Ah, that time of year has arrived when we get to enjoy the best K-dramas, and even if this one premieres on a weekday, we're going to enjoy it like our lives depend on it, because finally, after what feels like months of dark and gritty dramas, we have something fun and original, a true romantic comedy. Dynamite Kiss definitely falls into the rich man, poor girl cliché, but it manages to subvert many of our expectations about the kind of people these two characters are.
Plus, this is basically the perfect pairing, and whoever cast these two actors for this drama, thank you, because the chemistry is explosive! I had forgotten how much I missed Jang Ki-Young, but seeing Ahn Eun-Jin as the lead is great! I think between her and Kim Min-Ha, we have two unconventional leading actresses who are showing us that the industry can change. Anyway, before this just becomes a lovefest for Dynamite Kiss, let's get straight to episodes 1 and 2.
Stars: Jung Ga-hee, Park Jin-woo, Shin Joo-Hyup
As is typical in K-dramas, Da-Rim is in her twenties but unemployed because she's been trying to pass the same exam for five years. But despite all the obstacles life throws at her, she never stops being kind, and even if it's the smallest thing, like seeing a misplaced sign, she'll fix it, because that's just how good of a person she is. Da-Rim lost her father, possibly when she was a child, and as the eldest daughter, she feels responsible for the family, but she has nothing to show for it. Her younger sister, on the other hand, is about to get married, but she's told her in-laws that Da-Rim works in the United States and won't be able to attend the wedding. So she gives her a ticket to Jeju Island, an all-expenses-paid trip, and although Da-Rim pretends to be very excited, the truth is, this situation has deeply hurt her.
On the other hand, there's Ji-Hyeok, a conglomerate heir, who runs his own company and acts like a fairy godfather to tech startups, helping them become multi-million dollar companies. Now the man is selling a company to people from the United States, China, and the Middle East. Whoever makes the highest bid gets the company, but Hassan, from the Middle East, who makes the highest bid, has one condition: to bring Kim Jeong-Gwon, a tech mogul, into the company. Ji-Hyeok decides to follow Jeong-Gwon to Jeju Island to investigate him and close the deal.
In Jeju, Ji-Hyeok decides to go to the sea to clear his head by shouting at the ocean. When Da-Rim, who happens to be there, hears him, she thinks he's trying to commit suicide because the words sound eerily similar to what she said to herself when she tried to take her own life (what a scare!), so she hugs him tightly in a drunken state (she had run into an old school friend who is now dating her ex, who is none other than Jeong-Gwon). Ji-Hyeok manages to push her away, but she falls to the ground and almost hits her head. Although he saves her from getting hurt, she is unconscious, and he takes her to the hospital. When she wakes up, she finds herself with a huge hospital bill, leaving her penniless for the rest of her trip.
Luckily for her, Ji-Hyeok is staying at the same hotel, and she runs into him at the breakfast buffet. She sits down across from him to tell him he has to pay her back, but he's distracted by seeing Jeong-Gwon. She keeps talking while he's desperate to talk to the man. But it turns out that Jeong-Gwon and Da-Rim's friend see them and come over to say hello. Her friend, Su-Jin, asks if Ji-Hyeok is her boyfriend, and Da-Rim has no choice but to say yes, because she had lied to them saying she was there with her boyfriend. What she doesn't know is that Ji-Hyeok is there to investigate Jeong-Gwon, so he decides to play along. The breakfast is awkward, but Ji-Hyeok is an incredible actor and saves the situation every time there's a potential slip-up. Finally, he invites the other couple to a party that evening, and they happily accept. Back in the room (they both go to his room to make it look like they're sharing it), Ji-Hyeok tells Da-Rim he'll pay her to pretend for a few more hours until he can investigate the guy. She agrees, remembering that her sister wanted her to get her something nice for her wedding.
Now it's time for a makeover, but unlike usual, when Da-Rim sees the prices of the dresses, she immediately leaves the store with Ji-Hyeok, telling him it makes no sense to spend so much money on a dress for just one night. Instead of kindly telling her that she probably doesn't have a suitable outfit for the event, he calls her disheveled, which upsets her because that's what Jeong-Gwon said to her when he broke up with her. At the same time, a pregnant woman with a child beside her drops a bunch of tangerines on the road. To show Ji-Hyeok how kind she really is, Da-Rim stops traffic and picks up the fruit, making him help her too. While doing so, she yells at him for being cruel, and he apologizes, completely captivated by her.
