Spooky in Love Full Review: A Supernatural Romance That gave Up the Ghost Of What Made It Interesting

Aug 31

6 min read

Updated: 2 days ago

"Of all ghosts, the ghosts of our old loves are the worst." — Arthur Conan Doyle

Title:	Spooky in Love (2026)
Platform:	Netflix, TVING
Episode Count:	12
IMBD Rating:	7.5
Genre:	Contemporary Fantasy Romance
MDL Rating:	8.0
Parental Guidance Rating:	TV-14: Fear, Language (light on frights)
Starring:	Park Eun Bin as Yang Se Jong (Female Lead/FL) Cha Eun Woo as Ma Gang Uk (Male Lead/ML) Ong Seong Wu as Kang Min Hwan Cha Mi Kyung as Paeng Myo Sun Jo Hye Joo as Cheon Ha Ri Ye Soo Jung as Baek Gyeong Ja Kim Do Wan as Park Seung Jae

The Cast:

Cast From Left to Right: #ParkEunBin (Extraordinary Attorney Woo), #YangSeJong (My Country: The New Age), #OngSeongWu (Strong Girl Nam Soon), #ChaMiKyung (Our Unwritten Seoul), #JoHyeJoo (The Secret Romantic Guesthouse)

Synopsis: After a yachting accident nearly took her life, hotel heiress Cheon Yeo Ri has been haunted by some assertive ghosts who won't leave her the heck alone until she finds their remains, allowing them to cross over to the the other side. Which is problematic as she’s busy enough making sure her beloved hotel stays out of the Schemer-manqué hands of her bumbling relatives, who constantly try to uncover her secret. And speaking of hands and secrets, Cheon Yeo Ri has a big one: If anyone touches her bare hand, they too, will see the dead. In the midst of her supernatural side quests, she finds herself entangled with a prosecutor who begins to warm her lonely heart. Will he be able to warm her hands? Will Cheon Yeo Ri ever get rid of these ghosts? Will she ever lose the shoulder pads and velvet bow ties? I dunno, but I sure hope so.

The Characters:

Non Spoiler Thoughts:

Spooky in love was touted by marketing material as a supernatural romance with chills and thrills galore, but it was merely your average Chaebol Rom Com dressed up in ghostly attire it ditched all too soon. Though it wasn’t as spook-tacular (I couldn’t help myself) as I hoped it would be, it was still a nice time and added some fun to tired tropes. And with the utter graveyard of failed dramas this year, the barebones of a good story is enough for me.

Our tale follows Cheon Yeo Ri, an orphaned CEO Chaebol hotel owner (BECAUSE OF COURSE! NORMAL PEOPLE, WHO?), with the ability to see the dead after an accident, who repeatedly crosses paths with the mixed martial artist detective Ma Gang Uk in her quest to help the dead cross over by finding their bodies. Man, what a mouthful. Cheon Yeo Ri is suspicious AF. She’s like Jessica Fletcher of Cabot Cove, Korea (Murder, She Wrote) is always lurking at these crime scenes, but like JB, has plot armor so no one thinks she’s a serial killer.

I still know this song by heart.

The drama starts off with a procedural ghost of the week/ murder to solve format, and then dissolves into the tasteless broth that is family scheming for the Chaebol throne. I’ll rant about this later. It shined when it took the supernatural and investigative approach, and sure, it’s formulaic, but that doesn’t mean it's not good. I was even willing to suspend my disbelief about her crazy hand touching situation, which was bananas, but at least bananas taste like something. The tried and true of Rom Coms has become bland leftovers.

Spooky in Love had catchy music, though it was used it sparingly, but what it did not use sparingly was leather and velvet. The spooky was not in the supernatural, but in the outfits. I was afraid and aghast to see them coming. The secondary characters were two dimensional, inconsistent, and cartoonish, but the FL’s grandma had the vibes of a Korean Diane Keaton, so I will overlook her dullard relatives. The romance was the saving grace, though fireworks were not exploding by any means. Overall, Spooky in Love is a mid tier rom com that should have been a zany Addams Family-esque romantic comedy. Now I’m left haunted by the ghost of what could have been.

_Beware Mateys: There be Spoilers ahead!_____

What Are you?

