Thorn Birds - I finally check out one of the new kdramas
And flist faints that I am watching something that is not a period cdrama.
But I really liked the first ep.
Make no mistake, TB is definitely makjang. A darker, more grown-up take, but still...It also reminds me of my favorite old-fashioned melos, with a saintly strong heroine and a completely ruthless and ambitious evil other girl, multiple birth secrets, revenge, men as pawns to the ladies etc.
So if you are looking for a romcom, this is probably not a drama for you. But as it is, it appears crisply written (it drew me in with the first five minutes) and, at least, if the cast has got to do some emotional acting, they got a bunch of heavy-hitters with Han Hye Jin as the protagonist, who seems saintly but with a spine of streel (she's secretly raising nemesis and hero's baby, people!), Kim Min Jung as her former best friend and now nemesis, Joo Sang Wook as a man involved with both of them, and Seo Do Young as the marginally saner second male lead.
More importantly, this got me emotionally involved. I am already rooting for the heroine to demolish her nemesis, to kick the male lead in the face, and to triumph over everyone.
KMJ is a truly underrated actress and I love seeing her on my screen again. Once again, she was barely on-screen (most of the ep was childhood flashback) but even in those minutes she left quite an impression on me - of selfishness and awfulness but also a certain kind of desperate mental fragility. Oh, she is going to be fun and complex to hate!
The male lead. I sort of hate his present-day character already even though we've only seen him for two minutes. I am spoiled from the trailers/promos because he was seduced away by the nemesis and while the nemesis is evil for doing it because she knew heroine liked him and probably did it because of it, it takes two to tango - he's the one who enthusiasticaly shoved his tongue down nemesis' throat after all. And even now he doesn't seem to want to look for heroine but is nemesis-fixated. His childhood self was kinda sweet though and if Giant is any indication, JSW is perfect at playing bastards you start out hating only to make you love him madly later. Good casting, drama!
Seo Do Young hadn't had much to do yet other than to be gorgeous but I am just glad to see him on my screen. I have no idea why he as leading man didn't take off - Spring Waltz is my favorite romantic kdrama of all time - but I'll take seeing him any way I can get.
So yes, first ep is definitely good and this goes on my "watch watch watch" list. I'll probably try to hoard at least first 5-6 eps to binge but we'll see how long that resolution holds.
Now I am off to try to find some version of Royal Family subs.