⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
The 2016 Korean drama starring Kim Woo-Bin as Shin Joon-Young, Suzy Bae as Noh Eul, Im Ju-Hwan as Choi Ji-Tae, and Im Ju Eul as Yoon Jung-Eun. Also alternatively titled “Lightly, Ardently.”
Brief summary: Shin Joon-Young is a top celebrity that has everything, but he’s just found out that he has only about three months to live. A girl comes back into his life that he hasn’t seen since college and suddenly Joon-Young knows what he’s going to do with that three months: he’s going to spend it all on her.
I don’t think I’ve cried this much since seeing “Scarlet Heart: Ryeo” for the first time. This drama is beautiful, but it’s one heck of a rollercoaster ride for the emotions. When the concept is introduced, you want to believe in happy endings and justice and all that, but that’s all a struggle for this drama. Keep you tissues handy.
We discover Joon-Young’s illness early on, and I couldn’t help but think “someone’s been reading a little too much John Green.” I’m not positive on where the inspiration for this drama came from, but that’s what it feels like mixed with Korean drama tropes (flower petals, piggy-back rides, business politics, etc).
If killing him from the first episode wasn’t enough, the scenes towards the end when he has problems with memory really hurt. Heavy duty tissues required after episode 17.
I’m tempted to call this drama “sick” when I think about it. The real horror is that in this drama we watch Kim Woo-Bin play the role of a terminally ill man, but then the actor himself was diagnosed with nasopharyngeal cancer less than a year later. All activities including military service were halted for halted for treatment. Update on that (4/2018): we can expect recovery :). It’s important to recognize that Shin Joon-Young is not a representation of Kim Woo-Bin, but rather is Kim Woo-Bin’s interpretation of a script character.
As this drama progressed, my feelings tended to align with Noh Eul’s. Shin Joon-Young was so focused on fixing things for Eul that he even forgot at one point that he was doing it for her. Eul didn’t care about that stuff. She didn’t want to waste one moment on that stuff. And I had to agree!
But one of the things to remember that this drama also thinks about is that even if someone’s death looks like the end of the world, the rest of us are still going to live on. We have to. So how do we get over the death of someone we love? Honestly, we kind of don’t. But making happy memories with that person is more likely to help you remember them with happiness after they’re gone rather than trying to get rid of the things that will make you miss them. Let’s be real: you’d miss them whether or not those things existed. Because they have contributed somehow to who you are today. So let us decide to make happy memories with our loved ones, if only because no one really lives forever.
This OST was the bomb. I already downloaded it. I didn’t know Kim Woo-Bin could sing like that, either!
Appreciated the cameos from Lee Yoo-Bi and Lee Jun-Ho, too!
There's just one more thing to consider: it doesn't look like a happy ending because the elephant in the room is that Joon-Young is going to die. But our main character accomplished what he set out to do. He improved Eul's quality of life, loved her, and got the evidence to reveal the culprits behind the hit-and-run incident. If the protagonist accomplishes his quest and the antagonists are punished, is it really an unhappy ending?
“Uncontrollably Fond” is going to go on my love/hate list. I’d definitely watch it again, but I would only recommend it for those who could handle the tears. 5/5 stars!
Comments
Post a Comment