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Spice Up Our Love Review: Han Ji Hyun and Lee Sang Yi’s spin-off presents delightful backstory to No Gain No Love romance
Han Ji Hyun & Lee Sang Yi’s spin-off Spice Up Our Love has premiered and it has presented a fun backstory to their romance in No Gain No Love. Read our full review here.
Name: Spice Up Our Love
Premiere Date: October 3, 2024
Cast: Han Ji Hyun, Lee Sang Yi
Director: Jung Hoon
Writer: Jo Min Jung
Creator: Kim Hye Young
No. of episodes: 2
Genre: Romance, Fantasy, Comedy
Language: Korean
Where to watch: Prime Video, TVING
Synopsis of Spice Up Our Love
Spice Up Our Love kicks off as we meet Nam Ja Yeon as Seo Yoon Seo in her R-rated novel with Kang Ha Joon (who is still Yeo Ha Joon). However, we are soon pulled into the No Gain No Love reality where Nam Ja Yeon momentarily loses consciousness while witnessing the almost-death experience of Bok Gyu Hyun. Instead of waking up as Nam Ja Yeon, she instead wakes up in her female lead, Seo Yoon Seo’s body, by entering into her R-rated novel Spice Up Our Love.
Still conscious of who she is, Nam Ja Yeon as Seo Yoon Seo tries her best to get out of her novel after being utterly shocked on seeing her hater Bok Gyu Hyun taking on the role of the male lead, Kang Ha Joon. She tries to run from him every chance she gets, and even tries to kill herself so that she can return to the real world but alas, it does not work.
Nam Ja Yeon soon convinces Kang Ha Joon that she is the writer who wrote the novel they are in and it’s not the real world. However, he is left confused and sad because he feels that neither he nor his feelings are real. The writer then tries to make him understand that Spice Up Our Love is an integral part of her and her existence so everything is real. Spice Up Our Love gives the backstory to how Nam Ja Yeon first began to see Bok Gyu Hyun in a new light and finally fell for him, like did he.
Watch the Spice Up Our Love trailer here:
Spice Up Our Love Review
Spice Up Our Love presents a delightful background story to Han Ji Hyun’s Nam Ja Yeon and Lee Sang Yi’s Bok Gyu Hyun’s romance in No Gain No Love. The spin-off transforms Han Ji Hyun’s Nam Ja Yeon into her novel’s lead character Seo Yoon Seo and Lee Sang Yi’s Bok Gyu Hyun into male lead Kang Ha Joon to give more meaning to their love story.
The spin-off flawlessly blurs the line between reality and a fantasy world which have collapsed into each other keeping most of the constants and variables intact. The execution of Spice Up Our Love surprises as it truly delivers a fantastical world where the lead hero flies to save his heroine and the female lead magically survives falling from a huge height.
Furthermore, Han Ji Hyun and Lee Sang Yi’s chemistry is what keeps the 2-episode drama worthwhile our time, and fun.
The spin-off’s concept and objective is to prove that Han Ji Hyun and Lee Sang Yi’s characters are made for each other and no matter which universe or world they are in, they are bound to fall in love and we love it!
Spearheading a new dawn in spin-off K-dramas, Han Ji Hyun and Lee Sang Yi’s Spice Up Our Love might be short but ist sweet and romantic enough to keep us engaged til the end. However, we would have loved it if it had taken it ahead and shown us what happened to Nam Ja Yeon and Bok Gyu Hyun after we left them in the No Gain No Love finale, their jealousy, possibly happily ever after.
Nonetheless, if seen from another angle, Spice Up Our Love gives us more of Nam Ja Yeon and Bok Gyu Hyun’s love story by telling us that our female lead started to fall for her hater way before as a character of her own R-rated novel. It also gives us the reason why her perspective of Bok Gyu Hyun changed after waking up in the hospital in No Gain No Love episode 5.
Spice Up Our Love brings a fun twist to Han Ji Hyun and Lee Sang Yi’s love story while keeping it sizzling and romantic.
How were the acting performances in Spice Up Our Love?
Han Ji Hyun constantly plays her writer persona Nam Ja Yeon from No Gain No Love and her novel’s female lead Seo Yoon Seo so flawlessly, it feels like we have found another diamond in the rom-com world. The actress plays the irritation to get out of her novel and back to reality so perfectly that for a second you forget it’s a drama.
Meanwhile, Han Ji Hyun excellently balances the overflowing emotions of her past and her future as Nam Ja Yeon and Seo Yoon Seo. Her heart-melting smiles and emotional pain flow from her eyes as tears move us to the core.
She surprises us by showing exasperation at her helplessness on the one hand, while on the other, she wins hearts by being a mature and kind woman who is genuinely worried for Kang Hae Joon.
Meanwhile, Lee Sang Yi as Kang Hae Joon has undoubtedly earned a bow from viewers. His execution of the nonsensical superhero elements while maintaining a nonchalant expression as if it's normal is perfection.
Lee Sang Yi wins by making us feel the hurt he feels on learning he is just a character in a novel and the love he still feels for Nam Ja Yeon in every universe. The actor has us pleasantly surprised that somehow he managed to show us Bok Gyu Hyun in Kang Hae Joon without us even realizing it.
Moreover, Lee Sang Yi’s Kang Hae Joon’s dialogue, “I love you, Miss Nam Ja Yeon. Wherever and whenever, I will always be with you, Ja Yeon” gives meaning to the whole concept of Spice Up Our Love, that his character will always fall in love with Han Ji Hyun’s Nam Ja Yeon no matter what universe it is.
Well, if you haven’t tuned in yet, then do so because Spice Up Our Love serves more of Han Ji Hyun and Lee Sang Yi’s chemistry while making us laugh and swoon.
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