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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