This week’s premieres are in different genres but are both centered around romance. Whether it’s a missed connection, or an attraction that manages to feel both wrong and right, our characters have an uphill battle ahead of them to achieve a lasting love.
People With Flaws
Time slot: Wednesday & Thursday
Broadcaster: MBC
Genre: Rom-com
Episode count: 32 episodes (35 minute episodes)
Reasons to watch: The drama follows a colorful, quirky group of people with flaws as they flirt, fight, and fall in love. The main leads are played by Ahn Jae-hyun and Oh Yeon-seo and they two first meet at work; Oh Yeon-seo is a high school teacher and Ahn chairs the school’s board of directors. It’s basically hate at first sight for Oh Yeon-seo as Ahn slots into everything she dislikes in a man: he’s vain, full of himself, and the epitome of a flower boy. Ahn Jae-hyun is both aggravated and attracted to Oh Yeon-seo and the more time they spend together, the more they come to see that their preconceptions are standing in the way of their genuine feelings for each other. Complicating matters is the fact that Ahn Jae-hyun’s best friend, played by Goo-won, also has feelings for Oh Yeon-seo. Kim Seul-gi has a supporting role as Oh Yeon-seo’s best friend and she has her own complicated loveline with Ahn Jae-hyun’s other BFF, Heo Jung-min.
Chocolate
Time slot: Friday & Saturday
Broadcaster: JTBC
Genre: Melo, romance
Episode count: 16 episodes
Reasons to watch: Ha Ji-won and Yoon Kye-sang headline in this healing melo about a passionate chef and a neurologist whose gruff manner is a mask for inner softie. Their love story starts with a meal together as children in a small seaside village in Korea, and fate brings them together again as adults when they meet in Greece. But somewhere between their encounter in Greece and their next reunion in Korea at a hospice, they’ve become strangers to each other, with each person nursing deep emotional wounds. During their time apart, Yoon Kye-sang has become one of the resident neurologists at a hospice (along with his rival and cousin Jang Seung-jo) and Ha Ji-won happens to volunteer there as a chef. It’s thanks in part to cooking and food that Yoon and Ha reconnect, and as their bond grows deeper, they heal and fall in love.