Top 10 K-Drama OST songs 2015
Let's face it. We've all had second lead syndromes and have gotten our hearts broken. But at least we were mentally prepared for that. We knew Go Mi Nam would end up with Hwang Tae Kyung and Shin Woo would be left behind solo. We knew that no matter how adorable (and popular!) Nakatsu is, Ashiya would still go to Sano in the end. It kills us, but we are prepared to accept it because we know that's how it works.
But what about when we don't know? What about dramas that seem to be something and end up being something else? Dramas where we are so sure about who the girl would end up with and so ready to let it all happen. But then out of the blue, something unpredictable happens and we are left in an extreme state of shock and denial. We pretend the ending never happened.We come up with alternate plot lines. Anger soon seeps in and some pretty ugly words are said to the writers. We feel cheated and betrayed. It is probably one of the worst situations a drama watcher could possibly be in. Here are five such dramas that I have watched that fit into this mess.
(SPOILERS AHEAD)
1. Dream High
When Dream High came out, Ok Taec Yeon was the most popular cast member (although I wasn't familiar with any of them at that time). Go Hye Mi and Jin Guk met when they were still little kids. They met first. She sang a song for him (twice). They were extremely close and developed feelings for each other. They kissed first. And while Go Hye Mi was not the type to have hearts in her eyes, she did seem to love Jin Guk.
But then catastrophe occurred. With barely 2 episodes to go, Go Hye Mi suddenly realized that she was in love with Sam Dong. Sam Dong who was there with her through thick and thin and was completely devoted to her throughout the course of their journey in Kirin High. It was so sudden and so unexpected that I literally had to blink twice to see if it was actually real. I had never really even thought of Sam Dong and Hye Mi as a thing, not even for a second. So you could imagine my shock! Like there is this scene where she is deciding who she likes between Jin Guk and Sam Dong and I was asking myself, "Is this actually happening?"
Fans say that Sam Dong is the first second lead guy in the history of Korean dramas who actually got the girl. And it might have made a lot of people happy. Like imagine having a second lead syndrome and praying it comes true. And then, IT ACTUALLY DOES. Dream High was one of the first dramas I ever watched but the shock over the pairing still hasn't faded over the years.
The two male leads of the drama were relatively new and so it was not very obvious at first as to who would get the girl. But as we watched the drama and continued to observe the relationships, it became pretty obvious to the viewers that Tae Kwang and Eun Bi were meant to be. Tae Kwang was not friends with Eun Byul, but when Eun Bi took her place, it seemed like he was drawn to her. They had amazing chemistry. He was the first one to find out Eun Bi's real identity. He supported and encouraged her through everything and while doing all that, he was hilarious! They had the most real and the most memorable scenes in the drama and the most ideal relationship. On top of that, Yook Sung Jae turned out to be a wonderful actor with great timing, and that only added to his potential as the male lead.
So you could imagine everyone's surprise and rage when Eun Bi fell for Yi An. Firstly, Yi An was an extremely mediocre character. While I believe Nam Joo Hyuk has done some great work in his previous roles and even roles after School 2015, his acting here did not really work. And even if we leave that part out, how about the fact that he was actually in love with Eun Byul and not Eun Bi? He did not even know the real Eun Bi until the last quarter of the drama. If this drama had been a real thing, Eun Bi would've obviously gone to Tae Kyung. They had the most real and beautiful moments. He could actually tell the two twins apart.
My theory is that the writers couldn't decipher just how successful Tae Kyung's character would become and when it did, they kept adding more stuff with Eun Bi and him. But when it came to the final episode, they went ahead with the original ending (Eun Bi and Yi An ending up together), that confused and angered the viewers. I think most of us would have agreed that Eun Bi should've gone with Tae Kyung while Eun Byul with Yi An. That would've made more sense.
3. Reply 1988
I personally became Team Jung Hwan in the first episode itself. In that moment where he comes to Deok Sun's house and she's washing utensils and he just kicks her butt and she falls on a bunch of them, I shipped them hard. While the drama was more focused on themes of family and friendship, there was a slow romantic development over the course of the episodes. Through the journey, the writers made us invest more time in Jung Hwan's story. They introduced him first, showed things from his point of view, focused majorly on his heartbreak and his thoughts. Made him do silly things in love. And all this turned out to be a clever ploy on writers' part. They knew the closer we became to a character, the more we would expect him to get the girl. They played on that sentiment of the viewer. And it worked! While a lot of people were Team Taek (I loved his moments with Deok Sun too), almost all of us already felt like we KNEW she would end up with Jung Hwan. That's how we treated the whole thing. Jung Hwan would be getting the girl and Taek would be a bad bad second lead syndrome. Even people who loved Taek felt Jung Hwan deserved Deok Sun.
So you could imagine the shock when Taek and Deok Sun became a thing. I mean, there were subtle hints. Like it was pretty obvious that Deok Sun was more in love with the idea of her and Jung Hwan than Jung Hwan himself. She was just happy that he was interested. But with Taek she developed feelings on her own. That scene where she feels bad when Taek suddenly cancels their plans together and she tries to pretend being okay was a bit of a giveaway as to where the love story was headed.
But even after that scene it still felt like writers were trying to distract us from the real thing: that is, Jung Hwan and Deok Sun. So when the truth finally came out and the pairings were declared, it came as a huge shock to both the Korean and the international audience. I think no matter which team they were on, everyone's heart broke a little. The worst part was that Jung Hwan was given no closure. It's like his feeling evaporated overnight.
The confusion over this drama was most likely due to the cautious nature of the writers, who kept all relationship doors open and made all characters spend time with each other, and due to this, people got confused as there was no clear evidence as to who will end up with whom. Consequently, ships were formed and the strongest was probably between the characters of Gong Hyo Jin and Kim Soo Hyun. While prior to airing, there was excitement to watch IU and Kim Soo Hyun together, Gong Hyo Jin and Kim Soo Hyun became a more obvious pairing halfway through. And with no clarity or intervention on the part of the writers, the opinion became stronger with time. So, when Gong Hyo Jin ended up with Cha Tae Hyun and Kim Soo Hyun with IU, it came as quite a shock to the viewers.
5. Reply 1994
To some it was the worst second lead syndrome of all time, but to others it came as the most shocking revelation. The chemistry between Chilbong and Na Jung was pretty much the most highlighted element of Reply 1994. Many believed they would end up together till the very end. So you could imagine the surprise and the heartbreak when Na Jung went with her Oppa Trash (who we actually believed to be her biological brother for the better half of the first episode). Since I watched it while was airing and read comments regularly on forums and pages, I could witness the utter denial and anger of the fans of Chilbong and many others who firmly believed in the pairing.
Have you ever felt this way about any dramas? Please do share!
