JTBC's upcoming daily drama Thorn Flower/Spineflower (AKA Korea's version of ABC's Revenge)

[ceecile.livejournal.com]

JTBC branches out into the daily drama market

Y’know, of all the newly launched cable stations, I think JTBC is the one who got it right (or most right, at least). Even putting aside the quality of their programming (with shows like Padam Padam, A Wife’s Credentials, Childless Good Fortune, and Can We Marry), they’ve taken a gradual approach, starting small and expanding rather than jumping in all at once.

Now JTBC is rolling out its first daily drama, to be headlined by Jang Shin-young (Empress, The Chaser). It’ll be the first evening serial among the new general-programmer cable stations, and is titled literally Spineflower, though I think perhaps the more literal Thorn Flower (or Thorny Flower) may sound a bit better.

Jang will be playing another strong femme fatale (after playing an ambitious and vengeful bar hostess in Empress). Her character Se-mi starts out sweet and pure, till she’s cruelly crushed by two men and pushed to the brink of death; her trauma includes rape and the death of her family as well as betrayal by her lover. She returns wearing “an angel’s mask” and armed with a revenge mission. Sounds deliciously *makjang and — done right — totally addictive.

Thorn Flower will be written by Lee Hong-gu, who was one of the writers of A Man Called God and also 2008′s East of Eden (though not the original one who got ousted mid-production). Directing is PD Kim Do-hyung, who was a secondary director on Playful Kiss and worked on the original Goong.

Revenge/makjang material tends to do well with the daily drama market; consider the soaring ratings of tvN’s Yellow Boots earlier this year, which broke records at the time with its ratings surpassing 5%. Impressive for a cable daily, and JTBC has gotta be hoping for similar success.

Dramabeans

 


Daily dramas aren’t my cup o’ tea, but here’s one way to make them more engrossing: Make it dark and vengeful, with lots of blackness and blood-red accents to evoke a vaguely horror-like thrill. That’s what we’ve got here with Thorn Flower, the upcoming daily offering from cable up-and-comer JTBC, which released its main poster this week.

The drama stars Jang Shin-young as a femme fatale out for revenge, which sounds pretty close to her Empress description. She starts out as a sweet college student who’s betrayed by the man she loves, her dreams trampled, culminating in rape and the death of her family. She emerges from the trauma with hardened heart—transforming “so much that it’s difficult to believe it of herself”—and vows to get some payback.

In the still below, Kang Kyung-joon (To the Beautiful You) is locked in a kiss with co-star Jung Ji-yoon (The Traffickers). He’s the villain of the piece, playing the son of a chaebol who’s driven by selfish desires and the cause of our heroine’s misery. I presume it’s his demise we’ll all be rooting for.

While the term makjang gets thrown around a lot disparagingly, this drama seems like the kind that embraces its makjang nature and goes full-out for it, Temptation of Wife style. This kind of makjang is a version I actually have no problem with, because it’s baked right into the premise. It IS the premise. If you’re gonna do it, then own it—make it soapy and addictive and hard to resist. Granted, we don’t know yet whether Thorn Flower will be able to pull that off, but its writer DID pen A Man Called God, so we know he’s familiar with over-the-top camp. Even if I’m not entirely sure that was intentional.

Thorn Flower premieres on February 4.



FN News, TV Report | Dramabeans

 


On new stills revealed for upcoming JCTB drama “Spineflower” actors Kang Kyeong and Jung Ji Yoon shared a hot kiss.

Kang Kyeong will play the role of Kang Hyuk Mi, cold, powerful man, who does not slow down for what he wants. He will use his power to get whatever he wants and will be one big obstacle in Se-Mi's (Jang Shin Young) way. However he is a sweet, caring man to the woman he loves: Soo Ji (Jung Ji Yoon).

In the scene, the two lover will go on a trip to the snowy mountains, where they took a walk to receive fresh air, when Kang Hyuk Min pulled Soo Ji and kissed her passionately.

