Last year, Jang Suwon found some recognition in his "robotic" acting. Let's be real, it is kind of sad, but, I guess, it's also pretty awesome- Suwon is trendy now and is getting work just because he's awkward af.
It all started when Suwon appeared in
an episode of the KBS drama
Marriage Clinic: Love & War 2.
He was pretty bad- super stiff and just completely unemotional, much like a robot. It was just very, very awkward to watch. Poor Yura. But TBH, I did not hear a thing about netizens complaining about the dude from ZE:A so I guess he was saved from heavy criticism due to being overshadowed by Suwon.
From there, he took off. Idols are criticized whenever they go into acting, so maybe him being a trend is just buying into that idol-actor hate. He validates everyone's negative opinions. But there is something charming about it, which has allowed him to keep going with this new found fame for over a year. His bad acting is genuine. He actually tried; it wasn't like he just showed up and didn't care. He is just so painfully awkward that he couldn't do any better.
Along with the incessant rumors about a Sechskies reunion, his awkward acting also led to Suwon being invited on to a lot of different variety shows over the past several months. Of course, on these programs, he had opportunities to explain himself and his poor acting.
On
Happy Together, his acting was the focus of his appearance. On the show, he explained himself, saying that when he is surrounded by cameras and strangers, he feels anxious and impatient so his acting comes off as hurried and therefore unemotional.
He said that he acted just as he did during rehearsals, but the director never really told him to do anything really differently. The director really couldn't complain since he had memorized his lines and did as he was told. The director of his drama episode suggested that he just tried too hard.
Until people actually started talking about how terrible he was, he thought he had done a fairly okay job. Obviously, he probably feels differently now.
Strangely enough though, Suwon did mention that the director had transferred to a different department since working with him, lol.
There is hope though.
Suwon can possibly find better work in comedy.
Back in October, Suwon was featured on the episode of Korean
Saturday Night Live hosted by g.o.d's Joon. The sketches he appeared in, of course, referenced him being a robot, but they worked, and the sketches were actually pretty funny.
Most recently, he got what I feel is his biggest break- he was cast as the main character in the two episode parody (called
미생물) of popular drama Misaeng.
His director told him to only just watch the drama and not analyze it and to not change or improve his acting.
Surprisingly, he was genuinely pretty good and was able to bring the LOLs~
He was also super cute in the parody. Just saying.
Suwon needs to figure out how to translate this notoriety into something meaningful before his bubble pops. I hope he does stick with comedy since I think his robot persona and natural awkwardness could be played off of pretty well as some sort of straight man. But IDK what will happen, so let's wait and see.
