Edited by Kim Won Hee
Translated by Kim Hoyeun
On February 22nd, Disney Plus unveiled its new original series Call It Love starring Lee Sung Kyung and Kim Young Kwang. This new drama emphasizing the “heartfelt romance” heightened anticipations for romantic chemistry between the two good-looking actors even before the release. So did Call It Love meet the expectations?
One rainy day, Shim Woo Ju (Lee Sung Kyung) decides to do something crazy and visits the funeral in a colorful mini dress and red shoes. And where she arrives, the funeral for her father, who left the family for his mistress and took all the money with him, is held. For a short while, Woo Ju indulges in her quiet yet subtle revenge against her father and his mistress Ma Hee Ja, but not long after, Hee Ja sells Woo Ju’s house that was still under the father’s name, forcing Woo Ju out of the house she had lived in for 20 years. When Woo Ju finds out that Hee Ja invested money from selling the house in her son Dong Jin’s (Kim Young Kwang) company, she plots revenge against this man who seems to lead a happy life despite the family history. She approaches Dong Jin by working as a part-timer in his company.
Hee Ja is a shameless woman who stole her high school friend’s husband with three kids and even took away the one thing the kids are left with. And Dong Jin is her son. Taking into account the twisted fate between Woo Ju and Dong Jin, it’s hard to imagine them falling in love with each other. Unlike the soft, mellow tone of the images, the story itself seems like it’d suit a revenge thriller better rather than a romance. However, as the story progresses, the relationship between these two turns out actually quite absorbing.
Woo Ju is always stony-faced and turns her pain inside into hurtful words, but in fact, she’s tender-hearted. She just pretends to have a thick skin, so she can take care of the problems herself and never be hurt again. Dong Jin, who looks indifferent to others, actually just became accustomed to holding his feelings in. Hee Ja is his mother, but he treats her like a stranger, as if he doesn’t want to be any close to her. Just as how Woo Ju was with her father, Dong Jin clearly sees his mother as someone who left his father and him. Moreover, he had to feign ignorance of his girlfriend Kang Min Young’s (Hani) affair for an entire year. If Woo Ju is someone who bursts out her pent-up frustration, Dong Jin just takes in everything with no limit.
But they have one thing in common, and that’s loneliness. Woo Ju finds the loneliness of Dong Jin, who chooses to endure rather than hurt others, and Dong Jin finds the loneliness of Woo Ju, who wrapped up her softness with spiteful words. Like the first line of the drama – “To understand someone’s loneliness. I think that’s the beginning of love,” the two
slowly but surely begin to care for each other as they start to understand each other’s loneliness.
It’s the actors’ solid performance that makes this subtle relationship between Woo Ju and Dong Jin stand out. Both Lee Sung Kyung and Kim Young Kwang follow the flow of deep emotions with dry, expressionless faces they’ve rarely shown before. Kim Ye Won adds spice to the story as Shim Hye Sung, who so easily falls in love with anyone handsome, and Sung Joon‘s portrayal of cheerful Yoon Jun brightens up the show that could seem a bit dark at the right timing.
Having reached episode 4, the romance of Call It Love has just started to spark. Even besides that, there are other problems to tackle, such as Hang Dong Jin’s company on the verge of bankruptcy, Shim Woo Ju’s revenge, and Kang Min Young who wants to get back together with Han Dong Jin. I hope Call It Love tells a story that’ll satisfy both romance and revenge. (7/10)
>> Lee Sung Kyung Thanks Kim Young Kwang for Helping Her Out During Filming ‘Call It Love’
Edited by Kim Won Hee: I am a person who needs more than 24 hours in a day because there are so many things I love. I am amassing various genres in the jewelry box in my heart.
