Go Back Spouses

Go Back Spouses

7.5/10

Go Back Spouses

Genre:                                                Episodes: 12                                        Year: 2017

Romance

Comedy

Synopsis:

Choi Ban Do and Ma Jin Joo got married after meeting at university. 18 years later both are unhappy with their lives and their relationship is breaking down. After getting a divorce, the two wake up in their 20 year old bodies in 1999, the year they met for the first time.

Cast:

Jang Na Ra (Ma Jin Joo)

Son Ho Joon (Choi Ban Do)

Jang Ki Young (Jung Nam Gil)

Ko Bo Gyul (Min Seo Young)

Heo Jeong Min (Ahn jae Woo)

Han Bo Reum (Yoon Bo Reum)

Lee Yi Kyung (Go Dok Jae)

Cho Hye Jung (Cheon Seol)

Kim Mi Kyung (Go Eun Suk)

Im Ji Kyu (Park Hyun Seok)

General Thoughts:

It’s a cute and fun drama that is an absolute breeze to get through. The conflicts are interesting and heartfelt, but makes room for a whole bunch of adorableness. Jang Na Ra was the perfect fit for our heroine, as she has such a babyface, and is really one of the only actresses that could successfully pull off being 38 and 20 in the same drama- although Son Ho Joon did a pretty convincing job at both ages too.

No one ages quite as ambiguously as Koreans

Jang Na Ra also has a beautiful innocence about her that fit the character of Jin Joo perfectly. She may be an ahjumma back in her 20s body and life, but she still exuded a sweet naivety, particularly when it came to boys. That being said, one of the better aspects of the show was the way that our leads’ older personalities remained in tact even as they journey back to their younger days.

Petty but also kinda funny

They carried with them a maturity and wisdom that helped them give their friends some great help and advise that actually turned their lives around- particularly in the case of Seol and Hyun Seok’s rich girlfriend. The writers did a great job at balancing these moments of wisdom and maturity with our characters' well…less mature moments. Jin Joo and Ban Do had a lot of petty fights throughout the show, but thankfully these were played more for comedic effect, which reduced the intensity. The two had just the right amount of anger towards each other to warrant getting a divorce the first time around, but the writers did an excellent job at showing how their dissatisfaction with each other came from their lack of communication and understanding, rather than any actual real resentment. Even before the time skip it was clear that there was an underlying love that both our leads simply weren’t expressing, and that spiralled and snowballed until neither believed the other still cared for them. The show did an excellent job at bringing the leads back together with common purpose- getting revenge on Hyun Seok.

A rewarding K-Drama moment

As a doctor in the present, we already hated him for lording his position over Ban Do, and making Ban Do do all the dirty work. It was a relief to see he was still the same slime-ball 20 years ago, so that Ban Do’s small revenges seemed funny rather than petty. And of course showing the way he treated girls (our leading lady included), was just icing.

Back before the figurative sh*t hit the figurative fan

Hyun Seok was a mutual enemy of our leads, and gave them cause to work together. He also provided a way for Jin Joo to come to understand Ban Do better, as at home he’d never mentioned Hyun Seok or how terrible his job was. During the revenge plan the poor way Ban Do was treated at work came out, as Jin Joo needed to know how he knew Hyun Seok and why he wanted revenge on him. It was a natural way for our leads to fall into an alliance that then repaired their friendship, and brought back memories of how they used to be together. Another point of connection between the two was of course their son. Having a son in the present who would cease to exist should the leads decide to stay in the past and not get married definitely added some higher stakes. It’s something that a lot of people tend to ignore in time skip media or even in real life- saying that if they could go back they’d never meet that person. Of course this means that any children with that person would also disappear. It was obvious that both parents loved Seo Jin very much (how could you not love that precious face?), and all the perks of travelling back in time (youth, family, correcting mistakes) seemed less exciting once they realised that it came at the expense of their child.

So precious- just look at his little face!

Despite Jin Joo’s joy at seeing her mother alive again, she still carried a deep grief with her, this time from losing her child. Ban Do was given less screen time where he was shown grieving his hild, but there were enough moments there that we knew he felt the same heartache as Jin Joo. The show handled the situation well, as the end result could have been seen as our leads returning to the present just to meet Seo Jin again.

