Are you one of those people like me who were suffering from romantic cuteness withdrawl after Hometown Cha Cha Cha wrapped up? In my quest to find a similar sweet plot, I stumbled upon Dali and The Cocky Prince....and what a refreshingly pure series it has been to unwind to!

Dali and The Cocky Prince or Dal-Ri and Gamjatang (as it is referred in South Korea) is painted as a romantic comedy with a tinge of murder mystery, connecting contrasting worlds of art galleries and global food chains.

The appetizing promotional teasers and iconic portrait paintings recreated as character posters fuelled quite an excitement for this drama amongst fans which otherwise did not boast of any prominent cast.

The 16-episodes drama chronicles the colorful romance between Kim Dali (Park Gyu Young) and Jin Moo Hak (Kim Min Jae), with a crumbling art museum at its backdrop. Dali is a purveyor of fine art studying in Amsterdam, who is the only daughter of the Cheongsong family- a prestigious South Korean family. Sudden events leads her to cross path with Moo Hak, a money-minded businessman, who runs a family food chain. Dali is your typical bookworm who is fluent in seven languages while our Moo Hak has got nothing to do with books or art and laughingly confuses over kid's café as kiss café.

The writing is exquisite, despite not being groundbreaking, as we’ve seen this premise in many romantic comedies. A coincidental cute meet-up which later turns out to be fateful for the main leads, opposites attract trope, FLs which can easily be labelled as damsels in distress and the ML who seems brashy and crude at first glance. Except, in this case, there is more than what meets the eye. The coincidental meets which usually nurtures budding romances here surprisingly acts as a repellent to whatever scope of romantic reunion the viewers hoped for and not gonna lie, it served as the backdrop of few of the most quirkiest moments of the show.

The entirety of the show is about how people of different view points can still accept and help each other while growing together in an extremely healthy and non bickering manner which mind you, is very rare in an opposites attract cliché. While we are at it, a special shoutout to Kim Min Jae and Park Gyu Young who had off-the-charts chemistry as the cute couple. Their on-screen passion, affection and silent understanding for each other spoke through every scene they shared together.

As for the downtrodden female leads, the show does seem to hold vengeance against them by piling one crisis after another in every other episode. Sometimes it sure may seem that they are mere vulnerable puppets. But their silent resilience and calm patience to continue fighting will give us hope when it may seem everything's lost. So contrary to popular opinion the show in actuality does not lacks in feminist themes and rather promotes men who support it.

This is very much a character driven drama and represents an in-depth case study of character dynamics and eventual growth of the central characters. So truth be told, my favorite part of the show has been the character development of Moo Hak. A man who started out by appreciating pig portraits and then went on to adorably woo the embodiment of life-size art that was Dali, was nothing short of a miracle. But beneath all his laugh-out-loud exterior lies a man lacking family affection and going through his own set of emotional traumas that'll make you sympathise with him in more ways than one.

Art lies in the eyes of the beholder, foes impersonating friends and the concept of complex familial ties acts as the central theme of the show. That being said, watch out for Hwang Bora as Moo Hak's quirky secretary. One of my favorite plot point has to be the crazy boss and his equally crazy but doesn’t show it secretary, who’d go to the ends of the earth for him. Another character that will make you both dazzle and disgust in equal amounts is Kwon Yul as Jang Tae Jin. He's hot but he's mostly odd.

Visual appeal at its peak, this KBS drama features commendable production value. The sets are amazing, Chungsong art gallery- the very heart of the show and centric plot point was accurately displayed. As a viewer you'll have a hard time resisting virtually diving into it to appreciate the displayed artworks yourself. The touch of genius also lies in the camera pulling away from a scene at times, like leaving the leads framed in a window, and applying a textured brush stroke pattern over the picture. It’s beautiful and a whimsical way to make the story its own painting. Take it from an aesthete, by the end of it, this drama will definitely urge you to visit your nearest art gallery, if it is in a financial crisis probably the better for easing of the conscience.

Another bonus for the visuals (yes the drama clearly comes off as a visual fest) the hairstyles and costumes are very well put together on every character. Embodying their inner self and presenting it to the world. Just like they've stepped out from a painting.

However, the true strength of Dali and The Cocky Prince lies in its cast, their nailed-to perfection acting, the brilliant writing and the OST.

After being part of multiple dramas as a supportive character, (Devil Judge, It's Okay To Not Be Okay and many more) the charismatic Park Gyu Young transformed as a female lead this time into an artistically inclined and elegant Kim Dali. She effortlessly sells the character of an intelligent , rich but friendly girl who excels at the hard things while struggling to take care of the basics – like eating a proper meal. As first time goes, Park Gyu Young does an impressive job.

My second favorite character, however, has been played by Hwang Hee as Joo Won Tak- the brave and charismatic detective named Won Tak (or as Dali likes to call him, Uri Won Taki) from violent crime squad. He was a teen gangster who got rescued by Dali's father and was treated like his own. The fact that Won Tak being protective over Dali and helpful is never played off as romantic, they really just consider each other's siblings despite not being officially related which could've made it so easy to write Won Tak off as "the man who's in love with his non-biological sibling because after all even if they were raised together they don't share blood so it's okay" trope which is honestly, a bit disturbing, made the plot quite refreshing.

Another appealing factor (at this point, you might have guessed this isn't a critique, this is me forcing you to watch this show like right now!) is the drama's OST which has a collection of both heartfelt and melancholic tunes belted out at key moments during the episodes.

In short, Dali and The Cocky Prince is an artwork inside an art frame cause those real scenes morphing into abstract painting shots, appears to be a cinematography masterstroke, literally. So like Mona Lisa, who?