Weightlifting Fairy Kim Bok Joo

We're having a subdued Saturday at home and avoiding the elephant in the room, so while the boys played, I started Weightlifting Fairy Kim Bok Joo. I've heard it's really good and it rates highly on Viki and it's supposed to be a light, comedic romance, which is what I could use right now.

Kim Bok-Joo (Lee Sung-Kyung) is the lead of the title. It's the same actress that was the lead in About Time (in which I liked the actors but thought the world building really didn't work very well). She's a collegiate (21) weightlifter. In the first episode she has a number of run-ins with Jung Joon-Hyung (Nam Joo-Hyuk), a swimmer. They both attend some type of school that apparently caters to elite athletes. Not sure if this would be an after-university type of thing or something entirely separate.

Anyway, there's already been some misunderstandings along the way -- Bok-Joo thinks Joo-Hyuk is the pervert that's been stealing women's clothing from the girl's dormitory. That gets cleared up by the end, however and they also discover that they met each other when they were children...there's a flashback where a chubby Bok-Joo catches a falling Joo-Hyuk and saves him. Based on the preview for episode two, I'm guessing that's how they wind up thrown together -- he's going to enjoy teasing her. Otherwise, their relationship has been so contentious so far, I don't see why they'd have much to do with each other.

Complicating things (of course) is that Bok-Joo's new roommate is Joo-Hyuk's ex-girlfriend. No idea how she is yet. And (since I read the blurb) that Joo-Hyuk's older cousin is someone that Bok-Joo is going to fall for.

My thoughts after the first episode...well, it seems cute. They've tried to frump up Lee Sung-Kyung and have dressed her in baggy clothes for the most part. She's still cute, though. I like Nam Joo-Hyuk so far. He seems to have a delicate touch underlying his alpha male persona. He seems like he's trying really hard to come across tough and all "I'm the best" but there's a sense that underneath that he's got some vulnerabilities. Bok-Joo seems like a more straightforward character, the kind that will wear her heart on her sleeve.

And...just realised that her uncle is played by Kang Ki-Young, who was the best friend guy in What's Wrong with Secretary Kim. Loved him in that. Sigh. I really am watching too many of these things...

Cautiously optimistic. There are 16 episodes of an hour each. Will check in again around the middle. At least it doesn't look like there's going to be any really weird angst (robot arms or gangsters or other nonsense) and if they're going to do the childhood connection thing, at least they didn't draw it out over a billion episodes and have already made that connection. It makes me wonder though...at least half of the dramas I've watched have included some form or other of the "childhood friends/run-in/destiny" thing. Why is this such a big thing in Korean shows? Is it the "fate" part? I dunno. Out of those, probably half could have done without it at all and either improved the character arcs OR not affected the story at all. So I'm not sure why I get the fascination with this trope.