49일

Been watching this drama "49 days" or "49일" these few days. Chanced upon this drama thanks to one of its OST songs that I heard on radio. Such a heart-wrenching song.

Synopsis or maybe just spoilers (since I'm like telling most of the story)::: 

Shin Ji Hyun is a princessy only child who is about to get married to her beloved boyfriend-cum-fiancé Kang Min Ho when she got into an unfortunate accident. This accident was somehow caused by a stranger Song Yi Kyung who has been living her life like a zombie for the past 5 years and tried to commit suicide but failed to do so and inadvertently caused a pile-up along the same road that Shin Ji Hyun had her accident later on. As it was not yet her time to die, the soul reaper or Scheduler as called in the drama gave her an option to try to stay alive (her body was comatose) by collecting 3 drops of PURE tears that prove a person's true love for her within 49 days. Some conditions were laid out though. She could not approach any people related by blood to her and she was to use Song Yi Kyung's body as a host (during her sleeping hours) to do what she needed to. As she had to earn what she wants to spend, Shin Ji Hyun (in Song Yi Kyung's body) took up a part-time job at her childhood friend Han Kang's cafe. Han Kang happens to have a huge crush on Shin Ji Hyun but have kept it under wraps and distanced himself from her as he is too late. Plus her fiancé Kang Min Ho is a hyung he met while studying abroad.

Initially, Shin Ji Hyun thought that it was going to be easy as she could find her fiancé as well as her two best friends, Shin In Jung and Park Seo Woo, for those 3 tears. But as the story unfolds, it turns out that it is not that easy after all as Shin In Jung has been going out with Kang Min Ho for a long time and was in cahoots with him in planning the downfall of Shin Ji Hyun's dad's company. Marrying her was part of the plan. It all gets more confusing as over time, both Kang Min Ho and Han Kang starts to fall in love with Shin Ji Hyun in Song Yi Kyung's body. Thing is, Shin Ji Hyun is trusting and dimwitted at best and so she is just basically very blur about all these although up to the point I have watched, it seems that she has come to realise that Kang Min Ho is falling in love with her/Song Yi Kyung.

L to R: Shin In Jung, Scheduler, Song Yi Kyung, Han Kang, Shin Ji Hyun, Kang Min Ho

HAHA this drama is super awesome. It isn't tear-jerking or anything (the characters do a lot of crying though, n its sorta making me numb). Each episode is around 1 hour or so and it isn't too draggy or too rushed, the timing is very nice and enough is covered each episode. AND I'VE ONLY WATCHED LIKE 8 EPISODES?! Compare this to Secret Garden hmpf, duno why I wasted my time watching SG man...it was so draggy and the first part was boring. And yet people were raving about it =-= I think it's due to the cast members. SG has Hyun Bin and Ha Ji Won, enough eye candy. 49 days has Nam Gyuri who is like a doll, and rightfully so, cause her plastic surgery is far too extensive =-= the female lead (Song Yi Kyung's body which has Shin Ji Hyun's soul in it) Lee Yo Won is not exactly very pretty. She's tall but I don't think she has a very attractive vibe and her shoulders are not very wide, not that it's not good but I think she will look nicer with wider shoulders...there is Jung Il Woo as the Scheduler but eh his nose looks plastic too. Jo Hyun Jae (as Han Kang) is not bad too but he feels old for me and I still think something somewhere must be fake haha, this nagging feeling that only Lee Yo Won is natural enough. And maybe the actor that played Shin Ji Hyun's dad, Shin Il Shik.

I think one of the reasons for this awesomeness is that the characters and their histories are rich and very interesting so the audience have a lot to look forward to each episode. Plus they have their little secrets here and there, their intertwining lives and the whole soul and body belonging to different people thing going on. Damn good scriptwriters. Perhaps this kinda drama works for me - where the first episode seems to start from a certain point in the characters' lives and there are stuff to catch up on, instead of dramas where the audience experience things together with the characters at the same time and there is no secrets or flashbacks to indulge in. Sometimes when there are too many flashbacks it starts to get irritating but not for this drama, because as predictable as some of the flashbacks do get, they fit in nicely with the flow of the drama and thus, no complaints. I need to say it again, DAMN GOOD SCRIPTWRITERS.

I just realised that Secret Garden, 49 days and City Hunter were screened in this chronological order, no overlap. And yet all I heard people raving about was Secret Garden and City Hunter =-= WHY 왜왜왜? I haven't watched City Hunter yet, but I think that 49 days is quite tough to beat with regards to its plot. For the acting, Lee Yo Won is doing a decent job acting as Song Yi Kyung in her zombie-like state as well as the bubbly but dimwitted-at-times crybaby Shin Ji Hyun (albeit still in Song Yi Kyung's body). These two characters have such different personalities haha but Shin Ji Hyun in both her own body and Song Yi Kyung's never fails to make me irritated. Cuz I don't find her antics cute and I hate her crying for almost anything. But I don't hate her haha just irritated, that's all. Up to this point, I do not hate any of the characters though I do dislike some of them for the bad stuff they have done (Kang Min Ho and Shin In Jung) but the scriptwriters are doing a good job making them have reasons for their "evilness" and thus the audience would most probably empathise with them instead of hating any character to the core.

Moral-of-the-story wise, 49 days is showing us the reality of life. Your so-called true friends may not be what they seem and it would take another besides you (or maybe just a different body) to figure that out because some people are just so god damn good in acting. It is a bit sad to think that if there are less than 3 people who truly loves you, your life isn't worth living. I love it when a drama or movie depicts life the sucky way it is and not sugarcoat it and just put in standard bickering and soap drama plots.

If only it was possible to tell if someone really loves you.