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| Song su-jeong/Nan-nyeon (Gong Seung-yeon) and On Dal (Lee Jong-hyun) in MOLS |
So apparently I’m in love with Lee Jong-hyun now… and also with the GongLee couple. It started about two weeks ago when I watched ‘My Only Love Song’ (MOLS) at Netflix.
It wasn’t love at first sight, though. I stopped several times when watching MOLS because… Korean dramas aren’t my usual cup of tea. Of course being a normal girl, I love a good love story. However, being the first time watching a Korean drama (except for a movie about the Queen’s white hanbok dress – whatever the title is), I find myself baffled with the number of sweet saccharine lovey-dovey love scenes in MOLS. I’m also baffled with the amount of make up the male characters wore, which in many scenes were more prominent than that of the female characters. Only the dandiest of wuxia characters of recent years that I’ve watched (though admittedly I didn’t watch many Mainland wuxia dramas these days) wore half the amount of lipstick these male characters wore in MOLS. I mean, of course the actors need to also wear a degree of make up for lighting etc., but – most likely because I’ve never watched a Korean drama before – I’ve never seen oriental male characters wore such thick foundation (and primer or BB etc.), lipstick and powder the way the characters in MOLS were.
(and let’s not compare it with Shōwa Genroku Rakugo Shinjū, my most important Okada Masaki drama in 2018 where all characters were portrayed as natural as possible – yes, it includes Masaki’s make up as the old Yakumo)
Then there are these pauses in MOLS in which photos of the main characters (notably On Dal and Nan-nyeon) were prominently displayed in beautiful sephia shades. Of course they are beautiful, but to me it just prolonged the story unnecessarily. In addition, two main supporting characters (Princess Pyeong-gang and Moo-myung) were portrayed with such a wooden quality that I wondered whether I should just terminate the viewing. Do I need to mention General Ko Il-yong who, despite his military status and his history of killing On Dal’s father when Ko was just 9 years old, couldn't convincingly portrayed a fearful general? Perhaps the whole purpose was to make him comical, which was understandable, but by the same token, how come this comical character kill On Dal’s dad without any resistance then?
Anyway, good thing I persisted watching MOLS, mainly thanks to Boong-boong (the cute VW van who should be the third main star in the drama) and Gong Seung-yeon (who played Song Su-jeong aka Nan-nyeon). Then, slowly but sure, I start to sympathise with On Dal (who then I learned was played by CNBlue’s singer-guitarist Lee Jong-hyun). He was annoying the first time I saw him. His smirk was so irritating that I wanted to punch him. Perhaps that was the way Su-jeong felt the first time she met On Dal. At that time, the rascal On Dal suggested to the time-travelled Su-jeong that they partnered up to get out of jail, all the while he was caressing his own lipstick, I mean, lips as he spoke. I thought, yeah, okay… shall I continue watching… or not?
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| On Dal, the formidable Nan-nyeon and the cutie Boong-boong |
But as I said, I’m glad I persisted. I started to fall for the funny bickerings that On Dal and Nan-nyeon shared together (their bickerings were so natural, and later I knew why). I still find Boong-boong the most charming star in the drama, but On Dal and Nan-nyeon started to captivate me as well. When On Dal fixed Nan-nyeon’s fake moustache (she disguised herself as a boy to evade a numbnuts called K Il-yong) and fussed over Nan-nyeon’s bleeding feet (because she was running to find him to see if he was okay), I started to buy this couple.
Then On Dal did something to his friends which was obviously a (bad) strategy for me, but Nan-nyeon didn’t realise that. All the time I rolled my eyes heavenwards for the very obvious plot, while wishing that the bickering scenes returned. I somewhat got my wish when On Dal and Nan-nyeon made up and kissed and slept together. Like, sleeping together, not making love. On Dal said he treasure Nan-nyeon’s virginity and would only properly bed her when they got married. He then bit his own (very red) lips and flicked her forehead saying, “You cheeky little thing…”
And that was when I realised I liked this couple. I like On Dal and Nan-nyeon, and I find Lee Jong-hyun and Gong Seung-yeon very charming on screen.
