K-Drama Review: Weightlifting Fairy Kim Bok Joo

Noor Nathasyeena binti Seth

nnathasyeenaseth@gmail.com

20 June 2021

This show is easy to love because it is cheerful, sweet, and engaging.

All of the conflicts and character journeys feel relatable and genuine, with poignant coming-of-age struggles taking centre stage. The friendship-to-romance transition is handled sensitively and humorously, and the search for meaning and identity underpins everything with a lovely heartfelt poignancy.

Kim Bok-Joo is a 2 Sport University weightlifter and a rising star in the sport. Meanwhile, Jung Joon-hyung, a talented swimmer at the same university, has the potential to dominate the sport if it weren't for the anxiety disorder that plagues him every time he competes. Bok-Joo and Joon-Hyung knew each other in elementary school, and now they'll see each other again and, inevitably, annoy each other.

While dramaland is full of shows with fantastical and unusual setups, the charm of this show lies in how ordinary its setting is, as well as how ordinary and relatable its characters are.

There are no life-or-death stakes, no chaebol prince, no candy girl, or even the usual noble idiocy in this show, and yet it works despite its ordinariness.

I took some time for Lee Sung Kyung's interpretation of Bok Joo to sink in with me. At first, I thought Bok Joo's facial expressions were overly exaggerated, as were her body movements.

But, once I accepted that Bok Joo was a real person who walked gawky and ungainly and couldn't stop scrunching up her face into a pout on a regular basis, I grew to love her.

Bok Joo is such an every girl that it's easy to identify with her struggles, which range from dealing with self-image issues to crushing on boys to finding meaning in what she does.