THE SHORT VERDICT:

Short, breezy, and polished, Soundtrack #1 is a friends-to-lovers nugget of a drama that should scratch that drama itch nicely, particularly if you:

(a) like Park Hyung Sik &/or Han So Hee;

(b) enjoy friends-to-lovers stories; &/or

(c) just want something quick and easy as a drama snack.

Really quite satisfying, for a short little thing of just 4 episodes of 45 minutes each.

THE LONG VERDICT:

When this little drama was first announced, I was ready to inhale it right away.

A drama that features Park Hyung Sik’s wonderful wistful gazes, offers a friends-to-lovers sort of story, AND promises to have a lovely soundtrack to score it all?

Sign me up, please!

Now that I’ve seen the show, I will say that it did live up to my expectations quite nicely, despite a few (minor) grumbles.

It would’ve been even better, I think, it had been 6 or 8 episodes long, instead of just 4 – that would’ve given Show more time to explore its story and characters, and I would’ve liked that quite well, I think.

WHAT IT’S ABOUT

Sun Woo (Park Hyung Sik) and Eun Soo (Han So Hee) have been best friends for almost 20 years, and treasure their friendship very much.

What happens, though, when romantic feelings start to creep into the picture?

OST ALBUM: FOR YOUR LISTENING PLEASURE

The music in this little mini series is one of Show’s strengths. The music is breezy and easy on the ears, and even nicely organic to our story, with the lyrics often well matched to where we are, in our story.

I didn’t find any single track that stayed with me more than the others. Overall, it all just felt like one big collection of very melodious, very agreeable music, that felt perfectly suited to our pretty drama world.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=se4uEJeBCdM

MANAGING EXPECTATIONS / THE VIEWING LENS

Here are a few things that I think would be helpful to keep in mind, to maximize your enjoyment of your watch:

1. Show isn’t particularly inventive,

..but it does what it does, solidly well.

The tone, the friends to lovers set-up, the angst of a hidden crush, the breezy music; this is so up my drama street, and to my eyes, Show feels so pleasant and familiar, yet new and full of promise, all at once.

2. Because we only have 4 episodes to work with, our story leans simple.

The upsides to Show being so short, are:

(a) our story’s moves right along, and I find that because this isn’t a 16 episode (or similar length) show, I didn’t exactly have my bearings in terms of what developments to expect, and when.

(b) In effect, that makes this watch feel fresh, in the sense that I didn’t really know what was going to happen next. Like, would the connection between Sun Woo and Eun Soo evolve faster, or slower? I found it hard to guess. And that’s quite nice, actually.

STUFF I LIKED

Park Hyung Sik as Sun Woo

Just so you know, I loved Park Hyung Sik as Sun Woo, pretty much immediately.

Park Hyung Sik is just perfect, in this sort of role.

[SPOILER ALERT]

His smitten gazes have gotten me in the heart, ever since I first spied them in Strong Woman Do Bong Soon, and he wears them so WELL, here, as Sun Woo.

Even without him having to say a word, I could tell – long before Show gets around to the official reveal in episode 1 – that Sun Woo’s got hearts in his eyes for Eun Soo (Han So Hee), and can’t stop himself from feeling the feelings, and shooting those hearts out of his eyes.

His otherwise gruff treatment of Eun Soo is pitch perfect as well, because that’s exactly how longtime friends treat each other. All the love and affection is overlaid with a surface sheen of blunt, unruffled casualness.

In Park Hyung Sik’s hands, I could completely believe that Sun Woo’s been in love with Eun Soo for 8 long years, and has been holding it all in, out of deference to her stated preference, that they stay friends.

[END SPOILER]

Han So Hee as Eun Soo

I think Han So Hee does an extremely decent job of Eun Soo’s character.

Aside from [MINOR E1 SPOILER] the drunken scene at the claw machine, [END SPOILER] which landed a bit labored – and dare I say, a little bit fake 😝 – to my eyes, I thought every other scene was perfectly good.

