Ah, it’s that time of the year where we get all the best K-dramas, and even if this one comes out on prime weekdays, we’re going to enjoy it like our life depends on it because finally, after what feels like months of dark and gritty dramas, we now have something fun and whimsy, a true rom-com. Dynamite Kiss definitely falls into the trope of rich man-poor girl, but it manages to subvert a lot of our expectations in the kind of people these two characters are. Also, this is basically the perfect pairing, and whoever cast these two in this drama, thank you, because this chemistry is sizzling! I forgot how much I missed Jang Ki-Young, but seeing Ahn Eun-Jin as a leading lady feels so great! I think between her and Kim Min-Ha, we’ve got two unconventional leading actresses who are showing us that the industry can change! Anyway, before I turn this into just praise for Dynamite Kiss, let’s jump straight into episodes 1 and 2.
Spoiler Alert
How Do Da-Rim and Ji-Hyeok Meet?
In typical K-drama fashion, Da-Rim is in her late 20s but doesn’t have a job because she’s been trying to crack the same exam for 5 years now. But despite all the hurdles life throws her way, she’ll never stop being kind, and even if it’s the smallest thing, like seeing a board facing the wrong direction, she’ll fix it, because that’s just how nice she is. Da-Rim lost her father, possibly when she was still a child, and as the elder daughter, she feels responsible for the family but doesn’t have anything 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 America and won’t be able to make it to the wedding. So, she hands her a ticket to Jeju Island, an all-expenses-paid trip, and while Da-Rim pretends she’s so excited to go, the truth is she’s horribly hurt by this situation.
On the other hand there’s Ji-Hyeok, a chaebol heir, who runs his own company and acts as a fairy godfather to tech startups to turn them into unicorns. Now the man is selling a company to people from the US, 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, and that is to bring on Kim Jeong-Gwon, a tech giant in himself, along with the company. Ji-Hyeok decides to follow Jeong-Gwon to Jeju Island to figure him out and crack this deal.
At Jeju, Ji-Hyeok decides to go to the sea and refresh himself by screaming at the ocean. When Da-Rim, who happens to be there, overhears him, she thinks he’s trying to kill himself, because the words sound oddly similar to what she said to herself back when she tried to take her own life (yikes), so she holds onto him tightly in a drunken state (she met an old school friend who is now dating her ex, who is none other than Jeong-Gwon). Ji-Hyeok manages to push her off, but she falls to the floor and nearly cracks her head open. While he does save her from hurting herself, she ends up unconscious, and he takes her to the hospital. Next thing you know, she wakes up having to pay a massive hospital bill, leaving her penniless for the rest of her trip.
Lucky for her, Ji-Hyeok is in the same hotel as her, and she manages to meet him at the breakfast buffet. She takes a seat across from him to tell him that he needs to pay her back, but he’s distracted when he notices Jeong-Gwon. She can’t stop talking while he’s desperate to get a word with the guy. But it so happens that Jeong-Gwon and Da-Rim’s friend spot her, and they come to say hi. Her friend, Su-Jin, asks if Ji-Hyeok is her boyfriend, and Da-Rim has no choice but to say yes, because she lied to them, saying she was there with her boyfriend. What she doesn’t know is that Ji-Hyeok is there to scout Jeong-Gwon, which is why he immediately decides to play along. Breakfast is awkward, but Ji-Hyeok is an incredible actor, saving the day every time there might be a slip-up. Finally, he invites the other couple to a party in the evening, and they happily accept. Back in the room (they both go to his room because they have to make it look like they’re sharing), Ji-Hyeok tells Da-Rim that he’ll pay her to pretend for a few more hours until he can scout the guy. She agrees when she remembers her sister wanted her to gift her something nice for her wedding.
Does Ji-Hyeok scout Jeong-Gwon?
Now comes the time for a makeover, but unlike usual, when Da-Rim sees the prices of the dresses, she immediately leaves the shop with Ji-Hyeok, telling him that it doesn’t make sense to spend that much on a dress for one evening. Instead of telling her nicely that she probably doesn’t have an appropriate outfit for the event, he calls her a slob, which upsets her because that’s what Jeong-Gwon called her while breaking up with her. At the same time, a pregnant woman with a child by her side drops a bunch of tangerines onto the road. For Ji-Hyeok to see how kind she truly is, Da-Rim stops the oncoming traffic and picks up the fruit, making him join her, too. While doing so, she yells at him for being mean, and he apologizes, all while being mesmerized by her.