Everyone take a minute to go phone your mum

However, by the end it was clear that Ban Do and Jin Joo had learned to communicate effectively and had grown in their understanding of one another, and I was confident the their return to the present was as much a desire for them to continue their lives together as it was for them so see Seo Jin again. In that vein, one of the more heartbreaking aspects of the show was definitely Jin Joo’s relationship with her mother. It really went to show how much we all tend to under appreciate our own mothers. Jin Joo’s Mum was obviously a strong and much loved presence in Jin Joo’s life, yet she didn’t express this much until she came from the future where her mother was no longer alive. The way Jin Joo followed her Mum around was just too cute. Not only was Jin Joo’s Mum the cause of such cuteness, but she was also the underlying cause of Jin Joo and Ban Do’s misunderstandings. Ban Do (unintentionally) made Jin Joo miss her mother’s last moments alive, and that of course led to some frustrations, but it was Ban Do’s inability to grieve with Jin Joo and Jin Joo’s inability to recognise Ban Do’s attempts to comfort her that really paved the groundwork for their unhappiness.

Just look at all those hidden feelings and lack of honesty

Neither was willing to express what they wanted, and that inevitably led to a breakdown in their marriage. I also appreciated how Jin Joo’s Mum gave the go-ahead for Jin Joo to return to the future.

The final snuggle

It was an impossible situation she was in- spending time with her mother who she knew would die in 10 years, or returning to her child. As unbelievable as her mum’s quick acceptance that her child was from the future was, it was a nice touch to have Jin Joo’s Mum tell her to go back to Seo Jin. In regards to the time travel, this show went for the less-is-more approach which I’m always on board with. The magic rings weren’t explained at all (unless you count that final epilogue of fighting gods), but they made complete sense. Taking off the rings transported our couple back to the past so it stands to reason that buying and wearing them again would send them back to the present. Keeping the ring marks on our characters’ fingers was a nice way of reminding us that these were versions of our leads who had come from the future and didn't really belong there, and also worked for cluing Ban Do in on what might take them back to their time.

What Was Great:

Second Leads:

I don’t think there’s anyone that didn’t get a good dose of Second Male Lead Syndrome here. Both the second leads were pretty excellent- the characters and their actors.

Most awkward accidental double date ever

Seo Young was the perfect example of a fairytale first love. She was sweet and gorgeous and the exact type of person a guy would hold in their heart for years. The show handled Ban Do’s expectations really well. In the present he was dissatisfied with how his own life had turned out and had fantasies about how he would have lived if he’d dated Seo Young instead of Jin Joo.

You're the perfect match for her...when you're 38...

We as an audience of course know that nothing drastic would have changed- he’d still probably hate his job, and he’d still fight, just with Seo Young instead of Jin Joo. However, in his mind Seo young was the perfect ideal and a missed opportunity. When he was transported to the past, Ban Do had a new confidence that came from knowing how things would pan out and not fearing rejection. This set him up nicely to get close to Seo Young, and the friendlier he got with her the less romantic their relationship became. As he got to know her his image of the perfect girl faded- as everyone has their faults, and Ban Do instead started looking out for Seo Young’s best interests. I’m glad that she caught on pretty early that Ban Do had more of a parental love for her, as it saved her from becoming a character that was too pitiful. Instead, the two had a sweet friendship where Ban Do helped Seo Young express herself and find ways to relieve her stress. Ko Bo Gyul has the perfect features for a past first love. She’s very innocent and sweet looking, and was able to express Seo Young’s loneliness well. She had great chemistry with Son Ho Jun, without it coming across as too romantic.

They were cute without being too cute

Then there’s Nam Gil. Ohhh poor Nam Gil. I kind of wish he’d got the girl, but I know that Jin Joo and Ban Do belonged with each other. He was hopelessly sweet and his crush on Jin Joo was unbelievably cute.

I don't want him for Jin Joo, I want him for me

He came around in a realistic way. It made sense that he’d never really liked the haughty and slightly snobby Jin Joo from before, but the new mature Jin Joo was the perfect match for him. As he’d never really experienced motherly love, Jin Joo’s concern and worry over him effected him quickly, and made her stand out in his mind. His awkward courting of Jin Joo was definitely one of my favourite things about this series. While a part of me really wanted Nam Gil and Jin Joo to date, another part of me equally enjoyed their brief encounter. Jin Joo opened up just enough with Nam Gil to know that any sort of romantic relationship just wouldn’t work, and Nam Gil opened up just enough that he learned he could be a great partner to someone else in the future. The way the show avoided too much hurt on the Nam Gil front is that Jin Joo always acted and reacted with the mindset of her 38 year old self. Which definitely put a hold on that ship. Despite how swoony and romantic Nam Gil was being, Jin Joo was always thinking of herself as an ahjumma, and as someone who was much older than him.

