Oh! Young-shim is definitely off to a good start with its old school K-drama vibes, the childhood nemesis turned love interest trope, and lots of humorous moments. It gets bonus points for its broadcast industry setting (which I love), so, ready or not, here we go!
EPISODES 1-2
Hello everyone, meet our eponymous heroine OH YOUNG-SHIM (Song Ha-yoon): a dogged variety show PD who just got her show cancelled. Again. But Young-shim will be damned if she allows a little thing like a show’s cancellation to put her job in jeopardy, so she literally snatches the next best option: the pilot script of a dating reality show no one else is interested in. It’s Young-shim against the network, but at least she’s got earnest hoobae LEE CHAE-DONG (Lee Min-jae) on her side, and he happily agrees to join her in producing the pilot episode of Arrows of Love.
Young-shim might be experienced in the production side of things, but she’s pretty inexperienced when it comes to the “dating” aspect, and she partially blames her inability to find a serious relationship prospect on her dad OH DAE-GWANG (Song Young-jae). Apparently, Dad used to be a cartoonist and she was the muse of his debut work. The Young-shim series was a success, and while the rest of the family was excited about paying off their mortgage, real-life Young-shim didn’t find it funny that embarrassing stories about her adolescence were broadcast throughout the country.
Fame comes at a price, and Young-shim believes that her animated alter ego is why no one takes her seriously even as an adult. But this hasn’t always been the case, as Young-shim had a serious admirer back then in middle school — although she ungraciously turned the poor boy down several times. After receiving a birthday present from him, Young-shim reluctantly agreed to return the favor, but he stood her up. She later learned that he had emigrated without a word to her, and to date, he remains persona non grata to Young-shim. But I’m sure there’s more to his quiet emigration than we know.
Moving on, Arrows of Love finalizes their six-member cast list, and the hottest name on the list is the mysterious billionaire CEO of a popular AI-powered clothing start-up, MARK WANG. Thanks to bribery Young-shim’s younger sister OH SOON-SHIM (Gayoung), a new employee at the startup, Young-shim gets the CEO’s email address and sends the casting offer — even though the team isn’t sure they’ll get a favorable response because Mark Wang is infamous for turning down TV appearances. By the way, who is this mysterious CEO? I’m glad you asked. He is none other than WANG KYUNG-TAE (Donghae), Young-shim’s admirer from back then. Ha!
Sure enough, Kyung-tae recognizes Young-shim’s name from her email, and he agrees to go on the show. And with Mark Wang and her best friend (and popular relationship YouTuber) GOO WOL-SOOK (Jung Woo-yeon) agreeing to star on Arrows of Love, Young-shim is fully confident that the show will be a hit. But even if the three of them were once classmates, is it a good idea for a backstabbing friend — as Soon-shim describes Wol-sook — to get entangled with the female lead’s love interest on a dating show?
Anyway, when Young-shim and Kyung-tae finally meet in person on the day of the shoot, Young-shim can hardly believe that Mark Wang is Wang Kyung-tae. And while her instincts (and Wol-sook) tell her that they’re the same person, she cannot reconcile the “snot-faced midget” she used to know with the successful CEO in front of her. It also doesn’t help that Kyung-tae pretends to not know her. Ouch!
Arrows of Love is clearly off to a rough start for Young-shim, and it gets worse when one of the three female participants gets into an accident on her way to the studio. Unfortunately, there’s no time to cast someone else, so Young-shim has to fill in the spot. The full-day shoot is a rollercoaster of activities that feature the cast going on three different dates with each other. And things go from worse to worse after PD/participant Young-shim — who can’t handle spicy food — polishes off a large bowl of tteokbokki in a bid to extend screen time on her date with the first guy, and then falls into the river on her date with the second one. LMAO! Poor Young-shim, all she wanted to do was throw up.
Her final date is with Kyung-tae, and as I expected, he wins their karaoke contest. The winner gets a wish, and Kyung-tae makes her buy him an older model of headphones. Young-shim wonders why he doesn’t want a newer one, but as Kyung-tae tells her, “A person who doesn’t cherish other people’s feelings won’t understand.”
And via a flashback, we see that Kyung-tae gifted Young-shim the same model of headphones (engraved with her initials) for her birthday back then, only to see the headphones with another boy later on. Aha! I knew there was a reason Kyung-tae emigrated without telling Young-shim. And I can almost bet that there’s an explanation for why the other boy had those headphones.
But Kyung-tae is not the only one holding a grudge from the past, because as Young-shim reminds him, breaking promises without a word is the same as not cherishing other people’s feelings. And with their grudges now out in the open, Kyung-tae confirms to Young-shim that he’s indeed the boy she used to know.
We wrap up for the week with the Arrows of Love team returning to the studio, where the participants (figuratively) shoot their arrows of love at their preferred dates. Wol-sook and the third lady are struck with an arrow each from the other two guys, while Kyung-tae is pierced with arrows from all three ladies. (It must be nice to be so rich and handsome, heh.) In turn, a sly Kyung-tae shoots his arrow at Wol-sook, leaving Young-shim with zero flesh wounds. Burn! On her own show! Double burn!!
Nah, Kyung-tae is spiteful, but Young-shim definitely had it coming. Don’t get me wrong, I like Young-shim. She’s resilient, doesn’t take no for an answer, and is quick on her feet. But her brand of tenacity most likely developed from her brusque nature as a child, and I wonder how she thought that Kyung-tae was going to play nice and forget how nasty she was to him. She could have been nicer when she turned down his advances, but no. She had to belittle him to the extent that he still has PTSD from everything that reminds him of Young-shim: from spicy pork cutlets to the lyrics of the Young-shim animation theme song. Lol.
Speaking of the Young-shim animation, I don’t know how to feel about Young-shim’s dad using her as a case study without her permission. But whatever her misgivings about the cartoon were, Young-shim maintains a great relationship with her family and if she has come to terms with it, I guess I can, too. The cartoon is probably what got her interested in the broadcasting industry in the first place, and being the “star” of a hit show definitely comes in handy while on the job.
I chuckled when a desperate-for-screen-time Young-shim began to serenade her date with the Young-shim theme song, unprovoked — after complaining to her dad that everyone she meets asks her to sing the song. Lol. Her serenade was an epic fail, obviously, but not to Chae-dong and his admiring eyes behind the camera. He’s totally whipped for her, but in typical female lead fashion, she doesn’t see it.
Chae-dong is such a cutie and I lol-ed so hard when he jumped into the river to save Young-shim and she ended up saving him because the dude and I share something in common: we cannot swim! Heh. Lee Min-jae plays earnest puppy so well, and for someone who almost never allows herself to get caught up in second lead syndrome, I can already see myself marching straight into that trap. Chae-dong-ah, I’m right here. I’m whipped for youuuu!
Overall, the drama gives off pretty basic vibes. There are no high stakes in sight, and that’s not such a bad thing. For this show, I’m not expecting anything too serious. Give me fun and hearty laughter, warm family moments, broadcasting shenanigans, and cheesy romance, and I’ll gladly tune in for the next four weeks.