Why When The Weather is Fine – starring Park Min-young and Seo Kang-joon – is not your typical Korean drama romance

Jun 16 , 2020

Starring Park Min-young and Seo Kang-joon, When the Weather is Fine marks a change of pace from your typical K-drama. Photo: JTBC

Known for What’s Wrong with Secretary Kim? and Her Private Life, romcom darling Park Min-young dials down for the more mellow charms of JTBC’s latest K-drama series

After highly successful spins with What's Wrong with Secretary Kim? and Her Private Life, Park Min-young has moved outside her usual feminine, cutesy, Cinderella romcom characters, for a more melancholic role in JTBC's When the Weather is Fine. While her previous gigs were cheerful and comedic, amid a fast-paced and oftentimes cringey romance, her current project is the very opposite. With muted colours and a slow build-up, it might be a snoozer for some, but will prove just the tonic for others. Read on to find out if it’s the next show for you to get hooked on.

Meet Hae-won and Eun-seob

Based on a novel of the same name by Lee Do-woo, the new drama tells the tale of a cello teacher, Mok Hae-won, who goes back to her tiny countryside hometown after being rejected by the big city.

Hae-won has been playing since she was a child, starting off in her hometown in Bukhyun county. After an unsuccessful stint in Seoul, she quits and moves back in with her aunt, who runs the local inn. While in the tiny town, she runs into her high school friend, Im Eun-seob, who runs the nearby bookstore.

Eun-seob has named it Goodnight Bookstore, in hope that people around him will sleep at ease. His daily routine is peaceful and content, if rather mundane – wake up, make tea, man the store, run his book club and update his blog. Hae-won’s re-entry to the town shakes this up as she asks for a job at the bookstore.