Kim So-hyun Finds Her Romantic Lead Footing in My Lovely Liar
Issue #13 My Lovely Liar (No Spoilers)
The new Kim So-hyun drama, My Lovely Liar, is breaking streaming records for Rakuten Viki and I think I understand why.
Kim So-hyun has been an impressive actress from a very early age. Whether it was as the insecure teenage queen-to-be in The Moon that Embraces the Sun or the conflicted teenage daughter of a housekeeper in I Hear Your Voice, she always stood out as a dramatic actress capable of outshining the adults around her.
But something happened when she turned eighteen and began to take on roles where her character was considerably older than herself. She kept getting paired opposite male actors near or over thirty, and there was an awkwardness in her performance that hadn’t existed before.
Radio Romance stands out as a particularly awful example of this phase. Besides the criminally boring plot, every scene where Yoon Doo-joon’s character looked at her with romantic interest felt deeply wrong.
But in My Lovely Liar, the now 24-year-old Kim So-hyun plays a young woman in her mid twenties, and it’s like she’s finally grown into the age she’s been wanting to play for a while.
So-hyun is comfortable as the self possessed Mok Sol-hee. Her character was born with the gift to hear lies. When we meet Sol-hee, she’s amassed a small fortune by hiring out her services as a shamanistic truth seeker. Her goal is to buy a building and retire, and also to somehow keep her mother from conning people and landing up in prison (again).
In the first four episodes, I got the sense that Kim So-hyun was deeply enjoying playing Sol-hee in this light-hearted romcom.
There are some dramatic moments - especially once the beleaguered Kim Do-ha enters her life - but for the most parts, Sol-hee doesn’t directly involve herself in drama. Instead she is a keen observer of events unfolding around herself. Mostly this is an occupational hazard, since she can’t turn off her truthseeking. So there are quite a few fun scenes where people tell lies for good and bad reasons, and Sol-hee clocks it all while trying to mind her own business.
Sol-hee isn’t a crusader. She is very used to keeping her thoughts to herself. So mostly, her private reactions are visible only to the drama’s audience and no one else. However, despite living in a world full of transparent liars, Sol-hee isn’t removed from society, nor does she avoid situations where her gift can be helpful to someone in need.
Of course, there is also a side to her that has become very used to knowing people’s secrets. Intentions and actions are usually transparent around her, so it’s inevitable that she starts to believe that her judgements about people can’t be wrong.
This ties into another flaw in her character. Since the world usually tells her everyone’s secrets, Sol-hee also seems to think that everyone owes her their truth. This leads to some scenes that I definitely want to touch on in another post.
Overall, Mok Sol-hee is a relatively well adjusted heroine. She has friends and trusted associates who help her run her business smoothly, and a passion for English football in her off hours.
Even her magic is well thought out.
Much of the charm of My Lovely Liar is in how the drama reveals the many ways this gift of hearing lies has done harm to our heroine.
It also shows us many routine moments in Sol-hee’s life when her gift allows her to trust people most would be wary of.
Finally, when Sol-hee meets Kim Do-ha, the story introduces a new experience for her ears. Kim Do-ha seems to tell her no lies, even though she can visibly see the lies he’s living.
She’s flummoxed because she can’t understand if her gift simply doesn’t work around him, or if he is the best liar she’s ever met.
Needless to say, the game is afoot, our girl is hooked.
I won’t review the story any further, since this post is just about my happiness at seeing Kim So-hyun in a role that fits her after a long while. But I will say that the romance is surprisingly sweet and Hwang Min-hyun is holding up nicely next to So-hyun. I suspect he was mainly cast for his softly smiling eyes. Do-ha directs them frequently at Sol-hee, and Viki is seeing the affects in the drama’s ranking. ✨
P.S. I have one more post upcoming about this drama. This one focuses on a scene I wanted to highlight - both for the problematic aspects as well as how it ties to larger trends in dramaland.