My Blooming Days
aka My Spring Days 내 생애 봄날 MBC (2014) 16 Episodes
Romantic Melodrama, Grade: A Korean Drama Review by Winnie, USA
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
My Blooming Days
is a beautifully filmed romantic melodrama that reminded
me a lot of the Four Seasons' Korean Drama Classic Summer
Scent. In some ways it was quite different
though, such as the male lead character here was a widower
with children, while in Summer
Scent he was a widower who was
single. In both dramas the chemistry on screen for both
lead couples was awesome! In both dramas their
cinematography and their soundtracks were outstanding. In
both dramas the supporting cast members were excellent as
well. In fact I think watching both dramas in a row would
truly make you melt! :)
Suavely
handsome male lead Kam Woo Sung, who had wowed me in
dramas Alone
In Love and The
Wind Blows, as well as the Korean film
classic The King And The Clown, was absolute
perfection here as the widowed Dad; gorgeous
actress Sooyoung (If
You Wish Upon Me) complemented his
performance with a gentle compassion for his grieving
character; second male lead was the always
amazing, handsome Lee Joon Hyuk (City
Hunter) who was a real scene thief here;
and the always complex second lead actress was Jang
Shin Young who was so unforgettable for me in one of
the my top favorite Korean dramas of all time, Rebirth-Next.
The
Story:
Beautiful Lee Bom Yi (Choi Sooyoung) was sickly
most of her life until a miracle suddenly happens
for her and she receives a heart transplant. Well
aware that the gift she received was likely from
someone else's tragedy, she vows to do whatever
she can to honor her donor's gift of life.
Her physician, Dr. Kang
Dong Wook (Lee Joon Hyuk) falls in love with the
brave Bom Yi and proposes marriage; she accepts.
At one time, through flashbacks, we learn that he
had had a one-sided secret love for his brother's
wife, whose name had been Bae Ji Won (Jang Shin
Young) and had been heartbroken when they publicly
announced their engagement. He never told his
brother outright but nevertheless that secret
drove a perplexing wedge into their relationship.
Dr. Dong Wook knows Bom Yi has his late
sister-in-law's heart but decides not to tell her
for fear she would seek out his brother and become
his brother's wife instead, out of a sense of
duty. Fate and cellular memory (a phenomenon where
a recipient takes on some mannerisms and feelings
of their donor) seem to have other things in store
for this trio.
Fatefully, Bom Yi winds up meeting the widower
Kang Dong Ha (Kam Woo Sung) and his grieving two
children, son Kang Ba Da (Gil Jung Woo) and
daughter Kang Pureun (Jung Ji So) when she travels
to the island where her donor passed away. Her
mission was to honor her donor but, while there,
she finds herself drawn to the widower and his two
suffering children, and he, for the first time in
years, sees in her someone compassionate whom he
may be able to love again.
Neither know, at that
time, their connection through Dong Wook, nor do
they know the connection through Bom Yi's
transplanted heart. Is it a strange twist of fate
that Bom Yi and Dong Ha keep running into each
other, even when, after finding out they are soon
to be family, they vow to stay apart? Or is
something, on a cellular level, drawing Bom Yi to
the man her heart had truly grown to love while
visiting the island? Will Bom Yi's and Dong Wook's
love be strong enough to withstand a love that
seemingly exists only at a cellular level? Or
could it actually be true love that really has
nothing to do with the heart transplanted into
beautiful Bom Yi? That mystery is examined in a
very thoughtful way in the script, in some ways
better than it had been in its predecessor Summer
Scent.
It's a little difficult to find
this poignant romance online but you can
probably find it if you use a search engine.
Good luck, and enjoy! They just don't make
Korean dramas this lovely anymore. Everything is
trending toward harsh, dark stories today,
instead of something inspiring and romantic like
My Blooming Days.