Encounter (2018)

Quick Take: Encounter (2018), starring Park Bo-gum and  Song Hye-kyo.  9.4/10.  16 episodes 70 min

Synopsis:   A hotel CEO on a business trip to Havana impulsively decides to go alone to watch the sun set over the ocean.   Almost immediately her purse is stolen but she is rescued by a handsome younger man and they spend the evening together.  Back in Seoul, he finds that he has been hired in the marketing department of her hotel.  Obstacles include the age difference — Kim Jin-hyuk is  28, Cha Soo-hyun is in her “mid-thirties”  —  and status.  Her father is in the running for the Blue House (South Korean presidency), while his father runs a neighborhood fruit store.  Good chemistry between the two leads and a strong supporting cast move the story along.

Review:  The Korean title of Encounter is 남자친구 (Namja-chingu), which means Boyfriend.  It’s one of the highest-rated Korean dramas in cable television history, not just domestically but internationally.   It was Song Hye-kyo’s first series after 2016’s Descendants of the Sun, which was followed by her high-profile marriage to co-star Song Joong-ki in 2017.  They divorced in 2019.

As Netflix would say, Encounter is a swoonworthy  romance.  Havana itself is seductive, with palm trees and music and dancing in the street.  In Korea, Jin-hyuk and Soo-hyun sneak away to spend time together in mountains and parks.

Kim Jin-hyuk is the perfect boyfriend — cute, funny, thoughtful, sweet, given to romantic gifts and gestures.   Your actual boyfriend will be a disappointment in comparison.  He is confident and direct, while Cha Soo-hyun is insecure and hesitant.   It’s a reversal of the familiar formula that has the older, wealthier, confident man pursuing someone of lower status.

Themes involve the implications and obligations of family, of honesty, and of personal choice.

Recommended

Rewatchable - 4, Compelling - 4, Plot/ Story/Writing - 10,  Acting/Casting - 10, Production - 10,  Bonus - 6.  Bonus points for directing, visuals, and supporting cast.

Notes:

Park Bo-gum

hits different with long hair! He sings and plays the piano, and has a degree in Musical Theater. His breakthrough role was Reply 1988 (2015). See him also in Love in the Moonlight (2016) and Record of Youth (2020).

Song Hye-kyo

is a top Hallyu star. She began modeling at the age of 14, and has been active in film and television drama since then. Her breakthrough role Full House (20or) opposite singer Rain. See her also in That Winter, the Wind Blows (2013), Descendants of the Sun (2016), and Now We Are Breaking Up (2021).