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| KBS2 Promotional Poster You're The Best, Lee Soon-sin 2013 |
Episodes: 50
Starring:
IU, Cho Jeong-seok, Go Doo-shim, Lee Mi-sook, Yoo In-na, Son Tae-young, Go Joo-won, Jung Woo
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Plot Summary: Lee Soon-sin (IU) is the youngest daughter of the Lee family. Having had no impressive academic background nor special skills attached to her name, plus the scarcity of jobs in Korea, Soon-sin lands taking on part-time jobs. Luck for her is truly elusive when she gets sacked-off as waitress on the very same day she is hired after accidentally colliding with Shin Joon-ho (Cho Jeong-seok), CEO for Gabi Entertainment Agency. The sudden impact knocks them both to the floor and Joon-ho's expensive clothing is soiled with splattered food and the inner garment is ripped off when Soon-sin tries to grab and pull him up. Out on the street again for another job hunt, Soon-sin meets a man posing as Shin Joon-ho who offers her a promising acting career. She readily jumps in to the bait only to find out later on that she and her mother has been conned with an exorbitant amount of money. Soon-sin has always been in the shadow of her two sisters and considers herself as the unlucky one. Anxious and embarrassed of being swindled, she soon hunts for the phony Shin Joon-ho and awaits for him to show up in the resto-bar where she and her mother sat in to sign the fake contract.
Well, her luck to get the man is almost an arm's length had she not again bumped into with the real Joon-ho! Soon-sin runs after the phony one in accelerated speed but in the blink of an eye lost the culprit for good. Distraught and frustrated, Soon-sin sits on the sidewalk and cries for what seemingly like hours. Just above her, the real Joon-ho stands behind the glass panel, convincing his ex-girlfriend, Choi Yeon-ah (Kim Yoon-seo), to join his agency. Pride and prejudice overtakes Joon-ho as he awaits for this moment to come. He flaunts his success .and wants Yeon-ah to realize her loss when she dumped him years ago for her uprising acting career. Yeon-ah on the other hand appears to play with Joon-ho and challenges his ablity that if he can turn a nobody (pointing to Soon-sin) to a superstar, she will then sign a contract with him. Joon-ho confidently takes on the challenge.
Armed with courage and determination, Soon-sin soon starts working as part-time waitress in the resto-bar situated just below Gabi Entertainment office - the very same resto-bar where she got swindled. Not off to a good start with a fellow employee, Soon-sin tries to work diligently and makes an effort into making herself useful and reliable to everyone. Soon, she runs into the real Jung-ho who offers her the same acting opportunty previously presented by the impostor. Unbelieving, she only gives him a snide remark and resumes cleaning. Traumatized by her horrendous experience with the swindler, Soon-sin can't easily be lured again thus discarding the idea of acting altogether. However, fate dictates otherwise. The financial strife caused by her father's sudden death and the debt she incidentally incurs from dirty tricks of the scammer, leads her way to signing a contract with Joon-ho and give acting a shot.
With Soon-sin's average beauty and zero acting ability, Joon-ho is somewhat doubtful if he can ever really make her into someone famous but his pride urges him to show his ex-girlfriend that he is indeed a master of his craft. Though Joon-hoo exudes confidence, he is just the opposite in the inside. He is sometimes an awkward person who practices his lines when nervous of an anticipated personal encounter of someone he wants to impress. Joon-ho talks to the famous and successful actress, Song Mir-yeong, to give acting lessons to the rookie. Soon-sin, unaware of Joon-ho and Mir-yeong's each personal motive for helping her, takes acting lessons seriously. Unbeknownst of the veteran actress' insincere continual positive and encouraging remarks, Soon-sin takes the compliments to heart that fuels passion for acting.
