Drama Review: Soulmate (2006)

Grade: B+

Urban romantic comedy

A group of thirty-something friends discuss their love lives over street food and gym machines.

A grown-up (and occasionally naughty) take on how relationships and our expectations of them often differ. I can’t quite figure out why this is listed as a sitcom on Drama Fever, though. Like Answer Me 1997, most everything about it feels like a standard Korean drama of its era.

Soulmate is an odd, interesting little show. It’s not my favorite series ever, but I can see why it’s often considered to be a classic, must-watch drama on a par with something like Dal Ja’s Spring.

Most Korean dramas are at their best and most interesting early in their run, but Soulmate was exactly the opposite. Its first half felt like a so-so appetizer you were eating mostly because you wanted to get to the main course. And what a main course it was: A charming, sparkly foray into magical realism, the late-arriving soulmate plotline was by far my favorite part of this drama. It playfully addressed the issue of destiny versus decision and then delivered Soulmate’s most powerful emotional wallop.

In spite of its classification, this show is not what I would expect from a(n American) sitcom: it doesn’t include jokey punchlines or a laugh track, and its filming isn’t confined to a single set. And yet its half-hour running time, indie vibe, and lightweight storytelling make it feel distinctly different from traditional Kdramas. For one thing, most other shows draw fuller pictures of their inhabitants. This drama is peopled with quirky characters who seemingly come from nowhere—it’s hard to believe, but no career or living situation is ever established for a number of its key players. Family is almost never discussed, and there’s no real development of anyone’s past. All this adds up to a fun, airy comedy that feels weirdly unmoored when compared to most other Korean dramas.

In some ways, Soulmate is like the drama overlords taking revenge on me for bellyaching that Rich Man, Poor Woman didn’t dedicate enough time to its romance plotline. This dramais nothing but romance; its characters spend its entire run coupling and uncoupling (or talking about doing so) with no other concern. Built as it is around three character configurations—a love square and two separate love triangles, one that’s played out in the first half of the series and one that picks up where it left off—the plot never gets bogged down on the will-they-or-won’t-they merry-go-round. People get together, people break up, and the story goes on. In spite of this constant forward momentum, Soulmate doesn’t lack emotional depth; especially once you get past the gross-out comedy of its first ten episodes, the relationships it portrays are powerful and poignant. When somebody’s heart breaks, you feel it.

Also wonderful is this show’s group of female leads. Unlike the empty-headed drama bots so common these days, the women of Soulmate are unfailingly independent and capable, and thanks to a sympathetic script and capable actresses, they’re also presented as full, nuanced characters with flaws and doubts and fears. They all chart their own courses in life—a fact I appreciate so much it almost allows me to overlook a finale that leaves one plot thread frustratingly unresolved. One more scene (or shot, even) is all it would have taken to for this show to exit with sighs instead of groans.

• Episode 2.Soulmate has already included an unprecedented amount of barfing. I would have joined in during this episode’s revolving door scene: the actors clearly spent a lot of time walking around in circles while it was shot from many, many angles.

• Episode 2.This is a show that’s much more concerned with its characters’ public faces than their inner beings. At this point, it’s mostly made up of scenes showing people discussing their love lives with very little action or forward momentum. Could this shallow start be the source of the trendy genre’s bad reputation?

• Episode 9. This is a gross-out romantic comedy feels shockingly modern and mature even compared with dramas airing today, including the I Need Romance series. When it first aired in 2006, it must have been a shock—Soulmates features everything from sex talk to independent single girls to boys coming thisclose to kissing. All that, and nary a true grown up in sight.

• Episode 12. Holy moly! Somebody just used a phone booth for its intended purpose, not as a spot to talk about time travel or a quiet place for a cell phone conversation. That’s even more dated these days than this drama’s wardrobe. (Although Ryeohi’s fashion choices aren’t really from a specific era. They’re more from a specific planet...that’s not Earth.)

• Episode 12. I officially take back all the nasty thoughts I had about the just-barely-missed connections between this show’s eventual lead couple. It’s actually sort of Dickensian and charming how these characters pop unwittingly in and out of each other’s lives.

• Episode 13. I often wish there was Kdrama equivalent of the Oxford English Dictionary, where I could look up the first instance of each standard Kdrama trope. I suspect this episode might represent the first example of a guy silently inserting an earbud for a girl so they can share music.

• Episode 13. Well, that was an unexpected use of footage from Hedwig and the Angy Inch. I guess those Koreans really do like their gender swap dramas, angry inches or not.

• Episode 18. I heartily approve of the soulmate mind reading shenanigans, but what about all those times when you wouldn’t want anyone else to know what you’re thinking? Say, for example, “I don’t care if he’s dating my friend. I want to shag him rotten”?

• Episode 19. Soulmate has its ups and downs, but this episode was perfect and wonderful from beginning to end.

• Episode 20. I just downloaded the Soulmate soundtrack, which is full of thoughtful, introspective songs. Especially wonderful is the dreamy theme song (which, go figure, is sung by the guy who did the dreamy theme song for I Need Romance 2012).

Crunchy Roll 

The I Need Romance series, for its contemporary and frank discussion of all things love
Dal Ja’s Spring, for its lighthearted humor