Second Shot at Love

Rating: 9/10

This drama was quite good. It was refreshing that it tackled the difficult topic of alcoholism in South Korea as I see evidence of it, almost a promotion of it, in many other dramas. Where extreme alcohol consumption and frequency is treated as comedic and portrayed as normal. The romance is believable and heartwarming. There were some surprises in store, which kept it interesting. I recommend this for anyone that likes relatively light romance. It could be difficult for those that are dealing with alcoholism in their family, but it could also make someone feel "heard."

Spoilers

Weak points for me was I did not believe the mom (Park Soon-ja) having liver disease, unrelated to alcohol, was necessary. It did make the alcoholics in the family believers in liver health and also showed how solid Geum-joo's love was for her mother. But, having one of alcoholics develop the disease would have made more sense if you even had to go there. If anything having the mother develop it, maybe from hepatitis, made the wrong point. It could be interpreted you don't have to worry so much about alcohol because you can even get it if you don't drink alcohol. I don't think the juice was worth the squeeze on that story line.

This was missing the dynamic tension of a love triangle. I have a love hate relationship with love triangles but always miss them if there isn't one.

The secondary romance between the Taekwondo master (Bong Seon-ok) and the main girl's sister (Han Hyun-joo) could have been better. I was especially disappointed when their love was challenged as being "inappropriate" that neither of them fought much for it. They were ready to just give up because his older sister disapproved. Weak. A weak romance if you aren't willing to fight for it. He at least seemed to be really in love with her, but they never gave us anything that made her seem to be really in love with him. They had a date where things were heating up a little, then the sister found out, and she was just like never mind. My friendship with your sister is more important than any relationship with you. I also didn't see where he so much wanted to be a father to her kids. Heart-touching moments with the kids where maybe he took them fishing, played ball with them, or did something other than the Taekwondo they were already doing would have been more convincing. Being someone's dad is a big deal. Even a stepdad. And it never really showed the kids liking him at that level either. So that secondary romance just fell flat for me.

Synopsis

Air Date: May 2025

Genres: Romantic comedy, drama

Number of Episodes: 12

Average Runtime per Episode: 70 minutes

Han Geum-joo (Choi Soo-young) possess an above average talent for fixing automobiles. In such a male dominated field she feels as though drinking culture is an essential part of the job. Knocking some drinks back with her male co-workers seems like the best way to fit in. We start out the journey when we experience her telling her fiance, who give her an ultmatim, that she prefers alcohol to him. And that encapsulates what is really a problem with alcohol for her but there is, of course, more to the story of her relationship choice as well as her perception of the party life. Her mother has had enough, so when she learns of her daughter's broken engagement, she halls her back to her hometown Bocheon, to set her head on straight. She immerses herself in the world of engine oil and enjoyment of simple smaller town pleasures such as home-cooked kimchi and starts to think this change might be so bad. But then she collides with Seo Eui-joon (Gong Myung)—her high school first love turned stoic health center director, fresh off a mysterious burnout from his glamorous Seoul surgeon days. What starts as a prickly reunion laced with unspoken regrets spirals into a reluctant alliance: Eui-joon, haunted by his own hidden battles with the bottle, becomes her unlikely sobriety coach, while Geum-joo's unfiltered spit fire personality opens his armored heart. Geum-joo and Eui-joon find that second chances are often worth the while.