‘Forecasting Love and Weather’ proves that love, like life, is unpredictable
Korean actress Park Min-young declares that if she were to choose only one season for the entire year, it would be spring.
She was born during this season and even her nickname is Spring Park. Min-young likes the feeling of freshness that spring brings, as well as the feeling of something new. There’s also the beautiful Cherry Blossoms that bloom in Korea during this time. So this is why she would naturally choose spring as her favorite season. On the other hand, actor and heartthrob Song Kang would choose winter. As a homebody, he likes to watch it snow outside. During this period, he relishes the cool feeling on his arms when wearing a short-sleeved T-shirt and padded jacket. All this talk of weather was revealed by the Korean superstars during a roundtable interview organized by Netflix.
Valentine’s Day is a holiday many people look forward to (though dreaded by others). But mostly, it is a wonderful celebration for those in love and in that state of emotional “high.” The physical chemistry of falling in love consists of the release of dopamine and norepinephrine during attraction between two people. It gives the couple that giddy feeling, even something close to euphoria.
But can weather affect falling in love? In the newly released Netflix series Forecasting Love and Weather, apparently it does. Set in the Korea Meteorological Administration (KMA), the K-drama is an office romance between characters Jin Ha-kyung and Lee Si-woo. The message of the drama is that weather and life are similar. No prediction is 100 percent accurate, and both are full of uncertainty.
The series star is the ageless beauty and “Queen of Rom-com” Park Min-young, who also was in a drama that involved weather, When the Weather is Fine. She will always be Secretary Kim to me, as that was my favorite role of hers in What’s Wrong with Secretary Kim. I’ve watched most of her work and she has acted alongside almost all the top leading men from Lee Min-ho to Park Seo-joon. I first saw her in the Haru Haru music video of legendary K-pop group Bigbang years ago. Now she plays the protagonist Ha-kyung whose heart has turned cold due to past hurts. She is that officemate who is distant and separates her professional life from her personal life. Ha-kyung may be efficient and reliable in the workplace but she is not too friendly. The actress found the role challenging at first because of all the scientific meteorological terminology, which is unique to K-dramas. When she found out that her love interest would be Song Kang, she said she watched his past performances and that he had great potential.
Song Kang has been dubbed the “Son of Netflix” as he subsequently starred in four successful dramas on the streaming platform, namely Love Alarm, Sweet, Home, Navillera and Nevertheless. Sweet but sexy, Song Kang’s role in Forecasting Love and Weather is Si-woo, who is a “breath of fresh air” to Ha-kyung. Despite being carefree, he is intelligent and really interested in meteorology, the science of weather. The actor found his role as a dorky, naive and cheerful meteorologist interesting. According to Song Kang, he even cut his hair to look like a dork. Growing up, he would watch Park Min-young on TV so he was nervous to join the drama. He said he had to step up his game.
Musician and actor Yoon Park is also part of the Forecasting Love and Weather cast. He was in popular dramas such as Itaewon Class and Mystic Pop-Up Bar, among others. Kim Ah-young, also known as Yura from K-pop group Girl’s Day, is included in the cast as well. The series director is Cha Young-hun, whose last project was When the Camellias Bloom, which won the grand prize for TV at the 2020 Baeksang Arts Awards.
Forecasting Love and Weather is about people and life, and how no can predict what will happen next, especially when it comes to love. It is the perfect K-drama for Valentine’s. New episodes drop every Saturday and Sunday at 10:30 pm on Netflix.