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Sa-rang-ha-neun eun-dong-ah (2015)
A Journey Can Be Your Destiny
In Episode 1 of this 2015 melodrama, the handsome, popular actor Ji Eun-ho walks from his dressing room onto the stage at a press conference, and a Q&A occurs.
Reporter: "What's the best thing about being famous?" Eun-ho: "It'll be easy to find the person I'm looking for."
Reporter: "Who are you looking for?" Eun-ho: "My fiancée."
Reporter: "What's her name?"
Before Eun-ho can answer that question, the story flashes back 20 years to when he was in high school and met and fell in love with Eun-dong, a girl in upper elementary school who had befriended him. By the end of Episode 1, Eun-dong has disappeared from his life, leaving him bereft and, unbeknownst to him, at the beginning of a long journey to find her.
That journey-their shared destiny-is at the heart of "This Is My Love." The journey will be long, winding, and filled with obstacles and mystery. In the language of '60s hippies, their journey will be "heavy." I found the series so heavy that I couldn't binge-watch the series. I needed a break from the tension now and then.
The two of them met-by accident, literally-when he was 15 and she was about 10, and they immediately formed a strong bond with each other. They swore allegiance to each other and sealed it with a handshake akin to a pinky swear.
Within days, however, that bond was torn when Eun-dong was orphaned by the death of her grandmother, adopted by a couple, and moved from her home in Chuncheon to Seoul. Eun-ho's twenty-year search for Eun-dong leads him to the press conference and his public declaration of his love for her. His search for Eun-dong immediately becomes a huge story in the media.
The characters, all played very well by an outstanding cast, include childhood friends and acquaintances of Eun-ho and Eun-dong; supportive parents and Eun-ho's sister; liars; and self-interested schemers.
The story of a twenty-year quest to find a loved one surely resonated with people on the Korean peninsula, which has been divided since 1945, when the Soviet Union and United States divided Korea along the 38th parallel and then occupied northern and southern portions, respectively. This division was to have been temporary, but it has endured for 74 years because Korea became-and still is-a pawn in the Cold War. Families with members on both sides of the divide have been separated from their loved ones for generations.
The excellent script, direction, and acting will keep you watching and wondering what will happen to the two lovers, whose lives and story play out in newspapers, on television, and in Eun-ho's book about his search for Eun-dong. I hope that you find this series as enjoyable as I did.
Romaenseuneun Byulchaekboorok (2019)
These People Love Books!
The character at the center of "Romance" is Kang Dan-i (Lee Na-young), a university-educated woman in her thirties with an outstanding job history in marketing. However, after entering into what would become an unhappy marriage and then giving birth to a daughter, Dan-i leaves the workforce to become a homemaker. When her husband leaves her, she sends her daughter to private school in The Philippines and works menial jobs to support herself and pay her daughter's tuition. Despite her persistent, even heroic, attempts to re-enter the marketing world, she is stymied by her long absence from the workforce-recruiters claim that she's out of date-and, at the same, for being overqualified for entry-level positions.
Out of desperation, as well as her determination not only to survive but to get a suitable job, she agrees to help a childhood friend-Cha Eun-ho (Lee Jong-suk), a popular writer, chief editor at Gyeoroo Publishing Company, and part-time professor-find a housekeeper. However, unbeknownst to Eun-ho, Dan-i, who is homeless at this point, becomes his housekeeper herself and begins to sleep on the floor in an upstairs room in his house.
The friendship between Kang Dan-i and Cha Eun-ho goes back years to when they were children and she threw him out of the path of an oncoming car and ended up taking the impact herself. Since that fateful day, they have been good friends. For Eun-ho, though, their friendship has been a deep, long-suffering affection for Dani-i. Their romance is one of the bonus-book romances in this series.
Their friendship develops a professional side after Dan-i becomes a low-level contract employee at Gyeoroo. It's at Gyeoroo that much of the action of "Romance" takes place, and most of the characters in "Romance" work at Gyeoroo as authors, editors, artists, or marketers. They all love books. As the title of the series implies, books are metaphors for people and vice-versa. For example, one character says that putting a relationship on hold is like folding the corner of a page before putting the book on the shelf for a while.
The script, cast, and direction are excellent. Because many of the characters are in their twenties or thirties, you follow them as they navigate new jobs, new friendships, new romances, and young married life. While much of the action takes place inside the walls of Gyeoroo Publishing, you also get glimpses of the characters' lives outside work.
