Nice Guy, ep. 1
For the first time in my life, I think I actually understand what it means to watch a drama purely for superficial reasons. 'course, if the writing, the acting, the direction had been wretched, I'd either be going out of my mind or ditching it faster than you can say 'adios', but despite some problems, Nice Guy is far from a wretched entry (I'd give the first episode 7/10) and I find myself just wanting to stare at Song Joong-Ki than get all analytical. I'm not even listening to him (and this is coming from someone who thinks his voice, and delivery, is one of his best assets ever, even trumping his looks at times), I... let's just say I could spend hours just watching him, which, given what his character's like in Nice Guy, suggests mission accomplished. (I didn't feel this way with Tree With Deep Roots or Sungkyunkwan Scandal.)
But enough with embarrassing myself.
I think my problem with episode 1 is that it felt like it was still trying to find an equilibrium between Lee Kyung-Hee's melodramatic writing & characterizations and PD Kim Jin-Won's understated direction (which is also closer to Song Joong-Ki's own instincts as an actor). I was hoping they'd complement each other, but I don't think they've found a middle ground yet and it doesn't help that episode 1 moves very, very fast. But the follow-up eps. are meant to revisit what they jumped through, and if they can do that well and flesh out the characters more, I can overlook some of the problems in episode 1 in their desire to be where they wanted to be at the end of the episode. It's not a perfect fit yet, but I love what Song Joong-Ki and Moon Chae-Won bring to the table and I really need LKH to make the best of these two talents and their chemistry. I'm not as happy with Park Si-Yeon but... we'll see.