Chuseok has come and gone, which means holy mother forking shirt balls, we are drowning in shows! Here’s a little bit of everything coming at you this week: action, fantasy, melo, mystery, revenge, rom-com, and workplace.
Bad Papa
Time slot: Monday & Tuesday
Broadcaster: MBC
Genre: Action, family, fantasy
Episode count: 32 (half-hour episodes, 16 hours total)
Reasons to watch: Jang Hyuk stars in this gritty action drama as a former pro-boxer who suffers a fall from grace. He’s unenthusiastic about his current job and decides to turn into a bad person to become a good father. Relations are strained with his wife (Sohn Yeo-eun), but both parents put aside their long-simmering differences for the sake of their daughter (Shin Eun-soo). There are some mysterious blue pills that Jang elects to take in the teasers, which may be the reason he gains the confidence to enter an illegal martial arts event. The show looks intriguing, like a mashup between The Incredibles (minus the superpowers) and Fight Club.
Fox Bride Star (aka Where Stars Land)
Time slot: Monday & Tuesday
Broadcaster: SBS
Genre: Melodrama, workplace romance
Episode count: 40 (half-hour episodes, 20 hours total)
Reasons to watch: I like both Lee Je-hoon and Chae Soo-bin separately, and I can’t wait to find out what sort of chemistry they can cook up together this fall. Both work at Incheon International Airport — he as an elite rookie, while she’s worked in the passenger services department for a year. Though she’s a perfectionist, she’s prone to making mistakes. In contrast, Lee Je-hoon is the type to quietly and efficiently get his work done. Both are hiding past pain, and through their interactions with all of the people who pass through the busy terminal and with each other, they’ll start to heal. Between the main duo, the additional cast (Lee Dong-gun and Kim Ji-soo are team leads), writer Kang Eun-kyung (Romantic Teacher Dr. Kim), and director Shin Woo-chul (Secret Garden), this show has all of the right elements to pull off a nuanced human drama.
Beauty Inside
Time slot: Monday & Tuesday
Broadcaster: JTBC
Genre: Rom-com
Episode count: 16
Reasons to watch: The remake of the 2015 hit movie is finally set to debut on the small screen, this time with the female lead, Seo Hyun-jin, afflicted by the body-changing curse. Her co-star Lee Min-ki has face-blindness, but he has the unique ability to identify Seo no matter what her appearance may be (swooon). The show’s already got me on the romance front, and I’m sure Beauty Inside will milk the comedic opportunities of Seo Hyun-jin’s once-a-month physical transformations. We already know Seo works really well with PD Song Hyun-wook (who directed her in Oh Hae-young Again), and I’ve got high hopes for the drama adaptation to be as introspective and fun as the feature film was.
Hundred Million Stars From the Sky
Time slot: Wednesday & Thursday
Broadcaster: tvN
Genre: Melodrama, mystery, thriller
Episode count: 16
Reasons to watch: This refresh of the Japanese drama A Hundred Million Stars From the Sky (formerly going by the title The Smile Has Left Your Eyes, it’s now back to its original title) looks decidedly chilling and somehow perfect for the fall. Seo In-gook takes on the role played by Kimura Takuya in the 2002 original, a character unlike one he’s ever played before. I’m always impressed by his chameleon-like ability to take on new personas and to portray them convincingly, and I’m delighted that he’ll be reunited with director Yoo Je-won (High School King of Savvy, Oh My Ghostess). Jung So-min plays a woman who gets closer and closer to Seo, while Park Sung-woong plays her detective brother, who’s immediately suspicious of his sister’s new acquaintance. The material is darker fare than I’d usually gravitate towards, but for this cast, I’d watch anything — I just may do it while peeking through my fingers.
Room No. 9
Time slot: Saturday & Sunday
Broadcaster: tvN
Genre: Revenge, thriller (bodyswap)
Episode count: 16
Reasons to watch: This is a story about an incarcerated convict (Kim Hae-sook) and an ace attorney (Kim Hee-sun) who inadvertently swap bodies, enabling the prisoner to set into motion plans of revenge she’s had years to dream about. Kim Young-kwang also plays a psychiatrist central to the story. I don’t even know the reasons for her imprisonment yet, but I’m rooting for Kim Hae-sook to use her unexpected freedom to dish out some juicy revenge. Now, is it too much to ask for happy endings for both of our fierce female leads?