Brimming with slapstick humor but starved for solid storytelling, the drama wraps up with a feel-good finale that still feels a bit hollow.
Its concept had promise, but the execution didn’t quite stick the landing. Still, rather than dwell on what could’ve been, let’s chalk it up to a bumpy ride and move on to brighter dramas ahead.
- Main Leads: Kang Tae-oh | Lee Sun-bin | Lee Hak-joo | Kim Ga-eun | Shin Hyun-seung
- Addictive Meter:
- Overall Rating:
- Rewatch Value:
- K-Dramas of Similar Vibe: Brewing Love | Once Upon A Small Town |
Bunny S. watches The Potato Lab on Netflix
The Potato Lab Quick Series Recap
In an opposites attract romance, a temperamental potato researcher butts heads with the newly appointed director only to end up falling for each other. His rationality is the exact opposite of her feisty personality, making for an interesting dynamic.
The Potato Lab Series Highlights and Musings
Opposites attract love stories never get old. If well-crafted, they can entertain us with a fun watch. Unfortunately, the drama couldn’t deliver on that note. Despite having some issues with the premiere (the abrupt kiss), we held onto hope that things would get better along the way. But things didn’t turn out well.
What makes or breaks this kind of story is having a solid build-up to get us invested in the upcoming romance between the leads. But here, Baek-ho relentlessly chased after Mi-kyung without any good reason. Yet it would have been more impactful to get more interactions between our leads first, making for a more natural attraction.
Along the way, Baek-ho noticed how passionate Mi-kyung was about her work and how hard she worked at any given task. Which made him fall for her. Likewise, realizing that underneath the cold exterior, Baek-ho was a softie, Mi-kyung warmed up to him. But we weren’t utterly sold on their romance, mainly because we couldn’t emotionally connect with the characters.
Giving Mi-kyung a back story made us relate to her. But her fiery temper felt over the top, and she often came across as petty. Also, the drama painted Baek-ho as a know-it-all who lacks compassion, all while taking its sweet time to reveal his past. When it finally gave us a glimpse into his story, it was tossed in randomly, treating it as an afterthought instead of having an emotional weight.
Things took an upward turn in the second half after our leads got together, with the drama toning down Mi-kyung’s temper and focusing on her other characterization and having Baek-ho act like a softie sweetie instead of a rational robot. But it was a bit too late to get us hooked. The romantic scenes felt swoony because of the actors, not because we were rooting for the characters to get together.
Given the village setting, we had a bunch of side characters, but none added anything new to the table. The potato lab staff could have made for an interesting found family embracing Baek-ho just like they took in Mi-kyung. But they were annoying busybodies, and their screen time was used as filler. Perhaps the only ones getting their own story were Mi-kyung’s younger brother, Kim Hwan-kyung (Shin Hyun-seung), and her bestie Lee Ong-ju (Kim Ga-eun). But it was kept on a surface level.
Sustaining his 1D antagonist characterization till the end, Ki-se was just a greedy guy who dumped Mi-kyung to marry the chairwoman’s daughter and use her to climb the ladder. Not that Ki-se’s ex-wife was any better. She pursued him despite knowing he had a girlfriend. They were two selfish people who only thought about themselves, and Mi-kyung got caught in the crossfire and had to lose her job.
The final straw was the plot twist of Baek-ho being the one behind Mi-kyung’s unfair termination. (The chairwoman’s side ordered him to fire Mi-kyung.) Perhaps we would have taken it if this arc was introduced earlier into the story to give Baek-ho character growth by having him realize the aftereffects of his “rational” decisions on other people’s lives and reflect on his actions. But it was thrown in for the penultimate week angst. Then, it was all solved pretty quickly.
Wrapping up the drama, everyone gets their happy endings and new beginnings (even if it feels out of the blue). Feeling guilty about ruining other people’s livelihoods, Baek-ho resigns and moves into the village. Which is just the drama’s convenient way to get our leads together in one place without any fear of separation. Likewise, Mi-kyung’s hard work pays off, and she catches a lucky break at the last minute. Ki-se leaves Wonhan to start anew, and the ex-wife resolves to start over as well.
Perhaps the only refreshing aspect of the drama was having Baek-ho fire Mi-kyung from the potato lab and back up his decision with logical reasons that even Mi-kyung can’t argue against. It isn’t every day that we see the male lead fire the heroine from her dream job and then try to earn her affection.
The Potato Lab promised an entertaining watch but couldn’t ground its chaotic energy and went sideways. The long running time per episode also didn’t help. Instead of craving for more, we couldn’t wait for the episode to be over. It might not be the worst show out there, but it couldn’t deliver on multiple fronts and got us frustrated. Still, instead of regretting picking it up, let’s just forget about it all and move on.
Photos and Videos: tvN Drama
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