K-DRAMA BEAUTY AND MR. ROMANTIC: IM SOO-HYANG-LED MELODRAMA WARMS UP WITH UNREQUITED LOVE AND SECRET IDENTITIES

This 50-episode drama starring Im Soo-hyang and Ji Hyun-woo begins during the childhoods of the characters they portray, with child actors taking their place
Beauty and Mr. Romantic boasts the classic components of a soapy melodrama, with conniving mothers, the reveal of a secret mistress and major family secrets

Lead cast: Im Soo-hyang, Ji Hyun-woo

Latest Nielsen rating: 17.2 per cent

Im Soo-hyang (Doctor Lawyer) and Ji Hyun-woo lead Beauty and Mr. Romantic, the new series from Kim Sa-kyung, scriptwriter of Young Lady and Gentleman, which also starred Ji.

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But do not expect to see the stars straight away, as the story of this weekend drama, which will unspool over the next six months, begins during the childhoods of the characters they portray.

Those characters are Park Do-ra and Go Pil-seung, played as youths by Lee Seol-ah and Moon Seung-hyun.

Do-ra, the eldest of three children, is being raised by her struggling single mother to be an actress. But when her mother is not busy dragging her around to auditions that Do-ra would rather not go to, she tends to abandon her children for days at a time, promising through quickly scrawled notes that she will return after making money.

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During these periods, the primary-school-aged Do-ra is left in charge, which sometimes means standing up to the loan sharks who stop by and try to take her younger brother as collateral until her mother comes out of hiding.

Do-ra's mother finally uproots the family, moving them across the country to Seoul to escape her creditors once and for all. There, they stuff themselves into a small side dwelling which is being rented out by a family to which Pil-seung belongs.

Pli-seung's mother, Kim Sun-young (Yun Yoo-sun), works for a family that runs the App Group, a powerful corporation. The family is experiencing massive turmoil now that the mistress of the late chairman, and mother to his heir, has entered the home to claim what she believes is rightfully hers.

Meanwhile, Do-ra's cash-strapped mother is still causing trouble and begins to take advantage of the kindness of Pil-seung's grandfather Kim Joon-seob (Park Geun-hyung).

But what truly matters is the relationship between Do-ra and Pil-seung. Do-ra is only a child but is utterly smitten with high schooler Pil-seung. When he starts flirting with a young woman who is a few years older than him, Do-ra's jealousy compels her to tell his mother.

During the family drama that ensues, a major family secret spills out into the open that changes the way Pil-seung sees himself. Although neither he nor his mother knows it yet, the secret also ties them to the rich family Sun-young works for in what are sure to be complicated ways down the road.

Beauty and Dr. Romantic will unspool over 50 episodes and, although we are still a fair away off meeting the stars who will portray the lead characters as adults, there has been no shortage of drama so far.

Owing to its far lower budget, this weekend drama calls to mind the prime-time K-dramas that used to screen on Korean televisions 20 years ago. The show may not have anywhere near the gloss we expect from modern Korean dramas, but it boasts all the classic components of makjang - Korean soap operas.

That means we are treated to a lot of over-the-top family drama, much of it thanks to conniving mothers. There is Do-ra's, whose desperation and garish appearance lead us to wonder if being shameless is the only way she knows how to provide for her family, or if she simply views her children as a way to make money.

Even more theatrical is the mistress who enters the App Group household. She appears one day during the ancestral rites for the late chairman, drunkenly causing a scene and demanding to be allowed to move in.

Remarkably, the chairman's son allows this to happen, which only emboldens her further. She demands to be treated with respect by everyone in the household, proceeds to boss everyone around, and even demands to be given control of the company.

In short, she is the most vile person one could ever dream of welcoming into one's home.

Mixing the histrionic interactions of the older family members and innocent, unrequited love between the younger members of the household, the early episodes of Beauty and Mr. Romantic provide undemanding and comfortably familiar melodrama.

However, the real story, which will involve Do-ra as a star actress falling on hard times who meets Pil-seung again, is still to come.

Beauty and Mr. Romantic is streaming on Viu.