By Jae-Ha Kim
jaehakim.com
February 6, 2019
Cha Soo-Hyun (played by Song Hye-Kyo)
Kim Jin-Hyuk (played by Park Bo-Gum)
↑Note: Korean names denote the surname followed by the given name.
“Encounter” is a treat for the eyes. Besides the obvious attractiveness of lead actors Song Hye-Kyo and Park Bo-Gum, the scenery — especially in Havana, Cuba — is a lush, welcome guest star.
Unfortunately, by the time the credits have rolled, I realized that most of the series was much ado about nothing.
In a nice K-Drama role reversal, we have a rich and powerful older businesswoman who has a romance with a younger man. The two meet cute in Havana, where she was robbed and had to rely on the kindness of a stranger. Jin-Hyuk was that stranger. Free from the prying eyes of the media that is obsessed with her unaging beauty, divorce, her father’s political career and her ex-mother-in-law (who is a chaebol), Soo-Hyun enjoys spending time with the young man, who has no idea that she’s famous.
Back in the real world (Seoul), she learns that Jin-Hyuk has just been hired to work in her hotel’s public relations department. She had hoped that their innocent Cuban flirtation was something she could look back on as almost a dream, rather than a reality. But now here he is — with a fresh haircut and nice suit — looking at her with those puppy eyes.
As much as I love me some Park Bo-Gum, I found him a bit too wide-eyed and bushy-tailed in the earlier episodes and his cute behavior bordered on cloying. The script kept referring to him to as a mere child, which made me laugh. He wasn’t a new college graduate, but a man who had already served his mandatory military duty and was a year or two shy of turning 30. Even with her staid clothing and her hair cut into a bob for this role as a no-nonsense businesswoman, Song Hye-Kyo didn’t appear that much older than her love interest.
But this is sexism at work, where viewers have grown accustomed to seeing 25-year-old women paired up with men in their late 30s or mid 40s. In “My Secret, Terrius,” the leading man was 41 and the leading lady was 27 at the time of filming. So Ji-Sub played a spy. Jung In-Sun was a widow and mother of 5-year-old twins.
Had the genders been reversed in “Encounter,” the age difference wouldn’t have even been an issue. But when the woman is a few years older than the man, the horrors!
“Encounter” — the English title for this series — is much more fitting than the Korean title of “남자친구,” which literally translates into boyfriend. It is their small encounters (eating ramen together at a rest stop, looking at street art installations) that set the tone of this series, moreso than any romantic overtures.
As much as I was rooting for this pair, I found their romance to be sweet, but tepid at best. Her best friend/personal assistant and his family friend (the owner of a small eat-in whelk shop) were the livelier couple that I was rooting for.
As good of a person as Jin-Hyuk was written to be, I did not appreciate him going against Soo-Hyun’s decisions under the cloak of knowing what’s best for her. She had specific reasons for her choices — and to undermine her decisions was not an admirable side of him. In fact, I got sick of the men in general telling each other to disregard her words, because they knew what was best for her.
Eff off! Even if she had made the wrong choices, she would’ve come to terms with what she needed to do to make things right again.
Airdates: Sixteen episodes — averaging about 60-minutes each — aired November 28, 2018 to January 24, 2019 on tvN.
Spoiler Alert:
Soo-Hyun’s ex-husband — Jung Woo-Seok (played by Jang Seung-Jo) — is made out to be a philandering jerk. But by Episode 7, it becomes clear that he had never cheated on her. He loved her enough to set her free from his controlling mother, and the only way he could think of accomplishing this was to fabricate an affair and then ask Soo-Hyun to divorce him. He knew that his mother couldn’t place the blame on Soo-Hyun for his infidelity. But because it’s a K-Drama, the mother made her sign a contract that stipulated that she would still be required to attend the important family holidays. I’m not sure why Woo-Seok didn’t confide in Soo-Hyun that he was doing this. But I felt bad for his character, who throughout the series did things to to his own detriment that would benefit Soo-Hyun. But again, here’s a case of a decent guy who won’t accept no for an answer. She’s just not that into you, Woo-Seok.
In Episode 13, Jin-Hyuk’s mother has reached her breaking point. Tired of hearing snide remarks from neighbors who imply that her son got his nice job because he’s dating the CEO, his mom meets with Soo-Hyun and begs her to break up with him. The mom tells her that they lead a simple life and she doesn’t want her son dragged into the media just because of who he is dating. Knowing what a complicated mess her personal life is, Soo-Hyun agrees.
In the finale, Soo-Hyun and Jin-Hyuk reunite. After a year of dating, she suggests they take a trip to Santiage, Chile. He asks if they could take that trip after … marrying. Looks like everybody gets their happy ending after all!
© 2019 JAE-HA KIM | All Rights Reserved
I really enjoyed Encounter. It was refreshing to watch a drama that wasn’t so dramatic in terms of characters and storylines. After each episode I felt a little sense of peace because the mood I got from the series was that of the Romantic era (I likened it to the way I feel looking at art or listening to music from the Romantic eras).
After reading this, I find myself agreeing that while Jin-Hyuk was pretty much perfect, he often pushed aside Soo-Hyun’s very valid feelings. I was forever rooting for her when she stood her ground against every one who opposed her.
It was disappointing that the series didn’t really seem to reach a climax within the story, rather it sailed a long a pretty smooth ride. Usually the main couple have a lot more obstacles to overcome before they get together.
I actually would have loved this series a lot more if they had shot more in Cuba (which is now on my need to visit list).