Her Private Life (2019)/True to Love (Bora! Deborah) (2023)

 

Her Private Life 

Fandom is one of the most puzzling aspects of humankind – we dedicate so much time, money, and effort towards things (sports, movies, music) that, in the grand scheme of things, are unimportant. Sure, these things help enrich our existence, but the amount of dedication we give to these things is insane. I am not exempt myself from this madness – I will often irrationally scream at the television during a Packers game. Do I expect the Packers will hear my criticisms and make the proper adjustments? No, but it doesn’t stop me from making an ass of myself. Her Private Life is an interesting look at K-pop fandom and all its many quirks and unwritten rules. Well, at least the first half is – the second half is more of your standard K-drama romance (albeit an extremely well-done K-drama romance). 

The always likable Park Min-young stars as Sung Deok-mi, who works as a curator at an art gallery, but spends all of her free time fangirling over a K-pop idol, Sian. She is an extremely devoted fan: her apartment is cluttered with Sian memorabilia; she runs a blog, The Road to Sian, that is devoted entirely to her bias; and she follows him around, takes pictures of him, photoshops them, and then uploads them to her blog. A word that constantly gets thrown around in Her Private Life is “otaku” – it is a Japanese word that essentially means someone who is obsessed with a specific subject.  Deok-mi is a self-described “otaku” and when she is at work she cosplays as a normal person. She has kept her fandom a secret from her co-workers – out of fear that they might ostracize her if they find out. Plus, the former director, Uhm So-hye, absolutely detested K-pop idols and Deok-mi lied just so she could get the job. When Deok-mi goes out to take pictures of Sian, she wears a face mask and baseball cap to hide her identity.  I was initially going to write a snarky comment about how, at age 33, Deok-mi is a bit too old to be fangirling over boy a decade younger than her, but then I remembered walking into the houses of grown men whose homes were cluttered with Green Bay Packers memorabilia. 

When the old director, Uhm So-hye, is forced to resign after an investigation of embezzlement and slush funds – she avoids jail, but her husband ends up doing time. Even though she has resigned as art director, Uhm So-hye still runs things behind the scenes – she is the head director of TK Cultural Foundation, which funds the museum. The gallery needs a new art director and Deok-mi initially believes that she will be given the job because of her five years of devoted service. She is disappointed when she finds out that job has been given to Ryan Gold, a New York artist/critic whose opinion can either make or break an aspiring artist. Ryan Gold wants to turn around the gallery’s fortunes and to spark the public’s interest, he decides to do an exhibit that features the art collection of various celebrities, one of whom just happens to be Sian. This requires him to cancel an exhibition of a local artist that gallery had been working on. Deok-mi is appalled by Ryan’s callous treatment towards the artist and when he asks her to schedule an appointment with the old man, she spills the beans (even though Ryan told her to keep it a secret). The old man writes Ryan a letter to say that they should cancel exhibit and this makes Ryan furious – he confronts Deok-mi about this and when she admits she told the old man about his cancelled exhibition, he fires her. It turns out that Ryan was going to compensate the old artist by arranging for an exhibit of his work in New York.

Deok-mi gets a part-time job working at her friend’s, Lee Seon-joo, coffee house. It also turns out that Ryan is a regular there and always orders the same thing – steamed condensed milk. However, it turns out that Ryan took Deok-mi for granted and the gallery falls into complete chaos with her absence. Ryan approaches Deok-mi at the coffee house, admits his mistake, and apologizes. Despite his apology, she is still reluctant to return to work. After a few choice words, Ryan orders a drink and Deok-mi decides to play a prank on him by putting a touch of coffee in it. It turns out that Ryan is allergic to caffeine and is rushed to the hospital after he passes out. Deok-mi, naturally, feels terrible and when he wakes up, she apologizes and agrees to take back her old job. The more interesting aspect of Her Private Life is that Ryan and Deok-mi settle their differences early on – by the third episode that have a pretty good working relationship. Normally, it isn’t until the halfway point of the series that the two romantic leads finally bury the hatchet. 

With their squabbling out of the way, the series can move onto to the next subplot – Deok-mi being mistaken for Sian’s girlfriend and the shockwaves it creates among the fandom. Ryan has arranged to meet Sian and brings Deok-mi along – it turns out that Ryan and Sian are both fans of the same artist, Lee Sol, a mysterious artist who has only nine paintings to her name and nearly half of them have gone missing. Ryan owns two pieces, and Lee Sol owns three.  The nine paintings are all just part of one big painting – they are of bubbles floating in the air. In an interesting twist, the distant Ryan and the warm Sian actually hit it off. It also turns out that they live in the same apartment building and Sian constantly visits Ryan. You would expect an art snob like Ryan to look down on an idol like Sian, but he accepts Sian for who he is. There is never a sense that Ryan views Sian’s music as “inferior.” 

