Fight My Way
7/10
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| Fight My Way |
Genre: Episodes: 16 Year: 2017
Romance
Comedy
Synopsis:
Four friends have been together since childhood and have grown into adults together. Go Dong Man wants to be a professional fighter, Choi Ae Ra an announcer, Baek Seol Hee a housewife, and Kim Joo Man a businessman. As Dong Man and Ae Ra set out to achieve there dreams, Seol Hee and Joo Man’s six-year relationship gets rocky.
Cast:
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| Park Seo Joon (Go Dong Man) |
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| Kim Ji Won (Choi Ae Ra) |
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| Song Ha Yoon (Baek Seol Hee) |
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| Ahn Jae Hong (Kim Joo Man) |
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| Lee Elijah (Park Hye Ran) |
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| Kim Gun Woo (Kim Tak Soo) |
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| Pyo Ye Jin (Jang Ye Jin) |
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| Jin Hee Kyung (Hwang Bok Hee) |
General Thoughts:
It’s a cute, breezy drama with enough substance in it to keep it memorable. The plot is essentially entirely character driven- there’s no huge overarching event, no ultimate evil- only a group of adults struggling to find their feet in the world.
It was a smart move to have the friends each focus on different aspects of their lives rather than just having a show about four people chasing their dreams or finding love or developing their careers. While Dong Man and Ae Ra had storylines about following their dreams, Seol Hee’s story focused on figuring out who she was and what she wanted, and Joo Man’s story was about realising what was most important.
Simple slice-of-life stories are becoming more common now in K-Drama (Radiant Office, Age of Youth, Weightlifting Fairy), and there’s a reason why. Characters in these types of stories are just far more relatable than stories about the super rich or the super poor or the super talented. It’s easier to connect with these characters because they feel more like ourselves, and they also tend to act much more reasonable and adult-like than characters in other genres. This was certainly the case in ‘Fight My Way’. All of our main characters acted their age and had reasonable, rational decisions behind everything they did (which we actually get surprisingly little of in K-Dramaland). Although we might not agree with their choices, the choices are still understandable. For instance Ae Ra’s ultimatum. I’m never really a fan of ultimatums as they are essentially an illusion of choice or a threat, with Ae Ra leaning more towards threat. It felt a bit like she was using their relationship to crush Dong Man’s dreams for her own piece of mind. Even if you viewed it as a low and dirty tactic, you could still always see Ae Ra’s point of view. She doesn’t like seeing Dong Man get hurt with the very real possibility that he could be permanently injured or even die, so she has every right to take a step back and distance herself from something that is very likely to cause her considerable pain in the future.
It’s not the action I’d take, and it’s not particularly the action I wanted Ae Ra to take, but it was understandable all the same. Another good aspect of this drama is that it didn’t have any gimmicky villains the way rom-coms can sometimes have. Tak Soo was our biggest threat, and he wasn’t unnecessarily involved with our hero’s story. He was there as an obstacle to overcome, and he didn’t lie down and make it easy, but he also wasn’t a character that was obnoxiously in the way making trouble for Dong Man simply because he’s the hero and bad guys need to make trouble for the hero.
Hye Ran was a character that was also used very effectively. She was involved when we needed her to be and was just present enough to make Ae Ra feel nervous. Despite what K-Drama writers seem to think, we don’t actually like b*tchy second leads who use up a bunch of screen-time- particularly if our hero is somehow ridiculously oblivious to her b*tchy ways. Hye Ran was always present in the story, but the writers knew when to pull her character out of the main focus and give our leads space to breathe and be cute. And boy were they cute.
I didn’t think the leads had chemistry that was off the charts, but they had an easy and relaxed vibe between them that made the friends-to-lovers angle feel genuine. I liked that the second leads had interests and conflicts outside of the two main leads, as so often we’re given a big ol’ love square. It was refreshing to have not one, but two couples with different concerns, and gave the second leads more depth than they otherwise might have had. It’s a good way to ensure that there’s always some cute going on- before Dong Man and Ae Ra got together Seol Hee and Joo Man were happy and adorable. When Joo Man and Seol Hee started to have some pretty big relationship issues, Ae Ra and Dong Man were in the stages of a newly budding romance. It’s an easy and effective way to ensure that the drama maintains its lighthearted feel throughout, even when something meatier was happening in the plot. While I did enjoy the distinct separateness of the two couples, I still wish that the writers had included more of the supposed ‘fantastic four’ all together. There was certainly a sense that these people had been longterm friends, but it would have been an added bonus to see them interacting with each other a bit more rather than just pairing off. I will admit that at times it felt kind like we were just watching two couples’ stories that happened to exist in the same K-Drama Universe.
