The nominees for the ‘2024 MBC Acting Awards’ Best Couple Award have been revealed.
The Best Couple Award is not only a measure of the recognition and popularity of the works of the year but also a meaningful award given by fans, making it a coveted honor for everyone.
This year, MBC showcased dramas such as ‘Flowers Blooming at Night’, ‘Wonderful World’, ‘Investigation Team 1958’, ‘Our Home’, ‘Death to Snow White - Black Out’ (hereafter ‘Snow White’), ‘Such an Intimate Betrayer’ (hereafter ‘Intimate Betrayer’), ‘The Call You’re Making Now’, the two-part drama ‘I Hate Pork Cutlet’, daily drama ‘Third Marriage’, ‘Brave and Fearless Yong Soo-jung’, and ‘Kind-hearted Captain’.
Among these, the Best Couple Award nominees revealed by MBC on the 18th are Lee Ha-nee & Lee Jong-won from ‘Flowers Blooming at Night’, Lee Je-hoon & Lee Dong-hwi from ‘Investigation Team 1958’, Kim Hee-sun & Lee Hye-young from ‘Our Home’, Han Seok-kyu & Chae Won-bin from ‘Such an Intimate Betrayer’, and Yoo Yeon-seok & Chae Soo-bin (Bang Young-soon) from ‘The Call You’re Making Now’, totaling five pairs.
Typically, the Best Couple Award nominees are centered around male-female romantic leads, with bromance and womance couples added as a side dish. However, this year’s atmosphere is quite different. Looking at the Best Couple Award nominees revealed by the ‘2024 MBC Acting Awards’, only two of the five couples are male-female romantic couples. This unique composition, differing from the usual trend, draws attention.
First, the couple of Lee Ha-nee and Lee Jong-won from ‘Flowers Blooming at Night’, which recorded a peak rating of 18.4% (Nielsen Korea, nationwide) and led a syndrome-level hit, has been nominated. ‘Flowers Blooming at Night’ is a comic action historical drama about a 15-year-old widow, Yeohwa (played by Lee Ha-nee), who crosses walls at night, and the perfect man, Suho (played by Lee Jong-won), who everyone covets within the four gates.
Yeohwa, trapped in her home as a widow, becomes a masked hero at night, helping the poor, while Suho chases after her. The thrilling adventures of Yeohwa, whose blade turns towards the upper class to help the poor, and Suho, who changes his heart while chasing her, have excited viewers.
Currently airing ‘The Call You’re Making Now’ features Yoo Yeon-seok and Chae Soo-bin as a couple. ‘The Call You’re Making Now’ is a secret romance thriller about a show-window couple, Baek Sa-eon (played by Yoo Yeon-seok) and Hong Hee-joo (played by Chae Soo-bin), who are in a three-year arranged marriage that begins with a threatening phone call. The process of the two, who had been disconnected, opening their hearts while being shaken is drawing attention. Baek Sa-eon, who is always cold and rational, is only shaken when it comes to matters related to Hong Hee-joo, creating a pink atmosphere.
In particular, Baek Sa-eon, who received a threatening call claiming that Hong Hee-joo was kidnapped, strongly presses, “There can’t be a Hong Hee-joo I don’t know. Are you going to undress? Should I undress you?” to verify the authenticity of the secret photos sent by the kidnapper. Scenes showing the progress of their relationship, such as Baek Sa-eon, who had never revealed his wife’s existence to anyone, publicly revealing her to protect her, have captivated viewers.
There is also a bromance couple. The couple of Lee Je-hoon and Lee Dong-hwi from ‘Investigation Team 1958’ has been nominated for the Best Couple Award. ‘Investigation Team 1958’ is set in 1958 and tells the story of detective Park Young-han (played by Lee Je-hoon), who specializes in catching livestock thieves, teaming up with three unique colleagues to break the absurdity of corrupt power and become a detective for the people.
The first meeting between the crazy dog of Jongnam Police Station, Kim Sang-soon (played by Lee Dong-hwi), and the grim reaper leading criminals to the underworld, Park Young-han, was anything but ordinary. The righteous detectives’ activities, who release captured criminals due to power and bribery, have provided viewers with a sense of pleasure. In particular, the two have shown a perfect acting chemistry from the early episodes, leading fans to predict that they would be nominated for the Best Couple Award early on.
Han Seok-kyu and Chae Won-bin, who played a sharp father-daughter relationship that was worse than that of strangers, have also been nominated for the Best Couple Award.
‘Such an Intimate Betrayer’ depicts the story of the country’s top profiler, Jang Tae-soo (played by Han Seok-kyu), facing the secret of his daughter Jang Ha-bin (played by Chae Won-bin) entangled in a murder case he is investigating, and desperately collapsing as he moves toward the truth in the abyss. The tension between a father who cannot trust his daughter due to suspicion and a daughter who cannot trust her father, struggling alone, maintains suspense until the end of the work.
The performance of Han Seok-kyu, who is often referred to as ‘the god of acting’, and Chae Won-bin, who, despite being a newcomer, delivered a dense performance that did not fall behind Han Seok-kyu, has drawn attention.
In particular, the scene where the father, Jang Tae-soo, relentlessly pressures his daughter, asking, “Do you believe me?” and then asks, “Did you kill him?” while the daughter, Jang Ha-bin, responds coldly, “About Ha-jun (younger brother). Was it really an accident? What about mom? Do you really think mom committed suicide?” heightens the tension and vividly illustrates the uniquely sharp relationship between the father and daughter.
Kim Hee-sun and Lee Hye-young, who showcased a mother-in-law and daughter-in-law collaboration in ‘Our Home’, have also been nominated as a womance couple. It is unusual for a mother-in-law and daughter-in-law to be nominated for the Best Couple Award, drawing attention.
‘Our Home’ is a life-close comic thriller about the top family psychological counselor in South Korea, Noh Young-won (played by Kim Hee-sun), who is threatened by an unknown blackmailer regarding her career and family, teaming up with her mother-in-law, Hong Sa-gang (played by Lee Hye-young), a mystery novel writer, to protect their family.
Amidst the whirlwind of events, from the incident where Noh Young-won’s husband, Choi Jae-jin (played by Kim Nam-hee), fakes his suicide and goes missing, to the incident where Hong Sa-gang is falsely accused of murder due to the schemes of Jae-jin’s mistress, Lee Se-na (played by Yeon-woo), Kim Hee-sun and Lee Hye-young continue their collaboration, sometimes with tension and sometimes with affection.
With strong nominees for the Best Couple Award, attention is focused on which couple will take home the trophy. Voting for the Best Couple Award will take place from the 18th to midnight on the 25th on the official website of the ‘2024 MBC Acting Awards’ and Naver Entertainment voting.
The glorious winner will be revealed on the ‘2024 MBC Acting Awards’ broadcast on the 30th at 8:40 PM.
[Kim So-yeon, Star Today Reporter]