“Spineflower” is about a innocent girl Se-Mi (Jang Shin Young), who will go through a series of misfortune events, that will lead her to become a female fatale and will take revenge on powerful people.
The drama is set to start on February 4th.

kdramastars

Sounds like Revenge (US TV Show) to me but more extreme and makjang. Even the "Thorn" part.
*Makjang

Comments

[gypsy-sonata.livejournal.com]

had to search makjang because i haven't heard that term before.
sounds interesting. love me some over the top shit.

I do hope she's a strong character because Korean dramas tend to water down females characters that are supposed to be all about revenge and then you watch them get pushed around. Makes me lose interest.

[love-keiko.livejournal.com]

OP, what does makjang mean?

She starts out as a sweet college student who’s betrayed by the man she loves, her dreams trampled, culminating in rape and the death of her family.

*sighs* *eyeroll* *smfh*

MUST WE?! MUST WE?! what is with the media and using rape as a tool to great "strong women." as if being betrayed and having ur family killed off isnt enough motivation. if they show a rape scene i am dropping this drama like a hot potato. that shit is always annoying and gratuitous when it victim blames (if u're an innocent girl u dont deserve it, if u're a party girl u had it coming) and stop stereotyping the attackers as skeevy men when honestly they could easily be a charming flower boy next door.

/end rant

i stopped watching revenge because it got too soapy for me but i'm always here for ass kicking heroines.

[ceecile.livejournal.com]

"makjang :: a sylistic, tonal, or narrative element in dramas that chooses to play up outrageous storylines to keep viewers hooked despite how ridiculous the stories become (adultery, revenge, rape, birth secrets, fatal illnesses, and flirting with incest possibilities are some makjang favorites). Shows can be part of a makjang class of dramas (Wife’s Temptation is a makjang series), or they can have makjang tendencies (Mary Stayed Out All Night went makjang toward the end). Generally considered a negative thing (“Gah, how makjang can you get?”), unless a drama intentionally embraces the style (such as Baker King Kim Tak-gu or Flames of Desire)."

http://www.dramabeans.com/about/glossary/

[love-keiko.livejournal.com]

TY! <3

so this is basically like the female version of Nappun Namja. I liked that drama (shit got CRAZY at the end) so maybe i'll like this one as well...

[love-allure.livejournal.com]

that's funny because revenge always reminded me a tad of korean soap dramas.

[ohlookshiny.livejournal.com]

this sounds similar to tvn's glass mask? i've never watched a daily drama cause i'm always scared off by the length.

[tsuyoi-hikari.livejournal.com]

This sounds like Temptation of Wives (which is boring imo despite the high ratings) and Temptation of an Angel (which started out interesting only become predictable in the end when the second girl left the first guy after her evil sister's death -_-;;) -- God, there must be something wrong with me since with how annoyed I am with the ending, I love the middle part of the drama so so much that I feel like watching it all over again.

I love revenge drama in general but the predictability of the ending makes me hate them at the same time lol.

[superjesster.livejournal.com]

This is what I came here to say - I really liked Angel, tbh, but the ending definitely pissed me off.

[tsuyoi-hikari.livejournal.com]

It pissed me off so much that I practically stopped watching Kdrama for a year. XD The predictability of Kdramas in general make me so so sick. City Hunter is the first drama that I watched after the long hiatus. :D

The middle part of TOAA is really damn interesting -- when he just become so damn charming & brilliant that makes him win his evil wife's heart for real. I love the fact for the first time ever in Kdramas, a first male lead actually love the second female lead for real -- not as a friend or a little sister. I know the end gonna suck when the big sister made a promise to the little sister in the bathroom. All Kdramas' promises are meant to be broken each and everytime... >.>

[superjesster.livejournal.com]

tbh, when I think about it, I'm kinda glad the little sister left him? He did after all ruin her (evil) sister's life and what he did led to her suicide. Yeah, it was justified, but...it'd be pretty hard to live with him afterwards with that looming over them all the time.

