This week we have a light historical romance and a dark horror thriller on the way. One I plan to check out immediately, and the other… I’ll peek at the recap through my fingers to determine whether it’s safe to proceed. Some of us are scaredy cats, okay?
100 Days My Prince
Time slot: Monday & Tuesday
Broadcaster: tvN
Genre: Historical, romance
Episode count: 16
Reasons to watch: This is the new historical romance from the writer of Scent of a Woman, Dr. Champ, and She’s So Lovable, and it has all of the tropes and then some: A prince wakes up one day a pauper with no memory of having been the crown prince of Joseon, and under a law that he himself decreed, he must marry a maiden before she comes of age. Which of course leads to all sorts of mistaken identity hijinks when the wife berates her new husband for being so utterly useless around the house, as he never once learned how to do things for himself as a royal. I expect Nam Ji-hyun to be adorable and emotionally grounded as usual, and I hope that D.O. makes his prince extra pompous for the comedy factor. I do see a lot of similarities with Shopping King Louis—just replace prince with chaebol and it’s almost the same story—but I expect it to feel very different set in Joseon, with a more serious political assassination plot lurking in the background and a whole kingdom at stake. But please be cute—that’s all I ask!
The Guest
Time slot: Wednesday & Thursday
Broadcaster: OCN
Genre: Horror-thriller
Episode count: 16
Reasons to watch: A psychic, a priest, and a cop enter a sleepy town where supernatural murders are running rampant… anyone have goosebumps yet? The PD of top-notch thrillers Liar Game and Voice is back with a new drama, which is enough to get me excited alone. The subject matter, on the other hand, is enough to scare me away just by reading the descriptions. The horror-thriller is about a ghost called “Hand” that shows up every few decades and starts a wave of serial killings in a town, and the drama explores the depths of ugliness in humans and spirits alike. Kim Dong-wook is the psychic, Kim Jae-wook is the priest, and Jung Eun-chae is the cop, and the three of them will band together to unravel the strange mystery surrounding the murders. Why do I have the feeling that I’m going to regret it, but watch it anyway?