I now know from experience that I can’t really get into a drama if it’s still airing and I have to stay tuned every week. I know that’s part of the whole point in serial dramas, but it just doesn’t work out for me and K-dramas. Dramas that have a whole bunch of eps for me to marathon? Let’s talk. Watching a drama straight from ep 1 to its finale? No go. (BOF was the worst experience of my life, seriously. Why did I put myself through that?)

So I’m kind of following along with Partner, but I’m not into it at all. Maybe I’ll wait until the entire series is over and then I’ll watch everything after subs come out. For now, I do know that the story is hella weak and that making this drama a career-driven show about lawyers isn’t very helpful at all. The cast is pretty strong, but when the story is boring, a good cast isn’t enough. I think Lee Dong Wook and Kim Hyun Joo have pretty decent chemistry but the storyline between the two feels contrived. Also, LDW is really not so great with emoting anger, and Kim Hyun Joo is not so great with crying without resorting to shouting while tearing.

But hey, after this show is over, Yoon Eun Hye’s thingamajig is gonna start and I’m excited to see how that goes. Will post more when I actually pay attention to Partner again.

Out of all the zingy career-oriented serials, law stuff never caught my eye. I’ve watched a lot of Greys’ Anatomy, House, and Alias, but could never go back to try out Boston Legal or Law and Order. So, with Partner, there was undoubtedly a lot of law talk. Lots of propositions, explanation of law terminology and at the moment, with only having watched 2 episodes, I’m not exactly loving or attentively following the law case story lines. Admittedly, I did get a lot more invested in the case starting in the second episode, but I’m not completely wow’ed yet.

But, I am very interested in how convincing a secondary female lead Honey Lee will play, and how good the chemistry will be between Lee Dong Wook’s Lee Tae-jo and his hyung, the secondary male lead. Onto some introductions & thoughts on the eps!

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I’ve watched the first two episodes of Partner and I’ll get around to recapping/reviewing those, but just the mere watching of Lee Dong Wook in something new makes me superbly happy. So happy that I rewatched “My Girl” just for him. (I just have to say — of all the old-ish K-drama classics that almost everyone watches after they get into K-dramas, “My Girl” is probably my favorite. Even if I didn’t rewatch every single minute of “My Girl,” I would never, ever make myself re-experience “Goong,” “My Name is Kim Sam Soon,” etc etc over again. I’ve still never watched hardcore classics like “Lovers in Paris,” “I’m Sorry I Love You,” or any of those seasonal dramas (and I don’t plan on doing so), but if I had one comfort drama, it would be “My Girl.”)

Anyway, off on a tangent. In the leagues of Hallyu wave actor-leaders, I don’t think Lee Dong Wook ranks high — even though “My Girl” is one of the best examples of dramas in Hallyu’s waving of drama and angst — and that’s always surprised me. He’s done a decent amount of acting in dramas, even if everything before MG was virtually unknown, but then he disappeared off drama-making for three years after MG and came back with the dark “La Dolce Vita.” LDW is a pretty good actor and even though I wish he were a teensy, teensy bit better with the anger/rage/tears-n-snot scenes, he gets the job done and is really pleasant to watch. He really surprised me with how good a comedic actor he was because I had expected a lot of the Joo Ji Hoon-esque stiffness of playing a really sober chaebol/high-status male lead but LDW totally let loose when it was required of him in MG.

There’s also the way he tends to carry himself for the characters he plays. As Seol Gong Chan in MG, he knew how to look annoyed in the patient, restrained way only chaebols can look (lol) and he was amused in a very precise I-must-not-let-my-hair-get-ruffled way. That’s why despite the story flaws in “Partner” so far, I can’t wait to see more of how LDW’s character develops. He’s really getting down the sleazy, arrogant, prickbastard role down pat — can’t wait to see him taken down a notch or two and see what LDW does with his character.

And in terms of comparison, I finally get what people mean when they say that Lee Minho reminds them of Lee Dong Wook. It is COMPLETELY true, y’all. Except, I think Lee Minho is even better than Lee Dong Wook, but they both have a really great sense of cool and stoicism that makes their characters completely believable. And maybe it’s because I keep smushing all my K-pop crushes together, but Super Junior’s Kyuhyun’s real life demeanor also really reminds me of Lee Dong Wook’s characters’. Their speaking voices also sound similar to me, and what a coincidence, they always play Kyuhyun’s part in SuJu’s song for the Partner OST when the scene requires it.

Okay. The rest of this post is mainly a “let me show you how attractive Lee Dong Wook is” post.

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