[HanCinema's Drama Review] "Serendipity's Embrace" Episode 1

With "Lovely Runner" continuing to linger in the minds of its fans, "Serendipity's Embrace" premiered on tvN this past July 22nd with modest ratings of 3.877%. Of course, "Lovely Runner" itself was never a ratings behemoth, only topping out at 5.762% in its final episode. And "Serendipity's Embrace" is clearly aimed at a fairly similar audience. The webtoon adaptation eschews fantasy elements, with its more idle worldbuilding asking the simpler question- can love bloom from seeds planted ten years ago?

Advertisement

The question's a fairly corny one, but then, "Serendipity's Embrace" itself is of the last generation of South Korean romance genre writing, with the webtoon premiering in 2011. Our hero, Hoo-yeong (played by Chae Jong-hyeop) has spent most of his adult life overseas with some sort of investment firm. Yeah, that particular form of romantic lead is...not quite as popular now as it was at the beginning of the last decade. There's also some time displaced silliness involving his spotty cell phone coverage.

Anyway, our main introduction to Hoo-yeong is at a blind date. There, he was supposed to meet another South Korean mostly living overseas, but due to a comical mix-up, briefly encounters Hong-joo (played by Kim So-hyun) on a blind date of her own. Hoo-yeong recognizes Hong-joo immediately, but she needs a moment. This proves to be a humorous reversal of their high school life, where the aloof, unobservant Hoo-yeong does his best to avoid noticing Hong-joo despite her always contriving schemes that involve him in some incidental way.

Kim So-hyun is undeniably appealing as the female lead, expressing enthusiastic if occasionally scatterbrained energy that marks a welcome respite from the methodical lifestyle of her love interest. Chae Jong-hyeop, unfortunately, struggles in a role that was clearly not written with his particular talents in mind. Chae Jong-hyeop was excellent as the second male lead in "Nevertheless" a few years a back but the drama at large deconstructed the quiet, uncommunicative male archetype that "Serendipity's Embrace" spotlights with no apparent sense of irony.

"Serendipity's Embrace" is only going to be an eight episode drama so it might not be fair to give it especially high expectations. It's just in the awkward place of being an old-fashioned drama that was counter-intuitively greenlit to take advantage of modern nostalgia trends. Overall the story is actually quite cute, and even straightforward. Screenwriter Park Geu-ro isn't wasting any time making the characters play coy- the romance and the chemistry are already there.

Written by William Schwartz

___________

"Serendipity's Embrace" is directed by Song Hyeon-wook, written by Park Geu-ro, and features Kim So-hyun, Chae Jong-hyeop, Yun Ji-on, Kim Dasom, Lee Won-jung, Hwang Sung-bin. Broadcasting information in Korea: 2024/07/22~Now airing, Mon, Tue 20:40 on TVING, tvN.

Serendipity's Embrace

HanCinema needs your immediate support 🙏

• It's currently impossible to keep HanCinema running as it is with advertising only
• Please subscribe and enjoy ad-free browsing

7 days free then US$1.99 a month (No streaming included)