I have a feeling that Junho is going to tear my heart out in this one. He’s done a 180 from his previous drama role in Chief Kim, looking decidedly worse for wear in this first teaser for JTBC’s Just Between Lovers. There’s also a short character teaser for rookie Won Jin-ah’s character, and I love how beautifully both clips were shot. Hopefully, we’ll see more of the same in the actual show.
The main leads’ backstories in Just Between Lovers are quite tragic: Junho’s character Kang-doo was an aspiring soccer player who lost both his dreams and his family in one fell swoop when an accident kills his father and leaves him with leg injuries that require three years of rehabilitation. He ends up living in the back streets as a rough but strong youth.
Kang-doo’s teaser sees him on an industrial pier, as he asks, “The person who brought me here. Who is she, that woman?” Eugh, the way he smiles with all of those cuts on his face and neck… Stop making me tear up already!
Won Jin-ah will play Moon-soo, a modeler at an architecture firm who has her own share of trauma, but hides it behind a smiling facade. After an accident takes her younger sister’s life, Moon-soo carries the heavy burden of living in her sister’s stead, in order to atone for her survivor’s guilt. What a horrible weight to shoulder; it’s like she’s not really living. In her character teaser, Moon-soo looks out over the Busan coastline as she thinks to herself, “It’s a dream. A dream that ends the same way no matter what I do.”
Though I have no doubt this show will have its tearjerker melo moments, I’m hoping the focus will be on how these damaged people will heal each other through a sweet, contemplative love story. I haven’t seen Won Jin-ah act before (she’s had a string of bit parts in movies and is still a rookie), but she reportedly beat out over a hundred other actresses for the role and the producers have said her chemistry with Junho has surpassed their expectations, so I’m looking forward to watching them together.
The cast, on a whole, is a strong one, with Kang Hanna (Moon Lovers: Scarlet Heart Ryeo), Lee Ki-woo (Woman of Dignity), Yoon Se-ah (Forest of Secrets), Na Mun-hee (Dear My Friends), Tae In-ho (Man to Man), and Park Hee-bon (Argon) rounding out an impressive supporting lineup. It would be nice to see them in character soon, to see how they factor into our leads’ lives.
JTBC is bringing back their Monday-Tuesday drama slot, and Just Between Lovers is scheduled to premiere in that slot sometime in December.
