Star-studded KBS drama 'Hwarang' falls flat
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Promotional photo for the KBS drama “Hwarang: The Poet Warior Youth” / Coutresy of KBS
By Park Jin-hai
Another much anticipated KBS drama, “Hwarang: The Poet Warrior Youth,” premiered on Monday — with expectations and concerns.
Taking the material of the Silla Kingdom Hwarang, an elite group of young, handsome men who trained themselves in the arts, culture and self-defense, for the first time, the fantasy period drama that casts a bunch of pretty-faced K-pop idols should have been enough to make drama fans clamor.
It follows the largely flopped SBS “Moon Lovers: Scarlet Heart Ryeo” that hired just as many splendidly handsome idol boy band members but got the cold shoulder from audiences because of their bad acting.
The new Monday-Tuesday KBS drama — starring Go A-ra and Park Seo-joon, with Choi Min-ho of boy band SHINee, Kim Tae-hyung of BTS and Park Hyung-sik of ZE:A — tells the story of the passion, love and friendships of six Hwarang members.
From the start, it seems almost inevitable to be compared with the recently ended “Moon Lovers.” With that in mind, series producer and director Yoon Sung-sik said during a promotional press conference, “The drama in some ways may look similar to ‘Moon Lovers.’ The heroin appears with a band of handsome men. But compared with the SBS drama, our drama’s overall tone is bright and cheerful.”
“Hwarang,” however, seems to have failed to intrigue viewers. In ratings, its first episode that aired Monday posted 6.9 percent viewership, lagging the 7.4 percent of “Moon Lovers,” according to pollster Nielsen Korea. Its second episode edged up to 7.2 percent Tuesday.
The series has just started and it is too early to say whether it will walk the same path as “Moon Lovers,” or fantasy period drama “Moonlight Drawn by Clouds” that propelled its lead actor Park Bo-gum to global fame. But the first two episodes definitely lacked the lure to entice viewers to stick with the drama.
The drama begins about 1500 years ago in Silla, where Queen Ji So, played by Kim Ji-soo, rules as regent for her young son Sam Maek-jong, played by Park Hyung-sik, who was forced to hide by his mother so as not to be assassinated. He secretly becomes a Hwarang warrior, gaining strength and leadership ability in the process.
Park Seo-joon takes on the role of protagonist Moo-myeong, or Seon-woo, who rises above his low social class to become a legendary hwarang.
In the first two episodes, the drama has spent too much time telling who is who and building relationships — pretty much opposite of local fast-paced dramas that grab viewers’ attention in the first couple of episodes.
After the series premiered, viewers said they were disappointed. “The first episode gave a flashback of ‘Moon Lovers,’ with the distractive storytelling and unnatural acting of lead actors,” said Choi Jung-a, a viewer, on an online bulletin board.
“The first episode was not so impressive,” said Han Jung-min, another viewer. “Bringing up Hwarang was a good choice, but the drama seems to carry no weight.”
However, the budding drama looks like it may have the potential to earn the hearts of drama fans.
What comforts us is that the acting of the lead characters is much better than “Moon Lovers.” Park Hyung-sik portrays the ill-fated king well, who suffers from his past and his relationship with his mother the Queen, while Park Seo-joon assumes the character he’s portraying.
Although “Romantic Doctor, Teacher Kim” dominates the Monday-Tuesday time slot, if the drama tells of the struggles of youth in the hierarchal Silla society, where social class was decided by the birth, it may attract more drama fans who are disgusted and need an outlet from Choi Soon-sil-gate, a corruption scandal involving President Park Geun-hye’s friend.