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Yoo-hooooo, alexandral.
This is a Smile Again pusher post.
What is SA? It’s a 16-ep kdrama, which came out in 2006, starring Lee Dong Gun, Kim Hee Sun, Lee Jin Wook, and Yoon Se Ah.
The story has shades of Talented Mr. Ripley about it, but the story is actually very uplifting and happy-ending despite some very underlying dark themes.
Playing somewhat against type, Lee Dong Gun is Ban Ha Jin, an orphan from a truly horrible background. He meets Dan Hui, a tough, tomboyish baseball player, when a rich kid gets Ha Jin to date Dan Hui as a prank because Ha Jin is desperate to get money for college. Only…he ends up falling in love for real. The relationship is interrupted when Ha Jin has to go on the run with Yoo Kang, a troubled abused girl he befriended, in order to protect her. Now, it’s quite a few years later, and Ha Jin, hardened by his life, and Dan Hui, out of college, still warm and spunky (and still mad at Ha Jin) meet again. And then there is Jae Myung, a former baseball star and Dan Hui’s hero, who has been crippled by an injury. Dan Hui sees him as someone to save and Ha Jin sees him as a meal ticket…
I love the drama’s understatedness about key things: for example, it’s pretty clear that Ha Jin’s childhood was beyond horrible and the life on the run with Yoo Kang also caused him to do some despicable things that scarred him, but the drama never really dwells on it much, instead mentioning things in bits and pieces (like a completely matter-of-fact fleeting comment by Ha Jin that he was kicked out of foster homes twice and ended up in the orphanage, or the little story he tells Dan Hui about being thought a thief). Just like it’s clear Yoo Kang was horribly abused by her father, and that is why she clings to Ha Jin so, as he is the first who ever showed her real kindness, but the drama doesn’t dwell on that as well. It’s prehaps in keeping with this that the characters’ way of dealing with some significant traumatic things, and their knowledge (or lack thereof) of certain things is also addressed or not, in a very naturalistic manner. The way Dan Hui deals with the revelation that her ‘dead’ mother is very much alive is in keeping with that. She does not throw tantrums or go crazy, but deals with it in a mature manner, hinting to the mother she doesn’t want to see her and mess up her happy family but that is about it. Just as I am fine with the fact that Ha Jin never finds out that it was the Chairman of the Perfume Company that ran over his Mom. I mean, what would it change? The Chairman is clearly out, and it wouldn’t make it better at all, and would just put spokes into Ha Jin’s finally letting go of his past and issues and ambitions and just learning to have a job he is proud of, and being happy with the girl he loves etc.
The one thing I wish was found out is for Dan Hui to find out why Ha Jin ran away when they were in school, that it wasn’t because he was a selfish jerk, but because he felt he owed Yoo Kang to protect her. But then I can see why it didn’t happen. It wouldn’t change the hurt too much, and she forgave him anyway, and I can’t see Ha Jin ever telling her. Understandably, he likes to pretend to be all cool and devil-may-care and strong in front of her, even if it would make her like him better sooner if he didn’t do that. Most of his horrible break-down moments occur when she isn’t around. Like that one bit when he sees Dan Hui and Jae Myung hug and his face! And he goes home and he just cries quietly, and he is talking to his sleeping friend, and he is so broken. Or when he finds out the truth about Yoo Kang’s lie, that her father isn’t dead, that he gave up his future (college), and the girl he loved, and a decent life for nothing, for a lie. And he wanders the streets, dazed, remembering all the horrible things he did to support Yoo Kang. Because before he went on the run, he was good at doing things, but it was honest work, and any smooth talking was largely boy stuff. And when whats-his-face wanted him to date Dan Hui so she could later be humiliated, he hated the thought of it, and it was only his sheer desperation that got him to agree, and he couldn’t go through with it at the end.
But when we meet him after all that time, he is far different: embittered, and hard, and WAY messed up. I find it so interesting that he needs to talk up his badness all the time, in a way as if trying to convince himself, to convince he is really like that and it’s OK.
Because he desperately wants out, he just sees no way out. Not from his debt to Yoo Kang, not from poverty and lack of education, not from self-loathing. Perhaps that is why he grabs onto Dan Hui so strongly. She is the one pure and unspoiled thing in his life. Lucikly for him, the girl he choses as his path to goodness is (a) actually a very good person; (b) incredibly well-adjusted and full of common sense. The one thing he can’t do, no matter what else he is capable of, is to give her up (and clearly, he is OK with dying for her, even, though luckily it’s not required).