It is while they are at this meeting that a couple of things happen – while Deok-mi is using the bathroom, she begins to fangirl big time and can’t believe she is sitting in the shower that Sian uses, then she accidentally turns out the shower and gets all wet. Ryan notices that she is drenched and that her dress has become transparent, so he gives her his jacket to cover herself. It also turns out that Sian owns the exact same jacket. This becomes important because a superfan of Sian, a girl who goes by the name of Sindy, is taking pictures of the meeting and manages to capture Deok-mi’s reflection in the window. When Deok-mi exits the apartment building, still wearing Ryan’s jacket, Sindy snaps a few more pictures and uploads them – the fans mistakenly believe she is wearing Sian’s jacket and are outraged. Shit hits the fan when it is rumored that Deok-mi is Sian’s girlfriend. This is one of the unwritten rules of fans: it is okay for a fan to fantasize about being with their favorite idol, but they are forbidden to realize that fantasy. Dating an idol is off limits – the idea being that he/she belongs to all the fans and no fan should be given preferential treatment.  

The fans even turn violent and even assault Deok-mi outside of the art gallery.  Sian’s management tries to diffuse the situation by claiming that it is just a rumor, but they fail to acknowledge that the jacket belongs to Ryan (even after he insisted that they make that point clear). Because of their inability to clarify this one point, the fans still believe that Sian and Deok-mi are dating. Ryan is genuinely concerned about Deok-mi’s safety and even offers to pretend to be her boyfriend to help put these rumors to bed. Deok-mi, at first, rejects his offer but once she realizes that this rumor is not going away any time soon, she agrees to be his pretend girlfriend. They even have Deok-mi’s best friend, Lee Seon-joo, take “paparazzi” pictures of them on a date, and then Deok-mi uploads them to her blog.  It is also around this time that Ryan has figured that Deok-mi is really "The Road to Sian" but keeps it a secret from her. He becomes of a member of the blog by using the pseudonym "Latte." He even chats with Deok-mi a few times while using his alter-ego. 

There is also another reason why Ryan pretends to Deok-mi’s boyfriend, he is worried about her being “outed.” Ryan mistakenly believes that Deok-mi and Seon-joo are lesbian lovers. This is a based off a misunderstanding that happened before Deok-mi and Ryan were co-workers – Deok-mi and Seon-joo took a pilgrimage to a hotel that Sian had spent the night at. They desperately want to spend the night in the same hotel room that Sian stayed in, but the problem is that Ryan had already been assigned that room. Seon-joo approaches Ryan and asks if they can switch rooms– she tells him a vague story about be with the person she loves. Ryan initially scoffs at her suggestion but later sees Deok-mi and Seon-joo in the lounge, laughing with and hugging each other – he fails to see that they are watching a video of Sian on Deok-mi’s phone. Based off the visual evidence, he assumes the two of them are lesbian lovers. He also feels bad about being so dismissive towards Seon-joo and agrees to switch rooms with her.  He is worried that, with all the dirt the fans are digging up on Deok-mi, she will be outed as a lesbian and be further ostracized. This actually gives us a good look at Ryan’s character – he may come off as a cold prick, but he is actually a very considerate person.  At this point in the narrative, he barely knows Deok-mi and Seon-joo yet is willing to oblige both of them. While taking the “paparazzi” photos Seon-joo coos about how great Deok-mi and Ryan look together, this naturally confuses Ryan. When he later finds out that Seon-joo has a six-year-old son, he is even more confused. Whne the truth finally comes out (Deok-mi and Seun-joo are straight and just good friends) he feels like a total jackass.

Just when it seems the rumors have died down, and the two of them can drop the act, the gallery hires Kim Hyo-jin, the daughter of the former director, heiress to the TK Cultural Foundation, and, more importantly, she is Sindy, the superfan who started the rumors in the first place. She specifically took this job to keep an eye on Deok-mi and Ryan to see if their relationship is genuine. She spies on them and writes down all of her observations in a blog, so they have no choice but to keep up the act until Sindy is satisfied.  Of course, in true K-drama fashion, the two of them eventually fall in love with one another.

The supporting characters are likable enough – especially Nam Eun-gi, who is essentially Deok-mi’s adopted brother. Her parents took him after his mother abandoned and raised him as one of their own. He grew up with Deok-mi and now finds that he is beginning to have feelings for her (this is relatable – it would be incredibly easy to fall in love with Park Min-young). He is also a judo instructor (he won a silver medal in judo) and even teaches Seon-joo’s son, Geon-woo. When Deok-mi falls in love with Ryan, this makes Eun-gi jealous. I always like it when TV shows present both points of views- it easy to believe Eun-gi would fall for Deok-mi but it is also understandable as why she doesn’t reciprocate his feelings – he is like a brother to her. She later admits that she has taken him for granted and she does cherish him, but as a brother.  In my past blogs, I have always advised anyone suffering from unrequited love to run away and move with their lives, but in Eun-gi’s case this easier said than done – Deok-mi and him share a long history, were raised in the same household, and have a close relationship with her parents. Plus, he is also like an uncle to Geon-woo, who is the son of Deok-mi best friend, Seon-joo. However, at the end of day, Eun-gi just wants Deok-mi to be happy and when he finally realizes that Ryan is a perfect match for her, he is able to move on. It also turns out that Deok-mi and Eun-gi had met Ryan before (when he went by his Korean name, Heo Yoon-je) but will touch on that later.

