You can only pick one: Park Min-young drama

140 November 15, 2022November 15, 2022

You can only pick one: Park Min-young drama

by DB Staff

You can only pick one, and boy the pressure is on. The DB team will answer a new prompt in each post, and you’re invited to do the same in the comments. Ready to play?

You can only pick one Park Min-young drama

missvictrix: This is a tough one, because I’ve seen and enjoyed most of her dramas. Though she’s firmly situated in the rom-com queen throne by now, I think I like her scrappier roles from earlier in her career more, and so I guess it’s City Hunter that I’ll pick here for that reason. This was the first time I saw Park Min-young (if I remember correctly!) and I was pretty much obsessed with Kim Nana, from her fearless kick-butt behavior, to how she evolved into a bubble of cuteness when she was in her apartment with her bunny ear headband. This will probably always be the image of Park Min-young I keep in my mind’s eye — proof of the power of a first impression.

mistyisles: I’ve written quite a bit recently about the extremely special place City Hunter will always hold in my heart and why I can probably never, ever watch it again. So if I can only choose one of Park Min-young’s dramas… I’ll go with Healer, since I’m much more confident it’ll hold up to a rewatch after all this time.

DaebakGrits: I’m not a fan of Park Min-young’s acting because it feels like she’s constantly using a customer service persona — always smiling sweetly and looking beautiful and poised, like a flight attendant featured in an airline advertisement. Ironically, that shortcoming worked to her advantage in What’s Wrong with Secretary Kim because that’s exactly the kind of facade her character had to exude when in the presence of her boss. What’s Wrong with Secretary Kim was also one of those dramas that had a supporting cast that was so fun and likable that I enjoyed when the plot deviated and featured their antics extensively.

Dramaddictally: I know Park Min-young is the rom-com queen but my favorite of her dramas is the non-comedic I’ll Find You on a Beautiful Day. This one stands out for being what I think is her best role and also one of my favorite dramas. It’s a slow-moving, slice-of-life drama that shows her range and gets better as it goes on. All the winter weather paired with the characters’ frozen emotions make the feels pile up before everyone’s pasts come to the fore — generating some serious sobbing. I really like Park Min-young and Seo Kang-joon together here, creating the cozy center of this cold world.

jenzy: Gosh, this is like being asked to choose between your parents. Among the many gems of her career (and there are many!), I think I’d have to say City Hunter takes the top spot of Park Min-young dramas. She just glows as the bubbly and badass Nana. I also feel like while many later action shows also executed the balance between gritty high stakes, comedy, and romance excellently — I mean Park Min-young would later go on to star in the also amazing Healer — in my mind, City Hunter is the first exemplar of compelling storytelling and morally gray heroes that still holds up present day. And not to mention the absolutely killer OST. If you haven’t listened to “Suddenly” by Kim Bo Kyung you’re missing out!

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51 Flightey Gazelles

November 16, 2022 at 2:36 PM

It seems many people chose to go for 'Favourite Drama with PMY' as opposed to 'Favourite Park Min Young Character in a drama'...

What would mine be?
I really liked Chae Young Shin because she was quirky, slightly kooky( lol), brave and just a happy child. She wasn't purposely putting up a strong front to shy away from her trauma- she wasn't even aware of some of them! She was just who she was: young and free, strong and weak, playful and serious. I Love her!

I also loved her. character in 7DQ. I've written about it elsewhere, but that was a very mature and heavy performance that required a lot of range as she showed different facets of growth. It's LOVE! And her very painful love story with the king...and his brother, what a compelling triangle!

I liked her in SKKS. It's early days Park Min Young. I haven't finished it and even though( by today's standards), it's the 'plucky heroine trying to make a living and support her family while in disguise as a man' trope, I love that her character is so booksmart and quick on the uptake.

I haven't watched I'll Find You with Seo Kang Joon, whom I love from CITT, but I'm sure I'll love it.

And of course, I love jer competence and professionalism in WWWSK.

So far, my least preferred PMY is City Hunter's Kim Nana( I'll explain why in another thread). Nobody seems to remember her with Yeo Song Ho in Remember Son's War, lol.

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52 Tizzy

November 16, 2022 at 7:49 PM

It’s hard for me to decide between CITY HUNTER or HEALER. In the end, I think it’s Healer because of the ambiguous ending of City Hunter. Also, acting-wise, Healer wins.

