K-drama My Lovely Liar: Kim So-hyun, Hwang Min-hyun lead cutesy fantasy romantic comedy

Lead cast: Kim So-hyun, Hwang Min-hyun, Seo Ji-hoon, Lee Si-woo Latest Nielsen rating: 3 per cent Romantic comedies come in many shapes and sizes, but they invariably start from the same point: the meet-cute, that all-important first encounter which throws the leads together. Anyone can recognise a meet-cute, but the K-drama variant is particularly specific. It often involves a very unlikely coincidence and it usually sees two future romantic partners getting off on the wrong foot thanks to a misunderstanding. New romcom My Lovely Liar, starring with Kim So-hyun (Love Alarm) and Hwang Min-hyun (Alchemy of Souls) – also known as Minhyun, a singer and formerly a member of the K-pop acts Nu’est and Wanna One – embraces this time-honoured trope and plays around with our expectations of it thanks to its cute fantasy premise. Kim is Mok Sol-hee, the so-called Liar Hunter, who has the ability to tell if someone is lying when they answer a question. She runs a tarot café and employs several people, including tousle-haired driver Baek Chi-hoon (Ha Jong-woo), who chauffeurs her around. 9 of the best new Korean drama series to look out for in August 2023 Sol-hee hires out her services to a range of clients keen to learn if someone around them is being honest, including prospective business or romantic partners. This often involves her posing as their family members. Hwang plays Kim Do-ha, a brilliant but withdrawn songwriter who works exclusively for pop star Sha On (Lee Si-woo, Money Heist: Korea – Joint Economic Area). His success has brought him a lot of attention but he chooses to stay out of the spotlight. Thanks to a mysterious past trauma, he struggles with high-stimulation situations and leads a quiet life, hiding his face behind masks and sunglasses. Kim and Hwang’s characters bump into each other several times in quick succession, with each meeting proving more unlikely than the last. The show offers one playful difference from the standard meet-cute: thanks to her fantastical ability, Sol-hee (Kim) knows if Do-ha is telling the truth, which he always does. One would assume that this helps them avoid any major misunderstandings, but since she can only use her ability to judge his answers to questions, Do-ha’s tight-lipped personality blankets him in an aura of mystery. The first time they meet is five years in the past, when they both rode the same rural bus to escape different people. She got on spontaneously to hide from an angry criminal whose lies she had revealed to his gangster colleagues, while he is moving on after having broken up with his girlfriend, whose brother is on the bus and accusing him of cheating. We later learn that this ex is the source of his trauma. She went missing and he has been suspected of having murdered her. When paparazzi photograph Sha On leaving Do-ha’s luxury high-rise, rumours force him to temporarily relocate. Queue the next coincidence – he becomes Sol-hee’s next-door neighbour. Other coincidences include him being mistaken for a local sexual predator, who also wears black clothes and a mask – Sol-hee quickly clears his name – and the fact that Sol-hee and Do-ha are sporting rivals. They are both fans of the English Premier League; she supports Manchester United and he roots for Liverpool. Sol-hee is hired by a rival songwriter who wants to know if Do-ha plagiarised him. She learns that he didn’t, and later that night realises that her new next-door neighbour is Do-ha after peeling off his mask. He had already recognised her from their previous encounter on the bus. Thanks to her ability, Sol-hee could prove herself useful to Do-ha, as the case of his missing ex-partner is far from over. In charge of that case is detective Lee Gang-min (Seo Ji-hoon, Revenge of Others), who is being set up as Sol-hee’s secondary love interest, though we see very little of him in the first week’s episodes. Do-ha’s secondary love interest is Sha On, who has been very present so far. She has also been very clear about her affection for Do-ha, though her neediness and aggressive aegyo (a highly affected style of cuteness popularised by Korean female idols) make her rather off-putting. The clearest showcase for Sol-hee’s talent so far has involved a female client curious to know if her new, younger suitor is the real thing. Over the course of a lunch, Sol-hee discovers that his feelings are genuine, but so are those he harbours for the woman’s servant, who he has impregnated. My Lovely Liar’s premise is hardly novel and, alas, amusing interludes such as the above are few and far between. My Lovely Liar is streaming on Viu.