Three actors provide excellent physical comedy: Jung Yoo-jin as Song Hae-rin, an editor at Gyeoroo who supervises the new interns and has a crush on Eun-ho; Park Gyu-young as Oh Ji-yool, an intern who is trying very hard to grow up and establish her independence from her domineering mother; and Kang Ki-Doong as Park Hoon, another intern, who likes Jiyool.
The soundtrack includes Rothy's "Rainbow," which reminds us that a rainbow appears only after a rainy day, and Jannabi's "Take My Hand."
What kept me watching "Romance" were Kang Dan-i's grit, determination, and resilience, as well as Jung Yoo-jin's outstanding performance as a caring mentor, respectful daughter, and terrific physical comedian.
Bombam (2019)
Three Luminous Sisters and the Men in Their Lives
Three luminous sisters-the oldest one, Lee Seo-in (played by Im Sung-eon), is in a marriage that's gone from bad to worse; the middle one, Lee Jeong-in (Han Ji-min), is in a 4-year relationship that's gone sour; and the youngest one, Lee Jae-in (Joo Min-kyung), is a maverick who's not yet entangled with a partner-have each others' backs as they come to terms with themselves and the men in their lives. Their mother, Shin Jyeong-seon (Gil Hae-yeon) stands by them-and stands between them and the men in their lives, including their father, whose ideas about marriage are more traditional than those of his wife and daughters.
The plot revolves around Jeong-in's internal and external conflicts as she tries to extricate herself from one relationship (with Kwon Ki-seok, played by Kim Jun-han) and forge a new one with Yoo Ji-ho (Jung Hae-in, who also was a main character in "Something in the Rain"). Jeong-in seems to know where she wants to go with her life, but she can't quite find a path forward. Her performance is nuanced and evolves sweetly and strongly over the 16 episodes.
"One Spring Night" was directed by Ahn Pan-seok, who won awards for his work on "Something in the Rain." The cast of "One Spring Night" also includes several outstanding actors who worked with Ahn in the earlier series. Once again, the ensemble cast work together very well.
In "One Spring Night," Ahn seems to push the envelope for women even further than he did in the earlier series-or is he only reflecting ongoing cultural change in South Korea? The sisters are strong, wrestle with difficult choices, support each other, and are supported by their mother, who in middle age has begun to reclaim control of her own life. The sisters' female friends listen to them, share stories, give advice. The conversations among the sisters and their female friends are smart and sensitive. The men in their lives-many of them dressed in gray, black, or white-are often problematic, but some of them give sage advice and support to each other and the women in their lives.
The soundtrack is excellent and includes several songs-Rachael Yamagata's "No Direction," "We Could Still Be Happy," and "Is it You," as well as Oscar Dunbar's "Spring Rain" and Carla Bruni's "Spring Waltz"-that announce and accompany scenes with no dialog in which actors are thinking, lying in bed, walking in the park, riding in taxis, etc. In several slow-motion scenes, the music is synchronized to the actors' steps.
This is not a plot spoiler: Remember the rubber band in a drugstore scene in Episode 1!
This series warmed me-heart and soul. Check it out!
Bap Jal Sajuneun Yeppeun Nuna (2018)
I want to hold your hand.
I was 19 years old when I first heard The Beatles. I was rounding the bend on a rural highway, on my way home from Iowa State University to visit my girlfriend in Green Mountain, Iowa. The song was "I Want to Hold Your Hand." I was (and am) no expert on music, but I immediately liked what I heard: the vocal harmonies, the guitars, and the drums. The lyrics, about holding hands, didn't grab me.
However, the magic of two people holding hands for the first time did grab me when, as a 73-year-old man, I watched the Netflix K-Drama, "Something in the Rain." The hand-holding scene in the series grew out of the chemistry between a man and a woman, an excellent script, and superb direction.
The central character of "Something in the Rain" is Yoon Jin-ah (portrayed by Son Ye-jin), a single, 30-something university graduate who lives at home and works at Coffee Bay, a chain of coffee shops-think Starbucks, but smaller. Jin-ah is at the center of two storylines: as a woman falling in love with a younger man and as a target of workplace sexual harassment.
Sparks fly when Jin-ah's childhood friend unexpectedly steps back into her life. Seo Joon-hee (Jung Hae-in), a 20-something graduate of art school and a video game designer, has just returned from a three-year assignment in the United States. On his first day back in South Korea, he runs into Jin-ah on the plaza in front of the office building where they both work. Though they clearly are attracted to each other, more than just a years-wide age difference makes a romance problematic. Not long after Joon-hee and his sister, See Kyung-Seon (Jang So-yeon), lost their mother to cancer when they were children, their father abandoned them, effectively turning them into orphans. Jin-ah's parents took the children under their wing, so Jin-ah and her and Joon-hee and his sister grew up together and became best friends-or as some would say, like family.
