Beautiful Love, Wonderful Life (2019)

I just started watching the series last night and I really was not sure what to expect of it. The title of the series someone pulls you in and it seemed friendly, subtle and somewhat uplifting so my drama has begun.

The series started out interesting and was enough to keep you invested for the next. I was excited but then the “let’s lie, it’ll be best” event comes along and you realize there’s a train wreck ahead. I for one am not a fan of movies or series of any kind that has the foundation of it all build on the lie. I’ve said it before I feel like I’m watching the whole time waiting for a big ball to drop off for someone to get hit in the face with an egg. And in both cases even though we know there’s a wreck coming we can’t help but watching. So far I am enjoying the vibe from who I assume is the supporting cast. They definitely gave a different feel to the series. As of right now I have watched episode 1 thru 3 and I am choosing to rate it a five star. It may sound unfair but it’s getting a bit old to have the series revolving around a big mystery lie that was stupid and absolutely unnecessary.

**Update: if you can make it past episode 10 things will get a lot better. Although there still some hidden information it is not so extreme. I will admit that I am more invested in the second couple than I am in the first simply because their storyline has a lot more engaging activity going on. it’s just more interesting. I increase the rating because it seem to me that the story got better after episode 10. It was a little less draggy and the excessive lying somewhat stopped which made it a whole lot better. There’s great acting, not so much chemistry going on but there are some heartfelt moments that will tug at you. Ep 10-40 was an improvement. I will warn you that there’s a time jump of 9 years from episode 8-9.

Ep 10-79
Yes, such a huge time. Things have happened but nothing major. Unfortunately these 69 episodes will only provoke you to anger, frustration or disgust. This is the first time I have watched a series this long without having viewed any real progress or development. There has been no major developments only lying and disgusting behavior by rich people. Not cute. In truth if you skip episodes, you won’t be lost because nothing major or worth while takes place.

Ep 80-84
Finally some truths are revealed but sadly it doesn’t change a thing in the vibe or behavior of the cast. Still going at the same pace with the same feel ( greedy ex-wife displaying self righteous behavior to her ex ex husband, sheepish sister doing what she does best accepting the deception she received and crazy ex in-laws acting ruthless and superior. How I long for character growth but at this point I don’t see it happening)

85-100 gets a bit more upbeat. There are some minor revelations and understandings that take place. The ending is okay, pleasing. Karma refused to show up but I think inner humanity did. Overall it’s okay

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I really enjoy watching this drama. I watch it on dramacool.eu or fastdrama.me
It is a long drama but I think of it as 50, 1 hour episodes and now there are 6, 1 hour episodes left. Most long dramas lose steam toward the end and make me lose interest. But with this drama, it just gets better and better and more interesting each week. The story has a very interesting plot and storyline. The actors and actresses are great and portray their characters so well. There are lighthearted and funny moments and then there are sad moments that pull at your heart. The writer and director have done a great job of portraying the growth and character development and life journeys of the main leads... kim cheong ah, gu jun hwi, mun tae rang, kim seol ah and do jin woo. The drama has a deeper message as portrayed through the journeys of the characters. Many of the lines and dialogue that the characters say speak volumes as to what their character is really feeling and thinking which is why each scene in the drama and each dialogue is so important to understanding the characters and why they do what they do. It is a really enjoyable drama.

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FIRST some things to consider: This story moves very slow. It was like sitting with friends and hashing out all the neighborhood drama that was going on, so it does not feel like a fast-paced get to the happy ending story. Every emotion is dragged out. At times it may feel like it is lagging. It seems though that storyline changes were made somewhere along the way and it picks up as it progresses. My rating is for the well developed characters and their relationships and the acting.
Story:
So many issues in this. I watched this as it aired. So I had to wait for new episodes. This was a good thing, because I got to savour the first couple episodes and let it marinate in my mind. The societal issues that this show deals with are very timely. The first couple episodes were a punch to the gut. I like romance and it took a couple episodes well for the show to set up and get to the romance. But this did not deter my enjoyment, because the story was so good. That said: the romance of the two main characters alone is worth sitting through 100 episodes. I did not like how the second romance line ended, but even in that it speaks to societal norms and a what the culture would accept as a suitable outcome. This story was real in only the way a Korean drama can do it. So much commentary on how we live our lives, thought-provoking. There is so much pain but so much love, all of it that makes up what our life is. The show is aptly named.
Acting/Cast:
There were a couple annoying characters for me. But as the story developed, I did not get to like them, but understood them and accepted them more.
The main male and female lead gripped me EVERY SINGLE TIME they were on the screen (Kim Jae Young and Seol In Ah). This was a slow show and the nuances were important - they did such a great job. You feel them struggling with everything and trying to find a way to manage the fact that they want to be with this person.
The second couple had a love triangle and a character that was so well done - as a son, brother, neighbourhood person and friend. Loved the character and the acting (Yoon Park).
Music:
I can't say it stood out to make my playlists, but it fit the mood of the show well.
Rewatch Value:
Because of the themes in this show, I would have to be in the right mood to watch again. I would probably skip through to the main romance line and just revel in how they handle their love matter of factly.

