Romance, revenge, and ambition in Sponsor with Lee Ji-hoon

by missvictrix

After some behind the scenes kerfuffles and a rejigging of the original broadcast plan, Sponsor (previously Desire) has finally gotten an air date — and it looks like a cracktastic ride. The romance-thriller melo is set to premiere on February 23 and will now air jointly on MBN and IHQ — the networks stated that they hope their combined and unique audiences will bring more attention to a drama that deserves a bigger viewership.

To amp up some buzz before the premiere, the drama has released some teaser keywords to give viewers a taste of the drama (literally) to come, and they include: ambition, revenge, adult romance, deep relationships, fatal charm, multifaceted pasts — and that’s not even all of them. The drama was already being compared to a Penthouse-style story, so those keywords are the icing on the cake.

Sponsor centers on four characters whose stories and ambitions are noted as being intertwined and twisty. Lee Ji-hoon plays a warm and ambitious photographer who hides a deep thirst for revenge due to his tragic past. Han Chae-young plays a CEO who’s beautiful and successful, but still wants more. Gu Ja-sung plays an aspiring fashion model, and he’s married to rising star Ji Yi-soo, who struggles to balance motherhood and her career.

An additional keyword not listed above is basically “runaway train,” and it describes all four of our characters’ greed and desire… and what’s the good of a runaway train metaphor without the resulting train wreck, right? The wreck promises to be a tangle of these four characters, their intrigues, affairs, and even — whomp — the sponsors that help them achieve their aims. In the case of melos like this, the “go hard or go home” approach seems to work best — rather than settling in a safe middle ground, the crazier the better. So bring on the train wreck! Posters, stills, and a teaser below for your enjoyment.

Directed by Kwak Ki-won (It’s My Life, Still Loving You) and written by Park Kye-hyung (It’s My Life), Sponsor premieres in its Wednesday-Thursday slot on February 23.