Premiere Watch: Are You Human Too, Secretary Kim, Life on Mars

by girlfriday

Humanoid robots, sassy secretaries, chaebol bosses, and time-traveling detectives on the way. Yup, just another average week in dramaland.

Are You Human Too

Time slot: Monday & Tuesday
Broadcaster: KBS
Genre: Sci-fi
Episode count: 16

Reasons to watch: I’m so curious to see how Are You Human Too turned out, after months and months of waiting to see when the fully pre-produced drama would ever air. The sci-fi drama comes from writer Jo Jung-joo of Princess’s Man and PD Cha Young-hoon who has second director credits on some major dramas (Unexpectedly Fond, Joseon Gunman, Gaksital), and it looks to be a really fascinating story about androids, human nature, greed, and power. Seo Kang-joon stars in a double role as a chaebol heir who falls into a coma, and the humanoid robot designed to take his place. The drama is about the blurred lines between human and AI—it describes the android as “a robot more human than humans”—so I’m definitely intrigued by the story, which will go beyond simple mistaken-identity hijinks and hopefully paint an interesting sci-fi universe for us to get immersed in.

What’s Wrong With Secretary Kim

Time slot: Wednesday & Thursday
Broadcaster: tvN
Genre: Romantic comedy
Episode count: 16

Reasons to watch: Yay, PD Park Jun-hwa of the delightful slice-of-life comedies Because This Life Is Our First and both seasons of Let’s Eat is back with a new rom-com. Park Min-young and Park Seo-joon star in a cute power-reversal story about a perfect secretary and her narcissistic chaebol boss who can’t for the life of him figure out why she’d want to quit her job. After nine years of being a legendary assistant to the egomaniac, she decides to quit and search for her own personal happiness, and it sends the boss into a tailspin. He spends the drama trying to determine why she’d ever want to leave him (because his ego can’t comprehend it), and goes on a mission to win her back. Basically, it’s two actors and a director I like, and a funny reversal on a classic rom-com setup—what’s not to love?

Life on Mars

Time slot: Saturday & Sunday
Broadcaster: OCN
Genre: Time-slip crime thriller
Episode count: 16

Reasons to watch: This is a remake of the 2006 British TV show about a present-day police officer who wakes up from an accident and suddenly finds himself in 1973. The remake takes 2018 detective Jung Kyung-ho and throws him back thirty years to 1988, where he encounters a string of serial murders and decides that he needs to solve them in order to return home. He’ll encounter all sorts of mundane fish-out-of-water hardships, from missing cultural references to being frustrated by the lack of forensic investigation tools at his disposal. It’s basically Tunnel in reverse, which makes me interested enough to watch it, and if that’s not enough incentive, it comes from PD Lee Jung-hyo, known for super stylish directing in all sorts of genres (Heartless City, The Good Wife, I Need Romance, Witch’s Romance).

 
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