Yes, I’m still alive - would you believe it?!? 
And even better, I have time to watch and complete a new Korean drama series - in exchange for 3 big ulcers in my mouth for keeping late nights. 
Thankfully, the show was quite worth my pain.
“Save the Last Dance for Me” (STLDFM) has all the typical Korean weepy ingredients:
1. Undying love (but of course!!)
2. Memory loss - not once, but twice for Hero Kang Hyun Woo!!! (Cue: Winter Sonata, Stairway to Heaven, and God knows what else…)
3. A failed engagement party and a wailing/suicidal fiancee (obviously NOT the Heroine)
4. A Hero who is… ta-da!… the only heir to a multinational business conglomerate (but then again, poor heros may not be as attractive to practical women like us…)
5. A Heroine who is of a different “class” to the hero, and thus Hero’s parents who obviously try to give her tons of money to make her leave the hero (ultimately unsuccessfully).
6. A quadrangle love to remind us that the hero and heroine are extremely attractive and have determined admirers….
Thankfully, what is missing here are cancerous cells invading into some part of the Hero/Heroine’s body, and either one dying a painful, lingering death, thereby separating the lovebirds for all eternity (pass the tissue box please).
Synopsis: Rich boy Kang Hyun Woo (Ji Sung) wanted to pursue his passion for photography. His tyrannical dad wanted him to take of the reins of his multinational company of furniture/funishings (blah). They quarrelled, and he ran away and got into an accident, and lost his memory for the first time. He was rescued by Ji Eun Soo (Yoo Jin) and her father. Eun Soo’s dad owns a quaint bed and breakfast motel called “Dream Garden” . Eun Soo and dad brought Hyun Woo (now known as “No Memory”) to stay with them. After a year, Eun Soo and Hyun Woo fell in love and got engaged. Back home, Hyun Woo’s lovelorn fiancee Yoon Soo Jin (Lee Bo Young) refused to believe he was dead. Hyun Woo’s tutor and friend, Kang Tae Min (Ryo Soo Young) who was actually plotting the family’s downfall for revenge, had taken over the reins of the company. By chance, Tae Min discovered that Hyun Woo was still alive and tried to get him killed. Instead Hyun Woo got himself into another knock, regained his past memory but lost his memory of his time with Eun Soo! Duh. He returned home to his rightful place with his family and fiancee, while Eun Soo, who by this time had lost her dad to illness waited for him for another year. By chance, Eun Soo visited Seoul and met up with Hyun Woo again, and determined to get him to remember her, chose to leave “Dream Garden” and work in his company. Hyun Woo, despite not remembering Eun Soo and was disturbed by the fact she kept insisting he was her lost love, fell in love with her against his will. Alas, by this time, his fiancee Soo Jin refused to let him go and threatened suicide, and Tae Min also fell for Eun Soo, and was working hard to bring the downfall of Hyun Woo’s company. The lovers held steadfast to their love, and towards the end, Hyun Woo recalled his time with Eun Soo, but alas, in what I felt was an unnecessary plot twist, she was knocked down by mistake by Tae Min, became crippled and decided to become a martyr and leave Hyun Woo. Obviously Hyun Woo continued to look for her for another year (what a bloody waste of time), found her, and the happy (but swift) ending finally materialised….
Despite the seemingly “typical” story plots, STLDFM is actually quite refreshing and straightforward, and much more “realistic” in tone. What I like:
1. Eun Soo’s grit - she is no teary and weak wallflower ala “Choi Ji Woo”, who would faint and crumble at the slightest obstacle. When her dad passed away, and Hyun Woo disappeared, while heartbroken, she continued to manage “Dream Garden” on her own. Even when she was bullied by her colleagues at Hyun Woo’s company and left to freeze on the rooftop, she did not fall sick the next day like typical heroines, and I give scriptwriters credit for resisting to make her into the tragic heroine stereotype. Eun Soo is an independent and resilient character, and is confident of Hyun Woo’s love for her but unfortunately towards the end, she became irrational and martyr like by leaving him because of her injury!! Stupid scriptwriters….!
2. Hyun Woo’s character changes - Ji Sung played him very well, in his role as a nobody, nice boy next door with no memory, then later as the dashing capable son of the big boss. There are many gratitious shots of him with his shirt off, and he has a totally droolsome body. Ji Sung also handled Hyun Woo’s tumultous feelings over his memory gaps very well indeed.
3. Lack of emphasis over “class differences” - thankfully there was only two scenes of Hyun Woo’s family trying to buy Eun Soo over with money, and getting her to leave him.
4. Soo Jin, the other woman - likewise in “Full House”, the producers have wisely not chosen to make Soo Jin an evil woman, but actually a likeable and artistic lady who is just totally and madly in love with Hyun Woo for a long long time. So you actually understand her reasons for plotting to keep the two lovebirds apart, and even when she resorts to suicide.
5. The love story between Hyun Woo and Eun Soo - very straightforward, by the 3rd or 4th episode, they are already deeply in love and got engaged. Both Ji Sung and Yoo Jin have a nice and easy chemistry, and you could believe in their love for each other throughout the years and the numerous obstacles.
Other nonsense:
1. I spent a good part of the series wondering if Yoo Jin has undergone any plastic surgery. There is just something about the shadow around her cheekbones that is totally distracting. At certain times she looks very pretty, and other times, she is very plain. I have gone to check on her on the Internet, and there are photos of her which I can’t recognise at all! (i.e. very slutty and vampy, as opposed to her sweet girl image in STLDFM).
2. The two leads have two nice kissing scenes in the show - which fortunately is not the chaste peck on the lips kind. But I cannot help but feel that they should have more kissing scenes at certain other parts of the show, like during their final reunion or something, but I guess Korea is still very much a conservative society. Oh well!
Not as brilliant as “Full House”, but definitely worth the 25 hours of my precious time!
Rating: 4 boos out of 5 (deducted for unnecessary plot twist in the last episode)
Here are some nice still shots of the drama…… (Notice that most of the photos are of my latest Korean hunk, Ji Sung! Pity there will be no shows coming up for him in the next two years as he is now in the military service!)
