Only one more episode left. Usually by the time a finale rolls around, even if I’ve enjoyed the drama, I’m good and ready for it to finish. But I’m really going to miss this drama’s mixture of warmth and humor — and Seung Hyo! — when Who Are You? ends tomorrow.
Today’s episode wasn’t the most plot-driven we’ve had, but that’s okay with me. It was full of touching moments and bonding scenes, which is what the series has really done best, and the other stuff (the mystery, the paintings, the art gallery plot) was always secondary anyway.
Kim Ji Hoon, currently starring in the cute Friday drama Why Did You Come To Our House?, bares his torso for cosmetic brand Amore Pacific’s Laneige Homme line. (People really like nekkid Kim Ji Hoon, huh? No complaints.) Although I’m not sure what he’s hawking. Hair gel? Chest waxer? (Photoshop? C’mon, nobody’s six-pack is that perfectly shadowed.)
Remember that kid Damdeok who almost stole the show in Legend from his older counterpart, playing Bae Yong Joon’s childhood self? (A refresher.) Yoo Seung Ho showed up on the 30th to the press conference for his new movie Do You See Seoul, which he filmed two years ago, and you can already see the difference from his appearance in the movie posters. Kid’s all done growed up.
It even feels odd for the actor himself: “It’s strange even for me to see how I looked two years ago… it’s me before puberty.” About being called a child actor, he explained: “From now on, I want to grow naturally into various acting roles.”
Do You See Seoul is set in the 1970s when simple village children from an isolated island town travel to Seoul on a school field trip (somehow the description reminds me of Truffaut). Yoo Seung Ho co-stars with actress Oh Su Ah; the movie opens on May 8.
The song is cute. Her voice is weak. (It sounds like something indie band Misty Blue could have performed — I would’ve loved to hear it recorded by someone with stronger vocal control.) She can carry a tune, but those high notes are wincingly off-key (what happened to audio correction software?).
Finally, Lee Dong Wook fans can see him back on television! After rising to stardom in the romantic comedy series My Girl, he’s focused mostly on films and kept a relatively low profile; this will be his first television project in more than two years — and he appears with another My Girl co-star (although probably not the one fans most would like to see him with again), Park Shi Yeon.
The upcoming weekend drama The Sweet Life takes the place of MBC’s just-wrapped Last Scandal of My Life, and held its press conference on the 29th. In the drama, Oh Yeon Soo and Jung Bo Seok are a married couple whose lives become complicated in mystery and drama with the appearance of the Lee Dong Wook–Park Shi Yeon couple. Lee Dong Wook’s character goes to Japan on a trip and chances to meet Oh Yeon Soo’s housewife character; the two “fall in passionate love.”
While filming in the snowy mountains of Hokkaido in February, he’d experienced temporary paralysis of the limbs and had difficulty breathing. “I saw white lights and thought, ‘I’m going to die like this,’” he added. It was the result of filming for eight hours in subzero temperature — 16 degrees below zero, Celsius — at an elevation of above 3,000 meters, and sent Lee Dong Wook to the hospital.
Reuniting with his My Girl onscreen girlfriend after two years, Lee Dong Wook explained that it was comfortable having a familiar face around (ooh, holding back a face joke here), particularly at first because the other two leads were older and new acquaintances.
(A note on the title: I’ve seen this translated as “Bittersweet Life,” which may be because its Korean name shares a title with the Lee Byung Heon movie which was translated as “bittersweet,” probably in an ironic twist on the literal meaning. But it actually means “sweet,” and the promo poster bears the subtitle “La Dolce Vita,” so I think “The Sweet Life” may be more appropriate. Even though they may be using irony here too. In any case, the main website uses “sweet” over “bittersweet.”)
The Sweet Life films under the direction of PD Kim Jin Min of Shin Don and writer Jung Ha Yeon of Shin Don, Wife, Queen Myeongseong. It premieres this weekend on MBC.