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This is the first 100 episode type kdrama I've watched and overall it was a good experience! Oh my gosh, BTW the plot summary on mydramalist is super misleading, ignore it. Basically, this show focuses on a couple of families which encounter each other because of terrible events that happen, and while they attempt to not associate with each other ever again, several of the kids run into each other years later and form relationships despite their unfortunate family histories.

This show certainly has heartbreak but is also full of heartwarming moments. The beginning in particular is very hard to watch (trigger warning: suicide). It starts off fairly dark, but after that I think I don't think it gets as dark. Mostly because at that point there are characters who love and support each other, so our sad characters have someone to lean on. What really impressed me the most was the character growth in this show, as well as the excellent development of relationships. There's a lot of healing in this drama and found family, themes which I tend to like, reminding me of shows like Just Between Lovers or 30 but 17 (in fairness, I do like those shows more than this one). Characters are healing from traumatic event(s) together, and both biologically-related families and not-related families grow closer and support each other.

Is the pace of this show slow? It's certainly slower than I'm used to. I don't necessarily want to find fault in that though, because that's just the format of a 100 episode show. This isn't paced like a conventional 16/20 episode kdrama, but I do think it's well-paced. I always felt like things were happening, whether that was developments in the plot or relationships. The couples are darn cute in this show and they're a joy to watch. If you enjoy romances in kdramas and wish you got to see more times of your fave couple together, well hey, maybe you should watch a 100 episode kdrama!

That being said, I'll complain about a few things. This show focuses on multiple families, so there's a lot of characters, some of whom I didn't like or care about. So when we spent time on those characters, I wasn't thrilled, and because it's 100 episodes we get plenty of scenes of them. I honestly skipped through some scenes because they didn't seem relevant to the plot. I overall enjoyed where the story went in this show, but there were a few plot lines that wrapped up in a way I didn't like (I am SO MAD about how a certain relationship ends up). I also didn't like how jealousy seemed to be a driving factor for a couple of our male leads.

tl;dr Characters and relationships are great, it's pretty well-paced despite the 100 episodes, is heartwarming and sad in all the right ways, but does have a few subplots and characters I didn't care about. Someone please make Yoon Park the main male lead, and have a second season where Kang Shi Wol is a main character so he gets the girl.

I made a silly powerpoint review thing of this show on my blog: https://kdramakitty.tumblr.com/post/618516301745471488

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underrated

Usually I get put off when a drama has a lot of episodes but for this one I stuck through it till the end and I do not regret it at all! This drama consists of basically 50 one-hour episodes, but trust me it is so worth it.
The amount of plot twists in this drama is so insane and it will drive you all over the place.
The issues that link the two opposite families together and the unlikely relationship that builds between some of the characters is intriguing and pulls you in to continue watching the series.
The only thing I can fault is maybe the chemistry between the FL and ML, I just felt it was a little lacking at times.
Overall this drama was amazing and I would definitely recommend it !

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Fun, but long, watch

It's not your typical 16-episode kdrama. It's more like those long, exaggerated family dramas (the types of dramas that characters in usual kdramas are shown watching) cause they're very dramatic, slow, and emotional. So they are a commitment but honestly I enjoyed watching this drama. It kept me interested almost all throughout the episode cause there was always something happening in the episodes. I found myself staying up late because I was so interested. I don't get why it has such low ratings honestly.

Liked (there are more things I liked but I can't exactly pin point them I think):
- Main FL (haha I'm in love with Seol In Nah and her character's so bubbly and strong)
- Main FL and ML's relationship was super cute
- We learned about everyone's little lives
- I think the 100 episodes was worth it, normally it would start getting boring, but this drama didn't
- Character developments! It was satisfying to see

Disliked (Spoilers in last 2 points):
- The dad at first bothered me but halfway I liked him more
- Hae Rang. Girl is not redeemable, she got me mad everytime I saw her on screen. Only the last episode made me ok with her but even then, it took her 99 episodes to be decent??
- All the lies. Like why are they so secretive. If someone break ups with someone, they just don't bother telling the rest of the family and lets them think everything is ok. Like there were so many times some characters could've just clarified some things to other characters, I don't get why they tried hiding everything all the time when the truth will come out one day.
- I still couldn't get over the affair and how they kind of forgot about that. Everytime I liked Do Jin Woo, I remembered his affair and couldn't look at him the same.
- The drama cover confused me because of who Seol Ah ends up with.

