“Personal Taste” opens on a misunderstanding. Architect Jeon Jin-ho (Lee Min-ho) needs access to Sanggojae, a modernized hanok that has never been opened to the public, so he can gather information for the Dam Art Center bid. Furniture designer Park Kae-in (Son Ye-jin) owns the place and needs a tenant. She rents him a room because misunderstandings from their previous encounters leave her believing he is gay. The 2010 MBC series, adapted from Lee Se-in’s 2007 novel, ran 16 episodes from March 31 to May 20, 2010, and it is at its best when it treats that arrangement as a problem rather than a punchline.
Trailer, via TVD Admin.
Sanggojae and the Hanok Nobody Has Seen
The house is the show’s real engine. Sanggojae means “a place for mutual love,” and Kae-in’s father, the reclusive architecture professor Park Chul-han (Kang Shin-il), designed it for his wife and daughter. Jin-ho wants information about Sanggojae for the Dam Art Center bid, which pits his small firm against Future Construction, run by Han Yoon-sub (Ahn Suk-hwan). Yoon-sub once worked under Jin-ho’s father and then took the company from him. That backstory gives Jin-ho a reason to scheme that has nothing to do with romance, and in this paper’s view the series is smarter for it.
Kae-in is a slob. The show says so plainly: kind, impulsive, clumsy, and a complete mess in her personal habits. Jin-ho is neat and organized and cannot stand her. He moves in and starts trying to change her into a better version of herself. That is the comic engine of the first stretch, and it works because Son Ye-jin plays the mess without begging for sympathy.
The Wedding That Gets Cancelled
Before Jin-ho arrives, Kae-in gets dumped. Her long-time boyfriend Han Chang-ryul (Kim Ji-seok) cheats on her and ends it. She is a pushover, so she still goes to her friend and roommate Kim In-hee’s wedding. In-hee (Wang Ji-hye) is marrying Chang-ryul. The two had been seeing each other behind Kae-in’s back for a while. When Kae-in finally faces them, the ceremony turns chaotic and is cancelled.
That sequence sets the terms. Kae-in decides she will not take a chance on love again, and the series has to earn its way past that. In-hee is not written as a sympathetic rival. She has multiple boyfriends and treats them as dispensable, and after betraying Kae-in she falls for Jin-ho and tries to take him too. The show stacks the deck against her, and it is the weakest thing in it.
Choi Do-bin and the Man Who Falls for the Lie
Ryu Seung-ryong plays Choi Do-bin, director of the DAAM project. He is homosexual, and he develops feelings for Jin-ho because he believes Jin-ho is gay too. This is where “Personal Taste” could have gone cheap, and mostly it does not. Do-bin is not the joke. He runs a project and carries feelings he never asked for, and in this paper’s assessment Ryu Seung-ryong gives him more dignity than the material demands.
The cast around the leads is deep. Ahn Suk-hwan’s Yoon-sub is the villain with a paper trail. Park Hae-mi plays Jin-ho’s mother, Jeon Jang-mi. Im Seul-ong is Kim Tae-hoon, Jin-ho’s employee, who has a crush on Na Hye-mi (Choi Eun-seo), Jin-ho’s childhood friend who has wanted him since they were young. Kim Ji-seok’s Chang-ryul leaves Kae-in for In-hee and then grows feelings for Kae-in again, which makes him a rival to Jin-ho on two fronts at once.
“Kae-in’s Preference”
That is the literal translation of the Korean title, and it is the more honest one. The whole series is about what Kae-in prefers and how badly she is at knowing it.
The Schedule That Shaped It
“Personal Taste” aired on MBC on Wednesdays and Thursdays at 21:55 KST. The twice-a-week strip is worth noting. In this paper’s reading, the broadcast rhythm is part of why the middle stretches and why the finish feels earned.
| Episode block | Air dates | Slot |
|---|---|---|
| Premiere | March 31, 2010 | Wednesday, 21:55 KST |
| Run | March 31 – May 20, 2010 | Wednesdays and Thursdays, 21:55 KST |
| Finale | May 20, 2010 | Thursday, 21:55 KST |
Sixteen episodes across that run. In this paper’s view, that is a lot of runway for a premise that depends on one person not saying one sentence.
What the Lie Costs
The show’s best idea is that Jin-ho’s deception is not victimless. Kae-in rents to him out of a misunderstanding built from their previous encounters, and in this paper’s reading every kind thing he does for her afterward carries that weight. He falls for her while she believes she is safe with him because she thinks he is unavailable. That is a cruel structure, and “Personal Taste” understands it is cruel.
The problem, in this paper’s assessment, is pacing. The episode order is longer than the premise comfortably carries, and the later stretch leans on In-hee and Chang-ryul to generate conflict the central pair could generate themselves. Chang-ryul’s father stole Jin-ho’s father’s company; Chang-ryul cheated on Kae-in with her best friend. Both men are load-bearing, and neither is interesting enough to be.
Son Ye-jin and Lee Min-ho are the reason to watch. She plays the slob and the pushover without turning either into a tic, and he plays the neat freak as someone genuinely bothered rather than merely amused. The scenes where he tries to reform her habits are, to this paper’s eye, the show’s most reliable pleasure, and they are also where the writing is most specific. Sanggojae is a real place in the show’s imagination, with a father’s intentions baked into it and a daughter who cannot quite live up to them.
The Verdict on Personal Taste
“Personal Taste” is a 2010 romantic comedy that understands its own premise and then stretches it past the breaking point. The lie is good. The house is better. The supporting cast is too large and too villainous, and in this paper’s view the middle stretch pays for that.
It is worth watching for the leads and for the way the show handles Choi Do-bin, which is more careful than a 2010 network drama had any obligation to be. It is not worth watching for Chang-ryul, or for a resolution that, in this paper’s view, takes its time arriving.
7.8 of 10.
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