Korean Drama "Love Rain"

Do you remember your first love? The one who makes your heart tingle, who you can spot in a crowded room right away, and one, two, three, within seconds you know in your gut that you have found the right match. Korean Drama Series “Love Rain” beautifully captures the feel of falling in love for the first time. Jang Geun Seok and Yoon A star in this twenty-episode mini-series. They both portrait two characters in a drama that is directed by the Famed Four Season Drama PD Yoon Suk-ho, who creates the international phenomena “Winter Sonata”(extremely popular in Asia, particularly in Japan. I can’t recall how many times I have watched that series. It introduces me to one of my favorite actors, Bae Yong Jung. Though nowadays, he is more a successful businessman than an actor. We hardly see him acting on screen anymore. Hopefully, that may soon change).

Love Rain follows melodrama tradition, a sweet love story with a heartbreaking twist. It depicts a 1970s pure love and a love from the present day at the same time. The drama shows how the children of a previous ill-fated couple, who met in the 1970s, manage to meet and fall in love in year 2012.

The storyline goes like this: Seo In Ha and Kim Yoon Hee, an art student and a shy beauty, are college sweethearts in the 1970s. After an unfortunate event, In Ha is drafted into the army before his due time and Yoon Hee, suffering from a serious illness, goes to US to seek treatment. For the next thirty years, they live separate lives. Assuming Yoon Hee had passed away in the States, In Ha gets married to another woman and has a son named Joon. Years later, Yoon Hee returns to Korea and finds that In Ha already has a family of his own. She decides to move on with her life as well. Time fast forward, in Year 2012, by coincidence, In Ha’s son, Joon, a 24-year-old talented liberal photographer meets and falls in love with Yoon Hee’s daughter, Ha Na, a cheerful and energetic girl. At the same time, In Ha reunites with his first love Yoon Hee. The two quickly rekindles their romance and decides to get married. However, their children are also in love. Furthermore, Joon’s mother, In Ha’s ex-wife, would rather die than to lose both his ex-husband and son to the woman she hates…

The story deals with the essence of love beyond the generation, exploring pure love in the 70s and trendy love in the modern society. I’m a big fan of Jang Geun Seok. He is a natural actor, young and talented, full of promises. He grasps the character’s emotions well. Whether a reluctant young man in 1970’s, or an outgoing, arrogant youth in present days, he plays the parts accurately with sincerity and understanding. Some people have a problem with his hair style (a bit long and girly like). I, on the other hand, look beyond his hairdo, makeup, and slightly awkward fashion choices. The fact is I’m more interested in his acting and singing abilities than anything else. It’s a treat to gaze into his beautiful eyes (sometimes scary to look at when he gets angry). They say that eyes are the windows of a human’s soul. I’m curious to discover what’s more hidden beneath that stunning glare.

Despite of the low rating (in South Korea) I enjoy this drama. It reminds me of the days when many people still believe in love-at-first-sight. It’s not the best mini-series I have seen (I still think “The Return of the Iljimae” is the solid No.1 on my list), but the story is beautifully filmed with rich colors and incredible lighting. The actors and actresses have done their best to make the characters authentic and memorable. I have no regrets spending twenty plus hours watching this series.

Love Rain represents many emotions: the fervor of falling in love, the heartbreak of parting, the agony of long waiting, the excitement of reuniting, the bitter reluctance of giving up and finally, a happy-ending that we all long for.