First Impression: A New Leaf

So many dramas are starting up and one of those news ones is A New Leaf or Repentance starring Kim Myung Min and Park Min Young. I've been in a drama rut lately so hopefully this one pulls me out of it. 

  Kim Seok Joo (Kim Myung Min) is a cold-hearted corporate attorney who doens't mind playing foul to win his cases. When he gets into an accident, he's left with no memory of who he is and sets out to figure this out. Along the way, he clashes with the very man (Cha Young Woo played by Kim Sang Joong) who molded him into the person he was. Soek Joo begins to work closely with Lee Ji Yoon (Park Min Young), an intern who works directly under Seok Joo. He's also engaged to the sol granddaughter, Yoon Jeong Seon (Chae Jung Ahn), of a wealthy family who is surprised when Seok Joo think their relationship is built on love and not business.

  Episodes 1 and 2 weren't very fast paced and we didn't get too much of a character introduction (we haven't seen Jeong Seon yet), we just sort of dove into Seok Joo's life and how serious he can be when it comes to his job. It set us up for the main plot and that's his amnesia and coming to find out who he really is. We have to see who Kim Seok Joo was before the accident in order to see him change from a person who's not afraid to use unfair methods to win his cases to someone who is now thinking about  whether his past actions were fair. So in retrospect, I am pretty satisfied with what he got as an introduction. It didn't pack too much on and left us wanting more, it served its purpose. 

 There's nothing negative to say about our leading man, Kim Myung Min is an amazing actor who has enough charisma to star in a one man show (I. Am. Serious), his line delivery and the way he can bring his character to life is an art (I am very serious about this too). Plus have you heard him speak? The man's voice is a gift in itself. I can hear him and Kim Sang Joong speak to each and not get bored. It's like listening to Barry White sing, it makes things 10x more interesting. I think I'm going off subject, my point is that Kim Myung Min owns Kim Seok Joo (much like he own Anthony Kim in King of Dramas). Same goes for Kim Sang Joong, he's an excellent actor who does well in whatever role he is given. He oozes charisma and charm, it's like he bathes in it. I'm starting to sound like a fangirl, *fans self* let me stop. Seok Joo is cold, but we are shown that he's not a completely heartless bastard. He has emotions and we see this when he's concerned about his dog who suffers from cancer and we know he refused to take the sexual assault case several times before being coerced into doing it. See? There's a heart deeeeeeeepppp down in there. Him losing his memory will cause him to shed his outer shell and actually have to feel something. Cha Young Woo appears to be that person who doesn't care too much about stepping on others to get what he wants. Yeah he refused to take on the case, but caved because of money and even gave in when he knew Seok Joo would never want to represent the chabeol in his sexual assault case. It's going to be fun seeing him go head to head with the man he molded in his likeness.

I've never had any actual issues with Park Min Young's acting since I've only seen her in City Hunter and she wasn't all that bad from what I saw. I know there were some that were worried about how she did since I've seen some criticism over her acting and have seen a few comments saying she over exaggerates. That may be true for some scenes, but I can at least be thankful she isn't a table and her facial muscles are working properly. Lee Ji Yoon is a very likable character and isn't at all like what I was expecting. She's naive, but not to the point where you question her intelligence and wonder how in the world she became an intern at a top law firm. She's optimistic, but it doesn't blind her and make her seem immature, which we've seen a lot of in female leads. We haven't seen the second lead yet, so I have nothing to go on except that I am kinda sad that Chae Jung Ahn keeps getting stuck with these second lead roles which all sound the same. She's a great actress and I hope to see her actually get the guy one day, so I hope that Yoon Seong Jeon isn't that piney female who becomes extremely jealous because her fiance doesn't want to be with her anymore by the end of the show. Now we don't know if Soek Joo and Ji Yoon will end up together since I have no idea where the writer is actually taking their characters, I just hope that Seong Jeon won't be annoying. As off as some might say Prime Minister and I got, one thing that is agreed upon is that Chae Jung Ahn's character was one of the best in that drama. She's too talented to be stuck with the same type of roles. Sorry, I'm ranting.

A New Leaf does show promise and now that Seok Joo had his accident at the end of episode 2, the real plot begins and from the previews it's bound to be a nice ride.