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Pierce Conran

This article contains mild spoilers.
Lead cast: Lee Sun-bin, Kang Tae-oh
Latest Nielsen rating: 2 per cent
Sometimes, all you need is a handsome man, holding progressively larger teddy bears, to come knocking on the door of your idyllic cabin in the woods.
In rural romantic comedy The Potato Lab, that man in question is So Baek-ho (Kang Tae-oh, Extraordinary Attorney Woo).
Baek-ho presents himself – teddy in hand – on the doorstep of potato researcher Kim Mi-kyung (Lee Sun-bin, Boyhood) precisely because his actions have threatened Mi-kyung’s tenure in her cosy cabin.


She lives in the guest house of her brother Kim Hwan-kyung (Shin Hyun-seung, Han River Police), who possesses little business acumen. Earlier that day, Baek-ho – an excellent businessman – looked over his books and gave him some friendly pointers.
Realising that Mi-kyung and their other roommate Lee Ong-ju (Kim Ga-eun, King the Land) have been freeloading off of him, Hwan-kyung is considering asking them to pay their share in rent.
As Baek-ho’s actions threaten the fantastical K-drama haven that Mi-kyung, the female lead, luxuriates in, he has to pay the soft toy price.
This typically cute scenario in The Potato Lab exemplifies some of the trends that have been taking place in the K-drama landscape of late with respect to its male lead characters.

It used to be that all male leads in television romcoms were handsome, rich, skilled at everything and extremely arrogant. Following an obligatory period of being at loggerheads, the female lead eventually sands down that arrogance until the male lead becomes the perfect romantic partner.
Baek-ho is also handsome, rich and skilled at everything – but, instead of arrogance, he possesses a preternatural emotional intelligence that often allows him to divine the female lead’s emotional needs before she is even aware of them.
Case in point, among several examples, is the sequence where Baek-ho brings Mi-kyung to a hotel.
In the wake of her “paying the rent” scare, Mi-kyung’s cushy life suffers another major setback when she walks into her brother’s room and discovers Ong-ju in bed with him.

Long-time friends, Hwan-kyung and Ong-ju had finally acknowledged their attraction for one another and become an item. They keep this nugget of information from Mi-kyung, fearing that she would probably not greet the news with enthusiasm.
Their fears are realised when Mi-kyung finds out. Her first reaction is to vomit and, after speaking her mind, she goes to her workplace for some space.
Baek-ho finds her and seduces her to get her to go with him to a hotel. She readies herself for what she expects to be a night of passion, only for Baek-ho to reveal that he has led her there under false pretences – he just wants her to rest in a comfy bed for the night.
He recognises that she is emotionally vulnerable and that this should not be their first time. Also, she can order all the room service she wants.

Like all Korean romcoms, Mi-kyung and Baek-ho’s relationship begins on the wrong foot. Mi-kyung’s potato lab changes ownership during a corporate takeover, and Baek-ho is the executive sent by the Wonhan conglomerate to decide if the lab is worth keeping.
Baek-ho is dry and analytical, but he is also goofy and clearly warm-hearted. It takes him no time to fall for Mi-kyung and throughout the series he has remained there for her, present and emotionally available until whenever she is ready to take any romantic steps.
The Potato Lab also has secondary romantic interests, but it does not take them very seriously. Mi-kyung’s former flame is Park Ki-see (Lee Hak-joo, Newtopia), a higher-up executive at Wonhan.
Mi-kyung used to work at Wonhan and dated Ki-see but, after he broke off their relationship to marry someone else, she left the company – which fuels her initial resistance to Baek-ho and the company he represents.

Ki-see keeps popping up, but there is never any question of him and Mi-kyung rekindling.
The show lamely presents Yoon Hee-jin (Jung Shin-hye, Moon in the Day) as a pretty girl in Baek-ho’s orbit, hoping we will get the wrong idea, but it is clear that there is nothing going on there. Her reveal as Ki-see’s former fiancé – the one he left Mi-kyung for – feels inconsequential.
Episode eight closes with a big lift door opening, Baek-ho and Mi-kyung shocked to see Hee-jin and Ki-see hugging on the other side. But why should this matter and how exactly will this create any conflict as the show heads for its climax?
The Potato Lab is streaming on Netflix.


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Lee Sun-bin (left) as potato researcher Mi-kyung and Kang Tae-oh as Wonhan executive Baek-ho in a still from The Potato Lab. Like all Korean romcoms, Mi-kyung and Baek-ho’s relationship begins on the wrong foot. 

Lee Sun-bin (left) as potato researcher Mi-kyung and Kang Tae-oh as Wonhan executive Baek-ho in a still from The Potato Lab.

Kang Tae-oh as Wonhan executive Baek-ho in a still from The Potato Lab.

Lee Sun-bin (right) as potato researcher Mi-kyung and Kang Tae-oh as Wonhan executive Baek-ho in a still from The Potato Lab.

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The Netflix drama’s fun premise gives way to a run-of-the-mill story with developments that simply feel inconsequential


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Netflix K-drama The Potato Lab midseason recap: Lee Sun-bin, Kang Tae-oh in generic romcom

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}The Netflix drama’s fun premise gives way to a run-of-the-mill story with developments that simply feel inconsequential

The Netflix drama’s fun premise gives way to a run-of-the-mill story with developments that simply feel inconsequential