Han So Hee is nicely believable as a forthright, straight-shooter type of gal, who just happens to be besties with the handsome Sun Woo.

I do have to confess, though, that despite Han So Hee’s perfectly solid performance, it took me a while to warm to her as Eun Soo.

I’ll talk about why that was, in this next section.

Sun Woo and Eun Soo together

Like I mentioned just a while ago, it took me a while to warm to Han So Hee as Eun Soo, and inevitably, that also meant that it took me a while to warm to the connection between Sun Woo and Eun Soo as well.

The reason for that, which is not Han So Hee’s fault, AT ALL, is that Park Hyung Sik did such a great job of the smitten best friend in Happiness, with Han Hyo Joo, that my muscle memory demanded that I see Han Hyo Joo opposite Park Hyung Sik, even in this drama world. 😅

When Sun Woo does his gruff thing with Eun Soo, I wanted to see Han Hyo Joo there. When Sun Woo wears those wistful gazes when he thinks Eun Soo isn’t looking, I wanted Han Hyo Joo to be on the receiving end of those wistful gazes.

Looks like Happiness really did one on me; through all of episode 1, I couldn’t seem to let go of how awesome Park Hyung Sik and Han Hyo Joo are, together, as best friends turned lovers.

Basically, seeing Park Hyung Sik play opposite someone else, my brain kept saying it’s fine, and that’s what actors do, but my heart kept protesting and throwing things, and wailing about why they couldn’t have cast Han Hyo Joo as Eun Soo, because that would’ve perrrrfect. 😅

Happiness, what have you done to meee~?? And, Park Hyung Sik, why are you so good at the wistful gazes?? I think it’s this combination of things, that had me struggling a bit, when really, on paper, and in execution, I love so much about this little show.

Happily, by around the mid-episode 2 mark, I did come around to seeing Han So Hee play opposite Park Hyung Sik, and that meant that I was quickly on board with this OTP pairing as well.

Overall, I’d say that Show does a very solid job of teasing out the nuances in the relationship between Sun Woo and Eun Soo, and that’s particularly impressive, given that Show doesn’t have a lot of screen time to work with.

In this spoiler section, I explore the OTP connection that Show serves up, in its various facets and nuances.

[SPOILER ALERT]

E1. It makes sense that Eun Soo, being the straight-shooter that she is, who happens to be really, really pretty, wouldn’t have experienced the deeper angst of a long-term one-sided love.

And of course, Sun Woo’s had lots of experience with that, with how he’s been silently nursing feelings for Eun Soo, for so long.

It also makes sense that when Sun Woo feels a stab of dissatisfaction, after Eun Soo casually comments that his photographs are all so somber and sad, that he’d want to create works that are more honest.

And of course, Eun Soo, being the straight-shooter that she is, knows all about how to be honest, and even her drunken advice to Sun Woo, is enough to galvanize him into wanting to live honestly – for the sake of producing more honest works.

Really, if there was anything that would’ve made Sun Woo change his mind about keeping his feelings hidden, and keeping an appropriate distance from Eun Soo, it would be the idea that if he doesn’t live honestly, he won’t have the capacity to produce honest works, as an artist.

I love the scenes of them playing house together; they look and feel so organic, as an intact unit.

It’s cute to see them cleaning together, and the food that Sun Woo cooks looks amazing. It makes me want them to live together like this, forever, right away.

It’s too bad that Eun Soo appears to have a crush-like fascination with Composer Dude. I felt so sorry for Sun Woo, as he realizes this, and downs his makgeolli in disappointment.

My favorite scene, hands down, has to be when Eun Soo snuggles up to Sun Woo in her drunken sleep, and Sun Woo tries – and fails – to nudge her away from being all up in his personal space.

