[2024 Year in review] Actors bringing their A-game

by mistyisles

While reflecting on my year in K-dramas, I considered a few different themes to write about. Several featured rain, for instance, and even more were about musicians. But the more I thought about it, I realized the common thread that stood out to me the most about the K-dramas I watched this year was that the casts were consistently stellar.

So while I usually focus my year-end reviews on the stories or characters themselves, this year I thought I’d give special mention to the folks who brought those stories and characters to life.

Without further ado, then, here are some of my favorite acting performances of the year.

Maestra – Strings of Truth: Lee Young-ae

As a whole, this show didn’t exactly wow me — but Lee Young-ae’s performance as the titular Maestra Cha Se-eum did. When she first took the stage (er, screen), I actually didn’t expect to like her very much. She seemed cold and harsh, and I anticipated an uphill battle to connect with her as a character at all. Oh, how wrong I was!

Se-eum’s outwardly cold demeanor was just that — outward only. And for good reason, considering the number of awful people trying to control her life. But Lee Young-ae infused her with a depth and vulnerability that not only surprised me, but made her one of my favorite drama heroines of the year. By the end, literally all I wanted was her happiness — even if that meant accepting that she was choosing to open back up to a love interest who, in my opinion, didn’t deserve it.

Normally, I try to stay away from terminal illness plotlines (thanks, 2024, for giving me two surprises in that vein!), but this one worked surprisingly well for me. And I have to give Lee Young-ae credit for doing such a compelling job of showing Se-eum’s struggle to fight for her own life, in more ways than one. Add to that the mastery with which she commanded the stage as an orchestra conductor and violinist, and suffice it to say she was breathtaking to watch!

Captivating the King: Jo Jung-suk

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: When this show was good, it was in fact “captivating” — and Jo Jung-suk was the most captivating of all. In fact, I think it’s pretty safe to say he carried the entire show. Without his gravitas and pathos, certain plot points and character decisions would have been much more frustrating than they already were. But even when other characters made *questionable* decisions, we could trust his Lee In to help bridge the gap between what the show wanted us to feel and how its attempts actually landed.

Because, when it came down to it, I liked many of Captivating the King’s ideas far more than their execution. I loved the use of baduk to illustrate the characters’ political schemings and the leads’ promise to always meet when it rained, but I thought both could have been used to even better effect — especially when the female lead’s schemes often made things worse instead of better. But through it all, Jo Jung-suk made sure the stakes always felt real, even when the writing didn’t quite get us there.

The Midnight Studio: The ghosts

To be clear, The Midnight Studio’s leading couple were great as always. But while I enjoyed their chemistry and the way their characters became each other’s safe space, the ghosts were really the heart of the show — even if some of them got the short end of the stick in the end.

There was a different ghost story each week or so, which meant we got a bunch of cameos and special appearances. I don’t think it’s any secret by now that I have a ginormous soft spot for Seo Ji-hoon (seriously, I’m BEGGING for someone to give him the leading role he deserves!), so his surprise cameo was an especially nice treat, even if I did know he would die the second he appeared on screen. (Comes with the “ghost story” territory, after all.)

But I’d also like to give special mention to the child actor from week one, as well as Ki-joo’s ghost assistants and Park Ki-woong (oh the Gaksital reunion that only barely was!) for doing their best with what they were given. The Midnight Studio wasn’t perfect, but it was full of warmth and sweetness throughout, and each guest who came through those mystical doors made me root for them to get at least some semblance of closure.

Lovely Runner: The OTP

Nope, I just can’t separate these two, even in an end-of-year review! Jokes aside, though, this show was everything, and it just wouldn’t have worked if either of them had failed to match the other’s performance. After all, while Sol drove most of the action, Sun-jae refused to let her (well-intentioned) sacrifices have the final say — their happy ending was the product of a beautiful partnership, and beautifully acted on both sides.

With such a time-twisty, memory-fuzzying plot, both Byun Woo-seok and Kim Hye-yoon had to work extra hard to make sure we knew (when we were supposed to) which of them remembered what, and they more than rose to the challenge. Plus, they did such a great job of portraying the same characters at different stages of life — who retained the essence of who they were while also being affected by different life experiences in different timelines — and running the gamut from harboring awkward crushes to sizzling with chemistry. It wasn’t an easy task, but Sun-jae and Sol — and the story itself — were in very good hands.

