The first teasers for tvN’s new Monday-Tuesday newsroom drama Argon are a bit unexpected, since the series is all about principled investigative journalists who stop at nothing to deliver the truth. In the first teaser, Kim Joo-hyuk (Confidential Assignment) sits at the news desk and says, “News without facts is trash.” As the studio lights come on, he greets the audience with his signature: “We are Argon, and we don’t back off from the truth.”
But then the next two teasers turn cheeky, as Chun Woo-hee (The Wailing) congratulates Produce 101’s new idol group Wanna One on their debut today, and flashes finger hearts at the camera. Kim Joo-hyuk delivers the same exact same breaking news in his teaser, and they both mimic the idol catchphrase “save” (as in, save a picture in your heart): “We ask that you save Argon in your hearts.” He even does the requisite hand gesture, almost with a straight face.
The short 8-episode drama is the newest project from PD Lee Yoon-jung of Cheese in the Trap and Coffee Prince, and tells the story of an investigative broadcast news team called Argon. Kim Joo-hyuk plays Argon’s team leader and the face of his network, an idealist who treats his responsibility to deliver the truth like his life depends on it. While the public only sees him as a trustworthy anchor and a gentleman in a suit, behind the scenes he’s a picky perfectionist who gets called the devil by his staff because he works them into the ground.
Chun Woo-hee plays a reporter who gets transferred to the Argon team with only three months left on her temporary contract. She’s got average specs but boundless energy and passion for the job, and she’s a conspiracy theorist who believes that her insatiable curiosity is her greatest asset. The drama is about her growth as she joins the Argon team and gets grilled and trained to within an inch of her life by Kim Joo-hyuk, and comes out a real reporter on the other side.
I’m curious to see how Argon will differentiate itself from current journalism drama Falsify, since they’re very similar in theme (not to mention that Chun Woo-hee was almost cast in one before she signed on to the other). But it seems like Argon will aspire to the ideal of what journalism should be, while Falsify is about going rogue when the news agencies themselves are corrupt. Same coin, but perhaps we’ll get two entertaining sides back to back.
Argon follows Bride of the Water God 2017 and premieres Monday, September 4.
