In the new Netflix K-drama Spooky In Love, a hotel heiress who can see ghosts and a prosecutor who has her help with his murder cases fall madly in love with each other. How is that possible? We’re still not sure, even after watching the first episode.
Opening Shot: A shot of a person in a hoodie digging a hole in the woods.
The Gist: While the woman is digging the hole, we see prosecutor Ma Kang-uk (Yang Se-jong) looking at evidence in a murder case, which leads him to the same spot in the woods. He sees the person digging the hole, who found not only a phone but the hand of a dead man, and tells the person to stop; he’s surprised to see a woman. They tussle, and are interrupted by cops who think they’re having a roll in the hay.
The woman, Cheon Yeo-ri (Park Eun-bin), knew about the body in the hole because the victim’s ghost told her where to look. Yes, Cheon can communicate with the spirit world, but when she asks them if there’s an afterlife, they go to their “better place.”
It’s something that she’s been dealing with for years, and she knows that if she touches someone with her bare hands, that person is cursed. It happened with a fiancé who left her because of that. Now, she wears gloves and accepts the spirits’ presence in her life, as well as a lonely existence where she can’t touch anyone, including a small child who fell on her tush in front of her.
Yeo-ri is also the granddaughter of Baek Gyeong-ja (Ye Soo-jung), chairwoman of Reina Hotel & Resort Group, and the CEO of the company’s flagship hotel.
Kang-uk lost his last case, where professional golfer Park Seung-jae (Kim Do-wan) was on trial for murdering his girlfriend. Park smugly thinks that Kang-uk won’t dig up enough evidence for an appeal. On top of that, Park is the son of a top assemblyman and is engaged to Yeo-ri’s cousin, Cheon Ha-ri (Jo Hye-joo).
Yeo-ri and Kang-uk meet up again when a couple of thugs back into Yeo-ri’s car right outside of where Kang-uk is drinking with his officemates. He gets in her car and she chases after the thugs, getting directions from someone in the back seat only she can see. When they intercept the thugs, she points to the trunk of their car, where the body of a taxi driver is.
At this point, he can’t seem to shake her, and he goes to the Raina Hotel to talk to her about the case where they first met — the exclusive sneakers she was wearing in a CCTV shot gave her away.
What Shows Will It Remind You Of? Spooky In Love has all the earmarks of a classic romantic K-drama like My Royal Nemesis. The series is based on the 2011 South Korean film Spellbound.
Our Take: Most romantic K-dramas spend their first episode establishing the stories of both ends of the main couple then have them meet each other. Sometimes the meetup shows immediate sparks, sometimes the two of them still snipe at each other. The better shows manage to get the two people to meet organically. Spooky In Love, however, isn’t one of those shows.
There isn’t a whole lot of explanation of how or why Yeo-ri can see ghosts, and we only see the one example of how touching someone curses that person. Their first meetup in the woods is completely by coincidence, as is the second one. Sure, coincidental run-ins can be a cornerstone of romantic comedy, but in this first episode, it feels like the show’s writers are straining hard to put their two main characters in the same place at the same time. Then, as with most romantic K-dramas, all it takes is for the two of them to look into each other’s eyes and they’re smitten.
The problem is, we don’t buy it here. In fact, the only thing we can gather from this pairing is that Kang-uk will have Yeo-ri help him with cases, especially the one against Park Seung-jae. Where the sparks and the romance will come from is still to be determined.
Performance Worth Watching: Park Eun-bin has a lot of fun as Cheon Yeo-ri, who can be a cold and intimidating CEO and wield a baseball bat like no one’s business.
Sex And Skin: None.
Parting Shot: When Kang-uk busts into Yeo-ri’s office, she falls back and he catches her by the arm. Will she touch his bare hand with hers?
Sleeper Star: Ye Soo-jung is appropriate intimidating as Chairwoman Baek Gyeong-ja. We wonder if chairperson of a chaebol family is kind of like “Law & Order judge” as a good landing spot for older, well-regarded Korean actors.
Most Pilot-y Line: Kang-uk’s office mates Go Pil-dong (Lee Chang-hoon) and Son Hyeong-min (Kim Min-ho) are there for comic relief, but it feels like that comedic tone is misplaced in this show.
Our Call: SKIP IT. Spooky In Love is one of the more contrived romantic K-dramas we’ve seen in awhile, and that’s saying a lot.
Joel Keller (@joelkeller) writes about food, entertainment, parenting and tech, but he doesn’t kid himself: he’s a TV junkie. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Slate, Salon, RollingStone.com, VanityFair.com, Fast Company and elsewhere.
