[HanCinema's Drama Review] "Tinted With You"

Eun-ho (played by Park Junhee) is a high school student studying art. It took me a bit of time to realize this, given that Park Junhee is too old to be playing a high school student- he's at best a meek college student. Although his character has problems beyond just age-appropriate casting. Eun-ho is thrust back into the Joseon era where Prince Heon (played by Yoo Hyun-woo) and his bodyguard Geum (played by Kim Tae-jung-I) await Prince Heon's seemingly inevitable assassination.

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I really did wonder for about half of "Tinted With You" why Eun-ho was even in the story at all. Yoo Hyun-woo has much more compelling romantic chemistry with Kim Tae-jung-I than he does Park Junhee. But then Kim Tae-jung-I might just be outshining his co-stars in general, since he's a dedicated actor while they're both pretty boy singers. Kim Tae-jung-I's persistence was well-rewarded though- you might remember him as the older brother of Lee Chae-min's character from "Crash Course in Romance" earlier this year.

Kim Tae-jung-I also has a major supporting role in the Netflix drama "Hierarchy" so he made a surprisingly good sophomore career move by taking on a role in a boy's love webdrama. His first appearance was as a part of the larger ensemble in "Extraordinary You" if you were wondering. Kim Tae-jung-I is also somewhat counterintuitively younger than either of his co-stars, when his character is implied to be the oldest of the three.

Anyway, the reason I keep going on and on about the casting is because "Tinted With You" is about as basic of a boys' love storyline as you can get. Eun-ho doesn't go back in time for no reason. He's there to help complete a famous painting, as explained by a mysterious woman played by Yoon Ye-hee. Why this painting is so important isn't totally clear. Likewise, Yang Seung-bin has no clear purpose in the script except to be a guy that Eun-ho can talk to in the present day, and then demonstrate how Eun-ho is really kind of dumb when he reappears in the Joseon part of the story.

As "Tinted With You" is a boys' love webdrama, my expectations for "Tinted With You" probably shouldn't be that high. The main thing Park Junhee really needs to do here is look adorable and cute, and he's good enough at that task. By the second half of the story, when Eun-ho and Prince Heon have finally started romancing, all of the emphasis is on the beautiful landscape that the two are painting together.

And it is a fairly beautiful landscape, or at least a good enough shooting location I can see why director Ha Na thought she could just shoot an entire web drama there with such a minimal cast. But in terms of the boys' love genre overall, nothing about "Tinted With You" is really all that noteworthy. Whether in film form or eight episode form on Rakuten Viki, "Tinted With You" is passable boys' love entertainment that might or might not be notable in regard Kim Tae-jung-I's career if he keeps scoring better roles.

Written by William Schwartz

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"Tinted With You" is directed by Ha Na, written by December-I, Kim Yong-gyu, and features Park Junhee, Yoo Hyun-woo, Kim Tae-jung-I, Yoon Ye-hee, Yang Seung-bin. Broadcasting information in Korea: 2021/12/23~2022/01/14, Thu, Fri on Heavenly.