Making Ahjumma's heart flutter

Despite the fact that her body was actually younger, Jin Joo herself had already drawn a line and viewed Nam Gil as a much younger kid. With both Ban Do and Jin Joo viewing their peers as younger kids there was really no way there could be a romantic relationship with anyone else. Like the leads, it was fun for us to imagine for a little while what it might be like for them to date Nam Gil or Seo Young, but at the end of the day we wanted them to sort through their issues together. It’s a great feat that the writers were able to make the second leads so loveable, but didn’t end up burning their main ship. 

I mean I like Ban Do, but boy if you weren't already married to her I'd be cheering for Nam Gil for sure

First Leads:

In dramas about relationship breakdowns I find that blame is usually allocated to one of the parties involved, they deal with the problem, and then get back together. Which unfortunately tends to make one of the leads a bit of an a-hole.

The beginning of the end

This drama was able to balance the faults of its main couple quite nicely. While I did tend to feel a tad more sympathetic towards Jin Joo (perhaps it’s because I’m a girl and relate to her issues more), as Jin Joo’s shortcomings in the marriage were revealed I could equally sympathise with Ban Do. Neither character was totally responsible or completely innocent. Both of them contributed to the marriage falling apart, and both of them contributed to building it up again. Even when they were fighting, the show took care to show how both characters were feeling and where they were coming from. We might see Jin Joo find a bill for hotels and breakdown thinking Ban Do was cheating on her, but we also see Ban Do being abused at work. Because we see these scenes separately it makes sense when they blow up at each other. Due to understanding on the audience’s part, we can sympathise with the characters and feel sad for their situations without becoming too frustrated. Their lack of communication was very realistic in that it’s not like they didn’t communicate at all, they just left out small (but often key) aspects of their emotions, which prevented their initial fallout from being too annoying.

Too embarrassed to be truthful

It’s not as though the couple did anything drastically different or simply failed to solve an issue, but they fell into a habit of communicating poorly and ineffectively. Both Ban Do and Jin Joo refused to open up about their deep underlying issues which put a strain on their relationship, until they no longer had the strength to hold it all together anymore.

Communication is key

It’s a common cause for relationship breakdown, and sadly one that can be avoided. Despite how simple it seems, putting your pride away to talk about where things went wrong is a difficult task. Only because Ban Do went back in time and saw his mother-in-law alive again was he able to open up to Jin Joo about his own grief at her mother’s passing. In this moment of vulnerability and honesty Jin Joo herself sees how hard Ban Do was trying for her sake, and how she shared the responsibility for their fallout for not telling him how she wanted to grieve and simply expecting him to understand. This is the key moment where both Jin Joo and Ban Do realise that the other still loves them and they both start making steps towards returning to their time together. Ban Do and Jin Joo are both so relatable and easy to sympathise with that the story becomes very touching. It could almost be a story about any couple that has broken up due to poor communication. The leads were what gave the show its heart and made the story so engaging, and I’m glad the show found a way to reconcile them that wasn’t painfully unrealistic. 

And the fam's back

What Wasn’t:

Only for Laughs:

The only real downside in this drama for me was that the side characters lacked any real depth. There were moments that hinted that there was more going on beneath the surface for the two guys and two girls that filled in the friendship circle, but there was no great detail to their stories.

I wish the friendships had a bit more depth

Tae Woo and Bo Reum were mostly played for comedic effect in their odd-couple relationship, and as I wasn’t a huge fan of their love-line I did find myself getting a bit bored during their segments. They had no moments that were any cuter than what was going on around the leads, and there was no greater meaning behind their story. I mean, sure they were super into each other so it was nice that they eventually sorted out their issues back in the present, but there was nothing intellectually intriguing about either of their characters. Seol had slightly more background than the rest with her sudden disappearance and withdrawal from university being the bulk of her story. But again, she was mostly used to fill in space using comedy. Granted, I found her cuter and funnier than Tae Woo and Bo Reum (her sly looks of disgust at Ban Do were quite hilarious), but she still didn’t have much to do as a character. And I don’t even think Dok Jae was in a single serious scene.

