Introduction

^{So this is one of the latest dramas I’ve just started, called Encounter, while the original Korean title translates as Boyfriend. Encounter (}남자친구) ^{is a 2018 South Korean television series starring Song Hye-kyo and Park Bo-gum. The drama is just beginning to to air on tvN with the first episode being on November 28, 2018. It will air every Wednesday and Thursday at 21:30 (KST) for a duration of 16 episodes.}

Synopsis:

Brought together by fate, a woman who seems to have everything and a young man who seems to have nothing decides whether to throw away wealth and authority or give up an ordinary life to be together.
Starring:

Song Hye-kyo as Cha Soo-hyun

-A daughter of a prominent politician and former daughter-in-law of a wealthy family

Park Bo-gum as Kim Jin-hyuk

-A freewheeling, ordinary young man who finds joy in the simplest things

——————————————————-SPOILER ALERT———————————————————

EP.1 Thoughts and Feelings

So this is the first time I’ve watched Bogum act in a drama as I haven’t seen any of his other works, while I have watched Song Hye Kyo act in the Descendants of the Sun, but I know very well that both are very good actors so when I knew they would be working together I was quite excited. Of course, it’s hard to forget the fact that Song Hye Kyo is married to Song Joong Ki, while Park Bo Gum is Song Joong Ki’s best friend. It did distract me a little to be honest, I wasn’t sure of how to react at first seeing them play a couple with their real life relationships being this way, but after watching the first two episodes I am COMPLETELY hooked and I can only say that Bogum and Song Hye Kyo are definitely professionals because they are doing such a good job of portraying their characters.

For episode 1, Soo hyun meets Jin Hyuk while on a business trip in Cuba, her car crashes into where Jin Hyuk was sitting at an outdoor cafe, and his camera falls to the ground and breaks. Soo hyun’s secretary takes care of things, offering to buy him a new camera, so only Soo hyun sees Jin Hyuk and is able to recognise him, while Jin Hyuk doesn’t even know Soo hyun is inside the car. Jin Hyuk refuses the offer, as the camera was a gift from when he was born, only taking the contact number the secretary gives him, saying that he will contact her after he gets back to Korea. I have to say that if I were him I would be soooo mad that something that precious got broken, so you can see how good of a guy Jin Hyuk is.

So these two people’s fates start to intertwine, and later Soo hyun decides to go out alone to watch the sunset, but after she had a sleeping pill which DOES NOT make sense but oh well Kdramas. Her taxi breaks down and she has to walk up multiple steep slopes in ridiculously high heels to the point where she can see the sunset. Finally she gets there and sits down on the edge of a 3 metre high stone wall, feet dangling, and suddenly the sleeping pill she took before starts to take its toll. Soo hyun almost falls to her death, Jin Hyuk saves her by appearing out of nowhere and lets her sleep on his shoulder for an hour. It’s very unrealistic I know but never take Kdramas too seriously or it’ll lose its fun, take my advice.

Soo hyun wakes up, get startled because she’s leaning on a complete stranger, recognises Jin Hyuk but doesn’t say anything, then they start having fun. Forgot to mention Soo hyun’s purse got stolen so she asks Jin Hyuk to borrow her some money, first for a beer, then he buys a pair of sandals for her, then dinner, then tickets for a salsa performance, where they dance together, and then he pays her taxi fare back to the hotel. Before buying the sandals though, they walked barefoot together as Soo hyun’s feet were already hurt from walking in those heels for a long time and so Jin Hyuk convinces her to walk barefoot by doing it with her. They both enjoy each others’ company immensely and promise to meet each other again the next morning. Bogum and Song Hye Kyo’s acting really is on par and it shows when they’re acting as a man and a woman attracted to each other. They have chemistry inside the drama and express the romantic scenes so well, and the way their relationship in the drama is going makes it seem like they will be a really cute couple.

The next day Soo Hyun gets delayed by a guy who arrives late to sign a contract, and Jin Hyuk waits until he can’t stay anymore, so they miss the chance of seeing each other again. Yet, they suddenly see each other checking in at the airport, and Soo Hyun goes over to him to talk, confessing about the camera incident, saying that she’ll make up for it by upgrading his flight to business class. However, Jin Hyuk yet again refuses the offer, saying he planned his trip so thoroughly and wants to finish it just as he planned, like the backpacking trip of his youth. Watching this I was just like whyyyyy would you refuse that like but that’s Jin Hyuk’s personality I think. Soo Hyun says she understands and they bid each other goodbye.

Last scene cuts to them arriving at Korea, where Jin Hyuk discovers that Soo Hyun is the representative of Donghwa Hotel, and he then recieves a message saying that he has passed the final audition and is officially an employee at Donghwa Hotel. †The episode ends there in a freeze frame and that’s it for episode 1. The fact that Jin Hyuk will be an employee at Soo Hyun company was unexpected and is something to look forward to in later episodes but their relationship is now boss and employee so that’ll be interesting as well. I think it was an okay first episode and I do want to keep watching which is a good thing. Let’s see how it goes and hopefully this drama will end well.