[PREVIEW] KBS TV series "Wild Romance"

From left, actors Oh Man-seok, Hwang Sun-hee, Lee Si-young and Lee Dong-wook pose during a photocall of a press conference for KBS TV series "Wild Romance" held in Seoul, South Korea on January 2, 2012. [KBS]

Main cast
Lee Dong-wook - as Park Moo-yeol, Lee Si-young - as Yoo Eun-jae, Oh Man-seok - as Jin Dong-soo, Hwang Sun-hee - as Oh Soo-young

In brief
Famed baseball player Moo-yeul (Lee Dong-wook) who is violent, short-tempered and ignorant, somehow gets into a quarrel with Eun-jae (Lee Si-young), his anti-fan who is even more violent and ignorant than him, and gets thrown over her shoulder. A video of this incident heats up the Internet and Moo-yeul's team hurriedly hires novice bodyguard Eun-jae to say that she is actually his private bodyguard and that they were practicing self-defense tactics. And this is how one incident after another breaks out as soon as troublesome baseball player Moo-yeul and anti-fan bodyguard Eun-jae become a team.

Preview
The story of a man and woman who, like oil and water, don't get along at first but after some clashing end up understanding and loving each other may seem obvious. But like how Oh Man-seok said that the drama "contains more than just a simple love story," "Wild Romance" has tried to broaden its perspective on the dreams and joys of life by "telling not just about the love between a man and woman but also of people with dreams and talent," said director Bae Kyung-soo. That is why the level of anticipation rises to what sort of story will be told between Moo-yeul who is violent and ignorant yet is that much more innocent when it comes to baseball and the person he loves while being infinitely talented, and Eun-jae who with age, has reduced her dream to seeing her favorite baseball team win. And they, along with Dong-soo (Oh Man-seok) who believed he was talented but is now considering quitting his baseball team because of his weakened status in it, and his wife Soo-young (Hwang Sun-hee) who does spares no pain to support his dream, set out to make their 'grown up dreams' come true.

To see or not to see

Still image for KBS TV series "Wild Romance" [KBS]

To see? The fact that "Wild Romance" will break away from the usual formula of romantic comedies starring an heir to a conglomerate family and an ordinary woman and instead go with violent and ignorant main characters is unique and interesting. Their level of fighting too will go beyond the usual bickering and be good enough for an action movie in that Lee Si-young said she "will jump, hang onto his neck and spin 360 degrees on it." "Romance," which will be different from typical romantic comedies in many ways, will be worth looking forward to in that "mystery has also been added to it to show the screenwriter's power to converge genres that are complete opposites." It will be worth looking forward to the synergy created by screenwriter Park Yeon-sun who has a group of mania fans from her unique vibe proven through SBS' "Romance Time," KBS' "Evasive Inquiry Agency," and "White Christmas," and director Bae Kyung-soo who is used to communicating to the public as proven through his works KBS' "the Infamous Chill Sisters" and "Women of the Sun."

Still image for KBS TV series "Wild Romance" [KBS]

Not to see? New Wednesday and Thursday TV series for all three terrestrial broadcasters will premiere on Wednesday. Yet compared to MBC's fantasy historical drama "The Moon Bearing the Sun" (translated title) which is based on a popular romantic novel of the same name and SBS' aviation series "Take Care of Us Captain" which is about pilots and flight attendants, "Romance" could easily seem like an ordinary romantic comedy. That is why it will be important for "Romance" to leave a strong impression from the very start. It will also be crucial for the plot to be strong enough to support its two powerful main characters. Director Bae Kyung-soo expressed his confidence to do this saying, "In the first four episodes of the show, we will approach viewers with the determination to lure them in with the three elements of: the commotion between an ignorant man and woman, the progression of the story with mystery added to it, and a cheerful and comical touch." "Romance" will need more of a boost than other dramas to push it forward.

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10 아시아 Reporter : Kim Myung-Hyun eighteen@
10 아시아 Editor : Jessica Kim jesskim@