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News bites: November 30, 2023

  • Kim Nam-gil (Song of the Bandits) may be returning to his calling as SBS’s The Fiery Priest and is currently in talks to star in the upcoming second season. With production remaining in the hands of season one’s PD Lee Myung-woo (Boyhood) together with writer Park Jae-beom (Vincenzo), filming for the action-comedy’s sequel is expected to begin early next year. [Sports Seoul]

  • In KBS’s new poster for Fantasy Sonata, romance is in the flowery air as our leads – Park Ji-hoon (Weak Hero Class 1) and Hong Ye-ji (2037) – are brought together on one moonlit night. Written by Yoon Kyung-ah (Oh! Samkwang Villa) with PD Lee Jung-seob (Dal-li and Gamjatang) directing, the fictional sageuk will be launching in January 2024. [News1]

  • MBC dropped their next character poster for the comedy-sageuk Knight Flower, moving the spotlight to our truth-seeking hero Lee Jong-won (The Golden Spoon). Also starring Honey Lee (One the Woman), Kim Sang-joong (The Banker), and Lee Ki-woo (Miraculous Brothers), the series premieres on January 12, airing weekends following The Story of Park’s Marriage Contract. [MBC]
  • Over on tvN, we finally get our first look at Na In-woo (Longing for You) in the newest stills for Please Marry My Husband. In a triple of “r” genres, featuring reincarnation and revenge on top of rom-com antics, the drama will be coming to our screens on January 1, entangling Na with Park Min-young (Love in Contract), Lee Yi-kyung (Critical X), and Song Ha-yoon (Oh! Young-shim). [News1]

  • tvN is also working on a new series called Mom’s Friend’s Son (roughly translated) and offers are out for Jung So-min (Alchemy of Souls) and Jung Hae-in (D.P. 2) to headline the rom-com. Production will officially begin once casting has been finalized, with PD Yoo Je-won (Crash Course in Romance) at the helm and scripts penned by Shin Ha-eun (Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha). [Star News]
  • Speaking of rom-coms, we may be getting a Choi Siwon (Work Later, Drink Now 2) and Jung In-sun (Let Me Be Your Knight) pairing, with both actors on the casting table for DNA Lover (working title). Still in the planning stages, the drama is currently in discussions to air on TV Chosun next year, with PD Sung Chi-wook (Tomorrow) attached to direct and writing by Jung Soo-mi (Born Again). [Star News]
  • In the meantime, TV Chosun has been busy preparing for My Happy Ending and the latest stills feature our happily (?) married leads, making my inner softie wish that this would be a sweet, family story. Alas, our wronged heroine Jang Nara (Family: The Unbreakable Bond) is out for revenge and I desperately pray that her betrayer is not husband Sohn Ho-joon (The First Responders 2). The mystery-thriller premieres on December 30 in the weekend slot. [Osen (1), (2)]

 
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That's not a very comedic looking poster for a so called comedy sageuk... lol

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Jung So-min with Jung Hae-in would be cute!

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I like them both so this should be gun.

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🤦‍♀️ * fun

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I swear you've just doomed us to the Jung So--Min/Jung Hae-In rom-com having a serial killer storyline in it... *sticks tongue out*

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I thought so too when I saw that typo. 🤣 I tell you what let the mom’s friend’s son ML be a secret agent sharpshooter. There fixed it! That would explain the gun.

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Jung Hae-In has wielded various weapons in numerous roles before so I guess it wouldn't be a stretch for him to be a secret agent sniper LOL!

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Somin will likely be on my TV again soon. All is right with the world.

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3. Honey Lee always makes the funnies, so I am here for it.

4. Na In Woo really does nothing for me, but I love PMY, so will try for her.

5. I am a Jung In Hae Stan and Jung So Min isn't too shabby either, so this could be great.

7. Jang Nara for LIFE, so will 100% check this out.

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Agree with ALL your points.
But I like Na In-woo, he’s cure. I’m not so hot on PMY but will try it.

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1. Is this real? Is this really, really real??? I loved the first season, and if Kim Nam-gil, the PD, and the writer all come back, I'll definitely try it.

3. Ok, so yes, the posters don't scream "comedy," but as per some other conversations, I think they're being more realistic about what the tone will actually be like. Love the posters, love the cast (Honey Lee!!), love the concept; I'm in.

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Oh YES! I am all in for another Fiery Priest sort of show! I sure hope Honey Lee can come back again too. As a second thought, all the cast was great so I.Can't.Wait!

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I love Kim Nam Gil! His acting is awesome.

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I hope everyone comes back, too!!! It was SUCH A GOOD CAST!!!

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#1 Christmas is here … sigh they don’t even start till next year how am I gonna wait for so long. Hope it comes out before next Christmas. 🤣

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Kim Nam Gil, I'll be there for that. Wish 2nd season was coming for Song of the Bandits...

Looks like some good dramas coming up soon.

