Summary
The Potato Lab continues to work well in Episode 5, which boasts plenty of tropes but also an undeniable charm.
Sometimes a show like The Potato Lab comes along and works almost in spite of itself. It’s an odd phenomenon. I’ve kicked around shows for the exact stuff I like in this one; all the tropey enemies-to-lovers shenanigans are fun here when they’re tedious elsewhere, and they really come to the fore in Episode 5. Execution is everything.
I guess I just like Baek-ho and Mi-kyung. I like their dynamic, so an episode built on each of them trying to one-up the other just works fine for me. The tropes almost seem like they’re being fallen into accidentally, even though that’s obviously not the case. But that’s the impression, and the impression is what counts.
The ease with which this show bounces between genres and tones continues to impress me. It’s funny and serious in equal measure. And the word “equal” there is pretty important since I think the even distribution of focus between the leads is one of the keys to the show’s success. That’s part of the charm. We like spending time with both, and they both like spending time with each other, rivalrous framework notwithstanding.
The only potential downside – and it hasn’t manifested yet – is a lack of real antagonism, a source of genuinely threatening drama. But that might well be coming down the line. We’re not even halfway through yet.
As in the previous episode, Baek-ho and Mi-kyung are at flirty loggerheads, and it’s Mi-kyung’s passion for potatoes that gives Baek-ho cause to reconsider his move to dismiss her. But things are complicated by the arrival of Hee-jin, which puzzles Hwan-kyung and Ong-ju and leaves Mi-kyung wondering what her connection to Baek-ho is. Hee-jin’s welcome party seems like the appropriate venue to pump her for information, but it’s all a big misunderstanding that is quickly ironed out.
You’ll note that written down this sounds terrible, but it really isn’t! It’s goofy and charming and somehow totally works. It’s a fine example of the weird alchemy that underpins everything in The Potato Lab, especially in Episode 5.
The potential pushback comes from Ki-se, who is having Hee-jin tailed and is also heading up the PMI Task Force. He’s very much the antithesis of Baek-ho. He doesn’t see Mi-kyung’s potato passion as anything other than languishing below her potential station. It’s offensive to her because it completely discounts the idea of her work being valuable and fulfilling in and of itself.
If we’re being completely honest, anything involving Ki-se is probably the weakest element of the narrative, though only because it hasn’t been concretely defined yet. But it’s telling that I’d rather watch Baek-ho be conned into believing in ghosts than I would anything to do with Ki-se. Somehow, the frivolous, fun stuff is a lot more compelling.
This is true all throughout The Potato Lab Episode 5. And the ghost prank does lead somewhere meaningful drama-wise since it creates a bit more friction between Baek-ho and Mi-kyung when it goes too far. I remain surprised how much this kind of thing doesn’t feel like pointless time-wasting, which it would in so many other, similar shows. The episode ends trying to build a bit more drama around Ki-se, but a part of me wishes it wouldn’t. There’s a lot more silliness between the leads to be doing instead.
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