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Nice and Short

While it only has six episodes, Finland Papa is a well-written and interesting k-drama that is billed as a healing romance but is more about the healing than the romance. It's also gentle, wry, and often funny when it deals with death and estrangement, which we'll all agree are never a bunch of laughs.

After the death of the grandmother who raised her, Lee Yu Ri (played by Kim Bo Ra) is left all alone in the world. She seems to live in her memories as she struggles to adapt to her new solitary life, until she gets a part-time job at a cafe called Finland Papa, where the employees all have sad stories, follow their invisible boss's oddball rules and gradually becomke Yu Ri's new family. Yet so many things about the cafe and its absenteee boss remind Yu Ri of Baek Wu Hyeon (artfully depicted by Kim Woo Seok), her best friend who she became estranged from after a horrible turn of events forced them apart.

The entire cast are amazing actors and do a fantastic job with their characters, so much so that as a group they charmed my socks off. Finland Papa isn't a head scratcher or even much of a mystery. It's about the family you choose, which is something that strongly resonated with me. Despite her sad situation I really envied Yu Ri for her relationships with her best friend and grandmother, and the resolution of this short series made a lot of sense. Available on Viki.com.

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