Ooh! Great post @missvictrix! And you make such a solid point about Time being an unusual case - thank you for examining it & presenting your views.

Interesting post! I was not watching this show but I was very curious how they handled things with the actor leaving as he did. It sounds like a very graceful adjustment on the writer's part.

Speaking of art imitating life, is Let's Eat 3 next?

nice! superbly written! I haven't watched the show, but you make a very compelling case for not only the main lead's brilliant acting, but also the Show's good turn on the typical gimmick tropes and how it did well in spite of the sudden departure of its main man.
thanks for sharing. @missvictrix !

He was the best thing about that show. Yep.

1) I appreciate that the actor (and his company) and the drama people have agreed to let the actor out of the contract (if there was one) so that he can get some well deserved and required rest. It is important to address the working conditions of actors who are known to work non-stop during the filming of dramas.
2) From a drama lover point of view, I agree. Losing the hero with a quarter of the drama still to go is very interesting and probably unprecedented. It adds a whole new level of reality where they can now focus on the rest of the cast and see how they deal with the loss and their own lives.

I actually haven't seen the drama yet, but it's on my list for sure! He impressed me in School and then in Waikiki and long before all this as the brother in Jealousy incarnate. Can't wait to watch Time! (just need to find some free time for it)

Thank you @missvictrix. He is a great actor and it was worrisome to hear there were health issues. I am glad to hear the show survived as I would hate for there to be any personal fallout for Kim jung-hyun.

I would like to point out that his withdrawal really saw Seohyun step up to the plate, in the beginning she was overshadowed by him but already the glimpses were coming out like in her pretty realistic crying scenes, but once he was gone the drama was in a state of uncertainty whether Seohyun could carry the same energy as Jung Hyun, but I was pleasantly surprised that she was able to maintain her own and while she may not be top level her performance in Time was eons better than any she put out before(Moon Lovers I’m looking at you)

Thank you so much for this thoughtful post! It so happens that I have just finished watching this show. Kim Jung-Hyun was extraordinary, and I am sure that all those little gestures and tics that made his character so real and compelling came from his acting, and not his real life condition.
Story wise, Soo-ho's heartbreaking demise surely catalyzed the final act, but I would have wished for a certain reevaluation of the initial setup (the sister's death and the true role everyone had played in it), which I did not feel till the end of the drama. I felt the drama had veered towards the moralizing theatrics instead of pushing the remaining main characters for self-introspection and finding the courage to recognize and expose the truth.

Oh such a nice article, thank you. Now I am tempted to watch this show.

Nobody really remembers Kim Jung-hyun as Mori in Rebel, but that was my favorite role of his. The way he portrayed the contradictions of the character was really impressive. I really hope Jung-hyun was able to recover well from his condition.

Very nice, well-written article Thank you. I had started watching the drama but simply could not finish it once he left. Even now I want to cry at the sadness. Perhaps later I'll re-watch the whole thing but it's just too emotional right now.
Does anyone know how he is doing? Have there been any reports on his condition? We all hope he will come back healthy.

Policeman falls in love with a girl whose parents were murdered by his serial killer father?

That’s definitely Come Here & Hug Me. Jang Kiyong was fantastic, just like how Kim Junghyun was in Time. Besides both being MBC dramas, I’m pretty sure some of their background music were by the same artist too. Coz they sounded quite similar.

Back to the drama, Time. It was indeed a rare occurrence where the male lead had to leave mid-show that I was kinda thankful that his character was diagnosed with cancer. So the departure didn’t feel that sudden after all..

I loved him in Jealousy. He stood out in every scene. The friends I was watching and discussing the show with all felt he was someone to watch. Then came Rebel and his intensity was SO palpable. I kept hoping his role would be 'more'. I did not like School 2017 at all...just me. I hate HS dramas with 20+ year olds first of all, and nothing compares to 2013. Could not get into Waikiki at all. Just me again. I managed to struggle through my required 4 or 5 episodes in both but just could not keep going. I did not like Time as a drama...too makjang for me, but I loved his performance and was so worried and sad for him. I hope he is doing well, recovering. I wonder if this is a recent problem or one he has been covering up for a long time? If acting pushed him over the edge, then it is worrisome for any future projects. The stories of actors who immerse themselves into method acting are rife with mental health issues and personality difficulties. In his culture it will be a difficult life for him with so much scrutiny and bullying that is part and parcel of that world.

