Serendipity's Embrace (우연일까? literally: Is It Fate?) is an 8-episode TvN romantic comedy Kdrama based on the webtoon "Is It Fate?" Starring Kim So-Hyun, Chae Jong-Hyeop, Yoon Ji-On and Kim Da-Som (Sistar).
Summary
Ten years ago, the carefree (and bad student) Lee Hong-Ju (Kim So-Hyun) and the math genius Kang Hoo-Yeong (Chae Jong-Hyeop) were schoolmates at Ohbok High School, where they met during their last year. Hoo-Yeong fell in love with Hong-Ju, but Hong-Ju was oblivious to his feelings and tried to pair him up with her best friend, the shy Kim Hye-Ji (Kim Da-Som), who had a crush on him. Hong-Ju instead yearned for her idol, the writer Bang Jun-Ho (Yoon Ji-On). Hoo-Yeong suddenly moves to the U.S. without telling his friends, leaving everything behind.
Now, as an adult, Hoo-Yeong is a successful financial planner who has to travel back to Korea for the first time in 10 years to help finish a contract at Rock Asset, whose manager is his uncle Baek Wook (Choi Dae-Chul).
By chance or fate, Hoo-Yeong meets Hong-Ju again, who is now an anime P.D. When Hoo-Yeong sees his first love again, he notices that his feelings for her never went away. Meanwhile, Hong-Ju is recovering from a very bad breakup that happened 3 years ago and is still oblivious to the feelings Hoo-Yeong holds for her, so she (again) tries to help her friend Hye-Ji, who is now an English teacher at Ohbok, date Hoo-Yeong.
Hoo-Yeong decides that this time, he doesn't want to let go of his feelings for Hong-Ju like he did ten years ago...
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Thoughts
Serendipity's Embrace is a cute, short Kdrama. If you were to ask me if it's a must-watch, my answer would be "not really," but if you want to watch something short and sweet, Serendipity's Embrace is not a bad choice. I found the writing of this Kdrama to be not that good, but it is not awful -not like I'm any better, lol-. To be sincere, for me, Chae Jong-Hyeop hard-carried this Kdrama on his shoulders, just like how Atlas was cursed to carry the sky in Greek mythology -fun fact: Atlas, like Hoo-Yeong, was also a math genius-
The cinematography is not bad. The only scene that stood out to me was the one on the beach (which I used in the gif above). I didn't understand the scene in episode 7 [SPOILER?] where the camera lingers on an "accident-prone area, slow down" sign [SPOILER ENDS]. Was that a red herring?
The acting was not perfect, and as I wrote above, but in other words, Chae Jong-Hyeop and his character Kang Hoo-Yeong were the best part of this Kdrama in my opinion. This is the first time I watched Chae Jong-Hyeop act, and I have to say that he shined in this Kdrama ﹘ I loved how expressive his eyes are, especially when he is looking at Hoo-Jung. At first, I thought that Hoo-Yeong was going to be the typical cold genius male lead, but I'm pleasantly surprised to say that he is very sweet. (He may be "cold" sometimes, especially during his high school years but it feels quite "normal").
Kim So-Hyun's acting in this Kdrama is not that good. There is a crying scene that is bad and feels amateurish for someone of her trajectory. Aside from TMETS (Review) -which I consider her best role-, I have watched her in three other dramas. I watched all the episodes of Who Are You: School 2015, but in my (unpopular) opinion, it's not that great. I dropped Radio Romance (2018) because I got so angry at an episode I could not keep watching -I don't remember much but it was the episode where [SPOILER] they changed the radio show to 4 a.m (? and Doo-Joon character was rightfully angry, but Kim So-Hyun character treated him like he was in the wrong [SPOILER ENDS]-. Lastly, I watched the first season of Love Alarm which I didn't like much so when the second one I just didn't watch it. So, with Serendipity's Embrace joining the list of Kim So-Hyun Kdramas where I didn't find her acting to be that great, I would need her next project to dazzle me or something (fingers crossed for Good Boy). However, I have to say that I really liked the scene in the last episode where Ho-Jung is talking to [SPOILER] Hoo-Yeong's mother [SPOILER ENDS] Ho-Jung's dialogue was so good, it surprised me. I wish they had shown a bit more of what happened during her childhood...
I hated Bang Jun-Ho with a burning passion; he has no redeeming qualities, not even at the end. He is a bad person who shields himself behind his [SPOILER] mental health struggles [SPOILER ENDS] and even at the end he is talking about [SPOILER] his next book, he lies to a group of high school students that his ex-girlfriend had abandoned him when it was the opposite; how shameless [SPOILER ENDS]. I'm not going to lie, but as much as I hated him, I have to admit that Yoon Ji-On did a good job in his role and that the character was well-written.
Kim Da-Som did a good job playing Hye-Ji. It surprised me how she truly looked like a teenager during the high school scenes. Hye-Ji was a good friend to Ho-Jun and I'm happy she had her own happy ending.
I liked Sang-Pil (Lee Won-Jun), he was a good friend and funny, but I wish he had a slightly bigger plot line.
The romance is very cute. [SPOILER] I think that Ho-Jung's first love is also Hoo-Yeong, but she dismissed her feelings for him because she didn't know what having feelings for someone felt like, and at the bottom, she was ashamed (? because he was her best friend's crush. (The feelings she had for Jun-Ho during high school were more idolization than actual -romantic- feelings -she didn't even know him in person-) [SPOILER ENDS]
The OST was nice, I enjoyed all the songs equally and I can't choose a favorite.
I recommend this Kdrama if you need a light, easy watch and if you like plots where the male lead is head over heels in love with the female lead.
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Rating
Acting - 8/10
Plot - 7/10
Romance - 10/10
OST - 9/10
Cinematography - 8/10
Overall Rating - 8/10
Extended Drama Info.
Quantity of Episodes: 8.
Run Time: 70min/each.
Release Date: July 22, 2024.
Network: TvN.
Based on: Is It Fate? by Nam Ji-Eun and Kim In-Ho.
Directed by: Song Hyung-Wook.
Script by: Park Geu-Ro.
Music by: Choi In-Hee.
Starring: Kim So-Hyun, Chae Jong-Hyeop, Yoon Ji-On and Kim Da-Som with Lee Won-Jun, Choi Dae-Chul, Hwang Sung-Bin, Yoon Jung-Hee, Kim Jung-Nan and Kim Won-Hae.