Once Upon a Small Town

A city vet Han Ji-yul (Choo Young Woo) ends up working in the countryside at his grandfathers practice where he is initially annoyed by a local police officer Ahn Ja-yeong (Joy from Red Velvet) He believes she is nosy but she is annoyed as they met as young children which he cannot remember. Yes it is a story of big city boy finding meaning in the simple things in life which has been done so many times, some better and some worse. I do not think it deserves the criticism it receives as if you wanted to watch a light hearted drama with a well acted storyline and sweet cast this will hit the spot.

Even though it had a rough starting,its getting better and better by episode. Its true that we can't see that sparkling chemistry between the leads yet, but i guess its ok if we look through the plot perspective. We can't expect 2 people to magically fall in love at first sight and see butterflies.

The backdrops are good, the scenes are quite relatable to actual life of common people. It showcases how a normal countryside life is. The natural flavour of common people like friendship, love and care for others, the way of celebrating simple things ,the way the batter with each other, jealousy, etc these human emotions are well conveyed through the story and the acting.

Han Ji-yul- The Vet from the City- well for someone who left the country side long back and came back after years, we cant expect everything will be unicorns and rainbows.

Choo Young-woo in the role of Ji-yul was able to fit into the character.

Park Soo-young as Ahn Ja-young is also really good. Lets say may be the role was meant to be hers.

Same goes for Baek Seong-cheol as Lee Sang-hyeon. The cute jealous boy look suits the actor well.

8,5 / 10 . This is a mini series which is reflected in shorter 30 mins episodes but also thinner, less elaborate story. Still, keeping it simple can be fun too, especially if it doesn't drag on for too long. The chemistry between the main couple is nice and FL had a very nice girl next-door vibe, although in real life she is a k-pop star apparently :) theme song (missing) is quite catchy.

The series takes place almost entirely in the country side, it was refreshing to see lots of nice rural shots and mountains. It's also remarkable that there aren't any "bad" characters, even the people who'd rather see the main couple fail, because they have a crush themselves, are relatable and you feel for them, they don't exit with an ugly fight.

Given the format, this series deserves a better average rating than the current 7 / 10.

I thought the premise might be fun but soon realized this series is trying to imitate the success of "Small Town Cha Cha Cha" without the engaging actors, dialogue and storylines. There hasn't been any funny scenarios of the big city vet in the country. Officer Ahn is fairly pathetic. The vet is a dud and the big storyline is they played together as kids and he forgot. The screaming and hair pulling of women from rival towns is annoying. Had to fast forward through those scenes. The love triangle could be more interesting. I am liking the child actors better than the leads. If you are bored, tune in.

Very bingable and I finished the series in three days, which is really quick for me. Likeable characters and no huge issues to deal with made for a lighthearted easy escape. It was a nice change of pace to have an average episode run time of only 30-35 minutes too, and with just 12 episodes you can really get through it fast. Don't worry though, the story is complete and does not feel rushed at all!

The premise is fairly standard for K drama rom-coms in that two opposites attract, and both end up helping the other to become more rounded. I thought both leads were good and there were a few scenes that one or the other really knocked it out of the park.

Recommended!