*This review contains spoilers*

Can This Love Be Translated? is a slow-burn romantic comedy Korean drama that combines a cross-cultural cast with globe-trotting production. I thought this was going to be a dark/eerie kind of series because of the zombie theme in the trailers, but it turned out to be a fun and entertaining watch. I didn’t find it to be binge worthy though as I struggled a bit to keep watching in some parts.

The emotions of a celebrity and her interpreter get lost in translation as they travel the world filming a TV show. Will love find its own language?

What I liked:

I’ve been a fan of Kim Seon-ho since “Start Up” so I mostly watched this series because of him, but what I really enjoyed about it is Go Youn-jung’s amusing and expressive acting. This is actually my first time watching her so I was really surprised as I usually see her expressionless in other trailers and videos.

I also liked the spectacular views and cinematic visuals (I love amazing visuals) and they have tons of these aesthetic shots throughout the episodes.

I also had a lot of fun watching Hiro-san and his funny interactions with Cha Mu-hee (plus he’s handsome too! 🤭) Aside from the leads, he also had a huge character development. 🙂

What didn’t work for me:

Slow pacing and uneven tone shifts

In the beginning, the story’s premise is this: Cha Mu-hee started seeing hallucinations of her zombie character, Do Ra Mi, right after she shot to global stardom. Incidentally, her emotionally reserved interpreter, Ho-jin, finds out about her condition. They get closer and Mu-hee realizes she likes Ho-jin and doesn’t hesitate to express her feelings. Ho-jin, on the other hand, struggles to accept the affection. Apart from that, he had been in love with another woman for years. It was then implied that the other girl also had feelings with Ho-jin, but because of Ho-jin’s hesitation, they lost touch and now the girl is in a relationship with Ho-jin’s brother.

You’d think they’d explore more on this love triangle (or at least I thought). They didn’t (which is also fine btw since they’d wrapped up this part nicely in the end). The story progresses and we see more of Mu-hee and Ho-jin’s push and pull romance. Though Mu-hee is the first one to admit her feelings, she pulls away when Ho-jin begins to accept it – which does makes sense given Mu-hee’s past trauma. But then, this push-and-pull just felt dragging. I found the repeated misunderstandings and hesitations too drawn out when they could have explored more on the other parts of the story.

Unexplored plot twists that made the ending look rushed

In the final episode, they discover that Mu-hee’s mom, the real “Do Ra Mi” who’d been haunting her, is alive. Mu-hee then decides to leave and meet her. But then, we never got to see her mother or what happened while she was away. We just see Ho-jin missing Mu-hee all those times . It felt like there was more to the story but they just decided to cut it short because of the limited number of episodes. If this was the case, I think they could have just left that part out and gave more screen time to the lovers.

Overly slow romance build-up leading to lack of chemistry

You may roast me for this, but I just didn’t feel the chemistry that much with the main leads. It’s not that they didn’t have it, they actually did, (unlike with how I felt with “Love Next Door“), but the slow-burn romance, which was too slow it took until the second to the last episode for them to be together, as well as the repetitive misunderstandings kind of killed it for me.

If we’re talking about chemistry, I felt it more with Mu-hee and Hiro as I found their interactions funnier and more interesting.

Actually, a series with Mu-hee and Hiro as the main couple – where they fall in love despite their differences and the language barrier – would make a good story too.

Something just felt like… missing.

As much as I love Kim Seon-ho (as mentioned repeatedly in previous reviews), I think this drama sadly didn’t get to the level of his other global hits, Hometown Cha Cha Cha and Start Up. Acting wise, he was still great as usual, but it felt like there was something missing. I didn’t feel the kind of emotion that pulls on your heartstrings that he was so good at. Or maybe because there was no scene here where he could show that? (Actually, there was this one emotional scene with his mom where I almost felt that, but it was too short.)

CONCLUSION:

The show’s central focus of using translation literally and metaphorically to explore emotional miscommunication is fresh and clever. Its visual appeal and polished production, with international locations set in Japan, Canada and Italy, elevated the show’s cinematic feel. Though I’ve been a long-time fan of Kim Seon-ho, this time I’ll give it to Go Youn-jung for her expressive acting.

RATING: 8/10

What are your thoughts about this drama? Let me know in the comments!