Choi Ji-woo returns with legal-romance drama

Actress Choi Ji-woo, second from right, stands with other cast members of the MBC’s new legal romance drama “Woman with a Suitcase,” during a press conference at MBC headquarters, western Seoul, Thursday.

By Park Jin-hai

Actress Choi Ji-woo, the iconic “Winter Sonata” heroine who stirred the first K-drama craze in Asia in the early 2000s, has returned to the small screen in a legal romance drama on MBC.

In “Woman with a Suitcase,” which will premiere tonight and airs Monday and Tuesday, Choi plays a successful career woman Cha Geum-joo, a manager at an attorney’s office, whose life goes into free-fall after she is framed and serves time in prison.

Written by Kwon Eum-mi, who previously wrote the romance drama “Royal Family” (2011) and crime thriller “Gap-dong” (2014), the new drama tells the story of Cha rising again to realize her dreams.

“I really wanted to play a bright but tough character,” said the actress during a press conference at MBC headquarters, western Seoul, Thursday. “There’s a combination of romance and mystery. I understood my character as a person who acts kind of silly sometimes, but is lovely. It was a little complex to depict her, but I did my best to portray her as an attractive person.”

Unlike other legal dramas, “Woman with a Suitcase” will be lighter, spending more time out of the court. Instead of focusing on trials, the MBC drama will concentrate on the legal staff and other elements such as rampant social networking, websites-based rumor mills and paparazzi media.

Kwon said she wanted to that show the perspective that those who don’t have “licenses” can do a better job than the licensed. “I thought that a legal drama shedding light on the ordinary people inside the legal circle, rather than lawyers, would be different and new,” said Kwon. “I wanted to show that those unlicensed professionals can do better than those licensed lawyers and I also wanted to raise the question of whether those license–holders are doing their duty correctly.”

Choi’s love interest will be played by Joo Jin-mo, who takes on the role of paparazzi news agency K-fact’s chief Ham Bok-geo. “As an outsider, my role is to reflect the voices of the viewers each episode I appear in and to deliver punch lines.”

Asked about the difference from the recently ended tvN’s legal drama “The Good Wife,” a Korean adaptation of the popular CBS series with the same name that starred Cannes-winning actress Jeon Do-yeon and was directed by Kang Dae-sun, Kwon said that apart from the courtroom set, the new drama shares almost nothing.

“Our main sets are the public seating area in the courtroom and outside the court, since the protagonist runs to investigate outside. In terms of mood, if The Good Wife has been painted in a calm manner, ours will be more light and cheerful,” she said.