A pleasant though fairly predictable Korean family-themed drama, I admit I watched this drama Romance In The House (2024) on Netflix because I have been very fond of the leading actor, Ji Jin Hee, for over two decades, in dramas like Love Letter, Spring Days, Dong Yi, Snow Lotus, Spotlight, Late Night Restaurant, Second To Last Love, and films like Paradise, The Old Garden, and the brilliant Chinese musical film Perhaps Love (which I bought on Blu-ray and have re-watched so many times I've lost count!). Ji Jin Hee is not only classically handsome but an excellent actor to boot (and those two qualities don't always go hand in hand in the acting profession!). His character here starts off rather mysterious and suspicious but you will find yourself warming to him pretty quickly.

Female lead is the sprightly Kim Ji Soo (Where Stars Land) and second female lead, playing her daughter, is Son Na Eun (Lost). Second male lead who becomes enamored with Na Eun's character is the always delightful Minho (To The Beautiful You, Because It's The First Time) who was also lucky enough to meet Melania Trump when she visited Korea.

The Story:

We meet the fatherless Byeon family living in the city in an apartment complex, including middle aged Geum Ae Yeon (Kim Ji Soo) and her two adult children, daughter Byeon Mi Rae (Son Na Eun) and son Byeon Hyeon Jae (Yoon San Ha) who is a bit of a troublemaker (and acts as some comic relief when necessary). Both mother and daughter work in a big retail mart selling food to make ends meet.

Geum Ae Yeon had been divorced a decade earlier from a deadbeat husband who could never keep a steady job, a man named Byeon Moo Jin (Ji Jin Hee). The family hasn't seen him in many years and even think he might have died. Then a big shakeup in their situation occurs: the landlord of the apartment building where they live dies suddenly and suspiciously, and the tenants hear that a new landlord has bought the building.

It turns out that the new landlord is none other than Ae Yeon's ex-husband Moo Jin! They thought he had died! How in the world could he have come up with enough money to buy this apartment building!? The family is in shock when he appears back into their lives. Of course they want to know more details about his history and financial situation but Moo Jin is very secretive. They also want to know if they can remain as tenants, and of course Moo Jin gives his assent.

It becomes obvious that Moo Jin hopes to reunite with his ex-wife whom he has never really stopped loving. He even makes romantic advances to her but with little success ... at first. Their daughter Mi Rae is strongly opposed to her father's idea of reuniting with the family. She has bad memories of her parents' breakup and holds a lot of resentment against her Dad. Moo Jin's son Hyun Jae seems to be the only member of the family who supports his Dad's attempts at reconciliation.

As a distraction to her family troubles, daughter Mi Rae begins to become romantically involved with a security guard at the same mart she and her Mom work at. His name is Nam Tae Pyeong (Minho) and he is an athletic type, in the past a member of the national Taekwondo team. He hides his real identity from everyone, that he is in fact the son of the owner of the mart that the Byeon female family members work at. He wants to be loved for his own achievements and abilities.

Little by little the characters grow closer and more trusting of one another. The romance of the older couple grows stronger and so does the romance of the younger couple. There are still stresses that pop up, of course, but we really begin to feel that a happy ending might actually occur for everyone. Some twists and turns in the story are pretty standard for family-themed dramas in K-dramaland but you will no doubt still enjoy the journey. Some mysteries are revealed and solved in clever ways.

Check out Romance In The House on Netflix and see if it's your cuppa tea. Enjoy! 

 

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