Lee Jong Seok is taking a page from the rising Hallyu star playbook and doing a C-drama intended for a much broader audience. Even a C-drama as stupid as Diamond Lover was a big hit in China and helped cushion Rain‘s continued popularity and recognition there. Lee Jong Seok picked as his first K-drama the big budget and highly promoted followup to Diamond Lover – the drama is called Emerald Jade Lover and costars current It Girl du jour Zheng Shuang. Considering how the craptastic Diamond Lover ended up being such a huge hit – and for those bemoaning Park Hae Jin getting demoted to second male lead in Cheese in the Trap, it happened last year to Rain in DL as well – Emerald Jade Lover is basically a sure fire thing and I don’t blame Lee Jong Seok for choosing this as his first C-drama. It’s a needle in the haystack to find one rare quality C-drama so making easy watching hits for the general public is a smart move, plus I love Republic era period pieces so this is certainly a must check out for me. Continue reading →