Binge-worthy: Miss Night And Day a delightfully unhinged mix of romance, fantasy and crime thriller

Miss Night And Day

Netflix
3 out of 5 stars

The beloved Hollywood comedies Freaky Friday (2003) and 13 Going On 30 (2004) had the same idea: a teenage girl wakes up in the body of a woman, and chaos and comedy ensue.

Miss Night And Day puts a K-drama spin on this formula with a slightly older protagonist: 28-year-old Mi-jin (Jung Eun-ji), who wakes up one morning to find she is suddenly middle-aged, and can turn back into her younger self only at night.

She is horrified, of course – by the new wrinkles, the spare tyre and the fact that no one recognises her.

But after years of failing to land a civil service job, Mi-jin’s older alter ego (Lee Jung-eun) is finally able to get a position at the local prosecutor’s office, where her relative youthfulness gives her an edge over other older interns.

And by day, she gets to work with dashing prosecutor Ji-ung (Choi Jin-hyuk) to solve a string of sinister disappearances and, when the sun sets, bicker and flirt with him.

Here are a few reasons to binge-watch the 16-episode romantic comedy and thriller on Netflix.

1. Romcom and mystery with a supernatural twist

Miss Night And Day is a delightfully unhinged mash-up of romcom, criminal procedural and supernatural fantasy.

It begins with Mi-jin failing once again to get a job, then getting drunk and encountering a mysterious stray cat. The next morning, she wakes up 20something years older.

But her younger self has a meet-cute with Ji-ung, and theirs is the classic chaste K-drama love story: a slow burn with lots of slow-motion falls and longing glances.

The comedy is silly and slapstick, with a few moments of satire. Drunkenness and eavesdropping are go-to plot devices.

And this frothiness is shoehorned into a surprisingly dark crime thriller – a mystery connected to traumatic episodes in both Mi-jin and Ji-ung’s childhoods.

2. Touching family drama

But just as important as the romance are Mi-jin’s relationships with her mother and father, played by the very funny Jung Young-joo and Jung Suk-yong, respectively, as well as her best friend Ga-young (Kim A-young).

Stereotypically overbearing and disapproving at first, the parents gradually grow on the viewer, and their relationship with their daughter ends up being the most endearing part of the show.

3. Thoughts on youth and ageing

There are a few perfunctory swipes at ageism, but the show seems more interested in exploiting the all-too-common fears associated with ageing, especially among women. Mi-jin’s metamorphosis is basically body horror played for laughs.

But the idea of a young person trapped inside an older one also illustrates, albeit crudely, the feeling that your body is betraying you as you age.

Still, Miss Night And Day ultimately puts a positive spin on her strange journey.

And it is not ageist to suggest one should try to live a full life and not waste the bloom of youth.