As there are no secrets bound to be kept hidden in eternity, Soon-sin overhears the truth behind her father's death. The shocking revelation broils intense resentment to Mir-yeon. She runs away bound to nowhere. She is lost, confused with no one to turn to. Not even to Joon-ho who fails to keep his promise to stick together no matter what. Finally, as the truth is also revealed to the Lee family and Joon-ho, each party tries to contact Soon-sin but to no avail. Joon-ho, extremely worried and panicky, goes around to places he hopes to find her. At last, he spots Soon-sin sitting in a lonely bench suffering all by herself. He calls her name, runs to her and hugs her tight while Joon-ho tells her how worried he is with her disappearance. The following day, Soon-sin confronts Mir-yeon and demands to beg forgiveness to her family. After much thought, Mir-yeong comes out in the open after Joon-ho's father surrendered the blackbox in his car to the police. Towards the end, peace is restored in the Lee family, Mir-yeon settles in the countryside, Yeon-ah stricken with guilt admits her defeat and Joon-ho reunites with Soon-sin.
My Thoughts: This is the second 50-episode drama I watched religioulsy with no skipping from beginning to end. Whew! Please note that the summary I created only focuses on Joon-ho and Lee Soon-sin as they are central to the story. With the many characters that completes the drama, each have their own unique stories to tell that's equally interesting and worthy of your time and attention. I do not regret investing so much time watching the drama though at first I was kind of overwhelmed and intimidated with the number of episodes. But guess what, I find myself hooked up right from episode 1 which is usually my decsion point whether I push through or not. I guess, what made me stick around are the funny scenes of Cho Jeong-seok which I really find hilarious. It's rare for me to burst into laughter as I usually do so only in my mind when watching. This drama has drawn out too much emotion from me - I laughed, giggled, cried, frustrated and the whole nine yards! However, I am so sad with the exposure of the two leads' story. I strongly feel that they should have been given more scenes together. Choe Jeong-seok being the male lead star was under utilized in the drama when he could have had more funny and cute moments to shine with his co-star. He is such a very talented actor and it's such a waste for giving him equal exposure as with the supporting cast. It's painful waiting for another scene from him and while the others are short and hanging. That is the only reason why I am giving an 8 to this dama.
Armed with courage and determination, Soon-sin soon starts working as part-time waitress in the resto-bar situated just below Gabi Entertainment office - the very same resto-bar where she got swindled. Not off to a good start with a fellow employee, Soon-sin tries to work diligently and makes an effort into making herself useful and reliable to everyone. Soon, she runs into the real Jung-ho who offers her the same acting opportunty previously presented by the impostor. Unbelieving, she only gives him a snide remark and resumes cleaning. Traumatized by her horrendous experience with the swindler, Soon-sin can't easily be lured again thus discarding the idea of acting altogether. However, fate dictates otherwise. The financial strife caused by her father's sudden death and the debt she incidentally incurs from dirty tricks of the scammer, leads her way to signing a contract with Joon-ho and give acting a shot.
With Soon-sin's average beauty and zero acting ability, Joon-ho is somewhat doubtful if he can ever really make her into someone famous but his pride urges him to show his ex-girlfriend that he is indeed a master of his craft. Though Joon-hoo exudes confidence, he is just the opposite in the inside. He is sometimes an awkward person who practices his lines when nervous of an anticipated personal encounter of someone he wants to impress. Joon-ho talks to the famous and successful actress, Song Mir-yeong, to give acting lessons to the rookie. Soon-sin, unaware of Joon-ho and Mir-yeong's each personal motive for helping her, takes acting lessons seriously. Unbeknownst of the veteran actress' insincere continual positive and encouraging remarks, Soon-sin takes the compliments to heart that fuels passion for acting.
Not for long, Mir-yeong drops the ball from helping Soon-sin in favor of Yeon-ah. The latter starts getting jealous of Joon-ho's undivided attention to Soon-sin. She is obsessed to win his heart regardless of who gets in the way. Mir-yeong's influence to get Soon-Sin off from the audition list did not in the least bother the latter. Naive as she is and unaware of the plot against her, she continues to work hard in preparation for her next audition. Joon-ho on the other hand is bothered with the turn of events. Though he does not admit, Joon-ho's growing affection and concern for Soon-sin is alreay evident to the handful of people closely working with them.
