Love Andante (2024) – K-drama Episode 1 Recap & Review

The Peace Village Project 

Episode 1 of Love Andante season 1 starts with an introduction to Ju-hyeong, reminiscing about his time at a little village, which you can only visit once a year. He is on his way to the village and claims it is where he spent the best year of his life with an unforgettable woman. 

We circle back to two years before he lived in the village. The media excitedly announces the Peace City Village project, which will see people from both North and South Korea moving into a small remote village to gauge if reunification is possible. The media has high hopes for the project, citing it will be a historic moment. The reporters on the ground film the new residents arriving at the village, where they are expected to stay for a year. 

One of the residents from South Korea happens to be the famous pianist, Ju-hyeong. He refuses to give any statements to the media as he and his selected movers arrive at the village. The guards warn the movers that they have to leave by 3 pm and confiscate their IDs for the time being. We also meet the General Manager at the Peace Village, Park Jun-mo, who gives an assuring press statement along with his North Korean counterpart, Lee Sang-su.

After arriving at his new home, Ju-hyeong starts stressing as he believes the movers are being reckless with his stuff. It turns out that Ju-hyeong is a perfectionist and likes things to be done according to his perfect standards.

As expected, the movers find this frustrating and when Ju-hyeong cautions them to be careful with his piano; they abandon him and leave. Ju-hyeong is forced to leave his beloved piano outside since he can’t carry it by himself. He slowly settles into his new home. He starts playing the piano and his talent surprises the new residents. One of them, Kim Ju-hui, approaches him and admits she is a fan. She is a vlogger and is happy to be in the Peace Village.

Meanwhile, the residents from North Korea arrive late after their bus broke down. They are forced to walk for miles and arrive late into the night. Among them is the daughter of a North Korean general, Ha na-gyeong and her bodyguard, Gyeong-ho. As it is late in the night, Na-gyeong mistakenly gets into Ju-hyeong’s house. He spots her while heading to the toilet and mistakes her for an intruder. He quickly grabs one of his golf clubs and tries to defend himself. However, one kick from Na-gyeong takes him out and the scene cuts to them at the General Manager’s office.

In a strange yet funny coincidence, Jun-mo and Sang-su realise that the two were mistakenly listed as a married couple. As such, they were expected to live in the same house. Knowing that reporting this to the superiors would risk the continuation of the project, the managers plot to convince the two to agree to live together. 

They blatantly point out the importance of the project and ask the two if they are willing to take the consequences if it fails. Ju-hyeong realises that his career will be over if he is blamed for the failure of the project. His reputation is already hanging on a thin line as it is.

On the other hand, Na-gyeong has a deal with her dad that he will allow her to pursue her dreams if she quietly lives out the year at the peace village. In the end, the two agree to live together. Ju-hyeong asks for an apology for the knock-out kick and demands to have someone help him get his piano inside. The managers quickly agree to his terms and Na-gyeong reluctantly apologises.

She heads back to the house first while Ju-hyeong sees a doctor. She takes his things out of the master bedroom and stores them in the spare room without a bed. Ju-hyeong is frustrated when he returns and finds his stuff in the other room. He snoops around her stuff while she is showering and finds her violin. She catches him red-handed and scolds him for going through her stuff. She kicks him out of the room and he goes to the spare room.

The next morning, Na-gyeong and Gyeong-ho go for a morning run. She refuses his help in dealing with Ju-hyeong and he agrees to stay out of it. Meanwhile, Ju-hui starts flirting with the hot bodyguard. Ju-hyeong wakes up with a bad back after sleeping on the floor and Na-gyeong mocks him for having a weak back. 

Later, Jang-su and a few workers have a hard time getting the piano in the perfect position. Ju-hyeong keeps changing his mind, asking them to move the piano until they get the perfect position. Just when they are finally done, Jun-mo makes a public announcement that there will be a welcome party and Ju-hyeong and Na-gyeong will perform together. He maintains that attendance is compulsory and Sang-su and his men are frustrated since they have to take the piano to the party venue and return it.

Meanwhile, Ju-hyeong is surprised since he never agreed to perform at the party. The same applies to Na-gyeong. They rush to the office to confront Jun-mo for making them give a free performance against their will.

In the epilogue, we see how one of the men in charge of the applications accidentally spilt coffee on his keyboard. While he tried to clean it, he unknowingly marked Na-gyeong and Ju-hyeong as a married couple.

The Episode Review

Love Andante is off to a good start as it delivers on the drama and comedy. Even though it is a bit cliche, the execution is well done, making the show quite an entertaining watch. The chemistry between the two leads is perfect and we can’t wait to see their enemy-to-lovers arc.

On the other hand, the supporting cast is top-notch. It is nice to see Ki Hyun-woo. He is still fine as ever and his character’s potential love story with Ju-hui is exciting. Jun-mo and Sang-su’s dynamic is also perfectly-balanced and they make a great comedic duo. This is only the first episode, so we hope the show will maintain its pace and keep us invested.