''The Idle Mermaid'' (; literally ''Surplus Princess'') is a 2014

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...

romantic comedy Romantic comedy (also known as romcom or rom-com) is a subgenre of comedy and slice of life fiction, focusing on lighthearted, humorous plot lines centered on romantic ideas, such as how true love is able to surmount most obstacles. In a typica ...

television series A television show – or simply TV show – is any content produced for viewing on a television set which can be broadcast via over-the-air, satellite television, satellite, or cable television, cable, excluding breaking news, television adverti ...

starring Jo Bo-ah,

On Joo-wan On, on, or ON may refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * On (band), a solo project of Ken Andrews * ''On'' (EP), a 1993 EP by Aphex Twin * ''On'' (Echobelly album), 1995 * ''On'' (Gary Glitter album), 2001 * ''On'' (Imperial Teen album), 200 ...

, Song Jae-rim, and Park Ji-soo. A modern retelling of the 1837 fairy tale " The Little Mermaid" by

Hans Christian Andersen Hans Christian Andersen ( , ; 2 April 1805 – 4 August 1875) was a Danish author. Although a prolific writer of plays, travelogues, novels, and poems, he is best remembered for his literary fairy tales. Andersen's fairy tales, consisti ...

, it aired on

tvN TVN may refer to: * TVN (Australian TV channel), a former horse racing channel * Televisión Nacional de Chile, a public broadcaster * TVN (Indonesia), a former television station; predecessor of Rajawali Televisi * TVN (Norway), or TVNorge, a comm ...

from August 7 to October 9, 2014 on Thursdays at 23:00. Originally slated to run for 14 episodes, the total number of episodes was reduced to 10. The series inspired an unofficial

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n adaptation called ''Mermaid in Love''.

Series overview

Aileen is a mermaid princess who is in love with Kwon Shi-kyung, a human celebrity chef. While recording a TV show next to the Han River, Shi-kyung hits his head and falls into the river, and Aileen stops him from drowning by kissing him underwater. Shi-kyung is pulled out from the water by Yoon Jin-ah, an intern who works for and is also in love with Shi-kyung. In order to meet Shi-kyung again, Aileen steals a magic potion from the male witch Ahn Ma-nyeo, and is transformed into a human girl. It's only after her transformation that Aileen learns that she has 100 days to find true love, or else she will die and turn into bubbles. Ahn Ma-nyeo helps Aileen by setting her up with the fake identity of "Kim Ha-ni," and sends her to live in a house in

Seoul Seoul (; ; ), officially known as the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea.Before 1972, Seoul was the ''de jure'' capital of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) as stated iArticle 103 ...

with other young people, most of whom are unemployed and searching for jobs. Among Aileen's new housemates is Lee Hyun-myung, Yoon Jin-ah's ex-boyfriend who is trying to win her back. With her new friends to help her, Aileen vows to find a way to win Shi-kyung's love, but in the end she falls in love with Hyun-myung. Although she initially disappears once her 100 days are up, she returns a year later to see her friends again.

Cast

Principal

* Jo Bo-ah as Kim Ha-ni/Aileen : The eighteenth mermaid princess of a mermaid kingdom in the sea. She finds a

smartphone A smartphone is a portable computer device that combines mobile telephone and computing functions into one unit. They are distinguished from feature phones by their stronger hardware capabilities and extensive mobile operating systems, whic ...

that fell into the sea and uses it to surf the internet and learn about the human world. She becomes infatuated with chef Kwon Shi-kyung; after saving him from the Han River, Aileen decides to become human so that she can be with him. *

as Lee Hyun-myung : A human and resident of surplus house, he is unable to find a job with his art degree. At the request of his girlfriend Jin-ah, he gives up his pursuit of art and tries to find a desk job. * Song Jae-rim as Kwon Shi-kyung : A famous chef in the human world. Believed to be cold and arrogant, he suffers from prosopagnosia. His father is a diplomat. * Park Ji-soo as Yoon Jin-ah : Hyun-myung's ex-girlfriend. A former resident of surplus house, she leaves when she obtains a job at JH Food corporation.

