Warm & Cozy Review

Title: Warm and Cozy
AKA: Jeju Island Gatsby
Genre: Romance, Comedy, Mystery
Episodes: 16
Broadcast Period: May-2015 to Jul-2015
Cast: Kang Sora, Yoo Yun Suk, Lee Sung Jae, Kim Sung Oh, Seo Yi Ahn, Jin Young, Ok Ji Young, Lee Jung Moon, Lee Han Wie

Is an enduring romance between an angry ant and a lazy grasshopper possible? Lee Jung Joo (Kang So Ra) has worked tirelessly for five years for a clothing company to try to improve her station in life. But despite all of her hard work, life keeps throwing curveballs at her and she is left with no job or boyfriend. Angry at the world, she ends up on Jeju Island to start over and rebuild her life. Baek Gun Woo (Yoo Yeon Seok), on the other hand, has always had a comfortable life. As chef restaurateur of a restaurant called Warm and Cozy, he doesn’t have to work that hard to succeed because his family has always paved the way for him to succeed. But falling in love with the scrappy Jung Joo may be the toughest challenge he has faced in his carefree life. Can the two opposites find love in the scenic island of Jeju?

Apparently, the Hong sisters wrote this drama, but as far as I know all their works are mostly enjoyable and fun, plus they are pretty well-known in South Korea. However, this drama couldn’t have been more boring. I found myself struggling to get through it. Now the story sounds simple, but with the Hong sisters I expected it to be easy, to be fun, to be effortless. Yet, it was anything but. Kang So Ra was the perfect Jung Joo, since she’s the best when it comes to naive and clumsy characters (except for Misaeng, still can’t forget her in that one). However, I didn’t enjoy Yoo Yun Suk’s acting as much as So Ra’s. He was okay but not that outstanding, and definitely lacking for a main character. The characters from Jeju did an amazing job and I enjoyed the secondary characters acting as well. It is sad for a drama if the only thing you can say was good, were the cast. I could go on and on about how dull and repetitive this drama is, but I won’t. Instead, I implore you to simply not watch it. If you like a drama with character development, where there’s something to look forward to every week, and where the leads don’t fall into a recycled formula each episode, don’t waste your time with Warm and Cozy.

☆☆☆☆ / 4 out of 5 stars

♥♥/ 2 out of 5 hearts