Splash Splash Love – Review

It wasn’t in my plans to review short dramas but only fools never change their minds. This drama deserves so much to be talked about I couldn’t ignore the call of the review. Splash Splash Love is a 2 episodes special drama that aired last December on MBC. It’s a refreshing and sweet drama that will make you melt.

The synopsis is quite classic: our heroin, Jang Dan-Bi  (Kim Seul-gi) can travel in time when it rains. One day, without really realising it, she’ll transport herself, through a puddle to the Joseon period. She’ll then have to deal with the King Lee Do (Yoon Doo-joon), the ethic codes of the court and of course the feelings that will rise. Splash Splash Love is much more than a girl travelling in time and the inevitable hijinks that result from the periods’ shock. It’s a story about a girl learning to see her own value and the positive impact she can leave on people around her.

Jang Dan-bi is as bad in math as me back in high school. And believe it I was super bad so I kind know her heart. The exam to enter college is around the corner. When most of her classmates are stuck in their rooms studying and eating their books like others eat ramen, Dan-bi is busy trying to deal the pressure. She knows she’s bad. She even convinced herself she’ll fail at her exam. What will happen to her? What will she do with her life? What about her mom who counts on her? Too much pressure. The result is that the day of the exam she runs off to a playground. Sitting, alone on a bench, in the pouring rain, Jang Dan-bi will realise she has the ability to transport herself into time through puddles! If there’s one day she has to disappear it’s today. She won’t hesitate and will find herself transported in the Joseon era! The country is facing a severe drought and the terrible consequences of it. The young king Lee Do is desperate to see the rain coming deliver his citizen. He’s ready to try everything including holding shamanic rituals he absolutely doesn’t believe in. But it’s during one of these ceremonies that Dan-bi is teleported to Joseon! I swear she couldn’t have choose a better moment.

She ends up in the big receptacle prepared to the so long waited rain. If Jang Dan-bi appears in that receptacle, that necessarily means something. She must be the answer sent from Heaven. Without a second thought, she becomes the object of all the conversation in the court. She’s a shaman for some, a threat for others. She should be interrogated, tortured or sentenced to death. No one agree on anything but if there’s one sure thing for everyone is that Dan-bi is a boy. No single girl with a brain functioning correctly would dare to enter the palace on her own. Well is Dan-bi has to be a boy in order to stay alive, she’ll be a boy. Dan-bi’s now a eunuch that will be a source of knowledge for the young king hungry to learn.
 

King Lee Do isn’t certain of Dan-bi’s real nature. Is she a swindler, a shaman from the future, an alien?  He doesn’t really care, all he knows is that he wants to learn and Jang Dan-bi is the only one can teach him. Ironically, it’s the-so-bad-at-math Jang Dan-bi who’s now teaching multiplication tables to the king. He’ll also learn from her, the planet’s names, the solar system and will discover technologies he wasn’t supposed to know. If Jang Dan-bi has to proclaim herself as a mathematician to survive in that rough period, so be it! As they will both spend time together, feelings for each other will rise and grow, inevitably and uncontrollably. 

Its Joseon period folks, no way there won’t be rebellions, complots and strategic alliances. The biggest king’s threat is no other than his father-in-law, the queen Sohun’s father. The queen Sohun (Jin Ki-joo) became monarch thanks to his father’s scheming’s. But far from being the happiest queen on earth. She’s desperately lonely and on top of that (or maybe is it the main reason of her loneliness?), she’s neglected by her husband who now spends all his time with his new favorite eunuch. How can you survive in that hostile atmosphere when you never wanted to be there in the first place and when you’re not even loved nor supported by your husband? And now she has to deal with a eunuch who has all the king’s attention? Talk about a miserable life. Desperate, the queen Sohun has no other solution than follow her father’s plan. She has to have a child from the king, it’s the only way to secure her place. But the plan will miserably fail and she’ll found herself more lost than before.

Luckily she can counts on her childhood friend, Chae-jik (Ahn Hyo-seop) who also happens to be the king Lee Do’s kind of right hand man. There’s more than friendship between those two but when you don’t belong to the same world, it’s quite impossible to dream of a happy end. She’s the queen and he has a technical post into the palace. 

