Review: 49 Days


Is it possible to love something while you’re not happy with it? Is it possible to fall head over heel in love with someone while you’re already madly and irrevocably in love with somebody else?

If I have to answer this question myself I would say no. Not possible at all. When I love I love with my whole heart. There’s no room left for reservation. I wouldn’t be able to love someone/anything else just as much. But 49 Days proves me wrong.

It did what I hate the most in a movie/drama/story. When I say hate I really mean HATE. I hate sad ending with a passion. And I hate it even more when they dare to kill the lead. 49 Days does both without a qualm.

As such I should hate it with everything I’ve got. Yet, I’m unable to hate 49 Days any more than I’m able to hate Damo. I need to talk about Damo a little bit to show the different feelings that these two great dramas evoke from me.

Despite not hating Damo per se I don’t think I could ever forgive Damo’s writer/s for ending it so tragically. If someone told me how it would end I would never watch it. And although I love Commander Hwangbo I couldn’t bring myself to watch Damo for a second time.

I cried so much while watching it. More than an ocean I think. I HATE its ending. There’s no word to describe how much I hate it. So once is more than enough.

But it’s not like that with 49 Days. Yes, I also cried an ocean while watching it. And I might not want to start the painful journey of love that is 49 Days either if I know that it’s going to end up breaking my heart into a million pieces.

The problem was the moment I saw it I started to fall in love with Han Kang or Kang Ah as we all lovingly call him. I love him with the kind of love that I only feel for Lee Jin Soo (Coffee House).

Now, I’ll have to talk about Coffee House too!

Just for your information there are a bunch of crazy ladies out there who are fighting for the right to call Han Kang theirs. But Kang Ah is mine. All mine. Just like Jin Soo is mine Kang Ah is also mine for I’m also going to write him his very own story just like I did for Lee Jin Soo.

Why I love them so is a mystery to me. They have nothing in common. Lee Jin Soo is probably one of the most selfish and crazy male leads ever invented. He lies as easily as he breaths.

In his selfishness he has almost no sense of right or wrong. While Han Kang has a very strong sense of what’s right and what's wrong. And he understands the meaning of sacrificing for other people quite well.

Lee Jin Soo spends years trying to deny how much he loves Soe Eun Yung and tries his hardest to conceal his love from her not to mention leaving her for good. While Han Kang who has loved Shin Ji Hyun for years, makes it his mission to look for her and stays by her side only to be forced to hide his love from her.

However, come to think of it they do have one thing in common. They love intensely, wholeheartedly with every fibre of their beings. No time, norms, separation, marriages, physical appearances nor death could change it. It lasts forever.

Sigh. It’s pretty obvious now why I love them so.

Another thing about 49 Days that makes it different from Damo is the fact that it fills with heart tugging bitter sweet moments and cuteness that no matter how hard it makes me cry I’m helplessly drawn to it.

My love for Han Kang makes me wish so hard for his happiness. And as 49 Days has done an excellent job in letting us know how much he loves Shin Ji Hyun, with her I want him be. She's his happiness. She's the one who makes him happy.

I must confess that in the first few minutes of the first episode I was not taken with Shin Ji Hyun but as the story went I started to see glimpses of the girl she’s supposed to be.

She’s not my usual favourite lead girl. I love female lead who is strong, intelligent, and resourceful and I would love her even more if she has a healthy dose of wickedness that she could use when necessary.

But Shin Ji Hyun is none of that.

She’s far from bright. Far from strong and so used to having people do their best to help her that she is as helpless and as clueless as a baby, and as far as an angel is from the devil when it comes to wickedness. She has no mean streak in her body. Not even a tiny teeny bit. However, slowly but sure I start to love the girl that she is.

I love how 49 Days makes the almost no physical contact between Han Kang and Shin Ji Hyun turns into such touching, poignant, cute and heart breaking scenes. I love how when they are together they try not to say they love the other while exactly saying it.

And I love how Kang Min Ho who betrays Shin Ji Hyun and plots to destroy her family ends up falling in love with her instead without knowing that he has fallen for his very own fiancee who he thought he didn't love at all.

And I utterly love how Han Kang's heart recognises the love of his life despite the fact that Shin Ji Hyun has been declared as good as dead in the complete strange girl he's just met.

49 Days without a doubt is one of the best Kdramas that I’ve ever seen. If only the ending is different it will replace Coffee House as my most favourite drama ever. As it is I love it without really love it.

Comments

prissymom said…
Hi there, Pipit! I read one of your comments in the dramabeans recap on 49 Days - that you are going to write Han Kang his own story! I am one of those who was not happy with the ending. It would be great to read your version of Han Kang's story. Will look forward to that!

Btw, is it okay to post your review on soompi? Your review is so beautifully written I would like to share it with others. Will wait for your permission before I do so.
Fixy said…
Hi prissymom, so sorry for the very late reply. There's something wrong with the internet on my end so I don't see the comment.


You could put anything I wrote here wherever you want to. I would be honored.

And once I'm done with Han Kang's story you're also welcome to put it wherever you want to. Just like Coffee House's Jin Soo's story it's written with love and dedicated to who ever loves the drama just as much.

Once again so sorry for the late reply.
prissymom said…
Hi, fixy! No need to apologize!

Thanks for the permission. Will post your review on the 49D thread and JHJ's thread on soompi.

I am looking forward to Han Kang's story!
Anonymous said…
Thanks for the encouragement prissymom ^-^