Title: 운빨로맨스 | Unppal Romaenseu | Lucky Romance
Genre: Romance | Comedy | Drama
Episodes: 16
Broadcast Network: MBC
Broadcast Period: May 25, 2016 to July 14, 2016

Synopsis:

Shim Bo-Nui is a beautiful young woman and a smart computer programmer yet she believes she’s unlucky. She thinks because of her the people who love and around her will suffer because of her. Such as her parents died in a car wreck when she was young buying a concert ticket for her. While her sister became comatose in an accident as well because she didn’t meet her on time. So, Shim Bo-Nui became very superstitious and ends up living alone doing odd jobs to sustain her sister’s life in the hospital. One day, she met a shaman who told her that she needs to sleep with a man born in the year of the Tiger to prevent her sister to totally succumbed to her death. In her search, she found Je Soo-Ho, born in the year of the tiger, a genius and the owner of Zeze Corporation that develops computer games. He has difficulty of directly relating to people, thus, it is difficult for him to understand his feelings for Shim Bo-Nui. Moreover, not only he may have to compete with Gary Choi, who’s also in love with Shim Bo-Nui, a world champion tennis player and Shim Bo-Nui’s childhood friend, but Je Soo-Ho may face to lose everything he has even if he may win her heart for Shim Bo-Nui’s unlucky fate may cost him more than he bargained for.

Characters:

• Hwang Jung-Eum as Shim Bo-Nui
• Ryu Jun-Yeol as Je Soo-Ho
• Lee Soo-Hyuk as Choi Geon-Wook | Gary Choi
• Lee Chung-Ah as Han Seol-Hee | Amy Han
• Kim Ji-Min as Shim Bo-Ra
• Kim Jong-goo as Goo Shin
• Kim Sang-Ho as Won Dae-Hae
• Jung Sang-Hoon as Han Ryang-Ha
• Gi Ju-Bong as Je Mool-Po
• Na Young-Hee as Yang Hee-Ae
• Jung In-Gi as Ahn Young-Il
• Jo Young-Jin as Choi Ho
• Kim Bo-Min as Younger Bo-Ra
• Lee Ye-Seon as the Child Bo-Nui
• Park Seo-Yeon as Younger Bo-Nui
• Gil Jeong-Woo as the Child Soo-Ho
• Seol Woo-Hyung as Younger Soo-Ho
• Hong Dong-Young as Younger Geon-Wook
• Lee Cho-Hee as Lee Dal-Nim
• Jung Young-Gi as Song Dae-Gwon
• Yoon Bong-Gil as Lee Hyun-Bin
• Jin Hyuk as Ryu Ji-Hoon
• Cha Se-Young as Ga Seung-Hyun
• Kwon Hyuk-Soo as Jo Yoon-Bal
• Jo Seon-Mook
• Song Kyung-Hwa
• Jo Shi-Nae
• Baek Ji-Won
• Oh Hee-Joon
• Kim Young-Hee
• Ray Yang
• Park Sung-Kwang
• Heo Kyung-Hwan

My Review:

As a romcom gal the first thing that interests me to check out a K-Drama is, of course, the pull of the yumminess of the actor/s. I must admit Ryu Jun-Yeol doesn’t do anything for me neither do Lee Soo-Hyuk. So, it took me by surprise that I totally got hooked with this drama and engaged me to watch it even if half of the time I wish the lead actor is Song Joong-Ki or Kwon Sang-Woo. Ryu Jun-Yeol does fit to the idea of a nerd and this actor can definitely act. He made me like his character and feel a certain kinship with his character when he’s having a difficult time expressing what he feels. Or, his aversion with people delving into his private life. He has certainly made this K-Drama interesting with his delivery of his character. Another surprise, this K-Drama, though, do have really a lot of funny and light moments, it also deals with serious issues such as our relationship with our parents, friends and our beliefs and superstitions when it comes to fate. I can actually relate with the character of Shim Bo-Nui because I, too, becomes superstitious when it comes to a lot of critical situations in my love life and career. I really can’t blame Shim Bo-Nui for believing she is the cause of all the bad lucks she brings around the people she loves. I mean talking about a lot of coincidences that led her to really believe that. Maybe the saying our success in life is 1% perspiration and 99% luck is true. Oh, well, this K-Drama, though, not perfect can truly make you asks certain questions on how much in our lives are really meant to be or just luck while this K-Drama entertains you along the way.

So, What do I Like About this K-Drama?