Guh. Sun Woo’s startled expression, as he registers just how close Eun Soo is, is so great. The shocked blinks; the nervous swallows; the darting eyes; I can totally imagine how difficult this moment must be, for him. It’s great. 😁

And when morning comes and Eun Soo opens her eyes and looks right into his eyes like that, I can’t help but hold my breath, wondering who will speak first, and what they’ll say.

Also, what a poignant epilogue, where we see that the little sheep plushie that Sun Woo keeps on his desk, had been a gift meant for Eun Soo, on that day, 5 years ago, when he’d wanted to confess his feelings for her, but had been stopped in his tracks by her emphatic statement that she could never date him. Awww.

E2. As I’d more or less expected, Eun Soo backs away really quickly in that morning scene, the moment she realizes that she’s draped all over Sun Woo, and she and Sun Woo are staring into each other’s eyes. Awk-ward. 😅

The way Sun Woo obsesses over whether Eun Soo had heard him mutter “This is crazy,” is so funny. I mean, I feel for him, I do, but the way he keeps doing test-mutters, as if he’s checking if he’s got bad breath, is really quite funny.

I feel bad for him, but I also can’t help laughing at him. Poor obsessed perplexed puppy. 🤩

It makes complete sense that they’d both reach for excuses to gloss over the awkward situation, and I’m quite amused at the logic that they reach for, that it’s natural to reach for heat when it’s cold – like how sunflowers turn to face the sun.

Somehow, I am very tickled by this, even though it makes perfect logical sense.

This episode, I’m again very taken with Sun Woo’s silent smitten wistful gazes, and gosh, the way he just sinks into gazing at Eun Soo, as they work together on her lyrics, is just very melty stuff.

I do love the fact that Sun Woo and Eun Soo make up so quickly, after their fight about Sun Woo’s bad behavior during the meeting.

I have a huge soft spot for relationships where fights blow over quickly, and this really worked to balance out this episode for me.

I might not have appreciated the childish, petty acting out parts, but the fact that it all blows over so quickly, with them both being so wholehearted about wanting to make up, is very endearing.

The way Sun Woo and Eun Soo go grocery shopping together lands as very coupley and domestic to my eyes, and it’s so sweet, that Sun Woo puts chocolate in their cart because Eun Soo likes it, even though he himself doesn’t enjoy chocolate. Aw. Sweet.

It feels like everybody knows that Sun Woo likes Eun Soo – even Composer Dude – except for Eun Soo herself.

That’s soon fixed, however, coz that last arc, where Eun Soo clicks through the various photos of her, that Sun Woo’s got on his laptop, is as illuminating as it gets.

They say that you can tell a loving lens when you see one, and Sun Woo’s loving lens shows up so clearly, through all the photos that he’s taken of Eun Soo, over the years.

Also, what a cute epilogue, where we see that Eun So had totally heard Sun Woo’s muttered, “This is crazy,” which he’d obsessed over, so ardently, and tried so hard to convinced himself, that she most likely couldn’t have heard. Looks like you were wrong, Sun Woo. 😁

E3. First of all, Eun Soo pretends that she totally didn’t see the photos in Sun Woo’s laptop, and she totally isn’t onto his secret, that she’s the one whom he likes, and I can actually understand her choice.

After all, she’s already expressed previously, that she doesn’t want to lose Sun Woo, and for that reason, would never date him, for fear of breaking up with him.

This discovery, that he’s liked her for a long time, would definitely make her uncomfortable, because it brings that possibility of losing him, back into focus.

I can also see why Eun Soo would feel the need to back away for a bit, to figure out how to feel about it all.

I do appreciate that we get to see how this discovery is getting to her, even though she tries to pretend that everything’s fine and nothing’s changed.

I also love that flashback to the time in the library, where Eun Soo had given Sun Woo her mother’s digital camera, as an investment for his future. Aw. I love that detail, that she’s basically the first person to believe in his dream of wanting to be a photographer.

And now that Sun Woo’s dream really is about to become true, with the collaboration opportunity with Benzema Lauren, I can see why Eun Soo would feel that it’s important for Sun Woo to take the opportunity, once she learns about it.