But most k-dramas are predictable and still enjoyable! I haven't watched any kdramas in ages though, so idk.
And hmmm, yeah, it did get really interesting! But it was also really sad, because he's become this vengeful person, that's so different from who he was at the beginning of the drama :c

[tsuyoi-hikari.livejournal.com]

The evil sister is one of the most hateful characters I ever despite in Kdramas. Everytime she's on screen, I feel the urge to slapped her face lol. She is evil and basically done every sinful sin that existed -- murder, adultery, lying, treason, betrayal, & etc.. Just because you live a hard life, it doesn't give you the ticket to do all the bad things that she did. I think death is too good for her since I want her to rot in jail and pay for all the bad deeds she done to her husband and sister.

The main guy is just so pitiful. He loves her wife so much and was betrayed by her and I honestly think his revenge is justified. Plus, he did stopped his revenge plan in the end after knowing that both of them are sisters. And at the end, his evil wife did managed to ruin his business by releasing the promissory note. And the girl that he loves leave him and he ended up sad and alone... I hate the fact that Kdramas always make the good guys lose in the end. After all the things he went through, he truly deserve a happy ending. I know he will eventually become weak at the end but to end the drama as it is really pissed me off to no end. DX

[superjesster.livejournal.com]

Idk, her revenge, while misaimed at her innocent husband, was justified in her mind - his father's company got her father killed and didn't compensate the family for that, forcing her and her sister into the care of their abusive aunt and uncle, who gave her sister up for adoption and forced her into prostitution. I thought she was a pretty complex and well-written anti-villain.

Her husband's revenge parallels hers - betrayal & loss of innocence -> ability to be cruel & manipulative, and ruin people's lives (though he's more of an Anti-Hero). I can't exactly remember what they did when they found out about the little sister (aside from the upcoming marriage being ruined, and the little sister being injured), but if he stopped his revenge out of love for the sister and she didn't, then that's probably to show how different they ultimately are? Which is pretty smart writing, honestly.

And hmm...tragic k-dramas like this wouldn't be very good or interesting if the writers copped out with a happy ending. And I'm really sorry for being so longwinded, lol - I watched the drama ages ago, and I remember being pissed off by the ending...but now that I think about it, I'm actually rather pleased by how well done it was? Okay, the big sister's death could've been better (jfc was it over the top, lol), but at least the good guys didn't die.

[tsuyoi-hikari.livejournal.com]

Sorry for the late reply but honestly, I like to read your longwinded reply so don't feel sorry about it. ^^v

Actually while watching the drama, I constantly frustrated since she constantly think it is justified to vent her anger at his innocent husband -- I keep saying (along the lines); 'Is she stupid? It's not her husband's fault? It's his parent's fault so he didn't deserve all these'. I somehow try to compute her logic, but can't seemed to understand it at all. I will never understand Korean's obsession with blood and it seemed that if one of your family members do evil things, all the other family members must be rot in hell too despite being clueless and innocent. >.>

[superjesster.livejournal.com]

No problem!
And ahh, yes. But that's really quite typical of most works that involve the revenge trope, in most types of media - family and loved ones will almost always be collateral damage - it hits the person harder than say, losing their life or career.

[tsuyoi-hikari.livejournal.com]

ahh now I understand. The reason she vents her anger towards her husband and kill him not because she feels he is responsible or deserve it but simply because she wants his parents to feel tormented with losing their perfect son. Now it's all make sense. I never thought it that way -- I honestly thought her logic is so retarded. Thank you for this! :D

[superjesster.livejournal.com]

Yup. That's why so many revenge plots get really personal and almost always involves an innocent member of the family. And no problem!

[zoetheslacker.livejournal.com]

in here just to say: dafuq is that makeup? NO.

I just realized why the poster looks so familiar...

[superjesster.livejournal.com]

It's exactly the same design as the Temptation of an Angel poster (though it's a bit more polished), lol.