Crash Course in Romance

A 2023 tvN drama starring Jeon Do-yeon and Jung Kyung-ho, depicting romance and mystery amid the private education craze

Crash Course in Romance (일타 스캔들)

Overview

《Crash Course in Romance》 is a 16-episode drama that aired on tvN from January 14 to March 5, 2023. Set against the Daechi-dong private education market, it depicts the romance between Nam Haeng-seon, a former national team member and side-dish shop owner, and Choi Chi-yeol, a top instructor. Actors Jeon Do-yeon and Jung Kyung-ho starred, Yang Hee-seung wrote, and PD Yoo Je-won directed. Combining the social subject of the private education craze with a warm human romance, it recorded a peak viewership rating of 17% during its broadcast and received great love.

Main Content

Plot

Nam Haeng-seon (Jeon Do-yeon), a former national handball player, is a realistic character who runs the side-dish shop "National Team Side Dishes" in Daechi-dong. She enters the world of private education to get her nephew Nam Hae-i into a prestigious university, and in the process becomes entangled with math top instructor Choi Chi-yeol (Jung Kyung-ho). Choi Chi-yeol is South Korea's best star instructor, but he lives while hiding past trauma and health problems.

Main Characters

Nam Haeng-seon: Owner of a side-dish shop in Daechi-dong and former national handball player. A person with strong survival skills and a strong sense of justice, who struggles for her nephew's education.
Choi Chi-yeol: South Korea's best math instructor. He appears perfectionist and prickly, but carries wounds inside.
Nam Hae-i: Nam Haeng-seon's nephew and Choi Chi-yeol's student. A teenager wandering amid college entrance competition.
Lee Sun-jae: Choi Chi-yeol's senior and rival instructor, who forms a love triangle with Nam Haeng-seon.

Characteristics of the Work

This drama is largely composed of three layers. First, there is the social drama element that starkly illuminates the reality of Daechi-dong's private education market. The information competition among parents, the power of instructors, and the dark side of the academy district are depicted realistically. Second, there is the romance between Nam Haeng-seon and Choi Chi-yeol, which captures the process of two people from different worlds understanding and healing each other. Third, a mysterious incident that takes place in the academy district heightens the tension of the narrative.

Production and Reception

It drew great attention as Jeon Do-yeon's return to the small screen. It was her first TV appearance in a long time since a 2006 drama, and her chemistry with Jung Kyung-ho that transcended their age difference received favorable reviews. The passionate performances of the supporting actors, especially the ensemble of actors who played Daechi-dong parents, also drew attention. As the title combines "ilta" and "scandal," it was evaluated as deftly arranging the two axes of private education and romance.

Recent Developments

《Crash Course in Romance》 continues to be talked about in various ways even after its finale. Even after 2024, the private education craze and academy district competition remain social issues, so the topics addressed by this drama have not lost their timeliness. As discussions over expanding medical school quotas and reforming the college entrance system continued, it was sometimes reexamined as a "private education drama." As it was released domestically and internationally through the OTT platform Netflix, it became an opportunity to inform overseas viewers of "the reality of K-drama college entrance exams," and it received especially high interest in Asian regions such as China and Japan.

Actress Jeon Do-yeon continued active work after this production, and Jung Kyung-ho also showed his presence in various genres. Along with the drama's popularity, the Daechi-dong area and side-dish shop-concept spaces that appeared as filming locations also became topics of conversation. There is also an evaluation that it served as an opportunity for the expression "ilta instructor" to be used more widely by the public. As dramas combining romance and social criticism continued to be produced in 2024–2025, 《Crash Course in Romance》 is frequently cited as a case of genre success.