Have you watched the Netflix series Dead-End Job (꿀알바)? It topped Netflix’s global non-English TV chart, but here in Korea, the buzz around me felt surprisingly quiet during the first week. My wife gave up halfway through on the very first day, saying it was just too strange. I watched it all the way to the end.
Dead-End Job is a truly unusual series. But when I ask myself what message it was trying to deliver, the ending feels a little ambiguous. That’s why I think it’s a show people will either love or hate. Still, one thing stayed with me long after I finished: the clown in Episode 2, “A Journey with a Pierrot.”
Who Played the Clown in Dead-End Job?
Slowly, reactions to the series started to appear in Korea as well. Articles came out late, and as I expected, many of them were about the clown. Who on earth played this role? The answer came when director Kim Da-min talked about the casting: the clown was played by street performer Lee Sung-hyung (이성형, also romanized as Lee Seong-hyeong).
Lee Sung-hyung had never appeared in a film or drama before. The production staff met him while searching for a real clown performer, and that is how he was cast. He had been quietly walking his own path in a field that even most Koreans don’t pay much attention to.
From Engineering Student to Street Performer “Marine Boy”
Lee originally majored in mechanical engineering, but he dropped out of university and moved to Seoul. There, a part-time job as a clown happened to open the door to the world of street performance. He went on to learn juggling, circus skills, and mime, and for many years he has performed on streets and stages under the name “Marine Boy.”
Knowing his story, I finally understood why the clown in Episode 2 left such a strong impression on me. Those weren’t movements learned briefly for a role. They were the movements of someone who has stood in front of people on the street for a very long time.
Street Performance in Korea: Not an Easy Path
To be honest, I don’t know much about street performance in Korea. I’ve seen performers while walking by, but I rarely stopped to watch for long. The closest I usually get is at local festivals, where you can see cultural performances such as gakseori (traditional Korean beggar-clown performances). Street performance is not a field many people here care about, and I think it’s a very tough market to make a living in. Simply knowing that he has kept to this path for so long made the name Lee Sung-hyung feel different to me.
My Honest Review of Dead-End Job
So what about the series itself? Honestly, that’s hard for me to judge. It is so unique that it definitely grabs your attention. But even now, after finishing it, I can’t say for sure whether it was fun or not.
It seems to carry some social criticism about part-time work, about doing a job purely for money. But if that was the message, the ending feels a bit vague. I’m not sure whether the story pushed its message all the way, or left it open on purpose. Maybe this ambiguity is why my wife gave up on the first day, and why the reaction around me in Korea felt so muted at first.
One thing is clear, though. It wasn’t a famous actor but a street performer who had never stood in front of a camera who created the most memorable scene in the series. If you’re planning to watch Dead-End Job, keep a close eye on the clown in Episode 2.
Watch: Lee Sung-hyung’s 2018 Interview (in Korean)
For those curious to know more about him, here is an interview with Lee Sung-hyung from 2018. You can hear how he approached life on the street, long before he became the clown of Dead-End Job.
Reference (in Korean): From A – Interview with circus clown “Marine Boy” Lee Sung-hyung
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