At least inside "The Wonder Fools," even Cha Eun-woo's 20 billion won tax evasion controversy makes you look at it with blurred eyes. The growth of "team The Wonder Fools," led by trusted actor Park Eunbin, feels uniquely warm to be buried by the controversy of a single lead.
The new Netflix series The Wonder Fools has been unveiled. "The Wonder Fools" is a supernatural comic adventure drama about neighborhood fools who accidentally gain superpowers at the end of the century and struggle to protect the world from villains who threaten peace.
In particular, The Wonder Fools generated expectations from the planning stage because it brought together a trusted production team. Director Yoo In-sik, praised for dramas such as Lover, Dr. Romantic, Giant, Romantic Doctor Kim, and Extraordinary Attorney Woo, and writer Kang Eun-kyung, who wrote Bread, Love and Dreams, The Kingdom of the Winds, What Happens to the Family, Romantic Doctor Kim, and the Gyeongseong Creature series, joined forces. They are presenting The Wonder Fools together three years after Dr. Romantic 3, showcasing their characteristic warm sensibility and message and a familial atmosphere among the characters.
Above all, Park Eunbin, who played the title role in Extraordinary Attorney Woo and sparked the "Woo Young-woo syndrome," reunited with director Yoo In-sik. She plays Eun Chaeni, the officially messy person of Haeseong City, who overcomes a frail body since childhood and, with superpowers accidentally obtained, changes herself and those around her. Also, singer and actor Cha Eun-woo, famous as a "face genius," plays the mysterious Haeseong City civil servant Lee Un-jeong and acts as the male lead.
Also joining are actor Choi Dae-hoon, who left an impression as Hak-ssi in When Life Gives You Tangerines, playing Haeseong City's civil service king Son Kyunghun, and actor Lim Seong-jae, who played supporting roles in many works including the film Face and the drama Law and The City, joining as Haeseong City's simpleton Kang Robin. Thus Park Eunbin, Cha Eun-woo, Choi Dae-hoon, and Lim Seong-jae form "team The Wonder Fools" in the drama, showing four distinct kinds of chemistry. In addition, Kim Hae-sook joins as Eun Chaeni's grandmother and owner of Big Hand Restaurant; Son Hyunjoo joins as the scientist Ha Won-do who created the superpowered people; and the three members of Ha Won-do's children, the "Bunderkinder," are played by Jung I-seo, Choi Yoon-ji, and Bae Na-ra, developing an unpredictable story.
Set in 1999 during the height of apocalyptic talk, props such as antenna-topped black-and-white flip phones and even Seoul dialect-infused pre-millennium end-of-century sensibility stimulate nostalgia among viewers who remember the time. It is The Wonder Fools' own emotional code, different from the high-tech, recently modernized world that mainly features in many superhero stories.
It makes sense because The Wonder Fools centers on the story of "team The Wonder Fools," a group of colleagues so close they are like family, who grow and change together. From the protagonist Eun Chaeni to Son Kyunghun and Kang Robin, they are all troublemaker-like figures within the fictional Haeseong City that residents want to avoid. But after accidentally gaining superpowers, they meet Lee Un-jeong and refine their abilities.
Through the awakening of their powers, "team The Wonder Fools" regains self-esteem by realizing they can accomplish things and be helpful, even though they once felt like burdens to their families, society, and themselves. Lee Un-jeong, who acquired superpowers in the past for some reason but considered them a burden, also recovers lost familial love through meeting Eun Chaeni and awakens as a true gifted person whose once-dry heart is filled.
Before "team The Wonder Fools" fully awakens their powers, The Wonder Fools generously devotes about four episodes, roughly the first quarter of the work. This section may feel like a somewhat slow development compared with recent series whose strength is fast pacing. But because of that slower, steady buildup, the early narratives come together in the middle, tying up so-called "loose ends" and gaining stronger momentum. As a result, the camaraderie of "team The Wonder Fools" and the power of the story deliver an even more explosive immersion in the latter part.
Of course, the lead actor's personal life controversy that surfaced before the release of the work does dilute some of The Wonder Fools' emotional impact. Cha Eun-woo was embroiled in a 20 billion won tax evasion controversy earlier this year. He paid 13 billion won in additional taxes and fines in April and apologized, ending the controversy, but the image related to the personal controversy still remains.
Fortunately, there is little room for a lead actor's personal life to intrude on The Wonder Fools. The fictional Haeseong City is realized so realistically that it prompts viewers to recall a moment from the past, and Lee Un-jeong, played by Cha Eun-woo, is busy with his role in the drama to remind viewers of the actor's controversy, running around breathlessly.
Park Eunbin is the most unpredictable protagonist within the unpredictable "team The Wonder Fools." In Extraordinary Attorney Woo she played a genius lawyer on the autism spectrum, and in Hyper Knife she played a genius doctor with a lack of empathy who was a psychopath; in The Wonder Fools she plays Eun Chaeni, who behaves as if one screw is missing but ultimately becomes the greatest force to change those around her, showing a benevolent influence.
Among Park Eunbin's range of acting, which has swung between extremes, Eun Chaeni may appear the weakest but is the warmest and therefore the most emotionally strong character. It is an empathy code possible because Park Eunbin, who has grown from a child actor to a reliable adult actor without scandal, makes it believable. She is the driving force that makes viewers watch The Wonder Fools with pure support and no burden.
15th at 5 p.m., total 8 episodes released on Netflix.
[Photo] Provided by Netflix.
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