“Nice to Not Meet You” is a 16-episode Korean romantic comedy series. The original Korean title, “Yalmiun sarang,” translates roughly to “Annoying Love.” The series premiered in Korea in November 2025, enjoying considerable popularity and receiving positive reviews.
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First, the good news—or rather, several pieces of good news. Seeing top stars Lee Jung-jae (“Squid Game”) and Lim Ji-yeon (“The Glory”) as, well, a couple, is a real treat, and the two clearly relish their roles. Lee Jung-jae plays an actor named Lim Hyeon-jun, who once had a major hit in a single film, a melodrama. His subsequent career, as is typical in the Korean entertainment industry, was derailed by an unhappy relationship with a star actress.
Hyeon-jun now works at a printing plant, where he one day encounters the young indie filmmaker Bak Byung-gi. Bak recognizes him and offers him a role in a police drama series. Hyeon-jun reluctantly accepts the role, but lo and behold: the series becomes a huge success, and Hyeon-jun becomes a superstar. He soon smiles from practically every consumer goods package. Just as they’re about to film a fifth season, he feels the urge to leave the role and finally play something serious again. Easier said than done.
Lim Ji-yeon on the other hand plays Wi Jeong-sin, a political journalist investigating a major corruption scandal. Suddenly, however, she’s “demoted” by her network and transferred to the entertainment department, clearly on orders from “the top.” She’s anything but thrilled, especially since she can’t stand celebrities. However, she is a fan of the aforementioned police series. She initially struggles to connect with its lead actor, whom she meets for the first time under strange circumstances (think: hostess club) and essentially incognito.
Another piece of good news is that both the director and screenwriter are women. Director Kim Ga-ram and writer Jung Yeo-rang (who had a major hit in 2023 with the series “Doctor Cha,” which is soon to get a second season) skillfully use their insider knowledge of the Korean entertainment industry to create a highly entertaining series, packed with behind-the-scenes glimpses into the world of the most successful series production in the world.
The celebrity cult, which reaches rather absurd proportions in Korea, is also addressed, resulting in a multitude of amusing and interesting details. The people who work on this series-within-a-series are worth watching in themselves, such as director Bak Byung-gi, who went from indie shooting star to routine series service provider, or Hyeon-jun’s buddy/agent Hwang Ji-sun, brilliantly portrayed by Choi Gwi-hwa. The third piece of good news is that this series also proves how seemingly inexhaustible the Korean industry’s supply of good stories and talented personnel is. And that applies to all artistic departments such as editing, camera, music, and set design Hyeon-jun’s very spacious apartment alone is a true work of art.
However, one must also admit that “Nice to Not Meet You” does have a problem or two. For one, there’s the corruption scandal that Wi Jeong-sin is constantly carrying around because she’s so determined to uncover it. Somehow, though, there isn’t enough time to fully develop this storyline, and so the issue remains somewhat fragmented. It resurfaces at the end and has to be dealt with hastily.
The second drawback is that it takes an incredibly long time for the romantic relationship between the two protagonists, which everything seems to be building towards, to finally materialize. This is obviously due to the 16 episodes that need to be filled, and that really drags on – with yet another misgiving, another backpedaling, and yet another obstacle. It probably would have been better to limit the whole thing to twelve episodes; that would have been about right.
But that’s really nitpicking. Overall, “Nice to Not Meet You” is a very entertaining show with a wealth of characters and dynamics that make it a pleasure to watch. This is especially true for those more familiar with Korean popular culture in general, and Korean series and their behind-the-scenes practices in particular. For them, the interspersed satirical jabs and tongue-in-cheek references are twice as enjoyable.
