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Pierce Conran

Lead cast: Choi Soo-young, Gong Myung
Latest Nielsen rating: 3 per cent
Second Shot at Love, a new rural romantic comedy starring Choi Soo-young of Girls’ Generation and Gong Myung (recently seen in Way Back Love), opens with a young doctor making a presentation about the dangers of alcohol in Korean society.
The doctor, played by Gong, talks about how tolerant South Korea is of alcohol, with few – if any – restrictions as to when and where you can drink. He goes on to highlight how drinking is woven into the social fabric and work culture, where there are many high-functioning alcoholics who drink their way through successful careers.


Though rarely identified as such, Korean dramas are littered with these high-functioning alcoholics – leading characters who excel at their jobs during the day while frequently getting blackout drunk at night.
It would be almost unthinkable for a Korean romcom not to feature at least one scene of a lead character drinking too much and making a fool of themselves in front of the co-lead (and future romantic partner), then later waking up mortified when realisation sets in the next morning.
Second Shot at Love is no exception. Choi’s character, brilliant mechanic Han Geum-joo, causes a spectacular drunken scene at a family gathering and wakes up the next day on the couch of Seo Ui-joon (Gong).
Given its cautionary opening scene that, through parallel editing, outs Geum-joo as an alcoholic, and its indulgence in inebriated comic clichés, the show has its rum cake and eats it too, running the risk of coming off as thematically disingenuous early on.

Geum-joo lives in the big city and is engaged to be married but she spends her evenings drowning herself in booze. When her fiancé gives her an ultimatum one day – me or the booze – she opts for liquid oblivion.
Her mother, Kim Gwang-ok (Kim Sung-ryung, A Virtuous Business), is apoplectic. After her disappointment is compounded when Geum-joo loses her post at work, Gwang-ok drags her good-for-nothing daughter back to the countryside by the ear.
Her father Han Jung-soo (Kim Sang-ho, Sweet Home) and sister Han Hyun-joo (Jo Yoon-hee, The Escape of the Seven) – also fans of a not-so-occasional drink – are delighted to see her, but then Gwang-ok bans booze from the household.
From here on out, things proceed exactly as you would expect them too. After initially being fed a lie, nosy neighbours figure out that Geum-joo gave up getting married because of her fondness for booze.

Ui-joon is Geum-joo’s saintly childhood friend – and almost certainly first love – beloved by the community, who Geum-joo is horrified to meet again. But as they share the same friends and live in a small community, their paths will often cross.
Geum-joo also gets a moral reprieve as the show quickly gives a cause for her alcoholism. Her drinking only became a problem after she discovered that her fiancé had got another woman pregnant and was planning to leave her.
The role of drinking in Korean society has changed a lot in the past decade or so. The country’s infamous booze-heavy work dinners are not always the obligatory events they used to be, and many people – especially younger generations – are cutting back on alcohol or forgoing it completely.
Second Shot at Love is a tacit acknowledgement of these changing cultural norms, but it seems more interested in simply introducing the trendy topic than actually exploring it.

Ultimately, this is another series about a disappointed young adult spat out by the big city who reconnects with their roots in the countryside, à la Welcome to Samdal-ri, Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha and countless others.
The initial message is sidelined quickly in favour of a familiar formula, but even though originality is in short supply, the show at least features a winning cast.
Though not quite as cheek-pinchingly adorable as in Way Back Love or Killing Romance, Gong’s charm as the community’s beloved doctor once again shines through.
Choi, who is supremely at ease with the physical demands of the show’s comic beats, is equally charismatic. Having aced these bright and confident characters before (Run On, If You Wish Upon Me), one wonders when she’ll be given a chance at richer material.

That said, we will get to briefly see a different side of her in From the World of John Wick: Ballerina, her Hollywood debut, which will be released in June.
Though these stars are reasonable enough to give the show a second shot for now, time will tell if they can win out against formula in the long run.
Second Shot at Love is streaming on Viu.


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K-drama Second Shot at Love: Choi Soo-young, Gong Myung tackle alcohol in new rural romcom

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Jo Yoon-hee (left) as Geum-joo’s sister Han Hyun-joo and Kim Sang-ho as Geum-joo’s father Han Jung-soo in a still from Second Shot at Love.

Kim Sung-ryoung as Geum-joo’s mother Kim Gwang-ok in a still from Second Shot at Love.

Choi Soo-young in a still from Second Shot at Love.

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Second Shot at Love starts well but time will tell whether its trendy theme of alcohol in Korean society is given the attention it deserves


Second Shot at Love starts well but time will tell whether its trendy theme of alcohol in Korean society is given the attention it deserves.


K-drama Second Shot at Love: Choi Soo-young, Gong Myung tackle alcohol in new rural romcom

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Second Shot at Love starts well but time will tell whether its trendy theme of alcohol in Korean society is given the attention it deserves

Second Shot at Love starts well but time will tell whether its trendy theme of alcohol in Korean society is given the attention it deserves