Time will only tell if this drama will eventually undo the heaps of bad reviews and criticisms, especially from Korean audiences, about the plot's unlikely premise - a love affair between a female CEO and a male, junior employee who met by chance in Cuba, before he joined the company.

I let the story take me where it wanted to, all the way to its happy, fairytale ending - and really loved it. Not only is Park Bo Gum a sensitive and fairly talented actor. I really believed in his chemistry with Song Hye Kyo, who plays the detached, emotionally distant female CEO, who has no friends and lives constantly in the shadow of her ex-husband's chaebol family.

Their story unfolds at regular, steady intervals, episode per episode, and conquers you with the sheer power of PBG's constancy of emotion. PBG's character Kim Jun Hyuk never let age, class, or public opinion sway him from his commitment to Cha Hyun Soo. He does, at some point, given to his family's reservations about her, illustrating his abiding love for his family - the kind of filial love that is the foundation of Korean family culture. You will have to watch till the end to see how this is resolved in the story.

I think the drama knew it was dealing with a plot many wouldn't connect with, so it tried to explore this in a smaller way through another pair of characters - Cha Hyun Soo's secretary (played by Kwak Sun Young) and the owner of the moon snails restaurant (Kim Joo Heon).

Korean's strict hierarchical culture disapproves of marriages that are unequal in class, power, or achievement (such as education). Encounter tries to point out that breaking out of these fixtures in their culture may be possible. I say may - because it's very, very hard to meet a man like Park Bo Gum's character in real life!!

Watch Episode 1, which was shot in Cuba. Please, please do. It's a masterpiece of photography and romantic plot exposition. If you give up on the rest of the story, Episode 1 is enough of an enchanting experience of movie-level production quality.

If you let it, Encounter may actually enchant you till the end. Just, well, try to ignore the one plot hole in this whole story - it is basically impossible today to carry on a romance like that in one company, without having to disclose it to HR and eventually watch one of them resign in order for the relationship to continue.