I’m still waiting for someone to convince me of the appeal of Lee Jong Seok. Back when School 2013 aired I thought he and Kim Woo Bin would forever be popular actors I would never find interesting enough to watch. I don’t need cookie cutter good looks, far from it really, but I do need my actors to have some sort of “it” factor that makes me sit up and take note. Kim Woo Bin went on to do that in Heirs and now I find him the bees knees, but I couldn’t get past a few episodes of Lee Jong Seok in I Hear Your Voice and for the life of me he totally looks like a cross between The Joker and an anemic vampire. I concede he’s definitely more mainstream attractive than his best buddy Kim Woo Bin, but between them I’d take Kim Woo Bin to headline a drama any day.
IHYV was more a Lee Bo Young drama when it first started before Lee Jong Seok really came to the forefront and won audience hearts, while School 2013 was an ensemble piece. That makes the upcoming Doctor Stranger on SBS Lee Jong Seok’s first real headlining drama with him playing the titular Dr. Stranger. Lee Jong Seok plays a South Korean who was abducted to North Korean along with his doctor dad. He was raised and educated in the North and follows in his father’s footsteps to become an accomplished heart surgeon. He becomes the doctor in a strange land when he returns to South Korea but bearing the education and life experiences of growing up in the North. Park Hae Jin is a fellow rival doctor while Kang Sora and Jin Se Yeon round out the female portion of the cast and the love interests. Check out the first official pictures from the drama, including a first look at the overseas shoot in Hungary. Dr. Stranger will premiere the last week of April following God’s Gift: 14 Days on Mon-Tues.
Lee Jong Seok and Jin Se Yeon are adorable together. I hope they are a couple and Park Hae Jin and Kang Sora are a couple. The more the merrier.
Park Hae Jin looks gooooood here, the centered parted wavy hair that dorkifies him notwithstanding. He definitely rocks the scrubs and white coat.
I find the title that odd mash-up of Korean and English – Dakteo Yibangin – rather then sticking with either English or Korean for the two words. Directing this drama is PD Jin Hyuk who did The Master’s Sun, Prosecutor Princess, City Hunter, Brilliant Legacy/Shining Inheritance, and Painter of the Wind. He’s an SBS regular and I always love his directing eye. Writing is Park Jin Woo who hasn’t done a drama in a few years, the last one was being part of the ensemble writing team of Kingdom of the Wind and before that working on Snow Flower with famed screenwriter Kim Soo Hyun.
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Ehh.. is he suppose to look vampire-ish or what?
Maybe the vampire look = a North Korean as perceived by South Korean dramas? LOL.
Yeah I'd pick Kim Woo Bin too ^_^
I've been picking Woo Bin since White Christmas so it was never a competition for me...
Me too. Love him since White Christmas! One of the best K-dramas in my opinion..
1 vote to Kim Woo Bin too here!!
Yay! I <3 Kim Woo Bin too!
Every time if showed non kdrama frens pics of School2013, they always say LJS is cute and KWB looks strange, so like what Ms koala says, prob he is more mainstream attractive.
Why isn't Park Hae Jin a lead yet? Sigh ...
Koala the same problem you have with LJS I have with Lee Min Ho. I just don't get the buzz about him. I tried, god knows I tried, but it is just not happening. I watch Heirs but Kim Woo Bin acted circles around him and he hasn't been an actor that long. Kim Woo Bin has the "it" factor as you said.
I am not digging the hair on Lee Jong Seok. That is not an approved hairstyle in North Korea. But let's hope the show is decent.
LOL,
That would be weirdly funny if LJS started sporting the Kim Jong Un....
Crawling out of hiding. Thanks for saying this. I have tried to get on the Lee Min Ho train as well. He seems very nice . . . and that is all I can say. I actually like him as the evil brother in the Toyota commercials the best and probably the only person who actually liked Personal Taste. But whenever I see Captain Koala trying to figure out the appeal of LJS, I think of me trying to do the same for LMH.
*whispers*
LMH does nothing for me either. I can see how he's objectively attractive and charismatic (before Heirs and ugly ajumma sweaters/looking like a high schooler who'd failed about ten years) but his appeal is lost on me.
As for this drama....I love the PD's previous work and three out of four of the main leads, so I'm hoping Jin Se-yeon isn't as insipid as usual to spoil what could be a very good mix. She's pretty I guess, but there are dozens of actresses in her age range with far more talent, who have yet to score the kind of opportunities she does (maybe they should double-book too? Ha.)
HA! I too simply don't understand the need to cast Jin Se Yeon in everything. But I guess she's a safe bet, if boring (double-booking multiple dramas not withstanding ha)
For me it's the lips and philtrum area. Something way too PS-y about it.
Exactly, and the much too taut cheekbone area pulled too tight. I found him quite attractive enough in Secret Garden days, though.
yeah, totally unnecessary PS on an actor who was talented and good-looking even before. But, much like Hwang Jung-eum, he's a good enough actor to get me into his performance despite the PS
(objectively, I agree that he's weird-looking, but he still has the soft puppy eyes and smile that make him appealing to many, and he has an uncanny tendency to really connect with his costars - I've yet to see him in a drama where he doesn't have chemistry with his costars - whether it was Park Se-young and Woobin in School 2013, Kim Ji-won in High Kick 3, or Lee Bo-young & Co. in IHYV )
I think it's the makeup and lighting that makes him look more gothic because he is thin but in those stills he even looks anemic :|
To me he looks attractive in the reading pictures!!
Well, I get LJS' appeal looks wise but I don't acting wise tbh. I don't think he really has what it takes to lead dramas (yet, he may improve). I really like Kang Sora and the team behind this is not bad at all, so I'll be watching. I'm more excited for the Joseon Gunman and a New Leaf though, both sound better (on paper) than this show and both have stronger leading actors.
I lol at the Joker comparison. I've always thought the same thing