Talking about different worlds, our leads have to face the difficult reality: they don’t belong to the same space-time. And nothing can change that fact. But they’ll think about that tiny little detail later. For now the king is busy making history. He’s in the final stage of creating the Korean phonetic alphabet, Hangul. The sudden and fortunate arrival of Jang Dan-bi, the eunuch of the future can only be a good thing. As our heroin is busy helping and teaching the king, the idea that maybe her presence could influence the future, crosses her mind but there’s nothing much she do. As long as there’s no rain, she can’t hope going back home. But does she really want to go back at this point? Plus, let’s face it, it feels so good to be useful! 

A eunuch, even deeply treasured as Dan-bi is by the king, can’t sleep inside the palace. But that’s not a real problem here. By king’s order, Jang Dan-bi will stay at Chae-jik’s place. It’s not a five stars hotel and she has to share the space with mice but still it’s better than nothing. It’s there, far from the palace that Dan-bi will find out her little knowledge in math associated with good will, determination and rigor will be a significant contribution to Joseon’s people. Indeed the rain starts to fall for the first time in several years. Like everyone else Dan-bi’s watching the rain falling. But she can’t be like anyone and merely let it fall. Conscious something needs to be done and also pressured by the king, Dan-bi will start to work on a way to save that rain. You’re a mathematician, from the future moreover, so found something quickly Dan-bi! With a strong willpower and the desire to really help, she comes with a watering system. The rain won’t be wasted and people won’t have to be intoxicated drinking polluted water. She’s not anymore the ugly duckling, who’s bad at math and who’s going to fail at her exam, she can bring something to others. She achieved something big, her work is valuable!

None of our main protagonists, the king Lee Do, the queen Sohun and the grumpy loyal friend, Chae-jik can resist Jang Dan-bi’s charm. She’s joyful, warm, generous and full of good intentions. Even the queen who saw her as a threat in the first place will fall for her sensibility, energy and freshness. She’s a friend the queen can talk to. But no matter how people care for her, nothing can make Dan-bi forgets she need to go home.

The king hasn’t been fooled very long: Jang Dan-bi is a girl. Too afraid to lose her, he stays silent. But now that everyone’s aware of that truth, the question is: is Dan-bi going to become the king’s concubine? The king's mother is asking him to do so. Indeed the latter can’t do without her, it would be a logic move. Logic but inconceivable for Dan-bi who’s starting to miss her mom, friends and life. She loves the king, the king loves her but she can’t be her concubine neither can she stay in Joseon. She can’t take the risk of changing history. They both have to face it, it’s time for her to go. The next rain will mark the separation.

And their farewell broke my heart. I was clinging on my laptop, praying for someone to appear out of nowhere and scream: “You know what guys, you’re so cute together, we’re just going to ignore history and leave you be. No need to thank me. Go ahead and consummate your love.” But no one appeared. Jang Dan-bi finally jumped in a puddle and return to her world. She’s back in 2015 where not a single minute passed. It’s the day of her exam but this time, things are different. She knows what to do. She can’t avoid the inevitable forever. She’ll do her exam and trust in herself.

What do I have to do to have more of Kim Seul-gi and Yoon Doo-joon on my screen? Seriously what’s the price? Those two together were just so right, it’s like they were just waiting for someone to put them in a drama together! Splash Splash Love worked even strongly because of the leads. Their chemistry was natural, convincing, in place. It wasn’t only a comical drama, it was a special drama that also took the time to mention more serious aspects: the poverty of Joseon people, the intoxication of water, the queen’s solitude.

The drama in so little time, managed to give us a coherent story (as coherent as travelling in time can be), endearing and lovable characters, a sweet romance and an interesting lesson at life. Splash Splash Love is more than what it looks like. Jang Dan-bi’s journey was about finding your own value and the impact you can leave on people around you. Yes Dan-bi found love in the process but she mostly learned to overcome her fears and trust herself because no one wasn’t going to do it for her! Chances are you might fall trying finding your own path but keep on trying because you might end up being the change in someone else’s life!

Splash Splash Love had everything to be a success and people’s enthusiasm speaks for itself. Two extra episodes would have been wonderful but I won’t complain too much here. I’ll watch and re-watch the drama and pray for an improbable season 2, one can dream...