Overview of Crash Course in Romance

‘Crash Course in Romance’ is a 2023 South Korean television series directed by Yoo Je-won, and starring Jeon Do-yeon and Jung Kyung-ho. It aired from January 14 to March 5, 2023, on tvN’s Saturdays and Sundays at 21:10 (KST) time slot. It is also available for streaming on Netflix in selected regions.

The series was a commercial hit and became one of the highest-rated dramas in Korean cable television history.

Profile

• Drama: ‘Crash Course in Romance’
• Director: Yoo Jee-won
• Writer: Yang Hee-seung
• Network: tvN
• Episodes: 16
• Release date: 14 January 2023 – 5 March 2023
• Language: Korean
• Country: South Korea

Cast

Main

• Jeon Do-yeon as Nam Haeng-seon
  A former national handball player who now runs a banchan shop. After her mother’s death, she gave up her sports career to take care of her young niece and disabled younger brother.

• Jung Kyung-ho as Choi Chi-yeol
  A celebrity math instructor at The Pride Academy, a popular private education institute, who has an eating disorder and regularly visits Haeng-seon’s shop. He’s known as the “One Trillon Won Man” and that’s because he knows how to manage his time better than most. He’s ahem done the math. Charismatic and sough after math-tutor.

Supporting

People around Haeng-seon

• Roh Yoon-seo as Nam Hae-yi
  Haeng-seon’s adopted daughter and niece who was abandoned by her mother—Haeng-seon’s sister when she was a child, and was raised by Haeng-seon thereafter. She is the class president of class 2-1 of Woorim High School.

• Oh Eui-shik as Nam Jae-woo
  Haeng-seon’s younger brother with Asperger syndrome.

• Lee Bong-ryun as Kim Young-joo
  Haeng-seon’s friend who works at her shop.

• Kim Mi-kyung as Jung Young-soon
  Haeng-seon’s mother.

People around Chi-yeol

• Shin Jae-ha as Ji Dong-hee / Jeong Seong-hyeon
  Chi-yeol’s manager.

• Kim Da-huin as Jeon Jong-ryeol
  Chi-yeol’s friend who is a teacher at Woorim High School.

People in the Apartment

• Jang Young-nam as Jang Seo-jin
  Seon-jae’s mother who is an attorney.

• Lee Chae-min as Lee Seon-jae
  A student at class 2-1, Hae-yi’s best friend who has a crush on her.

• Kim Tae-jeong as Lee Hee-jae
  Seon-jae’s older brother who gave up higher studies and stays at home.

• Kim Sun-young as Jo Su-hee
  Su-ah’s mother who is obsessed with her studies.

• Kang Na-eon as Bang Su-ah
  A student at class 2-1 who has rivalry with Hae-yi.

• Hwang Bo-ra as Lee Mi-ok
  Dan-ji’s mother.

• Ryu Da-in as Jang Dan-ji
  A student at class 2-1, close friend of Hae-yi and Seon-jae.

• Lee Min-jae as Seo Geon-hu
  A student in class 2-1 who is an ice hockey athlete. Later, he was diagnosed with a serious shoulder injury and had to stop playing.

People in the Hagwon

• Heo Jeong-do as Kang Joon-sang
  The director of The Pride Academy.

• Ji Il-joo as Jin Yi-sang
  An instructor at The Pride Academy.

Extended

• Yoo Jun as Lee Young-min
  A student in the intensive class at The Pride Academy who fell from the roof and died.

• Choi Hee-jin as Young-min’s mother
• Lee Do-hye as Jeong Su-hyeon
  Chi-yeol’s student who committed suicide.

• Jung Han-seol as Detective Bae
  A detective who handled the case of Young-min’s death.

• Kim Joon-won as Lee Seung-won
  Seon-jae and Hee-jae’s father.

Special Appearances

• Yoon Seok-hyun as Song Jun-ho
• Bae Yoon-kyung as Hong Hye-yeon
• Lee Sang-yi as Youtuber “Mr. Popular”
• Bae Hae-sun as Nam Haeng-ja, Hae-yi’s biological mother

Synopsis

After retiring from her career as a national athlete Nam Haeng-seon now runs a humble side dish store ‘Nations Best Banchan’. She is the breadwinner of her family which consists of her mother, ill brother and her niece whom Haeng-seon loves as her own daughter. Eking out a living with her shop and being there for her brother, mother and step-daughter – she’s run pretty thin with all the juggling responsibilities.

