# The Potato Lab (2025)

> A stern potato researcher and an eccentric new director clash over a secret project before falling for each other in a sweet office romance.

Canonical page: https://ember.film/tv/169294

## Facts

- Seasons: 1
- Episodes: 12
- Episode runtime: 75 min
- Status: Ended
- Genres: comedy, romance
- Created by: Kim Ho Soo
- Network: tvN
- Cast: Lee Sun-bin, Kang Tae-oh, Lee Hak-ju, Kim Ga-eun, Shin Hyeon-seung, Yoo Seung-mok, Kwak Ja-hyung, Woo Jeong-won
- TMDB rating: 7.0/10
- IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt35665377/

## Ember's analysis

- Pacing: brisk
- Intensity: mild
- Complexity: simple
- Violence: none
- Tone: sweet, amused, absurd, deadpan, warm

## What critics say

Audiences gave The Potato Lab a mixed-to-warm reception, with its quirky office romance and absurd comedy drawing mild approval and a modest rating.

## Synopsis

The Potato Lab (2025) is a South Korean office romantic comedy series created by Kim Ho Soo for tvN. Veteran potato researcher Kim Mi-kyung (Lee Sun-bin), with twelve years of experience, is absorbed in a secret project at her laboratory when a newly appointed, eccentric director, So Baek-ho (Kang Tae-oh), arrives and disrupts her routine. The engine of the series is their constant head-to-head friction over the work, each episode built from clashing ideas, petty institutional rivalries and the small absurd crises of a research office, while the pair slowly and reluctantly find themselves falling for one another. Supporting colleagues including Park Gi-se (Lee Hak-ju) and Lee Ong-ju (Kim Ga-eun) add playful office texture around the central pair. The series runs for a single season of twelve episodes, with a runtime of about seventy-five minutes each, giving it a compact, self-contained shape. Set in a contemporary Korean research institute, the show carries a sweet, amused tone with deadpan humor and a warm, gently absurd atmosphere. Its themes of professional pride, workplace friction and unexpected tenderness make it a natural fit for viewers who enjoy a slow-building romcom. Fans of Ms. Hammurabi, It's Okay to Not Be Okay and Pride and Prejudice will find resonance in its sparring leads and affectionate workplace comedy.

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