Heath Tuttle

Passionate and agonizing recovery from career sabotage—with love growing.

“0ne Spring Night,” like its predecessor, “Something In the Rain,” has grabbed my heart in two episodes—only moreso. I don’t know what the magic is, but I am in love with the two stars. The gentle pace of the series, plus their very emotive faces and body language, just grab on to you and make you want to be with them. (And it does not hurt the Ji-Min Han is absolutely adorable and lovable.) Keep ripping my heart out “One Spring Night.”

This series can be deceptive, as the star, Ra-Ra, is portrayed like an innocent, flighty, and naive teenager in the early episodes, making the series seem more appropriate for that age range. There are, nevertheless, other principal characters (Jun, her admirer and ultimate boyfriend, and Dr. Cha) with much heavier emotional baggage and unrevealed pasts, who counterbalance Ra-Ra’s naïveté. As the series progresses, however, and the characters “fill out” emotionally, the tenor of the episodes evolves into a much deeper character study, with envy, jealousy, obsession, and deepening love growing plot elements. (The “Greek Chorus” of hair-dresser-shop women provide unexpected humor.) We are only nearing the final episodes ourselves, but the screenwriter, Ji-Young Ho, reveals herself to be a powerful creator of gripping drama, instantiated by stunning direction, cinematography, and very sensitive acting.