I’m a sucker for romances. I’ve enjoyed watching K-dramas such as Imitation and Let Me Be Your Knight featuring Lee Jun-young, who debuted with the K-pop band U-KISS. In both of those dramas he played a brooding musician, often misunderstood by his own bandmates and the world at large. I’m also well aware of Seohyun’s career after debuting with the K-pop band Girls Generation, and have her K-drama Private Lives bookmarked to watch at some point. (So many K-dramas, so little time!) As one of my friends pointed out, K-dramas with romantic storylines can be saccharinely sweet: “too pink-pink.” Of course, they can also be very dark. But typically, they’re quite chaste, and follow a well-established formula. So when the trailer for Love and Leashes dropped, I was curious. Starring Lee Jun-young and Seohyun, and based on webtoon/manga The Sensual M, this rom-com offered a BDSM sub-plot.
How does Love and Leashes approach BDSM? Like many people, my knowledge of bondage is limited to a handful of Law & Order episodes or skimming through Fifty Shades of Grey. (I didn’t even bother watching the movies based on the popular book series.) This is how the story unfolds: Jung Ji-hoo (Lee Jun-young) transfers from the business department to the PR department of a company that seems to cater to mom-based or otherwise family-friendly product. (There is not much explanation of what exactly this company does, or what the business department does—details like that don’t matter much.)
Turns out, Jung Ji-woo (Seohyun) works for the PR team, and is well-known for her no-nonsense attitude. She especially cannot tolerate her sexist boss, and frequently challenges him despite her teammate’s advice to ignore him.
“Oh no,” someone remarks, when Jung Ji-hoo greets his new team members. “Their names sound so similar! Won’t it be confusing?”