Yum's the reason to watch K-drama

MY LOVE, MADAME BUTTERFLY

Premieres on Friday, airs every Monday to Thursday, 7.40pm, on

ONE (StarHub Ch 820, 823, 876, and SingTel mioTV Ch 513, 604)

Rating: 3/5

The Korean romantic comedy My Love, Madame Butterfly starts off like an idol drama when diva actress Nam Nabi meets her prince charming at the lowest point in her showbiz career.

Soon enough, the self-righteous Nam (Yum Jung Ah) finds out that her now husband (Kim Sung Soo) isn't quite the knight in shining armour she imagined him to be.

The plot sheds its glitzy surface early in the show to reveal its true nature: a family melodrama filled with a mishmash of underlying feuds and lighthearted humour.

When fame and fortune elude the has-been starlet, the resilient Nam shows she has an arsenal of petty survival skills to get some dough.

She also ends up living with her long-lost in-laws who have to put up with her obnoxious-yet-hilarious behaviour.

In contrast to Nam's reputation for stilted acting, Yum, who is an award-winning actress, lights up the screen with her multitude of facial expressions.

While the cast members are no nubile young things, there are hints of idol drama in the form of Nam's repeated run-ins with a department store's marketing director, Lee Woo Jae (Park Yong Woo).

No prizes for guessing how the relationship between the bickering pair will end up.

While the drama looks set to be more suited to my mum's television diet, the expressive Yum has kept me watching seven episodes into this 51-parter.

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