[HanCinema's Drama Review] "IDOL: The Coup" Episode 1

Jenna (played by Ahn Hee-yeon) is the leader of a failed girl idol group Cotton Candy. If that sounds like cruel phrasing, that's exactly what everyone keeps calling Jenna and all the rest of Cotton Candy. In flashback, Cotton Candy debuts with a decent amount of attention. But they haven't been able to excite much attention since. Nevertheless, Jenna persists in doing events and interviews, even with a rude radio DJ played by Jang Sung-kyu who insults Jenna to her face.

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Jang Sung-kyu himself is more agitated by theat exchange than anyone else, oddly enough. He doesn't care that Cotton Candy is a failed idol group, that's the whole concept. He cares that Jenna is a terrible interview subject, who gives useless canned responses to all his abrasive questions. Jenna's own partners in Cotton Candy are likewise frustrated by Jenna's determination to keep doing events like this- although Jenna's optimism is actually the bigger issue.

"IDOL: The Coup" is in an odd place tonally. Despite the first episode being nearly ninety minutes long, screenwriter Jeong Yoon-jeong is clearly expecting the viewer to already mostly know how idol groups work. They aren't all big successes. Cotton Candy is still technically under contract, so the girls all have a company dormitory they live in together. Yet without fame, most of them just seem to be counting the days until their contract is up, without bothering to make any actual plans for their lives afterwards.

Jenna herself is the main exception. And it's interesting how "IDOL: The Coup" starts off making her seem naive, only to conclude by making a pretty strong argument that Jenna is, for all her setbacks, at least taking her career seriously. Jenna prefers embarrassment to accepting failure. The conclusion, with Jenna working to make a local event succeed while her teammates sing bad karaoke at the other side of town, makes it obvious who we're supposed to see as the hero.

So if you're looking for a sunny, optimistic show about idol life, "IDOL: The Coup" isn't that drama, even if there are multiple musical sequences that went on a lot longer than I was expecting. Nor is "IDOL: The Coup" really much of a critique. Neither the commercialism of the music culture nor the studio system that trains new idols is addressed directly. For better or worse, this is Jenna's story, which appears to be awkwardly managing a middle ground between those two tones.

Review by William Schwartz

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"IDOL: The Coup" is directed by Noh Jong-chan, written by Jeong Yoon-jeong, and features Ahn Hee-yeon, Kwak Si-yang, Kim Min-kyu-V, Exy, Ahn Solbin, Han So-eun. Broadcasting information in Korea: 2021/11/08~Now airing, Mon, Tue 23:00 on jTBC.