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Song of the Bandits was a nightmare… worst thing is that they actually shot for 20 episodes then just went Edward Scissorhands on it. Sigh. Would be awesome to get Season 2.

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Fiery Priest was such a fun watch, I'd love a season 2 though I want Honey Lee in it as well. She was half the reason it was so entertaining and her and Kim Nam Gil's chemistry was amazing. I can't wait for her comedy sageuk too.

I did not like Hometown cha cha cha but apart from two and a half episodes, adored Crash Course in Romance, and Jung So MIn and Jung Hae In are both absolutely delightful so I'm tentatively excited for their drama.

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I likes CRASH COURSE IN ROMANCE but was wondering if it qualified as a Noona romance...

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Oh my gosh, that is a very fraught question and was the subject of a lot of discussion, some of it not so good-natured, while the show was running. My take is "no" because the two leads never discussed their actual ages and the characters' relative ages were not an issue for them within the context of the show.

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It wasn't a noona romance. It's just the actress who was older in the real life, not her character.

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Yep, it is not. There are lot of cases where an actor/actress played characters much older/younger than his/her actual age.

Case in point, I just watched Joaquin Phoenix's Napoleon, and it is ridiculous to see Vanessa Kirby, with her ethereal beauty, playing Empress Josephine who is supposedly older than Napoleon ....

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I don't think so, but respectfully, why does it matter? There's no separate category for men being older than the women, so why a different category if the woman is older?

I'm not trying to be mean, your question just touched a sensitive point since women being older than the man is still seen so derisively in society sometimes, and I wish kdrama watchers looking for an entertaining fantasy wouldn't falter at something as immaterial as that.

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"your question just touched a sensitive point since women being older than the man is still seen so derisively in society sometimes"

Yes, as a woman - and one from a very similar culture to Korean culture - I am very well aware of that.

"respectfully, why does it matter?"

It matters precisely because it can help destigmatise this type of pairing. Couples where the woman is older should be a non-issue but many cultures and societies make it an issue while not batting an eyelid when the man is older than the woman.

Also, the taboo surrounding Older Woman/Younger Man pairings is sexist double standards and de-fanging sexist double standards is a good thing.

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I understand what you mean, but I personally disagree that labeling it destigmatizes it. Labelling it as noona romance rather than just romance simply others it, whereas keeping it unlabelled and unremarkable makes it more likely to be seen as normal gradually.

This is a unique scenario where it's not a specifically marginalized group needing a label in popular media to bring in audiences and change, it's a very common major scenario (heterosexual romantic pairings) with a subsection change with regards to age. That's exactly why I think not labelling it as noona romance is the correct way because it should be normalized that sometimes the woman can be older and it makes no difference to the meat of the story and characters. It can be a fact without being a remarkable point within the regular main genre.

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Also - as women get older, we are framed as less than desirable and our beauty/attractiveness is seen as declining because we are no longer young. We considered "invisible" on that front and are relegated to prescribed roles such as mother, aunt, ajumma etc which makes our sexuality (which is part of being human) etc a moot point.

That is why Noona Romances are an important subgenre as a counterweight and counterpoint to the usual Older Man-Younger Woman pairing especially with Hollywood being in a toxic habit of pairing male stars with much younger female stars as their love interests and casting actresses who are sometimes just 5 to 10 years older than the man as his mother.

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And for anyone who is interested, here's an interesting article about why it's also important to destigmatise the Older-Woman-Younger-Man pairing in casting choices behind the scenes even if the age differences don't matter in the drama/film:

https://www.forbes.com/sites/joanmacdonald/2020/04/01/why-older-actresses-are-often-cast-with-younger-actors-in-korean-dramas/?sh=48630c67445e

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It wouldn’t be half as fiery without Honey Lee. Hope the entire cast is able to come.

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1 - that's like a few years too late, realistically speaking, and my fate in this writer seriously plummeted after VINCENZO, but maybe with the Season1 PD - and, hopefully, other OG cast returning - they will be able to recreate that magic again. I would love to hear about KNG taking more projects tho - preferably something I can confidently anticipate unlike here.
4 - the sole fact that someone genuinely thought it was a good idea to drop ANY drama at that date is the peak comedy itself, I highly doubt the actual show would be able to top that.
7 - I admit I lived under a rock all this time and missed other family thriller kdramas after FOE, because this looks suspiciously a lot like that show... Or maybe it's gonna be just yet another cheating husband story. A bit more of concept creativity from drama writers surely wouldn't hurt.

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*faith in this writer
Wtf, guess I'm not fully awake yet(((

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Also they DID frakking change the title come ON.

Flowers that Bloom at Night => Knight Flower
Moon that Rises in the Day => Moon in the Day
Boooo.

yeah I'm slow to this news cos I forget to read every news bite that comes out lol.

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I'm so annoyed.

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SAME. THEY KILLED THE POETRY.

