[HanCinema's Drama Review] "Romance in the House" Episode 1

With opening ratings of 4.786%, "Romance in the House" starts in an unexpectedly strong position given the obscurity of its premise. Mi-rae (played by Son Na-eun) isn't even billed as the actual lead, even if by all appearances as of the first episode, Mi-rae is, in fact, the main character. Mi-rae manages the rice cakes at a supermarket, an office job, despite what that description makes it sound like. Her boss, Chi-yeol (played by Jung Woong-in) is unpleasant, but still appreciates work well-done.

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"Romance in the House" also makes a fairly amusing effort to avoid having Mi-rae interact too much with her love interest, security guard Tae-pyeong (played by Choi Minho). Despite first meeting Tae-pyeong in an outrageously blatant meet cute sort of situation, Mi-rae does her best to ignore him for most of the rest of runtime. The effect is more charming than you might think- the elevator scene in particular stands out as being the kind of thing that might happen to real people who aren't aware of the fact that they're characters in a romantic comedy.

The Korean title literally reads as Family X Melo, and "Romance in the House" oftentimes acts as if it's supposed to be a parody, or maybe just a pastiche, of these particular genres. Mi-rae lives with her mom, Ae-yeon (played by Kim Ji-soo) and her younger brother Hyeon-jae (played by Yoon San-ha). The older woman takes on a sense of responsibility and the younger man less so, with Mi-rae the explicit breadwinner.

The main conflict arises from a fire at the building where they live, and the ensuing disputes over property ownership. Weirdly enough, more than any family or melo genres, "Romance in the House" most reminded me of "Vincenzo" in that the perspective is flipped around. Instead of sympathizing with the mysterious, well-dressed, sinister figure, it's the various eccentrics at the household who the viewer is expected to identify with.

Put that way, "Let's Eat" might be the best comparison- specifically the first season, which managed to be ambiguous for a surprisingly long time about whether Yoon Doo-joon was supposed be the love interest or a serial killer. Moo-jin (played by Ji Jin-hee) occupies a similar role here, although I can't really get into why without spoiling the plot twist of this episode. A lot of the mystery, weirdly enough, is just about what the mystery is even supposed to be.

Written by William Schwartz