Dropped: Fox Bride Star

Fox Bride Star was one of my most anticipated dramas for this year - after all, Chae Soo-bin is one of my favourite actresses, so as soon as she was on-board, so was I. But I'm disappointed with the show. I'm probably not going to finish it, and here's why.

Fox Bride Star follows the employees in Incheon Airport; specifically, Han Yeo-reum, and her mysterious co-worker Lee Soo-yeon. As they get closer, his secrets become more and more difficult to hide.

I'm going to claim now that this is a perfectly watchable drama, if you don't care much about the issues I have with it. It shows, in places, that the writer of Romantic Doctor Teacher Kim is here - the character development so integral to that drama is also noticeable here, and there's a well-written supporting cast who are never condemned to insignificant roles.
  Moreover, it's great that the drama comments on very present societal issues; gender inequality and feminism, for instance, come up often. The most prominent focus tends to go with the discrimination against people with disabilities and how alienated they can feel, but more on that later.
  Despite what I think Fox Bride Star does well, I don't always enjoy it.
  Firstly, I don't think Han Yeo-reum is a particularly engaging character. Chae Soo-bin is a fantastic actress, and she's normally so adept at selling her characters to me (Strongest Deliveryman, I'm Not a Robot), but Han Yeo-reum doesn't seem to have such a crisp defined personality. Thus, I can't like her quite as much, because I don't always understand her.

  Lee Je-hoon has a much easier job, since Lee Soo-yeon is a character through which he can demonstrate what a fantastic actor he is. Yet, I don't think he is made out for romantic-comedies. I don't feel a lot of chemistry between him and Chae. The same issue was present in his last drama, Tomorrow With You, which was an equally disappointing experience. I would love to see Lee Je-hoon in another Signal, because I think that his talents are better suited to those kinds of shows (not that I want to typecast him, only time will tell).
  Although I say this, there are moments when I think the actors have plenty of chemistry, but those moments are sporadic. I'm developing a theory where the way two characters may interact in a drama (formally, informally) will have a great effect on their rapport.
  Last comment on the actors - I'm incredibly angry that Lee Dong-gun was cast as a villain, because that man deserves more flattering roles! That's not necessarily anyone's issue except mine, though, because I just want him to play his Wolgyesu character all the time.
  My biggest issue with the drama is the airport setting. When the drama's working title was announced - Incheon Airport People - it set standards for what I believed Fox Bride Star would be. Namely, a thoughtful and engaging look into what it's like to work in an airport. And of course Romantic Doctor Teacher Kim's writer would be able to pull that off, because how else would they have made what should have been a stereotypical medical drama been so wonderful?
  So, to me, the supernatural elements of the story have always been unwelcome. It seems jarring that two very different plot-lines are occurring concurrently. Perhaps it's small-minded of me and others would welcome the supernatural elements in such a specialised workplace? I don't know. But Fox Bride Star has always felt like two very different shows pushed together - a heart-felt look at the airport, and a fantasy romance. I might have liked each show a lot by itself, but I don't like them together.

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is why Fox Bride Star is not for me.