Dan Hui is a total darling. She is fun, she is smart, she is pushy, and she is remarkably whole. Perhaps, in very large part, because her world is a kind one: she has an amazing father, a positive attitude, and a career she loves even if she has to fight for it. I like Ha Jin (and Jae Myung) all the better for recognizing her awesomeness, for being drawn to her positive attitude, her energy, her spunk. We never really see Ha Jin relaxed or happy except with her, but he is totally shining when she is around. They get to do the most mundane, boring things, amusement park, cooking dinner, movies, and he loves it. (Btw love the scene when they watch a horror movie. Girls are shrieking and clutching their bfs, and he is all hopeful, but she isn’t scared at all). I think he loves her, in part, because she wants nothing from him, she is not the pit of neediness like Yoo Kang, but she just loves him the way he is and wants him to be a better person. And once she finally makes up her mind, truly makes up her mind to take him back, she sticks. She sees straight through his attempt to lie to protect her. (EEEE! That scene was so unexpected and awesome).
Btw, this is a rare drama I love all four in the quadrangle. Secondary Guy is pure wonderful and I am glad to see he will be (it looks like) the lead in Powerful Opponents. And I even like Yoo Kang: I can never hate her because she was desperate and abused and she clearly is pathologically needy due to her horrible life. That is why it’s good she gets a mother figure at the end. Everybody gets what they want, really, even if it’s not the thing they thought they wanted. Jae Myung gets a purpose again, even if it’s very different. Ha Jin and Dan Hui get each other, but Dan Hui also gets a shot at a great professional softball career and Ha Jin becomes a perfume maker, etc etc. Everybody is living a lie-free, shadow-free life.
Another scene deserves a mention: Ha Jin confronting Yoo Kang after finding out the truth about her lie. It's a rather quiet scene and he just says good-bye to her, and she threatens to kill herself and only then he explodes, and he slaps her (YES) and tells her she can do so if she wants, he doesn't care any more. But of course, he does, you can't stop caring, and later he protects her again, of course.
And I love the drama's view that goodness sometimes isn't enough. After all, it's Ha Jin's darkness that saves Dan Hui's father.
But ultimately, he does let go and becomes a better person, and a happy one. And there is perfume presents and hugs on the baseball field and a happy Dangermousie.
Also, I love all the kissing, and the cuteness, and how Ha Jin slowly changes, and the cool supporting characters, and feminism of the story.
It’s an awesome drama. Go watch!
Vid for eps 2-4:
Mmmm…Lee Dong Gun.
Cool vid:
This is a Smile Again pusher post.
Click to viewWhat is SA? It’s a 16-ep kdrama, which came out in 2006, starring Lee Dong Gun, Kim Hee Sun, Lee Jin Wook, and Yoon Se Ah.
The story has shades of Talented Mr. Ripley about it, but the story is actually very uplifting and happy-ending despite some very underlying dark themes.
Playing somewhat against type, Lee Dong Gun is Ban Ha Jin, an orphan from a truly horrible background. He meets Dan Hui, a tough, tomboyish baseball player, when a rich kid gets Ha Jin to date Dan Hui as a prank because Ha Jin is desperate to get money for college. Only…he ends up falling in love for real. The relationship is interrupted when Ha Jin has to go on the run with Yoo Kang, a troubled abused girl he befriended, in order to protect her. Now, it’s quite a few years later, and Ha Jin, hardened by his life, and Dan Hui, out of college, still warm and spunky (and still mad at Ha Jin) meet again. And then there is Jae Myung, a former baseball star and Dan Hui’s hero, who has been crippled by an injury. Dan Hui sees him as someone to save and Ha Jin sees him as a meal ticket…
I love the drama’s understatedness about key things: for example, it’s pretty clear that Ha Jin’s childhood was beyond horrible and the life on the run with Yoo Kang also caused him to do some despicable things that scarred him, but the drama never really dwells on it much, instead mentioning things in bits and pieces (like a completely matter-of-fact fleeting comment by Ha Jin that he was kicked out of foster homes twice and ended up in the orphanage, or the little story he tells Dan Hui about being thought a thief). Just like it’s clear Yoo Kang was horribly abused by her father, and that is why she clings to Ha Jin so, as he is the first who ever showed her real kindness, but the drama doesn’t dwell on that as well. It’s prehaps in keeping with this that the characters’ way of dealing with some significant traumatic things, and their knowledge (or lack thereof) of certain things is also addressed or not, in a very naturalistic manner. The way Dan Hui deals with the revelation that her ‘dead’ mother is very much alive is in keeping with that. She does not throw tantrums or go crazy, but deals with it in a mature manner, hinting to the mother she doesn’t want to see her and mess up her happy family but that is about it. Just as I am fine with the fact that Ha Jin never finds out that it was the Chairman of the Perfume Company that ran over his Mom. I mean, what would it change? The Chairman is clearly out, and it wouldn’t make it better at all, and would just put spokes into Ha Jin’s finally letting go of his past and issues and ambitions and just learning to have a job he is proud of, and being happy with the girl he loves etc.
