A few more leaks re: Nice Guy
Saw att123 wishing for more spoilers, and the k-drama gods must have heard her prayers because we've had leaks today which shed more light on what we know so far. I was a little skeptical of the spoilers last week but we've had some additional confirmation since then (eg. the cast & crew's cafe @ Daum recently referring to some props for Maru's [Spoiler (click to open)]"med student" scenes) and today's leaks provide more context. It's mostly information on the characters' family backgrounds and, for now, tells us more about Jae-Hee (Park Si-Yeon's character) than Maru (Song Joong-Ki's) and Eun-Gi (Moon Chae-Won's) per se. But it's all starting to come together and it's... intriguing:
* Maru's father's a renowned gigolo in the neighborhood, his mother the 'typical' long-suffering, too-good-to-be-true wife. He's on a get-to-know jaunt in Hong Kong with a rich, married woman, neglecting his wife in the last month of her pregnancy, when the rich woman's p*ssed-off husband sends some goons to demolish their home. The poor woman's cowering under the floor (maru; if you're familiar with han-ok's, you know maru's are built above the ground) when she goes into labor to the consternation of these goons. Both mother and newborn are rushed to the hospital but the mother dies eventually, leaving her hopeless husband as the sole caretaker of their baby, ie. Maru.
Maru's described as taking after his father but that just might be looks (and charm). Someone else who's had a peek at the scripts says his character really takes shape from the 2nd ep. and, if writer Lee Kyung-Hee can work her magic, could be as vulnerably appealing as her other male heroes.
Which makes sense, because if he's indeed a med student [confirmed] and then goes to jail for Jae-Hee [unconfirmed], imagine the willpower it must have taken for him to build a better life for himself, only to abandon it all for the woman he loved who ends up jilting him. Yeah, could be drama gold, if done right.
* Eun-Gi's parents are no better, albeit much more affluent than Maru's. In their case, it was an unhappy marriage of alliance, though Eun-Gi's father appears to have loved his wife from afar for a long time. It's just that she was in love with someone else, someone much poorer with few prospects, and her own father spared no effort (resorting to blackmail and kidnapping) to break up that relationship. So it was a loveless marriage, on her part anyway, which pushed Eun-Gi's father to seek other women, and he doesn't even believe Eun-Gi's his daughter when his wife tells him she's pregnant.
Per script peekaboo person, Eun-Gi initally comes across as a "real b*tch" but again, if the writing and acting rise to the challenge, has the potential to be a really interesting character. And possibly much more vertiginous than Maru and Jae-Hee, with the two traumatic events ahead (amnesia + when she finds out Maru's been duping her).
* Jae-Hee's mother's a prostitute, who doesn't even know who fathered her children (Jae-Hee has a brother). Jae-Hee's a stunningly beautiful, alluring woman who aspires to be a Barbara Walters-like personality. She's very ambitious and driven, pushing herself through schools with little sleep, hard work and temp jobs. She's always impeccably dressed so her friends have no problem believing she's from a wealthy background. But then one day, her brother shows up asking for money to pay for his gambling debts and, when she refuses, drags her to a pimp who's had his eye on Jae-Hee for some time. She narrowly escapes them and finds refuge at Maru's place (not clear whether they've known each other before or if this is their first meeting).
This is all very OTT but, like with any drama, whether it triggers eye-rolls or we're completely reeled in will hinge on execution. And I can definitely see the appeal for the actors. Which makes me want to see whether they can make it work (though clearly they're going to need a lot of help from the writer and PD too).
ETA. The other news that really piqued my interest? That Moon Chae-Won's role model for this is Shim Eun-Ha. And that can only mean she's watching or at the very least drawing inspiration (whatever that means) from Shim's sublime work in Trap of Youth (in which her character's betrayed by her boyfriend before losing their daughter in a tragic accident), which was her last role before retirement. The legendary "I will destroy you" scene in which she tells him their daughter's dead and vows revenge for his failure to show up (didn't believe her when told it was critical and chose to spend time with his fiancee instead):
* Maru's father's a renowned gigolo in the neighborhood, his mother the 'typical' long-suffering, too-good-to-be-true wife. He's on a get-to-know jaunt in Hong Kong with a rich, married woman, neglecting his wife in the last month of her pregnancy, when the rich woman's p*ssed-off husband sends some goons to demolish their home. The poor woman's cowering under the floor (maru; if you're familiar with han-ok's, you know maru's are built above the ground) when she goes into labor to the consternation of these goons. Both mother and newborn are rushed to the hospital but the mother dies eventually, leaving her hopeless husband as the sole caretaker of their baby, ie. Maru.
Maru's described as taking after his father but that just might be looks (and charm). Someone else who's had a peek at the scripts says his character really takes shape from the 2nd ep. and, if writer Lee Kyung-Hee can work her magic, could be as vulnerably appealing as her other male heroes.
Which makes sense, because if he's indeed a med student [confirmed] and then goes to jail for Jae-Hee [unconfirmed], imagine the willpower it must have taken for him to build a better life for himself, only to abandon it all for the woman he loved who ends up jilting him. Yeah, could be drama gold, if done right.
* Eun-Gi's parents are no better, albeit much more affluent than Maru's. In their case, it was an unhappy marriage of alliance, though Eun-Gi's father appears to have loved his wife from afar for a long time. It's just that she was in love with someone else, someone much poorer with few prospects, and her own father spared no effort (resorting to blackmail and kidnapping) to break up that relationship. So it was a loveless marriage, on her part anyway, which pushed Eun-Gi's father to seek other women, and he doesn't even believe Eun-Gi's his daughter when his wife tells him she's pregnant.
Per script peekaboo person, Eun-Gi initally comes across as a "real b*tch" but again, if the writing and acting rise to the challenge, has the potential to be a really interesting character. And possibly much more vertiginous than Maru and Jae-Hee, with the two traumatic events ahead (amnesia + when she finds out Maru's been duping her).
* Jae-Hee's mother's a prostitute, who doesn't even know who fathered her children (Jae-Hee has a brother). Jae-Hee's a stunningly beautiful, alluring woman who aspires to be a Barbara Walters-like personality. She's very ambitious and driven, pushing herself through schools with little sleep, hard work and temp jobs. She's always impeccably dressed so her friends have no problem believing she's from a wealthy background. But then one day, her brother shows up asking for money to pay for his gambling debts and, when she refuses, drags her to a pimp who's had his eye on Jae-Hee for some time. She narrowly escapes them and finds refuge at Maru's place (not clear whether they've known each other before or if this is their first meeting).
This is all very OTT but, like with any drama, whether it triggers eye-rolls or we're completely reeled in will hinge on execution. And I can definitely see the appeal for the actors. Which makes me want to see whether they can make it work (though clearly they're going to need a lot of help from the writer and PD too).
ETA. The other news that really piqued my interest? That Moon Chae-Won's role model for this is Shim Eun-Ha. And that can only mean she's watching or at the very least drawing inspiration (whatever that means) from Shim's sublime work in Trap of Youth (in which her character's betrayed by her boyfriend before losing their daughter in a tragic accident), which was her last role before retirement. The legendary "I will destroy you" scene in which she tells him their daughter's dead and vows revenge for his failure to show up (didn't believe her when told it was critical and chose to spend time with his fiancee instead):