The upcoming cable drama Misaeng: An Incomplete Life has been quietly assembling a pretty intriguing cast and firmed up the leads this past weekend with Im Shi Wan and Kang Sora. Coincidentally enough the two of them were both seconds leads in their previous dramas, him in Triangle and her in Dr. Stranger, with said dramas going head-to-head against each other in ratings. Triangle is mostly boring as hell with the occasional sit-up-and-take-notice moment while Dr. Stranger was a bucket of nonsense with ten more buckets of crazy poured on top. I found Im Shi Wan much better in Triangle than I remembered him as the sole child actor weak link in The Moon Embraces the Sun and being pretty dull in the sitcom Standby. I’ve always liked Kang Sora and enjoyed her performance in DS but massively did not like her character’s storyline in that drama. Personality-wise that character also took a nosedive when she became a weeping self-absorbed faucet and forgot her earlier backbone and sass.
Here’s hoping Kang Sora regains her mojo in Misaeng as the leading lady playing a tough and capable rookie office employee opposite Im Shi Wan’s former Go player turned unhappy white collar worker. Lee Sung Min has also been confirmed to play the the rookies immediate supervisor at the company. Kang Ha Neul is still being courted to play the other male lead and I super duper want him to say yes. I’m also looking forward to Misaeng because it comes from the PD who did Monstar and Sungkyunkwan Scandal and both dramas are light and lovely to watch. He also directed Cinderella Unni which is why Moon Geun Young was offered the leading lady role a few months ago but she turned it down to film a sageuk movie. Misaeng is adapted from a very popular and well-received webtoon of the same name so at least the basic story outline is already proven to be a hit and makes sense rather than leaving me the fear that it’ll turn out to be a cobbled together mash-up of drama parts. Misaeng starts filming in late August for an October premiere after Age Ending in Nine Boy which follows the currently airing Marriage Not Dating.
Lee Sung Min! I like the rest of the cast but… Lee Sung Min! He was fantastic in King 2 Hearts and Miss Korea 🙂
I loved him so much in King 2 Hearts !!!
PD of Sungkyunkwan Scandal? On!! (:
Funny, I didn’t like KSR at first until I watched DS. Then, I went to her earlier work, ‘Ugly Alert’. Loving her there with Joo Hwan. Now, she’s definitely on my watch list. Can’t wait for Misaeng! Btw, the rest of the casts are just as awesome!
Siwan is pretty but I don’t think much of him as an actor. I wish Kang Ha Neul was the lead 🙁
I also love Kang Sora and Lee Sung Min, so I’ll definitely be watching this.
Siwan is solid. He’s been holding his own in Triangle, not great work by any means, but quite acceptable by any standard.
He’s solid. Not great in Moon/Sun since he had nothing to do but look pretty, but his work in The Attorney, Waiting For Love and the original short movie prequel for this drama….he’s put in the work and earned his lead role, and he’s talented too. Better than Kim Soo Hyun imo, and certainly worthy of being considered a legit actor, not just an idol actor.
Yeah I pretty much liked him in The Attorney hopes this will be a good drama i’ll be a bit weird for me first to see them as a couple which they probably will be
I actually want to watch this for lee sung min whom is fantastic in miss Korea haha I never liked him in my princess and king 2hearts though. Kang ha nuel say yes please
More Kang Sora is never enough for me.
Kang Sora’s like the girl-next-door, a rather sweet and talented person, from before her WGM days. Kang Ha Neul is a much more convincing male lead material than Im Shi Wan, who’s like the kid-next-door. Sorry ZE:A’S and Kwangheeya. ^^
You are probably right about kang haneul 0.0
Kang Sora is actually improving from project to project, so I’m looking forward to what she does next.
Koala, are you watching the kdrama “Marriage not Dating”? It’s surprisingly good!
I liked what I saw in the prequel, so I’ll probably be tuning in for this one even though I haven’t seen Im Siwan or Kang Sora in anything before. Kang Haneul and Lee Sung-min though! 😀 That gets me excited.
If anyone is curious Siwan did the prequel for this too: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MtyNaejNHYY#t=19
I like Kang Sora in Ugly Alert and will look out for this.
Makes sense that Siwan is cast since he did the prequel and is available to film since Triangle has about two more weeks. While I miss the days when rookie actors were given more of a shot over idols, I will admit that Siwan has improved from project to project much more quickly then some of his fellow idol turned actors so I think he will do fine in this role. Might check it out simply because I liked the PD’s previous work both in subject material and visually.
I didn’t even know he was in an idol group until recently, judging from what I’ve heard he is far more successful as an actor than an idol. I agree with you that rookie actors should get more chances (especially the girls) but I don’t mind if the idols they cast are as talented as Siwan. He’s really improved with every project, and he’s taken a lot of smaller projects/supporting roles so he had a good chance to improve his craft.
Does prequel mean something like a prestory which was an actual movie before?
i don’t know
i tend to have a certain image of how i want my male leads to look and im siwan while a capable actor does not really do anything for me
he just looks too feminine and too skinny
if this wasn’t a romance drama, i would have been fine with him but since this is, i wished for a more masculine type to play along kang sora who is like a total bagel girl
sorry, no offense to im siwan fans, i’m just shallow 🙁
wait, is this a romance drama? i’m looking at the synopsis and it doesn’t seem like one
well if it isn’t, then i’m ok with the casting choices
Haha so true xD