Crash Course In Romance: 5 Reasons Why Jung Kyong Ho and Jeon Do-yeon's Netflix Series Failed to Make Sparks Fly!
Crash Course In Romance is based on one of the favourite Kdrama tropes - enemies to lovers. But the first two episodes, streaming on Netflix, did leave us disappointed
It's true that we were missing the Korean dramas of 2015-16 which had everything from heart-fluttering to heart-breaking moments. Business Proposal last year took us back to those times and left us so deeply satisfied. We agree that times have changed and such a whirlwind romance seems unrealistic. That's why when we saw the trailer of Crash Course in Romance, we felt that Jung Kyong Ho and Jeon Do-yeon odd romance will please all. But the first two episodes, streaming on Netflix, did leave us disappointed. "Star" Tutor Threatens Lawsuit After Netizen's Viral Tweet Criticizes Him For Promoting a Kdrama.
Crash Course In Romance is based on one of the favourite Kdrama tropes - enemies to lovers. Jung Kyong Ho plays Choi Chi Yeol, a superstar teacher at a coaching center whose maths skills are legendary. He is all about being successful and rich. Jeon Do-yeon is Nam Haeng-sun, is the owner of a 'Nation's Best' Bangchan shop. They meet and sparks are expected to fly.
Only that in the first two episodes, the sparks didn't even kindle. Here're some reasons why
Strange ignorance
Choi Chi Yeol's face is plastered across the city and also on public transport yet when Haeun-sun and her brother Nam Jae Woo (Oh Eui-Shik) don't recognise him at all. Not even a vague recollection of seeing him somewhere. These kinds of stuff were acceptable back in the day but now it seems irrational.
Dull first episode
The first episode is extremely dull and we have often hit on the forward button. It tries to establish the characters well which is fine but they do so in a sluggish manner. The point is the story isn't something out of the ordinary. A girl's dreams of being a renowned athlete are dashed due to her family's issues, a highly successful man with a traumatic past and a lonely present - all these have been shown in dramas often. So ramping up the pace would have added some much-needed spunk to the story. The second episode does get slightly better and we hope the upward graph continues.
Nam Jae Woo's condition
Was it really necessary to have Nam Jae Woo as a person with special needs? Even if it lends to a past that will probably be clearer in the coming episodes, we don't see a reason behind it.
Lack of humour
The writers try to put in a lot of humorous moments but none of them made us laugh. The fight between the Nam siblings and Chi Yeol was perhaps meant to illicit laughter but it didn't feel funny to us at all. In such dramas, meet-cutes are often in the form of a huge and baseless argument. But we didn't find it funny at all. Sweet Home, Song of the Bandits, Bloodhounds & More - K-Dramas Set to Flood Netflix This Year.
No chemistry
Maybe it's too early to talk about it but even in the scenes when they were together, fighting or not, there doesn't seem to be any chemistry between Jung Kyong Ho and Jeon Do-yeon. It could be because it isn't a teenage kdrama romance or the regular rich boy-poor girl narrative. But there needs to be some spark between the leads.
(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jan 19, 2023 02:37 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).