Seon-joo has marital problems of her own – her husband, Kang Seung-min, is a TV producer and he is working on a documentary that paints K-pop fans in an unflattering light. However, he keeps that last part secret from Seon-joo and, in his lowest moment, he logs onto her laptop and uploads pictures from her computer (including the “paparazzi” shots she took of Deok-mi and Ryan) and includes them in his documentary. He reluctantly agrees to do this documentary – he was told by the higher ups that if he did this hit piece on K-pop fans he would be promoted to variety shows (something that Seon-joo desperately wants him to do). He swallows his pride and does the documentary and nearly ends his marriage in the process. When he was just working on the documentary, it is easy to rationalize his actions – he’s doing it for the promotion. But once he goes behind his wife’s back and upload photos from her laptop, it is nearly impossible to rationalize such actions. In fact, it can be argued that Seon-joo goes easy on him – she does give him a good scolding and the silent treatment, but that’s about it. He also tends to use their son to rationalize his behavior (“Think of Geon-woo”).

The character of Kim Hyo-jin/Sindy is also given a nice character arc. Like Deok-mi, she devotes all of her spare time obsessing of Sian - she also follows him around, takes pictures of him, and uploads them onto her blog. The difference between the two is that Sindy uses her blog to spread gossip about Sian and is the one responsible for the rumor that Deok-mi and Sian are dating. She uses her connections to get a job at the art gallery so that she can keep an eye on Ryan and Deok-mi - whenever she notices anything unusual about their relationship, she writes about it on a blog. She is a spoiled brat - her mother Uhm So-hye has given her everything she has always wanted. However, her mother also greatly disapproves of K-pop idols and when she learns that Sian is going to displaying his art collection at the gallery, she throws a huge hissy fit and demands that daughter quit. Hyo-jin refuses, and this leads to a falling out between the two of them - Hyo-jin moves out of her parent's house and So-hye takes away her car and credit card (she is hoping that Hyo-jin will come crawling back to her).  Deok-mi's mother takes in Hyo-jin (at Deok-mi's request) and while she is separated from her mother, and with the support of Deok-mi and Ryan, Hyo-jin is able to find her own. Ryan gives her the job of coming up with merchandise for the upcoming exhibit, and after throwing out a few rotten eggs, she comes up with an idea that the Ryan genuinely likes - she wants to hand out miniature art galleries to children (that also comes with miniature paintings they can hang on the walls).  She shifts her passion away from Sian and onto her job - initially she was greeted with apprehension by the staff but, by the show's end, she has become a member of the family. It is also implied that Eun-gi and her will become a couple. 

It also wouldn’t be a K-drama if you didn’t have Kim Mi-kyung as the lead female’s doddering mother. In The Heirs, Kim Mi-kyung gave a rather touching performance as the mute mother of the lead female protagonist (played expertly by Park Shin-hye). She perfectly embodies the working-class mother – she can be a bit standoffish at times but will also do anything to make her children happy, including sacrificing her own health. She doesn’t approve of her daughter being an “otaku” and really wishes she would find a husband. When she meets Ryan, she is delighted that her daughter has found such a handsome and successful man. Ryan also further wins her over with his polite manners – he accepts that ungodly amount of food she has made for him, even after Deok-mi gives her mother a scolding for making so much food. Her father is even impressed by his manners – Deok-mi’s father collects rock, polishes them, and puts them up for display. When he shows off his rock collection to Ryan, he takes a genuine interest in what Deok-mi’s father has to say. This also reveals another side to Ryan – he is willing to accept people’s eccentricities. He could have easily deemed Deok-mi’s father as “insane” but he patiently listens to what her father has to say, and, more importantly, doesn’t make any disparaging remarks about his hobby.

The most surprising aspect of Her Private Life is the intimate nature of Deok-mi/Ryan’s relationship. This might seem minor but, when compared to other K-dramas, the relationship between Deok-mi and Ryan is pretty steamy – after the two of them have finally confirmed their feelings for each, they share a long, passionate kiss. Your average K-drama is pretty chaste (when compared American dramas) and physical contact between the romantic leads is minimal – a K-drama’s idea of characters “consummating” the relationship is often a kiss on the lips. In Her Private Life, Deok-mi and Ryan not only share a passionate kiss, but they are constantly pawing at one another and even spend the night together. In contrast, I recently watched a Korean romantic comedy, Fortune Salon, and that movie ends with the two romantic leads embracing each other.