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Worth watching? YES!

Worth watching? YES! This drama was far from perfect, but the good far outweighs the bad, in my opinion.

Themes -
Making mistakes is part of life, you must learn to forgive others and (harder still) you must learn to forgive yourself.
Coincidence vs. fate “Fate is not all that, as you would like to believe. It’s a question of will power. If you dodge it, it’s a coincidence. If you accept it, it’s fate.”
Meaning of Love: In a lot of instances, characters are acting out of “love” - but oftentimes that love is really serving their own interests.

Social Issues: suicide, bullying, infidelity - I think some of the low ratings for this drama are due to the tough issues it tackles. No one in this drama is perfect. If you are looking for a clear cut story of good vs evil, this is not for you. A lot of characters in this drama are somewhere in between.

General Comments:
* There are two time hops in this drama. Episode 9 jumps 9 years ahead, and another year passes between episodes 32 and 33.
* There are so many hidden identities and secret relationships that it is difficult to keep track of who knows what when.
* There are 5 main characters: Kim Cheung Ah (Seol In Ah ), Goo Joon Hwi (Kim Jae Young ), Kim Seol Ah (Jo Yoon Hee ), Do Jin Woo (Oh Min Suk ) and Moon Tae Rang (Yoon Park)
* Music and Cinematography:: The OST cinematography and were nothing special, but that is true of almost any long form drama.
* Acting / Cast: Stellar. I loved Seol In Ah in Business Proposal and Mr Queen. One of my favorite actresses. Both she and Kim Jae Young did so well with their characters. You really feel their pain. You could see the emotional side of Kim Jae Young’s character, even when he was being rude and antisocial.

The storyline between Cheung Ah and Joon Hwi grabbed my heart. You will spend a lot of time crying over them. Both are gravely affected by major events in the plot. Their responses to trauma are very different. Cheung Ah is overcompensating; she's on a mission to set things right with the world. She is selfless to a fault, desperate to help others, but unable to help herself. Joon Hwi is frozen - taciturn and withdrawn, but is looking for resolution.

The development of their relationship is beautifully written and is the highlight of this show. She advances; he retreats. Slowly, she coaxes him out of his shell and he provides a safe haven for her. The bond they develop deepens into love.

A scene in episode 19 establishes this advance/retreat dynamic:
Cheung Ae: "Let's eat together. It's not just food. It's my heart "
Joon Hwi: "First of all. I don't want to eat. Also, I don't eat with other people. Especially food that has heart in it"

But Joon Hwi finds himself drawn in, and slowly connects with her. In an early scene, Joon Hwi visits her in her student dorm room, where he sees hints of her mental state. The room, her inner sanctum, is a total wreck, except for a row of plaques displayed neatly on a shelf - awards for heroic acts. It's a jarring comparison of her private struggles versus her public behavior.

Some bits of dialogue between them show that he sees through her cheery exterior.

In episode 21, he accidentally spills ramen on her clothes, and is sincerely apologetic. Her response is predictably self-denying:
CA: "It's okay. It's nothing. I can wash it. I haven't done laundry in awhile, I was going to do it today. It works out....... I'm really fine. Really. Really, really fine. Even so, nothing spilled on the floor - nice!"
And he calls her out for it.
JH: "Are you always like this? "It's okay. I'm fine, I'm really fine." Usually people say Nice when they are okay, not when the other person is okay, or the floor is okay. It's not a good thing."

It's the second time in this episode that she is shaken by his words. Earlier on, she expresses gratitude towards him, and his response provides her with an epiphany:

CA: "Thank you for listening to me and for being on my side."
JH: "I wish you wouldn't fool yourself. Why am I on your side? I've never been on anyone's side. If I must take a side, let's say I'm on the side of truth. When the truth is warped, life becomes warped as well. I don't like that."
Cheung Ae reflects: "Why didn't I realize that sooner? If only I had known before."

He makes her recognize that her defense mechanisms won't allow her to move on. Meanwhile, she continues to chip away at his boundaries, and she slowly makes some cracks in his surly exterior. In episode 26, they meet up, and as she takes her leave, they have this conversation:
CA: Then, see you next time.
JH: Oh. Yeah, sure.
CA: huh?
JH: what?
CA: You responded when I said "see you next time". I can't put my finger on it, but you've changed a little, Koo Joon Hwi.