(1) I like the portion of Truth or Dare on every ending of the episode. It is like a bonus. The Truth or Dare part is similar to the premise of the game the characters invented in this K-Drama, “IF”. The surprise tidbits are icing on the cake after every fun episode.

(2) To be quite frank, Ryu Jun-Yeol, is not what I will personally call handsome. In fact, of all lead K-actors I found him the least attractive of the bunch. But, I soon forgot that he’s not my type physically because…whew…he can certainly act. He was able to bring to life his character’s ignorance and naivety about stuff like love, considering his character is a genius, in full charming force on the screen. I can’t help but really like his character especially during his angst moments when he was courting Shim Bo-Nui.

(3) The hospital scene, where Je Soo-Ho offers himself to be Shim Bo-Nui’s talisman, so, she can actually go inside her sister’s hospital room. It was truly touching.

(4) I like the way Je Soo-Ho proposed to Shim Bo-Nui. It so very endearing. He expressed his feelings to Shim Bo-Nui at wee-hours of the morning in such a beguiling manner, using computer lingo that reflects who he is. Kudos to the writers.

(5) I like the fact that the third wheelers here are not as despicable as the usual K-Drama go. At least Gary Choi and Amy Han are normal people who will fight for their love but if they failed to do so, they don’t have to resort to evil means to win. They get defeated and sad but move on with their lives and not become psycho, thank God!!!

What I do Not Like About this K-Drama?

(1) There had been so many K-Dramas that keeps on doing characters that supposedly lived or grew up for a long time in English speaking countries, yet,  the accent and the manner again and again by which they speak is very much Korean. It really irks me when the necessity to play exactly the part is ignored by both the director and actor/s as important to establish truth to the character. The only K-Drama I can remember who did it right is My Name is Kim Sam Soon.

(2) What’s with Shim Bo-Nui’s fashion faux pas wearing a dress with pants. Guess, that’s her character but, again, there are sometimes really weird fashion style going in the entertainment business in Korea. Some works but some really makes me cringe.

(3) There are some dragging moments on the latter episodes especially the cheesy kind. Don’t get me wrong, I live for cheesy moments in romcoms but there are several cheesy scenes here that are not particularly engaging to watch. One, there’s a palpable feeling of awkwardness between Hwang Jung-Eum and Ryu Jun-Yeol during romantic scenes like when they kiss; maybe, because Hwang Jung-Eum just got married in real life early this year. Second, it is painful to watch two adults acting like kids when they communicate. I do get it that Je Soo-Ho is a nerd and never really developed any mature social skills like an ordinary grown-up man. I’m not even saying that being child-like is bad in any relationship, but, both characters truly irks me when they do this childish stuff like this ridiculous and irritating laugh they do together or they just hug on intense moments when the scene truly requires more physical contact between supposedly lovers. Guess, I shouldn’t expect more knowing how conservative Korean television programming is for shows that are not aired on cable. But, wish it doesn’t feel like more of fillers to prolong the story that, unfortunately, don’t really do anything for me in terms of entertaining me. Honestly, it became more tiring rather than exciting to watch.

(4) There is some inconsistencies as to when Shim Bo-Nui becomes unlucky to the people she loves. Like for instance the situation with her sister. I thought the reason why she can’t see her all those years she’s comatose was because she might cause her bad luck to fully recover, yet, at the latter part of the K-Drama it’s suddenly okay to see her sister all the time. Huh? When does the blade she carries in her spirit to be unlucky becomes applicable and when does it not? Without a defined premise on that part as to when exactly this bad luck can happen lessens the real essence of who Shim Bo-Nui represents and my initial thought of the real message of the story. All it becomes is a story of a woman who suffered most her life because she’s stupid enough to believe in fortune tellers and these illogical superstitions. While its message becomes offensive because it characterizes women in general, who typically believes in such nonsense, rather than the journey of any person who may believe in fate and illogical things, but there’s hope to change what we may consider as done and have a gift of choice to do so. It tries to turn around in the ending but I somewhat think it should have been done with only 12 episodes and with more depth. It felt a little flat for me at the last 2 episodes even if it was happy ending.

Would I recommend this K-Drama? Yes

My Rating to this Drama
( See My Rating System: ) 4/5 Stars

OST:
01. Tell Me – Soyou from Sistar
Play Me:

02. Sad Fate – Park Hye-Soo
03. Tingle – Kei from Lovelyz
04. Syalala Romance – Dawon from Cosmic Girls
05. Sincerely To You – Sweetpea
06. Lean On Me – Junsu
07. More Than Anyone – Taeyoon

For Lyrics in English, Romanization and Hangul, CLICK HERE