Player 2 – Master of Swindlers: Song Seung-heon

Prior to this show, I wouldn’t have described my feelings toward Song Seung-heon as anything more than indifferent. Now, though? I will happily buy anything he tries to sell me, especially if he’s in character as good-hearted conman Kang Ha-ri. I adored the whole team of “Players” here, but Ha-ri charmed me completely, and I’m not sure I’ll ever recover.

But the key to a compelling character like Ha-ri is that he’s not all charm and deception — he’s got his own internal struggles, too, as well as a heart of gold that makes him easy to root for even when he inches toward the edge of taking his cons a little too far. Song Seung-heon brought all this to life with great skill, not to mention great fun.

I watched the two seasons of this show in reverse order, but in some ways I think that was the better choice. Season 1 became the origin story for characters I already knew and loved, and added more depth to my understanding of them, plus a bit of dramatic irony with regard to their futures. In short, I would watch endless numbers of seasons of this show, as long as it kept the essence of the “Player” team — and as long as Song Seung-heon stayed on as Ha-ri.

Black Out: The entire cast

What a fabulous cast this show had! Everyone from well-known veterans to fresh faces knocked it out of the park and made this dark and twisty show super compelling, even when it threatened to make us lose all faith in humanity (only to turn it around with a surprisingly hopeful, satisfying conclusion!). I’m always excited to see Jo Jae-yoon, but this was a side of him I’ve never seen before. And I also have to commend Kwon Hae-hyo for making my skin crawl with each layer of his character’s horribleness peeled back, Byun Yo-han for making Jung-woo a hugely sympathetic protagonist even when his innocence wasn’t 100% assured, and Lee Ga-seob for playing complex dual roles so convincingly.

Black Out had its flaws, but it’s a lot easier to overlook them when you have a cast this talented throwing themselves into their roles. I was repeatedly shocked that people would stoop so low as these characters often did, but never disbelieved that these people would make the decisions they did. I understood them even when I didn’t necessarily want to, and that’s a testament to the actors’ dedication and skill.

Love Next Door: The parents

The cast list in general (okay, Jung So-min plus the rest of the cast) was the main reason I started this show in the first place, and if I’m honest, they were probably the main reason I stuck with it through unpleasant surprises (*cough* (not-so) terminal illness *cough*) and draggy detours I didn’t care about. But while this was a stellar cast overall, it was — surprisingly — the parents whose performance impressed me the most.

Every time I questioned why I was still watching, something would always reel me back in by the heartstrings, and often it involved Seok-ryu’s complicated relationship with her parents. Her dad and his tteokbokki shop was one of my favorite storylines in the whole show, and the friction between her and her mom was the initial hook that made me buckle in for the long haul. While I knew to expect greatness from Jo Han-chul in portraying a character who could be both comical and sympathetic (and not without faults of his own), Park Ji-young surprised me by making me understand what Seok-ryu’s mom was feeling even though she frustrated me 98% of the time by how she expressed those feelings.

Then there were Seung-hyo’s parents, played by the always enjoyable Jang Young-nam and Lee Seung-yoon. If I could lift two characters from Love Next Door and make a whole show about just them, it would have been these two. In fact, I found myself craving a drama about a married couple who barely know each other reconnecting while one navigates their political career (thank you, When the Phone Rings, for scratching that oddly specific itch!). While these two characters could also be frustrating, it was also lovely to watch them rediscover why they gravitated to one another in the first place.

Jeongnyeon – The Star is Born: The entire cast

Once again, the entire cast poured their hearts and souls into this show — and they had the extra challenge of mixing acting for the screen with acting on the stage. The gugeuk performances, many of which we got to enjoy in full, were simply amazing. It’s worth watching those by themselves even if you watch nothing else of the actual show!

I’ve loved Kim Tae-ri since Mr. Sunshine, but she blew me away here — especially in the incredibly intense Episode 8. That dream sequence of her screaming in silence still haunts me. But the best thing about this cast was that literally everyone had incredible chemistry with everyone else. Jeongnyeon liked to show us different pairings performing the same gukgeuk scene to highlight the differences in that chemistry — not because any were “less than,” but because each duo’s dynamic was unique.

And while the story’s queer elements were suppressed, what was missing in the writing was still present in the final product, because these ladies made sure every scene was dripping with subtext. For once, this was a show that could have used a few more episodes to really flesh out its character arcs. But despite the limitations, the cast absolutely gave it their all, making Jeongnyeon a stunning finale to a year of stunning performances.

So take a bow, K-actors of 2024! Thanks for all your hard work, and I look forward to watching you shine even more brightly in 2025.

 
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