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Kim Nam Gil! * gasp *

I look forward to whatever his work is, and now it's The Fiery Priest. Kyaaaaah! So glad they stayed true to the "WWB" promise 🎉

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Now that I have learned how, I will always **gasp** in spanish.

https://www.dramabeans.com/members/Seeker/activity/1492778/

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How to lol in spanish? 😂

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jajajaja typically. 🤣

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OH OH OH! If Jung So-Min and Jung Hae-In does MOM'S FRIEND'S SON, I am sooooo in!

JSM was fabulous in BECAUSE THIS IS OUR FIRST LIFE and JHI is more than a match for her on screen!

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IIRC, “mum’s friend’s son” is a sardonic expression in Korean about being constantly compared with others and never measuring up.

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That's what I think too.

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Aah! Thank you for the context. 🤯
I do hope he is only literally so and not figuratively. 🤣

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I think in this context it might be figuratively relevant but am not sure whether or not there might also be a literal one.

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I meant that I hope only the connection is described literally and that the character is not a ne'er do well.

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Yeah, the Tiger Mom culture is alive and well in cultures like those in Korea, China, Japan, Singapore etc where there's uber-competitiveness at school and mothers use their children to compete in the Best Mom With Overachieving Offsprings stakes. They do it through constantly comparing their child's performance and achievements at everything from academic grades to extracurricular activities ranging from competitive sports to music.

So when I saw the tentative title for this rom-com, I thought of 2 things:

1. It could be a story about how two Tiger Moms keep competing against each other by pitting their kids (Jung So-Min and Jung Hae-In) against each other from kindergarten to high school resulting in JSM and JHI having an enemies-to-lovers plot arc when they are adults and run into each other again.

2. It could also be a story about how both JSM and JHI's mothers are despairing of their kids ever getting a spouse and so are tapping their networks for suitable candidates to do some busybody matchmaking. (This also happens in real life - I know because been there, done that, got the t-shirt and exasperated my mom no end because I refused to cooperate LOL!) JSM and JHI could also do that - refuse to cooperate, try to turn each other off when they are tricked into outings together by their moms and have a rocky and amusing road to falling in love (unlike me, who successfully resisted the Confucian Family Matchmaking Borg).

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So resistance was not futile in this instant!

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Not futile at all - I just thought about Confucian Asian machismo and reminded myself that failure to resist is not an option.

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4) Na In-Woo looks like he's disguised... Is he cosplaying Superman?

5) I'm so excited by the news of Jung Hae-In in a rom-com and with a good actress around the same age than him! I liked Hometown Cha Cha Cha and Crash Course in Romance.

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Yah coz obviously black specs are the more concealing disguise ever.

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* most concealing

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Hahaaaa right up there with a fake mole 😄

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That #2 pic with him adjusting his glasses sure gives super spy vibes.

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I read the webtoon. I really hope Na in woo can pull this off because i am not feeling the vibe from him

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🤞

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I can’t see anything or anyone other than Kim Nam-gil in Fiery Priest. Omo omo omo … ** deep breaths - calm down before you combust **

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Jang Nara is all kinds of awesome… and where can I get that blue pant suit.

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the sageuk poster looks very chinese and thats for me a worst case scenario cause I hate the style of chinese dramas with passion. cannot manage to watch any cause I just throw up at the overpolished looks

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Na In Woo with black-rimmed glasses!! *swoon*

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I am not sure how to feel about Fiery Priest 2. I did enjoy Fiery Priest. Everyone had a fantastic character's arc, to be fair, this is frequent with Park Jae-beom's work.

But then... We've just finished a terribly painful Bong-soon's sequel (Nam-soon or the tale of no brain goldfish red-flagging her way through Seoul), and we've been permanently scarred by an equally tragic sequel to Uncanny Counter (although, I've been told it was very similar to the webtoon, but it was painful to watch nonetheless)

Do I need a potentially bad sequel of Fiery Priest? Do I need to ruin a great drama with a poor number 2? Please Writer Park, make it worth it.

In other news, I'm curious to see Fantasy Sonata. I really liked PD Lee Jung-seob's directing in Dali & the Cocky Prince.

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Not sure why, but to the extent that I even keep track of k-drama actors, most of them are guys - relative unknowns or usually 2nd leads who are moving up the food chain (Yoo In Soo, Kang Hoon and Seo Ji Hoon, for example). If they in a drama, it goes on my watchlist immediately and I will at least give it a try.

But I recently realized that very few women are on the "must try" list - Jung So Min and Park Min Young are it. They each have a unique style and I never get them mixed up with the score of other youngish (age 25-35) actresses that seem interchangeable from one drama to another.

Please Marry my Husband has been on my list for almost a year and Mom's Friend's Son went on it yesterday when I first read the news - although Jung So Min apparently isn't "confirmed" yet.

Never heard of Fiery Priest before, but I looked it up and it sounds interesting - will have to check it out.

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I watched Fiery Priest at the beginning of the year and surprisingly, the character I remember the most and would be seriously hoping to see a return of, is the thug Hwang Cheol-beom. He had such a nice character arc and was well acted by Go Jun.

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