This review may contain spoilers
Non-traditional Age Gap Romance
7/10 is my rating. This 16 episode (~60 minutes/episode) series ran in South Korea in 2006. The female lead, Go Byung-hee (Go Hyun-jung) is an "old maid" by Korean standards. At 33 she feels like her life has not gone in the direction she would like. She works for a risqué magazine targeted at adult males and hopes to one day have a reporting job she can be proud of. She is also looking for that "perfect" man with which to start a family, or so she thinks. Park Cul-soo (Jung-myung) is not who she pictured as marriage material. He is her best friend's younger brother, whom she helped to raise after his parent's unexpected passing. She has always thought of him as a "baby" and as her younger brother. After a health scare that may have resulted in infertility she goes on a drunk bash and Park Cul-soo is sent to retrieve her. They wind up sleeping together and feelings long buried deep send Go Byung-hee into the arms of her "perfect" man, a urologist who was writing advice for her magazine. He seems ideal, he is close to her age, attractive, and well off. She denies her feelings for Park Cul-soo because he is nine years younger and also because everyone, herself included, has always thought of him as family.
spoiler 🚨 I had a hard time understanding how nine years was as big of a deal as this made it out. Even in American culture though there is cultural bias against older women with younger men. However, this was like she was robbing the cradle or something. I loved both characters, loved the character development and enjoyed exploring the ageism thing. I was a little disappointed in the ending as, for me, I felt it left me to decide what happened to all involved. It seems to be a common theme in Asian dramas where things are not wrapped in neat little packages. But, for me, it reduced my enjoyment. Not only did we not know, for sure, what happened with the main couple but the secondary romance was even in doubt. It is worth watching. I would not put it at the top of the list. More like somewhere in the middle.
spoiler 🚨 I had a hard time understanding how nine years was as big of a deal as this made it out. Even in American culture though there is cultural bias against older women with younger men. However, this was like she was robbing the cradle or something. I loved both characters, loved the character development and enjoyed exploring the ageism thing. I was a little disappointed in the ending as, for me, I felt it left me to decide what happened to all involved. It seems to be a common theme in Asian dramas where things are not wrapped in neat little packages. But, for me, it reduced my enjoyment. Not only did we not know, for sure, what happened with the main couple but the secondary romance was even in doubt. It is worth watching. I would not put it at the top of the list. More like somewhere in the middle.
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