Oh! Youngsimi (2023) Episode 1

Oh! Youngsim (also called Oh! Young Shim, Oh! Young-shim, and Oh! Youngsimi) premieres with a cartoon version of Young-sim beating her friends at bicycle racing. In real life, Young-sim rides a bike and haggles with a celebrity cyclist, asking him to come on her show. Annoyed, he tells her no and asks her to leave. But she challenges him to a race, and if he loses, then he has to come on her show.

She zooms off on her bike but crashes into a pedestrian. She falls off and weakly holds up the universal “ok” sign. Seeing her crazed but admirable determination, the man gives in and says that he will come on her show.

Limping from her bike accident, Young-sim walks into her work building to meet with the Chief of Production, who tells her that her detective show is cancelled. She vehemently protests. Another show producer, Hee-jin, interrupts their conversation to get Chief’s signature on a new show, and Young-sim eyes her with jealousy. As Young-sim resumes complaining to Chief she sees an unassigned file for a dating show. She grabs the file and claims that she will produce it, ignoring Chief‘s insistence that she leave it for someone else.

She meets with a junior colleague, Chae-dong, and they discuss the challenges of producing a dating show. Young-sim moans about difficulties ahead but then quickly reverses her mood, declaring herself the queen of casting, as she summons up some courage.

In the middle of all this, a man named Wang Kyeong-tae heads off on a plane ride, where he opens a fortune cookie, reading “One means one, not two.” He throws the cookie down and screams in shock.

Back with Young-sim though, and she sits in a chair, unseen, flipping through her phone contacts to find people to cast. Jee-hin sits in the chair opposite her. Another girl tells her that Young-sim is producing the new dating show, and they gossip about how she has no self-respect. Young-sim pops up, surprising them, and tells Jee-hun that she better try her best [at producing her new show].

At home, Young-sim’s family has dinner and discusses Young-sim’s inability to get a boyfriend. She blames it on the cartoon that her dad made about her, called Oh! Youngsim, because everyone that meets her views her as a child and sings her the theme song.

Young-sim’s dad recalls the past when he created the cartoon. He was struggling for inspiration when he heard Young-sim praying for her classmates to get into trouble, and then the cartoon version of Young-sim was born. Bringing her embarrassing stories to cartoon-life, and giving her unwanted attention.

In the present, her family suggests that she meet a man. But her younger sister, Soon-sim, brings up that Chae-dong is in love with her, so she doesn’t need a man. When Young-sim’s brother-in-law, Woo-Sang, brings up the name Wang Kyeong-tae, Young-sim gets upset and leaves the table.

Outside, she recalls her childhood: a little boy with glasses named Kyeong-tae tells her he likes her, and she adamantly refuses him, saying that he is too short and lacks charisma. She challenges him to climb a tree, saying that he can’t do it. Kyeong-tae, eager to prove his love, climbs it but is unable to come down by himself. He falls and cries out for Young-sim, but she shakes her head and walks away.

Another day, Kyeong-tae gifts her a new pair of headphones, and she agrees to meet him at a park. She comes to the park with a huge teddy bear meant for him, an indication that she likes him back, but he never shows up. She finds out that he suddenly went to America and won’t be coming back, leaving her with a bitter heart.

In the present, Young-sim’s dad walks up, and she tells him about the new dating show and promises him that she will be a better Young-sim from now on.

At work, Young-sim shows her team the cast list she put together, but they’re still missing one slot. They find a young, attractive CEO of an organization called Kingsvely, who would be the perfect fit. Given the challenge of casting a popular person like him, the team tries to dissuade her from trying to go after him, but the “queen of casting” is determined.

Young-sim shows up at Soon-sim’s workplace, which happens to be a Kingsvely store. Much to Soon-sim’s annoyance, Young-sim begins peppering her with questions about the CEO, whose name is Mark. She says she has no information for her, but when Young-sim mentions that she will pay off her credit card bill in exchange for Mark’s contact info, she is all ears.

Chae-dong and Young-sim are sharing a meal when Chae-dong brings up a grievance. Thinking that he is talking about the meal, Young-sim says that she will compensate him with anything he wants. Chae-dong is about to drunkenly confess his love to her when she gets a reply that Mark will come on her show. Excited, she runs out of the restaurant, leaving Chae-dong to foot the bill.

At home, a YouTuber called Wol-sook tells Young-sim that she’ll come on her show too. Soon-sim warns Young-sim to be careful, as Wol-sook is a backstabber.

Two weeks later, Young-sim’s team starts to shoot for the show. When Mark walks in, Young-sim stares at him, shocked. Mark is Kyeong-tae, the boy who left her for America all those years ago.

The Episode Review

So far, it looks like this is going to be a rom-com that is heavy on both ends. Young-sim’s character is slightly sloppy, very determined, a little quirky, and extremely likable. She also seems to be a bit unpredictable—who knows what she will do next? But since her long-lost love is on the dating show, is she really just going to stand by and watch as he flirts with other girls? Surely not.

It does seem like there are a lot of characters to keep track of. Hopefully, we’ve already been introduced to most of them, and they don’t throw too many new ones in too soon.

Even though we’re only at episode one, one thing is for sure—a love triangle (between Chang-dong, Young-sim, and Mark/Kyeong-tae) is brewing!