I also breathed a sigh of relief that after Deok-mi and Ryan became a couple, they manage to stay a couple – the writers resisted the temptation to contrive a way to break them up. There is no “noble sacrifice” nonsense nor a misunderstanding that threatens to tear them apart. It’s like the writers and director realized that Park Min-young and Kim Jae-wook have amazing chemistry and it would be really dumb to separate them. I already touched in a previous entry, how irritating I find the “noble sacrifice,” because it often requires the lead male character to behave in a frustrating and irrational manner. The female lead drops all sorts of hints that she loves the male lead and the only conclusion he can come to is, “She is better off without me!” UGH!!!!  Deok-mi and Ryan do have a misunderstanding but that is before they are officially a couple. Deok-mi hears from Ryan’s female friend, Choi Da-in, that he wants to put an end to their pretend romance. This is only half-true – he does want to stop pretending to be her boyfriend because he wants to be in a genuine romance with her. However, when Ryan is about to announce this to Deok-mi, he makes the mistake of letting her speak first, and she insists they call off the pretend romance. He misinterprets this as her wanting to cut off all ties to him and gives her the cold treatment. However, the writers don’t linger on this subplot for too long, and by the end of the following episode they both reveal their true feelings for each other and then share that long passionate kiss (that lasts all the way until the next episode).  There is also a nice bit of subtle writing when we are shown Deok-mi’s affections shifting from Sian to Ryan – Sian is doing a fan “meet and greet” at a mall and Deok-mi (or more accurately, the Road to Sian) has been selected to have her picture taken when Sian. While sitting in the chair, she notices that Ryan is watching the event from the second floor of the mall and begins to take photos (even though her bias is standing in front of them).  She doesn’t end up uploading photos from the event onto her blog, because she has spent the entire evening photoshopping a picture of Ryan.

The other nice touch is that Ryan accepts Deok-mi being a fan girl of Sian. He figures out early on that she is The Road to Sian and even joins the chat group on her website (under the name “Latte”).  Deok-mi is so worried that Ryan will have a negative opinion of her that when he first visits her apartment, she forces him to wear a blindfold and tells him that she doesn’t want him to see her apartment because it is a mess.  Granted, he finds her “fangirling” to be a bit silly but also realizes that she isn’t doing any harm. Plus, she eventually moves on from being an “otaku” and devotes her time and energy to more productive things. Again, as much as I’d like to thumb my nose at fan girls, I can’t do so without being a hypocrite. Deok-mi may go overboard with her fandom, but it’s nowhere near as bad sports fans who engage in fisticuffs with other sports fans (YOUR TEAM SUCKS!!!).

By avoiding the whole “Let’s separate them main characters because reasons,” this allows the writers to focus on more interesting subplots, like Deok-mi and Ryan coming to terms with the traumatic childhoods and moving on from them. They both have repressed memories from childhood – the earliest memory Ryan has is being abandoned at the orphanage his supposed mother at the age of seven. He occasionally has flashes of an earlier memory – his mother working on a painting. He concludes that his mother must be Lee Sol – the painter he bonded with Sian over – because the woman in his flashback is working on the same piece of Lee Sol artwork that he owns. It is also likely the reason he was attracted to Lee Sol’s paintings in the first place. It also revealed that Ryan had to quit painting because he suffers from Stendahl’s syndrome, and it was this painting that brought on this condition.

Deok-mi wasn’t abandoned at an orphanage, but she senses that there is something that she has forgotten something important. She has flashes of a childhood memory but doesn’t understand the context. It turns out that Ryan also has the same childhood memory – a group of children playing together in a playground. Eun-gi also has the memory, but his memory is much clearer and deliberately keeps it a secret from Deok-mi. When he learns Ryan’s Korean name, Heo Yoon-je, it immediately rings a bell. This when it Her Private Life becomes a bit contrived by wrapping up all its plot points in a convenient bow – turns out that Lee Sol is not only Ryan’s mother but Sian’s, as well. She no longer goes by the name Lee Sol, but Gong Eun-young. She didn’t abandon Ryan at the orphanage, in fact, she didn’t abandon him at all. She dropped him off at the playground to attend a business meeting and on the way back she was hit by a car, which put her in a coma. By the time she woke up, Ryan had been adopted and was living in the United States – she spent years trying to find her son, but to no avail. She eventually remarried and gave birth to Sian. In my review for Skate Into Love, I talked about how one of that show’s central themes was forgiveness, this also applies to Her Private Life.  When Ryan first comes face to face with the woman that he believed abandoned him, he is, naturally, very emotional and angry. However, after he has been giving time to cool down, he is willing to hear her side of the story. Once he learns everything his mother has been through, he accepts her apology and embraces her. 

It isn’t just his biological mother who he forgives – it turns out that the woman he abandoned him at the orphanage was none other than Deok-mi’s mother.  After his mother was in the car accident, and he was left alone at the playground, Deok-mi’s mother found him playing with her children and took him in for a month. Shortly after, Deok-mi and her younger brother, Deok-soo, were in a car accident, which claimed his life and resulted in Deok-mi suffering from amnesia – she completely forgot that she had a younger brother.  After this accident, Deok-mi’s family took a huge financial hit and they simply couldn’t afford to feed three mouths, so her mother dropped Ryan off at the orphanage. She later regretted her decision and went back for Ryan, but by then he had been adopted. Her mother has lived with this shame her entire life, but after Ryan finds out, he doesn’t hold any grudge against her and even tells her that he is grateful she took him in for a short period of time.

