Whenever a new K-Drama premieres, I always make a promise that I will wait until it has run its course, so that I can bingewatch it over the course of a few days. And then I break my promise, because … impatient!
So while I wait for new episodes of shows like “Romance is a Bonus Book” and “Crowned Clown” to become available, do you know what I do? I revisit older dramas because … bingewatch!
I am a complete sucker for dramas that stress the importance of childhood relationships — the kind that last from adolescence through adulthood. And K-Dramas are chock full of them.
One of my favorites is “Fight For My Way,” starring Park Seo-Joon and Kim Ji-Won. Park portrays Dong-Man, who once was Korea’s biggest hope to win a gold medal in taekwondo at the Olympics. When a rich rival offers him money to throw a match, Dong-Man faces a moral dilemma: Accept the money and pay for his disabled sister’s surgery. Or, stick to his guns and continue to aim for international championships. Kim plays his childhood best friend, Ae-Ra. She doesn’t realize it, but she has always had a bit of a crush on him and watches from the sidelines as his emotions are jerked around by the most beautiful girl on campus. But she’s no better at picking partners. Her choice was a young college boy, who uses her for what little money she earns and cheats on her. But, he’s handsome, and Ae-Ra places too much value on a pretty face. SPOILER ALERT: It isn’t until much later that she realizes that Dong-Man is ridiculously handsome and is someone who she is comfortable with, because of the history they have together. Though it seems like a no brainer for best friends to date, there’s also the fear that if they break up, they not only lose a partner, but also a close friend. Do you think Dong-Man and Ae-Ra should risk it all?
Before I go on, I’d like to take a moment to, er, appreciate Lee Jong-Suk’s hair. It had a life of its own in the early episodes of “Pinocchio.” This series was my palate cleanser after watching Park Shin-Hye basically relegated to the “girlfriend” role in “Memories of the Alhambra.” Here, Park and Lee play In-Ha and Ha-Myung, respectively. They were raised by her grandfather, who believed that Ha-Myung was his long-deceased elder son, Dal-Po. (It’s complicated.) Having recently been orphaned and needing shelter and a family, Ha-Myung lets the old man believe he is Dal-Po. While Ha-Myung is super smart, he has to pretend to be stupid, because Dal-Po wasn’t very bright and he wants to play his role as truthfully as he can. Ha-Myung harbors a crush on In-Ha, who is the most popular girl in school. She views him as an annoying family member. And herein lies a bit of ick factor. No, they’re not biologically related. But for all intents and purposes, they were raised together as siblings. SPOILER ALERT: A good chunk of the plot was driven by the fact that they couldn’t be together, because of this familial tie. In some ways, I wish the showrunners had given viewers a different ending — one that didn’t promise romance for this couple, but kept them in each other’s lives as best friends and … family. What do you think? Would you have been unhappy if they hadn’t coupled up?
If you’ve got the urge to binge and want to give these two dramas a try, why now do it for free, right? “Fight For My Way” and “Pinocchio” are both airing for free on KOCOWA. Do you agree that the childhood relationships make the storylines that much more interesting? What are some of your favorite K-Dramas, where friendships are the underlying basis for romance?
Be sure to follow @GoAwayWithJae, where I tweet about all things Korean.🇰🇷
26 Comments
LOVE!
Hello to every one, it’s in fact a good for me to visit this web site, it includes
priceless Information.
I can certainly see your enthusiasm in the article you write. Go after your heart.
I love all these posts. Keep up the great work, Jae! They make me feel like I know a little more about Korea!
I enjoy your opinion on this topic and look forward to upcoming posts and comments here at blog.kocowa.com. Keep up the good work!
Spot on with this write-up, I truly feel this amazing site
needs a lot more attention. I’ll probably be back again to read through more, thanks for the info!
I love the drama’s where the drama starts out in the past. Like jewel in the palace the adult actress lead didn’t show up till 4 hours into the drama (out of 54). That’s building up a back ground!. Stairway to heaven also had amazing child actors as well as 4 season drama’s. (spring waltz, autumn in my heart). When i watch shows in the west portray children it does not seem real and I cannot identify with the characters.. When S Korea does it it’s like being transported back to your childhood for a life long perspective. I suppose the west does not have 4 hours to build up a backstory on their short movies/drama.
Thank you so much for the long quality comment 🙂
Hello to all, how is everything, I think every one is getting more from this web site, and your
views are good in support of new viewers.
these kinds of story lines are so sweet. i wish i had friends like this!
i never had friends this hot. if i did, i would’ve wanted to date all of them. lol!!
Thank you for the good writeup!!! I hope to read more of your articles Ms. Kim!
These childhood relationships are so interesting. Thank you for writing about them!
Pinocchio was the best at showing this. Their history together was so funny and sweet. I have watched this series so many times!
I really love these posts. Thank you Jae-Ha Kim for the great analysis and fun bits!
I LOVE TO HEAR THAT! 🙂 Keep coming back!
I’ve thought about this a lot and I wish American shows showed friendships like this too!
I am sure this piece of writing has touched all the internet
users, its really really fastidious paragraph on building up new web site.
Its such as you read my thoughts! You seem to understand
so much about this, such as you wrote the e-book in it or
something. I think that you could do with a few % to drive the message home
a little bit, however instead of that, this is great blog.
An excellent read. I will certainly be back.
Thank you for visiting our blog 🙂 Please be back!
Howdy! Someone in my Myspace group shared this site with us so I came
to take a look. I’m definitely enjoying the information. I’m bookmarking and will be tweeting this
to my followers! Exceptional blog and terrific design and style.
YAY! This comment just made my day 🙂 We will keep you updated with more informative posts 🙂
Your site has excellent material. I bookmarked the site
YAY 🙂 We will keep up with more interesting posts! 🙂 Thank you
It’s really a cool and useful piece of info. I’m happy that you just shared this helpful information with us.
Please stay us informed like this. Thanks for sharing.
Awwwwwwww 🙂 Thank you so much! We will always try our best to share helpful information 🙂