I love a good action sci-fi, which is surprisingly not as common in dramaland as you’d think, which is why I’m looking forward to seeing whether MBC’s upcoming Item turns out to be my newest sci-fi addiction. The newly released character teasers, and stills, for each of our leads certainly look promising, and I’m eager to see how Joo Ji-hoon (Kingdom) and Kim Kang-woo (My Husband Oh Jak-doo) go toe-to-toe in what looks like an epic battle ahead.
The first teaser focuses on our hero, Joo Ji-hoon’s prosecutor character Kang Kon, who informs us that there are unbelievable things happening recently, as evidenced by the air rippling around him on an empty train platform and an overturned train carriage. He asks someone, “What if the object conveys powers beyond normal human limits?” We see flashes of this referenced superhuman power, from a strange red whip-like rope, to unnaturally strong people, and a train nearly flying through the air. He foreshadows that the cases that will occur from now on will be different to what he’s faced before.
Next up is our resident profiler, Jin Se-yeon (High-End Crush)’s Shin So-young, who remarks that she has a weird feeling that all these cases feel like the same one. She joins Kang Kon in investigating all these strange incidents, and she must find out the truth of the power-giving items pretty earlier, since she declares that she needs one, as it’s the only hope left for Kon. Hm, the teasers seem to imply that So-young may have some past connections to these items, and she tearfully asks why she keeps recalling the events of “that day,” as we briefly see her underwater and a shadowy figure. The captions say that, “In order to catch a criminal, you must become one.”
And last, but certainly not least, is the darkly intriguing sociopath Jo Se-hwang, played by Kim Kang-woo. The last time Kim Kang-woo played a sociopath was in Story of a Man, which I really enjoyed, so I’m excited to see him tackle this role, which seems different enough to distinguish the two performances. Jo Se-hwang is a character that is skin-crawlingly good at playing the humble and contrite corporate executive in the public eye, while maintaining a serious (and quite literal) God complex when not in front of the cameras. The captions encapsulate his character in one sentence: “Why do you believe in god? I am god.” Ok, looney tunes.
Item will premiere on February 11 and will take over MBC’s Monday-Tuesday slot following Bad Detective.