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53 kd6606

November 16, 2022 at 10:04 PM

I have to go with Healer. She disappeared in that role, and I mean that in a good way. I didn't ever think of the character as PMY which is pretty rare in actors in general. I remember liking City Hunter but not much about it.
I also really liked her (and the drama) - when the Weather is Nice (aka Beautiful Day).
In general, I really like her in just about everything.
Watching her in Weather though, and recently in Love Contract, it occurred to me that she is so good at being twinkly and just lighting up, that her transitions from happy to not happy have gotten to be pretty abrupt. She is on or off. I don't think this was so much apparent in her earlier dramas. In Love Contract, I think she overcame this some and did a great job of playing off this trait. Her transitions and moods made sense in the scenes and sometimes the abruptness was perfect for the moment. Interestingly, I have also thought this about Siwon - he is just too good at being goofy that his seriousness is, well, hard to take seriously. But in his current drama (Love for suckers), he is doing a better job than usual at being serious .
In any case, I can watch just about anything with PMY!

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Elinor, Team Glasses team co-captain

November 18, 2022 at 11:38 AM

I have to go with Healer. She disappeared in that role, and I mean that in a good way.
OK, true story. WWWSK was one of the first dramas I ever saw, less than a year ago. At the time I was a total newcomer to kdrama - I didn't know any of the actors or their names, and the language was still a wall of unfamiliar consonants so I couldn't recognize voices, either. I saw Healer a few months later. I thought the FL was super cute and fun to watch, but it was not until the makeover scene in episode 9 that the penny dropped that it was the same actress. I felt like such a dope.

It's funny how first impressions of an actor can shape your view of subsequent roles - LIfS is my first Siwon drama (I had only glimpsed him as an idol previously) so I've had no reason to question his seriousness, but his goofy moments are so gloriously goofy that they really jump out at me and make me want to go looking for more.

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dramadillo

November 18, 2022 at 1:49 PM

I think about this all the time, how enduring and imprinting the first role we see an actor in can be. That’s why actors who become and fully inhabit their characters are so impressive to me. Seo In Guk, for example, is very distinctive-looking and yet when he’s onscreen, I really don’t remember his previous roles - I only see the character he’s currently portraying.

If you enjoy goofy Siwon, I watched a clip of him with his real life niece and the way they edited his responses had me in absolute stitches: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=KZ5D65s5Elw

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Reply1988 -❣️Mother Bean❣️

November 18, 2022 at 3:55 PM

Thank you for sharing, that was funny editing. How have children that age got into talking about boyfriends. Her dad was not listening when she was explaining otherwise he would have been worse than her uncle in his response.

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54 Lvt

November 17, 2022 at 11:19 AM

Healer for me. She wasn’t as glamorous as in her other projects but she was still adorable and funny. Great chemistry with JCW.

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55 john

November 17, 2022 at 5:32 PM

I have only completed a few of her dramas

High Kick
Sungkyunkwan Scandal
Queen for Seven Days

Queen for Seven Days, as it’s not her typical role.

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56 Rose

November 21, 2022 at 5:52 AM

I came here, curious about choices that people would make, having my own opinion and planning to make reasoning for that, but now I'm leaving, wondering Park Min Young indeed has LOTS of good and famous dramas!

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57 javinne

November 21, 2022 at 12:24 PM

Healer, totally!!!!!

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58 MikeyD signed up

November 21, 2022 at 1:27 PM

I expected a longer resume from her. Jang Na-ra has been in eight films and thirty five series.

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59 MoonLovers

March 11, 2023 at 3:57 PM

It's definitely "Sungkyunkwan Scandal" for me!!! (I'll ignore the controversies around the male lead just for this comment). That drama was my first of PMY and also of Yoo Ah In and Song Joon Ki! It was such a great/refreshing treat🤩😍

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MoonLovers

March 11, 2023 at 3:59 PM

And "Healer" too... My first and best of Ji Chang Wook!!

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60 K-BearLovesDramas

March 14, 2023 at 6:02 PM

I love and have watched a lot of her dramas but the one that stands out the most to me is Healer. I love brave, intelligent and sometimes afraid Min Young. I think her acting had more range here than in her other dramas I would ordinarily have chosen like City Hunter and WWWSK, and this is coming from someone who prefers the storyline of City Hunter and the chemistry of WWWSK to Healer.

What can I say? Kdramas make me crazy!🤣

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