“Witch’s Love” (Korean Drama) Review

Today we will be taking a look at the 2018 Rom-Com Drama “Witch’s Love”. Although this drama had been on my watch-list for a while, I kept postponing actually watching it. Somehow the posters confused me and did not give me a clue what I was in for.

However, once I got started, it didn’t take long for me to be enchanted with the characters and the story-line.

But for now I will stop my rambling and get into the happenings with this drama.

The Cast

Yoon So-Hee as Kang Cho-Hong
Hyun Woo as Ma Sung-Tae
Lee Hong-Bin (VIXX) as Hwang Jae-Wook
Kim Young-Ok as Maeng Ye-Soon
Go Su-Hee a Jo Aeng-Doo

Dreaming of the future

Kang Cho-Hong (Yoon So-Hee) is a young and carefree woman enamoured with the idea of falling in love. She lives with her elderly grandmother Maeng Ye-Soon (Kim Young-Ok) and a friend named Jo Aeng-Doo (Go Su-Hee). All three reside in the upper floors of an old building.

Together these three woman run a restaurant located on the main floor of said building. Since long ago their establishment has been famous for its delicious soup rice.

In addition to their family ties, friendship, and living arrangements, these ladies are also bound by a secret: They are witches.

Knowing that having their secret found out would inevitable have devastating consequences, guarding it has always been a priority.

For if their secret is revealed, they will be stripped of all their powers, and doomed to a life in misery.

Only the [good old] magic of true love has the power to overrule this. However, because of their past experiences both Ye-Soon and Aeng-Doo know the chances of finding a love so strong is next to null.

A witch’s love

Despite all warnings imposed by her grandmother, Cho-Hong is determined to find a true love to share her life with. And she is confident to have found her other half in the form of a bank teller at a nearby bank.

The two of them have been dating for a while, [obviously] hiding their relationship from Cho-Hong’s grandmother.

Cho-Hong is looking forward to sharing her future with whom she considers her one true love.

But out of nowhere, her fairly uneventful day to day is interrupted by the arrival of Ma Sung-Tae, the new proprietor of their building.

He seems determined to complicate matters for Cho-Hong and her fellow housemates in any way possibly.

Discovering the past

Ma Sung-Tae (Hyun Woo) is a serious and hardworking man, who does not trust anyone. As a result of these character traits, others perceive him as cold, and unapproachable.

Sung-Tae works as a executive within his family’s conglomerate. As one would expect, his company is involved in many ventures, including real estate and the food industry.

However, Sung-Tae has much more personal reasons for purchasing this particular building and subsequently getting involved with its tenants. It all goes back to a traumatic event in his childhood.

Due to the shock he experienced during that event, he only remembers snippets of what happened. But the one thing his mind recalls most clearly, is an old building with unique features.

Sung-Tae is certain that this building – and perhaps even its occupants – hold the key to answering the questions about his past.

Building a future

In order to confirm his suspicions, he proceeds to move into the building. Using ethically questionable means, he leaves the tenants no choice but to concede to his demands and look after him.

What ensues consequently, is a match of wills between him and the three ladies.

On the other hand, Sung-Tae feels increasingly drawn to these ladies who, despite their quarrelling, give him the feeling of belonging. Something he was unfortunately not able to experience with his own family.

But he finds himself especially intrigued by Cho-Hong, who appears to have an almost magical pull on him. Against his better judgement, he keeps seeking her out.

Caught in between

Hwang Jae-Wook (Lee Hong-Bin) is a freelance webtoon artist who lives in Cho-Hong’s neighbourhood.

Although sought after by some for his unique artistic style, Jae-Wook’s work only provides a small income. However, he is happy to be pursuing his passion and being independent.

Whenever he is home, – and able to afford it – he orders from the restaurant of Cho-Hong’s grandmother.

Since Cho-Hong is generally the one delivering his order, Jae-Wook and her have become well acquainted.

Due to this, he feels extremely protective over her and her family, perceiving any threats to them as a personal attack on him.

Not sure what to make of Sung-Tae and his involvement in their lives, he senses certain changes that he is less than pleased with.

Author’s Note

As mentioned at the beginning, “Witch’s Love” drew me in like I could have never imagined.

Despite only consisting of twelve episodes, the writers/production staff managed to tell a captivating story and tie up its many plot lines. Although the ending did feel slightly rushed, it had no major negative impact on the drama as a whole.

Above all, I appreciated the pace of the relationship between our main leads. Instead of the sudden change from hate to love that is often the norm, their budding feelings actually developed over a number of episodes. This made their relationship seem more believable and real.

In addition, “Witch’s Love” got me a bit sentimental about old Korean variety game shows with one of its episodes. Said episode revolved around a party organized by the two older ladies of the household, thus featuring old school entertainment. Like for instance, the “Pepero” game and attempting to stand on a increasingly smaller surface of folded newspaper.

To sum up this review, I can only highly recommend “Witch’s Love” as a lovely story with equally adorable and quirky characters.