Wednesday, January 28, 2026

Encounter(s)

The headlines these days are dominated by encounters, many of them unwanted, violent and deadly. While most of us watch them on screens, as opposed to in person, they still apparently provoke a similar physiological effect as they would if we were there at the scene. 

As a result, there are those who believe we are suffering from a “national trauma,” and they may be right. Not to avoid that ugly reality, but perhaps seeking a way to cope with it, I’m seeking other types of encounters these days of a more nourishing variety.

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Yearning for balance as well as a respite from the news and the sheer weight of it all, I find comfort in walking outside, connecting with friends and gardening. Also, by reading books and long feature articles in the New Yorker.

But lately, even those options haven’t done the trick. Being retired and having too much time on my hands, I’ve somewhat guiltily turned to bingeing on melodramatic series on Netflix, like “The Diplomat,” “Virgin Spring,” and, most recently, the 2018 Korean romantic drama, “Encounter.”

I realize this may not be a genre that appeals to everybody, but what is compelling to me about “Encounter” is the sincerity and the excruciatingly slow pace of the developing love affair between a divorced hotel magnate (Song Hye-kyo) and her much younger colleague (Park Bo-gum). The characters first encounter one another by chance as strangers in a foreign land (Cuba).

In real life, Song is 12 years older than Park, but in appearance, at least by Western standards, they both could be teenagers who would probably get carded at a bar. Song has long been considered one of the most beautiful women in Korea and Park has a boyish beauty to complement hers.

Ignore the schmaltz and the soft but melodramatic soundtrack and some things lost in translation. Because both actors are superb, especially Song, whose character is layered with complexity. The pace at which the two of them get together may be glacial by Western standards, but the key to this story’s appeal is that we share this extended state of anticipation. And of course, anticipation of the romantic kind is one the most powerful emotional states we will ever experience in real life, so there’s that.

I’m guessing that the same experts I mentioned above would say that we may undergo a similar physiological response when watching such an encounter as if we were experiencing it ourselves.

In any case, even though it was vicariously, I found myself hanging on every twist and turn during this particular Encounter.

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