Supporting

* Kim Seul-gi as Ahn Hye-young : A resident of surplus house. She has a live

webcast A webcast is a media presentation distributed over the Internet using streaming media technology to distribute a single content source to many simultaneous listeners/viewers. A webcast may either be distributed live or on demand. Essentially, web ...

wherein she eats massive amounts of food for her viewers' pleasure. Hye-young becomes Aileen's friend and confidant when she discovers her true identity. * Kim Min-kyo as Do Ji-yong : A resident of surplus house. He graduated from the law school of an elite university, then spent the next ten years failing the bar exams. He is addicted to video games, and quickly develops a crush on Ha-ni. *

Nam Joo-hyuk Nam Joo-hyuk (Korean: 남주혁; born February 22, 1994) is a South Korean model and actor. He began his career as a model, and appeared in several music videos before making his screen debut in 2014 with ''The Idle Mermaid''. He rose to promin ...

as Park Dae-bak, aka "Big" : A resident of surplus house. He grew up comfortably but has now been cut off by his parents. He is a computer genius. * Lee Sun-kyu as Lee Sun-kyu : The owner of surplus house. Seemingly an aging slacker, there is more to him than meets the eye. He once was Ma-nyeo's roommate. *

Jin Hee-kyung Jin Hee-kyung (born September 7, 1968) is a South Korean actress An actor or actress is a person who portrays a Character (arts), character in a performance. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in mo ...

as Hong Myung-hee : The chairwoman of JH Food corporation, she falls in love with Ma-nyeo. *

Kim Jae-hwa Kim Jae-hwa (born September 1, 1980) is a South Korean actress. Career Kim made her acting debut in 2009 in the film ''Harmony'' and she started to gain recognition following her role as Deng Yaping, Chinese champion of table tennis compe ...

as Kim Woo-sun : A manager of JH Food corporation, she is Jin-ah and Dae-ri's supervisor, and often speaks in French. * Han So-young as So Dae-ri : An employee of JH Food corporation and deputy section chief under Kim Jae-hwa. * Ahn Gil-kang as Ahn Ma-nyeo : A witch and former merman, he has become human. After the death of his wife, he runs a

takoyaki is a ball-shaped Japanese snack made of a wheat flour-based batter and cooked in a special molded pan. It is typically filled with minced or diced octopus An octopus ( : octopuses or octopodes, see below for variants) is a soft-bod ...

stall to finance his daughter's studies abroad. * Kim Jin-hee as Han Gook-ja : Shi-kyung's sous-chef at JH Food.

Soundtrack

Ratings

* In this table, represent the lowest ratings and represent the highest ratings. * N/A denotes that the rating is not known. *

International broadcast

* - Under the title ''Idle Mermaid'', it was aired in the Malaysia on TV9 from February 6, 2018 to February 21 on Monday to Thursday at 6:00pm Malaysia Time * - Under the title ''The Mermaid'', it was aired in the Philippines on

GMA Network GMA Network (Global Media Arts or simply GMA) is a Philippine free-to-air television and radio network. It is the flagship property of publicly traded GMA Network, Inc. Its first broadcast on television was on October 29, 1961. GMA Network (f ...

from May 4, 2015 to June 12, 2015 at 5:05pm ( PST) replacing '' Fall in Love with Me.'' * - It was aired in Thailand on PPTV beginning November 1, 2015.

Notes

References

External links

''The Idle Mermaid'' official tvN website
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Idle Mermaid, The 2014 South Korean television series debuts TVN (South Korean TV channel) television dramas Korean-language television shows Mermaids in television Television shows based on The Little Mermaid Witchcraft in television South Korean romantic fantasy television series 2014 South Korean television series endings Television shows based on fairy tales