The other three main characters are in a love triangle, and their storyline was a bit drawn out, without much progress until the last few episodes. Jin Woo is wealthy, spoiled and oblivious, but has a good heart. Seol Ah is out for herself, and seeks fame and fortune, sees love as pointless. Tae Rang is a solid stand-up guy, but a bit boring. Honestly, I skimmed over a lot of his scenes. I have six episodes left to watch, and am 99% sure which way the triangle ends; so it has left me guessing. There is some personal growth for both Seol Ah and Jin Woo, but it is a long time coming,


Does it include any of the things I hate?
Wrist grabbing yes, but minimal
shared childhood memories: no
Manic pixie girl histrionic girl: no
Excessive gore / violence? None

Humor: some laughs, but some comedic bits that were just awkward

Favorite character: Jin Woo’s mother. She is a complete narcissist and totally irredeemable. But she had some of the best lines, here are a couple:
“what a waste of employees identification cards” (dissing the sports marketing team).
“anything money can't solve is because it's not enough money”


Literary references

episode 25-26
Poem Wildflower
"She is pretty only when you look carefully...."
I found this analysis of the poem and it is really on the nose for this show:
https://smileyelim.wordpress.com/2014/10/17/my-favorite-korean-poem-wildflower-by-na-tae-joo/

A translation:
You have to look closely
to see that it is pretty
You have to look for a long time
to see that it is lovely
You are the same.


Books
Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery
Quotes from this book are sprinkled throughout the drama, about forgiving mistakes, and finding joy in the small things. Both Cheung Ah and Joon Hwi have a copy of this book.

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Sons That Never Abandon Their Mothers

Beautiful Love, Wonderful Life

Sons That Never Abandon Their Mothers.

This is a lovely Kdrama that starts with two teenagers meeting at a rural train station and planning to commit a suicide pack. However, the teenage Goo Joon Gyeom likes his suicide companion and wants the teenage girl school bullying victim Kim Cheong Ah to survive and live a full life.

The story will follow Cheong Ah and her ordinary family deal with daily life and their struggles that involves extra marital affair, betrayals, failures, painful separations, selfishness, adoption, dishonesty, corruption, love triangles, rebounding love and eventually triumphs. Eventually the audience learn how the young women in the story, Cheong Ah and her older sister, Seol Ah, learn to survive with their inner defensive mechanisms. Cheong Ah must deal with her past suicide pack that taints her career and love life. Seol Ah learns how to live to the fullest with no label as a chaebol divorcee.

We will meet Cheong Ah’s love interest, Goo Joon Hwi and his cousin Do Jin Woo. Joon Hwi intends to find the truth regarding his brother’s death (Joon Gyeom). Meanwhile, Supreme Court Justice Yoo Ra (Joon Hwi’s mother) involves in manipulating a hit-and-run incident so that an innocent teenager (Kang Shi Wol) appears to have committed the hit-and-run crime and goes to prison for ten years. Meanwhile ostentatious Chairwoman Hwa Young dislikes her daughter-in-law (Kim Seol Ah) so much that she purposely divorced Seol Ah from her temporary comatose son Jin Woo. Both Joon Hwi and Jin Woo do not wish to abandon their mothers (sisters Supreme Court Justice Hong Yoo Ra and Chairwoman Hong Hwa Young) even though both women are the cause of their sons’ misery and painful heart aches.

There are some lovey-dovey scenes that are dragging too long, however, I would give a ten out of ten for the story and performance by the actresses, Seol In Ah (Cheong Ah), Jo Yoon Hee (Seol Ah), and an extraordinary performance by actor Ok Min Suk (Do Jin Woo). I do not see any on-screen chemistry between Seol Ah and her rebounding love Moon Tae Rang (portrayed by Yoon Park), however, Tae Rang on-screen interaction with his adopted sister Moon Hae Rang (portrayed by Jo Woo Ri) is genuinely beautiful.

I enjoy watching both Seol Ah and Jin Woo with their reconciliation dialogues and their on-screen chemistry; also, when awkward Joon Hwi is with cheerful Cheong Ah, the gentle youthful love scenes on screen are rather memorable. The sincere mutual respect between two cousins, Joon Hwi and Jin Woo is worth mentioning too, it is heartwarming to watch them together as cousins discussing matters. It is a rare sight in chaebol and corporate families. The person that I am really fond of is the youngest sister, an up-and-coming tennis champion Kim Yeon Ah (portrayed by Jo Yoon Jung). She is a true catalyst in this series. When ever she is on the screen, the scene feels alive and not monotonous.