Mir-yeong is getting suspicious of her manager's unusual phone calls and other activities being done behind her back. Eventually, Mir-yeong discovers that the youngest daughter of the Lee family is her daughter. Soon-sin's adoptive father, Chang-hoon, brought her home one fateful night and told his wife that he found the baby left alone at a bus stop. The truth of the matter was Mir-yeong, his close acquaintance of the past, wanted to get rid of the baby. The good natured Chang-hoon brought the baby home and raised her as their very own. Apart from the elders, the two siblings are aware that Soon-sin is adopted. The family takes great pains in hiding the truth from Soon-sin. Unearthing the fact is a huge shock and a nightmare to Mir-yeong. She is cognizant of her daughter's love for the family Soon-sin has ever known.
More to that, Mir-yeong hides the fact that she is witness to Chang-hoon 's accident, ruled out as hit-and-run because she does not want to be associated with the said accident that could tarnish her image. She also asks Jun-hoo's father, also a witness, not to come forward to report the incident. Engulfed with her own greed to maintain stardom and good image, Mir-yeon is determined to hide the truth forever especially now that she plots a mother-and-daughter relationship be known to public. Soon-sin's life turns upside down with the unbearable revalation as she finds herself in a lost position between her adoptive family and biological mother. The once peaceful life of the Lee family becomes chaotic due to Mir-yeon's unswerving selfishness. Joon-ho, on the other hand, is perturbed with the unfolding of events. He becomes protective, wary and painfully concerned with Soon-sin's welfare.
Unwillingly, Soon-sin lives with Mir-yeon - not because she wants to but she takes heed of her adoptive mother's encouragement. In the midst of all these, Yeon-ah feels she has lost her stance and influence to Mir-yeon and with full blown jealousy, she vows to take back what she believes to be hers and that includes Joon-ho who has already fallen in love with Soon-sin, notwithstanding, the series of her falied attempts in sabotaging the latter's baby steps to acting. While Soon-sin's audience grows, Yeon-ah's blindness with obsession heightens. She is unstoppable to the point of blackmailing Mir-yeon and threatening Joon-ho of exposing the truth behind the death of Soon-sin's father. Cornered and defeated, Joon-ho is left with no other opton but to break up with Soon-sin. In so much pain, he is consoled with secured protection for Soon-sin from further getting hurt with the sad fact of her biological mother's involvement with her adoptive father's demise. Though Joon-ho appears to have severed ties with Soon-sin, he remains loyal in the background monitoring, caring and loving her unconditionally.
My Thoughts: This is the second 50-episode drama I watched religioulsy with no skipping from beginning to end. Whew! Please note that the summary I created only focuses on Joon-ho and Lee Soon-sin as they are central to the story. With the many characters that completes the drama, each have their own unique stories to tell that's equally interesting and worthy of your time and attention. I do not regret investing so much time watching the drama though at first I was kind of overwhelmed and intimidated with the number of episodes. But guess what, I find myself hooked up right from episode 1 which is usually my decsion point whether I push through or not. I guess, what made me stick around are the funny scenes of Cho Jeong-seok which I really find hilarious. It's rare for me to burst into laughter as I usually do so only in my mind when watching. This drama has drawn out too much emotion from me - I laughed, giggled, cried, frustrated and the whole nine yards! However, I am so sad with the exposure of the two leads' story. I strongly feel that they should have been given more scenes together. Choe Jeong-seok being the male lead star was under utilized in the drama when he could have had more funny and cute moments to shine with his co-star. He is such a very talented actor and it's such a waste for giving him equal exposure as with the supporting cast. It's painful waiting for another scene from him and while the others are short and hanging. That is the only reason why I am giving an 8 to this dama.
My Rating: 8/10
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Other Cho Jeong-seok Drama/ Movie: Oh, My Ghost, My Love, My Bride
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