It’s time for our new weekend dramas to drop, and I am ready! What with a bunch of dramas having ended last week, and holidays and award show preemptions, I’m starting to feeling lonely for new dramas. Luckily, it’s time for Lee Bo-young to make her dramaland return — and Lee Seon-kyun and Moon Chae-won to wow us with some vigilante justice.
Payback
Time slot: Friday-Saturday
Broadcaster: SBS
Genre: Action, revenge, thriller, business
Episode count: 12
Reasons to watch: While the stock market/business angle of this drama doesn’t exactly thrill me to my core, the action angle does. With Lee Seon-kyun as a man ready to take down a corrupt and powerful cartel — and the system that failed him — and Moon Chae-won as an army judge who has her own bone to pick with the legal system, this could make for a really thrilling ride. Add explosions. Add the cat-and-mouse dynamic. Add a subtle love line and/or the emotionally-connected teamwork like we saw in Adamas. And most importantly, add Park Hoon as one of your baddies. He’s been on my radar since Memories of the Alhambra and is woefully under-appreciated, so here’s hoping he shines in Payback, along with the rest of our cast.
TL;DR: Lee Seon-kyun and Moon Chae-won join forces to take down Evil Corruption
Meta bonus: Rookie Kang Yoo-seok also joins the main cast, and I thought he looked cute familiar — he’s half of the evil twin hacker duo in Start-Up!
Agency
Time slot: Saturday-Sunday
Broadcaster: JTBC
Genre: Workplace
Episode count: 16
Reasons to watch: The fact that Lee Bo-young chose a particular drama is often enough reason to watch it — but it’ll be particularly interesting to see her in Agency. She plays an executive at an ad agency who is notoriously cutthroat about rising up the chain of command. And, as we all know by now, the drama showcases the “war” between Lee Bo-young, Jo Sung-ha, and Sohn Na-eun as they battle for the CEO seat. Corporate battles are not super interesting to me, but I’m banking on Lee Bo-young’s acting skills, and the drama’s excellent promo game (such strong ‘tude in the posters!), for this one to be a good watch.
TL;DR: Ambitious career women Lee Bo-young claws her way to the top