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| The Fantastic Four |
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| 100% Relatable |
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| I may not agree with it, but at least I get it |
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| Golly gosh, Park Seo Joon's got beefy |
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| Having her be too involved could have totally ruined the show |
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| More scenes like this would have been excellent |
What Was Great:
Small Moments:
It was definitely the small moments that were the heart and soul of the show- as it so often is in slice-of-life dramas. While big declarations of love and loyalty can be pretty swoony, there’s something golden about an act of real love that goes unannounced and doesn’t draw attention to itself.
It makes the relationships feel deeper when the characters don’t make a big deal of their actions, as it translates as a desire to simply do something good for the other, rather than gain recognition for the good that they do. I found this was particularly the case with the parents in ‘Fight My Way’. The episode that had Dong Man’s father come and visit him was full of these quiet, understated moments that showed how much these men loved each other, even if they didn’t always say it out loud. Similarly, the scene in which Ae Ra has her MC gig taken away from her by Hye Ran leads to a beautiful moment between Ae Ra and her father. While Ae Ra is feeling wronged and highly humiliated, her father knows exactly how to comfort her without coddling her. By telling her that the stage wasn’t big enough for her he simultaneously tells her that it’s okay that she lot this one job, and that he’ll always support her dreams. It doesn’t sound like much on paper, but him knowing exactly what to say to his distraught daughter spoke volumes of how well he knew Ae Ra.
Seol Hee and her mother also had a few touching moments sprinkled throughout the series. The scene that stood out most for me was the scene when Seol Hee’s mother sees her getting ordered around by Joo Man’s relatives. Again, it showed great insight on the parent’s part to know how to handle the situation in a way that was least likely to hurt their child. Seol Hee’s mother quietly backs away and pretends she doesn’t know anything, which leads to a touching heart-to-heart once Seol Hee finds out. The four friends themselves, particularly Dong Man and Ae Ra, have a bunch of small, warming moments that make them characters that you are drawn to and feel attached to.
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| Small moments can often have a bigger impact than large-scale declarations |
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| Parent bonding can be a bit hit and miss, but 'Fight My Way' totally nailed it |
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| Though admittedly my love for Seol did mar my affections for Joo Man |
Cast:
This drama was perfectly cast. Park Seo Joon is so wonderful that I don’t doubt he could do anything, so it’s really no surprise that he fits our Dong Man character perfectly. He plays the honest man with sincerity and heart and delivers another wonderful lead performance. This is Kim Ji Won’s first leading role (I know, I can’t believe she didn’t get one sooner) and boy did she deliver.
I sometimes find that K-dramaland struggles to hit that place of indepentent-but-not-b*tchy, but Kim Ji Won found the perfect middle ground. Ae Ra didn’t feel like a doormat that could be walked all over, but she also wasn’t so fiercely independent that she became hard and unlikable. It has to do with how the character is written, but a lot also comes from how the actor portrays the character, and Kim Ji Won was just perfect. I remember in a guest appearance on ‘Running Man’ she felt quite awkward when she was asked to do aegyo, so I was super impressed when as Ae Ra she could bust out the most finger-curling baby voice and pouts- she really wasn’t afraid to throw herself into the character. While the role of Joo Man wasn’t particularly fascinating, I was glad to see Ahn Jae Hong in a big role. Typically leads and second leads look like…well like Park Seo Joon, so it was nice to see an actor who doesn’t typically look the part to be playing our second male lead. Usually actors and actresses who don’t fit the stereotypically defined ‘pretty’ get made fun of in the roles they take (see Lee Do Yeon in ‘Let’s Eat’), so it’s exciting that Ahn Jae Hong was not only the second male lead, but that his character was viewed as someone desirable- for both personality and looks.
Hopefully we’ll see more of this type of casting in the future, and for female roles as well. As for Song Ha Yoon, she was just delightful. I adored that her character had such a simple dream- not everyone wants to be something unique or extravagant. Television can sometimes inadvertently shame women who aspire to be housewives/mothers as an unfortunate side effect of trying to empower their female characters.
