[Drama special review] Love Attack

by Dramaddictally

Fake dating leads to romance for two adorably suited college students in the newest installment of the KBS Drama Special. Fun and floaty with a fresh-faced cast, if you love old school rom-com tropes as much as I do, this perfectly paced drama deserves an hour of your time.

 
DRAMA SPECIAL REVIEW

Woot! It’s been a minute since I finished a story and couldn’t wipe the stupid grin off my face. I went into this with mild expectations and came out wanting to watch it again. The classic romance tropes are classics for a reason and when they’re done right (with a contemporary slant), count me among the suckers who can’t say no.

Here we’ve got a Candy heroine who’s first in class and her rich-boy rival who’s always stuck in second place. The setup is quick as we watch our hero, CHA SEOK-JIN (Kim Do-hoon), wake at 4 AM to begin studying, with every second of his pressure-filled day accounted for. He has no time for leisure and will do whatever it takes to steal the win from our brainy heroine, KANG KYUNG-JOO (Chae Won-bin).

And according to his best friend, what it will take is a “confession attack.” The idea is that he’ll confess to Kyung-joo in such a way that she’ll be so disgusted she won’t be able to concentrate on school — and then he’ll slide right into first place.

So, Seok-jin does his best, telling Kyung-joo he likes her, trying to be as annoying as he can, except there’s a snag. She says yes, she’ll be his girlfriend. She likes him too. Uh, what? He has no plan for that response. And for a split second we’re left to wonder if he really won her over with his dorky lines — or maybe that charming smile.

But as he gets the idea that being her boyfriend could be even better — because dating is totally distracting — we learn that she’s trying to beat him at his own game. She overheard his plan to fake confess and now she’s going to pretend to date him as a counterattack. Let the fake dating begin!

He starts coming around to all her (many, many) part-time jobs, bringing flowers, ordering coffee, offering a “fighting!” only to find that all this extra work is leaving him unable to study instead of her. Still, he perseveres.

The seeds of a real romance begin when he’s walking her home one night, notices a cut on her hand, and tries to touch it. She thinks he’s reaching to hold hands and thwacks him across the throat, leaving him gasping for air. She runs off embarrassed, but then thinks about how attentive he was to notice the cut. At the same time, Seok-jin realizes he’s found a new tactic to fluster his enemy: skinship. If that freaks her out, then he’ll work harder at it.

He asks her on a date to an escape room and while they’re inside, he kisses her cheek. But this adorable moment turns cringe when she grabs his face and kisses his lips in an overbearing and I’ve-never-done-this-before sort of way. The thing is, the longer she scrunches up her face and pushes it against his, the better it becomes. Suddenly, instead of trying to squirm away, he’s liking it. So much so that they’re gripping ahold of each other in a corner when a voice comes over the loudspeaker: “No skinship in the escape room please.” LOL. Caught!

On the way home, they’re both considering calling it quits on the whole fake-dating fiasco when Kyung-joo gets a call. Her halmeoni collapsed and she needs to get to the hospital ASAP. But it’s too late for a bus. What can she do? Don’t worry, he’ll drive. Cue wrist grab as they dash for his car. Eee! Are you getting the picture?! What a lovable trope-fest!

At the hospital, we learn that Kyung-joo was raised by her grandmother in the countryside and all they’ve got is each other. Seok-jin sees Kyung-joo cry and is obviously moved, and then offers to give the two women a ride home. But Halmeoni can’t have him driving all the way back to the city afterward at this hour. He should definitely spend the night there with them. Hehe. Both students are shocked and try to protest, but halmeonis always win.

Seok-jin stays in Kyung-joo’s old room and in the morning they eat breakfast in the open air, overlooking fields and mountains. It’s so pleasant that Seok-jin decides to put his ultra-planned life on hold for another day and stay there in the fresh air. The three spend time at the farmers’ market (Halmeoni already loves him) and Kyung-joo ends up riding Seok-jin around on a bike by late afternoon. (I am so getting early-episode King the Land vibes from this sequence.)

The bike thing is important actually. Seok-jin doesn’t know how to ride a bike because his parents are so militant about his studies that if he had time to play, he had time to study more. He’s used to putting so much pressure on himself that the countryside feels like an escape. But for Kyung-joo it’s the opposite: the countryside is the place she wants to escape from. To her, success is being able to move Halmeoni out of there. Seok-jin finds this admirable, and by the time she smiles and says she’ll teach him how to ride a bike, he’s got L-O-V-E written all over his face.

The time spent in the countryside is nice visually and narratively, but what it does for the pacing really sets this story apart from some other short-form dramas I’ve seen this year. It breaks up the hour into parts and adds depth to the superficial setup, so that by the time they’ve gone back to the fast-paced city, we’ve had a slowed-down speed to get to know and care about the characters. And we still have half our story left to go! That’s pretty impressive.

Before our leads return to campus, Halmeoni compliments Seok-jin for being so kind and smart. He replies that he’s only second best. But she counters him: “Second best is good. Not everyone can do that.” (Wow, somehow this line split my heart and healed it at the same time.)

With things going so smoothly for our fake couple, we know that Conflict is about to strut in. It comes in the form of a girl with a crush on Seok-jin who wants to know what’s up with him and the smart chick. Uh, nothing, he informs her — they’re not dating. Kyung-joo then confirms this, since she was standing right there when he said it. Oof. In the awkward moment that follows, it’s clear the biggest problem for both of them is that it’s true: they’re not really dating.

The hurt feelings lead to more conflict as each clings to what they know. Kyung-joo admits she knew all along about his plan to distract her with his confession. Seok-jin admits he has other reasons for wanting to be first in class that have nothing to do with her (and we’ve seen his abusive parents call him stupid no matter how well he does). He says he’s desperate just like Kyung-joo is — “Not everything is about money.” But she can’t sympathize since her livelihood depends on her grades. It’s a classic, class-conscious argument and the part that works best is that both characters are equally likable and identifiable.

The end is too delicious to give away (and “confession attack” takes on a whole new meaning), so I’ll let you watch it for yourselves. I will say that apart from leaving me smiley and floating, the drama aims higher than just romance: “We live in a society of endless competition, and it’s hard to take your time. When I’m in bed at night falling asleep, I don’t want to feel guilty. I want to say that I did well today.” Well, amen to that. Falling in love is great, but loving yourself is even better.

This drama hits all the right rom-com notes and the leads have great rapport. While the teary scenes didn’t work as well as the humor, the sweet and fun story makes up for it — and I was rooting for this couple almost from the get-go. If you’re short on time and need a little boost, this should do the trick. Somewhere between the cutesy tone and the attractive leads, I’m still feeling fuzzy a day later.

 
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