I always joked that the world in K-dramas is an incredibly small place, but that takes that idea to the next level. Not only is Ryan the half-brother of the same K-pop idol that Deok-mi fangirls over, but he also briefly lived with her family when he was seven. It often feels like a Korean version of Oliver Twist – with all the revelations that are made at the end. It’s not enough to undermine the entire series – the actors sell the hell out of the material – but it requires a huge suspension of disbelief from the audience. It is unbelievable that Deok-mi’s parents and Eun-gi would hide the memory of Deok-soo from her, out of fear that it might confuse her. Every year they visited his grave; they did it behind Deok-mi's back. Granted, it does give us a touching scene where Deok-mi mourns her late brother. Some of this can be written off a destiny – the fact that Deok-mi and Ryan met when they are little and later reunited as adults can be explained as fate playing a hand in their lives. The writer also goes a good job of setting up the reveal that Ryan and Sian are long lost half-brothers – on multiple occasions Sian senses that there is a bond between Ryan and him and even refers to Ryan as his “brother.” It’s when you take all these things together that it becomes a bit too much.

True to Love

True to Love has a few similarities as Her Private Life – two incredibly likable leads (Yoo In-na and Yoon Hyun-min), interesting supporting characters, and an underlying theme of moving on from the past.  It hits the usual K-drama plot beats – the two romantic leads initially dislike one another; the supporting characters have their own relationship problems they must overcome; and the male protagonist comes to the false conclusion that the heroine would be better off with him and decides the make the “noble sacrifice” (or “noble idiocy” as coined by K-drama blogger, Dramabeans) and tries to push the lead female away by putting up a cold front.  It is an entertaining show for the most, but there were times where I found myself shouting at the television by the overall stupidity of the male lead.

Yoo In-na stars as Yeon Bo-ra, a dating expert who has written three bestselling books and has her own popular radio show, where she gives advice to listeners to who write in. By every metric, she is very successful woman, but she is now entering into middle age (the show doesn’t give you specific, but Yoon In-na was forty years-old when the show was filmed) and is looking to take that next step in her life – marriage. She has dated Noh Joo-wan (the heir to a fried chicken franchise, Mom’s Chicken) for the last three years and he seems to be dropping hints that he is going to pop the question. At one point he asks Bo-ra out to dinner because he has an important announcement to make – Bo-ra is expecting a proposal instead he enthusiastically tells that her that Mom’s Chicken is going to be merging with a pizza chain, so their customers can now enjoy fried chicken and pizza together. Her world comes tumbling down when she catches Joo-wan cheating on her with a younger woman (who he introduces as “his cousin”).  

Her male counterpart is Lee Soo-hyuk, a publishing planner at the publishing house, Jinri. His best friend (and business partner) is Han Sang-jin, who is the representative of Jinri and is determined to sign Bo-ra to a contract. She is a hot commodity and Jinri wants a piece of the pie. Soo-hyuk dislikes Bo-ra because she presents herself as a “know-it-all” and believe she is a grifter. In the love department, Soo-hyuk isn’t faring any better than Bo-ra – his girlfriend of four years, Yu-ri, recently broke up him because of his inability to define their relationship. He never verbally confirmed his love for her, he just assumed she knew how he felt. She reveals that she has been seeing another man who is much more open with his feelings and then she verbally assaults him with insults. The irony is that Soo-hyuk actually bought an engagement ring and was going to propose to her, but he made the classic mistake of allowing her to speak first. Of course, he could have silenced her by taking out the ring and proposing to her and, given what we learn later on, she probably would have accepted. Soo-hyuk is a likable guy but he is not the brightest bulb at times.

 Soo-hyuk initially blames Bo-ra for the breakup – Yu-ri wrote into Bo-ra’s radio program and asked for advice on what to do about her noncommittal boyfriend. Bo-ra advised her to break up with him. Soo-hyuk was listening to Bo-ra’s radio show in the car and was able to put two and two together. When Yu-ri breaks up with Soo-hyuk, she paraphrases Bo-ra’s comments. However, he begins to sympathize with Bo-ra when he also witnesses Joo-wan cheating on her – this was entirely unintentional, the two of them shared a cab and they accidentally grab each other’s cellphone. Soo-hyuk was returning her cellphone, when he also spotted Joo-wan kissing another woman in his car.