By ‘empowering’ the female characters they tend to make them career driven rather than family driven, so in this modern age of strong, independent female characters we actually rarely see characters like Seol Hee who aspire to be a mother. Seol Hee was a delightful character all round and it was wonderful to see her stand up for herself and really figure out what she wanted. Yes, she wanted to be a housewife and a mother, but she didn’t have to let Joo Man hurt and ignore her feelings to achieve her goal. She knew when to forgive and she knew when was enough, and that made Seol Hee a strong, steady character in her own right. It’s a delicate role to play as Seol Hee could have quite easily become an ignorant, boing character, but Song Ha Yoon had excellent expressions and always had a way of letting us know that she was aware of what was happening, and was choosing to forgive (until she didn’t), rather than simply being naive. She played the character with the perfect amount of fire and cute. Kim Gun Woo was quite impressive when you consider it’s his first drama. He didn’t come across as one shade of evil, but played the spoiled brat who was used to getting what he wanted well. It wasn’t a super easy role (nor was it super hard), but he gave a good antagonistic performance.
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| I wish I could be at least half this cute |
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| ☆Congratulations on breaking the mould☆ |
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| Meanwhile she's dreaming about smacking you with a bunch of kimchi |
Epilogues:
The epilogues were so, so cute! While the epilogues that added little extras of them as adults were nice, it was the childhood epilogues that really grabbed my attention.
The kids acted just like the adults, and it was a nice way to remind us that Ae Ra and Dong Man had been close for a very long time, as there were actually not that many references to the group’s shared history. Not to mention they were just downright hilarious.
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| These kiddos were just plain gorgeous |
What Wasn’t:
Didn’t Capitalise:
Okay, don’t get me wrong, it’s not like I didn’t enjoy the way the romance played out, but I did feel that the drama didn’t exactly capitalise on the whole friends-to-lovers angle.
Dong Man and Ae Ra’s interactions were certainly cute, but they somehow seemed to lack that complete familiarity that long term friends have. I think a lot of this is due to the two lead characters being so aware of their feelings, which made for a nice honest relationship,
but also took away a little of the comfort of the friendship- because the two were so hyper aware of skinship as they knew they liked the other. One of my personal favourite things about friend-to-lovers stories is the way that the couples tend to already be dating before they even realise they like each other (à la Weightlifting Fairy and 2 Outs in the 9th Inning). So while it wasn’t a huge downer as it actually brought something a little bit unique to the show, I was a bit disappointed at the lack of careless skinship and such between the leads that tends to occur in friends-to-lover romances. It felt more like a first love story to me.
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| When I hear friends-to-lovers I think an abundance of casual skinship |
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| Most of the cute came once they started officially dating |
Slight Mum Confusion:
And by slight I mean what the banoonoos was going on there. The reveal was clever as I kind of discounted Ae Ra being the Landlady’s daughter as it felt too obvious- I was expecting it to somehow be Dong Man, or even Tak Soo, with the Landlady looking out for the kid whose life her secret son ruined.
As Ae Ra seemed like the obvious option it was easy to discount her, but it also didn’t feel like a cheap trick when Ae Ra did turn out to be the daughter- because it was my own mind overcomplicating things rather than the drama doing a switcheroo.
But I still remain baffled as to why the Landlady left her daughter in the first place. I get that she was a porno actress and that a show was coming out naming Ae Ra as the daughter of a porn star, but it also seemed like the guy running the show was gong to play it regardless of what the Landlady did, so I never really understood what leaving Ae Ra accomplished. Was it simply because if she wasn’t around it would be hard for people to pinpoint Ae Ra as the daughter on the show? I dunno. There’s probably a really obvious answer and I’ve just missed it completely. I also wish the show had spent just a little more time on the relationship between the Landlady and Nam Il, as there was a whole bunch of cute relationship development there that we just never got to see.
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| I just don't understand... |
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| Like, she just found a random Korean kid in Japan and decided to adopt him? |
Recommend?
Yeah, I’d recommend this drama to people who like simple love stories. It’s not overly dramatic and not a whole lot happens, but it has a sweet story at its centre. It’s got enough content that it’s more than just a fluff drama. It feels easy and familiar without being boring- like your favourite comfort food.
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| A rooftop bar- the ultimate Korean dream |
