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Tuesday, April 26, 2011

Midas (2011)


Midas
마이더스
(Feb – May 2011)


who’s in it
Jang Hyuk (Tazza, Chuno)
Lee MinJung (Boys Over Flowers, Smile You)
Kim HeeAe (Snow Flower)
No MinWoo (My GF is a Gumiho, Pasta)

what’s it about
Jang Hyuk, the Jang Hyuk—Mr. Chuno-badass himself—gets all suited and tied in this melodrama that grabs its name from the Greek mythology king that turned everything he touched into gold. Jang used to be a badass money guy, in fact, he was soooo good at this particular career path that he had a KOSDAQ ticker scrolling across his forehead, down his arms, and wrapped around his little fingers. Ok, not really, but our hero was so damn offhandedly awesome with money that he got bored fed up with the greedy side of trading it and went back to school. What did he pick? The same thing all aimless career-lost people pick: law school. Well, it turns out, he’s also damn awesome with law manipulation and he writes a mean thesis about loopholes in the legal system, which gets some corporate wolves pretty excited.

So at present we get to meet the freshly law degreed Jang Hyuk who has the Seoul law community all abuzz in excitement to get him on their payroll. His girlfriend/fiance is Lee MinJung, a bright-eyed and youthful nurse at a VIP ward who is innocently planning their future of love together. (Unfortunately this VIP ward has nothing to do with Big Bang, but some fun trivia for you: Lee MinJung was invited to star in one of G-Dragon’s music videos in 2009 during his solo Heartbreaker promotions, but declined.)

However, when Jang Hyuk decides to throw down with a law firm that babysits a crazy rich family of powerful screwups that idolize Mario Puzo’s fictional mafioso Corleone family (emphasis on crazy here), our freshman lawyer gets in over his head. Warning to all: if any of your potential employers waxes poetic about Al Pacino’s Don Corleone, take my advice, run like hell. It’s not gonna end well, and that’s not a spoiler, that’s just good American trivia to live your life by.

director
Kang ShinHyo (Tazza)

screenwriter(s)
Choi WanKyu (Swallow the Sun, The Grand Chef)

commitment 
20 episodes

network
SBS

not interested, passed
Soooo…let’s see here, Jang Hyuk decided against rubbing his latte hotness up against Ha JiWon in the comedy Secret Garden in order to challenge his acting boundaries...by playing this ridiculously intense but, let’s face it, rather unoriginal role about a corporate lawyer who gets sucked into a whirlpool of greedy evil. He gets to make lovey dovey eyes with Lee MinJung, which isn’t a bad trade off in terms of costar actress hotness, sure, but the drama itself is lacking some key things. Logic, for one. Flow, another. This one feels like 2011’s effort at a Bad Guy redo, and I suffered through that one only because I fell for Kim JaeWook’s version of a sexy suicidal tramp stud.

Midas just doesn’t have what it takes to stay on my watch list. This show is clearly going to be a gnarly ride down a ridiculous story line. No thanks.

BUT for those of you who might care, eye candy is rich in here with the likes of pretty No MinWoo (who likes to frolic in trampy hotel harem five-somes) and studly Jung SukWon (who at first blush seems to be a nonessential character, but probably will develop into more, pity I don’t really care about the show), so if you love them lots, maybe it’s worth a check out.

5 comments:

  1. hey there... it's been a long time.... got too busy with school and life, plus I went into a massive book phase (although I still watched all the dramas.. just didnt have time to blog)
    anyways, I finished midas (although honestly, i fastforwared the last 7 or so episodes)! Lost interest in it as well but you shouldn't miss NoMinwoo's OST track Can I love you/Message of Love. I thought it was really smoothing and lovely, about the only real positive thing I got out of Midas.
    looking forward to your entire review for 49 days once the dramas done. btw, are you going to watch any of the current/upcoming dramas like best/greatest love, lie to me, baby faced, city hunter, etc.? Im going to watch all of them (gasp...)
    I'm also going to watch tw dramas Extravagant challenge since SJ siwon and donghae are in it.. XD

    ReplyDelete
  2. I don't get it...... WHY WOULD ANYONE NOT LIKE MIDAS? For me it was a trully trully great drama but then again maybe because I am a business student.......

    Especially Kim HeeAe's performance... very riveting..in a nice way and Jang hyuk as always...I amust say appart from Tazza...this guy sure as hell knows how to pick his roles... right from way back to Thank You....

    and ofcourse Lee MinJung.. who brought a freshness to the usual female lead that brings good qualities to her man....

    I absolutely loved Midas...

    ReplyDelete
  3. İ don't get why anyone who hasn't actually watched the drama would write a review about it.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I agree with the above comment, it seems odd to write about something you haven't seen or planning to watch.
    I saw this series mid last year myself and I enjoyed it. I thought it was well written and paced. I was surprised that the subject matter itself was entertaining and riveting which was more than I can say with most of kdrama plots I have seen. If you want to see a drama with a different subject matter other than the usual with good strong acting to boot, then I would recommend Midas.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I beg to disagree! (: I was really, really hooked with Midas - not because I am a solid Jang Hyuk fan, but because of the whole story. Thanks for sharing your thoughts.

    ReplyDelete

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