Recap "Forecasting Love and Weather" Episode 1 with Park Min Young, Song Kang

Forecasting Love and Weather on Saturdays and Sundays. Two highly anticipated K-Dramas! Maybe the deciding factor will be that Song Kang features in Forecasting Love and Weather — he’s a K-Drama favorite after all. He excelled in Navillera — I’d certainly recommend giving that a watch.

Anyway, this series will attempt to amalgamate weather predictions and a love story, so we can expect many soppy and heartwrenching moments.

Episode 1 opens up with different weather shots, and Jin Ha-kyung narrates how different patterns give off different signals — this becomes clearer and important later in the premiere. Ha-kyung is stressed; she has an upcoming wedding, but her fiance is oddly quiet and barely responsive. She heads out with her mother and sister to meet a psychic — even they predict that Ha-kyung and her fiance will not live “happily ever after,” which forces her to leave in a grumpy mood.

Ignoring the warning signs, Ha-kyung meets her fiance to check that he is well, but before she can thoroughly check on his wellbeing, a work problem comes up, so she heads to the weather station. There’s a low probability of heavy hail, but she does not feel the data adds up, so she shrugs it off.

Lee Si-woo (played by Song Kang) buys a used car and tries to impress his girlfriend (reporter Chae). She’s clearly not interested in being with him, but he takes her out for lunch anyway. As the couple talk in a disconnected conversation, it starts to hail outside. It turns out Lee Si-woo predicted this at the weather station, but he was ignored. The hail comes down hard, damaging many properties. This feels like a sign — the lead characters will experience pain before finding happiness.

At the weather station, Ha-kyung is feeling guilty for not trusting the data, while Lee Si-woo is privately cocky about it, telling a colleague he knew the hail was coming. After an investigation, it seems the data was overlooked. Stress in the room is high, and then, in a shocking turn of events, Director Choi has a heart attack. With Director Choi out of action and recovering, Ha-kyung is put in charge as an interim director until Choi returns. She’s emotionally conflicted about this role change, especially since she has a wedding to plan.

And then, there’s another conundrum at the weather station; Si-woo is worried about the ground temperate in Gangwon, and he rings the regional office, giving them a list of locations, but they brush him off. Si-woo believes there’s going to be heavy rain. In a briefing meeting at the weather station, Si-woo warns Ha-kyung and others about incoming heavy rain at Gangwon based on the spike in ground temperatures. He reckons it will start within the hour and argues his case. Ha-kyung has a decision to make — believe the supercomputers or Lee Si-woo. After deliberation, she believes the probability of heavy rain is too weak and wants to move on to the weekend weather.

However, Lee Si-woo is feeling rebellious and asks a colleague to publish a special alert regarding the heavy rain from The Metropolitan Office. Ha-kyung is dismayed to hear of the special alert issued by The Metropolitan Office, but the colleague who published it raises how she missed the hail too. Tensions are high in the weather station. No one seems to know what to do.

Joining up both lead characters, Lee Si-woo rings Jin Ha-kyung and lectures her on professionalism and believes her wedding preparations are impacting her job. Ha-kyung confronts Si-woo face-to-face and lambasts him for how he spoke to her. However, Si-woo cheekily holds his ground and tells her it will rain — his smile slightly softens her. And then it happens — the heavy rain arrives. Colleagues at the weather station are surprised.

As we move closer to the end of the premiere episode of Forecasting Love and Weather, Jin Ha-kyung is dealt a personal blow; she learns that everything related to her wedding (food and services) has been canceled without her knowledge. In shock, she rings her fiance Ki-jun, but his phone is off. Stunned, she heads to his apartment, and finds him in an intimate position with his mistress — her fiance, now ex, was having an affair. But it appears the character saw the signs all along as she narrates about signals, bringing the start of the episode full circle.

And there’s heartbreak for Lee Si-woo too — while spending time with his girlfriend, she breaks up with him. Let’s be honest, he should have seen it coming. She showed zero interest.

The ending

As episode 1 ends, Jin Ha-kyung is dealt with more blows, personally and professionally…

At first, it looks like she is about to experience a career promotion after learning that Director Choi has resigned after his heart attack. However, the next day, she’s told that the weather station administrator persuaded her ex-fiance to stay at the workplace and that he will be taking on the role of the director. Her transfer to director is canceled. Her boss recommends she takes a higher ranking position of WMO for dispatch training, but that would mean going to Switzerland for a year. Episode 1 leaves her decision unanswered.

When Jin Ha-kyung arrives at home, she notices her television is missing. She rings her ex-fiance, and he confirms he took a few things from their apartment. She meets him, and she is furious that he took half the stuff from their place. Shockingly, he offers to take the apartment off her to “reduce the stress” and wants a 50/50 split on the alimony. It’s at this moment, Ha-kyung learns she’s dealing with a b*****d. I think we can call agree that she is.

The premiere of Forecasting Love and Weather sells the premise well, aligning two out-of-sync characters who are struggling to navigate work and love.