The next thing you know, we have the makeover scene, and she literally looks like modern-day Cinderella in a gorgeous halterneck pale blue dress, while he watches with his eyes popping out (fair enough). At the party, again, Ji-Hyeok knows how to handle the situation, but Jeong-Gwon is a prick and finds some alone time with Da-Rim, telling her that he knows this is all a ploy just to scout him. He even offers to pay her more than Ji-Hyeok, and she tells him that he shouldn’t talk ill of the man who loves her. By the end of the first episode, when Ji-Hyeok is making a plan with Da-Rim about how to take things forward, she notices Jeong-Gwon walking towards them and ends up kissing Ji-Hyeok to make him shut up. This is where the name of the series comes in. Immediately, fireworks go off, real ones, not just in their hearts. But when Jeong-Gwon walks away and Da-Rim apologizes, Ji-Hyeok asks if they can do it again, making it clear that he’s actually interested in her.
But the mood is ruined when Jeong-Gwon meets Da-Rim outside yet again, and this time asks her for sexual favors in return for being more “scoutable.” But Ji-Hyeok comes out at the right time and punches the guy, saying he would never work with a person like him, even if it was for 10 trillion. By the ocean, Da-Rim apologizes to Ji-Hyeok for being of no use, but he says it’s better he found out what kind of a guy Jeong-Gwon was now, because working with people like him becomes worse later, so she actually helped him avoid a disaster. Eventually, after enjoying the beauty of the fluorescent ocean waves, Ji-Hyeok asks Da-Rim out on an actual date, and she agrees.
How Does The Date Go?
You can imagine the date is excellent despite some awkwardness, and after Ji-Hyeok takes Da-Rim on a boat, she accidentally falls off, 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 can go too far, Da-Rim tells Ji-Hyeok that they haven’t showered, and he tells her to wait for him, but this is when she gets a call from her neighbor (and very close friend), Sun-Woo, saying her mother’s collapsed. Without saying a word to Ji-Hyeok, Da-Rim rushes to the airport. He rushes after her when he notices she’s left and isn’t even in her own room, but doesn’t make it in time.
Da-Rim makes it to her mom, and Sun-Woo tells her 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. Turns out they owe some loan sharks, and she’s even put their mother’s house up as collateral. But Da-Rim is hardworking. She gets a small loan despite her unemployment and then works a dozen part-time jobs just to cover the hospital bills. But she can’t keep doing this. As a side note, Sun-Ho has a kid, whom Da-Rim is very close to. I don’t know yet if he’s divorced, if his wife died, or if he’s just a single dad.
At the same time, it’s revealed that Ji-Hyeok’s mother is in a psychiatric hospital and is on medication, but his dad decides to bring her out for an interview. His mom becomes hysterical during this interview, and Ji-Hyeok saves her before something worse can happen. However, Ji-Hyeok then tells his dad that it’s all his fault that his mom is in the condition that she is in, so he should just divorce her. Ji-Hyeok says he’ll do anything if he agrees to the divorce. His dad says okay, despite their company selling baby care products, and tells him he has to quit his business, join the family business, and also marry a family friend’s daughter (so long, “Dynamite Kiss”). But Ji-Hyeok hasn’t stopped looking for Da-Rim. Before the mother situation, he was looking for the “grandfather tree” that Da-Rim told him about when they were on a date. When he finally finds it, she’s nowhere near it, because she obviously doesn’t have the time to sit around and enjoy ice cream.
At the end of Dynamite Kiss episode 2, Ji-Hyeok’s sister, who seems to be a villain like his dad, decides to create a team of moms to join the company just to make Ji-Hyeok’s time there harder. She thinks hiring mothers of young kids is going to be a task, but she’s obviously going to be proven wrong. However, at the same time, Da-Rim decides she wants a full-time job, and the only requirement for this one is that she has a kid under the age of 6. While she doesn’t have her own kid, she does have Sun-Ho’s, so after thinking 100 times about the moral dubiousness of this situation, she ends up applying because she has no other choice. She has to take care of her family. The episode ends with Da-Rim and Ji-Hyeok coming face-to-face at the interview, but she’s going to lie, saying the child is hers so she can keep the job. So I wonder how this is going to go. Guess this is going to be lovers to enemies.
