It is a regular rollercoaster ride of romance that could give the cliche ridden Hallmark channel romances a lesson.
So a country hick lawyer gets a job at a big corporation and falls in love with a beautiful girl who is an intern there. What he doesn't know is that her family owns the business and she helps run the place.
Cue forward three years, and the lawyer is depressed because she nags him all the time, criticizes him in public, and the father and grandfather want him to do actions that he sees as being unkind and unethical to their subcontracters.
So far we have marital problems, corporate corruption, class prejudice, and crazy in laws.
But it doesn't stop there. Add losing a baby which is part of the problem behind the marital problems, a greedy mistress of the grandfather, and her son who are planning to take over the business and gut it. And the real drama: The beautiful leading lady develops a brain tumor, which is fatal.
that last one drives me nuts: like most K Dramas, the medical part is absurd. Supposedly it is a form of glioblastoma but this one merely gives her memory lapses. And (clue to the future) when she finds a hospital in Germany who can remove it, but it will take away her memory. When she finally has surgery there without anyone shaving her hair. WTF?
The final two episodes this weekend will be about her memory loss, (no memories of her family or husband) with bad guy who loves her pretending he is her finace. And we will have to wait to see how they cleared her husband from trumped up murder charges, and revealing the corporate fraud by the mistress.
And we can't wait.
Because it is K drama, expect a happy ending.
So what lessons can this give to Hollywood/TV series?
One: yes there is murder, and bad guys. Murder happens but usually for a reason: none of that mindless serial killer subplot that every other Hollywood crime dramas seems to have for a plot.
Two: law and corporate fraud are the subplots, but big business is not made the problem: the people who manipulate these things are. And they often do it because they were very poor and had to work their way up.
Three: Family matters. Family members love and hate each other, but also families help each other in times of trouble. And by family I mean the whole family: not just the single mother in law and daughter. Not the hero without family ties. The entire extended families are there, something rarely seen in western dramas.
Four: rich vs poor are the subplot, but no racism here.
Five: the murders are taken seriously, whereas in too many modern Hollywood shows they are faceless and quickly forgotten.
Six: religion matters. Not just the Buddhist funeral rituals of the family, but the protagonist is a Christian and goes to church to pray when his wife is facing surgery.
Seven: Men cry and show emotion but that doesn't make them weak.
Eight: lots of eating food, and cooking. And drinking alcohol with friends. A lot of the discussions are around the dining room table.
Nine: characters of all ages and classes.
They don't all look alike: heck, in the name of diversity American films have people of different races, but they all look and act alike: only the skin color changes.
But here, older women look older, not like botoxed middle age women trying to look as if they are 20 as in too many romance dramas.
And characters act differently: The socialite mother doesn't act the same as the mother who runs her farm or the sister with her beauty salon in the country or the plotting mistress or the lady boss who is the heroine.
so yes, it is essentially a soap opera plot with overblown plot and drama, but entertaining.
so if you are depressed from watching Shogun where everyone is nasty and the plot is darker than the cinematography, try this K drama.
And don't forget your handkies.
I give it a 5 out of five stars for entertainment value.
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