[HanCinema's Drama Review] "Hogu's Love" Episode 2

There's not really much to explain about Do-hee. The woman has cruised through most of her life by using confidence and competence to intimidate people into following her orders. That's why she's so outrageously attractive to men. So it should come as little surprise that her ex-boyfriend Kang-cheol (played by Lim Seulong) shares most of Do-hee's personality traits. That romance probably seemed like a much better idea before they realized a relationship can only have one dictator. And even that's one too many.

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Note that, cute romantic comedy antics notwithstanding, Hogu isn't really much better a match. For most of the episode it definitely seems like he's inspiring Do-hee to do better- to be more considerate, more cautious, and less outspoken. This goes on right up until they part, when Do-hee appears to have decided to resolve her problem sensibly and responsibly. Then Do-hee impulsively decides to emulate Hogu in the worst possible way- by making an unnecessary sacrifice.

Now, when Hogu makes an unnecessary sacrifice, typically he's the only one who suffers. Do-hee, by contrast, has set into motion a chain of events that will severely inconvenience and jeopardize her team, her sponsors, Kang-cheol, Hogu, Do-hee herself and most blatantly of all, the baby Do-hee knows full well she can't possibly take care of. Granted, "Hogu's Love" is a romantic comedy, so we know things aren't going to go too horribly. All the same, it's extremely obvious here that Do-hee has made the worst possible decision. If this is the result of one heart-to-heart with Hogu, it's clearly going to take way more than that to get either of these characters to grow up.

...My goodness this is a romantic comedy isn't it? While the depth in this drama is excellent from an objective standpoint, it's absolutely astounding considering the way the script is also able to sneak in the occasional funny joke. At home, at the bar, or in flashback, every single humorous anecdote about Do-hee also illustrates the critical flaws in her person that define all of the dramatic impact in "Hogu's Love".

Do-hee is the kind of character only a woman would write. A man would be too scared of being called a misogynist- goodness knows Do-hee skirts dangerously close to negative stereotypes. But then that's the beauty of the script so well-penned by screenwriter Yoon Nan-joong. Hogu himself is the exact same kind of stereotype, just from the opposite end of the social spectrum. As it turns out, actual real people, especially in their twenties, don't fit into neat little politically correct categories. Selfish people just continue to act selfish until someone or something forces them to stop. Who knew?

Review by William Schwartz

"Hogu's Love" is directed by Pyo Min-soo, written by Yoon Nan-joong and features Park Soon-chun, UEE, Choi Wooshik, Lim Seulong, Lee Soo-kyung-I, Jung Won-joong and many more.

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