CAST: Song Ha-Yoon, Lee Min-jae, Song Young-jae,Donghae,

DIRECTOR:Oh Hwan-min Kim Kyung-eun

OH YOUNG-SHIM (Song Ha-Yoon) is a determined variety show PD who finds herself facing yet another cancellation. Refusing to let this setback jeopardize her career, Young-shim seizes the next available opportunity: the pilot script for a dating reality show no one wants. It becomes a battle between Young-shim and the network, but fortunately, she has the support of her eager junior, LEE CHAE-DONG (Lee Min-jae), who agrees to join her in producing the pilot episode of “Arrows of Love.”

While Young-shim is experienced in production, she lacks experience in the realm of dating, and she partly blames her father, OH DAE-GWANG (Song Young-jae), for her struggles in finding a serious relationship. As it turns out, her father used to be a cartoonist, and Young-shim was the inspiration behind his debut work, the “Young-shim” series. Despite the series’ success and the family’s excitement over the financial gains, Young-shim resents having her embarrassing adolescent stories broadcasted nationwide.

Young-shim carries the burden of her animated alter ego, believing it hinders her from being taken seriously as an adult. However, she had a persistent admirer in middle school whom she repeatedly rejected. After receiving his birthday present, she reluctantly agreed to return the favor, but he never showed up. Later, she discovered he had emigrated without a word, leaving her with unresolved feelings toward him. There must be more to his sudden departure than meets the eye.

Meanwhile, the cast list for Arrows of Love is finalized, and one name stands out: the enigmatic billionaire CEO of an AI-powered clothing start-up, MARK WANG. Through a favor from Young-shim’s sister, Soon-shim, who works at the startup, Young-shim obtains the CEO’s email address and sends him a casting offer. However, the team remains uncertain about receiving a positive response since Mark Wang is notorious for rejecting TV appearances. Interestingly enough, this mysterious CEO is none other than WANG KYUNG-TAE, Young-shim’s long-lost admirer from the past. What a twist!

Sure enough, Kyung-tae recognizes Young-shim’s name from her email and agrees to appear on the show. With Mark Wang, her former classmate, and her best friend Wol-sook, a famous relationship YouTuber, joining Arrows of Love, Young-shim is confident that the show will succeed. However, Soon-shim warns her about Wol-sook’s untrustworthiness and questions whether it’s wise for her to become involved with the love interest of the show’s female lead.

On the day of the shoot, when Young-shim finally meets Kyung-tae in person, she can hardly believe that Mark Wang is none other than Wang Kyung-Tae. Despite Wol-sook and her instincts suggesting they are the same person, Young-shim struggles to reconcile the memories of the “snot-faced midget” she knew with the successful CEO standing before her.

Adding insult to injury, Kyung-tae pretends not to know Young-shim, causing her more distress. Arrows of Love faces another setback when one of the female participants gets into an accident, leaving Young-shim to take her place at the last minute. The full-day shoot becomes a chaotic series of disastrous events as the cast goes on multiple dates, with Young-shim enduring spicy food and falling into a river. Poor Young-shim can’t catch a break, and she only wants to escape the embarrassing situation.

During her final date with Kyung-tae, he wins their karaoke contest and requests an older model of headphones as his prize. Young-shim questions why he doesn’t want a newer version, and Kyung-tae cryptically responds, “A person who doesn’t cherish other people’s feelings won’t understand.” A flashback reveals that Kyung-tae had gifted Young-shim the same headphones, engraved with her initials, for her birthday in the past. However, she later saw the headphones with another boy. This revelation hints at a more profound reason behind Kyung-tae’s emigration and suggests that there may be an explanation for why the other boy possessed those headphones.

However, it turns out that Kyung-tae isn’t the only one harboring resentment from the past. Young-shim confronts him, stating that breaking promises without explanation is equivalent to disregarding others’ feelings. With their grievances laid bare, Kyung-tae confirms his true identity as the boy from Young-shim’s past.

As the week concludes, the Arrows of Love team returns to the studio, where the participants metaphorically shoot their “arrows of love” at their preferred dates. Wol-sook and the third contestant each receive an arrow from the other two guys, while Kyung-tae becomes the target of arrows from all three ladies. His wealth and handsomeness seem to make him quite popular. In a sly move, Kyung-tae shoots an arrow at Wol-sook, leaving Young-shim without suitors. It’s a burn on her show, a double burn!

While Kyung-tae’s actions may be driven by spite, it’s hard to deny that Young-shim brought this upon herself.

Don’t get us wrong; we admire Young-shim’s resilience, refusal to accept defeat, and quick thinking. However, her tenacity stems from her blunt nature as a child. It’s no wonder Kyung-tae wouldn’t simply forgive and forget how poorly she treated him. She could have handled rejecting his advances with more kindness. However, instead, she chose to belittle him to the point where he still experiences PTSD triggered by anything associated with Young-shim, from spicy pork cutlets to the lyrics of the Young-shim animation theme song. Lol.

Regardless of Young-shim’s reservations about the cartoon, she maintains a strong relationship with her family, and it seems she has made peace with her past.

In her desperate quest for screen time, Young-shim unexpectedly serenaded her date with the Young-shim theme song, despite her previous complaints about being asked to sing it. It was a cringeworthy moment, but Chae-dong, ever supportive from behind the camera, couldn’t help but be captivated by her. He’s clearly smitten with her, but as is often the case with female leads, she remains oblivious to his affection.

Chae-dong’s adorable nature had us laughing out loud, significantly when he bravely jumped into the river to save Young-shim, only to end up needing to be rescued himself because he can’t swim! Lee Min-jae convincingly portrays the lovable puppy character, and even though we rarely find ourselves falling for the second lead, we can already feel myself being drawn into that trap.

In general, the drama has a pleasantly simple and lighthearted vibe. There are no intense conflicts in sight, and that’s perfectly fine. Just give us enjoyable moments, hearty laughter, heartwarming family scenes, entertaining broadcasting mishaps, and some cheesy romance, and we will eagerly continue watching for the next four weeks.

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