AUSPICIOUSLY SUPERFLUOUS
After the death of her parents and her young sister’s car accident, Shim Bo Nui (Hwang Jung Eum) has become incredibly superstitious as she believes that the misfortunes that befall on her and the people she loves is because of her. Her fortune-teller advises that if she doesn’t sleep with a man who was born in the year of the Tiger soon, her comatose sister will die.
She meets Je Soo Ho (Ryu Joon Yeol), the nerd genius and CEO of a game company who only believes in logic and reasoning. After the failure of his last project, Soo Ho desperately needs a new game to develop for his company and ends up hiring Bo Nui. Although Soo Ho finds it difficult to understand Bo Nui’s quirks at first, he begins to open and accept her and she learns to rely on something more than her superstitious charms.
Sweetpea – 진심을 너에게 (From the Heart to You)
What a weirdly coincidental follow-up drama Ryu Joon Yeol decided to do following the success of Answer Me 1988. Despite the so-called Reply series curse, I really do believe that this curse tends to follow the actresses more than the actors. And yet, I was cautious when deciding to watch this project as not only Ryu Joon Yeol, but Hwang Jung Eum as well, had previous projects that were a hit with the ratings. At the same time this drama was airing, I had given up watching Entertainer, with Ji Sung and Lee Hye Ri, because I found serious flaws with the drama early on that would have irritated me the more I kept on watching.
Still, the thing I liked about this drama was that it had a plot and arc that was easy to follow. There wasn’t anything about this drama that exceeded my expectations of it as it was quite formulaic but it didn’t disappoint where I lost interest in the characters or the development of the plot. Most importantly, the drama was just entertaining enough to keep me tuning in.
I quite enjoyed the development of the OTP’s love story as one character is logical, and the other character is spiritual. It’s that tried-and-true formula of opposites attract and I think our appeal for characters who are from different walks of life never goes away. Ryu Joon Yeol and Hwang Jung Eum’s ability as actors who deliver quick witty, sometimes long, dialogues and yet not lose focus of the emotions they need to deliver is what works as the OTP of romcoms.
As for the comedy, I do think the two leads are both great in that Hwang Jung Eum brings out some slapstick comedy while Ryu Joon Yeol is better at the dry wit.
However, I think they were aided by some great supporting cast members, such as Jung Sang Hoon and Lee Cho Hee. As Han Ryang Ha (Jung Sang Hoon) and Lee Dal Nim (Lee Cho Hee), I love the cat and mouse dynamic they would play with each other. It was especially delightful to watch these two in the drama when our main OTP angst-filled separation brings a damper to the episodes as a whole. If the angsty portion of the drama wasn’t so formulaic, I would have gotten more out of their story instead of zoning out.
As for the other supporting cast members, I don’t know why we don’t get more of Lee Chung Ah in more lighthearted dramas. The last time I saw her in a romcom was Flower Boys Ramyun Shop and while I found that drama underwhelming and uncomfortable, I do recognize that Lee Chung Ah has great comic delivery.
As for Lee Soo Hyuk, I don’t mind seeing him in more serious projects and I seriously think he can give the vampire character one more try because he seriously rocks the undead look. Having said that, I really do think he will be great as a romcom lead. I’m tired of suffering from Second Lead Syndrome whenever I see him.
Lucky Romance is an easy drama to watch. I wouldn’t be knocking down doors to watch this drama but it came right around the time when I was just looking for something fun and mindless. It may not be the best drama that 2016 has had to offer but it’s funny, entertaining and the cast and its characters are likeable.
Rating
Musings of a Chunkeemonkeeato 