The warmest comfort of this era, <Our Unwritten Seoul> concluded with its 12th episode on June 29. <Our Unwritten Seoul> broke viewership records until the end, depicting the lives of twins Mi-ji and Mi-rae (Park Bo-young in a dual role) who, despite their identical appearances, live completely different lives. Through Mi-ji and Mi-rae, the series illustrates the struggles of young people in modern society and the courage to keep living. Viewers are applauding Park Bo-young for perfectly embodying both characters. Leading the drama in a dual role, she reaffirmed her acting skills and presence. Until now, twins have been a challenging subject to portray in dramas due to filming conditions, but with the establishment of a pre-production system, dramas featuring twin protagonists have emerged. Here are a few dramas that featured twin characters despite the difficult circumstances.
<Innocent Defendant>
Cha Sun-ho - Cha Min-ho = Um Ki-joon
One of Um Ki-joon's 'masterpiece villains'. In the drama <Innocent Defendant>, Um Ki-joon appeared as the twins Cha Sun-ho and Cha Min-ho, showcasing a dual role. The characters he portrayed, Cha Sun-ho and Cha Min-ho, are twins who look identical but have grown up completely differently, with Um Ki-joon capturing both the good and evil sides. The story follows Park Jung-woo (Ji Sung), who wakes up in a detention centre with no memory, trying to clear his name, while the narratives of Cha Sun-ho and Cha Min-ho are deeply intertwined. After Cha Min-ho kills his brother Cha Sun-ho, he tries to live his life, and Park Jung-woo's suspicion about Cha Min-ho's 'suicide' serves as the introduction to the drama's events. Um Ki-joon found particular interest in portraying 'Cha Min-ho pretending to be Cha Sun-ho' and thus participated in the drama. The acting rivalry between Ji Sung and Um Ki-joon created dramatic tension despite the somewhat slow pace of <Innocent Defendant>, leading the drama to surpass 30% in viewership ratings and gain popularity.
<Who Are You: School 2015>
Go Eun-byul - Lee Eun-bi = Kim So-hyun
What particularly caught attention in <Our Unwritten Seoul> is that both Mi-ji and Mi-rae are the main characters driving the drama. Most Korean dramas featuring twins typically involve one twin dying, with the surviving twin either taking their place or seeking revenge by following their life. This approach likely aimed to reduce the burden on the actor portraying both twins and simplify the challenging production process of capturing twins on screen. A slightly twisted work from the clichés of such dramas is <Who Are You: School 2015>. Here, one twin dies, and the other takes over their life, which is a typical flow, but the uniqueness lies in the protagonist being a teenage girl. Kim So-hyun played the twin sisters Go Eun-byul and Go Eun-bi. At that time, Kim So-hyun was also a teenager like the twin sisters in the story, proving her presence as a veteran child actor with her acting skills that captivated viewers. In fact, just a year prior, she had also taken on a dual role as Jo Eun-bi and Choi Seung-hee in the drama <Reset>, where she portrayed contrasting images of a delinquent youth and an innocent first love from memories.
Two Actors of a Short but Intense One-Act Play
Do Eun-chang - Do Shin-woo = Park Hyung-sik
Yoo Soo-yeon - Yoo Jung-yeon = Noh Jeong-ui
Perhaps due to the creativity that the theme of twins brings, there are actors who showcased dual roles in one-act plays as well. In 2013, when Park Hyung-sik was more often associated with the title 'Idol of the Empire' than the word 'actor', he took on the childhood of twin brothers in the four-part series <Sirius>. The brothers Do Eun-chang and Do Shin-woo, played by Seo Jun-young, grow up in a bizarre relationship as a murderer and a detective, with Park Hyung-sik responsible for that narrative. Of course, the story takes a serious turn seven years later when the two have grown up, but the roots of why they walked in such different directions lie in their childhood, making Park Hyung-sik's role significant. He garnered attention by showcasing the potential he could capture on his face in this drama. It is common to categorize an actor's character into 'spicy' and 'mild', and Park Hyung-sik demonstrated both flavours in this drama.
In 2020, Noh Jeong-ui, who quickly captured the public's attention, also took on the roles of Yoo Soo-yeon and Yoo Jung-yeon in the one-act play <Everyone is There>. Raised in a good family after being adopted, Yoo Soo-yeon suffers from school violence, while in contrast, Yoo Jung-yeon has lived a rough life in an unfortunate environment. They reunite through the counsellor Il-young (Kim Sae-rok) and seek revenge on the perpetrator. Starting as the endlessly weak Soo-yeon, Noh Jeong-ui transforms into the increasingly malevolent Jung-yeon who wants to help Soo-yeon, showcasing her strength throughout the drama. That same year, she rose to stardom as Hong Si-a in <18 Again>. <Everyone is There> shines not only with Noh Jeong-ui but also with the performances of other notable actresses at the time, such as Kim Sae-rok and Lee Yoo-mi.
