What a view | Netflix Korean romantic comedy Once Upon a Small Town sees city vet struggling with love and life in the countryside
- Choo Young-woo stars as vet Han Ji-yul, who moves to a rural surgery, where he meets policewoman Ahn Ja-young (Park Soo-young), who had a childhood crush on him
- Meanwhile, in Apple TV’s dark comedy series Bad Sisters, five Irish sisters find themselves in the middle of a murder investigation
Despite W.C. Fields’ wise words about never working with children or animals (because they will always upstage you), furry critters are at least reliable when it comes to boosting viewing figures.
Not that shows featuring veterinary surgeons are ever really about the birds, bees and beasts. The actual animal magnetism is always found between members of the human species, and so it is in lighthearted comedy romance Once Upon a Small Town (Netflix).
Receiving what sounds like an emergency phone call from his grandfather, who is the boss of a rural animal hospital, vet Han Ji-yul (Choo Young-woo) dashes from Seoul to help. But when he arrives in Huidong, he finds the apparent crisis is a ruse to have him take over the practice while his grandfather is away.
Ji-yul remains, reluctantly, and like a typical city boy finds himself floundering in a place where neighbours look out for each other, doors aren’t always locked and everyone treats everyone else as a friend – all of which, to his annoyance, puts a premium on privacy.
But putting Ji-yul off his stride more than anything else is the presence of police officer Ahn Ja-young (Park Soo-young), who goes from apprehending him as a potential burglar to gazing at him with something approaching reverence.