“Melting Me Softly” is a fantasy romance drama. A man and a woman are convinced to be frozen for 24 hours in an experiment. But the experiment goes wrong and they both wake up after 20 years. Despite preserving their youth, the experiment results in a side effect. Now they must keep their body temperature at 31.5°C in order to survive. Ma Dong Chan, a cold yet good at love producer director and Go Mi Ran, a part-time employee at a broadcasting station are the research participants of the experiment. They later end up falling in love.
Ma Dong Chan played by Ji Chang Wook is a courageous and determined variety show director. He takes no second thought when it comes to doing something that would make this world a better place. For this reason he decides to go himself to the cryonics frozen experiment. He also had a girlfriend before going into the capsule.
Go Miran played by Won Jin Ah works at Ma Dong Chan’s variety show. She is also a courageous and determined personality. Go Miran also had a boyfriend but before going to the capsule he cheated her. According to her frozen if the experiment becomes successful then her brother with autism disease could be cured one day.
Na Ha Young played by Yoon Se Ah is Ma Dong Chan’s girlfriend. She is sweet and a strong girl who loves Ma Dong Chan very much. But due to some misunderstanding Ma Dong Chan was reluctant to take her back as his girlfriend after 20 years.
Initially the frozen experiment was supposed to be for one day. But the professor who was carrying out the experiment gets into an accident. He goes into coma. As a result Ma Dong Chan and Go Miran end up getting frozen for 20 years. After 20 years the professor wakes up from coma and thaws Go Miran and Ma Dong Chan back to life. The thawing process was successful but now both of them must keep their body temperature at 31.5° to survive.
This means refraining from all the physical activities that could raise their temperature. Even though it is twenty years after, they still look same like before, while all of their friends and relatives have aged. Ma Dong Chan finds out that his company hid this fact that he took part in the experiment and didn’t try to find him. Meanwhile Ma Dong Chan and Go Miran feeling excluded from everyone else grows feelings for each other and the drama continues with their struggles to continue their relationship (which is pretty abnormal as their body temperature always comes in between).
For me “Melting Me Softly” was a cute, cute watch. As you can read above ‘their body temperature always comes in between’, this was really a cute element according to me. Ma Dong Chan and Go Miran always end up kissing each other but they always need to stop as they get heat up and couldn’t risk to raise their temperatures. Now isn’t it cute?
It was also a bit emotional in the starting as both of them liked each other. But they didn’t want to date due to their body temperatures. Still they kept giving hint to each other. Ma Dong Chan telling Go Miran to not be so cute or not to smile as she looks more prettier when she smiles were really the heart fluttering scenes for me. And in the end both of them couldn’t take it anymore and ended up dating each other.
The romance and chemistry was very good and some scenes really take you inside the drama. Although the leads couldn’t do it more than kissing, Ma Dong Chan’s flirting and teasing Go Miran was enough to make the scenes fluttering. I was able to connect well with the main couple. This part in the drama was done pretty well and what more can we ask in a romance comedy drama.
Besides the main leads making the drama all lovely we get to see a sad side from Ma Dong Chan’s old girlfriend Na Ha Young. Na Ha Young loved Dong Chan very much. She waited for him 20 years when Ma Dong Chan was in the frozen capsule. She became old but still didn’t marry anyone. But Ma Dong Chan was unwilling to accept her when he came back, not because she aged but due to some misunderstanding (it would be spoiler if I tell you). I felt so bad from her side and wished that she would move on soon. I think it was a difficult role and the actress Yoon Se Ah carried it out well.
Another actor whom I was pretty impressed with was the villain in the story Lee Seok-Du. Usually the old cast don’t grab my attention but here it was surprising. Kim Pub Lae has such a classic villain charm to himself and his voice reminds me of those villains I used to see in cartoons when I was little. His part was less here but interesting. Kim Pub Lae would be excellent in a sci-fi drama with him having some superpowers.
Go Miran’s character was also something that I liked. Her sweet and strong appeal really made the drama a charming one. One more thing that I liked was to see Ma Dong Chan and Go Miran adjusting to the new world of technology (2019). For them it was like entering into the future. I liked the side characters Go Miran’s friends and Ma Dong Chan’s family. They made the drama funny all the way, which was good. But I didn’t find the worrisome boss and Ma Dong Chan’s co-worker funny. They were a bit annoying for me. They literally remained this way for the whole series.
I like science and was curious to see all the things related to the frozen experiment. First few episodes were pretty good in this case. Because It had the sci-fi part more and it gave my curiosity a satisfaction to see all the troubles leads going around due to them being first human cryonics. But later it felt like they didn’t have more than that. So I was disappointed on the sci-fi part of the drama. I think they had a very good concept but somehow it felt plain all the way. I wished there was more about it. The drama do get slow at some parts but they were soon to overcome. The villain side of the story was also hard for me to grab. It only became clear to me after some episodes.
So “Melting Me Softly” comes out to be an interesting and lovely watch. The drama has the power to connect you with it emotionally. Still it becomes plain in between. It is likely to get mixed reviews. If you watch for the sci-fi part then it is a no, but a big yes if you just want to watch a romance comedy drama. It is something you will surely enjoy watching in the cold winter nights along with a cup of tea.
My Ratings: 7 / 10