Gone are the days of specialized apps for international content. From telenovelas to Bollywood to K-dramas, the biggest streaming platforms are all making plays to capture diverse, international audiences, and bring American audiences new types of content, and Amazon’s Prime Video struck gold this summer with Head Over Heels a drama that feels just like Buffy The Vampire Slayer, but with a Korean twist.
She’s just trying to live a “normal” life
Park Seong-ah isn’t your typical high school student. She’s been a mudang, a Korean shaman, since she was eight years old, and devotes most of her time after classes to helping clients with a wide array of problems via her connection to the spirit world. By American standards, she’s part medium, part witch, part priestess, and definitely kicks as much butt as Buffy.
She keeps her identity secret by wearing a mask and going by the professional alias “Heaven and Earth Fairy“, partially because people don’t take her abilities as seriously when they realize she’s just a student, but also because she longs to experience “normal” life to the best of her abilities after missing out on much of elementary and middle school because of her training.
Like any typical teen, she’s a little shallow when it comes to prioritizing good looks, but she’s also searching for a crush who would comfort a crying stranger (so you know she’s a softie at heart).
Supernatural inconveniences abound
Seong-ah may want to live a normal life, but her connection to the super-natural/underworld constantly gets in the way. She’s called to pull all nighters to perform exorcisms, causing her to doze off in the middle of class, and has to hide her interactions with spirits both benevolent and malignant from her classmates. Sometimes that’s a Moaning Myrtle-esque water-ghost haunting the boy’s bathroom, or a friendly, fluffy dog ghost that has become her classmate’s guardian spirit. But things get really crazy when a client shows up to her school as a new student.
What happens when your crush is cursed?
Like Buffy and Angel, Seong-ah falls for Bae Gyeon-u, a young man plagued by misfortune (which is in part tied to curses and dark magic), and disowned by most of his family because of this penchant for attracting bad luck. The show’s title refers both to Seong-ah’s obsession with his good looks, but also for the way he walks into her shrine, upside-down, an omen he is destined to die within 21 days.
The undercover mission begins
Seong-ah pledges to Gyeon-u (and his grandmother who dragged him to the appointment) to protect the young man, without disclosing his morbid fate, or her identity. When he shows up to her homeroom that same week, she must jump through hoops to get close to him without revealing her true motive because years of abuse at the hands of other shaman have cultivated a hatred for the profession in Gyeon-u.
It’s a quirky romance full of humor, culture, and social criticism that challenges us to think about the way we perceive others’ misfortunes, and how that impacts the way we treat them. Definitely check this out if you’re looking for a fun, low-stakes watch full of wacky entertainment.
0 Comments