As I was watching Discovery of Romance I kept thinking, “This has the feel of the I Need Romance Kdramas I love.” Finally, after it was all over, I checked to see who the writer was and as soon as I saw the name I said, “I knew it!” It was the same person that wrote I Need Romance 1, 2, and 3. Am I good or what?
So, let’s talk about the story… It’s a love triangle. Kang Tae-Ha and Han Yeo-Reum had been in a serious relationship for five years but she became disappointed, feeling that she was taking a back seat to many other things in his life, and broke up with him. The announcement surprised and hurt him deeply but, what can you do? He forced himself to go on with his life. Yeo-Reum also went on with hers and met Nam Hae-Jin, a sweet plastic surgeon. He’s head-over-heels in love with her, putting her feelings first at all times and in all situations. Quite a bit of time goes by without any contact between Tae-Ha and Yeo-Reum and then, boom, they meet again and begin working with each other. Since Tae-Ha wasn’t the one who broke things off, he’s still very much in love with Yeo-Reum and that begins to cause problems in her and Hae-Jin’s relationship. In the midst of all this, her old feelings begin to kindle for Tae-Ha. So, we have three people involved, but a “couple” is only two, so who does she choose or do they both tell that indecisive girl to get lost?
The writer does an excellent job in keeping us guessing. Something will happen that makes us believe she’ll choose Tae-Ha and then something else happens that makes us think it will be Hae-Jin and then we go back to thinking it just might be Tae-Ha after all but then we think we may have guessed wrong and she’ll pick Hae-Jin. It goes back and forth like that through all 16 episodes. No kidding. It might sound monotonous, but it’s not.
I enjoy shows like Discovery of Romance because the only obstacle the characters have to go through is themselves, the consequences of their own choices. No bad guys and nothing evil or illegal going on – just life. The characters are all likable and I found my feelings flip-flopping through the whole thing. I knew from the beginning who I wanted her to end up with but I kept wondering if that was who the WRITER wanted her to be with. I told myself I’d be okay if she chose the other guy but I’m not sure I was being honest. I think I would have been disappointed if it had ended any other way, though.
When the show begins Yeo-Reum and Hae-Jin are together. The writer chose to let us know about Tae-Ha and Yeo-Reum’s five year relationship through the means of flashbacks, their memories of it all, so the audience learns about them little bits at a time. It’s not just written in a straight timeline. Another interesting thing is that the characters talk to the camera – to us. It bothered me at first but then I settled into the feeling and later found out WHY it was written that way. Clever.
I really enjoyed Jung Yu-Mi in I Need Romance 2. She’s a fine actress with a wide-eyed smile and a heartbreaking frown. It’s amazing that she has great chemistry with both leading men. And she manages to make the audience believe Yeo-Reum really is in love with both guys at the same time. That’s good acting.
Sung Joon is handsome but also has a teenage boy look at times. I think that’s just him in real life because I’ve observed the same thing in other roles he’s played. That personality trait fits well with his character in this drama. I’ve seen him in six of the nine Kdramas he’s been in and loved him in all of them. Since he started his acting career as a model, not a singer, I was surprised to hear him sing Love Is Smiling from the Kdrama I Need Romance 3, which he starred in. You can find the song on YouTube. It’s a beautiful love song and his voice is quite good.
I first saw Eric in Que Sera Sera. I liked him, however, I didn’t like the drama. It was far too depressing for me. But, he’s also the male lead in Spy Mung-Wol, which I truly enjoyed. Handsome Eric is Korean-American and grew up in California. I wonder when the Korean film industry will realize that, capitalize on it and cast him in roles where he can use the English he knows. That would be fun to see. He’s a wonderful actor and I loved watching him in this show.
Okay, see if you can follow this – the three main actors in Discovery of Romance are Jung Yu-Mi, Sung Joon, and Eric. Listen to how they all tie together… both Jung Yu-Mi and Sung Joon were in an I Need Romance drama (Jung Yu-Mi was the lead actress in I Need Romance 2 and Sung Joon was the main actor in I Need Romance 3) and Jung Yu-Mi and Eric were the leads in Que Sara Sara. I’ll bet they all worked together well in this drama.
I enjoyed the music. Nothing special stood out, it’s just a nice soundtrack. And the setting was the same way, nothing special but nice. The outside shots were pretty – ocean, mountain, field…
I really zipped through this Kdrama. The 16 episodes (hours) just flew by. If you enjoy romance dramas you can’t miss Discovery of Romance. It’s right up there with the best of them.
Score: 7.5
The Good:
Storyline/plot
Writing
Jung Yu-Mi, Sung Joon, and Eric (and their acting)
Chemistry between the three main leads
Directing
The Bad:
Nothing really comes to mind
Heart and Seoul 