Bo-ra’s lowest point occurs when she is the guest of honor at the Golden Night Party (which is being hosted by an influential lifestyle magazine, La Bella, where her friend Yoo-jeong works at) – she takes the stage completely shitfaced and proceeds to go an anti-man and anti-woman rant (she says women are only “after the diamond ring” and that all men are “bastards”), and then she slips on her heels and falls on her back, accidentally exposing her panties to the outraged audience. Soo-hyuk happens to be attending this event and goes onstage, covers Bo-ra up with his jacket, and then carries her off the stage. The public turns on Bo-ra and her social media accounts get flooded with negative comments. She was originally supposed to be featured on the cover of La Bella magazine, but they replaced her photo with one of the girl group, BLACKPINK (in your area). The guest column that she wrote for the magazine was pushed towards the back. However, once the public finds out the reason for her drunken rant (her boyfriend cheating on her) she begins to receive an outpour of sympathy.

This perfectly depicts the fickle nature of human nature – when Bo-ra is on the top of the world, everyone wants to work with her. After the scandal, everyone turns their back on her. When she, once again, receives support from the public (mostly single women), everyone wants to work with her again – Jinri publishing is not an exception to the rule. After her drunken rant, Sang-jin is no longer interested in signing a book deal with her. Soo-hyuk, to his credit, defends her.  When she, once again, becomes a hot commodity, Sang-jin is eager to sign her to a book deal. Lucky, for Sang-jin, Bo-ra is in desperate need of money (her younger sister was scammed out of three million won) and she is willing to take whatever offer Sang-jin is willing to give her (her only demand is that she was an advance on her payment). The subject of her book is how to deal with a breakup and how to win back your ex-boyfriend. Her plan is to make her ex-boyfriend jealous to the point that he will be begging her for forgiveness.  Soo-hyuk offers to be a willing pawn in her psychological war against Joo-wan – therefore it is only a matter of time before the two of them fall in love. 

True to Love also benefits from a rather strong supporting cast of characters, all of whom have their own relationship problems that need to be resolved.  Bo-ra’s best friend is Lee Yoo-jeong, who is a writer at La Bella magazine (and played by Girl’s Day member, Park So-jin) and is married to Yang Jin-woo, the owner of a café. Their relationship has devolved into one devoid of passion – they haven’t had sex in ages and barely see one another. Jin-woo, unbeknownst to Yoo-jeong, has his own man cave hidden in the basement of his café. Whenever he wants to blow off steam, he goes to his safe space and plays video games. This comes at the expense of his relationship with Yoo-jeong, who often spends many nights alone. As a couple they go through the motions – they make public appearances together and put on a happy face when they are hanging out with friends, but privately there is nothing there. They even put off having children, so they could establish themselves in their career path, but now that they have both found success, they only care about their own needs and lack the desire to have kids.  The writers don’t assign blame to either of them, it is just an unfortunate reality that has snuck up on them. 

Bo-ra’s younger sister gets romantically involved with the awkward but sweet natured Yang Jin-ho. The two of them first meet a night club – Jin-ho has just got out of the army and wants to meet women – when he first sees Do-mi on the dance floor, it is love at first sight. However, when it comes to women, he is inexperienced and just can’t work up the courage to approach Do-mi (she is his ideal woman, after all). However, it seems that fate has dealt him a favorable hand when Do-mi walks up to the bar and stands right next him. He realizes it is now or never and manages to break the ice with her. They have an awkward conversation that it is often interrupted by long pauses as Jin-ho figures out what he wants to say to her, but he does manage to get her phone number. He is convinced that Do-mi is his destiny – the fact that the two of them keep bumping into one another seems to prove his point. He even gets a part time job at Jin-woo’s café as a server (Jin-woo and him served in the same army unit) – a place where Do-mi and her sister regularly hang out at.  Do-mi is initially apprehensive towards Jin-ho, but once she realizes that he is a good-natured guy, who is looking for a long-term relationship, she can’t help but to fall for him charm.

Sang-jin’s ex-wife is Seo Su-jin, the editor of La Bella magazine (and Lee Yoo-jeong’s boss) and she still holds a grudge against her ex-husband. He never figured out why she asked for a divorce and on a few occasions tries to bury the hatchet with her, but she is just not interested. He is also oblivious that the youngest employee at his company, Bang Woo-ri, has a crush on him. Woo-ri is an agreeable girl, with an upbeat personality, and doesn’t have a single mean bone in her body. However, she also becomes a subject of gossip among her co-workers who are convinced she is having an affair with Sang-jin. They begin to grill her big time but Soo-hyuk comes to her defense and scolds them for giving her such a hard time over something that isn’t really their business. They do apologize to Woo-ri and, since she is not one to bear a grudge, she accepts their apology. Sang-jin is interested in Woo-ri but he is hesitant to get involved with her, because of their significant age difference (he is in his forties while she is in her early twenties) and the fact that he is a divorcee and still hasn’t gotten over his ex-wife.

His absent mindedness often makes things awkward for Woo-ri – she asks him if he wants to see a movie and he says yes, but he also then invites the rest of the staff to come with them, because he assumed that Woo-ri wanted to do a group building exercise. When he does figure out that Woo-ri likes him, he is noncommittal towards her – she even tells him that she wishes he would just reject her so she could get over him.  This is an important lesson for young people – never dick around with a person’s emotions. If you are not interested in them, tell them straight up (even if it hurts), because the sooner you tell them, the sooner they can get over it. And for the love of God, don’t do the “just friends” thing.  Sang-ji even overhears the staff bombarding Woo-ri with nonstop questions about their relationship but stays hidden in his office – Soo-hyuk is disgusted by his best friend’s cowardice in the moment. Sang-ji should be coming to Woo-ri’s defense, but it is Soo-hyuk comes to her aid.

