Love Your Enemy
사랑은 외나무다리에서
tvN (2024) 12 Episodes
Romantic Comedy, Grade: B+
Korean Drama Review by Haley, Philippines
(No End Spoilers)
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A fun but also sometimes frustrating romantic comedy about once upon a time rivals who eventually fall in love years later after a strange, fateful reunion, Love Your Enemy (2024) will be enjoyed more if you are fond of the two main actors, Ju Ji Hoon (Trauma Code) and Jung Yumi (Que Sera Sera). They had nice chemistry together. The scriptwriter was Im Ye Jin who also wrote the popular drama Moonlight Drawn By Clouds, and the director was Park Joon Hwa who also directed the sweet masterpiece drama Because This Is My First Life. At only twelve episodes this drama doesn't wear out its welcome as so many longer dramas do today. You can breeze through it fairly quickly and easily.
The Story:
Seok Ji Won (Ju Ji Hoon) and Yoon Ji Won (Jung Yu Mi) were born on the same day and in the same town. They also share the same given name of Ji Won, but their families have been enemies for generations. They studied at the same school, Dokmok High School, but they were intense rivals and growled whenever they made eye contact. They eventually go their separate ways but eighteen years later they reunite under strange circumstances and bitter sparks fly all over again between them.
Seok Ji Won is now the executive director of Seokban Construction and also the new chairman of Dokmok High School, the school that he went to with rival Yoon Ji Won years earlier. With other people Seok Ji Won is a naturally cheerful guy who has been able to do anything he wants to since he was young, whether it be studying or exercising. Seok Ji Won left his hometown and school due to bad family circumstances, but after returning home in glory as the chairman of his company he meets his ‘great rival’ Yoon Ji Won who used to growl at him just by making eye contact. He is not thrilled at all to meet up with her again.
Yoon Ji Won is now a physical education teacher at Dokmok High School’s Creative Experience Club. Yoon Ji Won is a girl who earned the nickname ‘Dokmok High School Mad Dog’ during her school days. She still cannot tolerate injustice and must find and correct bad habits and unreasonableness in others to feel better. As she experiences the ups and downs of life on her way to adulthood and a good job in education, the ‘Mad Dog’ inside her, that had been quietly sleeping for years, begins to emerge again when she reunites with Seok Ji Won.
A lot of amusing situations occur after their reunion that will have you laughing out loud. It's also fun to watch them mellow toward one another and eventually fall in love. They discover they actually have more in common than they have differences. Speaking for myself I enjoyed watching Yumi Jung's increasing maturity result as she falls in love with her once bitter enemy. There are actually lessons that can be learned in this drama about how to stop hating people you once didn't care for. What a great actress Yumi Jung is!
If you enjoy romantic comedy Korean dramas that have some depth to them besides just humor then definitely check out Love Your Enemy. I really enjoyed it although I do think the story could have been told in even fewer episodes than twelve. Eight to ten would have been just as good with judicial editing. Enjoy.
