Short but sweet. Those three words describe Her Lovely Heels, perfectly. It’s a delightful story about Ji-Hoo and Tae-Soo, two people who find love in an unlikely place – a shoe store.
A big sign outside a shoe store announces a 50% off sale – way too tempting for Ji-Hoo and her friend to pass up. But it’s not a pair of shoes Ji-Hoo falls in love with, it’s the guy who helps her try on, and buy, her first pair of high heels. But when Ji-Hoo goes back to the store a few days later, hoping to see her Prince Charming, he’s nowhere to be found.
When she runs into him, once again, it’s in a place where he won’t be disappearing – he’s the new assistant manager on her team at work. Unfortunately, Ji-Hoo hears rumors circulating throughout the company about how Tae-Soo, the man she likes, is dating the beautiful and sophisticated manager of the team, Lim Hanna. Will Ji-Hoo have the courage to make the first move and confess to Tae-Soo how she feels about him or will she just continue to love him from afar?
The story and characters seemed very genuine. It wasn’t far-fetched at all which made it very easy for me to care about the people in the show.
Han Seung-Yeon is Jin-Hoo, a sweet, 23 year old gal with a sympathetic nature. She was hurt in a past relationship so she’s decided to be a bit more cautious going into anything new. Does she care for Tae-Soo enough to take a chance again on love, even though she may end up with a broken heart?
Hong Jong-Hyun plays Tae-Soo, a 28 year old, level-headed market researcher who has no desire to have a serious relationship with any girl from the office. He believes the right girl will appear when it’s time for him to get married. He’s close with Manager Lim, having been around her for many years. Since she was friends with his older sister he thinks of himself as her little brother.
Jung Ka-Eun is Lim Hanna, a career woman in her early 30s who feels the pressure of not being married, yet. Because she has known Tae-Soo for so long she decides he would make a good husband – she may not be in love with him but he’s a great guy and at least she’d be marrying someone she likes.
Yoon Jong-Hoon plays the part of Choi Yeon-Ho, a guy from Jin-Hoo’s past – the one who broke her heart. He left her for another woman but, after accidentally running into her again, he’s come to the realization that was a mistake and he’s hopeful a sincere apology will win her back.
There’s not much to the soundtrack but what they have is very nice. Should I Love Alone and Can You Love are two songs whose titles really fit what Jin-Hoo must have had running around in her head. The scenery isn’t spectacular, it’s practical. It pretty much sticks to the inside of their office, restaurants, apartments… kind of what the scenery of an average person’s life is like.
Her Lovely Heels is a webdrama based on the webtoon of the same name, written by Park Yoon-Young. I’m not familiar, at all, with the story so I don’t know how well the drama sticks to the original version. My guess is it’s pretty close since the same guy wrote both the webtoon and the drama.
This webdrama’s just ten episodes long with each one only lasting about 13 minutes each. In other words, it’s about as long as a feature length film. But this show is much better than a lot of movies I’ve seen. The story is such that if they had tried to make it longer they would have had to introduce more conflict or evil characters and that would have ruined the whole thing. The short length is perfect for this story.
In Korea, there’s a superstition that if your lover buys you a pair of shoes, you’ll eventually break up. I guess shoes are a symbol of walking away from a person. Well, in this romantic story it’s shoes that bring the two together. I like how the author put a positive spin on that old, negative tradition.
Her Lovely Heels probably isn’t a webdrama you’ve heard a lot of people mention, however, it’s worthy of your time and is quite enjoyable every STEP of the way.
Score: 7.5
The Good:
Realistic storyline and characters
Very good writing
The relationship between Jin-Hoo and Tae-Soo
Excellent ending
No evil people
The Bad:
I don’t really think there is any
Heart and Seoul 