Spooky in Love did not know what it was and that kept it from reaching its full potential. The drama’s intro promises a supernatural/Harry Potter-esque atmosphere that was shoved out the window in favor of the old Rom Com formula. Now, there is nothing wrong with having some family drama in your Rom Com, but folks. C’mon. Queen of Tears, King the Land, Crash Landing on You, Perfect Crown are only a few of the dramas that wedge in family power struggles, but at least they don’t forget their premise. Spooky in Love forgot the Spooky and put the love on the back burner. It’s just “in” at this point.

Cheon Yeo Ri gets with her man and then bam! All is right with the supernatural world? She still see’s ghosts apparently, but the audience doesn’t see them anymore. It felt out of place with the narrative we were following and dried up alot of my interest. It was such a waste because there is so much potential with contemporary fantasies armed with a nice budget and Park Eun Bin. The premise was tailor-made for Halloween vibes and the possibility for really interesting ghost cases was right there.

The drama should have gone full comedy as well. The potential of hilarity with seeing things that other’s can’t see is unlimited. Both main actors excel at comedy, and we get a brief taste of humor in the last two episodes with the extended family, and I loved it. The relatives didn’t make sense in the context of a “grounded” drama, but I wouldn’t have batted an eye had we been given a Tully Alford via the Addams Family or an Arrested Development situation. However, instead of full heartedly embracing a genre, it cursed every story element it touched by not committing.

Didn't love the hair color or all the bows

The CEO and her Boo

Cheon Yeo Ri (FL) and Ma Gang Uk (ML) were pretty darn cute. They didn’t have the most chemistry in the world, but Yang Se Jong (ML Actor) really sold the romance for me. However, his confession came out of the blue. My friend and I watched the drama together and we were CONVINCED it was a dream sequence when he told her his feelings were real. I’m glad they got together pretty quickly, but wish they still developed their romance and didn't treat it like a done deal.

I really liked Ma Gang Uk (ML), though I think he must be the supernatural one because what do you mean he had a heart transplant and is still able to be a mixed martial artist cop who can bounce back from flat lining in mere minutes. It’s not natural and it’s not right, but it gave me flashbacks to the 2000 Film Return to Me so I will accept it.

Park Eun Bin (FL Actress) doesn’t really shine in the romance department, but she made her character sympathetic enough for me to root for her. It’s not her best role, but still better than most. Also, it cracked me up that she played a heart transplant recipient in her last drama, The Wonderfools. Is this the new things in K-Dramas?

Being Normal is Vastly Overrated: Halloweentown Quotes to Live By

"The people you love become ghosts inside of you, and like this you keep them alive." — Malorie Blackman

Spooky in Love wraps up with Cheon Yeo Ri connecting the dots that the pendant given to her by her first love (?) allowed her to live at the time of her accident, and her refusal to let him go is what caused her perpetual haunting. It’s a metaphor for loss and moving on as she can’t connect with others and form new relationships until she can overcome her survivors guilt and her grief.

The scene with the ghosts lining the field to help her find her way back to the land of the living really got me. It was beautifully done and my favorite scene of the drama. Her acts of past kindness and empathy allowed her to fully live again, and helped her to process her loss. And she returns to normalcy, just in time to ruin a grieving mother’s life at her dead son’s memorial. I kid… kinda.

Kang Min Hwan (2ML) is disappointingly the villain after all, her aunt ends up in jail, and we don’t get a wedding. The story wraps up, but the juice ran out episodes before. The Shamanistic aspect was cool, but it disappeared from the storyline line prematurely so it had no real mpact when she was finally “cured”. In fact, I felt kind of bummed.

Spooky in Love was not spooky and spent too little time on love. It had merits in the walking skeleton of a supernatural and comedic story that was never fleshed out in a meaningful way. The Chaebol Rom Com is the true scourge of K-dramaland and cursed the drama to veer into mediocrity. Because ultra rich CEO romances are too normal (what is this world?) these days, and being normal is vastly overrated.

RBTS Overall Rating: 6.9/10 Stars -- I Recommend!
Story:	6	Shouldn't have deviated from ghosts/solving murders, and should have gone full zany romantic comedy.
Acting:	6	Passable, but not outstanding
Production Quality:	8	Solid, but the outfits were a lot
Ending:	9	The ending pulled me in, but the 2Ml and the announcement at the memorial pulled me out
Enjoyability:	6	Could have been better, but I liked it