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Pierce Conran

Lead cast: Ahn Eun-jin, Jang Ki-yong
Latest Nielsen rating: 4 per cent
A struggling job-hunter gets swept up in a Cinderella-esque romance in the vivacious and surprisingly passionate romantic comedy Dynamite Kiss.
Ahn Eun-jin, best known for her supporting turn in the medical drama Hospital Playlist, gives her most convincing leading turn yet as the sweet-hearted Go Da-rim, a young woman weighed down by odd jobs and studies as she tries to land an elusive full-time position.


Already embarrassed by her failure to launch, Da-rim is further wounded when she is offered an all-inclusive Jeju Island trip by her younger sister.
Rather than a gift, this is actually a ruse to make sure that Da-rim is out of sight for the sister’s wedding, as she does not want her in-laws to meet her jobless older sister.
Despite this, Da-rim brushes off this poison pill with a smile and tries to make the most of her trip – which proves to be a fateful one.
Last seen in the acclaimed super-powered family series The Atypical Family, co-star Jang Ki-yong cuts a dashing figure as Gong Ji-hyeok, a suave broker born into wealth.
As the series begins, he has just secured a major commitment from an Arab investor, partly by showing his polyglot skills at a global auction.

The only catch is that he needs to secure the services of star Korean software developer Kim Jeong-gwon (Park Yong-woo, You and Everything Else), who just happens to be Da-rim’s ex and is scheduled to be a keynote speaker at a conference, which is of course also taking place on Jeju Island.
Before this reunion of exes, Da-rim and Ji-hyeok – who happen to be staying at the same hotel – arrive separately in Jeju and brush shoulders. During an altercation at the hotel breakfast, Jeong-gwon appears before them.
Da-rim and Ji-hyeok spontaneously pretend to be a couple – Da-rim to save herself from embarrassment, Ji-hyeok to find an opening to woo the star developer.
Ji-hyeok invites Jeong-gwon to a swanky party, which precipitates a makeover for the diffident Da-rim, and this is where the Cinderella fantasy starts. She turns into the belle of the ball and Ji-hyeok is so smitten with her that he jeopardises his deal to help her when Jeong-gwon starts acting like a creep.

He also plants a kiss on her lips; not a staged one, but a real one – a dynamite one. He has never felt anything special for a woman before, but that all changes thanks to Da-rim.
Their dynamite kiss is followed by an idyllic date day in Jeju, which leads to an evening in a hotel room, but just before things get physical, Da-rim gets an urgent call from home: her mother is in hospital.
Da-rim disappears while Ji-hyeok is in the shower and since he does not know her name – an important detail that was somehow overlooked as they swept each other off their feet – he has no way of finding her back in Seoul.
Hospital bills force Da-rim to take on more part-time jobs back in Seoul and Ji-hyeok pines after the girl who captivated him.

Meanwhile, Ji-hyeok is also trying to help his mother, who is terrorised by his awful father. He strikes a deal to save his mother, which involves agreeing to join his father’s company and enter into an arranged marriage with the ditsy heiress Yu Ha-yeong (Woo Da-vi, Jeongnyeon: The Star Is Born).
Ji-hyeok’s sister Ji-hye (Jung Ga-hee, Flex X Cop) is not thrilled that he is joining the company. To make sure he has a hard landing, she sets up an initiative for undesirable mothers to be hired to a team that he will lead.
The unusual job posting catches the desperate Da-rim’s eye. After pretending to be the mother to the son of her single father neighbour Kim Seon-woo (Kim Mu-jun of Genie, Make a Wish), she scores herself an interview: Da-rim and Ji-hyeok are thus unexpectedly reunited.
Save for a brief altercation early on, Da-rim and Ji-hyeok quickly skipped past the confrontational stage of the romance, falling straight into the passionate stage. Though briefly torn apart, they are brought together.
Now, however, a series of misunderstandings and new familial obligations will conspire to keep them apart for the next few weeks.

While much of Dynamite Kiss follows the usual K-drama playbook, what’s been refreshing so far is the early passion of the romance. The “dynamite” kiss is worthy of its name, and sex comes very close to happening very early in the series.
That passion must take a back seat for now as we return to more conventional romcom separation antics, but the series seems to signal that K-dramas are getting a little less conservative.
Dynamite Kiss is streaming on Netflix.


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Jang Ki-yong as rich broker Gong Ji-hyeok in a still from Dynamite Kiss.

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Ahn Eun-jin in a still from the new K-drama series Dynamite Kiss (2025). Photo: Netflix

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Ahn Eun-jin gives her most convincing leading turn yet as a sweet-hearted but frustrated jobseeker in this drama that ramps up the passion


Ahn Eun-jin gives her most convincing leading turn yet as a sweet-hearted but frustrated jobseeker in this drama that ramps up the passion.


Netflix K-drama Dynamite Kiss: Ahn Eun-jin, Jang Ki-yong up the heat in Cinderella romance

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Ahn Eun-jin gives her most convincing leading turn yet as a sweet-hearted but frustrated jobseeker in this drama that ramps up the passion

Ahn Eun-jin gives her most convincing leading turn yet as a sweet-hearted but frustrated jobseeker in this drama that ramps up the passion