Haeng-seon’s shop is located near Gangnam Academy district, filled with tutoring academies that high schoolers and their parents make a beeline for, in flocks. Han-ae is now preparing for college entrance exams and following the trend, she wants Haeng-seon to help her enrol in the Pride Academy for Choi Chi-yeol’s classes.

Choi Chi-yeol is a much sought-after celebrity math tutor. In fact, he’s known as the “One Trillion Won Man” and that’s because he knows how to manage his time better than most. He’s ahem done the math. Taking up the academic deal Haeng-seon ends up with an early start, determined to get Hae-e enlisted at The Pride Academy for the star classes with Chi-yeol.

Over the course of time, Chi-yeol once visits Haeng-seon’s best Banchan shop and gets obsessed with the dish. Hang-seon’s cheerful personality and boundless energy catch the attention of Choi Chi Yeol. The pair hit off and become friends, and with the faint wisps of romance in the air a relationship slowly develops. However, their relationship is not without challenges.

As they navigate the ups and downs of their personal and professional lives, they must learn to confront their own shortcomings and trust in each other’s strengths. Beyond this bittersweet romance, the show explores the dark side of the education system. The couple’s romance isn’t the sole of the drama. There are competitive mothers, the pressure of high school academics, jealous classmates, parental trauma, scheming professional rivals, scandals by the dozen and a murderous psychopath on the loose.

Theme

We often hear the saying, Education is the biggest investment’. We are mesmerised by the idea that education is the biggest asset we can earn and that anything we learn will not go in vain. Ultimately, what materialises with this learning in the future? The answer to this question is much sought, especially in these times where education is seen much more as a business than learning, knowledge acquisition, and value addition.

Here in the K-Drama ‘Crash Course in Romance, the show shies away from diving deep into Choi Chi-yeol’s and Hang-seon’s cutesy romance, and we can see a grave theme of ‘the darker sides of education’ hovering up. Often, what education is for is forgotten. It appears only as a means to build a higher status in society at the cost of children’s physical and mental health.

In the series, the Gangnam Acaedmic District is known as Korea’s private education district. It’s seen as a world where mothers queue up in front of The Pride Academy not only to register their kids for Chi-yeol’s math classes but also to get them a seat right in front of the class. It is all about going with the trend, much more than learning.

Indeed, the Pride Academy, along with celebrity math tutor Choi Chi-yeol, is known as the BTS of Private Education. It is like securing a front seat in our favourite band’s stage show. The seats secured in the front row are seen as a jackpot by the mothers and students. The high scores secured by the students are indeed seen to elevate the high stature of their mothers, for which the students are continuously being pressured. It is not a problem if the students’ food, sleep, quality time, etc. are compromised.

In that world of competition and scheming, all that seems to matter is reaching the top at the cost of anything else. There are significant examples of academic pressure-induced breakdowns that students go through in the series. The most pathetic aspect is that this breakdown was indeed caused by their own parents.

We can see Haeng-seon taking on the role of a parent by keeping Hae-e’s best interests at heart and not pushing her daughter to achieve beyond what she can. It’s important that we identify the abilities and limits of our children. Pushing someone beyond the limit and making them work strenuously for someone else’s dream is not going to help them in the long run.

Awards

1. Baeksang Arts Awards 2023
   Best New Actress (Television) – Roh Yoon-seo (2023)

2. Brand Customer Loyalty Awards 2023
   Best Actor (Drama) – Jung Kyung-ho (2023)

3. Scene Stealer Festival 2023
   Scene Stealer of the Year – Hwang Bo-ra (2023)

Interesting Facts about Crash Course in Romance

1. According to Nielsen Korea, the series finale of “Crash Course in Romance” scored an average nationwide rating of 17.0 percent, takings first place in its time slot across all channels.
2. In addition to setting a new personal record for the show, the finale has made “Crash Course in Romance” the drama with the sixth-highest ratings in tvN history, bested only by “Crash Landing on You,” “Reply 1988,” “Goblin,” “Mr. Sunshine,” and “Mr. Queen.”
3. Crash Course in Romance consists of 16 episodes. Each title of the episode refers to mathematical problems.

FAQs

1. Who is the director of the K-Drama ‘Crash Course in Romance’?
   Yoo Jee-won
2. How many episodes are there in the K-Drama ‘Crash Course in Romance’?
   16 episodes
3. What is the Instagram ID of Jung Kyung-ho?
   

   jstar_allallj is the Instagram ID of Jung Kyung-ho.