Level of seriousness- zero

Every moment of his was played for comedic effect- some hitting the right note, and some not. It’s not that I wish the show had been less funny, I just wanted a few of those serious, heartfelt moments to be shared by the friend group as well as the families and second leads.

Recommend?

Yep- it’s cute and fun, but direct with its message and filled with painfully, realistically flawed characters.

Ahhh...90's fashion- the core of everyone's dark history 

The Greatest Love

The Greatest Love

8/10

The Greatest Love

Genre:                                 Episodes: 16                            Year: 2011

Romance

Comedy

Synopsis:

Gu Ae Jung was once the popular leader of a famous girl group, but after the group disbanded her image was ruined. Meanwhile, Dokgo Jin is a popular actor at the hight of his career. Ae Jung continues to meet Dokgo Jin in a series of chance encounters, and their relationship turns from general dislike into a begrudging friendship.

Cast:

Cha Seung Won (Dokgo Jin)

Gong Hyo Jin (Gu Ae Jung)

Yoon Kye Sang (Yoon Pil Joo)

Yoo In Na (Kang Se Ri)

Lee Hee Jin (Jenny)

Im Ji Kyu (Kim Jae Suk)

General Thoughts:

I see now why the Hong Sisters have such a good reputation. The writing for this drama was fun, witty, and the dialogue really made the relationship between our two leads much more enjoyable. Two thumbs up.

Fun and funny

Having one of our leads being a famous celebrity is nothing new, but I must say that I enjoyed this scenario much more than I have enjoyed the celebrity aspect of K-Dramas previously. For starters, the Entertainment Industry wasn’t treated as the greatest thing ever, nor was it treated as this horribly dark place with a shiny exterior- it was just a business with a lot of employees, each trying to get ahead in their careers. Like any other workplace there were nasty people in it, but there were also good, likeable people in it. One of the better aspects is that the President of Dokgo’s company wasn’t an evil, money-hungry woman- she was a business woman, and even when she was slightly meddlesome, it was clear she was intervening out of a desire to do what was best for both Dokgo and Ae Jung- which is always nice to see.

And boy, 'fans' can get pretty darn nasty

A large part of this drama’s conflict is the idea of image, which is an interesting idea to explore. Despite being a wonderful, lovely person you can have a bad image, and good image is what you really need to be successful. It was interesting that the drama treated the celebrities images as a tangible thing, rather than an abstract concept. It was something to be traded and given away- but also something that could be taken from you.

Ahh...the things you'll do for a good image

The biggest conflict was definitely how the relationship between our leads would impact their images. Other dramas I’ve seen haven’t really managed to snag what is so important about image, but ‘Greatest Love’ did an excellent job. It was always understandable why the two didn’t want to run headfirst into this relationship, because without image neither of them have a way to make money and support themselves- because their image is their career. It was much more interesting to have the conflict between our two leads as something internal rather than external. While the problem itself was purely external (how will the public respond), it was the way Dokgo and Ae Jung handled that problem that sparked much of the interest. It wasn’t as though they were two people deeply in love separated by some great external force- they were just two people who liked each other but weren’t sure how to go about it, as the relationship would have a negative impact on not only themselves, but the other person as well. The entertainment and investment came not from if they would move forward together but how they were going to move forward. The push-and-pull paired with witty dialogue was wonderful to watch and drew us in as an audience.

The pull made all the push worth it

Despite not having a lot of showy plot (there were no huge fights, or dangerous villains or mysteries to uncover), the show was extremely entertaining from beginning to end, and much of that credit has to go to our leads. Cha Seung Won and Gong Hyo Jin were just superb.

Half the fun is just waiting to see what ridiculousness he'll do next

They perfectly sold the relationship between the two characters and made it feel real- despite the occasional absurdities of their characters. I mean, what man that age can’t differentiate between his heart beating and liking a woman? But Cha Seung Won sold the character and his slight ridiculousness, and the humour that resulted from his confusion made it easy to overlook the over-simplified reasonings of Dokgo Jin. He was just hilarious. He never gave a half-hearted performance and really dived into the comedy. Gong Hyo Jin played a nice stable character for his silliness to bounce off of, and actually made the humour seem more real. Alone, Dokgo Jin seems ridiculous, but paired with the world the Hong Sisters created and Ae Jung, it becomes quite plausible that he’s a man that turns into a bit of a weirdo when he’s alone or around people he’s comfortable with. The show gave us a very understandable world filled with likeable, funny characters that really dazzled, and the whole thing was just an extremely enjoyable, fun ride.

