KBS premiered a new Monday-Tuesday drama this week, Invincible Lee Pyeong-gang (KBS World title: Taming of the Heir), to replace Princess Has Returned. Contrary to the historical costuming above, this drama is a contemporary piece but has sageuk bits woven through it, since the story references the folk tale upon which it is based (”Princess Pyeong-gang and the Fool On-dal”) in a comic way. This, I think, is the drama’s highlight, which I’ll go into more below.

The drama probably won’t make a dent in Queen Seon-deok’s continuing domination. Still, I love Nam Sang-mi, who I think has a lot of charm despite some middling performances. I find her most winning in comedy fare, and have been wanting to see her try more of it following Bad Family. She was adorable there, and she carries over a lot of similar plucky humor here.

I don’t think Invincible Lee Pyeong-gang is going to be a great drama, but there’s something about it that caught my interest. It’s cute if you like goofy, over-the-top romantic comedies. It’s not the best of the genre, but its fusion-sageuk angle has viewers calling it fresh and fun, and it’s a light counter to the other Monday-Tuesday programming out there.

SONG OF THE DAY

Invincible Lee Pyeong-gang OST – “나란 남자” by MC Mong [ Download ]

INVINCIBLE LEE PYEONG-GANG Episodes 1-2 >>

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KBS’s current Monday-Tuesday show, Princess Has Returned [공주가 돌아왔다], has been pretty unremarkable (in ratings and in response) and ends on a similarly quiet note this week. On the other hand, I’m looking at the show to take over its slot next week with some interest — Invincible Lee Pyeong-gang [천하무적 이평강] seems to have come together rather under the radar, but now it’s got me perked up in interest.

The drama blends together sageuk elements with the contemporary in its reimagining of the classic folktale of Princess Pyeong-gang and the Fool On-dal. The fusion drama stars Nam Sang-mi (Time of Dog and Wolf) and Ji Hyun-woo (My Sweet Seoul).

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Nam Sang-mi, Park Ki-woong

Park Ki-woong (Story of a Man) is the latest to join the cast of KBS’s drama Invincible Lee Pyeong-gang [천하무적 이평강], which has already cast Nam Sang-mi (Gourmet), Ji Hyun-woo (My Sweet Seoul), Cha Ye-ryun (A Star’s Lover), and Seo Do-young (Friend, Our Legend).

Pretty decent cast, actually. Not so sold on the story…

The drama is the modern-day reimagining of the tale of the Fool On-dal and Princess Pyeong-gang, which somehow takes on the topic of golf (er?); Nam Sang-mi and Ji Hyun-woo fill the lead roles. Nam’s character is Pyeong-gang, the resourceful daughter of a golf course planner, while Ji plays On-dal, the son of a rich family. They strike up a romance despite their class differences and a lot of bickering. (I’m not sure how this is related to the original tale of On-dal and Pyeong-gang, unless it’s a reversal.)

Meanwhile, Park Ki-woong may finally be moving away from his prior image as a guy who was famous for not a whole lot (he admits to not understanding how to work on his acting until his recent noteworthy turn as an adorable autistic financial genius in Story of a Man). Previously known more for his cute and quirky appearance than anything, I’m going to guess he owes SOAM at least a little for this latest character, who is also autistic and speaks with a stutter due to a traumatic memory of losing his parents at a young age in a landslide. He finds comfort in music and rap. (Park is currently busy studying his character and practicing his rap/dance moves.) The character later falls in love with divorcee Yeon Mi-ju (bleh), but the family opposes the match because of their age difference.

Are you wondering how the story fits together? So am I. I’m not so sure about the writer-director combo, since Park Kye-ok wrote the frustrating Cain & Abel and Lee Jung-seob directed Hong Gil Dong, which was written and acted better than it was directed.

Unbeatable Lee Pyeong-gang began filming on October 1 and will premiere on KBS Mondays and Tuesdays following Princess Has Returned on November 9. Good luck going up against Queen Seon-deok!

Via Joy News, Newsen

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Kim Hye-soo with 2NE1’s Park Bom

As announced, weekend drama Style has some upcoming star cameos in the works, and it looks like they’re using them all up in the same episode. The crew shot the scene (a party for the fictional Style magazine’s 200th issue) on August 10 and has released some behind-the-scenes images. As we know, Kang Ji-hwan is one of those stars, but joining him on the faux red carpet were members of pop group 2NE1, singer Bada, actress Cha Ye-ryun, and others.

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If you’re watching A Star’s Lover, you’ll notice that “melodrama queen” Choi Ji-woo cries A LOT in it. At least once an episode, and sometimes more. So much, in fact, that viewers have picked up on a peculiar trait of the actress’s crying scenes: The tears always start with the left eye.

A representative from Choi’s management company confirmed this particular habit, saying that nine times out of ten, she cries from the left eye first, then the right.

But she’s not the only one on the Star’s Lover set with a crying quirk: Cha Ye-ryun, who plays Eun-young, has lately also been shedding lots of tears after her character was dumped. In Cha’s case, whenever she cries, she lets trickle two streams of tears from each eye, for a total of four rivulets.

Also, the actress playing Yoo Ji-tae’s sickly sister Yuri, Shin Min-hee, is said to be so immersed in her character’s emotions that she often cries real tears during script rehearsals. Shin requires some time to recover after her scenes, so if NGs occur (outtakes), she needs time to prepare for a second go. However, ever the pro, Choi Ji-woo is ready to go immediately, in contrast to some actresses who keep the crew waiting for hours while they muster up the emotions. They don’t call Choi the Queen of Tears for nuthin’.

At first, I thought this was a silly thing to notice — but looking through all my screencaps of the show, IT’S TOTALLY TRUE. I find this hilarious.

Via Newsen

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• A Star’s Lover: Episode 14
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