Memories of the Alhambra: Writer Song Jae Jung’s Interview

Writer Song Jae Jung‘s interviews were published by the Korean media since 2 days ago, and immediately there were a lot of negative feedbacks flooding the social media. I’m glad she came out to clarify some of the unanswered mysteries for us, but also can’t help but wonder if it was better she hadn’t. The wrath of fans/netizens is no joke.

First and foremost, I’m actually proud of myself for getting two things right about her story, [pat self], haha. When I first saw Memories of the Alhambra, the first thing that came into my mind was the infamous Pokémon Go that everyone was crazy about couple of years ago, and she confirmed she was indeed inspired by it. Read more → link

And with two episodes left, it is unlikely that we will get an explanation for the reason of how Cha Hyung Seok and Seo Jung Hoon die; therefore, Writer Song provided that explanation in the interview. Her explanation coincide with mine (Yay?!), i.e. because the AR game is so real that the brain thinks it really happened and the body reacts to it, perhaps a shock (much like Jin Woo went into seizure in the eyes of those we didn’t play the game). In addition, she also explained why the AR game became ‘real’ and I’m on board with that explanation, and I’ll think about it more once the finale is aired. Read more → link

Writer Song also explained Jin Woo’s ex-wives and Cha Hyung Seok are important characters from Jin Woo’s past. They are crucial secondary storyline of Jin Woo: his past mistakes and wrong choices that will shape him (in terms of character development) and help him walk into a new relationship. Yes, this makes sense. It takes two to tango, as Soo Jin’s husband he failed to protect their relationship and resulted in the ultimate betrayal. He was so angry he probably never reflect and find out what went wrong in their failed marriage, and with spite, he made another wrong choice by marrying Go Yura and brought on more trouble for himself. It was important for us to see he is now sowing the seed he planted before he begins to walk on the right path and become a better person (with the support and healing he received from Hee Joo & family), and that’s what I like about this storyline because Jin Woo is so different to other heroes.

Writer Song also mentioned she neither wrote the script specially for Hyun Bin nor did she changed the script to suit Hyun Bin after he was cast, so she was utterly surprised how perfectly he had portrayed Yoo Jin Woo. She couldn’t think of anyone but Hyun Bin that could digest a chaebol role who has a good physique; is good in action scenes and romance. Yeah, I think so too. Hyun Bin really nailed it, and in that let’s hope he gets recognised with an acting award from Baeksang this coming May for this role.

She was also asked about Park Shin Hye, and this is where it sparked anger on social media. It stemmed from Park Shin Hye’s disappointed fans which I fully understand how they feel. After all, they have waited two long years for her to return to the small screen and this is all that they get. But as someone who loves/enjoys this drama, it sure didn’t feel all that great to come across the hate comments when searching for the drama and actors with tags. A little consideration from these angry netizens would be greatly appreciated, thanks.

In summary, Writer Song confirmed that this is indeed a male centric drama and was never meant to centre around romance (yep, I could see that too). Hee Joo was supposed to be a character that’s neither a lover nor a friend (i.e. she’s in between a friend and a lover)—they are in a relationship much like the movies, The Man from Nowhere and Léon: The Professional. However after Hyun Bin and Park Shin Hye were cast, she felt that they were two beautiful people and that it’d be wasteful not to give them loveline, so she added some romance under the premise that it wouldn’t affect the main story, but she finds it difficult since it wasn’t meant to be in there the first place. Netizens were then angry as they felt misled since the show was promoted to be a romance fantasy. Ack, people, when will we all learn to take those promotional hijinks with a grain of salt? And to be fair, it does have romance. LOL. LOL.

Then there were fans/netizens that argued they were not angry because of the lack of romance but simply because Shin Hye was given so little to work with. In this Writer Song explained from the beginning* she had already asked for Shin Hye’s understanding (means they have communicated this from the start and Shin Hye knows her roles are not going to be major), in return she promised to Shin Hye a feeling of freshness by letting her play both Hee Joo and Emma. Now to be fair, I don’t have an issue if this is already communicated in advance and Shin Hye agreed to it. Personally, I like to think if Shin Hye already knows and is still willing to take the job then she must have really wanted to work with this production team and casts, and her decision should be respected. True that an actress with her current status deserves a meatier role, but a lesser/secondary role does NOT mean it will be completely meaningless and necessary be a taint to her resume. She can still learn a lot and gain more experiences from her fellow, veteran actors and if she is interested in the works behind the scenes, then that’s also something she can gain from.

*처음부터 박신혜에게 양해를 구했고 대신 1인 2역의 엠마 역이 본인에게 새로움을 줄 거라 약속했다.

Out of all the characters I’ve seen Shin Hye played, I prefer Hee Joo and Emma. Yes, I know I know… Hee Joo cries in every single episode and wasn’t given much to do but I wasn’t frustrated with her unlike Cha Eun Sang in Heirs. In Doctors, it was unfortunate in the hands of Writer Ha Myung Hee her once badass character sizzled out in the end. Hee Joo and Emma at least remain consistent in terms of characterization. The writers of Heirs and Doctors offended me more because Shin Hye was given meatier roles and they didn’t deliver, but with Hee Joo, there were scenes I actually thought Shin Hye stood out and did well. Her kissing scenes have improved tremendously too, particularly she has stopped frowning, or look like she didn’t enjoy the kiss, and she’s kissing back instead of shutting her lips tightly. Some people would still disagree because I’ve seen the comments on the exact scene(s) I find she did well, lol, so to that I can only say “each to our own, let’s agree to disagree”. *Shrugs — no one can please everybody*

I do hope Park Shin Hye comes out and clarifies this matter, because we need to see it from both perspectives. The hardest part now is obviously whether fans and netizens will accept what Shin Hye says and whether she knew it all along etc., because even I often advise others not to trust a published article to a tee and use our own brain to judge, read between the lines and take it with a grain of salt.

But at the end of the day, let’s be practical—it’s just a business transaction for the Big Shot. If tvN cast Hyun Bin and Park Shin Hye then they obviously going to make use of their popularity to promote the show. But then again, I don’t think fans should even be furious about this because tvN weren’t even promoting the show as much as they should! I’m the one that should be angry for not getting good quality and yummy promotional stills from each episode, and the drama’s official website hasn’t updated the stills page since episode 5 (new stills are only uploaded onto Twitter and Facebook).

Ultimately, it’s a good drama to be part of especially one that challenges new and refreshing concept. I personally would love to be part of it if I’m an actor. She gets to play two roles, learns Spanish and brushes up her guitar skills, and works with good actors, famous director and writer. All in all, it’s not a loss for her and is actually good for her resume. Not to mention this drama is being aired on international streaming platform such as Netflix. So regardless of the ratings** in South Korea, this drama is NOT a flop and will promote both Hyun Bin and her to the international audiences. For my many years of Kdrama watching experience, I know enough not to judge a drama based on its ratings too.

**For a cable drama, 10% is good but I think people ‘expected’ (once again, expectation) with the ‘star power combo’ of the actors, director and writer, the result is unexpectedly lower than other high rating tvN dramas.

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