Lovestruck in the City Ep 1: Ji Chang Wook and Kim Ji Won's 'love at first sight' chemistry is off the charts

*SPOILERS ALERT* Lovestruck in the City was amongst the highly-awaited shows in December 2020 and as expected Ep 1, which premiered last night, delivered in spades thanks to its crisp storytelling take with the interview stylistic format and a fresh, vibrant cast. From the very introduction to the KakaoTV drama, you get to know how each character is distinctive when it comes to their views on dating.

While Park Jae-won (Ji Chang-wook) and Lee Eun-oh (Kim Ji-won) are still hung up on each other with the former blaming the latter for their relationship ending, Choi Kyung-joon (Kim Min-seok) and Seo Rin-yi (So Ju-yeon) play a longtime couple in love. Kang Geon (Ryu Kyung-soo) falls in love with any woman he dates while Oh Sun-young (Han Ji-eun) is cynical of all men and is more of a 'love 'em leave 'em' types.

With the interview format, we're quickly in tune with their respective mindsets when it comes to being in a relationship which many of us will find relatable in our own dating lives. Lovestruck in the City tries to break the barriers of a stereotypical drama storyline and instead tackles intimacy from the get-go with finesse and wit. Most of the half an hour is focused on Jae-won and Eun-oh's 'love at first sight' moment as we're taken back to one year ago when they meet for the first time.

Jae-won confesses how he's majorly attracted to strange women with Eun-oh ticking off all the requirements in his compatibility list. While Jae-won holds a grudge against Eun-oh for how things ended abruptly between them, Eun-oh takes responsibility and credits the former for bringing about a positive change in her. As Eun-oh goes to pick Jae-won up from the airport, Ji-won gives us a fangirl relatable moment as she's left awestruck with how handsome Jae-won is. On the other hand, Jae-won can't get Eun-oh out of his mind finding even her goofing around with a dog, endearing.

Eventually, while partying it up at night, Jae-won finally gets the courage and takes Eun-oh's hand in a romantic gesture as the two shares 'that' look before fireworks emerge in the background giving us a heartwarming scene. Moreover, fans also couldn't get over Chang-wook and Ji-won's passionate chemistry during one particular scene where they're seen going surfing and get engulfed by a wave before proceeding to gaze into each other's eyes lovingly.

During the end of the episode, we see how Kyung-joon, Rin-yi, Geon and Sun-young can't stop laughing at Jae-won and Eun-oh's fairytale beginning while the latter pair admits that if they had to go back to that first moment and fall in love all over again, they would gladly go through the whole thing.

Check out some of the best moments from Lovestruck in the City Ep 1 below:

What we found interesting was how every character immediately garners your interest with regards to their unique personality traits. Moreover, Chang-wook and Ji-won were an on-screen pair we didn't know we needed. While some would find the interview format a bit taxing and hard to keep up, it feels like a breath of fresh air to break away from the traditional narrative structure and add some spunk to the romantic drama genre. Moreover, we absolutely loved the intro which saw the intermingling of all the characters on the same street. It will be interesting to see how the next couple of episodes pans out. Also, it was revealed that we're getting 16 instead of 12 half-hour episodes in total.

ALSO READ: Post military discharge, SHINee's Minho to make a cameo in Ji Chang Wook & Kim Ji Won's Lovestruck in the City

What did you think of Lovestruck in the City Ep 1? Share your thoughts with Pinkvilla in the comments section below.