Supposedly based on a memorable 2011 film, with the always superb actress Ye Jin Son and dynamite actor Min Ki Lee, called Spellbound, of which I am a super fan of, I wasn't sure if this drama Spooky In Love could hope to compare with the earlier masterpiece film, and quite honestly, for me, it didn't. It had different writers and directors, and only a few plot points were similar, and even those ended up being twisted compared to the film. I think the Korean drama trivia sites were wrong in even stating it was inspired by the earlier film; it went off on different tangents and it was quite an emotional adjustment for me to continue watching, but I stuck with it for the three main actors cast in the drama, whom I have loved a lot in previous dramas.

Our lead actress Park Eun Bin I have been watching in dramas for over two decades, since she was even a child, truly excellent series like Love Rain, Glass Slipper, Stained Glass, Resurrection, The Legend, Dream High, Do You Like Brahms?, Castaway Diva, and more recently the intense Hyper Knife, the hilarious The WONDERfools, and her most famous performance given in the masterpiece Extraordinary Attorney Woo (WHEN WILL A SEQUEL BE MADE FOR THIS SUPERB DRAMA? WE ARE STILL WAITING!!! It has legions of fans worldwide!).

Our lead actor is the sensitive, intelligent Yang Se Jong who impressed me in his earlier dramas Saimdang: Memoir of Colors, My Country: The New Age, Doona!, and the very under-rated Low Life. He was one of the main reasons I kept watching this supposed rip-off of the unforgettable film Spellbound. He displayed literal emotional perfection in every scene he was in, just like actor Min Ki Lee did in the film.

Then, to my delight, second male lead was cutie pie Ong Seong Wu (Would You Like A Cup Of Coffee?, Moment Of Eighteen, Boyfriend On Demand, poignant movies When We Were Wired, Starlight Is Falling, Life Is Beautiful). He always makes me smile ... therefore I was not thrilled at all when the writers here turned him into a bad guy half-way through the drama. He always does better playing good guys, not bad guys. Remember that next time, casting directors!

The Story:

Stunning Cheon Yeori (Park Eun Bin) is the famous heiress to one of South Korea's largest conglomerate family business groups and is the CEO of a luxury hotel in Seoul called The Reina Hotel. (In the film Spellbound Ye Jin Son's character was poor, not a rich heiress). On the outside, Yeori is a perfect girl in both social status and career, but behind the scenes she carries a burden that no one knows about but herself: she has the power to see ghosts. Every day of every week new unjustly-killed spirits will follow her around, most often in the hopes that she can help them find peace in the afterlife (this is opposed to the ghosts in the film Spellbound which were always threatening to Ye Jin Son). These hauntings began when she was still in school as a young person, after a terrible yacht accident which almost killed her. She soon discovered that when her hands touched another person's hands they too saw ghosts, but only for one month's time, so she chose to wear gloves to protect others; plus she often sleeps in a tent in her bedroom because she noticed early on that the spirits tended to avoid her at night if she slept inside one (although in the drama Park Eun Bin's character slept in one less than half the time, while Ye Jin Son's character in the film always slept in one). She has no friends -- on purpose -- so she doesn't place potential allies in trouble. She does have one Grandma named Baek Kyung Ja (veteran actress Ye Soo Jung) who is very demanding of her, especially when it comes to protecting their wealthy family business conglomerate; plus she has other assorted relatives she isn't close to, like a cousin named Cheon Ha Ri (Cho Hye Joo) who is jealous of her, and an aunt named Ok Gye Hui (Baek Ji Won) who thinks her own daughter Ha Ri should be running the family business instead.

Over time Yeori begins to run into a brilliant young prosecuting attorney named Ma Gang Uk (Yang Se Jong) quite a few times, a lawyer who believes in solid evidence and facts to solve cases, not feelings or personal intuition. He lives in a world where logic is everything and he has a big backlog of cases he works on with his two best friends / partners in their legal office, Ko Pil Dong (Lee Chang Hoon) and Son Hyeong Min (Kim Min Ho). (Whereas in the film Spellbound Ye Jin Son's character has two girl friends she only keeps in touch with by phone, here in the drama it's the lead male character who has the two devoted friends, whom he sees in person every single day).

At first Gang Uk does not get along with Yeori, they are two polar opposites in personality. However, a single accidental touch of hands between the two of them turns out to be the key in making them strange but very effective companions eventually, both out to solve sympathetic ghosts' family / legal cases. Gang Uk begins to see ghosts too because they had touched hands and at first he is terrified, but Yeori comforts him a bit when she tells him it will only last for one month's time. During that time he is even able to save her life several times, so they grow even closer emotionally. He also succeeds at his legal cases more and more, particularly one against a murderous golfer named Park Seung Jae (Kim Do Wan). Thankfully, Gang Uk lives with his loving, devoted Grandmother named Paeng Myo Sun (veteran actress Cha Mi Kyung) who adds a decent amount of humor and sweetness to his life whenever he becomes distressed.

 

When Yeori goes to Jeju Island on hotel business she strikes up an old friendship with a former college classmate named Kang Min Hwan (Ong Seong Wu). Since his family owns a luxury hotel too it is his obvious hope that he can become romantically involved with his former classmate Yeori and even become engaged, thereby cementing a successful mutual hotel business conglomerate. However, Yeori doesn't seem so inclined, even though she is friendly toward him, and when Min Hwan discovers why -- that she has a growing romantic relationship with that interfering prosecuting attorney on the mainland -- he becomes bound and determined to ruin Gang Uk professionally and personally. But, as usual with personal revenge stories, the one who ultimately gets in trouble legally is Min Hwan. An old crime he had committed against his deceased adopted brother named Ji Hwan (Kim Min Chul) soon comes to light and his punishment is right around the corner.

In one particularly beautiful scene Yeori herself almost dies and when she is about to step permanently on the other side she meets all the dead spirits she had helped along the way, but then is sent back to life due to one particular loved one there who doesn't want to see any further harm come to her.

As Gang Uk's month of ghostly apparitions comes to an end it appears that Yeori, instead of wanting to join her life to his permanently, wants to release him altogether of the "burden" of being close to her, even though by this time he is completely in love with Yeori and doesn't want to end their relationship, ghosts or no ghosts.

 

I definitely recommend Spooky In Love, to discover how it ends for yourself, even though it doesn't compare in total quality to the film Spellbound, one of my top favorite romantic Korean films of all time. Watch both film and drama and decide for yourself which one speaks to your heart the most. Enjoy!

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