Park Min Young seems to have a thing for younger male leads.
From around 2014, Park Min Young has started to act alongside younger male co-stars in dramas. When pairing up with male acting partners that are younger than her, most of Park Min Young’s works become hits. In the upcoming February, Park Min Young will return to the small screen in another “noona romance” with Song Kang. Will it be Park Min Young’s next successful drama?
Ji Chang Wook – Healer
Healer is the first drama where Park Min Young worked with a younger male co-star, Ji Chang Wook, who is one year younger than her. Although the love line of this drama is not the focus, the chemistry of Park Min Young and Ji Chang Wook is still sizzling, making the viewers’ hearts flutter.
Healer, though only recorded the highest rating of 9.4%, was a huge success internationally and brought significant popularity to both of these talented actors. Park Min Young – Ji Chang Wook also won two “Best Couple” awards at the 2014 KBS Drama Awards and the 2016 Annual DramaFever Awards, marking the first successful collaboration with a younger male on-screen partner of Park Min Young.
Yoo Seung Ho – Remember
With the highest rating up to 20.1% – Park Min Young‘s collaboration with Yoo Seung Ho, who is 7 years younger than her, in Remember is the most successful drama of the actress where he acts alongside a younger male co-star. Their age difference caused doubts at first, but one the drama got broadcast, Park Min Young and Yoo Seung Ho successfully proved that chemistry had nothing to do with age.
Overcoming many difficulties, in the end, the two main characters of Remember end up together. Park Min Young and Yoo Seung Ho showcase various emotions in every scene of the drama, making the viewers immersed in each of their joys and sorrows. Despite not winning any “Best Couple” award, Park Min Young – Yoo Seung Ho is still a “noona-dongsaeng” couple that left a great impression on the viewers in the 2010s.
Park Seo Joon – What’s Wrong With Secretary Kim?
If Remember achieved great success domestically, What’s Wrong With Secretary Kim in which Park Min Young co-starred with Park Seo Joon became a huge hit in countries outside of Korea. Park Seo Joon is 2 years younger than Park Min Young in real life. Their on-screen chemistry is so convincing that they are constantly rumored to be dating off screen.
The interaction of the Park – Park couple in particular and the content of “What’s Wrong With Secretary Kim” can generally be seen as a standard for the rom-com genre of the Korean screen. Park Min Young and Park Seo Joon look so in love with each other that the two are constantly suspected of dating even though the drama ended in 2018. “What’s Wrong With Secretary Kim?” had the highest rating of 8.665%, a pretty huge number for tvN TV station at that time.
Seo Kang Joon – I’ll Go To You When The Weather Is Nice
Like Yoo Seung Ho, Seo Kang Joon is also 7 years younger than Park Min Young, but unfortunately, his film with Park beauty is the first failure in her path of acting with younger male stars. Actually, “I’ll Go To You When The Weather Is Nice” is not too bad, it’s even quite emotional with beautiful images and angles. However, perhaps because of the slow plot, the drama did not achieve the expected results.
The highest rating of only 2,667% marked Park Min Young‘s 2nd consecutive “failed” drama after “Her Private Life”. The drama isn’t bad, Park Min Young and Seo Kang Joon‘s acting isn’t bad either, it’s just that it is not of the audience’s taste in 2020. After this 2nd consecutive “defeat”, Park Min Young has taken a break in 2021 and is about to return in February 2022.
Song Kang – Forecasting Love And Weather
On February 12th, “Forecasting Love And Weather” starring Park Min Young and Song Kang will be a sequel to “Snowdrop” by Jisoo and Jung Hae In in the evening time slot on Saturday and Sunday. Born in 1994, Song Kang is Park Min Young‘s youngest male co-star so far with the gap of 8 years. Although Park Min Young has only had one bad drama with a younger male co-star, fans don’t put too much expectations on her new drama.
Not only because Song Kang is considered a male star with “excessive beauty but lack of talent”, but the office love story with the rule not to interact with each other in “Forecasting Love And Weather” is also quite similar to her old drama “What’s wrong with Secretary Kim?”.
This may be a deliberate decision of Park Min Young as she wants to use the old formula to regain success. However, it is likely that the old formula is the reason why Park Min Young continues to fail, as it is already too boring for the audience. Song Hye Kyo is a great example of using the same formula over and over and then failing again and again. Surely, Park Min Young‘s fans also don’t want her to follow in the same footsteps of her senior, Song.
Fans are not putting too much expectations on “Forecasting Love And Weather” and are quite pessimistic about the ratings. However, let’s hope that with “Forecasting Love And Weather”, Park Min Young and Song Kang will have an impressive comeback in the first half of 2022.
