I haven't been following Korean dramas for a very long time now. The last one I followed religously was Love Letter, a 2004 series starring Jo Hyun Jae, Soo Ae and Ji Jin Hee. I did watch Dae Jang Guem recently but even that I didn't bother to watch every single episode.

I actually found the complete series of Only You on Youtube.com, where some kind soul had actually uploaded every episode of the series online. Of course, quality isn't good but the story was good enough to get me hooked onto the series after watching the first 2 episodes. Well, I have to admit that Jo Hyun Jae is actually one of my favourite Korean actors, so I rushed out to get the VCD set and so far I've covered almost...well, actually I'm not sure how many episodes I've watched now... :P


No I swear! My cooking skills are real!!!

The story so far...

It starts off promising. Han Chae Young plays Cha Eun Jae, who won a cooking contest that entitled her a short stint in a famous culinary school in Italy. I actually missed the first part of episode 1 but from what I saw, while in Italy, she went searching for a Korean lady who makes great pasta for her secret recepie. During her search, she encountered an arrogant, princely figure named Yi Joon, played by Jo Hyun Jae. Apparently, they were searching for the same person, just that for Yi Joon, that same lady was his natural mothe who abandoned him when he was just 7.

Together, they searched for and found the lady, and developed a special bond which resulted in a one-night stand. Problem was, Eun Jae had an admirer, Jung Hyun-sung (Lee Chun Hee) who followed her to culinary school just to be with her and to take care of her. In the morning after the fateful incident, he paid Eun Jae a visit only to find Yi Joon putting on his clothes in her bedroom (Eun Jae had left to clear her thoughts and think about her relationship with Yi Joon). Enraged, the 2 men had a fight, and Hyun Sung claimed that he was Eun Jae's boyfriend. Yi Joon was devastated, and left Eun Jae in Italy alone while he returned to Korea.

Cue 6 years later and Eun Jae had been leading a hard life, mainly because of something that occured after the night of passion - she bore Yi Joon a son. As a result of her pregnancy, she was forced to quit school to raise the kid, and hence she took up odd jobs which didn't allow her to fulfil her passion for cooking. What made things worse was Eun Jae's character, as although she did things on her job out of pure kindness and goodwill, her employers found themselves having to clear up big messes that she had made. Hence, Eun Jae had been fired from one job after another, barely staying in one job for more than a few days.

Meanwhile, Yi Joon was on his way to taking over the family business empire which included a chain of resturants. Yi Joon's father was a demanding man, especially towards Yi Joon who would be the heir to his business. Therefore, he gave Yi Joon the difficult task of saving an ailing Italian resturant under the company (which out of no coincidence was the fruit of his mother's labour).

Yi Joon found out that the problem of the restraunt laid in its complacent staff, especially the chef. So, he went searching for another chef in the hope that competition could lead to improvement in the quality of the food and service. One day, he visited an Italian restraunt and ate a dish that Eun Jae had prepared (the chef of the resturant had had an accident and Eun Jae decided to help him fill in the order). Of course, Eun Jae was fired for taking things into her own hands, but Yi Joon, not knowing who had cooked the dish, went on a search for her to employ her for his resturant.

Finally, Yi Joon found Eun Jae, and employed her as the assistant chef. Yi Joon and Eun Jae actually had a deep liking for each other despite being seperated for over 6 years. So Yi Joon tried to woo Eun Jae, while Eun Jae continued to feel hesitant about his presence. Will they ever be together? Will Yi Joon finally know that he had a son with Eun Jae? What would happen if he knows about his son? And how would both families react to this?

How is the series so far?

If Bae Yong Jun's 'Kang Jun Sang' from Winter Sonata was the epitome of Korean leading men, then Jo Hyun Jae's 'Han Yi Joon' must be the absolute opposite. Yi Joon may not be a playboy and he neither drinks, womanizes nor gamble (in fact, he hates such people), yet at the same time, he is also the perfect representation of a rich man's son - spoilt, selfish, insensitive, arrogant, sometimes even childish to the point of exasperation! Imagine if the man who is the father of your child and whom you've waited for for so many years tells you suddenly, "be my girlfriend", to which you feel elated and ask, "you like me?", only to have him follow up with this totally retarded speech in a totally serious tone, "I don't know. I just know that I'm comfortable and happy with you. Let's just have a relaxing relationship. No obligations, no responsibilities". And gosh! When he found out that she was an unmarried mother, he was so upset that he accused her of being a loose woman, but never stopped to think that, hey, maybe THAT child could be YOURS! I mean, com'on, it is that hard for a guy to realize whether he might have impregnated a girl??? Every inch a spoilt child raised with a golden spoon in his mouth. He's kind by nature, really, just that he needs to work a lot on his communication skills.

Han Chae Young's "Eun Jae" is a spunky single mother who tries not to let her ill fortunes get to her, though falling into doubts about herself every once a while, especially more so ever since she met Yi Joon after 6 long years. Quite an unconventional female lead character for Korean dramas, I would say. In fact, she's probably the more colourful, even funnier, version of Jang Guem - a woman with a never-say-die attitude who always put others before herself. Difference is, this personality of hers makes even her own family exasperated by her impulsive ways. Once, after being fired from yet another menial job, she asked her younger sister whether she felt that she was useless and always getting into trouble. Her sister started off her answer promisingly, saying that she actually wanted to thank Eun Jae. Eun Jae smiled, thinking that finally someone was there to reassure her sense of self-worth. Little did she expect her sister to say that, "The reason why I want to thank you is that because of you, I have decided that I will never be like you. I'll study hard and get a good career, I will think through my decisions carefully...". And it's not like these two sisters are not close. Ouch... A very strong woman, however.

