appConfigEntityId

bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

isVideo

articlePageQuery

article

articleSchemaContent

content

hooksArticlePageAdvertisementConfigArticle

appConfig

filter

json

liveArticle

Pierce Conran

This article contains spoilers.
4/5 stars
Lead cast: Esom, Ahn Jae-hong
LTNS (short for “Long Time No Sex”) hasn’t been shy about showing us amorous encounters or describing romantic trysts in all their scandalous detail, but perhaps the most heart-stopping moments of the show have come from its most innocent couple – the “cleaning mates” of episode five.


Each episode of this wry and wonderful black comedy, about a sexless and cash-strapped married couple engaging in an unusual side hustle, focuses on a couple engaged in an affair.
Taxi driver Samuel (Ahn Jae-hong) and hotel receptionist Woo-jin (Esom) catch wind of cheating spouses during their work hours and spend their time off following them and trying to catch them in the act.
LTNS: Esom, Ahn Jae-hong play a sexless couple in K-drama comedy gem
This involves following couples to neon-lit motels, but occasionally they wind up in far-flung locations, as when the young blackmailers had to work up a sweat catching up with the oldest cheating couple in the show.
Kang Baek-ho (Jung Jin-young) and Young-ae (Yang Mal-bok) are both elderly and meet on a hiking trail. They head all the way out to sea to enjoy a night of passion in a tent on a barge floating on the open water. Hiking and night swimming are suddenly just as important as snooping.
Next comes the blackmail, following which Samuel and Woo-jin usually net a bag of cash, and occasionally a black eye or broken nose along with it.

This was the case in episode three, when Samuel picks up a drop and is surprised by Baek-ho, who beats him to a pulp. He still gets the money, but only after haggling and agreeing to make it look like he is taking photographs for Baek-ho’s business. The blackmail money arrives minus withholding tax.
It’s Woo-jin’s turn to take a beating when they go after Soo-ji (Hwang Hyun-bin) and Cho-won (Kim Seung-bee), the same-sex couple of episode four.
After picking up the payoff deposited by housewife Soo-ji, they are chased down by stuntwoman Cho-won, who vents her many frustrations on the helpless Woo-jin, breaking her nose. But Soo-ji compels her lover to let Woo-jin escape with the gold – they have too much to lose.

After four episodes of filling their coffers by prying into others’ secret lives, the tables finally turn on our protagonists.
Min-soo (Ok Ja-yeon) lives a lonely life cleaning her apartment during the week and waiting for her husband to drop by on weekends to try to impregnate her. She finally lights up after meeting a nice neighbour who shares her passion. Together, they begin to clean each other’s homes. That neighbour is Samuel.
The pair never so much as hold hands, but the sexual tension between them when they rub down opposite sides of the same window or scoot into each other while tucking in the bedsheets is palpable.
5 of the best new Korean drama series to watch in February 2024
When Min-soo’s husband surprises them one day with an unexpected visit, Samuel hides as though he were really her lover.
Woo-jin soon discovers the deception, which sets up the climactic events of the series as their marriage falls apart in spectacular fashion.
Although Samuel and Woo-jin have generally seemed to be on the same page, from the get-go there have been problems with their relationship. Most obvious of those is the lack of sex in their marriage, but this only exacerbates the problems that are already there.

Samuel isn’t assertive enough and his fear of his wife is the root cause of his performance anxiety in bed; it’s also the reason he occasionally lies, whether hiding the existence of his “cleaning mate” or his work worries, as he did at the beginning of the series.
Woo-jin’s issue is that she’s too much of a hothead. She has a bad habit of running away when they have an argument and sleeping in her hotel, a routine so common that her colleague knows the drill when he sees her.
Their problems explode magnificently in a glorious argument in their apartment, which writer-directors Jeon Go-woon (Microhabitat) and Lim Dae-hyung (Moonlit Winter) stage during a fantastical torrential downpour, echoing the downpour that made Samuel lose his taxi and pushed the couple into the blackmailing life to begin with.

But sometimes an end is a new beginning. As this K-drama romantic comedy with a difference, which sets a very high bar for the rest of the year, winds to a close, we are left wondering what the future holds, since, as Samuel and Woo-jin know all too well, you don’t need to be married to have sex.
LTNS is streaming on Viu.


Netflix K-drama Teach You a Lesson: corporal punishment for bullies in alarming school show

Disney+ K-drama Doctor on the Edge: Lee Jae-wook, Shin Ye-eun lead island medical romcom

K-drama Reborn Rookie: Lee Jun-young’s corporate body-swap fantasy hums with melodrama

HBO Max K-drama Fifties Professionals: Shin Ha-kyun action comedy revisits hits of old

Korean drama reviews

K-drama review: LTNS – Esom, Ahn Jae-hong shine in brilliant black comedy as a sexless married couple who blackmail people having affairs

Esom in a still from LTNS.

