A little emotionally drained from watching C-dramas, I decided to take a break and chose the two-episode Splash Splash Love to detox. Wow. What a fabulous idea. To start, I loved the premise of a high school senior (yes, we know she’s a senior because we learn the word for high school senior and eunuch is the same…..kind of funny) who hates the idea of taking college entrance exams. Most especially, the young girl, who is called Eunuch through most of the film, believes she isn’t good at math and will do anything to avoid taking the test, including travel back in time.

The premise of the story is just that: Nineteen-year-old wants to avoid taking SAT’s because she believes she stinks at math (that was me). Through a trick of fate or divine intervention, she is sent back in time to the Joseon era and a King Se Jong Yi Do who is desperately trying to create a more educated society and between the two, hi-jinks ensue. I did some research and the story-line offers a fun explanation for the advancement in practical learning for this time period.

Kim Seul Gi plays Dan Bi or Eunuch and does a fabulous job. Never do we forget she is that nineteen-year-old girl struggling to find herself and her ambition, even when she gets the opportunity to go back in time. Her character is less than sympathetic in the beginning which makes watching her evolve over the next two episodes even more fun. She pulled off funny, sweet, daring, and showed that she did have brains despite her insistence that she didn’t.

Yoon Doo Joon was spectacular as the king. I love love love his performance, from the king frustrated with his backwards thinking government to the patient man putting up with Eunuch’s eccentricities, to the budding scholar learning his times tables. By the end, I loved the king as much as I loved the eunuch and wanted nothing more than the two to find each other in the twenty-first century and live happily-ever-after. I especially like the last scene between the king and the eunuch, superbly done.

The second leads played by Ahn Hyo Seop (very nice to look at in traditional peasant garb) and Jin Ki Joo (very happy when she tossed that wig on the ground) were not as developed as the leads, but did a good job portraying the kindly and talented characters they were. When he bandages her foot and she paints that instrument…….sigh, it was sweet. Both characters ended on a strong note and contributed nicely to the story.

The music went well with the show and with only two episodes, there was no getting tired of a many-times repeated song. The costumes were entertaining, and I did enjoy the interaction between old and new. Nothing was too cliché or too serious or too preachy but the show ends teaching us something and I like that. Splash Splash Love is perfect if you want to kick back, relax, and take in a little history while you’re at it.