The new rom-com from TVING takes a satirical look at both Cinderella stories and tried-and-true K-drama tropes. It’s wacky, brash, a little off-color, and aiming to speak straight to the hearts of the downtrodden masses, whether looking for love or just a j-o-b. While the setup had me worried, the crass chemistry between the leads had me laughing out loud and looking forward to more.
EPISODES 1-2
I didn’t know what to expect, and the first episode started to scare me off with its on-screen graphics, over-the-top humor, and sloppy handling of the heroine’s step-family. But by the time our leads met at the end of Episode 1, I saw a spark that sent me reeling into the next chapter of this modern romance.
The drama is structured like an old-school fairy tale book, with a third-person narrator that tells us what our heroine and hero are thinking and also speaks directly to the audience to lay out the morals of the story — and sometimes the jokes. We’re warned at the beginning that this is not a tale for kids, but “kidults.” And the narrator never fails to jab at contemporary society when linking together “poor Cinderella” with, say, the current cost of rent in Seoul.
The aim is to draw us in and put us right in the fancy slippers of our heroine, SHIN JAE-RIM (Pyo Ye-jin) — who’s flawed, funny, broke, and trying to figure out her next steps in life. You see, her DAD (Ryu Seung-soo) has just passed away (she can’t not be an orphan), leaving her to live with her step-mother, HWANG SO-RA (Baek Joo-hee), and two step-sisters.
So-ra and the step-sibs aren’t as awful as we might expect. In fact, they seem kind of like a regular crazy family, but Jae-rim never felt like she fit in. And with Dad gone, and the mountain of debt he left her in, she realizes it’s time to break out on her own. But, you know, that takes money.
What’s a heroine to do when she has no work experience, comes from a poor family, and lacks the right connections? Dream of a freakin’ fairy tale, of course! And that means setting her sights on marriage. If the hand you’re dealt in life is only based on luck in the beginning, her friend tells her, then the second phase is all about making the right choices. So, next goal: get a rich husband.
At first, Jae-rim isn’t so sure. But it was her father’s dying wish that she turn herself into a Cinderella so that she can lead a better life (which kind of pisses her off, since it means he thinks she can’t succeed on her own). Still, after some thought — and realizing that the option are few — she gets fully onboard with the idea.
Enter our Prince Charming Cha-min — no, really, that’s his name: MOON CHA-MIN (Lee Jun-young). And he’s an 8th generation chaebol (LOL enter also the rom-com satire). And if you think third-gen chaebols are frivolous, wait until you get a load of this guy. Who cares if he’s the CEO and the business is bleeding money. Can’t we all just follow our joy?
Cha-min is notoriously single. And it’s not just that he loves himself enough to not need anyone else to love him. It’s also that pretty women just look like stones to him. Literally. When the camera shifts to a pretty face, we see her turn into a piece of rock. Also, as a chaebol, he’s got trauma. That’s right, when he was a child he messed up a fingernail on some broken glass, and it never grew back properly. HAHA. (Okay, this just got funny.)
The quintessential meet-cute occurs on a staircase at Chungdam Heaven (that would be the conglomerate that Cha-min runs). Jae-rim is headed up the stairs in her best outfit, all dolled up for an interview, where she plans to get a job, meet a rich man, and live out her Cinderella dreams. Except, one shoe flies off, ricochets down the steps, and hits Cha-min smack in the head.
Jae-rim — all in fairy-tale fantasyland in her head — thinks she’s already hit her lucky draw. But Cha-min picks up the shoe and threatens to sue her for attempted murder. He assumes she did it on purpose because she’s after his money, but she actually has no idea who he is. She thinks to herself, “This guy is crazy. I shouldn’t get involved.” (Oh honey, famous last words.)
When he won’t hand over her shoe, the real Jae-rim comes out. She pushes him, he falls backward, and she catches him around the waist in a classic K-drama trope — but with the roles reversed. She looks fierce. He looks terrified. And the narrator tells us a new kind of magic is starting.
Little do either of them know that Jae-rim’s interview is scheduled with the CEO. So, things aren’t off to a good start — and they only go downhill. Cha-min doesn’t want to hire her because of the shoe mishap and Jae-rim thinks she’s got nothing to lose so she curses him loudly and confidently. Why should he live a great life when she isn’t?!
Later, Cha-min can’t stop thinking of the way she caught him around the waist or yelled in his face (notably, she did not turn into a stone). And alone in his room, he’s imagining her in a short skirt, chasing him around and jumping on the bed. He’s falling for her all right, and he just can’t get her off his mind.
Long story short, she’s got the job. He wants to see her again (not just in his thoughts) and she’s ecstatic that she’s employed. The problem at first is that, as a new hire, she changes her attitude to be cutesy and on call — but he liked her better before. And when he hears that her goal in life is to be Cinderella, he’s disappointed. She’s just like every other woman after all, and he hates opportunists.
For some reason that I’m not totally sure of, they end up in a series of showdowns to sort out her work contract. There’s a staring contest, arm wrestling, and of course a drinking competition — where Jae-rim drinks him under the table (or, in the words of the narrator, becomes a “blackhole”). Cha-min takes two sips and spews graphically altered vomit across the park where they’ve come to carry out these games. And in the end, Jae-min gets a permanent position.
In what amounts to a deep conversation for these two, Cha-min wants to know her goals once she’s reached her fairy-tale dream. She says that she’ll be happy just giving and receiving love. He says he doesn’t believe in abstract goals — it’s the perfect target for scammers (haha and this is the moment he won me over). But she counters, “Oh, you’ve never been in love, have you?” It’s true, but he shakes it off. He doesn’t need to get married since he loves himself enough.
After all the alcohol consumption, Jae-rim needs to pee. Like bad. No, like, really, really — I can’t even walk or standup — bad. But there’s no bathroom at the park. So, after a satirical scene where she dramatically yells to just leave her there and he yells back that he can’t leave someone in crisis (with church-y music playing overtop), he ends up carrying her. And our girl thinks: “Does this mean we’re compatible?” (Hahahaha. I cannot stop laughing.)
On the other side, our Prince Cha-min says out loud, “If you pee on me, I’ll kill you.” (LOL.) And Jae-rim responds, “Oppa, hurry!” Which of course makes him think she’s delirious. But, maybe she’s just living out her K-drama dreams? The tone here is so perfect — comical and cynical in just the right measure.
He gets her to a public restroom and waits outside. When she’s done, she thinks about him carrying her, sweat dripping off him, and she’s suddenly sold. She goes back outside to act aegyo (which doesn’t work on him) when some chick shows up and calls out, “Honey!” They look, and the woman is headed straight for our hero — who she says is her fiancé.
Jae-rim is incensed. He doesn’t want to get married but he’s engaged? “Why did he lie to me? Is he a bad guy?” Uh-oh. And let the drama begin! (In both senses of the word).
Well, the second episode really sucked me in. Not every single comedy bit hits right, but the ones that do are spit-out-your-soda funny. I love the satire of both Cinderella and of K-drama rom-coms, but even more I love the leads’ interactions. They’re both brazen and neither one is trying too hard to impress the other — at least not in a real way. And even if/when they do try, something happens to turn them back into their vomiting, peeing, cursing, sweating selves.
I hope we continue down this road of reality-based fairy tale characters just being a funny mismatch that kind of talks over each other and cancels each other out. (That is, until they don’t.) I’m not so taken with any of the side characters, so I’d like them to remain on the side. But the leads are so fresh — and yet so familiar — that I can’t help but smile to think of what might come next.