Kim Ji-won has steadily performed the second one lead in lots of well-liked Korean dramas, and but, she by no means didn’t outshine the primary lead without difficulty. Whilst the primary leads, like Park Shin-hye within the dreadfully puffed up Heirs used to be morosely driven round by way of two males and didn’t have a fleshed out personality, Kim Ji-won’s Rachel used to be in reality way more entertaining to look at. She used to be vicious, biting and spoilt, with an occasional glimmer of a judgment of right and wrong. She used to be slightly unpredictable, surly, and but had an emotional backstory, that aroused sympathy. It didn’t justify her behaviour in any respect, however it simply left you extra invested in her personality—in all probability greater than any person else in that display. She used to be additionally the fiery, snappish 2d lead once more in Descendants of the Solar, which starred Music Joong-ki and Music Hye-kyo within the lead. She introduced a definite fireplace to the function, and her personality used to be for sure extra riveting than Music Hye-kyo.
Kim Ji-won has long gone from being the second one result in in any case bagging the primary lead in sequence just like the Arthdal Chronicles and Combat for My Method, along Park Website positioning-joon. Right here, she used to be the blunt and adorable lady next-door looking ahead to her absolute best pal to understand that he’s in love together with her. Whilst a majority of these roles have been slightly entertaining and she or he introduced a layer of nuance to every personality, none have been as frustratingly relatable as her personality in Lovestruck in The Town with Ji Chang-wook.
Lovestruck within the Town isn’t a very easy watch—now not as it’s stuffed with gore or immense heartbreak and profound sorrow (Having a look at you Twenty 5-Twenty One)—however for the mere indisputable fact that it could appear agonisingly sluggish and stretched to the purpose; Sooraj Barjatya motion pictures have a sooner tempo than this Korean sequence. It’s now not actually sudden that the sequence discovered blended critiques, as a result of many misplaced persistence after the primary few episodes. I gained’t deny that I were given stressed as neatly, or even the allure of each Ji Chang-wook and Kim Ji-won wasn’t sufficient at one level. However then, after finishing the sequence (a little bit of a dragged out procedure), if you go back to the display—you realise that it used to be now not such a lot as a love tale, however the tale of a damaged girl, studying to like herself. That’s whilst you start to recognize Kim Ji-won, much more.
Not like different Korean dramas, Lovestruck within the Town adopts the documentary structure, the place characters communicate to the digital camera and inform about their romantic stories, heartbreak, non-public peeves, amongst different issues. Thru those interviews, a focal tale is being instructed, and that’s of Kim Ji-won’s Eun-oh, a lady with a battered previous, who believes that she is almost useless inside of. After seeing a somewhat perky girl bag a role that she desperately sought after, she crafts a brand new persona for herself—the use of the lady’s title. In a are compatible of melancholy and loneliness, she escapes to an island and turns into a completely other particular person. She’s now Seona, a bartender, she is quirky, cheery, brazen and vivacious—totally reverse to the quiet Eun-oh. Ji Chang-wook’s Park Jae-won falls for her to start with sight and turns into totally besotted together with her.
Their time at the island is nearly like a feverish dream, as they each appear to be head over heels in love, with out a care on this planet. They’re intoxicated by way of love and lust, or even alternate rings in a pretend wedding ceremony rite. However there’s a actual international past this island, the place the true reality lies, and Seona is aware of this. The insanity evaporates and she or he returns to her house, leaving a at a loss for words Jae-won at the hours of darkness. For a number of episodes, Jae-won is puzzled, teary and damaged, not able to appreciate how she may simply smash all guarantees. Eun-oh sees him crying in eating places, bars and to buddies, however is terrified to satisfy him once more. The sequence additionally explores the speculation of being so totally under the influence of alcohol in love that one forgets themselves—and that’s in all probability what Eun-oh additionally sought after. That haze of affection and intercourse used to be additionally a type of escapism for her, whilst for Jae-won, he used to be intoxicated with the picture of Seona.
Blended with self-loathing, she is racked with guilt. Then again, he unearths her once more, however she hasn’t discovered herself but. Because the sequence progresses and the true reality unfolds, she in any case learns to grasp herself in addition to unpack the that means of affection–romantic, platonic and extra importantly, self-love.
Kim Ji-won marvellously brings forth a lady, who simply needs to be anyone else. She raises the query, how steadily are maximum folks petrified of being ourselves, when it simply turns out more practical to be anyone else? What if that particular person is extra attention-grabbing and amusing? She’s satisfied that her actual persona connected to the title Eun-oh is uninteresting, uninteresting and is satisfied this is sufficient explanation why for folks to disregard her within the skilled sphere and to be cheated on. When she turns into Seona, she enjoys this false escapism—she needs to be that lady on the bar who used to be the lifetime of the celebration, enjoying round with beverages, whilst males specific their admiration for her.
She revels in being ‘wild’ as she believes that’s what folks like essentially the most. Then again, this new international is instantly submerged in guilt as she believes that she is dishonest on Jae-won, and therefore abandons him with out caution and returns to her outdated, ‘uninteresting’ existence and persona. Painstakingly, Lovestruck in The Town relates the private predicament that many face—-after a sequence devastating setbacks, how do you pick out up the items and rebuild your self? The solution in Lovestruck within the Town isn’t passed to Eun-oh or Jae-won for that topic, and leaves her to search out it. Owing to her incapacity to appreciate herself, she isn’t in a position to agree with Jae-won, or least of all, herself.
It’s uncommon of a Korean drama to discover the feminine lens with out the person interfering repeatedly. Breaking clear of the Ok-drama stereotypes of the damsel in misery who softens a sullen guy’s temper, Kim Ji-won’s Eun-oh and Seona are strangely nuanced. It’s a meticulously written personality, with numerable greys, and also you get pissed off as you watch her make questionable selections. You trade between empathy, sorrow, annoyance for this apparently scrambled human—handiest to understand that she mirrors what maximum folks really feel—although we don’t move that some distance. At issues, she does extraordinarily hurtful issues too, in an try to erase the arena that she had in short created. She nearly drives Park Jae-won mad in grief, and nonetheless holds again from atmosphere the document instantly. It’s inexcusable—and but, the worry of going through the repercussions of constructing false hopes is brutally actual. On occasion, she nearly watches herself turning into the anti-hero, after which pulls again. You gained’t enhance her always, and but, someway, you start feeling for her. She’s messy, however steers transparent from the lure of dreadfully poisonous sufficient for it to grow to be a divisive debate.
It’s at all times a pleasure to look at Jim Ji-won, perhaps since you by no means know what personality she takes on subsequent. She doesn’t stroll at the overwhelmed trail and although she does, she units her personal regulations.