Welcome to Waikiki (Season 1)

A fast rundown of what this one’s about.

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Welcome to Waikiki (Season 1)

으라차차 와이키키 (Eurachacha Waikiki) · 2018 · South Korea

WriterKim Ki-ho

DirectorLee Chang-min, Baek Chang-ju

Episodes20 eps · ~65 min each

Where to Watch✅ Netflix, Viki, Tubi

⏱️

Binge Time21h 40m

AiredFeb 5 – Apr 17, 2018

GenreComedy · Romance · Youth

Content RatingTV-14

JTBCNetflixVikiTubi

Guesthouse LifeStruggling DreamersFound FamilySingle ParentYouth Comedy

The short version — everything that matters, boxed up.

The guesthouse crew who make rent day feel like a family event.

Kim Jung-hyun

Kang Dong-gu

Lead

Lee Yi-kyung

Lee Joon-ki

Lead

Son Seung-won

Bong Doo-sik

Lead

Jung In-sun

Han Yoon-ah

Lead

Go Won-hee

Kang Seo-jin

Supporting

Lee Ju-woo

Min Soo-ah

Supporting

Kim Jong Yoon

Seong Bin

Supporting

Lee You-mi

Ji-young

Supporting

Lee Ji-ha

Ji-soo’s mother

Supporting

Ri Min

Movie director

Supporting

Park Young-soo

Convenience store owner

Supporting

Enough per episode to jog your memory, nothing more.

EP 01

Welcome to Waikiki

Feb 5, 2018

Three guesthouse owners who can barely cover rent find something in one of their rooms that none of them is ready for, and the shock sets the tone for everything that follows. Joon-ki, the only one with a real foot in show business, gets his first scene opposite his idol. The pilot is mostly loud introductions, but it quietly establishes the rule of the show: every dream here comes with an embarrassing price tag.

EP 02

The Girlfriend Test

Feb 6, 2018

Yun-a tries to earn her place in the household and the plan collapses almost immediately, which says a lot about how badly she wants to belong. Meanwhile a delayed shoot traps Joon-ki in grotesque monster makeup for a full day. Both threads are played for laughs, yet each is really about people being judged by how they look at their worst.

EP 03

Dumped

Feb 12, 2018

Seo-jin discovers her longtime crush is just as flawed as she is, and the crush deflates more gracefully than she’d feared. Joon-ki goes through something genuinely painful for a movie role, while Yun-a finally says out loud what she wants from life. It’s the first episode where the comedy leaves room for someone to be quietly sad.

EP 04

A Viral Break

Feb 13, 2018

An embarrassing photo of Joon-ki spreads online, and the humiliation turns into the first real opening of his career. Yun-a tells her housemates about her past, which changes how the guesthouse sees her. Seo-jin sits through a job interview that goes the way her luck usually goes.

EP 05

Quarantine

Feb 19, 2018

A text message sent to the wrong person puts Du-sik’s chances with a new crush in jeopardy. Dong-gu and Yun-a catch the flu at the same time and get quarantined together in a tent, which is exactly as awkward and tender as it sounds. A small episode that does a lot of quiet work on the central pairing.

EP 06

The Lie That Grew

Feb 20, 2018

A culinary classmate starts paying attention to Yun-a, and Dong-gu’s reaction is far louder than his claim of not caring. Joon-ki, short on rent, tells a small lie to buy time and watches it balloon into an engagement. Everything snowballs, and the show clearly enjoys watching them scramble.

EP 07

The Girl We Loved

Feb 26, 2018

Su-a turns up at the guesthouse after a streak of bad luck, and the place absorbs another stray. Du-sik runs into his first love and learns that old feelings don’t always age well. Joon-ki takes a questionable job to pay back the landlady, because pride and money are never on the same side in this house.

EP 08

Meokbang Money

Feb 27, 2018

Du-sik works up the nerve to tell Mal-geum how he feels, and Dong-gu fights to keep his own feelings for Yun-a buried. Joon-ki tries meokbang to earn quick cash, with predictable results for his stomach. The episode is built around the difference between confessing and hiding.

EP 09

Babysitting Disaster

Mar 5, 2018

Dong-gu takes on babysitting Sol and finds out that caring for a child is nothing like directing one. Joon-ki’s carelessness costs Seo-jin a shot at a journalism job, and he spends the rest of the hour trying to repair it. Responsibility turns out to be the real theme.

EP 10

The Morning After

Mar 6, 2018

Seo-jin and Joon-ki replay the previous evening in their heads, each convinced the other has a completely different take on what happened. Dong-gu reaches a realization about Yun-a that he’s been dodging. A confession scene arrives, and it’s refreshingly short.

