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Me trying to give this drama one too many chances while my face withers away...
I've come to appreciate the characters who are Kim Eun Gap (Jo Jin Woong) and Lee Ho Jin (Park Jung Min) in this series. They're characters who fit into the typical protagonist/hero role of a plot line well by making viewers want to support them, and they also have their more specified, respective roles as the CEO of a small entertainment company and a manager for a top star, getting across the themes that this drama aimed for by showing what goes on behind the entertainment industry, what roles people have in the business tier, and the likes. Their presence as individuals, their chemistry as a great team, and their relatable, human-like personalities and stories will not go unnoticed and unrecognized by the end of this series.
The real antagonist of this story? It's Cha Young Bin (Seo Kang Jun) after all! He exists as the central, moving piece in this structure of 'Entourage', yet, in this episode, his character seemed more detached from his posse of friends and supporters than ever. As a viewer, we have the advantage of surveying Young Bin's surroundings from a more analytical viewpoint and realizing that this once loved and adored top star now has practically no one left around him and is a tune trying to be played without any notes, bars, rhythm, keys, nothing. That's not what an 'Entourage' is about at all, is it? Every figure surrounding the central one in an 'Entourage' exists to enhance that main figure, but in this drama, Young Bin's character is pushing everyone around him away. It's come down to more than just a simple question of whether or not Young Bin's character is being overly stubborn, it's about the entire dynamic of this story and it's characters, and in my eyes, Young Bin is the one bad piece of the set, unfitting beyond repair.
But THAT felt good!
I'm not sure what the original, American series 'Entourage' had viewers feeling by this point, but what started out as a feel-good, light-hearted drama with a fun, playful mood and real, down-to-earth characters has turned into just a mess of a storyline. I can point out just how confusing and distasteful this episode turned out to be by bringing in Cha Jun (Lee Kwang Soo) and Turtle's (Lee Dong Hwi)'s portions of episode 14. These two have always been a pair in this series. They existed as the comedic relief, but also in the form of two characters viewers could really love and root for, as a couple of underdogs surrounded by big shots. But in this episode, we saw Cha Jun and Turtle breaking off from their always-together set, and pursuing different side stories entirely; Cha Jun and his rather unbelievable "love story," and Turtle falling prey to a scamming sasaeng fan.
Frustration aside, can we talk about how Kwang Soo actually kind of looks good here... with that stuff drawn on his face!
First of all, the random female character faking nice-girl to get to Young Bin somehow, that's been done at least several times so far throughout the series, so what is the point of making Turtle's first side-plot aside from Cha Jun about that? It's too old to be of any relevance and turned out to be a real frowner when it was revealed at the end. And then there's Cha Jun's "love story," which literally didn't make any sense from start to finish and I still have suspicions on whether the girl was being real or not. Plus at this point, the scriptwriter is just treating Cha Jun's character like a joke. He's had his serious moments in this series and is a character who is much more rounded than shown in his comical episodes, but making him wear a dice-suit and a drawn-on mustache for his kiss scene? Did anyone find that funny?
Recruiting individuals to launch a campaign to give Kwang Soo a real kiss scene plz
The biggest disconnect there was that Cha Jun and Turtle's side stories were unrelated and out of sync with one another, despite their importance as a pair in this series. And now we have to deal with the aftermath of Young Bin and Ho Jin's fight starting next episode, to really find out of this drama plans to make Young Bin the bad guy until the end, or if the plot has already been torn into too many pieces to be put back together again. Anyone who's stuck around with 'Entourage' this far deserves a round of applause. Let's hold tight for one more week to come, and see what this story has in store for us in the end.
SCORE
PLOT........................4
CINEMATOGRAPHY...4
PACING...................5
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