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Irony at its finest: blending an unhinged enemies-to-lovers dynamic with office drama and more
When rational adults are thrusted into potato-centered ridicule in a small-town, there is only one word to describe this phenomena: quirky.
With a plot crafted around a fixation on potatoes and a setting that shifts from a small town, where everyone feels like family, to a big one like Seoul, where no one seems to be on your side, both settings clash in silly circumstances and curate the sense of hilarity that the series has successfully woven into its episodes. ‘The Potato Lab’ draws comedy from the mundanity of both worlds through irony, amusing light ridicule, and an emphasis on the chaos created when common-sense-fueled characters find themselves cornered into unhinged situations. From ill-fitting dynamics to peculiarly unusual happenings, the characters, journeying through their every-day lives through this silly lens, are presented from such a lighthearted angle that no character is to be taken seriously. And viewers can’t help but laugh along, savouring this comedic taste.
The potato research institute, situated in the tight-knit community of a potato-field-filled mountain valley, is forced to shift its focus from potato researching and breeding to balancing an unforeseen problem: one that forces them to halt their traditions and usual routines. By converting their more traditional-leaning lab to something more polished and considered more ethical in the bigger picture, following a forced merger between the large food retailer Wonhan, the lab's atmosphere greatly changes. New individuals invite themselves into the lab researchers' lives, poisoning the calm with a sense of superiority that threatens the tranquility of their usual laid-back attitudes and slow work-habits. Their work tasks shift to adapt to this reconstruction, becoming a stressful struggle rather than an enjoyment as it had been prior to the big change.
Kim Mi-gyeong represents an epitome of resilience during this time, protesting their values and traditions being taken away while trying to navigate this new undercurrent of change with an open heart—quite literally, as she eventually falls under the spell of So Baek-ho, the CEO of Wonhan, who instills his work-related ideals on them. Their polar-opposite lives intertwine, inspiring So Baek-ho to explore a work-free facet of himself, to stop being so uptight, and develop his robot-like communication skills. When their first—supposed—romantic trip together involves an overnight trip to differentiate sweet potatoes from regular potatoes, and one of their first dates is merely followed by a moonlit search for a lost cow, yet both are still enjoying themselves despite these unconventional contexts, it is hard to believe they aren’t a perfect match. Viewers are soon left with a dissipating anger towards the male lead, going from booing him to joining the female lead in thirsting over his abs when he teases them.
In a bid to keep work life and personal life separate, they find comfort and strength in losing themselves in each other’s eyes, and always find themselves searching for one another, eager to hold gazes once more.Torn between work ethics combined with personal principles and his feelings for the female lead, both are in a constant swarm of emotions, fighting to find an answer to their shared question in the blur that is their unique relationship: is what they share love? During their journey in slowly piecing together their answer to this question, both find even greater meaning in their respective lives. The female lead learns to put her pride in her work and her hardness aside while the male lead eventually sees employees, as well as his own self, beyond work context. Baek-ho and Mi-gyeong’s love evolves gradually—a testament to the effort they put into accepting their sad pasts as part of a small piece of the picture of their identity, and their success in becoming the best versions of themselves.
Overall, the plot’s delivery was peak entertainment, a feel-good show with beautiful green scenery. Despite the hilarity and wholesomeness of the first-half, its second fell through with toxic behaviour and, needless to say, no character—not even So Baek-ho or Kim Mi-gyeong and their established romantic relationship—could be saved from the unlikeable mess that grew unwatchable 'til the very end.
2025-04-18
With a plot crafted around a fixation on potatoes and a setting that shifts from a small town, where everyone feels like family, to a big one like Seoul, where no one seems to be on your side, both settings clash in silly circumstances and curate the sense of hilarity that the series has successfully woven into its episodes. ‘The Potato Lab’ draws comedy from the mundanity of both worlds through irony, amusing light ridicule, and an emphasis on the chaos created when common-sense-fueled characters find themselves cornered into unhinged situations. From ill-fitting dynamics to peculiarly unusual happenings, the characters, journeying through their every-day lives through this silly lens, are presented from such a lighthearted angle that no character is to be taken seriously. And viewers can’t help but laugh along, savouring this comedic taste.
The potato research institute, situated in the tight-knit community of a potato-field-filled mountain valley, is forced to shift its focus from potato researching and breeding to balancing an unforeseen problem: one that forces them to halt their traditions and usual routines. By converting their more traditional-leaning lab to something more polished and considered more ethical in the bigger picture, following a forced merger between the large food retailer Wonhan, the lab's atmosphere greatly changes. New individuals invite themselves into the lab researchers' lives, poisoning the calm with a sense of superiority that threatens the tranquility of their usual laid-back attitudes and slow work-habits. Their work tasks shift to adapt to this reconstruction, becoming a stressful struggle rather than an enjoyment as it had been prior to the big change.
Kim Mi-gyeong represents an epitome of resilience during this time, protesting their values and traditions being taken away while trying to navigate this new undercurrent of change with an open heart—quite literally, as she eventually falls under the spell of So Baek-ho, the CEO of Wonhan, who instills his work-related ideals on them. Their polar-opposite lives intertwine, inspiring So Baek-ho to explore a work-free facet of himself, to stop being so uptight, and develop his robot-like communication skills. When their first—supposed—romantic trip together involves an overnight trip to differentiate sweet potatoes from regular potatoes, and one of their first dates is merely followed by a moonlit search for a lost cow, yet both are still enjoying themselves despite these unconventional contexts, it is hard to believe they aren’t a perfect match. Viewers are soon left with a dissipating anger towards the male lead, going from booing him to joining the female lead in thirsting over his abs when he teases them.
In a bid to keep work life and personal life separate, they find comfort and strength in losing themselves in each other’s eyes, and always find themselves searching for one another, eager to hold gazes once more.Torn between work ethics combined with personal principles and his feelings for the female lead, both are in a constant swarm of emotions, fighting to find an answer to their shared question in the blur that is their unique relationship: is what they share love? During their journey in slowly piecing together their answer to this question, both find even greater meaning in their respective lives. The female lead learns to put her pride in her work and her hardness aside while the male lead eventually sees employees, as well as his own self, beyond work context. Baek-ho and Mi-gyeong’s love evolves gradually—a testament to the effort they put into accepting their sad pasts as part of a small piece of the picture of their identity, and their success in becoming the best versions of themselves.
Overall, the plot’s delivery was peak entertainment, a feel-good show with beautiful green scenery. Despite the hilarity and wholesomeness of the first-half, its second fell through with toxic behaviour and, needless to say, no character—not even So Baek-ho or Kim Mi-gyeong and their established romantic relationship—could be saved from the unlikeable mess that grew unwatchable 'til the very end.
2025-04-18
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