《제발 그 남자 만나지 마요》 / 《Please Don’t Date Him》 is romantic comedy done right. There are many shows categorised as “RomCom” over the years and very few deserving of this label. 《Please Don’t Date Him》 is one of the few exception as it brings out genuine laughter in every episode while building on the romantic relationship of the characters.

Romantic comedy done right.

Synopsis

An AI controlled, household appliances developer in Pelican Electronics, Seo Ji-seong, has dreams to live a perfect life like a well developed program.¹

Working on an Artificial Intelligence refrigerator with voice activated features, she inserts a super sensor chip which was lost by National Intelligence Service into a refrigerator and an “Ancestral Spirit” program that picks scums instead of telling the freshness of vegetables is developed. So, Ji-seong finds out that her deemed perfect fiancé Jeong-han was actually not her Prince Charming.¹

One day, Jung Kook-hee, a firefighter, with no social media record, whom the program couldn’t analyze, shows up. Ji-seong is skeptical about him, as there is no trace of his past on the internet.¹

Story

The literary device used for the plot was properly used and was not just a literary device later forgotten after setting up the story. When this was revealed, I was expecting this show to turn serious and deviate from being a romcom and turn into a serious drama, but the writer(s) stayed true and kept it in the sidelines yet still an important part of the show.

Performance

《Song Ha Yoon》, who played “Seo Ji Sung” did very well in portraying an A.I. programmer yet still “just a girl, standing in front of a boy, asking him to love her” (to borrow from 《Notting Hill》). I also love how they chose a woman as a programmer in this show debunking the stereotypes [1] programming is for men; and [2] girl programmers does not have a love life.

Music

OST

Verdict

It’s sad that they only planned a total of ten (10) episodes, they could have extended it to thirteen or a full series (sixteen episodes). I strongly recommend this show if you are looking for a series which will make you laugh, fall in love all over again, and appreciate the people around you, even strangers like our brave firefighters. An overall score of 9.0 out of 10 stars.

Official trailer