The Story:
Two young teen
twin sisters see their cop father die early due to a
poor on the job decision, and they and their mother are
kicked out of their home and have to seriously downgrade
their already compromised living standards. (I kept
wondering since he died on duty why wasn't there a
pension to his wife / family? Stupid!). In reaction to
his loss and financial stress one sister decides to
overcome evil with good, and the other one plans her
escape through personal ambition, no matter what it
takes or who she might hurt.
Cha Sun Hee the good sister (Lee Da Hae) becomes a
housewife when proposed to by a clown named Bong Cheon
Dae (Bae Soo Bin - yes you read that right - a
professional clown!). Her husband is often unemployed
because he's essentially a silly over-emotional loser,
so she has to take odd jobs when she can to help support
her family. They have a bright young daughter named Bong Cho Rong (Lee Han
Seo) who easily sees the lay of the land on the true
nature of her parents, and she often has to point out
reality to her own mother.
The Set Up
Cha Sun Hee's twin
sister, Cha Do Hee (Lee Da Hae in a dual role), leaves
home early and sets her ambitions on becoming a great
flight attendant for the aerospace company run by her
elders Oh Pyeong Pan (Lee Deok Hwa) the owner of the
firm, and the female manager Oh Tae Ri (Yoon Se Ah, Just Between
Lovers), who takes an instant shine to her
during her interview process for the job. Do Hee does an
outstanding job and is often voted the best flight
attendant in the company. However she has a rather
contentious relationship with the chief pilot in the
company who is always winning awards for being the best
on his job, Song Woo Jin (Ryu Soo Young).
Although they are identical twins, the sisters have
completely opposite personalities. Cha Do Hee (the
ambitious sister) becomes involved in a situation which
leads to Cha Sun Hee (the good sister) to pretend to be
her flight attendant sister, so they have to switch
roles. While pretending to be her sister she starts to
fall in love with pilot Woo Jin, although fighting her
feelings because of her marriage. He starts to feel
close to her for the first time, not realizing it's a
different person than the flight attendant he didn't get
along with before.
Meanwhile other people on the sidelines are becoming
emotionally involved with this developing situation,
including Oh Tae Ri who really starts to fall apart
emotionally out of competition against Sun Hee (playing
Do Hee) now that she seems so much changed. There are
lots of twists and turns in this story but to an
experienced K-drama watcher there really is nothing here
that is unpredictable or surprising. There's a rather
pat ending which seems contrived, but by that point I
was just glad this series was over and I could find
something else to watch, and that ended up being the
much better My
Mister K-drama.
If you love the actors, particularly Lee Da Hae, and are
curious to see how she does playing two opposite
characters, then by all means check this K-drama out;
you might enjoy it more than I did. Its production
values ARE sophisticated for what it is, but I would
really urge you to watch her in Chuno
instead, if you haven't already. That's a masterpiece
.... and this is tabloid fodder. ;)