Call it Love

Review

6/10 for the three episodes I watched.

I really wanted to like Call It Love, but I dropped it early because it was just too heavy and depressing to push through. The premise felt off to me right away—Sim Woo-joo is driven by revenge against her late father's mistress (who forced her family out of their home), so she targets the mistress's son, Han Dong-jin, by getting close to him. While I get that her anger stems from years of betrayal and abandonment, punishing Han Dong-jin for simply being his mother's son didn't sit right with me. He seems completely unaware and uninvolved in the family drama, and judging him so harshly from the start felt unfair and hard to root for. The tone in those opening episodes is relentlessly bleak—Sim Woo-joo comes across as constantly angry, cold, and depressed, with a sharp edge that borders on rude or snobbish at times. Many viewers note the same thing: she's an interesting, morally complex protagonist with hidden caring layers beneath the hurt, but early on, her negativity dominates, making her tough to connect with or like. Han Dong-jin mirrors that gloom—he's portrayed as a stoic, melancholic workaholic drowning in loneliness and past heartbreak, often looking like a "slumped pile of suffering." The leads' interactions feel distant and lifeless, with no spark or budding chemistry visible yet; it's all lingering shots, heavy silences, and shared misery without much warmth or hope breaking through.Other people mention the first few episodes can feel dull, bleak, or overly slow, with both main characters seeming "depressed all the time" and the overall vibe more melancholic than engaging. Some describe it as a "depressed version" of a star-crossed romance, and while many say it picks up later into a beautiful healing story with strong acting (especially from Kim Young-kwang's nuanced portrayal of quiet pain), I couldn't stick around for that shift. If you're in the mood for light romance or uplifting vibes, this one's early heaviness might be a hard pass—it's beautifully shot and acted, but the constant negativity drained the enjoyment for me before anything romantic even started to develop.

Synopsis

A heartfelt Korean drama series with themes of revenge, empathy, and unexpected romance. After her father's death, Sim Woo-joo finds herself homeless when his mistress evicts her family, igniting a quest for retribution. Targeting the mistress's son, Han Dong-jin—a dedicated but isolated workaholic—she infiltrates his life, only for genuine feelings to emerge as they bond over mutual pain and solitude, leading to profound personal transformations.

• Air year: 2023

• Number of episodes: 16

• Average runtime per episode: 70 minutes

  
  

Major Characters

• Sim Woo-joo (Lee Sung-kyung): A resilient young woman whose life unravels after her father's affair and death, leading her to plot revenge against his mistress but ultimately finding love and healing.

• Han Dong-jin (Kim Young-kwang): A lonely, work-obsessed CEO of a pharmaceutical company whose isolated existence is upended when he meets Woo-joo, sparking empathy and romance.

• Yoon Joon (Sung Joon): Woo-joo's longtime friend and a pharmacist who harbors unrequited feelings for her, adding layers of emotional complexity to her journey.

• Kang Min-young (Ahn Hee-yeon): Woo-joo's younger sister, navigating her own romantic struggles and developing feelings for Yoon Joon amid family turmoil.

• Sim Hye-seong (Kim Ye-won): Woo-joo's older sister, entangled in the family's dynamics of loss and revenge, contributing to themes of forgiveness and growth.

• Ma Hee-ja (Nam Gi-ae): Dong-jin's mother and the father's former mistress, whose actions set the story's conflict in motion, representing the antagonist in Woo-joo's revenge plot