LTNS: Esom, Ahn Jae-hong play a sexless couple in K-drama comedy gem

Lead cast: Esom, Ahn Jae-hong

A sexless couple find a unique way to climb the social ladder in ultra-competitive South Korea in LTNS, a boundlessly inventive and frequently hilarious comedy-drama series.

The first two episodes of the series from streaming service Tving debuted at the Busan International Film Festival in South Korea this month.

The show’s curious title stands for “Long Time No Sex”, which refers to the barren sex life of seven-year couple Woojin and Samuel, played by Esom and Ahn.

This is the fourth time the two actors have teamed up on screen, and the third time they have portrayed a couple, following Microhabitat and the short film High Surf Expected – Ahn’s directorial debut, which both also premiered at Busan.

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Rather than scratch their own seven-year itch, Woojin and Samuel start going after people stepping out on their partners. The frigid couple reconnect as they embark on a new life of crime.

Woojin is a receptionist at a midscale hotel, where she amuses herself by maintaining a blacklist of clients checking in to indulge in tawdry trysts.

Samuel, after losing his money in a failed business venture with a friend, spends his nights driving a taxi. One night he wakes up with a start during a storm to discover his car submerged in a flash flood. Since he parked illegally his insurance won’t pay out, forcing him to find another way to pay for a new taxi.

Samuel asks a rich friend for a loan but, after he is rebuffed, he accidentally lets slip to Woojin that the friend is having an affair. An incensed Woojin prepares to expose him, but the friend drops to his knees in front of her and begs her not to. He offers her money in exchange for her silence.

Her lack of money leads her to pocket the cash, an act that plants the seeds of a dangerous but profitable new idea in her mind. Now, with Woojin’s blacklist and Samuel’s shiny new cab, the couple hit the road in search of cheating couples and their own little taste of the good life.

Each episode features Woojin and Samuel attempting to blackmail a different couple, each eccentric in their own right.

The extremely well written LTNS features a terrific cast flinging sterling dialogue filled with frank sexual discussion and ingenious social commentary at one another.

The show takes its time setting up its story and opts to indulge in intriguing asides rather than concentrate on narrative momentum. These asides are invariably worth the detour and give the characters space to shine as we steadily gain a handle on their quirky but relatable world views.

Jeon and Lim deploy their considerable combined directorial talent to give a memorable screen home to these singular protagonists.

The strong primary tones and eye-catching framing call to mind Jeon’s wonderful debut Microhabitat, which featured Esom as a penny-pinching character who staunchly follows her desires and finds unusual ways to solve her financial problems.

One evening, Woojin and Samuel leave their home, looking like any Korean couple walking down a long balcony of apartment doors. A spotlight suddenly illuminates them, lifting them out of the urban jungle and adding grandeur to their shuffling silhouettes.

This striking piece of magical realism recalls Lim’s debut Merry Christmas Mr. Mo, in which a poor and elderly man appears in his son’s short film, a loving ode to Charlie Chaplin.

The show merges black comedy with droll and insightful relationship drama. Woojin and Samuel may not be physically intimate with each other any longer, but viewers will recognise their tight bond.

The pair are like two peas in a pod who brave the financial hardships of the quirky life they have forged together. Samuel darns Woojin’s clothes while Woojin sticks to a diet of rice and kimchi as she worries about the collapsing price of their apartment during an economic downturn.

In a K-drama landscape that has of late been dominated by familiar romantic fare and ambitious genre tent poles, the idiosyncratic charms of LTNS are a deeply satisfying breath of fresh air.