la la la la la la la la la… romantic Sunday…
It still rings in my head sometimes!
Around this time last year, I finally watched a Netflix series (yes, yes, latecomer), and added to the more than 250 million hours that Hometown Cha-cha-cha had chalked up by then. At that point, it was still a top ten Netflix show and I joined what must be millions who have written something about it.
One reviewer called it a ‘seaside vacation in drama form’. Indeed, it is!
The show is set in a dream seaside location, fictitiously named Gongjin (in real life Pohang, which has since become a tourist destination). It is simply gorgeous in its:
- sea and seaside scenes – morning, daytime, evening, night, sunny and rainy weather
- clothes, bags and shoes – mainly, Hye-jin’s (Shin Min A), and also those of her friends
- Shin Min A – beautiful even in pyjamas
- Chief Hong’s (Kim Seon-ho) hair highlights
- fresh seafood.
All fabulous visually!
What I loved were:
- the pretty houses
- the relationship between the café owner and his daughter
- the birth of the supermarket couple’s baby – alternately hysterical (the couple) and pro-life (especially when Hye-jin and Chief Hong each held the baby and looked in wonder, though of course you wonder how a dentist could deliver a baby without major problems)
- the supermarket couple, who are hilarious, as is the policeman Eun-cheol (Kang Hyung-suk); also, he is such a sweetheart and to me, it was Mi-seon (Gong Min-jung) who won the show’s best boyfriend and it was also Mi-seon who delivered the best line (to Eun-cheol): I praise my eyes for having discovered you.
- the two precious kids and café owner’s daughter – lovely characterisation and impressive acting!
I saw the girl who plays Ju-ri (Kim Min-seo) in another show as an annoying spoilt brat. She really comes into her own here and is a scream in the scenes with/about her boyband idol and when she is barfing while everyone is delighting in Hye-jin and Chief Hong being a couple.
The show reminds us that everyone has a backstory, and it will not hurt to be sympathetic and to try to empathise: We don’t all go through life in the same way. Some are always walking on unpaved roads; some run at full speed only to hit a cliff and fall off (paraphrase of subtitles).
It’s about healing, and finding and loving yourself, family and friends. Isn’t this what a seaside holiday is all about?
So thanks, Hometown, for the heart-warming, hope-filled little (mercifully at just 16 episodes) ride! It was hugely enjoyable! You sure made me laugh and smile lots, and who else cried buckets at episode 15?
There are many fan videos of visits to Pohang and I enjoyed this amusing, high-energy one by Babo Prae (cousin of Bam Bam of Got7!).
pictures from Hancinema
16 episodes, tvN
first posted here
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