I think the upcoming drama on MBC, Man Who Dies to Live, is comparatively floating under the radar, but looks promising to be a laugh riot. It stars acting power house Choi Min Soo in the lead role as a man who left his home in the 70s in search of fortune and went to a fictional Arabian kingdom. He gets settled there and becomes rich with a new name, Count Souad Fahd Ali. Years later, he returns to Korea and comes face to face with his daughter, played by Kang Ye Won. She is an aspiring writer and has a husband — Shin Sung Rok in a rare comic role.
The drama looks very funny, peppered with warm moments of growth and family love. I haven’t seen Choi Min Soo in anything yet, but have heard great praise for his acting. He was last seen in recent The Liar And His Lover but has been acting since nearly two decades in films and dramas, including legendary drama Sandglass. I’m not familiar with Kang Ye Won much. She has acted in shows like Baek Hi Has Returned, Bad Guys and The Thousandth Man. I’m really having a fun time seeing Shin Sung Rok in a complete image reversal as mostly he has played scary bad guys.
Man Who Dies to Live is premiering next week following sageuk Ruler – Master Of The Mask. It is slotted for Wednesdays and Thursdays and helmed by the PD of Cunning Single Lady and Me Too! Flower. And don’t be fooled by the huge episodic count of 24: the drama actually has only 12 episodes, each divided into two short halves. Judging from the promotional material, the show seems to be going for slapstick comedy mixed with interesting characters. The actors also seem to be having fun playing them.
The Drama Corner 
Oh, Choi Min Soo is grrrreat! He is a veritable chameleon and able to pull almost any character. 😎 Yup, this looks hilarious.
Any recommendations for his work?
Hopefully this show will give lots of laughs!
I haven’t actually watched that many of them myself and some of the dramas I did watch weren’t all that hot… but that’s probably just me, ha. He’s always good though.
Ok, then…
These I have watched:
The Legend – My first ever kdrama, LOL! It’s quite flawed but I think it’s better than some reviews make it to be. I’m probably biased though. *g* Lots of characters I loved. CMS makes a fun, albeit rather theatrical Big Bad. 😀
Warrior Baek Dong Soo – Starts out fine but boy, does it get frustrating after a while! CMS as a tragic assassin who seems to be perennially drunk.
The Blade and Petal – The first 8 episodes, then it just goes to hell in a handbasket, ha. Another great adversary role.
Pride and Prejudice – Overall a pretty decent leagal drama, has an added bonus in Choi Jin Hyuk and Lee Tae Hwan 🙂
These I haven’t wached myself:
The Liar and His Lover – Supporting character that people semed to love
Sandglass – The Classic… it’s been on my to-watch list for ages and I actually own the DVD set. One of these days…
He’s also been in a several moves, but I haven’t seen any of those. K movies just ain’t my thing generally.
Thank you so much for these recommendations.
Really! You own a DVD set for Sandglass! Wow!! I too want to watch it.
Liar and his lover is on my plan list.
Have heard so many bad things about Blade and Petal…did you manage to watch the whole thing!
You are welcome!
Yup, I bought the Sandglass DVDs quite a while back but never got down to actually watching the drama. It’s pretty heavy in plot and I need to be in a mood for that stuff.
Oh gosh, Blade and Petal – such an ambitious project by the PD but unfortunately they run out of time and continuous bad weather combined with live shoot just killed it. I did watch the whole thing but with gritted teeth and plenty of eye rolling. LOL!