#i also would NOT put it past Nara to make her child half human to help try to unite nexomon and humans

[anxiousanteaterr]

I don't think the game is 100% clear on it, but I always played Extinction under the assumption that the protag was half human.

It has however, come to my attention that that protag is supposed to be just a Nexomon. Not a human at all. Which is fine and makes a lot of sense. HOWEVER, MORE IMPORTANTLY, I've also come to the realization that the lack of a mention of a father for the protag could very well be because Nara just didn't need one.

If anyone is going to have the ability to make a baby from scratch with all the necessary components right at home, the Primordial Tyrant of Life and Nature is gunna be it.

[overthinkingkdrama]

Favorite performances from 2020 and also from 2021? (it doesn't matter if you haven't seen much, just curious)

I appreciate this ask since I'm not going to get to do a drama awards type post, and there were definitely some standout performances in the past 2 years that I didn't get the chance to talk about. So, in no particular order, here we go:

Since I already talked about this in my 2020 top 10 I'll mention it again here: I think Oh Jung Se is a strong contender is I was giving out my own personal Daesang. Not only was his role as Moon Sang Tae in It's Okay to Not Be Okay one of the finest pieces of acting I've seen in a drama, during the same period he was also putting in a performance as a chilling sociopath in The Good Detective. I was watching the two dramas at the same time, and seeing him in both roles was giving me whiplash.

In 2021 his performance was probably the single best thing about Jirisan, which turned out to be a ludicrous mess. I haven't watched Uncle yet, but I expect I'm going to like him there too. He's just a consistent and powerful character actor. I'm a big fan.

Recently I finished watching The Red Sleeve, and I have a lot of complicated feelings about it. It's one of those dramas that keeps you unsettled and conflicted until the end. But that isn't to say that the lead actors aren't incredible in it, just the opposite in fact. Lee Jun Ho and Lee Se Young play off each other so well. They manage the ambivalence and complex range of emotions those character require with a subtlety and deftness that was really top notch. I can't imagine anyone else in those roles.

I've been a fan of Lee Se Young since I first saw her in The Best Hit. And of course she's been acting since she was a child, and is a well known talent, but in the past couple of years she's cemented herself as one of my favorite female leads. Her performance was the standout for me in Kairos too, but I just love to see her in these historical roles. She was phenomenal in Crowned Clown too, and Red Sleeve feels like the natural continuation and maturation of her abilities. You love to see it.

On the lighter side, Shin Hye Sun came out and absolutely slayed me in a double role as So Yong/Bong Hwan in Mr. Queen. She could not have been more perfect. The way she embodied the character of Bong Hwan, her mannerisms, the tone of her voice, her comedic timing. But she also nailed the heavier scenes. Easily one of my all time favorite comedic performances.

You can't really talk about acting in 2021 without talking about Shin Ha Kyun in Beyond Evil. I don't want to get too deep into it, because I'm going to talk about it more in my 2021 list (spoilers, I guess) but he devoured the role of Lee Dong Shik. That drama is tightly and compellingly written, but without Ha Kyun it wouldn't have lived up to the half of its potential, in my opinion.

A few additional notable mentions: I know a lot of people didn't watch it and it's one of those slow dramas that requires the right kind of temperament to enjoy, but I loved Jeon Do Yeon and Ryu Jun Yeol in Human Disqualification aka Lost. It was also just lovely to see Ryu Jun Yeol return to dramaland after so long exclusively making movies, and to see him give a really wonderful, subtle performance that really had him showing off his acting shops. And then I think the underrated performance of 2021 was Jang Nara as Hong Ji Ah in Sell Your Haunted House. She really just showed us everything in that role. Grit, anger, grief. Her scenes with her mom just tore me up. It was an unusual character from her and I would love to see more like it in the future.

Anyway, I think that covers it for the most part. Hope that satisfied you curiosity :)

Jona