Ahn Jae-hong as Samuel, a taxi driver in a sexless marriage with Esom’s hotel receptionist Woo-jin, who together spy on couples having affairs in order to blackmail them in the brilliant black comedy K-drama series LTNS.

Esom as Woo-jin in a still from LTNS.

Ahn Jae-hong as taxi driver Samuel and Esom as hotel receptionist Woo-jin in a still from LTNS.

Ahn Jae-hong as Samuel in a still from LTNS.

Amazon Prime K-drama midseason recap: Marry My Husband – Park Min-young leads supremely entertaining workplace fantasy series

Park Min-young in a still from “Marry My Husband”.

Park Min-young (centre) in a still from “Marry My Husband”. The Amazon Prime K-drama series has made for hugely entertaining viewing so far – and we can thank the villains for that. 

Song Ha-yoon as best friend Soo-min in a still from “Marry My Husband”.

Lee Yi-kyung as boyfriend Min-hwan in a still from “Marry My Husband”.

Na In-woo (left) and Park Min-young as Ji-hyuk and Ji-won in a still from “Marry My Husband”.

K-drama midseason recap: My Happy Ending – Jang Na-ra is stunning in entertaining, over-the-top melodrama

Jang Na-ra as Seo Jae-won in a still from K-drama My Happy Ending. Her picture-perfect family life is torn apart by a series of melodramatic events in this soap-opera-style series. 

Son Ho-jun as husband Soon-young in a still from My Happy Ending.

So E-hyun as best friend Yoon-jin in a still from My Happy Ending.

Lee Ki-taek as colleague Te-o in a still from My Happy Ending.

Netflix K-drama Doctor Slump: Park Shin-hye, Park Hyung-sik star as medics facing adversity in thought-provoking drama

Park Shin-hye as Nam Ha-neul in a still from “Doctor Slump”. 

Park Shin-hye as anaesthesiologist Nam Ha-neul in a still from “Doctor Slump”. The thought-provoking medical drama on Netflix follows Ha-neul and her one-time high-school rival, like her a doctor, as they learn to overcome obstacles.

Park Shin-hye (left) as anaesthesiologist Nam Ha-neul and Park Hyung-sik as star plastic surgeon Yeo Jeong-woo in a still from “Doctor Slump”. 

Park Hyung-sik as star plastic surgeon Yeo Jeong-woo in a still from “Doctor Slump”.

Park Hyung-sik (left) as Jeong-woo and Park Shin-hye as Ha-neul in a still from “Doctor Slump”.

Park Shin-hye as Ha-neul in a still from “Doctor Slump”.

Disney+ K-drama Flex X Cop: Ahn Bo-hyun, Park Ji-hyun lead breezy, cliché-ridden procedural action comedy

Ahn Bo-hyun as Jin I-soo in a still from “Flex X Cop”.

Ahn Bo-hyun plays rich playboy turned police officer Jin I-soo in a still from Disney+ Korean drama “Flex X Cop”.

Park Ji-hyun as detective Lee Gang-hyun in a still from “Flex X Cop”.

Kim Myung-soo as butler Choi Jeong-hun in a still from “Flex X Cop”.

Song Joong-ki in talks to lead K-drama My Youth; Pachinko actress Kim Min-ha set for A Week Before I Died – Korean drama casting latest

Song Joong-ki in a still from “Reborn Rich”.

Korean actor Song Joong-ki became a father last year. The Vincenzo star is reportedly in talks to headline a new drama series, “My Youth”. We take a look at this and other news in K-drama casting. Photo: Instagram/@hi_songjoongki

Ju Ji-hoon in a still from “Ransomed”.

Kim Min-ha in a still from “Pachinko”. Photo: Apple

Shin Hye-sun in a still from “Welcome to Samdal-ri”.

Lifestyle

K-drama

Entertainment

Culture

Film & TV

K-Pop

He’s a taxi driver, she’s a hotel receptionist – jobs in which they see couples having affairs. In a sexless marriage and short of cash, they spy an opportunity
Esom’s Woo-jin and Ahn Jae-Hong, as Samuel, use their time off trying to catch the couples having sex, so they can blackmail them. Eventually, the tables turn


Korean series about a sexless couple who blackmail others who do have sex – people having affairs – is wry and wonderful. Ironically, its most exciting moments have involved its most innocent couple.


K-drama news

What's hot in Korea

South Korean celebrities

Fame and celebrity

TV shows and streaming video

An assessment or critique of a service, product or creative endeavour.  Film reviews, restaurant reviews, reviews of art exhibitions. (Eg. Crazy Rich Asians: an important film, yes, but a good one?)


Review