EP 11

Heart Stop

Mar 19, 2018

Yun-a leaves Dong-gu with more questions than answers, which for him is worse than a flat refusal. Joon-ki has to hide from a UFC fighter whose girlfriend he has somehow stolen. Su-a’s undercover work pays off, giving her a small win she badly needed.

EP 12

The Duel

Mar 20, 2018

Joon-ki attempts to see Seo-jin as a woman, but memories of her as a girl keep getting in the way. A jealous Dong-gu challenges Hyeon-jun to a duel of sorts, which is as ridiculous as it is revealing. Rivalry in this house always turns into comedy first.

EP 13

Online Shopping, Offline Feelings

Mar 26, 2018

Su-a talks Du-sik into helping her start an online shopping mall, and the two find out they work better together than either expected. Across town, Dong-gu spots his sister kissing a man and demands to meet him. The big-brother panic is the best thing in the hour.

EP 14

The Commercial

Mar 27, 2018

Joon-ki and a co-worker compete for the lead in a commercial, and the audition teaches him something about his own limits. Du-sik helps Su-a practice driving, with the expected terror in the passenger seat. Dong-gu finally lands a lunch date with Yun-a.

EP 15

Spring Workshop

Apr 2, 2018

Seo-jin and Joon-ki sneak off on a weekend getaway while the rest of the crew visits another guesthouse to steal ideas. The secret relationship stays secret for exactly as long as it’s funny. A breezy episode, mostly about where this found family wants to go next.

EP 16

Rumors and Razors

Apr 3, 2018

Dong-gu refuses to speak to his sister, and she responds by declaring a shaving strike until he does. Hyeon-jun has something important to tell Yun-a. Siblings fighting by hunger-strike logic is a very specific kind of Korean comedy, and it works.

EP 17

Lost in Translation

Apr 9, 2018

Dong-gu and Yun-a go on their first official date and it’s lovely. Du-sik makes a romantic declaration to a new Ukrainian houseguest that gets mangled in translation, to hilarious effect. Two kinds of first-date nerves, one honest and one disastrous.

EP 18

The First Kiss

Apr 10, 2018

An obsessed fan begins stalking Joon-ki, who handles it with poor judgment. Dong-gu and Yun-a struggle through their first kiss, and the show lets them be awkward about it. Su-a gives Du-sik some dating advice that is either brilliant or terrible.

EP 19

Pole Position

Apr 16, 2018

Su-a launches her own fashion line. Joon-ki is handed a publicity stunt that involves a pole dance he’s definitely not ready for. Yun-a meets her idol, a rapper, and finds out that heroes are smaller in person. A last round of silliness before the finale’s heavier turn.

EP 20

Why Is Love So Difficult?

Apr 17, 2018

Sol’s father reappears begging for forgiveness, and Yun-a refuses to hand him a second chance. Seo-jin asks Joon-ki for time to reconsider their relationship, and Su-a lets a confession slip while Du-sik is under anesthesia. It’s a finale that wraps up romance and dreams without pretending the dreams are anywhere near done.

Full spoilers from this point — what happened, and why.

Who ends up where The finale gives most of the household a version of what they wanted. Yun-a passes her baking licensing exam and Dong-gu runs off to buy the celebration cake. While he’s gone, Sol’s father turns up asking for forgiveness, and Yun-a sends him away. When Dong-gu comes back, Sol calls him “Daddy,” and the family the show has been building quietly arrives.

Why Yun-a says no Her refusal of Sol’s father is the one decision in the finale that isn’t a joke. She won’t be handed back to someone because he feels guilty. She also doesn’t treat Dong-gu as the obvious replacement, and she turns down his attempts to take care of her. The show wants her to stand on a license and a career, with the family as a choice rather than a rescue.

Joon-ki and Seo-jin Nobody gets a clean romantic payoff here. Joon-ki wants to deny the dating rumor with an actress named Cindy, since he loves someone else. Seo-jin asks for time to reconsider because she doesn’t want to hold back his career. Cindy ends up getting ahead of him publicly. The pair stay linked, but the grand gesture the genre promises mostly fails to land.

Du-sik and Su-a Su-a lets her feelings out while Du-sik is under anesthesia. It’s played for laughs, and it’s also the first time she admits anything. The writers leave the pairing open and a little rushed, which is the weakest part of the ending.

The final image The closing beat is a gag: Dong-gu and his friends get chased out of a park for filming without a permit. It says the drama’s real conclusion is that none of these dreams are finished. They’re still broke, still making things, and still together, and Season 2 picks up that story with a new cast of housemates.