Review: The Undateables (2018)
Jung Eum and Coach Yang deserve so much more than what they got
Synopsis
“The Undateables” or “Handsome guy and Jung Eum” features the love story of professional-diver-turned-couple-manager Yoo Jung Eum and toy gallery curator Kang Hoon Nam, who is also the son of a high-profile assemblyman and the CEO of a food company. Jung Eum and Hoon Nam are brought together to help the “undateable” members of the match making company Jung Eum works for, since Hoon Nam also ghost writes a relationship column in a men’s magazine. As they work together, they quickly become close and ultimately begin a relationship. However, its complicated by the confession of Jung Eum’s childhood friend (who is also a doctor) Choi Joon Soo, and the unexpected arrival of Hoon Nam’s old roommate, Su ji.
Overall: 5/10, probably wouldn’t watch again
“The Undateables” is a light rom-com with an amazing cast but a lack-luster story line and little to no character development. The main couple has a lot of chemistry and the show is heavy-ish on physical comedy, so if you are looking for a laugh this might be your show. I’d recommend it if you are looking for something that’s cutesy/feel-good, but very predictable. If you like Her Private Life (2019), you may also like this show!
Review (some minor spoilers ahead)
This show caught my eye while I was surfing Viki because of 1) the name and 2) Hwang Jung Eum. At first glance I thought, “a story where the two main characters are ‘undateable’? Sign me up!” Reading the synopsis gave me a more realistic view of what the show was about, and it still sounded cute so I watched anyway. While both of the leads have had their own troubles in love, neither are “undateable” and are instead helping other people who are “zero members” of the match-making service Jung Eum works for, who are people who have gone on zero dates (thus, apparently, “undateable”).
I am a sucker for the “enemies to lovers” trope, and came in with the expectation for that to play out with this show. Unfortunately (for me), they started a flirtation/relationship pretty early on, so I was disappointed in this respect. I ended up watching primarily for the “zero members”. My favorite couple, who they also spend a considerable amount of time on matching in the beginning, is Oh Doo Ri and Kim So Wool. Oh Doo Ri is the middle-aged daughter of a mogul who is happy being single yet pressured into getting married due to her age. Kim So Wool is a farmer who lives a simple lifestyle on the countryside. I was first interested in Doo Ri since she isn’t the young, skinny, working woman that is characteristic of main actresses. She is, in addition to being middle aged, plus sized, and employed in doing whatever she wants, frivolous, adventurous, and picky about who she associates with, making her an interesting side character to be helping find love. Her initial meeting with So Wool is far from magical, which makes their eventual match that much better for me. I loved seeing them fall in love (even though it was a minor part of the show) so much so that I hoped that they would give all the side couples a similar treatment.
After their match they focus a lot less on the matches and a lot more on the drama with Joon Soo, Hoon Nam, and Jung Eum. Almost all of the rest of the matches from there on feel emptier to me (with the notable exception of the chocolatier and the bookstore owner). They also focus more on the relationship between Coach Yang, Jung Eum’s friend, and Yook Ryong, the assistant/cousin of Hoon Nam. I am far from happy with how Coach Yang and Yook Ryong’s relationship developed, and I find this to be one of the more disappointing aspects of the show, all of my expectations aside. Seeing Coach Yang get her heart broken again and again by Yook Ryong was hard enough, and seeing him wise up to his mistakes wasn’t as satisfying as it could have been if he hadn’t been such a unwittingly heartless jerk at the beginning. Now, don’t get me wrong, I’ve forgiven heartless jerks in the past. But there is a difference for me when a character has a change of heart (and becomes repentant) versus just realizing you couldn’t get away with being a jerk and feeling regretful of your decision. I think Yook Ryong is the later, and it makes it hard to forgive him because he knew from the beginning what he was doing was wrong. I found their scenes the hardest to get through.
The drama between the leads was, in a word, meh. I love a good love triangle, or love square, but this show really just doesn’t commit to it. What it does commit to is making Joon Soo into a jerk for a while, even though he had soooo much potential to be one of those quietly-in-love-with-the-woman-lead best friends. (Spoiler) Instead, he confesses at the same time as Hoon Nam says he wants to date Jung Eum, and proceeds to remind Jung Eum at every opportunity that he’s been there for her, that he loves her, etc.. She is obviously burdened because she doesn’t want to lose her best friend of 30 years, but also doesn’t want to date him. It just felt.... weird. Meanwhile, they don’t really do much to develop the relationship between Su ji and Hoon Nam, even though there is supposedly a history there. She really only appears to make Jung Eum feel bad in a few scenes and then she disappears into the background. This is an injustice! I really think she could have been a bad b*tch if they had just, done something with her character besides show up to meetings and say she wants to marry Hoon Nam. There is barely any scheming on her part, which is something I always look forward to in a drama like this. (End spoiler)
One thing I will say for this drama is that the chemistry between Hoon Nam and Jung Eum is definitely worth all the other parts. I wouldn’t say it completely makes up for the lack luster aspects, but taken as a whole with the matches and the main couple I would say that it's definitely something you could watch the show for. I wouldn’t really watch this if you are looking for the “whole experience”, but then again that isn’t always necessary, in my opinion. I probably wouldn’t watch it again unless someone else insisted, but I wouldn’t not recommend it if you need a laugh or a light show to watch. Bonus is that if you watch on Viki, its broken in to 30-min episodes so you can break it up more as needed.
