[HanCinema's Drama Review] "Dating Agency: Cyrano" Episode 5

If the fourth episode was about the way first love entangles people, this episode is about recovery. I'm honestly impressed at how quickly Byeong-Hoon is able to pull himself together and salvage a plan that had just about been completely shot. The appearance of his first love Yoon I-Seol last episode seemed to spell out a possible crisis situation- but surprisingly, it actually improves his reasoning by helping him figure out exactly what first love means to an adult, and how it needs to be sculpted appropriately for a teen.

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Kim Yeong-Hwa plays I-Seol with a cool conviction that really emphasizes her place as a counterpart to Byeong-Hoon, as well as an influence on his life's direction. I couldn't help but notice that her outfit looks completely ridiculous- who wears a trenchcoat with shorts? And yet, I-Seol looks so confident and so poised that she pulls it off. In many ways, Byeong-Hoon actually wants to be I-Seol.

The brilliance here is that Byeong-Hoon knows all of this just the same way we do because he really is that analytical. And the decisions Byeong-Hoon makes concerning her reappearance in his life come off with the same steady calculation that he immediately puts to use for the sake of the agency. It's a great parallel to his character in the original "Cyrano Agency", where Byeong-Hoon is still able to scheme in spite of (or more likely, because of) his own past romantic relationships.

It's with this background in mind that the high school plot is resolved. There's a lot of discussion on what first love is, and why it's important to who we become as adults. And the manipulation takes this into account. Even though there's an open question lingering about the long-term prospects of the relationship, a "successful" first love is not defined by longevitity. So a plotline that started out seeming rather goofy actually ends up coming off as nearly profound. Normally only teenagers or worried parents of teenagers discuss these kinds of implications in fiction. Here, there's just enough separation that we're left with something fairly introspective.

Review by William Schwartz

"Dating Agency: Cyrano" is directed by Kang Kyeong-hoon, written by Shin Jae-won and features Lee Jong-hyuk, Choi Soo-young, Hong Jong-hyun and Jo Yoon-woo.

What the next episode has in store for us is difficult to say. It looks like a return to form- less of the precision and deliberation that made up the high-school plot and more Byeong-Hoon comes up with the most ridiculously convoluted plan possible. The show's not particularly laugh-out-loud funny, but it consistently succeeds in bringing a smile to my face.