Although both Jin-ah and Joon-hee are no strangers to romance, neither of them has experienced true love and endured the highs and lows that go with it. As their romance begins, their longstanding friendship provides both comfort and an excuse to attribute what's happening between them to be nothing more than feelings of nostalgia. Soon, though, they find it hard to ignore their mutual attraction to each other. Underneath it all, they really are good friends, care about each other, and look out for each other.
They soon realize, however, that their families, friends, and co-workers can't accept the age difference between them. In addition, Jin-ah begins to fear that her mother Kim Mi-yeon (Gil Hae-yeon) will see their relationship as borderline incestuous and oppose it vehemently. Joon-hee, naively, is less concerned about these issues. After all, he and Jin-ah are adults and are not doing anything illegal.
Nevertheless, the couple hide their budding romance. This secrecy creates all sorts of uncomfortable situations. Jin-ah and Joon-hee sit through uncomfortable scenes in which their friends and family members recount their previous romances in extensive detail. They sit through discussions of what their families think would be suitable marriage partners for each of them. A rival for Joon-hee's attention begins to make a move on him. Before long, Jin-ah and Joon-hee find themselves at the center of a web of deception, even with respect to one another, out of their concern for each other.
Despite their attempts to keep their relationship secret, friends and family members slowly discover the truth about it. Most of their friends and coworkers are delighted, though one is disappointed and jealous, but Jin-ah's mother is enraged. She insults Joon-hee and his sister; swats her husband and son for keeping her in the dark about the relationship-she is the last one in the family to learn about it-and warns Jin-ah in no uncertain terms that she will prevail in this dispute.
At the same time that Jin-ah's relationship with Joon-hee develops, she begins to speak and act out against oppressive sexual harassment at work. She works in an open office at Coffee Bay's headquarters, where she and her co-workers oversee the operation of a chain of stores, train store managers, and do in-store inspections. Their supervisors and the owner are men, with one exception: a woman placed high in the organization who sides with the women in her charge.
Joon-hee supports and encourages Jin-ah as she stands up for herself and the other women in the office. He also supports and defends her when her most recent suitor, a distasteful, spoiled man, tries to force his way back into her life. His support help Jin-ah deal with this obsessive man.
I discovered "Something in the Rain" after watching "Live," a single-season K-Drama that follows police recruits through the end of their training into their first jobs at a precinct station. "Live" was my introduction to South Korea and K-Drama. I fell in love with the sound of the Korean language, the characters, the story line, and the soundtrack. After "Live," I searched for other K-Dramas and discovered "Something in the Rain." I have watched all 16 episodes at least five times and have learned something each time. Why did I do that?
First, "Something in the Rain" is one of the best series I have watched on Netflix. And for good reason. The two lead actors, a supporting actor (Jang So-yeon), the director (Ahn Pan-seok), and the series itself won prestigious awards in South Korea and elsewhere in East Asia. The director's slowly developing, extended scenes are lovely. In one such scene, Jin-ah and Joon-hee hold hands for the first time. In another, Jin-ah fills and wraps gift boxes, carefully packing each box, folding the wrapping paper, cutting the tape, and taping the paper.
Second, because I began watching the show as a novice with regard to South Korean culture, what I learned in my first viewing informed my second viewing, etc. Also, because I do not understand the Korean language, I had to shift my focus back and forth between the subtitles and action and thus missed some of the latter. I realize there remains much for me to learn about Korean culture, but "Something in the Rain" was a good introduction.
Third, the sound track in the series differs from the soundtracks of most other series I've watched. At first, I found it intrusive, but it grew on me, especially after 2NE1's "I Am the Best" near the end of Episode 1 blew me away. Other songs repeatedly announce the tone of upcoming scenes. They include Carla Bruni's cover of "Stand by Your Man," Bruce Willis's cover of "Save the Last Dance for Me," and "Flea Waltz" (Lee Namyeon).
The relationship between Jin-ah and Joon-hee becomes very difficult after Jin-ah's mother finds out about it, and for a while they separate and Joon-hee returns to the United States to work. However, although both of them seem to have moved on in their lives, they continue to harbor strong feelings for one another. They may be separated, but these soul mates and lovers are very much on each other's mind.
The series ends ambiguously: Will Jin-ah and Joon-hee get together and stay together, or will they separate again? In the last few episodes of the series, it seemed that the writers were struggling to find a way to wrap it. I thought the writers were leaving the door open for a second season, but, alas, that doesn't seem to be the case.