나쁜남자 / Na-bbeun-nam-ja

Bad Guy



May through August of 2010 Korean drama that stars Kim Jae wook (one of my favorite, Korean actors) and Kim Nam gil (a guy a lot of people find interesting, if not handsome - except for me).


Kim Nam gil

When I first heard about this drama, it intrigued me for a couple of reasons: namely, Kim Jae wook, but also the storyline, which described in a totally convoluted manner about a guy coming back from the dead to haunt another guy who supposedly replaced him.

Turns out this is actually the story of a Chaebol clan whose head conceived a child by extramarital affair, and that boy came to live with them for a time.

Later, however, it is discovered that the wrong Hong Tae seong is in their midst, and so like any, human being with a conscious would do, they toss to the curb on a stormy night the confused boy, his possessions (none of which he had when he first arrived), and an adorable puppy tied to a leash.

For the first, ten years of his life, Shim Geon wook lived with his mother and a deaf-mute father in a tiny village far removed from the opulence of a Chaebol existence.

On the night the boy is replaced with another child (Kim Jae wook as the REAL Hong Tae seong), young Geon wook shivers in the cold and driving rain while awaiting the arrival of his supposedly 'legitimate' parents - who, of course, die in a traffic accident along the way.

Geon wook ends up at an orphanage, where he is later adopted by a couple from America, but due to the deep-seeded wounds of that fateful night, he returns to Korea as a handsome, educated adult with nothing but vengeance on his mind.

One by one, he moves in on the siblings of the Chaebol and proceeds to destroy them in some way, but to the bitter end, he remains somewhat friendly with our poor, clueless Hong Tae seong.

Both boys are romantically ensnared by the leading lady - who first met Geon wook the man when she hit him with her car, but without causing any, bodily harm to the super-human dude who walked away without a scratch.

She then meets up with our shiftless Hong Tae seong aboard a yacht in Japan, and it is at this time when vengeful Geon wook enters the picture - taking care of Tae seong so that his father asks that Geon wook serve as his chauffer/mentor/bodyguard.



I gave this four hearts because while the story did tend to seem drawn-out and over-done, I liked the acting of all the characters - including the chick who played an obsessive twit in Mischievous Kiss, who also portrays an obsessive, young twit in Bad Guy.


Sim Eun-kyeong 심은경 as Moon Won in

By now, I should know better than to try and read into these types of tales, but this was another of those stories where I kept wondering why the leading character couldn't figure out the obvious until the last, few frames of this 17-episode drama.

I mean, it was obvious to the viewer that Tae seong was just as much a victim of the Chaebol greed as Geon wook was, so what was the point of our Geon wook torturing the poor guy when it was apparent from the very start that he, too, suffered from the hateful and resentful machinations of the wronged 'wife'.

Ding-bat Won in was in a baby carriage when Geon wook arrived at the manse, so what could she possibly have done to deserve having 'revenge' thrust upon her?

I get it, though.

I mean, regardless of the extent to which any of the relations had in destroying Geon wook's happiness, he felt obliged to destroy each of them in order to completely destroy the happiness of the adults who had wronged him.

The mother-bitch in this story was over-the-top frightening this time, too!

I recommend you give this a chance if you haven't already.

Now, for my photo-journal:

The girls in Asia are dressing more and more like street walkers nowadays, wearing short-shorts with high heels, mini-skirts that 'almost' cover their ass, and so on.

In one scene, the leading lady is wearing a mini-dress as she helps a drunk Tae seong back to his apartment in the city, and after making him some warm wine, she kneels before him when he knocks the glass from her hand, spilling the drink in her lap.

Naturally, none of the liquid is on her bared flesh, but it did manage to ruin her dress, so she goes to the master bath to clean it up, and then she dons one of his button-downs since her mini-dress is destroyed.

This SHIRT happened to be longer than her dress, and yet she became suddenly modest and felt obliged to tug at the hem of the shirt in order to ... oh, I don't know ... cover her ass?












Tae seong throws her out of the apartment






Geon wook comes to her rescue




He takes her to a trendy shop to buy her new clothes


and this is how she ends up looking
(don't even ASK about the subtitles)

Whatever I suppose.

More, interesting occurrences:


the hooker look


as opposed to this -


No, it's not! It's 100.2f! Wouldn't one DIE at 91f?

subtitle issues:

em ... whaaat?

a funny what I wonder?

you were right the first time

and, the pretty things:





Now, for the images of Kim Jae wook:












AGREED!