More dramas coming in hot! This week we have another pair of premieres, again offering us some very different genres — a spy-action-revenge extravaganza, and a mysterious tale that unfolds amongst the elite on an island paradise. Isn’t it nice of dramaland to try to accommodate each of our tastes?
Editor’s Note: The Veil will be premiering on September 17. We had a slight mix-up that the NIS may or may not have had a direct hand in. You didn’t hear that from me.
High Class
Time slot: Monday & Tuesday
Broadcaster: tvN
Genre: Mystery, suspense, drama
Episode count: 16
Reasons to watch: Though dramaland may be overrun with stories of luxury, elitism, and back-stabbing lately, High Class has one thing going for it out of the gate: the marvelous Jo Yeo-jung. Yay! Here, she plays an attorney who’s accused of murdering her husband. She escapes with her young son to an island paradise for the uber-wealthy, and gets entangled with the people there (including her husband’s mistress). It sounds a lot like Mine right now, but perhaps if the drama plays up the suspense and murder conspiracy plot, this one could lean more towards Lies of Lies instead? For me, these sorts of stories need to have a cracktastic element to them in order to get the more serious parts to work, so here’s hoping.
The Veil
Time slot: Friday & Saturday
Broadcaster: MBC
Genre: Action
Episode count: 12
Reasons to watch: Namgoong Min is back and looking good in The Veil — no, not the crazy caveman hair, but those slick posters where he looks dark, determined, and boasts some very photogenic scars on his face. Namgoong Min plays a top NIS agent who suddenly goes missing for a year. When he returns, his sole purpose is to seek revenge on those that plotted against him. I’m getting epic Count of Monte Cristo vibes from this setup, which is a favorite paradigm of mine, so I have to be careful to rein in my expectations. Spy-action dramas always sound like a blast, but really, they are incredibly dependent on the quality of the script. And as we have a newbie writer here, we’ll have to wait and see. With bated breath. And fingers crossed.