to his uncle. Though logically incomprehensible, Min Ho keeps doing things he’s not used to and acquiring habits not his. The phenomenon that cannot be proved scientifically is happening to Min Ho, the memories and habits of the organ donor have been passed to him.

So far not so genuine. I watched the cellular memory theory in The Spring Days of My Life. An as***** transforming into a new man because of love is not a new theme either. Neither is falling in love with the enemy. But…

What makes this role and this story breathtaking is the splendid acting of the versatile actor Jung Kyung Ho. I’ve seen many gorgeous and talented actors acting the cold-blooded rich and handsome young man, but I haven’t seen any like JKH. Suddenly my mind is blank and I can think of no one else, as if he’s the only one I watch playing such a role. His haughtiness and caustic remarks are so real. His hairstyle and wardrobe in the very first episodes match his personality perfectly. Even when he loses his temper or vents his anger he does it with perfect coldness and carelessness. He’s like an ice cube. But then, his struggle between his mind and the heart of another, between his old material self and the novel emotions sweeping over his life and between what he knows to be untrue and impossible but is actually happening. His confused moments with Sun Jung, his encounters with his uncle and his abstruse hatred for Lee Jun Hee (to him since we know the reason) are priceless. Watching him trying to deny what’s happening to him is the most adorable thing ever, and if anyone sees me screaming and jumping as I watch his reactions I’d be admitted to a mental institution immediately.

P.S I’m the biggest lollipop fan and I have a weak spot for guys eating lollipops (Sung Joon in Shut Up: Flower Boy Band is just an example) so to see Jin Goo at the beginning then JKH eating lollipops all the time is like killing me few times a day. I sound like a complete lunatic, don’t I?!

Now to our female lead. How I love Kim So Yeon! I love the independent and strong personality she always plays and it suits her perfectly.

Kim Sun Jeong is a committed and trusted secretary with the utmost diligence and loyalty. Her work comes first but that doesn’t make her neglect her personal relationships or ignore others. She’s happily engaged to the love of her life, Ma Dong Wook (Jin Goo - and if only he stayed! One more episode! My feels!). when Kang Min Ho enters the company her life gets messed up. He involves her into awkward situations and she gets misunderstood which shakes her relationship with the CEO. While she carries Min Ho to the hospital after his collapse, her fiancé dies in the same hospital after a ‘’hit-and-run’’ accident. Her world starts falling apart especially as Min Ho hires her as his personal secretary. Grief-stricken and facing work problems, Sun Jeong can’t even rest a bit because of her psycho boss. But as Min Ho starts acting like her fiancé and she starts getting the same feelings, Sun Jeong is befuddled. She can’t comprehend Min Ho’s actions or their effect over her. And she can’t help worrying about him or wanting to believe him to be a good person.

I would always recommend KSY for any strong female role. Take a look at her previous roles; her awesome and most hateful role in All About Eve, my favourite of her as the agent-in-love inIRIS, the strong and confused doctor in Dr. Champ, the diligent and brilliant Park Jae Kyung in Two Weeks – she was the best thing about the drama - and her funky personality in I Need Romance 3. Kim So Yeon always moulds the character to only fit her. I can’t think of any other actress playing her roles. And in Bad Guys and for the 12 weeks the drama ran, I kept imagining her as Yoo Mi Young. If only!

Her innocent and lovely smile, her determined and solemn look, her angry but composed fits, and her passionate moments of crying make Sun Jeong so real, so believable, and so easy to sympathise with.

Now comes our second lead and the almost-villain. We can guess by now he’s a bad guy but so far his unrequited love for Sun Jeong is covering it.

Lee Jun Hee (Yoon Hyun Min - and how I loved him in Discovery of Romance) is the lawyer of Hermia company. He’s talented and outstanding. But behind the confident mask lies a boy with an inferiority complex who is ashamed of his past, only completes the dirty jobs, and desires to devour the world for his revenge. His one-sided love for his childhood friend Sun Jeong is adding fuel to the fire. He again blames his past and circumstances for not being able to confess his love for her. That love might restrain him from doing bad things at times, but might motivate him at others.

I have never watched YHM play the bad guy – don’t know if he ever acted one - but the cold look into his eyes and the creepy smirk make a great villain material. I’m awaiting more.

The cute characters in the drama are Sun Jeong’s friend Na Ok Hyun, played by Jo Eun Ji - whom I love to bits, and Min Ho’s secretary Oh Woo Shik, played by Lee Shi Eon – whom I love to bits as well. I don’t know why but I’m shipping them together with all my heart.

Do people actually change? Or do they need a miracle to? Is believing and trusting people nonsense made up by dreamers? Since humans are born greedy, shall we turn into the bad guys to satisfy our and their greed? Can we really dream of a world without corruption? What is memory? Do we really feel with our mind? Those who claim that emotions are only some mental process, how far should we trust them? Can everything be scientifically proved? What is love? What do we love: a person, a person’s actions, or a person’s effect on us?! What if two people leave the same effect, does that mean we love both or we love that effect?! How deep shall our trust go? Shall we trust people at all?! Do miracles really exist? To whom?

Every moment of the drama makes us question something and shows us how vulnerable we are.