It takes a long time for Bo-ra and Soo-hyuk to admit that they have feelings for each other. They two of them share a kiss at a karaoke bar, but then both agree that it was a “mistake.” They were both caught up in the emotions of the moment and weren’t thinking clearly.  As Bo-ra gets her confidence back, her ex-boyfriend, Joo-wan comes back into her life, and wants to get back together with her. Soo-hyuk is convinced that this is what Bo-ra wants and begins to distance himself from her (the “noble sacrifice” on full display) even though it is obvious to anyone with one good eye that Bo-ra is no longer interested in Joo-wan. She drops multiple hints throughout the series that she is no longer interested in Soo-hyuk, but Soo-hyuk is too dense to pick up on them.  She finally spells it out for him (“I LIKE YOU”) and he is still noncommittal (“I don’t know.”) In the last two episodes, Soo-hyuk behavior becomes increasingly more frustrating – I got so annoyed with his dumb decisions that I found myself yelling at the screen (“WHAT ARE YOU DOING, YOU MORON? SHE LIKES YOU! CONFESS YOUR FEELINGS!”).  Bo-ra tells him that she wants to hear him verbally confirm their relationship, he just has to utter three words (“I love you”) and she is his. But inexplicably, he still decides the “noble sacrifice” is the correct route – even though Bo-ra has no desire to get back together with Joo-wan. After over complicating things, he finally comes to his senses and confesses his love for Bo-ra.  The main flaw with True to Love is that it is two episodes too long – the plot could have easily been resolved in twelve episodes, but the writers were determined to drag it out to fourteen episodes, which explains that late introduction of the “noble sacrifice” subplot.

The main theme of True to Love is moving on from your past: Bo-ra moves on from her ex-boyfriend; Soo-hyuk moves on from his painful breakup from his ex-girlfriend; and Do-mi moves on from adolescence and embraces adulthood.  It is not easy moving on, and the characters all go through a “trial by fire” – but they come out of the mess as stronger individuals. Bo-ra’s ego takes a massive blow when she catches Joo-wan cheating on her – she is, after all, a self-professed dating expert, but couldn’t figure out that her boyfriend was two-timing her. This results in an identity crisis – who is the real Bo-ra? She used her relationship with Joo-wan to define herself – the two of them had seemingly healthy relationship and she was convinced that it was only a matter of time before she would be showing off an engagement ring to all of her friends and acquaintances. Bo-ra likes the idea of marriage, but she fails to realize that marriage takes a lot of work and isn’t always peachy keen. Her breakup with Joo-wan and Soo-hyuk’s noncommitment helps her refine herself – she would love to be in a relationship with Soo-hyuk but she also not going to lose sleep with if he rejects her. She doesn’t want to be with a man who can’t verbally confirm his feelings for her – she doesn’t want a guy who speaks in riddles and metaphors, she wants someone who can straight up tell her how he feels. This was also the same reason that Soo-hyuk lost Yu-ri. 

Soo-hyuk’s relationship with Yu-ri is a mirror image of Bo-ra’s and Joo-wan’s – Yu-ri breaks up with Soo-hyuk and gets engaged to another man, but just when it looks like Soo-hyuk has forgotten about her, she comes back into his life. Yu-ri even confesses to Bo-ra that one of the reasons she said yes to her fiancé was to hurt Soo-hyuk – she sends him an invite to her wedding and there is a part of her that hopes he makes a scene.  She doesn’t feel good about such vindictive thoughts, but she can’t help herself. She is human, after all. With her wedding around the corner, she begins to have second thoughts, calls up Soo-hyuk, and asks him to meet her at a restaurant. Her call also coincides while Bo-ra and Soo-hyuk are on their way to a wedding rehearsal of a mutual friend of Bo-ra and Joo-wan – Bo-ra knows that Joo-wan will be there and, with Soo-hyuk’s permission, wants to flaunt Soo-hyuk in front of Joo-wan to make him jealous. Bo-ra begs Soo-hyuk to ignore Yu-ri and stay with her, but he is compelled to go to his ex-girlfriend and tells Bo-ra that he will meet her at the rehearsal. Soo-hyuk doesn’t want to getback together with Yu-ri, he has gotten over her, but he does want to bring closure to their relationship. Yu-ri pours out all of her insecurities and doubts to Soo-hyuk, and even suggests they should start over, but he assures that she is engaged to the right guy. He owns up to his past mistakes and apologizes to Yu-ri for not defining their relationship. When Yu-ri’s worried fiancé shows up, Soo-hyuk tells him that he is a high school friend of Yu-ri and that he was the only friend who showed up to their get together. This meeting is not only good for Soo-hyuk, but Yu-ri, as well – it alleviates all the doubts she is having about her upcoming marriage. All bitterness has disappeared, and when Yu-ri marches down the wedding aisle, Soo-hyuk is genuinely happy for her.

