The Streak – With Eyes East

When BTS went on hiatus on account of military service, I will admit to worrying about the future of hallyu. Surely, one day, this fever will break, right? Trends never last. It would help, I think, if some of the key players became household names in, say, America, the way they have in other countries. Understandably, Korean names are more difficult to remember and pronounce than, for example, Japanese names. Back in the day, we had the crossover efforts chronicled on this site — “Gianna” Jun in Blood: The Last Vampire, Lee Byung-hun in GI Joe and Red — and they didn’t really go anywhere. Well, they went back to Korea. Remember Choi Min-sik in Lucy? What do you mean no? Jesus, live-action Blood comes up way too often on this website.

That was maybe the first generation of crossover stars. Let’s talk about the girls’ generation. This is a bizarre trend that rankles me every time it happens: Anytime a modern K-star shows up in a Hollywood production, that production is doomed. We can start with Don Lee, who made up part of the diverse, extremely attractive cast of Marvel’s Eternals. Seriously, Gemma Chan, my God. And despite that, I never ended up seeing this movie, and it’s since been ignored by the larger continuity and is generally considered the very worst MCU movie.

Next, Jennie, one of the biggest stars in South Korean history. Where I usually expect idols to do idoly stuff for at least the duration of their idol careers — Red Velvet doing voicework for Trolls World Tour — Jennie’s casting in an HBO series caught me by surprise. It was called The Idol, but she was not the titular idol. The show turned out to be an even greater disaster than Eternals, if not financially then culturally. My understanding is that behind-the-scenes politics forced out my girl Amy Seimetz and had onlookers reevaluate their feelings on both Abel Tesfaye and Sam Levinson.

For a similar, less extreme example, we have Jennie’s groupmate Lisa starring in what was apparently the weakest season of The White Lotus.

Here’s another big one, with one of today’s most recognizable Korean stars. As western reporters were so informed, Lee Jung-jae was already a megastar before Squid Game, but obviously being in the biggest thing ever propels you to greater heights — like Star Wars. Cast alongside Amandla Stenberg and Carrie-Anne Moss (and not a lot of white men), The Acolyte became the next touchstone in a larger culture war. Even from non-deranged critics, I only ever heard that the show was, like, “interesting.”

Now, of course, screen veterans like Bae Doona and Youn Yuh-jung have done extremely well in Hollywood, though I think we can blame the former for the failure of Rebel Moon. I mean, so much promise. But this streak is set to continue early next month with the highly anticipated [citation needed] release of Ballerina: From the World of John Wick. Wow, what a shit title. And guess who’s in it? Yeah, it’s Sooyoung.

Oh, how I shuddered to learn it. She’s apparently playing an idol-type person whom the titular assassin is meant to protect, so I can only assume that she dies. Fortunately, John Wick movies aren’t especially gory, but still, I don’t need that stress in my life. More to the point, Ballerina is the subject of calamitous Reddit discourse, having been reworked and reshot so much that it’s releasing after 2023’s John Wick 4 despite being set before it. Maybe it’ll turn out to be another Rogue One, but if this list is any indication, I think Sooyoung’s given it the kiss of death.