Beautiful Days

Beautiful Days was my first watched and my most liked Korean drama series. It may not be appreciated by a Western audience - the implausibility, the reliance on extreme coincidence, and the heavy fringe hairstyles may also be a bit amusing, too. At first, I was also thinking that way, but the longer I watched the seductive charm of Lee Byung Hun's main character, Lee Min Chul, as I happened on the TV channel each night of the series' run, I was hooked.

Lee Min Chul meets many women's fantasies about how their dream man should be: wealthy, successful in business, impeccably dressed around the clock, handsome and strong. You can watch him and be completely overwhelmed. Many of the scenes rely on subtle poses. Lee Byung Hun has great talent for posing, so this production was ideal for his model looks. His co-actress, Choi Ji Woo, also played her role superbly.

It's nearly impossible to explain any of the story without spoiling it. Suffice to say that there is romance, illness, ambition, rivalry, and a complex web of connections between the characters. The actual ending differed from the producer's intended ending as a result of audience pleas while the first screening of the show got underway. Consequently, you can notice a somewhat strange and abrupt ending.

The soundtrack to this series was also good quality, too. Ryu Shi Won, an actual Korean pop singer, who played the other lead male character, recorded several soundtracks. There is also that lovely guitar number, too.

I can recommend this drama to anyone who has a soft heart for romantic dramas. Probably not for any male viewers - they'll just giggle at the melodrama.

I really enjoyed this drama. The story, the acting, the plot are all wonderfull. I noticed that at the end of the each episode, the suspense is the best. It makes you want to find out what is going to happen next. It is the best ending suspense for each episode for me. It really kept me on the edge all the way to the end.

A short summary of the story: I don't want to ruin the story but here is a short summary of the first episode. Two orphanage girls goes to the city and try to make a better life for themselves. They are not sister but together they are the only family they have. On a different note, there are two brothers of different family comes together as a family. The father side has a daughter and a son from the first marriage. The mother has a son from her first marriage. They get marriage and they have sibling rivalry.