Thus, despite the silly plots of MOLS and the pitiful fight scenes (I mean, come on, why couldn’t GENERAL On Dal go to war with more troops at his disposal? And he should have more real fighting scenes; Lee Jong-hyun is a black-belt judoka, right??), I watched MOLS until the end and eventually repeated the series several times… all for GongLee. All despite the quality of MOLS which IMO begs to be improved (and I understand that MOLS fans won't like it, but each to their own).
Then of course I Googled Lee Jong-hyun who played On Dal, and thus I realised why he and Gong had such a good chemistry as On Dal and Nan-nyeon. Because they were a pair in the “reality show” called “We Got Married”. I then saw some of their footages and I agree that their WGM chemistry was amazing. No wonder they were cast in MOLS. It’s likely that MOLS was created for them (too lazy to Google the history), for On-nyeon was the only realistic couple in that drama.
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| I do agree that GongLee's chemistry was very palpable! (source) |
Anyway, then I expanded my search on Lee Jong-hyun himself and found how BEAUTIFUL his voice was (still is) and how SKILLFUL he was (still is) in playing guitar. Ever since, I’ve been watching his gigs in YouTube and been listening to his songs in iTunes. I was definitely "late" in jumping in the Lee Jong-hyun and GongLee wagons, but that's fine. I don't think I would like LJH a few years ago; he was too pretty for my taste back then. Even now I still squirm when I see shots of his 2016-2018 videos/photos with him wearing a dab of lipstick, but his voice and guitar make up for it.
I don't know how good LJH’s acting is outside MOLS. In that series, I think he was good because he was paired up with GSY. Of course there were stand-alone On Dal scenes which I think he performed well, but LJH isn’t Okada Masaki (and vice versa, Masaki isn’t a professional singer-guitarist). Still, I enjoy watching LJH in MOLS and definitely love his songs and guitars.
I do have to admit that what makes me admire LJH more is how fluent his Japanese is. Like, he speaks Japanese very well. He communicated in fluent Japanese with his Japanese fans during CNBlue and his own concerts. There were times where he was searching for words, but it’s more of a native (or expat) searching for some words rather than a new learner searching for words. By the way, given that I am learning Japanese now, I find myself listening to more of LJH’s and CNBlue’s Japanese songs because it’s easier for me to understand their meanings. However, I also enjoy his Korean songs (mochiron!), though I need to Google the lyrics to understand their meaning.
Anyways, these are some of my favourite LJH and/or CNBlue songs. I’ve been listening to them like I’ve been binge-watching Okada Masaki’s dramas the first time I knew Masaki. Let me know which Lee Jong-hyun songs you like!
"Lie" was the first CNBlue song that I heard, and I was mesmerised by LJH's beautiful voice and guitar! The fact that it is in Japanese makes it easier for me to understand the lyrics.
"Radio" is a gorgeous song that seems to be my favourite CNBlue song. Btw, this song and "Lie" made me understand that CNBlue is not the typical Korean boyband that I cannot relate with because IMO most of them consist of just pretty boys who are very good at dancing but not very good at what I perceive as real music (i.e. using musical instruments to the maximum in portraying the songs).
In "Shake" I realised that LJH loved oldies dance moves....
That previous conclusion of mine was cemented when I heard Moonlight (and Pina Colada below). LJH loves swing, jazz and blues!
In "Blind Love" I return to enjoy the great chemistry between the CNBlue boys. Sadly, they all are in military service now until 2020. Well, at least LJH is doing his military service until August 2020. Since he's the last boy of CNBlue to enrol in South Korea's compulsory military service, CNBlue is now in hiatus until August or September 2020. By then I should (fingers crossed) have enough money to go to see one of their concerts (my fan-budget for 2019 is already allocated for two Okada Masaki plays already!).
And the video below shows LJH's amazing skills in interacting with his Japanese fans...(the dialog was actually very funny!)
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