Oh, I think I’m going to really adore this heroine. It doesn’t matter that she’s a gorgeous, former idol-turned-actress in her mid-thirties, Han Ye-seul’s (Madam Antoine) character and her interactions with her girlfriends and potential love interests are so relatable from the clips we’ve seen so far. In particular, I’m looking forward to watching her and Kim Ji-suk (Rebel: Thief Who Stole the People) as they adorably rekindle a high school romance in MBC’s 20th Century Boy and Girl, which has finally secured a premiere date for next week.
The recently released teaser for the show uses scenes we’ve already seen, but I absolutely love the new ones of her with her girlfriends, played by Ryu Hyun-kyung (Empress Ki) and Lee Sang-hee (Our Love Story). We start the teaser with them playing a dangerous and familiar game: “Park Bo-gum or Song Joong-ki?” Lol. Men seem to be a standard topic of conversation among the three girlfriends, and their trains of thought run hilariously parallel with discussions I have with my own friends.
The childhood friends are all surprised at the news that their old schoolmate Kim Ji-suk has reappeared. He doesn’t waste any time getting to the point, either: He asks Han Ye-seul out repeatedly, and though we don’t see her respond, he catches her trying to suss out his apartment, to her mortification. Which is when he oh-so-casually hands her the roses he “picked up off the ground somewhere.” They’re going to be so cute.
I’m pretty sure I’ll be firmly in Kim Ji-suk’s camp in this drama, but I find it endearing how Han Ye-seul completely freaks out when she learns she’s been paired up with former idol Lee Sang-woo (All’s Well With a Happy Home) to film the show-within-a-show version of We Got Married. I mean, the hiccups would be the least of my worries if I were going to play fake spouses with my oppa crush.
But, oppa or not, you can’t really beat the familiarity and the transition between childhood friends and sweethearts to adult lovers. It’s a trope I will never get tired of, and there’s something so nostalgic and tinged with a little wistfulness about this teaser’s ending, where we see the trio of girlfriends plus Kim Ji-suk posing in front of their school gates as children and then adults. Han Ye-seul narrates, “2017, the kids met again, having become 35.”
MBC’s 20th Century Boy and Girl will premiere this coming Monday with a double-header, which means we’ll get episodes 1-4 on October 9.
