Crash Course in Romance: Crash Course in Romance

March 5, 2023 3:35 PM - Season 1 (Full Season)

A mother with a heart of gold navigates the cutthroat world of private education when her daughter tries to join a celebrity math instructor's class.

MyDramaList show page

Dramabeans show page

Dramabeans chat discussion thread - Why the murder subplot in rom-coms? "What is the genesis of this “murder in a rom-com” trend in dramaland? Why do writers think that every love story needs the extra ante of life-and-death stakes to make connections more powerful, situations more romantic, or forced cohabitation even more necessary? Was there ever a rom-com that did this, but did it well? Has it ever served a good narrative purpose? Or, on the other side of the coin, do you like your rom-coms with a touch of murder?"

posted by oh yeah! (5 comments total)

This was a real mixed bag. I've enjoyed Jung Kyung Ho in the Hospital Playlist & Prison Playbook ensembles, and liked him as the lead in this show. I don't think he and costar Jeon Do Yeon had great chemistry - I think partly because the murder subplot took over a lot of screen time that could have been rom-com screen time, but also I think they went a little overboard on de-glamming her. Like, I guess they were trying to make a contrast between her character (former champion athlete, no higher education, running her own food service shop) and the other more professional/wealthier mothers, but they put her in such unflattering outfits and hairstyles so much of the time.

It's a good ensemble, but I don't expect this is going to end up on any 'best of 2023' lists, it kind of floundered through the middle as the thriller plot took over, and then threw everything together at the end. But I thought the end was mostly emotionally satisfying.
posted by oh yeah! at 4:01 PM on March 5, 2023

Mixed bag is right - this show had too many convoluted plots to follow. I also found the unflattering outfits for the female lead to be distracting – like the blue coat she wore during the proposal scene – it was enormous and I kept waiting for her to open the coat and show that she was hiding something underneath. She wasn't - the coat was just big and ugly.

I did like the love/crush triangle with the three students and I thought the hocky player was especially charming - I wouldn't have been disappointed if Hae Yi had ended up choosing him.
posted by kbar1 at 9:48 PM on March 5, 2023

Dramabeans just posted their finale recap, and I had to laugh at the first image -- our heroine in yet another ginormous coat.
posted by oh yeah! at 4:28 PM on March 6, 2023

OMG I totally wanted Hae Yi to end up with the hockey player! I feel like Su Ah didn't deserve the redemption.

I really struggled with the combination of the Jeon Do Yeon being significantly older than the character and the de-glamming which kept reminding me that she is 50 and was supposed to be mid-30s, at the oldest. Like, you can be sporty without being frumpy, and I wish they had just made her sporty and youthful.

I wasn't as enraged by the murder subplot as, say, r/Kdrama was, but I was disappointed because I had liked Secretary Ji (and his "asparagus fingers"!) at first, and then I felt like it was oddly wrapped up so neatly with two eps to go. I wish that they had just spent more time on the high school students instead of the murder plot--I thought that all of the kids did a fantastic job with their roles.
posted by TwoStride at 6:21 AM on March 7, 2023 [1 favorite]

I actually thought the main love story was fantastic - for the first time in a while I felt like people my age were finally falling in love. There were some moments where my heart really did feel their joy, but then the dumb serial murderer plot took over, and I had to wait until the very last episode to feel the happy love story vibes again.

Also, I loved the main character’s vintage sweater collection - for the first time a kdrama wardrobe felt cute AND attainable! I would totally wear her gigantic blue coat in Minnesota except it would immediately rub up against the side of my dirty car and never be beautiful again.
posted by Maarika at 4:44 PM on September 4, 2023