I think this is good show to binge-watch when all 8 episodes are out on Viki, but I need a “therapy kdrama” right now so I’m streaming it.

My first impressions:

1. The first few minutes of Episode 1 were annoyingly pretentious.

For one, the title “Serendipity’s Embrace” is the kind of word salad I would expect from the likes of Meghan Markle and Kamala Harris. The original Korean title 우연일까? which translates as “Is it Coincidence?” is succinct. The point of this show is that everything about the couple’s second chance encounter can be chalked up to coincidence. Or – as this is romcom after all – pesky fate.

For another, the attempts of the director/screenwriter to portray the male lead as some rich dude totally missed the mark. I’ll cite three instances.

a. his luxury car. It’s a Mercedez-Benz. But the production team failed to get Mercedez as a show sponsor, so the famous logo on the car grille had to be covered.

lol. Right away, we know that this kdrama is unlike “Queen of Tears,” which received full sponsorship from the luxury brand to advertise their latest models.

b. his blazer. The male lead supposedly had been living in the US for 10 years and even studied at Yale. Believe me when I say that no Yalie (Boola, boola!) would wear a blazer like his with cross stitches on the sleeve. How bourgeois! The preppy code means minimalist fashion, quiet luxury, and stealth wealth.

c. his English. I get it: the actor lived abroad during his teenage years, so he speaks English. But his diction is so cringe especially in comparison with the native English speaker whom he was conversing with on the phone, that his character came off as a try-hard. The director should have dialed down that English conversation and spared viewers like me from secondhand embarrassment.

2. The first episode impacts the actors differently.

For the actor, Chae Jong Hyeop, his performance appears to be a step down from his last hit kdrama, “Castaway Diva” (2023). So far, his character in this show lacks the essential male lead star confidence. He doesn’t have the oomph factor and he needs to “glow” up.

But from what I googled, this kdrama actually began production back in 2022. Its release, however, was delayed until 2024. Perhaps that’s why he looks so green here.

As for the actress, Kim So-Hyun, this is a much-needed reset from that snooze-fest, “My Lovely Liar” (2023). She still plays the same cute, bubbly-girl-with-dark-secrets character in this drama, but her rapport with Chae Jong Hyeop seems more natural than with MinHyun.

I’m crossing my fingers that they’ll both do better as the show progresses.

3. Plotwise? This show isn’t going to be groundbreaking so I don’t expect much.

The usual tropes appeared on cue:

a. the genius math guy vs the math-challenged girl. I found it funny that he kept obsessing about the 500 won coin that she left him to pay for his dry-cleaning. For somebody who’s supposedly a top-notch asset manager, he surely didn’t protect his most precious possession. (His heart, of course!).

b. the drunken girl. Yeahhhh. I’m so over this one. 

c. the tie-in with a book and/or line from a poem. Surely, there must be more to the book, “My Avant Garde Love,” since she chose to hide it in his backpack.

d. the love letter hand-off,

In case you didn’t know, this letter-offering gesture was popularized by “Itazura Na Kiss.” In all its various adaptations, this scene remained constant. I’m sure his heart was pounding when he saw her with the letter, only to be deflated after discovering that she was just the messenger.

e. And the silent shadow behind the girl.

Without context, his action would have appeared stalkerish. But he was following her home because she was drunk. She knew as well that he was right behind her so she waited up for him.

Anyway, despite these cliches, a few things did pique my curiosity, like,

how to reconcile the fact that she was his first love, but he wasn’t hers,
how to make her fall in love with him guilt-free (since her bestie is crushing on him, too),
how to compel him to stay in Seoul when he’s only supposed to be there for 10 days, and
how to drag this simple story for 7 more episodes. Lol.

I’ll be following the show for a while. Who’s with me?