Soo-hyuk also keeps his promise to Bo-ra and meets her at the wedding rehearsal – he immediately becomes the talk of the party. All of Bo-ra’s friends are curious about him, while Joo-wan jealously looks on. While Soo-hyuk has moved on from Yu-ri, Joo-wan begins to have second thoughts about breaking up with Bo-ra and asks her to give him a second chance. He tries to convince her that he is a different but manages to turn her off with his controlling behavior – Bo-ra and Soo-hyuk are having a business meeting at Jin-woo’s café and Joo-wan interrupts it by insisting that Bo-ra have dinner with him. Soo-hyuk, inexplicably, believes that this is what Bo-ra wants and ends their meeting. This is when Soo-hyuk’s behavior becomes increasingly frustrating – it is obvious to everyone, except Soo-hyuk, that Bo-ra wants to be with him and considers Joo-wan a total pain in the ass. But Soo-hyuk cannot take a hint to save his life and even after Bo-ra declares her feelings for him, he is still unsure. UGH!!!! He finally comes to his senses and proclaims his love for Bo-ra, but this honestly should have happened two episodes earlier.

The character who has the biggest arc is Bo-mi. She begins the series without a care in the world – she lives with her older sister and shirks all responsibilities. She is significantly younger than Bo-ra and like many girls (hell most people) in their early twenties – she is not ready to settle down and just wants to hang out at the night clubs with her friends. Her relationship with Bo-ra is combative at times – Bo-ra wants her younger sister to grow up, while Bo-mi views her older sister as a bore. When Bo-ra’s world falls apart, Bo-mi realizes that she can’t always depend on her older sister to bail her out and begins to make more sensible decisions in her life – she gets a waitressing job at Jin-woo’s café. She also falls in love with Jin-ho – the two of them complement each other rather well. They both accept each other’s eccentricities and, rather than trying to change each other, work on solutions that will benefit both of them. When Bo-mi gets pregnant, Jin-ho steps up the challenge and supports her every step of the way. She decides to have the baby and Jin-ho couldn’t be happier – his main goal in life was to find a woman to love and have children with. Bo-ra isn’t initially happy about their relationship, but Jin-ho eventually grows on her – once she realizes is a well-meaning individual.

True to Love is not one of the better K-dramas I have watched – but it is still a fairly entertaining show, thanks to in large part to its lively cast.  In fact, I’m rather impressed with Yoon Hyun-min (who plays Soo-hyuk) – this is the third drama I have seen in him in the last month, and he managed to give a distinct performance all three TV series – in Beating Again, he effectively plays one of the most detestable villains I have ever seen (he is a backstabber who wears a mask of empathy); in Tunnel, he plays a humorless homicide detective with a troubled past (his mother was murdered by a serial killer); and in True to Love, he plays a well-meaning but dense planner at a publishing house – a guy who is knowledgeable in many things except love. It’s worth watching for his performance alone (though, he is ably assisted by Yoo In-na, who is her usual charming self).  

Her Private Life
Cast: Park Min-young (Sung Deok-mi), Kim Jae-wook (Ryan Gold/ Heo Yoon-je), Ahn Bo-hyun (Nam Eun-gi), Park Jin-joo (Lee Seon-joo), Jung Jae-won (Cha Si-an/Sian), Kim Bo-ra (Kim Hyo-jin/Sindy), Kim Mi-kyung (Go Young-sook), Maeng Sang-hoon (Sung Geun-ho), Kim Sun-young (Uhm So-hye), Park Myung-shin (Nam Se-yeon), Hong Seo-young (Choi Da-in), Lee Il-hwa (Gong Eun-young/Lee Sol), Im Ji-kyu (Kang Seung-min), Jung Si-yul (Kang Geon-woo), Yoo Yong-min (Joo-hyuk), Kim Chang-hoi (Secretary Kim).

Director: Hong Jang-chan
Writer: Kim Hye-young
16 episodes ~ 60 minutes

True to Love (Bora! Deborah)
Cast: Yoo In-na (Yeon Bo-ra), Yoon Hyun-min (Lee Soo-hyuk), Joo Sang-wook (Han Sang-jin), Hwang Chan-sung (Noh Joo-wan), Park  So-jin (Lee Yoo-jeong), Kim Ye-ji (Yeon Bo-mi), Koo Jun-hoe (Yang Jin-ho), Lee Sang-woon (Yang Jin-woo), Song Min-ji (Seo Su-jin), Hong Hwa-yeon (Bang Woo-ri), Kim Ji-an (Lim Yu-ri), Park  Ri-won (Da-mi).

Directors: Lee Tae-gon, Seo Min-jeong.
Writer: Ah Kyung
14 episodes ~ 60 minutes.