REVIEW: ‘Once Upon A Small Town’ Is Charming But Drawn Out

Once Upon a Small Town is a Korean drama series on Netflix. Han Ji-yul was running a successful veterinarian clinic in Seoul when one day he gets a call to come to the small town of Heedong village because of an emergency to do with his grandfather, the town’s lone veterinarian. Rather than discovering the worst, Ji-yul finds out his grandfather has gone on an extended vacation and it is now Ji-yul’s job to manage the vet clinic. What initially starts as an unwelcome job transfer looks to become much more once Ji-yul gets to know one of the town’s police officers, Ahn Ja-young.

At its core, Once Upon a Small Town hits all the notes one expects of the kind of story its presents. Ji-yul and Ja-young’s interactions soon show the two developing romantic feelings for each other, but there are many hurdles to overcome. The childhood friend who decides to tell Ja-young about his feelings finally, the meddling of all the nearby villagers, and the fact that Ji-yul’s stay in Heedong is only temporary are just some of the hurdles the would-be couple must overcome if they are to become something more than simply friends.

While the starring duo manages to create and maintain a robust will-they/won’t-they sort of chemistry over the series’ 12 episodes, many of the show’s other elements come to weigh the narrative down in the middle of its run. Several of the supporting cast are trotted out far too often, especially as the comedic energy they are supposed to bring never really lands and comes off as soundly annoying. The show also feels artificially lengthened thanks to the injection of a new hurdle that drops out of nowhere just as it feels like everything is about to be resolved. This leads to an extra couple of episodes the series would be fundamentally stronger for having just skipped.

But while the middle stretch of Once Upon a Small Town struggles, the final pair of episodes do manage to reward those viewers who power through to the final. Rather than wrapping up the final episode with the resolution of the show’s conflicts, the viewer is treated to seeing what comes after the core narrative is completed. These episodes feel like a reward as they overflow with some genuine charm and wonderful energy.

The acting overall is solid in this series. There is a sizable amount of camp in the performances, but that seems largely intentional. The biggest fault I found with the character portrayals is how sugar-coated the end of some characters’ arcs are. How gracefully certain individuals step aside for the stars after having put so much effort into the situation for themselves feels unfaithful to the character up to that point.

The only other element that falls a bit short for me in Once Upon a Small Town is its love of extremely long, awkward pauses. I understand that these moments are supposed to build tension and grow an uncomfortable situation, but too frequently these moments are dragged out far past the point where they ultimately just make you want the moment to end. The fact that many of the episodes end this way makes it particularly hard to queue up the next one.

Once Upon a Small Town delivers a story that, at its core, is fairly strong, but stumbles under the weight of many unnecessary elements. If you enjoy a protracted love story, this series does at least reward the time you invest in it with a wonderful wrap-up.

Once Upon a Small Town is streaming now on Netflix.