Actor Bae Jeong-nam, who struggled with pet loss syndrome after sending off his companion dog, projected a powerful presence with an extraordinary ability to pull off unique concepts.
In the fifth episode of the tvN Monday-Tuesday drama Spring Fever, which aired on the 19th, Bae Jeong-nam played teacher Jeong Jin-hyeok, who served as a referee and event staff at Sinsu High School's sports day, delivering a comical laugh by presenting an outrageous "TPO(Time, Place, Occasion) obsession" of changing outfits to match each event.
Bae Jeong-nam made a strong impression from his first appearance. In the relay race he was fully outfitted with a green jacket, black pants, a white ball cap and a starter pistol; he puffed on the muzzle with a "whoo" and appeared grimly like the hero of a noir film. Even though it was a school sports day, his shameless acting that maintained a strict "referee mode" reminiscent of an Olympic final captured attention from the start of the episode.
In the tug-of-war that followed, he drew attention by appearing in a red full-body suit that evoked the event staff of Squid Game Season. He blew the whistle vigorously and waved flags throughout the match, showing an overinvolvement in the events, which firmly imprinted the quirky character traits unique to Jeong Jin-hyeok, who takes the sports day seriously.
The peak of the transformations came in the final event, popping the top of the drum. Bae Jeong-nam, dressed as the shabby folk character Heungbu in a tattered hanbok and holding a jing, adorned the start and finish of the match by striking the jing with a rustic posture. It was a moment that highlighted Bae Jeong-nam's distinctive expressiveness, able to digest any eccentric concept with his own personality.
In this way, Bae Jeong-nam went beyond simply changing clothes and enriched the drama's entertainment with detailed settings that altered his speech and behavior according to the costume. With unpredictable visuals at every moment and tireless, physical performances, he has been serving as a "laughter cheat key," and attention is focused on what image he will use next to make viewers laugh.
Meanwhile, the drama Spring Fever, in which Bae Jeong-nam appears, airs on tvN every Monday and Tuesday at 8:50 p.m.
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