I’d imagined that after Eun Soo’s conversation with Gyeol Han and Ma Ri at the bar, where they emphasize that friends can become lovers anytime, and that Sun Woo’s a fantastic rare breed, Eun Soo would really start considering Sun Woo as a romantic partner.

However, it turns out that she’s convinced instead, that he’s so rare and precious and special, that she absolutely needs to protect him from getting hurt. Aw.

I get where Eun Soo’s coming from, of course, but I still can’t help but feel wistful on Sun Woo’s behalf.

This context makes it that much harder to watch Sun Woo getting ready to confess his feelings to Eun Soo, starting with the flowers and apology, and the veiled reveals, where he tells her the answers to the questions she’d asked before, without telling her that she is, in fact, his Jennifer.

Given Eun Soo’s decision to protect Sun Woo by NOT getting involved with him, I can understand her subsequent avoidance of him. At the same time, my heart hurts for Sun Woo, with each step that Eun Soo backs away from him.

From not eating the breakfast he’d prepared for her, to not letting him finish saying what he’s started to say, to making a hurried excuse that she’ll be very, very late and to not wait up for her, it’s so obvious that she’s actively putting distance between herself and Sun Woo.

Ack. I feel so bad, for Sun Woo. 🥺

I also feel bad for Sun Woo, that Composer Dude tells him that he’s confessed his feelings to Eun Soo. Eeeep. That’s the last thing Sun Woo needs to hear, honestly.

If there’s one thing that gets in the way of relationships actually taking off, it’s the wrong timing.

And this thing, where Sun Woo hears that the guy that Eun Soo’s been apparently crushing on, has confessed his feelings to her, AND she’s been happily drinking red wine with the dude, even though she doesn’t like red wine, is enough evidence for Sun Woo to believe that he’s missed the timing.

Aw, puppyyyy. 🥺

It’s extra hard, because from where I’m sitting, it doesn’t look like Eun Soo’s as into Composer Dude as Sun Woo believes.

With all this context in place, I can see why Sun Woo believes it’s best for him to back away and go to Cuba for his collaboration with Benzema Lauren, AND, I can see why Eun Soo would back away, because she doesn’t want to get in the way of Sun Woo’s career opportunity of a lifetime.

There’s so much hidden emotion, underneath the gruff goodbye at the bus-stop.

It’s so great, the way Show gives us a mirror, via the flashback to when Sun Woo had gone off to the military, and had a similar gruff, casual goodbye with Eun Soo.

It’s so poignant to see that beneath the nonchalance, Eun Soo really does feel Sun Woo’s departure very acutely. Both in the flashback and in the present, Eun Soo just can’t stop the tears, once Sun Woo’s out of sight.

Augh. The feeeels.

Guh. They both believe so wholeheartedly, that they’re each doing what’s best for the other, and it’s heartachey to see, because it’s clear to us as an audience, that this really isn’t what each of them wants, at the heart of it.

Kudos to Show, though, for managing to make this all land as misguided consideration, instead of noble idiocy. That’s a very fine line that Show manages to toe quite deftly.

I’m curious to see how Show will bring this all home, in our finale. Will Sun Woo come back earlier than expected? Or will a time skip be the thing to solve, well, everything?

[END SPOILER]

Special shout-out:

Gyeol Han and Ma Ri

I just wanted to give a quick shout-out to restaurant couple Gyeol Han and Ma Ri (Park Hoon and Park Min Jung).

I really enjoyed the warmth that they brought to our story, with their support for Sun Woo and Eun Soo, and also, with their bickering but loving ways.

[MINOR SPOILER]

I also really liked the idea that Sun Woo and Eun Soo have an actual friends-to-lovers couple to demonstrate to them that taking a relationship from platonic to romantic can be pretty great too.

