Ooooh, looking good Empire of Gold. Me likely, though one official poster is much better than the other. Jang Ok Jung, Live in Love ends this week and SBS must be breathing a sigh of relief to move on to more promising pastures with Empire of Gold transitioning the Mon-Tues time slot for the network back to the modern drama. It may be modern but it’s still a period setting going back two decades to the 1990s. While the US may have been experiencing grunge and the emergence of the tech era, South Korea was caught up in rapid fire financial growth that culminated in a financial crisis in 1997 that hit most of Asia as well. I really like the official posters for the drama, the one on top has leads Go Soo and Lee Yo Won both looking mighty intense and vibrant while the one after the jump features all three leads including Son Hyun Joo. The only nitpick I have with the one below is that Go Soo looks like he literally has only half a face with the obscured portion so jarring rather than shaded into the darkness in disappearing fluidity. I liked the hard hitting intensity of the promotional pictures for this drama and the third trailer was just released and bristles with energy both contained and bursting forth. It doesn’t appear that this drama has a childhood section (though maybe flashbacks might occur) and I like that since most epic period and sageuk fare always throw in the past to strengthen the ties between all the characters but sometimes comes across as if the mother of all coincidences keeps on happening to a select few people. I was initially very skeptical of the pairing of Go Soo, always intense, and Lee Yo Won, usually placid, but she seems to be on fire in the teasers and stills and they actually look really good together. I’m getting more and more optimistic about this drama so let’s wait and see after next Mon whether it lives up to the growing hype. Continue reading →