Who Are You?

My blog about Shining Inheritance inspired me to continue to broaden my cultural horizon by watching a few more Korean dramas (with english subtitles of course).

Yesterday, I completed watching the 17 episodes online of Who Are You? which aired in that country in 2008. I was not "addicted" to this series like I was with Shining Inheritance but I enjoyed it nevertheless.

The ghost of Son Il Gun was funny but got on my nerves from the get-go. This idiot of a man/ghost has limited time on earth yet he is wasting it. He is able to possess the body of Blue Star Representative Cha Seung Hyo for 3 hours per day for 49 days in order to settle all his unfinished affairs and to help his 20 year old now-orphaned daughter, Son Young In, and his girlfriend, Kim Young Ae, achieve closure after his untimely passing. However, he goes about it all wrong and end up ruining Seung Hyo’s professional reputation, getting his body in fights and only tormenting his daughter and girlfriend, both of whom do not like each other very much. Instead of using the man’s fortune to do practical things like buying their house in his daughter’s name, paying off the loan sharks (who he owed and who were harassing his daughter), paying for her tuition in college to secure her future, and dealing with his painting collection earlier, he decided to waste time taking her shopping for clothes and shoes, more stuff for her to pack and lug around when she becomes homeless! One of the ongoing jokes is that his daughter Son Young In has an IQ of only 99 which is why she is nicknamed Gu Gu and as her father’s ghost’s admits, his IQ is around the same thing (which is quite obvious)!

In the end, everything works out, a bit bizarrely, but it did. The developing romance between Young In and Seung Hyo, in spite of their 11 years age difference and her ghostly father's initial disapproval was the most gripping thing about the story. Seung Hyo, who was orphaned at the age of 4, grew up lonely, suffered with OCD and developed a cold exterior towards people, although he was an astute business man. Young In lived a sheltered life and had to deal with the death of first her mother, then suddenly found herself alone in the world (except for her two loyal friends Yang Ji Suk and Kwon Yong Duk who, by the way, should have been paired up together) when her father dies unexpectedly.

Around episode 10, Seung Hyo and Young In finally started to admit that they had feelings for each other. He was going to be her miracle and she was going to his soccer ball (you really have to see the series to understand the analogy)! The most memorable romantic scene was when he waited for her shift at work to be over to drive her home one night in the rain (episode 14). Young In was angry with him and refused to go in the car. So Seung Hyo gave her an umbrella (so she won't get wet) and slowly drove behind her all the way home (so she'll reach there safely).

I can't rave about Who Are You? like I did with Shining Inheritance but, if you are looking for a story that has humor, raw emotions of losing someone you love and a weird love story, I would then definitely recommend it!