Welcome to my Lovestruck in the City – Full Review.  A young man takes a month long vacation to surf and relax.  But he ends up falling in love with an eccentric waitress.  When he gets called home for a business emergency, they agree to meet in one month in Seoul, but she never shows up.  He is angry but he can’t seem to get over her, so when he runs into her by  again by coincidence, he can’t decide whether he wants to rekindle their relationship or take revenge.

Kim Ji Won as Lee Eun Oh/Yoon Sun Ah

Lee Eun Oh reached a point in her life where all she wanted to do was run away.  So she bought a bus ticket to a small beach town, found a job as a waitress, and created a whole new identity for herself.  Sun Ah was everything Eun Oh had always wanted to be but couldn’t;  she was fun, free-spirited, and confident.  And when she met a handsome surfer who was there on vacation, she fell madly in love and decided to embrace her new found freedom.  But when he makes plans to see her back in Seoul, she realizes that fake identity is about to be discovered, not just by him but also her best friends.  Embarassed by the whole situation, she heartlessly breaks up with him with no explanation, even though her feelings haven’t changed at all.  So, when he finds her again and begs her to tell him why she is torn between her own pride and her love.

Lee Eun Oh is a complicated and insecure character.  She has a dream about the kind of person she would like to be, but never had the confidence to act on it, until she became Sun Ah.  Kim Ji Won did a wonderful job with this role.  Her ability to personify the almost manic personality of Eun Oh was believable and genuine.  While Eun Oh’s behavior was excessive at times and her character seemed full of human flaws, it was a realistic portrayal of someone who struggles with fear and self-esteem.  And it was rewarding to watch her grow and eventually come to a point where she could accept that her true self was a combination of Sun Ah and Eun Oh and that she was deserving of love.

So Ju Yeon as Seo Rin Yi

Rin Yi is childhood friends with Eun On and Gun.  The three of them have been close since elementary school.  Rin Yi likes to live simply and isn’t interested in material possessions or social status, which is a frustration to her long-time boyfriend, Kyung Joon.  She goes from one part-time job to the next without much thought; as long as she has the money to pay her bills she is fine.

Han Ji Eun as Oh Sun Young

Oh Sun Young is a high school PE teacher with a bold and confident personality.  She has a long history of one-night stands but never dates anyone for long.  Though she tries to make this seem like a carefree life-style choice, the truth is that she is still in love with Gun, who she dated and broke up with.  

♥ Interview Style

The “mockumentary” approach to this drama was fresh and unique.  Listening to the characters tell parts of the story in their own words was an interesting way to get to know them and their perspectives.  This method also allowed the web of characters and their connections to be unveiled piece by piece.  It’s the first time I have seen this technique used in a kdrama, and I enjoyed the feeling of intimacy it created between the characters and the audience.

♥ Realistic View

It would be easy to write off the characters in this drama as immature and unlikeable.  They are not the perfect rom-com leads whose biggest struggle is a misunderstanding that can be easily cleared up.  These characters are deeply flawed and the mistakes they make are real and deliberate.  But those elements give them a humanness that is often missing in kdrama, particularly in romantic drama.  Yes, sometimes it’s nice to disappear into a drama where everything is happy and perfect, but sometimes it’s equally nice to be reminded that we all have imperfections and room to grown.

Jae Won’s Dad

Jae Won’s Dad, CEO Park, was a weird character for me. We got to see just enough of him for him to criticize everything his son did and destroy his nephews long-term romantic relationship.  What a guy!  Also, I think it would be natural to ask the question, what will he do in the future if Jae Won decides to marry Eun Oh (again)?  His disapproval would definitely cause problems for this happy couple, and after all they have already been through, that is just sad to think about.  There wasn’t enough storyline for CEO Park to have anything but disdain for his character.

Sun Young as an Outsider

This drama is built around a complex web of characters that are all inter-related in an interesting way.  But I felt like Sun Young’s character was the only one that didn’t fit into the inner circle of leads.  Yes, she dated Gun and she knew Eun Oh and Rin Yi through him, but it would have been nice if she were more involved in some of the group interactions.  I didn’t feel like we got to know her quite as well as the rest of them and that was unfortunate because her character was so interesting and different from the others,

This is another drama where it’s not easy to determine whether it was a happy ending or not.  I would say there was one happy ending, a to be determined ending, a sad ending and a surprise ending.  Let’s start with the sad.  Kyung Joon and Rin Yi broke up and there doesn’t seem to be any reconciliation in their future.  Kyung Joon is devasted, but Rin Yi seems to be resolute in her decision.  The surprise ending is the bonus love story of Dong Shik and the actress Ha Nae.  They spend her birthday together and she surprises him with a kiss before going back to work.  It’s their very own one-act play and it was very sweet.  The to be determined ending is for Gun and Sun Young.  They meet for drinks and he tells her that she should come back when she is ready to finally settle down.  The sub-text is that he will be waiting for her, so there is hope that they still have a happy ending ahead of them.  And for our leads, they are finally back together and happy.  The journey was trecherous, but for me, the conclusion was rewarding.