Thank you for your write-up on TIME, @missvictrix. I hadn't initially planned to watch it as I was still recovering from COME HERE AND HUG ME, but after reading GirlFriday's article announcing Kim Jung-hyun's early departure from the drama, I decided to tune in. He had caught my eye as Gil-dong's antagonist in REBEL: THIEF WHO STOLE THE PEOPLE by making the most of a minor role in that excellent sageuk. KJH was a real scene stealer.

The only other shows I'd seen him in when I started watching TIME were JEALOUSY INCARNATE and the drama special BINGGOO. I was curious to see how he'd do in a serious lead role, and was impressed with his performance. I just hope that he's well on the road to recovery.

TIME did a good job of shifting gears to accommodate the protagonist's departure. He was going to exit the stage before the end of the show anyway, but the rest of the cast pitched in to take up the premature slack. There was sufficient lead-time for rewrites and filming -- which was not the case with Yoon Doo-joon's precipitous departure from LET'S EAT 3 for military service. I had hoped that that show would have found a way to wrap up the rest of the character arcs more satisfactorily, but it was not to be.

It is fitting that Kim Jung-hyun's departure parallels his character's loss of time. In episode 10, Ji-hyun removes a pan of madeleines from the oven, which immediately reminded me of Marcel Proust's À la recherche du temps perdu (In Search of Lost Time aka Remembrance of Things Past), the autobiographical novel prompted by the author's involuntary recall of a childhood memory when he tasted a rusk [which appeared in the novel as a madeleine]. In Search of Lost Time figured significantly towards the end of LOVE LETTER, the touching 1995 Japanese movie that is referenced in SHOULD WE KISS FIRST?. Beware of Spoilers
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SHOULD WE KISS FIRST? is about a middle-aged man who discovers he has pancreatic cancer and wants to provide for a woman whose daughter died from eating candy for which he designed the advertising campaign. Her life went down the tubes, her marriage broke up, and she attempted suicide out of grief not only over her dead child, but because of the heartless way in which her lawsuits were crushed until she was up to her eyes in debt. A similar theme emerged in TIME, but in this case, the chaebol heir is 27, and has an inoperable glioblastoma that will kill him within six months. The theme of lost time figured heavily in both shows, with the Ultimate Deadline pushing both men to assist the parties they had wronged while they are still able to act. I'm a sucker for redemptive arcs, and TIME delivered the goods.

Thank you for this post its nice to see a written piece on this drama since a lot of people didn't watch this. I loved this drama to pieces when it aired and was devastated when Kim Jung Hyun left since he pretty much carried the drama but i liked how they dealt with their dilemma in a way which didnt drop the quality of the show. This show was an absolute cry-fest but i loved every minute of it.

Extremely well-written, thank you.

I wonder how much of his illness was brought on by getting too much into his character here. It must be difficult for actors playing these sorts of roles. Even as just a person watching, I often avoid dramas like this because it can pull me into a depression.

Honestly, I couldn't get past the first 10 minutes of episode 2 and I just decided not to watch it. Even though I love melodrama (I'm starting to doubt that now). Maybe it's because I already know too much? About KJH leaving and when the hero would die and such. But I'm extremely happy to hear that his acting did not disappoint.

Waw.. thanks a lot. I was unable to force myself to watch this show after his fallout news.

An interesting read. Even I who haven't watched this show found the blurring lines between the hero's terminal illness and the leading actor's health problem quite uncomfortable to contemplate. How much of KJH's performance in that show is acting and how much of it is him pushing past his limit? I wonder if knowing the behind-the-scene story now would deter people from planning to watch this drama.

Kim Jung-hyun was brilliant in this drama !!