Spooky in Love

Spooky in Love (오싹한 연애) is a 12-episode tvN romantic comedy with horror and mystery elements. It aired on weekends from July 18 to August 23, 2026, and streamed on Netflix at the same time. It is a remake of the 2011 film Spellbound, written by Choi Jung-mi and directed by Lee Min-soo. Cheon Yeo-ri (Park Eun-bin) is a reclusive hotel-chain heiress. A yacht accident left her able to see ghosts, and anyone she touches can see them too. Her secret has isolated her and ruined an earlier engagement.

Ma Gang-uk (Yang Se-jong) is an upright prosecutor whose greatest fear is ghosts. Their paths cross at a crime scene, and they end up working together. Yeo-ri follows the spirits of victims to the places where their bodies were hidden. Gang-uk supplies the legal skill to bring those cases to justice. Each episode brings a self-contained case, and a longer mystery builds underneath: what really happened on the yacht twelve years earlier.

Fake dates, family politics and corporate maneuvering complicate the partnership as real feelings grow. Ong Seong-wu plays Kang Min-hwan, a character created for the series who sits at the center of the larger conflict. The show is a procedural, a romance and a chaebol family drama in one.

The series argues that loneliness is a kind of haunting, and that people are freed by being seen and shared with, not by being fixed. Yeo-ri's gift is also a burden because it isolates her. It only becomes bearable when someone chooses to hold her hand and face the same things she sees.

The ghosts are unheard victims, so the story also treats justice as a form of care. Helping the dead move on mirrors Yeo-ri's own need to let go of guilt and grief. Love, in this telling, means taking on another person's fear voluntarily. It also means refusing to let wealth, family secrets and the past decide who someone is allowed to become.

Viewers can read the ghosts literally, as a supernatural procedural. They can also read them as a metaphor for trauma, since Yeo-ri's ability began with survivor's guilt and ends when the truth is faced. Some reviewers felt the supernatural element faded in the final episodes as the story turned to family and corporate plots. Others see that shift as intentional: the real haunting was Min-hwan's secret.

The series continues the Korean trend of remaking successful films as long-form dramas. It expands a two-hour romantic comedy into a twelve-episode mystery with a new antagonist and a chaebol plot. Its simultaneous tvN and Netflix release reflects the current global distribution model for K-dramas. Reviewers praised the "touch-sharing" premise and the lead pairing. Its legacy so far rests on the Park Eun-bin and Yang Se-jong chemistry and on the genre blend, not on any proven wider influence.

Viewers widely praised the lead performances and chemistry, the fresh premise, the case-of-the-week structure and the romance. The sharpest criticism was aimed at the writing in the final stretch: the third-act breakup, the convenient resolution of the mystery, a rushed last two episodes, and the supernatural element fading. Some also found the supporting characters underused. Some thought the fake-engagement-turned-real plot lacked enough romantic build-up. Individual MyDramaList scores ranged from about 4 to 8 out of 10. The overall verdict is a sweet, charming, glossy summer watch that stumbles near the end.