Lee Dong-wook plays a married man whose life is turned upside down after a random one-night encounter.
Lee Dong-wook. Photo: Courtesy of tvN.
The Facade of Love, directed by Mo Wan-il, is an upcoming Netflix original that deviates from fluffy tropes toward something more sincere. It’s a mix of melodrama and romance, dealing with the complex aftermath of a fateful encounter between two individuals.
The story follows two strangers who meet by chance and spend a night together. And much to their surprise, the memories of their intense connection refuse to stay in the past. Neither of them can forget that night, and the fallout ends in complications and unexpected shifts in their individual relationships and futures.
Starring in this relationship rollercoaster is Hallyu star Lee Dong-wook, playing Ji-hun, a seemingly stable, happily married man. However, after crossing paths with Jeon So-nee’s character, Hu-kyung, a charismatic woman, he soon finds himself locked in a brutal internal tug-of-war between his sudden feelings and his logical brain.
Their one-night encounter leads to a messy four-way web of tension between them alongside Jung Yu-mi and Lee Jong-won’s characters. Jung Yu-mi plays Sun-hee, Ji-hun’s wife, who’s suddenly forced to confront a shattering truth about her marriage. And to make matters even worse, Sun-hee’s brother Dae-hee, played by Lee Jong-won, adds to the tension by getting involved with Hu-kyung, perhaps romantically.
Behind the lens, director Mo Wan-il is doing what he does best — mining the complex, messy realities of human relationships, as we have seen in his global hit K-drama The World of the Married (2020), the story of a slow-burning marital breakdown. If anything, Mo is bringing the same kind of intensity to this new project that explores how feelings can often override all sense of reasoning and judgment.
Fundamentally, The Facade of Love dissects the most critical pressure points of modern relationships. According to Netflix, the show is designed to peel back the heavily polished, picture-perfect surfaces of our daily lives to expose desire, guilt, and the lingering hurt hiding underneath.
The series is expected to be released next year.