Jessica
California
A rare gem
Idol: The Coup is a rare drama: it's relentlessly dedicated to telling a deep story rather than leaning on flashiness. The acting is incredible (a true idol acting breakthrough), the writing is super detail-oriented (the writers did their research!), and the music is surprisingly excellent (fictional idol music has never been so good tbh).
Every single one of the girls was well-written and well-acted. Anyone can see that this was an incredibly tough script to act, especially for Hani, Solbin, and Exy. Kim Mingyu and Kwak Siyoung also performed excellently. Soeun carried well as both an actress and a fictional idol, and Jiwon was simply made for her part.
Attention to detail that made this drama so enjoyable: the five girls feel hand-picked and cohesive as a real girl group: Jenna the fearless leader, Stella the visual eldest member, Chae-ah the cute sub-vocal, Exy the fierce main vocal, and Hyunji the fiery maknae. Now that they feel like a real girl group, seeing the nuances in their character and relationship arcs becomes so much richer. Its difficult to go too deep into any single thing within 12 episodes, but they touched upon mental health in the entertainment industry, brutal working conditions for agency staff (with Duho), Businessmen praying upon young girls, the burden of being in a team, failed trainees, and even the stress of established idols. It was also an appropriate blend of 2nd gen and 3rd gen Kpop narratives, as pinpointing which era of Kpop to focus on is important too.
While I don't claim to be an absolute expert, I've been into Kpop for a long time—I've seen endless shows and documentaries that peek into these agencies. Most of them are in basements, and it's just so hard to survive in a brutal and oversaturated market. I've heard all the scandals, and I've seen so many promising girl groups be pushed aside because boy groups tend to be a safer gamble with dedicated fanbases. It's hard, but it can be beautiful when you see how wonderful the connection between an artist and their fans is. I appreciate this drama, because it's written with a perspective that feels true to my experience as a Kpop fan. It's on the side of women, of the unheard and the unsung. It's on the side of those who've failed, but did such a good job on their own terms. As a fan of countless disbanded and forgotten girl groups, this drama was very special to me.
As other reviewers said, this drama definitely flirts with makjang more than it needed to — but what makes it real and true is that the melodrama was simply an extension of everything that genuinely could've gone wrong, going wrong. I could tell that the melodrama was a result of the writers wanting to fit everything they wanted to say about idol life as possible.
Every single one of the girls was well-written and well-acted. Anyone can see that this was an incredibly tough script to act, especially for Hani, Solbin, and Exy. Kim Mingyu and Kwak Siyoung also performed excellently. Soeun carried well as both an actress and a fictional idol, and Jiwon was simply made for her part.
Attention to detail that made this drama so enjoyable: the five girls feel hand-picked and cohesive as a real girl group: Jenna the fearless leader, Stella the visual eldest member, Chae-ah the cute sub-vocal, Exy the fierce main vocal, and Hyunji the fiery maknae. Now that they feel like a real girl group, seeing the nuances in their character and relationship arcs becomes so much richer. Its difficult to go too deep into any single thing within 12 episodes, but they touched upon mental health in the entertainment industry, brutal working conditions for agency staff (with Duho), Businessmen praying upon young girls, the burden of being in a team, failed trainees, and even the stress of established idols. It was also an appropriate blend of 2nd gen and 3rd gen Kpop narratives, as pinpointing which era of Kpop to focus on is important too.
While I don't claim to be an absolute expert, I've been into Kpop for a long time—I've seen endless shows and documentaries that peek into these agencies. Most of them are in basements, and it's just so hard to survive in a brutal and oversaturated market. I've heard all the scandals, and I've seen so many promising girl groups be pushed aside because boy groups tend to be a safer gamble with dedicated fanbases. It's hard, but it can be beautiful when you see how wonderful the connection between an artist and their fans is. I appreciate this drama, because it's written with a perspective that feels true to my experience as a Kpop fan. It's on the side of women, of the unheard and the unsung. It's on the side of those who've failed, but did such a good job on their own terms. As a fan of countless disbanded and forgotten girl groups, this drama was very special to me.
As other reviewers said, this drama definitely flirts with makjang more than it needed to — but what makes it real and true is that the melodrama was simply an extension of everything that genuinely could've gone wrong, going wrong. I could tell that the melodrama was a result of the writers wanting to fit everything they wanted to say about idol life as possible.
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