Stream It Or Skip It: ‘One Spring Night’ On Netflix, A Korean Drama About A New Romance And All Its Complications

One of the most interesting parts of this job is that we watch lots of shows from Korea, many of them romantic in nature. What we notice is that most of them are more fantasy than reality, with slapsticky comedy and situations that feel more magical than anything else. One Spring Night is not that kind of show; it’s about how two people in their thirties keep circling each other, trying to figure out if getting together is worth all the complications that would create. Read on for more….

ONE SPRING NIGHT: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

Opening Shot: Two women carrying a bag full of beer and munchies back to an apartment building. “Talk about finding fun in the mundane,” one says to the other, “Having a drink with a friend after work. Isn’t that just perfect?”

The Gist: Lee Jeong-in (Han Ji-min) is a librarian in her 30s. She’s not single — she’s dated Kwon Gi-seok (Kim Jun-han) for years — but she’s settled into a routine that feels vaguely unsatisfying. When Gi-seok calls her while she’s drinking with her buddy Song Yeong-ju (Lee Sang-hee), Yeong-ju is shocked that they don’t say “love you” before hanging up. “You’re like a middle-aged couple,” she says.

Yoo Ji-ho (Jung Hae-in) is a pharmacist who spends Saturdays playing in a recreational basketball league and hangs out with friends. He meets a new player on his team, who just happens to be Gi-seok. We find out later that he’s a single father; his son lives with Ji-ho’s grandparents for reasons we don’t quite know yet.

Jeong-in sleeps over at her friend’s house; when her alarm goes off, she realizes she’s running late and has a wicked hangover. She runs into a pharmacy looking for a hangover cure, and she meets Ji-ho. The two have some interesting chemistry, and when Jeong-in finds out she left her wallet at Yeong-ju’s place, he tells her to come back and give him the money. She memorizes his phone number and texts him for his account number, which he never responds to, because he wants to see her again in person.

Gi-seok wants to finally get engaged to Jeong-in, because he feels it’s time, and because his father thinks it’ll be good for his image if he runs for public office. It’s important enough that Gi-seok’s father pays a visit to Jeong-in’s father to suggest he talk to her. When he does bring it up over dinner with Jeong-in and her sister Seo-in (Lim Seong-eon), Jeong-in objects, saying it’s up to her whether she decides to marry and when, and she doesn’t want to be pressured into it like Seo-in was. Seo-in confides in her after dinner that she and her husband split up and will eventually divorce.

On another night where Jeong-in visits with Yeong-ju, she sees Ji-ho, and thinks she’s being stalked. Turns out he lives upstairs. She asks her friend about him, and she wisely detects that she’s interested. They text each other after Jeong-in leaves, and they have a talk at the pharmacy. Ji-ho tells her that he likes her, and she immediately tells him that she’s got a boyfriend. She offers to be friends, but he doesn’t want that. So they go their separate ways… but that’s not the last time they’ll run into each other.

Our Take: One Spring Night is the second collaboration of director Ahn Pan Suk and writer Kim Eun, who are known in Korea for realistic romantic dramas. If you haven’t watched as much Korean TV as we have over the last couple of years, you might not know what “realistic” means. We’re here to say that “realistic” is quite refreshing in this genre, and the show’s appealing leads make that realism even more compelling to watch.

Here’s the thing; a lot of romantic comedies from that part of the world — and we’ve seen a lot from Korea and Taiwan — tend to drift towards a lighthearted, near-slapstick tone, with plinky musical cues and exaggerated reactions from the actors in them. The stories tend to me more fantasy than reality, like modern-day fairy tales of meet-cutes and romances that survive all challenges.

But One Spring Night is in a more down-to-earth style, largely quiet, with easygoing performances from its actors and situations that one finds in real life. Jeong-in and Ji-ho aren’t youngsters anymore (though they both look like they’re about 18); they’ve had life experiences and are in their own ruts. They’re certainly intrigued by each other, and think that their continued presence is shaking up what they knew about love and romance, but lives aren’t shaken up that easily.

We really appreciated the fact that, while Jeong-in isn’t eager to be told when to get married, she’s not dropping her boyfriend like a bag of recycling just because she met some new guy. And there’s a reason why Ji-ho’s son doesn’t live with him, which we have yet to find out. That complication is also something that you find when you enter a relationship in your 30s. This romance can develop slowly and deal with all these complications — the first season is sixteen episodes, which should appeal to fans of US shows that treat romance in a grown-up way.

Sex and Skin: This is a pretty chaste show.

Parting Shot: Jeong-in goes with her other sister, Jae-in (Joo Min-kyung), who is crashing with her after sneaking back to Korea after being accused of stalking a guy in France, to Gi-seok’s basketball league game, and guess who she sees there? Yup, Ji-ho, who spots her in the bleachers and is shocked that she’s there.

Sleeper Star: We liked Lee Sang-hi as Yeong-ju, who seems to be a good influence — or at least the voice of reason — in Jeong-in’s life.

Most Pilot-y Line: The show relies on pop songs sung in English for its soundtrack, but it seemed to only repeat three of them over and over, depending on the situation.

Our Call: STREAM IT. One Spring Night is a quiet show, but it’s also a really interesting look at how romance in your 30s, no matter where you live, is complicated as hell.

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, VanityFair.com, Playboy.com, Fast Company’s Co.Create and elsewhere.

Stream One Spring Night on Netflix