Part-Time Idol (2017)

This is the first drama I binge watched for 2018. I was trying to look up what to watch on Netflix and it popped up on my recommended list. I initially watched this for Lee Suhyun. I love her voice. But then I liked the other characters too. I've always heard of Kwon Young Deuk as one of YG's main dancers but I've never really paid attention to him until now. This was a really cute drama. I like watching these kinds of dramas. Most of the time, some fans think that idols are just born the way they are. They don't think about the pressure that some of them go through. How hard they work for their dreams. They are people just like you and me. They go through hardships too.

STORY:
It is a mini drama with only 5 episodes so it was a bit fast paced. It's about who music producer who went on hiatus then decided to come back and gathered a bunch of hidden gems together to make a new idol co-ed group. They all had some issues to deal with so the producer sets out to find ridiculous ways to get them to overcome it. This show made me laugh out loud a bunch of times. It's a bit cliched but I like cliche. :D

ACTING/CAST:
I always like seeing idols expand their wings. I like how they can showcase their other talents other than singing. Lee Suhyun was the reason I watched this but then I enjoyed watching the others too. I've never heard of Kwon Hyun Bin till I watched this drama. I haven't seen Produce 101. I've seen Kim Hee Jung in other dramas before. I knew Hwang Seong Eon looked familiar and then while I was looking at her drama list, I saw that she was in Love For A Thousand More, which is another one of those dramas featuring YG artists. Kim Min Kyo is always funny in the other dramas I've watched before. Kwon Young Deuk is really cute in this drama too. Haha as Chanhyuk is just funny as hell. Can't help compare YZ's CEO to the real YG though.

MUSIC:
I really like their debut song, Red Carpet. And I also liked the song Hyun Bin sang in I think the end of episode 2 and the song that Suhyun sang at the end of episode 3. I also liked Ice Cafe. 

REWATCH VALUE:
Definitely.

OVERALL:
I gave it a 9. It's not the best mini drama but it's definitely worth watching.

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There isn't much to say about short web dramas, though this one at least isn't a moving, lengthy advertisment of some product. Although it is a YG Entertainment drama (funny pun, they named the entertainment in the drama YZ), and it is featuring artist of that label, at least, it had some content. My only regret about this drama is that they tried too many things at such a short time. They wanted to present the struggles of an upcoming idol group that were consisted by misfeats who had trouble becoming an idol individually. The concept was nice at first, but then they tried to add romance into it, with no proper time to develop the love story properly, drama with power struggles and rich people aiming to stop the group from debuting, sad background stories, friendship dynamics being tested and such. I mean, if this drama was 16 episodes long, it would have been great to watch all these small twists, but with only a few episodes, it was a mix of everything. So, 4 out of 10.

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Quirky sitcom

I like that this drama is a sitcom. It comprises short 30 to 35 minute episodes, easy to watch and not very heavy. There are some cute and funny moments so it's light entertainment. Don't take it too seriously. I binge watched it in around 2 hours (at 1.5x speed) during a public holiday break.

Meant to depict the training of wannabe idols, it doesn't delve too deeply into the more 'meaty' issues of such trainees such as the stress and exploitation rife and endemic in the whole toxic industry. Instead, it is a cutesy drama about friendship and camaraderie with hints of the darker issues looming in the background. .... Or at least this is where the show SHOULD have stopped.

I'm deducting 1.5 stars because the drama did attempt to introduce these issues in the last half of episode 4, but such a short drama doesn't allow the proper exploration and resolution of such issues. What emerged was a half-baked attempt that went no where and achieved nothing. Watching this drama just 1 week since the suicide of Moon Bin has made me view this drama in a whole new light spotlighting the dark undertones of the industry.

Pity that this drama was filmed in 2017 before it was fashionable to splice dramas into 2 (ie part 1 with say 6 episodes to test the market and then part 2 a few months later). Having a follow-up part 2 would really have allowed this drama to go into the depths it attempted to explore but could only touch on.

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✒Polish What Others Cast Away °5.7 °good°

Why part-time? Performers don't work full-time. Yet these kids work HARD to get to their first release, and that is just the beginning.

Jung Tae Kyung is a wildly successful and famous music producer (think Dr. Dre or Phil Spector) who retires after questioning what it all means. He was lost, he explains later. As the show starts, he knows where to go again. He's back in the studio parking lot looking like a wandering peasant that got lost from the set of a historical drama - turban and all. He's been cloistered at a Hindu temple for 8 years, so he's almost like a newborn. Lowkey? He pees sitting down, now! {He grandstands to his partner: "How many changes can the world have within the span of 8 years? Has NK developed nuclear missiles? Has AI taken over Go? Why make a big fuss as if the nation has been turned upside down?" The answer: 'NK does have nukes, AI has overtaken Go, and our country did turn upside-down due to impeachment.' Dude was spared all that anxiety by living in a Hindu Temple. There's something to be said for that}

Like a person who has sincerely turned h/h life around by way of faith, he immediately gravitates to the lost causes at the agency: A pathetic attention seeker, a girl with stage fright (she's an excellent singer - alone - in the bathroom), another girl who suddenly can't hit the high notes anymore (she will draw first blood), and a very talented missy with a personality too hissy - anger management issues to boot. This motley crew is gathered into a room where they surmise that the agency has decided to fire them. Next, HE enters. "I'm going to make you idols," he announces. "Who are you?," they ask.

