kobeno1

The series works because it doesn’t try to be anything else than what it is. Too often, especially in romantic dramas, the writers always attempt to introduce some new conflict to keep the story going rather than simply let the characters guide them.

The series is about love and healing. This is a touching and sweet series that endeavors to demonstrate that sometimes what we remember isn’t always what really happened, especially memories from childhood.

The series starts out with Seong Deok Mi, who is a curator at an art museum by day and a fangirl by night. Perhaps we get a glimpse of what it means to be a true fangirl. She and her best friend, Lee Seon Ju are obsessed with K-Pop singer, Cha Si An. They are both the masterminds behind Cha Si An’s biggest fan website, “Road to Si An.” Seong Deok Mi does her best to be wherever Cha Si An is in order to take pictures and then post them on the website. Her apartment is literally littered with pictures, drawings, and even pillows with Cha Si An’s face.

Enter Ryan Gold, a famous art director from New York who is brought in to take over as director of the art museum when the owner is caught in a scandal. He’s a bit stuffy and uptight, but he’s a good person. He also has a special interest in a series of bubble paintings by the famous painter Lee Sol. Ryan was abandoned at an orphanage at seven years of age, but he’s inexplicably drawn to these paintings, which seem to unlock pieces of memories with his mother.

In order to protect Seong Deok Mi from a personal scandal, Ryan Gold agrees to pretend to be her boyfriend. We’ve seen this set up numerous times, but it still works, as it’s obvious to everyone that despite the staged relationship, they’re drawn to each other despite not really liking each other initially.

The first half of the series is about how Ryan and Seong Mi become closer and finally enter into a loving relationship. However, the more compelling story is in the second half of the series when Ryan begins to discover who his mother is and how the paintings by Lee Sol help him to connect the dots from his broken memories. I’m not sure there is anything more painful than a parent who loses a child. In a compelling discussion, it’s pointed out that there are terms for spouses who lose one another, or for children who lose their parents, but there is no term for a parent who loses a child, perhaps because it’s simply too painful.

As the viewer, we wonder how a mother could possibly abandon her own child, and yet, we soon discover that things are seldom what they seem to be, as Ryan was left waiting at a playground while his mother went to a meeting nearby. She never made it as she was involved in a serious accident. Of course, Ryan doesn’t realize this until he finally meets his mother, who turns out to be Lee Sol, and that the bubble paintings were actually of him. This was an incredibly sweet reveal, which serves to remind us that a mother’s love never dies, even when it seems to be the case.

We also learn that Seong Deok Mi and her family her unwitting participants in how Ryan was left at the orphanage. The series is about love but also about healing and forgiveness. Ryan could have easily been resentful and bitter about what happened, but instead, he realizes that, despite the contrary, his mother never forgot him. The reunion between them is a powerful element of the series. People often forget that the only way to truly move forward is to let go of the past, and to realize that parents are people and that they often make mistakes too.

Once Ryan and Seong Deok Mi are together, and we also realize that Cha Si An is actually Ryan’s half-brother, it just seems a little creepy that Seong Deok Mi’s apartment is still filled with Cha Si An’s pictures to the degree that you wonder if Seong Deok Mi’s fangirling is pushing the boundaries, especially given Ryan and Cha Si An’s relationship to each other.

There were only a few things that I didn’t care for. First, Seong Deok Mi’s best friend, Lee Seon Ju just isn’t a very good friend, especially when it comes to giving relationship advice. Given her own marital problems, she’s the last person who should be giving feedback and suggestions. She was the only character who just didn’t work for me. A wife who cares more about being a fangirl than a wife is someone with a problem.

Second, when Ryan tells Seong Deok Mi that he has something to tell her (when he’s about to confess his feelings), she tells him that they should end their “fake relationship” and then stalks off without even giving him a chance to say anything, and also when Seong Deok Mi hides behind her brother when Ryan comes over to see her because she’s in her fangirl outfit, she behaves like a kid instead of a 33-year-old woman. Those scenes just made her appear cowardly and immature.

Park Min Young and Kim Jae Wook turn in stellar performances, and it’s largely their chemistry that makes the story work so well. Park Min Young has an absolutely captivating smile, and Kim Jae Wook has real charm. My favorites were Kim Mi Kyung, whom I’ve seen in a number of series, and this veteran actress just never disappoints! She’s so good in everything she does. And even though she had a smaller role, I also really liked Kim Sun Young as the quirky and self-absorbed museum owner. She’s another actress who is fantastic in everything she’s in.

This is a warm and sweet series that doesn’t go overboard. It says a lot when the last eight episodes are more intriguing than the first eight. A series should get stronger as it progresses, and this one does just that. This was definitely one of the better romantic dramas that leaves you with a warm feeling in your heart.