This article contains minor spoilers. Fantasy romance is a busy space in the realm of Korean dramas, and Kiss Sixth Sense knows it. Rather than have the usual single romantic lead possessing a supernatural power, this show gives very different special abilities to both of its main characters. Eleven years ago, a South Korean romantic tear-jerker called Pained was released in theatres with a similar gambit. The film was about a man who could feel no pain who falls for a woman with severe haemophilia, for whom even the slightest injury could be deadly. Based on a popular webtoon by acclaimed artist Kang Full, the film had a large cast (starring Kwon Sang-woo and Jung Ryeo-won) and a compelling twist that doubled down on a popular romantic trope (the terminal-illness melodrama). Kiss Sixth Sense is based on a popular web novel by Gatnyeo, stars Yoon Kye-sang and Seo Ji-hye, and also plays around with a well-established genre convention. But good ideas are a dime a dozen, and what really sets shows and films apart is the follow-through that elevates a good concept. Kiss Sixth Sense: familiar fantasy romcom K-drama on Disney+ Ad agency worker Hong Ye-sul (Seo) can glimpse the future of anyone whose body comes into contact with her lips. Her boss Cha Min-hu (Yoon), on the other hand, has extra-sensitive sensory perception that allows him to hear, see and smell things that others can’t. Pained fell short by using regressive gender tropes (tough guy protecting weak woman) but at least there was a clear intention behind its high concept. Kiss Sixth Sense suffers from the opposite problem. There’s no baleful social message, but there are also no ostensible reasons for the characters to have the abilities they do. Beyond having special capabilities, they aren’t simpatico with one another. Ye-sul’s power is the clearer of the two and is used to put forward an interesting idea: what if you foresaw a romantic future with someone you hated in the present? That opens the door to lots of other potentialities, but the story isn’t very original beyond its opening conceit. Save for a simple brush with a co-worker that served to introduce her ability at the beginning of the show, Ye-sul’s powers of premonition are strictly limited to her dating life, boiling all the way down to a simple binary: she sees separate futures when she kisses the men she loves, and a joint one when she locks lips with the one she doesn’t. It isn’t until episode eight that the show finds a way to play within those strict parameters. Acclaimed director Lee Pil-yo (Kim Ji-suk), Ye-sul’s ex, is brought in to helm an ad for a major new campaign. He wants to reconnect with Ye-sul but she is busy dealing with Min-hu, and furthermore still scarred by the vision she had of Pil-yo with another woman back when they were dating. Then she discovers that he was an unwilling participant in that kiss – he actually spurned another woman’s advances. By the time this fact comes to light, Ye-sul and Min-hu are a couple, though it’s the most sterile and awkward relationship you could imagine. By now Ye-sul has clearly seen their happy future together several times and Min-hu is too straight an arrow to engage in a one-night stand, so they decide to date. Things don’t start well for them for a variety of reasons. Min-hu isn’t attentive during work hours, Ye-sul proposes a strict dating contract, which at first includes a no-kissing provision, and most damaging of all, Min-hu doesn’t share his special ability with her, which leads to a number of misunderstandings and lots of hurt feelings. 8 new Korean drama series to look out for in June 2022 So when Ye-sul discovers that Pil-yo wasn’t destined to fall for someone else, her rocky relationship with Min-hu starts to look even worse. Fate is a hard thing to shake in a Korean drama, but now it may take a little longer for her premonitions to come to pass. Min-hu’s ability is less clearly defined, both in how it manifests itself and how it affects the story. His instincts are sharper and he can sometimes be Ye-sul’s protector, which comes in handy since a mystery man is after her, but most of the time it involves seeing a tortured Min-hu decked out in dark glasses and noise-cancelling headphones. By not playing with the supernatural abilities more, which may in fact be connected to a shared past trauma, the story lazily shuffles past a number of unopened doors. These missed opportunities are frustrating, but they pale in comparison to the rankling mess that is the show’s utterly superfluous secondary romantic pairing. Ye-sul’s cousin and roommate Ban Ho-woo (Kim Ga-eun) randomly hooks up with Min-ho’s doctor and friend Oh Seung-taek (Tae In-ho) in a hysterical (not the humorous kind) nightclub sequence. The pair then engage in an utterly bizarre and nauseating one-week lovey-dovey romance, at the issue of which Ho-woo calls time, wanting to preserve the early rush of romance and move on – only that she’s moving on to Seung-taek’s hospital as a new resident doctor. Sixth senses abound, but what this confused fantasy workplace romance really needs is an 11th-hour save. Kiss Sixth Sense is streaming on Disney+.