Daebak K-Rambles

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

Re-watch value: 2 out of 5 stars

SYNOPSIS

*taken from MyDramaList*

Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha is a love story set in the seaside village of Gongjin.

Yoon Hye Jin, a dentist, is a woman who has beauty and brains. She has a seemingly perfect life but finds her life plan plummeting due to a tiny bit of righteousness in her heart. After various impediments, she moves to the seashore town Gongjin and encounters Hong Doo Shik. She becomes interested in him. Hong Doo Shik is called Chief Hong by local residents. Officially, he is unemployed but is a jack of all trades and a master of odd jobs. Chief Hong helps everyone in Gongjin with any situation encountered.

RAMBLING

*Beware of spoilers*

This was such a pleasant watch. It’s definitely in my top 5 shows of 2021. These wholesome seaside romances just hit different.

Kim Seon-ho was beyond charming. This was one of those performances and roles that an actor gets remembered for. It’s Boys Over Flowers for Lee Min-ho or Goblin for Gong Yoo. It’s Titanic for Leo. I mean, Kim Seon-ho united more than divided (the one caveat to this is THE scandal, which I will not go into detail here). I enjoyed his free-spirited persona, and I think his open, unguarded face and the vulnerability he displayed in the role melted hearts worldwide. The dimples helped so much, too.

Shin Min-ah as an effervescent dentist who makes snap life decisions was fitting.  She never held back her feelings, negative or positive, and I felt close to her because of that. I’ve gotten better as I’ve aged, but I used to stick my foot in it all the time. I’m not the greatest at apologizing, and neither was Shin Min-ah’s Hye Jin. Avoidance was Hye Jin’s first line of defense, although ultimately, she always faced her mistakes. (The dimples helped so much, too.)

Their central romance was all butterflies and sugar cookies and puppies—all good things. Their main conflict was that Doo Shik had difficulty letting her into his life, spilling his guts about where he was and what he did before returning to Gongjin. While Hye Jin was an open book, he put up walls thinking she wouldn’t like what she found behind them. My favorite moment between them was when she had that crazy intruder in her house, and he tackled the dude but got sliced by the knife in the process. That damsel-in-distress save and the aftermath of him getting treated at the hospital was super cute. She starts crying at the hospital, and it’s just heartwarming.

PD Nim as the second lead was distressing since he was actually so lovely. I gravitated toward his the-one-that-got-away story. He was a supportive and shy friend throughout their college career, and he never could pluck up the courage to tell her how he felt. Brutal.

I really enjoyed the second couple of Hye Jin’s bff and dental hygienist Mi Seon and awkward policeman Eun Chul. Mi Seon felt very relatable in that she put herself out there and had frequent crushes that never worked out. The secondhand embarrassment from her asking out the cop was too much; I wanted to cry right there. The way Eun Chul warms up to her and finally finds the courage to get with her was adorable.

Doo Shik’s secret and the reason for his mysterious return to the seaside town was a little… anti-climactic? I was expecting something pretty salacious, but he simply felt responsible for the attempted suicide of a poor man who unilaterally invested and lost all the money he had. On top of this, at the time, Doo Shik was so drunk and wretched that his best friend drove his car in his stead, and when they (of course) got T-boned, Doo Shik’s bff died tragically in the crash.

Although his hidden past wasn’t working for me, I did like how it made him face his trauma and heal. If this show had a thesis, it would be healing. Every character in the seaside town was harboring some kind of trauma, grief, or unforgiveness.

My favorite plot/character arc in the town, which truly struck a chord with me way more than Doo Shik’s tale of woe, was the restaurant/building owner Hwa Jeong who divorced her husband suddenly. He was really the worst, took her for granted, never respected what she contributed to the relationship, and worse, he never truly loved her and despised being married. I supported her character and her behavior 100%. He was clueless and cruel. Their reconciliation was well crafted and satisfying.

The show also begged the question How do you measure success? For Hye Jin, it was clearly a material scale. She thought less of Doo Shik just because he wasn’t working full-time at some large company. It wasn’t until he revealed that he’s a graduate of a prestigious Seoul university that she looked at him differently. Doo Shik, on the other hand, completely rejected the established definition of success after he tried to live a life that was expected of him. He had a cushy, high-stress job in the real world of Seoul, and it absolutely crushed his spirit. He spent his time in Gongjin basically deconstructing from this idea that you’re less of a person if you aren’t working a white collar job.

(Side note: The scene of him playing golf with her snooty Seoul friends reminded me of Jimmy Fallon’s character in Fever Pitch.)

I loved how the town of Gongjin seemed like that village from the saying “It takes a village to raise a child.” Despite Doo Shik’s tragic orphanhood, he never lacked because the town raised him and loved him as if he was blood. It was extremely moving, and it made me miss the days when my family was larger.

Although the finale was too predictable for me, it was indeed satisfying. One last blunder—she proposes to Doo Shik before he can propose to her. They eventually take their wedding photos with the meddling, nosy town crowding them, and they take off running, lovers hoping for just a little privacy… ‘til death do them part.

Did you see Hometown Cha Cha Cha? Tell me your thoughts in the comments below!