The Potato Lab

Review

7/10 is my rating. If you can overlook the slapstick humor in the first half you might like it. To me this is one where the first half and second half are significantly different. I liked it but didn't love it. Would recommend it for die hard romance fans. It is a bit different. I might watch it if someone had it on but will not ever likely seek it out to watch again. Their chemistry was just okay. Awkward I thought at times.

Spoilers

It had too disorganized of a script for me. I know it was because they tried to make it so comedic, but in ways that didn't make sense, it disrupted the flow of the story.

I thought most of the characters were weird. To me something like potato research is serious business but they trivialized it and poked fun a lot. I like series where I learn something about an industry or whatever and this danced all around the actual research. It was frustrating.

Seriously I don't know many people that would continue to like someone that took part in completely destroying you once and then actively firing you a second time. Him firing her made no sense as he should have been able to tell she was the glue that held the whole thing together. He finally realized that when it was too late.

Him quitting his job made zero sense. Maybe shifting what you did but with everything he invested in that work, quitting was totally out of the character they had built.

Her bestie was weird bordering on creepy. And I just felt sorry for the brother. She was abusive to him. It went beyond sibling harassment to bullying. He was afraid of her.

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Synopsis

This is a 2025 South Korean Romantic Comedy with 12, 70ish minute episodes

Kim Mi-kyung (Lee Sun-bin) is develop new potato varieties aimed at solving grower issues. Mi-kyung is potato obsessed and even developed a new breed she plans to name after herself. Things are shaken up at the rural company when big city Wonhan Retail, a food conglomerate threatens take-over and the end of research. Which sets the stage for her conflict with So Baek-ho (Kang Tae-oh), a Director for Wonhan Retail, who becomes the interim leader of the Potato Research Institute. He has a reputation of being a cold, cut-throat executive which is thinly veiled by his handsome exterior. Sparks fly at work as the the passionate researcher and cold executive battle over the future over the potato research team. A Strange coincidence occurs when Baek-ho books Mi-kyung's guest house setting them at odds both at work and at home. As the two live near and work with each other they begin to see new compelling sides to each other. Romantic tension rises when a previous boyfriend emerges, Park Ki-se (Lee Hak-joo), who regrets his past decision which broke Mi-kyung's heart and caused her to be romantically cautious. As a multitude of events occur in and around the potato research facility, some of them quite humorous, the cold executive softens and becomes the perfect balance for Mi-kyungs erratic ways. Two people who find love amidst the background of the commercial potato industry.

#ThePotatoLab #LeeHakJoo #LeeSunBin #KangTaeOh