What's Up In June Dramaland?
Updated: Jun 14, 2022
It's almost June 2022 and dramaland has been busy. There are a lot of releases this month, but I'm just going to focus on the eight dramas I'm excited to check out. Here are my thoughts on what dramaland is releasing next.
Releasing on June 1st
Eve
This revenge melo is Seo Ye-ji's first outing after her memorable performance in It's Okay To Not Be Okay. It's also her first drama after she got excoriated on social media over leaked private chats with ex-boyfriend, Kim Jung-hyun, a year back.
I'm really looking forward to this. We already know she can BRING IT with deadly onscreen charisma and I'm a sucker for revenge plans that involve lots of quiet manipulation and triggers personal crisis on all fronts.
Watch my first impressions of Eve episode 1 here:
Releasing on June 2nd
Doctor Lawyer
This will be my first So Ji-sub drama after Master's Sun and I'm quite sure he's perfectly cast as the ex surgeon turned lawyer.
And while I have no doubts that he'll be a genius at both medicine and law, I do have to wonder who's giving the medical malpractice lawyer any legitimate cases after he got his license cancelled due to medical malpractice? 😏
Also does anyone else read a synopsis like this drama's and immediately think they should just always cast Jang Hyuk? 😅
Watch my first impressions of Doctor Lawyer episode 1 here:
Releasing on June 3rd
Why Her?
I'm always happy to see Seo Hyun-jin on my screen and it's lovely to have Hwang In-yeop back in a drama as the protagonist.
The story also makes me think of a darker version of I Hear Your Voice with the younger, idealistic Hwang In-yeop providing a foil to Seo Hyun-jin's cynical ambitions.
My only concern for this drama is a possible romantic arc between the two protagonists while Seo Hyun-jin is a professor at Hwang In-yeop's law college. But I'm going to wait to judge the show on the actual story and not the bare-bones of the concept. 🤞
Watch my first impressions of Why Her? episode 1 here:
Releasing on June 6th
Link: Eat, Love, Die
Who can resist a pairing like this?
With Yeo Jin-goo and Moon Ga-young ready to light up my screen, I'm hoping for a sweet and funny romance with a touch of magic realism.
Getting strong fated-mates vibe! (Unless Moon Ga-young turns out to be Yeo Jin-goo's long lost twin. 😵💫 We haven't had one of those storylines in a while.)
Releasing on June 10th
Yumi's Cells S2
I think I'm one with the mass mood on this one.
I'm eager to watch the drama cause I abso-freaking loved the first season. The writing, directing, acting was all golden!
But I'm not sold on Yoo Babi played by Jinyoung.
Of course there is the natural comparison to Ahn Bo-hyun's magnetic presence in Season 1. But I already liked Jinyoung from his previous dramas, which should have made me predisposed to liking him here.
Instead I found Yoo Babi... conniving? Even as he was reaching the end of his last relationship, he had a tendency to cross lines in his interactions with Yumi. Casual, social lines that probably don't annoy most people, but felt like massive intrusions to me.
So... I'm almost eager to see whether that was a deliberate set up for the character or if they do something different with him now. It'll be interesting to be inside his head in season 2.
Have you listened to our spoiled yak episode on Season 1 yet?
Releasing on June 18th
Alchemy of Souls
I will give dramaland my first born baby (by inducting them into this cult as soon as they open their eyes) if it will just please let Lee Jae-wook have one good drama that doesn't explode at the end.
He really should have had several main lead roles by now after his brilliant performance in Extraordinary You.
Aside from that little gripe, I'm really happy with the cast and story of this drama! The trailer was a bit... oddly paced... but I'm hoping that was just a blip. Jung So-min as the carrier of the soul of a warrior in the body of an untrained servant girl has the potential to be explosively funny and epic.
She can do probably do dead eyes better than any other actress alive right now, and I'm pumped to see her kick ass in a Joseon era wuxia style drama. 🤩
Releasing on June 27th
Cafe Minamdang
We have no trailers to base this off, but I'm getting a strong Hello Monster/Remember You vibe from the Seo In-guk character stills we have till now.
On top of that Seo In-guk is perfectly cast as a fake shaman/ex-profiler. Anyone who's watched 38 Task Force or Pipeline knows what a tightly tuned performance this man can turn in when asked to play a character with multiple angles and a charming front.
I'm also really happy to see Oh Yeon-soo on my screen again after Mad For Each Other. Her character here, with her dark trench-coat and confident expression, reminds me a little of her own shaman character in Hwayugi. But here's hoping she gets to play out a more interesting arc.
Releasing on June 29th
Extraordinary Attorney Woo
I have no doubt that Park Eun-bin would be amazing in this story.
My one concern is around how the writer and PD decide to show Asperger's Syndrome. [Note: this is the diagnosis in the synopsis, but the term Asperger's Syndrome is no longer in use. It now broadly falls under the Autism Spectrum Disorder]
Mental health rarely gets the most nuanced treatment on TV and movies, and some times they choose one narrative and just STICK with it.
Like, most of us are familiar with the savant trope that seems to make a character with disability acceptable as a safe protagonist.
(The one who's utterly brilliant, yet awkward in social situations, laughed at by people who are less clever than them, but finally emerges as the victor in a battle of social superiority by proving themselves more valuable because of their big brain and inner goodness unspoilt by petty human concerns.)
Park Eun-bin's character in this drama with her IQ of 164 is somewhat in danger of perpetuating that particular stereotype further, but I'll be happy to be wrong about it.
It looks like Kang Tae-oh (of Run On and Doom At Your Service) has been cast opposite her. I liked him a lot in Run On as the sensitive, confident young painter and am excited to see what he does as the main lead in this story.
Fingers crossed all time as always. 😄
