Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Our Blues’ On Netflix, A K-Drama That Follows a Series of Romances in a Bustling Island Town

In Our Blues, now streaming on Netflix, various residents of Jeju Island navigate life, love, and everything in between. This bustling locale is home to fishermen and women, salespeople, students, and farmers, to name a few, and we’re set to watch their relationships thrive or implode. As old flames potentially reignite and new connections blossom, life on Jeju Island is about to get very interesting. 

OUR BLUES: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

Opening Shot: An alarm clock goes off inside a dark bus.

The Gist: Dawn breaks in Jeju, a beautiful seaside town where everyone goes about their business. Eun-hui (Lee Jung-eun) is one of the early birds, bringing in a haul from the fish market for her seafood store and preparing the product for the day. We see everyone in town starting their mornings; divers, fishermen, captains, and everyone in between. In the big city, we meet Han-soo (Cha Seung-won), a bank manager struggling to make ends meet for his family so that his daughter can become a professional golfer. We soon learn that Han-soo is moving back to Jeju, his hometown, and it doesn’t take long for him to start seeing faces from the past, including Eun-hui – his first love.

Han-soo and Eun-hui are an unlikely match, with her zany energy contradicting his more mellow vibes. It’s obvious that there is still some lingering chemistry between the two of them, but Han-soo is so focused on trying to bounce back financially and turn things around that he doesn’t seem to have much space for entertaining the past (despite clearly longing to). In flashbacks, we get a glimpse of the former couple’s school days, including how they first began their romance. Their story is just one out of the many we will experience over the course of Our Blues, but it’s certainly a compelling beginning for a series full of so many characters.

What Shows Will It Remind You Of? Our Blues might remind you a bit of other Korean series like Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha, Twenty Five Twenty One, and Because This is My First Life.

Our Take: Our Blues presents us with a world easy to get sucked into; Jeju has the kind of small town vibes that charm right out of the gate, and the character interactions set things up for future developments. The way these people live their lives alongside one another might not be the most exciting television out there, but it’s compelling, offering a a series of engaging slice-of-life stories that hit home in a variety of ways. Eun-hui is a dazzling, lovely protagonist, a fiery, fun person to watch, especially as we start to learn about her past with Han-soo. The Hallmark energy of returning to your home town only to come face-to-face with your first love is undeniably effective, and it works well here – I kept wanting to know more about them. The pilot spends a fair amount of time trying to introduce us to as many characters as possible, so there are moments that drag a tad, but with so many episodes ahead, these kinks are sure to work themselves out. We’re off to a great, endearing start, and by the time this first installment comes to a close, we’re left wanting more. (Which is all you can really ask for from a pilot, right?).

Sex and Skin: None.

Parting Shot: Han-soo seems to reminisce and closes the curtain as he looks down at the town below.

Sleeper Star: Lee Jung-eun, who international viewers will likely recognize as housekeeper Moon-gwang from Parasite, is a delight as Eun-hui, the fiery fish store owner who reconnects with former flame Han-soo. She’s so much fun to watch, with high energy and a screen presence impossible to look away from. Much of Our Blues‘ first installment is pretty by the numbers, but with Lee in the mix, there’s some real electricity injected into each scene, making us want to see more of her and learn about how she ended up the woman she is now. Here’s hoping this role makes her even better known all over the world. She’s got that special something.

Our Call: STREAM IT. With a charming cast and a handful of interesting stories to kick us off, Our Blues quickly establishes itself as light, entertaining fare with a big heart.

Jade Budowski is a freelance writer with a knack for ruining punchlines, hogging the mic at karaoke, and thirst-tweeting. Follow her on Twitter: @jadebudowski.