The new KBS drama My Lovely Boxer started off a bit unevenly but after watching the first two episodes, I can say that I’m onboard this train and I’m looking forward to upcoming episodes!

About

The story revolves around a female boxer Lee Kwon Sook (Kim So Hye) who rose to stardom 3 years ago but suddenly disappeared from the sports life. No one knows her whereabouts. Then there is sports agent Kim Tae Young (Lee Sang Yeob) who is known to be a cold-blooded man who only cares about wins for his players and making money through them.

Exception to his coldness is his friend Kim Hee Won (Choi Jae Woong), who is an excellent baseball player but has not been playing well recently and they have also drifted apart over the years. Hee Won gets involved with some match fixers and all this chaos ends up in Tae Young taking responsibility to cover the loss the fixers had to undergo because of Hee Won who wins a match they fixed for him to lose.

As a result, he has to bring elusive boxer Lee Kwon Sook back to the ring. She has now changed her name and works at a school. He eventually finds her but making her agree to come back is an uphill task.

Thoughts

I really enjoyed the interactions between the two main leads Tae Young and Kwon Sook as he keeps on trying to bring her back. We hate him for being so persistent in his efforts as it certainly causes so much chaos in Kwon Sook’s peaceful life. But that makes his future journey of growth all the more interesting. He has his reasons for it but it is still not right to force her out of her anonymity. Their bickering is compelling and fun to watch. The chemistry between Lee Sang Yeob and Kim So Hye is great and I won’t be surprised if there is romance in the books for Tae Young and Kwon Sook. I can feel that vibe!

The first episode takes some time to lay out its story and that’s where I was getting bored in some scenes which are longer than required or were not engrossing enough. But once we are on track with the main plot with main two characters, things become good. I especially loved the moment when Tae Young finally finds her while she is on her blind date. So good.

I think the match fixing gang leader’s right hand man Kim Oh Bok (Park Ji Hwan) is an interesting character and might turn out to be good in the long run. We also meet Han Jae Min (K-pop goup WINNER‘s Kim Jin Woo), who is vice principal at the school where Kwon Sook works. She has a crush on him and their interactions are cute.

First Impressions

An uneven start in the first half hour but the show becomes engrossing after that. Main highlight are the two main characters and their interactions. Excited for more!