[END SPOILER]

STUFF THAT WAS OK

I didn’t actively dislike anything about this little show. Here are just two things that were just ok, for me.

The instances of petty competitiveness

I find that I generally don’t find petty jealousy &/or petty competitiveness very entertaining nor amusing, and Show introduces some of that, in episode 2.

To be fair, Show doesn’t lean into this too hard, but I would be lying if I said that I actually enjoyed these bits of story.

[SPOILER ALERT]

E2. When Sun Woo starts acting unreasonably weird during Eun Soo’s meeting with Composer Dude (Kim Joo Heon), I found it more perplexing than entertaining.

I mean, objectively speaking, regardless of the context where Sun Woo’s jealous that Eun Soo’s paying attention to Composer Dude, he’s acting pretty rudely, in a business setting.

That’s not cool.

[END SPOILER]

The treatment of Mom’s visit [SPOILERS]

In episode 2, the arc with Mom (Lee Jung Eun) surprising them both, and proceeding to do a tarot card reading for Sun Woo, was strangely quirky, and I have to confess I wasn’t expecting that.

I guess the rest of the show hasn’t struck me as being particularly off the wall, so the way Mom behaves at the beginning of the scene, being all wordless and scary, and the way Show frames it, like she’s stepped out of a horror show, almost, kinda threw me.

I didn’t prefer that so much.

Happily, the weirdness doesn’t last long, and Mom’s visit in episode 4 is treated much more normally.

THOUGHTS ON THE ENDING [SPOILERS]

In the end, Show gives us a happy ending, which one might think is par for the course for this kind of story, but honestly, really isn’t a guarantee.

With shorter stories like this, in particular, you never know if Show will give you a bittersweet &/or open ending, so I’m especially glad that Show offers up a solid sense of closure AND a happy ending.

That said, while I do think that this worked out to be a solid episode, I didn’t end up loving everything about this finale.

I don’t know; it definitely could be my drama experience showing up as a bit of jadedness, in response to some things that Show serves up, in this finale.

I really did like the way Show demonstrates to us, in the little things, that Eun Soo’s keeping Sun Woo top of her mind, even as she goes about her life, and works on her lyricist career.

That little detail, of how she’s careful to wear a scarf, and how she runs back to retrieve it, when she drops it, tells us a great deal about how she’s keeping Sun Woo’s words close to her heart. I like that.

Plus, I thought it was a nice twist, that the main reason Eun Soo is so excited to work with Taeyoon, is because Taeyoon is Sun Woo’s favorite artist, and Eun Soo’s made a promise with Sun Woo, to one day write for Taeyoon, so that he can listen to his favorite artist all day long.

That reveal was really sweet, and made me really feel that Eun Soo sees so much of her world, with Sun Woo filtered in.

The scene where Eun Soo formally rejects Composer Dude’s feelings was well done too. I like how polite and considerate Eun Soo comes across, even as she tells him that her heart doesn’t flutter when she’s around him, like it used to.

It’s also reassuring to know that Eun Soo’s decision won’t have a negative impact on their work relationship, and that Composer Dude is cool enough, to want to keep working with her, despite this particular bit of awkwardness in their personal connection.

I also really like how Eun Soo comes to the realization and decision, that she wants to tell Sun Woo how she feels about him. That thing where she finds the necklace in the pouch of the sheep plushie, and Sun Woo’s letter to go with it, is sweetly poignant too.

With Mom doing that tarot card reading for Eun Soo, advising Eun Soo to have determination in her heart to grab onto opportunities when they present themselves, and Eun Soo actually requesting to keep that card, I’d imagined that Eun Soo would be much more.. decisive, in telling Sun Woo how she feels.

So.. I’m kind of disappointed that she pulls back and chickens out, when he does show up, and asks her what it was, that she’d wanted to tell him.

I know, I know. It’s realistic, that people would hedge, when confronted with actually doing a momentous thing.

