Netflix K-drama Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha: promising and peaceful romantic drama has perfect chemistry
- Shin Min-a and Kim Seon-ho star in this city-slicker-in-the-countryside romcom set in a sleepy seaside town that invites viewers to cast aside our modern worries
- Korean romantic dramas have been a mixed bag this year thanks partly to a lack of chemistry between lead pairings, but there is no such problem here
Romance is in the sea breeze in Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha, the latest Korean drama streaming globally on Netflix. This opposites-attract romcom set in a quaint seaside town stars Shin Min-a and Kim Seon-ho and is sure to delight fans with its rustic charms.
Shin plays Yoon Hye-jin, a young dentist working in Seoul where she lives in a high-rise apartment. She enjoys living a material life but also has a moral streak that gets her into hot water with her boss at work, who she believes to be fleecing cash out of customers through unnecessary procedures. Hye-jin gets the boot and following an ill-advised drinking session, she goes on a rant about her experience online.
On the job market but blacklisted by her former employer, Hye-jin has mounting bills to pay and on a whim, she visits Gongjin, a seaside town she visited with her parents as a child.
Life in Gongjin proceeds at a sleepy pace, except for the life of Hong Du-sik (Kim), Gongjin’s everyman, who everyone affectionately calls “Mr Hong”. Du-sik is everyone’s favourite fixer-upper and he seems to perform all the odd jobs in town, and always with a smile.
Hye-jin doesn’t warm to Mr Hong on their first encounter on the beach after she loses her shoes and he lends her a pair of dirty bathroom sandals. She spends a frustrating day in the town, with highlights including a stalled car, bad coffee and no means to pay for it after the card readers and ATMs in the area go on the blink.