Hospital Playlist (2020) Shin Hyun Bin's Audition Clips

When I wrote my last post about the WG dynamic a couple of days ago, I had no idea that the showrunners of Hospital Playlist would be releasing clips of Shin Hyun Bin's auditions the next night. Because there has been so much uncertainty in Soompi lately, I had decided to rewrite a few posts that we'd lost when the "Clubs" feature got lost in the internet black hole. That was one I had been itching to rewrite and finally had the time to do it.

I found the audition clips helpful in that they confirmed what the vast majority of us had already suspected... that the WG love line was established very early on. Both Shin Hyun Bin and Yoo Yeon Seok knew that it was on the cards before they had even met each other. They were given that piece of information right at the start presumably because they wanted the actors to prepare their respective roles with that in mind. From the way Shin-Lee described the character, I concluded that SHB nailed the character perfectly. She was able to capture all the facets and nuances of Jang Gyeo-ul. It was delightful too that her artistic abilities came in handy as she studiously prepared for her part in Episode 9. The other half was also impressed  at how they transformed the very attractive SHB into someone that might be considered "plain". The fact that they took the trouble and told SHB that they wanted to downplay her looks was very telling. The emphasis on her ordinariness validates my thinking on the subject.

It was noteworthy that they wanted to tell the story of the WG romance largely from the perspective of Gyeo-ul to emphasize aspects of her personality -- her straightforwardness and her innocence. That was something I had highlighted myself in the past. I was also chuffed to hear the PD say that the romance wasn't meant to be dramatic... or in my words... the main thing. I always understood that he wanted to keep the hospital coming and goings the main thing and in that context there would be some romance. According to him, the progression was always going to be slow because it is slated to be a multi-season drama. As far as I'm concerned, it validated my point that the WG dynamic is not a seat-warmer or stepping stone for Jeong-won and some other female.

Despite all that, it came to my attention that there are still some who doubt the long-term viability of the WG couple. The timing of my last post on the WG couple on hindsight was rather interesting. I don't need to rehash what I've already written except to say that the showrunners have spoken and they have given their characters a great deal of thought, not leaving any room for doubt. The fact that they asked SHB if she knew this was a multi-season show is suggestive. Sure, there are vested interests who think that there is wiggle room to postulate more theories because in their particular schema, they have no room for someone like Gyeo-ul to ever turn the head of someone like Jeong-won, as if he's a paragon of perfection and she is the chief of sinners.