As of all good Korean dramas, there has to be the 3rd party between the leads. Actually, make that 4 parties, as I've seen in many other Korean dramas - one with the guy and one with the girl. To put it simply, the female lead would have someone else who loves her deeply but she doesn't reciprocate his love; and at the same time, the male lead would also have someone who loves him deeply but he also doesn't reciprocate that. Out of these 2 supporting characters, one of them would be the scheming one, who enlists the help of the other, who usually is the innocent one, to seperate the couple.

Hong Soo Hyun plays Ji Soo Yeon, the long-suffering adopted daughter of Yi Jun's family (the Han family) who took care of her after her parents died. However, despite her briliance, her kindness and her capability, she was looks down upon by the Hans, particularly his father. Yi Jun, however, took care of her like a little sister, and she had always been fond of him. However, after Yi Jun's father arranged for her to be married to a cad whose family had huge dealings with theirs, she realized that she needed to fight for her own interests rather than be the meek, ever-obliging person she used to be. Knowing that Jung Hyun-sung, now the head chef at the Han's resturant branch she was assigned to, loved Eun Jae, she decided to manipulate him to attain her own selfish goals.

Jung Hyun Sang, on the other hand, is every woman's dream husband. No, he isn’t that handsome. But his undying devotion, his S.N.A.G. appeal, his sincere concern for not only Eun Jae but also her family makes him as eligible as any Bae Young Jun or Jang Dong Gun look-alike for prospective mothers-in-law. It had been a nagging pain of his to know that Yi Joon had reappeared in Eun Jae's life, and he had been noticably threatened by it. Still, he took care of Eun Jae's family, particularly her son, like his own family.

What about the cast?

Despite my complaints about the irritating, spolit, selfish, arrogant, unreasonable character, acting-wise, Jo Hyun Jae has grown much as an actor since his role as a priest in Love Letter. Totally different characters, yet he actually does it in such a way that, despite the stupidity of Yi Joon, he still eludes a certain child-like charm that makes you want to actually forgive him sometimes for thinking in certain ways. It’s always amusing to see the way he looked every time he tried to keep Eun Jae by his side by 'digging out old scores' instead of using conventional requests like "please consider my offer" sort of thing in that gentle tone which every self-respecting Korean male lead would use. In fact, when faced with Eun Jae, one could easily sense his uneasiness in trying to hide his love for her while trying to make it not so apparent that he actually wanted sincerely to help her. In fact, as it goes on it becomes pretty obvious that as the only heir of a billiondollar empire, he really is not accustomed to using words like "please", "sorry" or even "thank you". Hence, when he finally decided to apologise to Eun Jae for all his insensitive remarks, the word "sorry" took a long while to come out.

The only person that humbles Yi Joon, however, is the memory of his own mother, and these scenes are probably some of the few ones that bring back memories of Andrea the priest for me. Ok, I have to admit that Love Letter has been so memorable for me that it's a little hard for me to dissociate him from Andrea. But of course, I dun have any problems with that ;).

I’ve never seen Han Chae Young before but she’s likable as an actress. In fact, I dun think I’ve ever come across a Korean actress who acts badly in my narrow knowledge of K-dramas. Whatever it is, she’s good as the ditzy, kindhearted single-mother. It’s hard not to feel sorry for her rotten luck in life, for all she has done for the family, and for being subjected to Yi Joon’s insensitive actions and remarks. Cute chemistry with Jo Hyun Jae too, and it’s equally amusing when, after a heated argument and Yi Joon digs up some old scores to settle, she’d become totally speechless and look at him with a sheepish look. Only complaint about her is that she is hardly believable as the accomplished chef she’s supposed to be, cos I dun think that real chefs would hold kitchen tools, stir, chop and dunk ingredients with such soft and slow motions. She’s not too believable as a mother as well, though I’m willing to suspend that disbelief as she does look like she loves her son very much and that, well, young mothers nowadays seem to be able to keep their figures very well even after childbirth.

Special mention to the little boy who played Eun Jae’s son, however. Very cute little boy, and he does look like how Jo Hyun Jae’s own son would look like if he ever had one! A very good resemblance. Kudos to the casting people!


One little happy family.

All in all, I like this series so far and the end of every episode makes me eager to find out what exactly happens after that. Right now at episode 7, Yi Joon is beginning to suspect that Eun jae’s son is his. He confronts Eun Jae about it, but after being insulted by Yi Joon, she spitefully claims that the child is not his. Will she ever tell him the truth?

Watch this space for updates!

Update 26/4/2006: Episode 8

Awww... such a poignant scene! Yi Joon paid a visit to Eun Jae at her home, but she was asleep and her son, feeling bored, went out to play in the yard. Yi Joon saw him and began to chat with him. The little boy then opened the gate for Yi Joon as he had recognized him as his mother's friend. It was such an amusing sight to see Yi Joon stepping in as he sheepishly waved his hand saying that he should not simply open doors for anyone. Yi Joon asked him how old he was, and he said 6 (it had been exactly 6 years since the incident). Yi Joon then tested water by telling him his name, but the boy responded with a big yawn. Next we see that Eun Jae had woken up from her nap and went looking for her son. Imagine the heartache when she saw Yi Joon sitting in the swing in the garden and cradelling their son who was sleeping, albiet looking a little awakard as Yi Joon was feeling hot and did not know what to do with the little one. He saw that Eun Jae had spotted them so he signalled for Eun Jae to quickly go over and asked her what he should do. Eun Jae went over and carried the child from his arms. The moment she turned away from Yi Joon, tears streamed down her cheeks, while Yi Joon was still unaware of what was going on.