It’s a good week for web adaptations as two of our premieres are highly anticipated adaptions of popular webtoons. In addition to our adaptations, we have an epic sageuk to look forward to.
Tale of Nokdu
Time slot: Monday & Tuesday
Broadcaster: KBS
Genre: Fusion sageuk, rom-com
Episode count: 32 episodes (35 minute episodes)
Reasons to watch: Jang Dong-yoon plays an aristocratic young man who’s forced to take up his disguise in order to hide away in a widows’ village. He’s in hiding from grave danger–an unwanted arranged marriage. He’s both a fierce warrior and adept at adapting to any situation, even when that calls for passing as a woman. Though he’s pretty convincing, his costar Kim So-hyun manages to uncover his secret fairly early on. Kim So-hyun co-stars as a reluctant gisaeng in training and fellow widows’ village resident. Though she’s set to become a gisaeng, she’s neither good at nor enjoys any of the things gisaeng are supposed to be skilled at. She’d rather build with her hands than dance or sing. Thrown together under unusual circumstances, she and Jang Dong-yoon begin to fall for each other, much to the chagrin of her childhood friend Kang Tae-oh. I fully expect heart-fluttering romance and hilarity.
Extraordinary You
Time slot: Wednesday & Thursday
Broadcaster: MBC
Genre: Fantasy, romance
Episode count: 32 episodes (35 minute episodes)
Reasons to watch: Kim Hye-yoon plays a high school student who seems to have a wonderful life (and a fiance, which is a little strange, but let’s go with it for now) when suddenly strange things start to happen to her. She sees things that don’t seem to be real and she seems to remember things no one else can. All of these unbelievable events are explained by an even more unbelievable reason: she’s a character in a comic book. But after Kim Hye-yoon gains awareness of her reality, she starts to buck against the pre-determined trajectory of her life. For instance, she grows convinced that her true love isn’t her fiance, Lee Jae-wook, but a young man who doesn’t even have a name within the comic book, Kim Ro-woon. I’m looking forward to watching her zany journey through self-discovery and I’m already rooting for her to find a way to break her destiny.
My Country: The New Age
Time slot: Friday & Saturday
Broadcaster: JTBC
Genre: Sageuk, melo
Episode count: 20 episodes
Reasons to watch: Yang Se-jong and Woo Do-hwan play two best friends who find themselves in conflict during a turbulent time in Korean history, the fall of the Goryeo kingdom and the rise of the Joseon dynasty. As people risk their lives to defend their loved ones and their vision of country, the two friends will become enemies. The exact nature of their conflict isn’t clear yet, but Goryeo-Joseon allegiances don’t seem to be an issue as they’re both aligned with Joseon’s rulers. Yang Se-jong is the son of a great general who served under Yi Seong-gye (the founder of Joseon) and wants nothing more than to make a just society. Woo Do-hwan is an illegitimate son of a noble who’s eager to fight for Yi Seong-gye in order to see the birth of a new kingdom where birth status won’t matter. The duo aren’t the only ones eager to see Goryeo truly buried, Seolhyun plays a low-born woman who is determined to see Goryeo fall as she’s become disillusioned by the kingdom’s societal decay. Whatever their conflict is, the enmity between Yang and Woo certainly won’t be helped by the fact that they both fall in love with Seolhyun. Jang Hyuk also stars as Yi Bang-won, who will later go on to become the third king of Joseon. His portrayal will show a more vulnerable side to the royal; it’s not a perspective that has been much explored yet. I have high hopes that this will be another great sageuk in a year that’s been excellent for the genre.