Jung Woo makes his own way in new Mental Coach Jegal teaser

by missvictrix

All it takes is a wacky teaser to get my drama radar up, and tvN’s upcoming drama Mental Coach Jegal (previously Mental Coach Je Gal-gil) does just that. Promotion for the healing sports drama is in full swing, with the premiere a month away, and a desperate need in dramaland for something funny and uplifting.

The basic story is that our hero Jung Woo (Mad for Each Other) — the eponymous Je Gal-gil — was once a national taekwondo athlete. Now, after a fall from grace, he is offered the position of a mental coach for other struggling athletes. The new press stills show Gal-gil both in his athlete glory and later as a seemingly successful coach. I’m not sure whether we’ll see his initial fall from grace (and the national team) real-time or via flashback, but either way it sounds like the best elements of Mad for Each Other in an entirely new setting.

The story’s heroine is played by Lee Yumi (All of Us Are Dead), who plays ice princess and short track gold medalist Cha Ga-eul. But she winds up needing coaching through a rough spot in her life/career, and that seems like the point where our characters intersect. And, providing there isn’t a romance shoe-horned in here between the two (don’t even think about it, Show!), this has all the markings of a wonderful platonic and healing relationship.

[embedded content]

In the new teaser, we see Jung Woo doing what he does best: being lovable and hilarious. Seriously, you can’t watch this and not love him. The concept is simple enough. His character hobbles over to a fence that’s got a big NO ENTRY sign on it, with some added scribble that there’s no road ahead. But our hero doesn’t accept that, and attacks the fence (hilariously), thus making his own path. It’s a fun intersection of physical comedy and metaphor, because that’s what the theme of the drama promises to be. The text screens in the teaser match the tagline on the latest poster: “I choose the pace and direction of my own life.” I think I love this show already!

Written by Kim Ban-di (Special Labor Inspector Jo, Angry Mom) and directed by Sohn Jung-hyun (Should We Kiss First), the drama has fixed a premiere date for September 12, in tvN’s Monday-Tuesday slot.