Next, we see the makeover scene, and she literally looks like a modern Cinderella in a beautiful light blue halter-neck dress, while he stares at her with wide eyes (understandably). At the party, again, Ji-Hyeok knows how to handle the situation, but Jeong-Gwon is a jerk and seeks a moment alone with Da-Rim, telling her he knows this is all a ploy to recruit him. He even offers to pay her more than Ji-Hyeok, and she tells him he shouldn't speak ill of the man who loves her. At the end of the first episode, when Ji-Hyeok is planning with Da-Rim how to proceed, she sees Jeong-Gwon walking towards them and ends up kissing Ji-Hyeok to shut him up. This is where the series title comes into play. Immediately, fireworks erupt, literally, not just in their hearts. But when Jeong-Gwon leaves and Da-Rim apologizes, Ji-Hyeok asks if they can do it again, making it clear that he's truly interested in her.
But the mood is ruined when Jeong-Gwon encounters Da-Rim outside again, and this time he asks for sexual favors in exchange for being more "recruitable." But Ji-Hyeok appears at the perfect moment and punches the man, saying he would never work with someone like him, not even for ten trillion won. By the sea, Da-Rim apologizes to Ji-Hyeok for not being helpful, but he tells her it's better that she realized now what Jeong-Gwon is like, because working with people like that only makes things worse over time, so she actually helped him avoid a disaster. Finally, after enjoying the beauty of the fluorescent ocean waves, Ji-Hyeok asks Da-Rim on a real date, and she accepts.
As expected, the date is excellent despite some awkward moments, and after Ji-Hyeok takes Da-Rim on a boat ride, she accidentally falls into the water, and he saves her from drowning. This leads to them kissing again, this time for real, and they end up in his room. But before things go too far, Da-Rim tells Ji-Hyeok that they haven't showered, and he tells her to wait for him, but at that moment he receives a call from his neighbor (and very good friend), Sun-Woo, who tells him that his mother has fainted. Without saying anything to Ji-Hyeok, Da-Rim rushes to the airport. He runs after her when he realizes she's gone and not even in his room, but he doesn't make it in time.
Da-Rim arrives at her mother's side, and Sun-Woo tells her that she's stable and she shouldn't worry too much, but Da-Rim has to worry because they have no money and her sister and brother-in-law are missing. It turns out they owe money to loan sharks, and have even put her mother's house up as collateral. But Da-Rim is a hard worker. She manages to get a small loan despite being unemployed and then works a dozen part-time jobs just to cover the hospital bills. But she can't keep this up. As an added detail, Sun-Woo has a son, with whom Da-Rim has a very close relationship.
I still don't know if he's divorced, if his wife died, or if he's simply a single father. Meanwhile, it's revealed that Ji-Hyeok's mother is institutionalized in a psychiatric hospital and on medication, but his father decides to take her out for an interview. During the interview, his mother suffers a hysterical breakdown, and Ji-Hyeok rescues her before anything worse happens. However, Ji-Hyeok tells his father that it's all his fault and that he should divorce his mother.
Ji-Hyeok promises to do anything if he agrees to the divorce. His father agrees, even though his company sells baby care products, and tells him he must quit his business, join the family business, and marry the daughter of a family friend (goodbye, "Dynamite Kiss"). But Ji-Hyeok hasn't given up on finding Da-Rim. Before the incident with his mother, he was searching for the "grandfather tree" that Da-Rim had told him about during a date. When he finally finds it, she's nowhere to be seen, as she obviously doesn't have time to sit around and enjoy ice cream.
At the end of episode 2 of Dynamite Kiss, Ji-Hyeok's sister, who seems to be just as wicked as her father, decides to create a team of mothers to work at the company with the sole purpose of making Ji-Hyeok's life difficult. She believes that hiring mothers of young children will be a challenging task, but she's obviously mistaken. Meanwhile, Da-Rim decides she wants a full-time job, and the only requirement is having a child under the age of six.
Although she doesn't have children of her own, she does have Sun-Ho's son, so after much thought and hesitation about the morality of the situation, she ends up applying for the position because she has no other choice. She has to support her family. The episode ends with Da-Rim and Ji-Hyeok coming face-to-face at the interview, but she lies, claiming the child is hers in order to keep the job. I wonder how all of this will unfold. I guess they'll go from lovers to enemies.
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