Fake dating, amnesia, and a village full of nosy neighbors — Our Sticky Love takes a familiar rom-com toolkit and grounds it with genuine emotional stakes. Just days into its run, this Netflix K-drama is already earning praise for trusting its small-town setting to do real emotional work, rather than leaning purely on trope-driven cuteness.
Overview
Our Sticky Love (이런 엿 같은 사랑, literally “This Shitty Love”) is a 2026 South Korean romantic comedy written by Mo Ji-hye and directed by Kim Jang-han, starring Jung Hae-in and Ha Young in her first female lead role. The series follows Go Eun-sae, a prosecutor who loses her memory while investigating a crime syndicate, and Jang Tae-ha, a former boxer turned gang member who claims to be her boyfriend to protect her — a lie built on real history neither of them fully remembers or admits.
Basic Details
| Details | Info. |
|---|---|
| Genre | Romantic Comedy, Crime |
| Episodes | 12 |
| Runtime | 60 minutes per episode |
| Director | Kim Jang-han |
| Cast | Jung Hae-in, Ha Young, Heo Sung-tae, Kim Young-ok, Jeon Bae-soo, Seo Jung-yeon, Jang Hye-jin, Cha Chung-hwa |
| Premiere Date | August 7, 2026 |
| Where to Watch | Netflix |
| MyDramaList Rating | 8.0/10 (from over 1,450 user ratings) |
Plot Summary
Ambitious prosecutor Go Eun-sae loses all memory of her name, job, and past after a mysterious accident while investigating a powerful crime syndicate. She wakes up in the rural Gujin Yeot Village, greeted by Jang Tae-ha, a former youth boxing champion turned small-town boxing coach who insists he’s her boyfriend. What Eun-sae doesn’t know: Tae-ha is lying. He’s her actual first love from years earlier, now trying to leave his gang past behind for good, and he’s using the fake relationship to protect her from the very syndicate hunting her down.
As the two move in together, their manufactured relationship slowly becomes something real, complicated by the village’s warm, nosy community and Tae-ha’s mounting secrets. The show builds toward a central question: can a love that started as a lie become the real thing once the truth finally catches up to both of them?
Why You Should Watch It
- A fake-dating premise with genuine stakes. Rather than treating the central lie as pure rom-com fluff, the show grounds it in real danger and real history between the leads, giving the story actual teeth.
- A strong, character-driven village setting. Critics compare its use of a small, over-involved community to Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha, letting the setting itself carry real emotional weight.
- Jung Hae-in in familiar, well-worn territory — done right. His scruffy, soft-spoken protector role isn’t new for him, but reviewers say the show earns its warmth rather than coasting on his established charm.
- A breakout leading role for Ha Young. This marks her first female lead role, and early reactions suggest she holds her own against a veteran co-star.
Fair warning: not every review has been glowing — some early critics feel the central romance leans on convenient plot devices to speed things along, and a few have found the chemistry between leads inconsistent. If you’ve been burned by rom-coms that rush intimacy without earning it, go in aware opinions are still divided this early in its run.
Recommendations
If Our Sticky Love is working for you, here’s where to go next:
- Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha — For more of that same warm, meddling small-town community energy driving the romance.
- Vincenzo — For another crime-adjacent K-drama blending danger with genuine emotional stakes.
- Business Proposal — A lighter, more purely comedic fake-dating/mistaken-identity romance if you want less crime drama.
- Crash Landing on You — For another star-crossed romance built on secrets and circumstance forcing two people together.
- My Name — For more of the crime-syndicate danger element in a heavier, action-driven package.
Conclusion
Our Sticky Love takes well-worn rom-com ingredients — fake dating, amnesia, a hidden past — and treats them with more emotional honesty than the premise might suggest. With strong early audience numbers and a genuinely committed central performance from Jung Hae-in and Ha Young, it’s shaping up to be one of the more satisfying K-drama rom-coms of the year, even if a few critics feel the writing occasionally takes shortcuts to get there.