Lastly, the Original Soundtracks are beautiful as well.

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Not good...

Well, it's obvious for everyone that Do Jin Woo is the worst part about this drama, every second Jin Woo appeared on screen it felt revolting. In fact, you may include Jin Woo and Seol Ah plot line as a whole in general. I highly doubt anyway would like Seol Ah ending. Looking at what the writer did to Jin Woo and Seol Ah plot line and looking at her previous works, I'm starting to see a pattern. Is it safe to assume it's a reflection of her own life?

It's not like the drama didn't have other problems. The drama was interesting for the first few episodes prior to the 9-years time skip, it gave off promising vibes with good build up then became utterly soulless, monotone and even got hit with a massive downgrade in overall quality. Maybe about 90% of the drama was uneventful, things kept going in circles with little to zero progression.
The writing was straight up bad and inconsistent. Some parts you can notice the writer is trying to create some logic but most of the time the writer end up doing the exact opposite. Most of the side stories were weak due to the lack of investment in liking any character, since none of them stands out anyway. This also made the size of the cast feel smaller than it is.

The ending as well was flat, lukewarm and lacked a meaningful conclusion to any character.
Chung Ah and Joon Hwi ending was too quick, while the other characters got a "whatever bs" kind of ending. It's really a shame what this drama ended up being since the beginning was too good, a massive bait and switch tactic.

If you can't stand single digit IQ characters then you should avoid this drama.
2.5/10

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Wonderful life? I

I resisted watching this drama mainly because it was 100 episodes. I have a tendency to get impatient if it drags on too much. I’m glad I watched.

If I hadn’t I would’ve never discovered the actor who portrays Jin Woo, Oh Min Suk. In my opinion he stole the show. So now I’m going to go back and watch Beautiful Now because of him.

I laughed and cried so much.

I knew early on that Seol Ah loved Jin Woo just by how she tended to packing his suitcase for his trip. If she hadn’t loved him she wouldn’t have rushed to the hospital after his accident; nor would she have stayed angry at Jin Woo for more than a year. There were signs she cared because she worried about him; she knew what he liked and didn’t like. Because of pain, anger and her horrible mother in law her love was overshadowed. I always wanted them to get back together and glad they did. I loved it when Tae Rang told her that only she didn’t know she was in love with Jin Woo. Tae Rang ended up being a good friend to her. However, I was pleased that Tae Rang and Jin Woo formed a bromance in the end. I was disappointed that I didn’t get to see more of there relationship before the accident.

The show did get a little slow at times to where I was starting to lose interest. Once Shi Wol was introduced I couldn’t get enough of his story. Lee Tae Sun’s portrayal of Shi Wol just broke my heart most times. A shame Hae Rang was Shi wol’s sister; otherwise I would’ve been okay if Cheong Ah and Shiwol had gotten together.

My other favorite character was Pa Rang. He was just too cute.

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The best way to enjoy this drama is to ignore the plot summary and realise there are actually 4 main characters not just Cheong Ah and Joon Hwi. If you want a real synopsis, read the comments or google it.

This drama is all about character growth so you’ll feel frustrated with everyone and hate everyone in the first few episodes. Oddly enough, some characters I was sure I’d despise until the end, I’ve grown fond of them, simply due to acting and good storytelling. It’s a long drama and the story does start out slow, so it requires a lot of patience. At the same time, it has many ridiculously dramatic elements (some are more predictable than others), as expected of a weekend melodrama, so if you’re not a fan of either then you’ll probably not enjoy this.

As long as you concentrate on the underlying themes, and the message of the drama — and DON’T skip parts just because you think a scene is irrelevant — then you’ll definitely enjoy this drama and fall in love with the characters the way I have

Edit: this review will get you through up until about episode 60. From around ep. 70 on the plot begins to drag and the characters become more frustrating. Coupled with the poor camera quality, the problematic comment section and their divisive views on Jin Woo/Tae Rang, it’s not really that much of an enjoyable watch anymore. Here’s to hoping the ending is at least satisfying🤞

Final edit: After many months, I’ve finally finished this drama and my rating is back to 10. The ending wrapped everything up so beautifully. Every character was well developed and went through some level of growth over the 100 episodes. I loved the way they handled the themes of bullying, suicide and family relationships. It’s a rollercoaster, and there were definitely points I wanted to get off, but at the end of the ride, it was all worth it. Highly recommend!

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