I’d just.. built it up in my head, that Eun Soo would go for it, with her having accumulated all this realization and determination, and with her being a natural straight-shooter and all.

That said, this isn’t actually the thing that I didn’t like, this finale, though I did feel a touch disappointed with the hedging – mostly because I just didn’t want to waste our already very limited screen time with Sun Woo and Eun Soo being apart. 😅

The thing I actually felt was rather a waste of screen time, was the whole thing with Sun Woo’s hoobae (Yoon Seo Ah).

In theory, I get that this arc with the hoobae is actually a pretty good catalyst, because the uneasiness that Eun Soo feels in response, would very likely act to galvanize her into acting on her feelings.

I just.. didn’t enjoy the feeling, of Eun Soo being marginalized because of hoobae’s presence. With how important Eun Soo is to Sun Woo, this felt a bit.. manufactured, I wanna say.

The little territorial things that both Eun Soo and hoobae do, in that scene, are not terribly aggressive, but obvious enough, that I wanted it all to hurry up and finish, so that I didn’t have to watch them anymore. 😅

Also – dare I say it – most of this stuff landed as pretty clichéd, to my eyes. 🙈

BUT. It does get Eun Soo to broach the subject of their relationship possibly turning romantic, which is a big first step, I’d say.

I’m disappointed – but not surprised, actually – that Sun Woo would say no, taking his cue from Eun Soo’s earlier emphatic statement, that they should never date, so that they’d never have to break up.

What I do wish, though, is that in this moment, Eun Soo would have told Sun Woo that she’s changed her mind about that, and doesn’t have the same conviction anymore. Again, it’s that tick tock, time’s a-wastin’ thing, that’s driving my reactions.

I’m just SO glad, when Show brings it home, with Eun Soo arranging to meet Sun Woo privately, so that she can REALLY tell him how she feels about him.

I do love the writing around her confession; it’s angled in such a considerate, you-more-than-me manner, that I can’t help but melt on Sun Woo’s behalf, hearing it.

“The day you went off to the military. To tell you the truth, I cried… I cried a lot. You didn’t know, right?

Back then, it was because I didn’t have anyone to eat late-night noodles with. Or because a friend who put a scarf around me on cold days was gone. Or because a friend to vent to was gone. I thought that was why I cried.

But on the day you left last year, I realized. That it was love. That this is love. I thought unrequited love was supposed to be something cute like a little crush. But every time I thought of you, my heart ached so much that I barely had any energy left when I came home.

But what made it most painful was… to think how lonely it must’ve been for you to do this for the past eight years.

To think… you must have taken glimpses of me in secret and stared into my back for a long time… That I didn’t realize it for so long is what hurt the most, Sun Woo-ya.

I’m sorry. For looking you in the eyes far too late. For not realizing it sooner. That’s what I had to tell you.”

Guh. That’s so sweetly honest and vulnerable and considerate, that I’m honestly surprised that Sun Woo doesn’t combust right there and then, &/or explode into a million little pieces.

I do love Sun Woo’s response, which feels clever and romantic, at the same time. The way he finishes her lyrics, with his answer, is just perfect.

“Please stay by my side. I love you.”

YESS. Sun Woo’s tender gaze, flecked with amusement and affection, is also perfectly perfect, as he gets up and leans in to finally kiss Eun Soo.

Ahhhh. Lovely. So, so lovely.

I honestly would have liked this show to have been longer, to allow us to explore their relationship more, or just soak in the feels for longer. But it is what it is, and I guess we should be grateful that we even get 4 episodes to enjoy.

That said, that little “bonus track” epilogue, where we see Sun Woo and Eun Soo just soaking up each other’s presence, and being so content, just to sit and snuggle together, does work quite nicely, to give us a nice solid sense of closure and happiness.

THE FINAL VERDICT:

Pleasant, breezy, and ultimately feel-good.

FINAL GRADE: B++

TRAILER:

MV:

WHERE TO WATCH:

You can check out this show on Disney+.

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