Chick lit fans take note: Dal Ja's Spring is totally awesome.

I have an urgent entertainment recommendation, dear readers: if you enjoy the school of literature that focuses on the romantic and career struggles of thirtysomething women, you should definitely check out the 22-episode-long Korean drama Dal Ja's Spring (watch it for free here).

Plot summary

Fascinating to see the differences between Western soaps and Eastern ones--the concept of being unfilial, the sexual and office politics are distinctly different. All of the actors are insanely charming (it's impossible to judge their skill through the language barrier, but they sound fine), and the easy chemistry between the main characters is undeniable. Lee Min Ki is outstanding--he's beautiful, but in a quirkier, less glamorous way than an actor like Joo Ji Hoon, and he manages to humanize a character that could have become impossibly idealized.

Their ages are distracting: the heroine's age is a constant topic of discussion, but the actress playing her is actually five or so years younger than her character's age, and could feasibly play a teenager. Meanwhile, her co-stars are all several years older than their characters' ages, and it's tough to swallow the nearly ten-year age difference. I realize that TV requires some suspension of disbelief, but this is almost as irritating as the "fat" main character of Kim Sam Soon.