Second To
Last Love
끝에서 두번째 사랑
SBS (2016) 20 Episodes, Grade: A-
Older Romance, Comedy
Korean Drama Review by Jill, USA
~~~~~~~~~
I
loved this warmly sweet, classy, gentle drama Second
To Last Love (2016) a lot, but I had a
difficult time with its scheduling issues;
first they kept interrupting, and delaying by weeks,
episodes of this drama because of the 2016 Summer
Olympics, then there was a Korean holiday that
delayed episodes for another two weeks, so I would
have to struggle to remember what happened in
previous episodes, which unfortunately disturbed the
flow of experiencing this worthwhile story for me,
which was a rare one for Korea, about a couple over
40 finding romance and love in their lives when they
had essentially given up on the possibility because
of their advancing age and work / family
responsibilities.
When you're watching other dramas at the same time
it's even more difficult to remember all the little
nuances going on in the plot when episodes are
delayed to the extent this one was delayed. For
instance in a three week spread we only got to see
one episode! Yikes! And this drama wasn't the only
one negatively affected by the darn Olympics, Jang
Hyuk's masterpiece Beautiful
Mind had two episodes chopped off to
allow for additional Olympics coverage. I want a
director's cut of that baby! Tens of thousands of
fans in the Western world who went crazy over that
drama signed a complaint petition to give to KBS but
it made no difference. Outrageous! The way I look at
it, why should I care a hill of beans about who
swims the length of a pool faster than another? I
don't know these people from Adam, I just want my
K-dramas!
This is definitely a low key, charming, and
understated story that is lovely to watch,
especially for us older K-drama fans; it's probably
best to marathon it, instead of what I was forced to
do: watch it till it culminated after
MONTHS of time had gone by! Korea shouldn't do that
to their dramas, they should rearrange their
schedules so that sports events and holidays don't
put unreasonable delays on these stories. We K-drama
fans matter too! I thought to myself at the time,
hey, maybe I should design a T-shirt that
boldly declares: "K-DRAMA
FANS MATTER!" :)
The Story:
Ko Sang Sik (handsome Ji Jin Hee from Dong
Yi, Love
Letter, Snow
Lotus, Late
Night Restaurant) is a government worker
in his 40's and still single after the sad death of
his wife in childbirth. He works as the
environmental facility section chief at City Hall.
Ko Sang Sik slowly becomes emotionally involved with
strong personality Kang Min Joo (Kim Hee Ae from Midas),
a producer of popular television dramas at a
broadcasting station, who is also in her 40's and
single after the tragic death of her fiance a number of
years earlier.
First they butt heads
about the logistics and environmental impacts of her
chosen drama locations, then on a drama shoot he
jumps into a lake, rescues her, and does CPR on her
after she bungee jumps and almost drowns when the
cord snaps, then later jealousy erupts because of
her personal interest in his younger brother, a
talented chef named Joon Woo (Kwak Si Yang from Oh
My Ghostess) with his own successful
cafe and cooking school.
Sang Sik realizes
early on that he's falling for Min Joo but hides his
feelings so as not to hurt his younger brother.
We've seen this kind of brother rivalry set up in
other dramas, but the difference here is that the
two main lead characters are not silly young people
in their 20's, but more mature and serious middle
age people in their 40's (although Min Joo has
moments of sheer hilarity and sexiness when she acts
out in her new home and thinks she's alone and no
one else is looking on, like a priceless moment when
she gets up and dances to a recording of I Will
Survive).
After Min Joo had
decided she had enough of city life, and moved to
that small place in the country, she becomes
romantically involved with Joon Woo when she
discovers his cafe is right next door to her house!
He also gives cooking lessons and invites her to
participate in her free time. He encourages her to
do things she's always been interested in but lacked
the courage to try, like skateboarding. They are an
interesting and refreshing younger man, older woman
duo. At first. It's clear she is tickled pink that a
younger guy has a crush on her, because she's been
alone for so long, putting her emphasis on career
and not love, but what are her real feelings towards
him? Will they lead to permanence?
Talented Kim Seul Gi in a
more serious role for a change
Also close by lives
Sang Sik and his niece, an extremely talented young
artist named Mi Ryeo (Kim Seul Gi from Oh
My Ghostess) who is pretty much a
loner due to a traumatic loss which results in a
social phobia (it was nice to see actress Kim Seul
Gi get away from playing a silly, kooky character
for a change). They both look on with some
trepidation at Min Joo and Joon Woo spending so
much time together and talking about possible
marriage.
Also living with Sang Sik is his sister, Ko Sang
Hee (Jung Soo Young) who is in an unhappy marriage
with a seldom home jerk who pursues other women
routinely, named Han Jung Sik (Park Sun Geun). He
even forgets their wedding anniversaries, taking
other women out to eat instead of his wife. (Oooh,
I slung boulders at this creep with my
eyes! LOL). Fortunately her family often rallies
around her to support her when she is hurt, and
encourages her to do things apart from him, like
get back into playing her piano, a talent she has
neglected for some time.
The close proximity everyone has in
their living arrangements means there is a lot of
inadvertent spying and gossiping going on with all
the characters. Both brothers also have other
women who are obsessed with them, but it's clear
they don't stand much of a chance as rivals. For
Sang Sik it's flirty, much younger co-worker Han
Song Yi (Ko Bo Gyeol), and for Joon Woo it's a
previous jealous girlfriend named Min Ji Sun
(beautiful Stephanie Lee) who wants to
re-establish a relationship with him, so she
starts to work in his cafe as a waitress, but with
ulterior motives in mind.
As time goes by it becomes clear that Sang Sik and
Min Joo are attracted to one another and it's
inevitable that the younger brother Joon Woo is
going to end up hurt. However there is HUGE hurdle
in any possible union of Sang Sik and Min Joo --
years earlier Sang Sik was blamed for a fire at
his previous place of employment that killed a
young man ... who just happened to be Min Joo's
fiance who died! What will happen when Min Joo
discovers this terrible fact? Will she blame Sang
Sik, or will she understand that he tried to
rescue her fiance but it was just too late?
I
probably would have given this drama an A instead
of an A- if my viewing experience of it had been a
straight marathon, but SBS chose to jerk its
schedule around too much and I simply lost the
flow of this drama that I would have had if they
had not done that. I couldn't wait at the time it
began, however; I love Ji Jin Hee as an
actor and didn't want to miss him for the world. I
liked his chemistry here with his co-star Kim Hee
Ae; their scenes together were my favorites, they
were tender, funny, agitated, romantic. It was a
long process to see them become simpatico with one
another, but to me it was worth it, and I might
even re-watch this drama in a marathon someday and
finally get the full experience I wanted from it
all along. Enjoy! :)