PTI is a 2017 release that is rated 7.4 on MAL. It is 1 season consisting of 5 35-minute episodes, so it's about the length of a long movie. This appears to be a show that's geared towards the young-at-heart. It has simple plot lines, writing, characters, and very simple solutions. Problems are wrapped up in an afternoon, the bad guys give up easily (not wanting to be /that/ evil) and the group becomes like family. It's shallow, but it's all in good clean fun, and it's a nice escape for young teens and tweens. Adults take a condescending attitude towards things that are simple, but complicated ain't better. For kids everything is simple. Don't lie. Don't steal. Be kind. Forgive. As adults we know the world is more complicated than that… Why? Did lying, stealing, and meanness suddenly become okay, or are we making all sorts of compromises to manage the world and justify doing what we want to do? Things are usually simple, and kids often have it right. It's adults who cast shadows on things. In PTI we'll meet a guy who chose the wrong path. He decided to betray his friend and the whole company in order for profit and power, but he relented when it got to a certain point. Instead of staying on the course he had chosen, he backed up and did not go-for-the-win-to-the-bitter-end. Is it more childish to stick with our bad decisions and try to win at all costs, or is it more childish to simply stop and reconsider?

The art direction lightens the mood. In ep1 when they show up at their new digs, their wardrobe and suitcases create a cacophony of color that assaults the eyes, yet somehow lightens the mood. Some of the music is pretty good. One would think that's automatic, but we've all seen features about the music industry in which the music isn't good, so good for them. PTI only manages mild humor; The bathroom humor misses the target in ep2. The cast are all young and beautiful, and not merely cookie-cutter pretty. Lee Su Hyun is not waif thin and her head is 50% larger than the ones of rest of the cast, yet she is beautiful. Her smile is radiant starlight, and her jet-black straight hair is the type that I've always found most attractive. She evokes a gentleness and genuine spirit that comes from within.

In summary, PTI is quite a bit like pop music: It's sweet, simple, and it sticks to the surface. Sometimes, that's exactly what we need.

〰🖍 IMHO

📣6 📝5 🎭7 💓5🦋5 🌞5 🎨6 ⚡3 🎵/🔊7.4 😅3 😭3 😱1 😯3 😖2 🤔2 💤2 🔚5

Age 10+ with this caution:
The topic of suicide is introduced. This creates a good opportunity to discuss it with your kids, as the painful aftermath never fully resolves. SK, a country of around 50M people, is overachieving on the world stage. One reason for that is because their society is so heavily pressured. Common themes in SK entertainment are: Study, exams, domineering parents, expectations, a rigid caste system where many are shut out, vicious gossip, and suicide. All of this exists everywhere, but SK is a hothouse where it really thrives resulting in the 4th highest suicide rate in the 🌏, w/ students & elderly @ 🔝risk. The rest of the developed 🌎 isn't close. This is, quite simply, a pride problem. "Asian mother" has become a cliche for a toxic parent because of the way kids are pressured to elevate the family and make everyone look good. There's kids that are self-motivated, and kids that need a little help. Our son needed to be pushed every step of the way. The key is that it's always supposed to be about the child, what is good for the child, what will assist that human in developing into the best version of h/hself. The goal is supposed to be helping that person realize h/h potential in order to live the fullest life. It's never supposed to be about making the parents or the family look good. That's a poison that not only rots the family, but also the community, leaving destruction in its wake. Thus the suicide. In 🇺🇸 we have the opposite problem, having become a country of mindless, rutting underachievers. Too many parents are too absorbed with their own lives, leaving the kids floundering and aimless. Thus, the problems we have. Feeling nothing but a bleak emptiness has kids in the USA sacrificing their lives to reckless pursuits in an effort to escape meaninglessness. Balance is hard because humans have a tendency to take things too far. Not being balanced naturally, we must make a constant effort to walk the sunlit path. The first stepping stone on the path has this inscription: "It's not about you and what you can get from this. It's about love." The more love you invest, the more love is returned. While always kind, love isn't always soft, though. Love does the necessary things. It's about shaping this person into a hard working, caring, beneficial member of society. Then love multiplies.

Re-📺?
This one's in the good-to-pass-the-time category, but I may never pass this way again….


You May Like:
For the 10-14 age group, Strongest Delivery Man-6.6, D4DJ-7.5, The Miracle-7.7, Spark-6.4, Bodacious Space Pirates-6.7, Belle-8.5, Spirited Away-9, Howl's Moving Castle-9, One Piece-8, The Dragon Prince-8.7, Avatar The Last Airbender-10 & Trollhunters-9.5 are all good to excellent.

Originally 〰️🖊 11/2023

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