What Was Great:

The Cast:

Cha Seung Won and Gong Hyo Jin are just perfect. Usually one of the leads tends to sparkle a little bit brighter than the other, but the two here were so perfectly matched. Not only did they have a heap of romantic chemistry going on, but their comedic chemistry was also firing on all cylinders.

They suit each other like it's nobody's business

The two really bounced of each other’s energy in the comedic scenes (of which there were so many), and so the humour just seemed to build and build as the drama went on. Not only that, but they were both able to so perfectly undercut a comedic scene with a moment of real sincerity, which gave the show a lot more heart than your standard rom-com.

Pretty sure he pinched this move off Kim Jong Kook

Yoon Kye Sung did an amazing job as the second male lead. Despite Pil Joo not being that exciting on paper (he’s your typical nice guy second lead), Yoon Kye Sung gave him a whole heap of personality that a different actor probably wouldn’t have been able to generate. He gave Pil Joo a bit of a dorky, nerdy air about him, so he wasn’t just a dreamy doctor- he was a dreamy doctor who was a bit too in love with his job and seemed just a tad detached from the world around him. He was also never simplistically nice- Yoon Kye Sung clearly showed Pil Joo’s pain and heartache, but also his dislike for Dokgo. A couple of times he teetered on the edge of doing something douchey to discredit Dokgo or make himself seem better to Ae Jung, but after some quiet deliberation he always made the nice guy choice. He might not have ended up with the girl, but man he made one hell of an adorable, endearing character. If I didn’t find Dokgo so amusing yet sincere, I probably would have ended up on the Pil-line. These three leads were really the heart and soul of the show, and it was the interactions between these characters that held a lot of the show’s entertainment- be it comedy or conflict.

A Multitude of Metaphors:

I probably didn’t even grasp the meaning of half the banter that floated around in this drama, but what I did catch on to was so, so, so funny.

Never before has a potato held so much meaning

Generally speaking, I’m not a huge fan of push-and-pull relationships as I tend to find them a bit tedious- ‘I love you but I won’t go to you blah blah blah’. But pairing the push-and-pull dynamic with a bunch of hidden meanings becomes far more interesting. When characters straight-up say what they mean and the relationship still doesn’t move forward it can be a little exasperating, but when they communicate their feelings through metaphors it somehow becomes much more enjoyable. Sure, if handled badly the metaphors would probably still be exasperating, but here it was all handled in a funny, witty way, and there was always forward movement on one end of the relationship.

Because you for sure need a heart monitor to make sure you're in love

There were potatoes and flowers and heart-beats and cartoon characters and Pororo and cars and broken machinery and superheroes, and I don’t even think the writers could keep track of how many metaphors they put in there.

What Wasn’t:

Some Small Plot Weaknesses:

The strength of the show was really its characters and cast- not so much the plot. With so much going on between the two leads, and even the second leads, it didn’t really matter that there wasn’t a heap of other external stuff going on. However, there were a couple of times it was a bit obvious that the plot was really only being held up by the greatness of its characters.

I so prefer angst-ing together to separation angst though

The whole National Treasure Girls plot seemed pretty thin to me. I was expecting something huge to have happened to explain why Ae Jung’s old manager hated her so much, but there wasn’t a lot of substance to it. While the situation behind the girl group’s breakup was sufficient, the manager seemed a bit too obsessive and butt-hurt about something that didn’t seem to impact him all that much. It was also pretty weak how we didn’t get to be a part of Doggo’s surgery. A lot of the series had Dokgo protecting and supporting Ae Jung, and I really wanted her to be with him during his surgery- or at least during his recovery. The idea of Dokgo dying played a pretty important role in getting the two together and admitting their feelings for each other, so it did seem a little weird that we went from the middle of Dokgo’s heart surgery to two months later with not a lot of dramatic tension behind it. We’d been building up to this moment for several episodes, so even if we didn’t really think our main man would die, it felt odd not to have a big recovery moment.

Re-watch?

Potentially. These days I rarely watch things twice as K-Dramaland keeps churning out so many new things I want to watch. Even if I don’t watch the whole thing again, I might come back for an episode or two.

When potatoes and flowers don't work, a snog always gets the message across