The one thing I wish was found out is for Dan Hui to find out why Ha Jin ran away when they were in school, that it wasn’t because he was a selfish jerk, but because he felt he owed Yoo Kang to protect her. But then I can see why it didn’t happen. It wouldn’t change the hurt too much, and she forgave him anyway, and I can’t see Ha Jin ever telling her. Understandably, he likes to pretend to be all cool and devil-may-care and strong in front of her, even if it would make her like him better sooner if he didn’t do that. Most of his horrible break-down moments occur when she isn’t around. Like that one bit when he sees Dan Hui and Jae Myung hug and his face! And he goes home and he just cries quietly, and he is talking to his sleeping friend, and he is so broken. Or when he finds out the truth about Yoo Kang’s lie, that her father isn’t dead, that he gave up his future (college), and the girl he loved, and a decent life for nothing, for a lie. And he wanders the streets, dazed, remembering all the horrible things he did to support Yoo Kang. Because before he went on the run, he was good at doing things, but it was honest work, and any smooth talking was largely boy stuff. And when whats-his-face wanted him to date Dan Hui so she could later be humiliated, he hated the thought of it, and it was only his sheer desperation that got him to agree, and he couldn’t go through with it at the end.
But when we meet him after all that time, he is far different: embittered, and hard, and WAY messed up. I find it so interesting that he needs to talk up his badness all the time, in a way as if trying to convince himself, to convince he is really like that and it’s OK.
Because he desperately wants out, he just sees no way out. Not from his debt to Yoo Kang, not from poverty and lack of education, not from self-loathing. Perhaps that is why he grabs onto Dan Hui so strongly. She is the one pure and unspoiled thing in his life. Lucikly for him, the girl he choses as his path to goodness is (a) actually a very good person; (b) incredibly well-adjusted and full of common sense. The one thing he can’t do, no matter what else he is capable of, is to give her up (and clearly, he is OK with dying for her, even, though luckily it’s not required).
Dan Hui is a total darling. She is fun, she is smart, she is pushy, and she is remarkably whole. Perhaps, in very large part, because her world is a kind one: she has an amazing father, a positive attitude, and a career she loves even if she has to fight for it. I like Ha Jin (and Jae Myung) all the better for recognizing her awesomeness, for being drawn to her positive attitude, her energy, her spunk. We never really see Ha Jin relaxed or happy except with her, but he is totally shining when she is around. They get to do the most mundane, boring things, amusement park, cooking dinner, movies, and he loves it. (Btw love the scene when they watch a horror movie. Girls are shrieking and clutching their bfs, and he is all hopeful, but she isn’t scared at all). I think he loves her, in part, because she wants nothing from him, she is not the pit of neediness like Yoo Kang, but she just loves him the way he is and wants him to be a better person. And once she finally makes up her mind, truly makes up her mind to take him back, she sticks. She sees straight through his attempt to lie to protect her. (EEEE! That scene was so unexpected and awesome).
Btw, this is a rare drama I love all four in the quadrangle. Secondary Guy is pure wonderful and I am glad to see he will be (it looks like) the lead in Powerful Opponents. And I even like Yoo Kang: I can never hate her because she was desperate and abused and she clearly is pathologically needy due to her horrible life. That is why it’s good she gets a mother figure at the end. Everybody gets what they want, really, even if it’s not the thing they thought they wanted. Jae Myung gets a purpose again, even if it’s very different. Ha Jin and Dan Hui get each other, but Dan Hui also gets a shot at a great professional softball career and Ha Jin becomes a perfume maker, etc etc. Everybody is living a lie-free, shadow-free life.
Another scene deserves a mention: Ha Jin confronting Yoo Kang after finding out the truth about her lie. It's a rather quiet scene and he just says good-bye to her, and she threatens to kill herself and only then he explodes, and he slaps her (YES) and tells her she can do so if she wants, he doesn't care any more. But of course, he does, you can't stop caring, and later he protects her again, of course.
And I love the drama's view that goodness sometimes isn't enough. After all, it's Ha Jin's darkness that saves Dan Hui's father.
But ultimately, he does let go and becomes a better person, and a happy one. And there is perfume presents and hugs on the baseball field and a happy Dangermousie.
Also, I love all the kissing, and the cuteness, and how Ha Jin slowly changes, and the cool supporting characters, and feminism of the story.
It’s an awesome drama. Go watch!
Vid for eps 2-4:
Mmmm…Lee Dong Gun.
Cool vid: