Full House

Story
This is a somewhat tedious but sweet love story between two people who finally learn to value their relationship.

Han Ji Eun (Song Hye Kyo) is an orphan whose parents were killed in a car accident. Her parents left her a house by the seaside that her father built and christened 'Full House' – hence the title of the series. She earns her living (unsuccessfully) as a writer publishing her work on the internet.

Lee Young Jae (Jung Ji Hoon / Rain) is a pop star. He has been in love with his childhood friend Kang Hae Won (Han Eun Jung) since forever. He had a younger sister who had been sickly as a child and had lost her to cancer. His father never allowed his sister to cry even though she was suffering from a lot of pain – this is something that Young Jae could never understand. As a result, he feels an anger towards his father and a sense of protectiveness over Hae Won who loved to cry.

Hae Won is a fashion stylist who runs her own boutique. Young Jae and Min Hyuk are both her childhood friends. Although she is in love with Min Hyuk, it is Young Jae who is in love with her. Young Jae is always there for her whenever she needs him.

Yoo Min Hyuk (Kim Sung Soo) is suave as a man-about-town. He is rich and sucessful and heads a production company. He is aware of Young Jae's feelings for Hae Won as well as Hae Won's feelings for him. However he does not reciprocate Hae Won's affections. Instead, he falls in love with Han Ji Eun.

The story begins with Han Ji Eun (JE) losing her house when her two childhood friends, Dong Wook and Hee Jin sell Full House after luring her away to Shanghai with a story that she had won an all expense paid trip. She meets Lee Young Jae (YJ) on the plane and only manages to return home when she lies to get YJ to lend her money. She tells YJ that she is an ex-fiancée of Yoo Min Hyuk (MH).

JE returns to find Full House sold to YJ and their relationship begins when she tries to bargain with him to let her stay and earn her keep until she can pay him and buy the house from him.

Hae Won (HW) finally professes her love for MH at a party which both YJ and JE attend. MH tells her to be realistic and that it is YJ who loves her not him. In anger, HW confronts YJ about his feelings towards her (she feels that it is only MH's excuse for not reciprocating her love). YJ realises that MH had told HW about his feelings and when he is confronted by HW, YJ 'confesses' that he loves JE and kisses her full on the lips. The paparazzi click away and JE instantly becomes the talk of the town as YJ's love interest.

YJ and JE sign a marriage contract in which they agree that they would play man and wife in public for a period of 6 months. They would divorce thereafer and for her efforts, YJ would return JE 'Full House'.

As time goes by, YJ begins to take a liking to JE, but he is too proud to admit his feelings to her. He is also confused by his feelings towards HW. He loves JE but he feels a sense of loyalty towards HW. Instead of expressing his feelings towards JE, he would often scold JE for no good reason. He gets jealous when she starts to develop a relationship with MH, who tells YJ that he would fight for JE as YJ does not know how to treasure her.

JE likes YJ although she cannot understand why he is mean to her. Her feelings for him extend to love for his family as well. She sings her infamous "Three Bears" song for his grandmother when she complains that the newlyweds had not brought a gift for her on their visit back from their honeymoon.

HW finally takes an interest in YJ when she is rejected by MH and when she sees JE and YJ together. She gets possessive over YJ, who cannot seem to sort out his feelings for JE and HW.

YJ's popularity plunges as his private life is made public. JE tries to save his reputation but YJ finally makes a decision to let her go - because of his love for her, he is not willing to let her suffer. YJ retreats to a monastery thereafter.

In the meantime, JE becomes a screenwriter and her script is about to be made into a movie. She requests for MH to get YJ to be the male lead in her movie. Aware of MH's feelings towards her, JE also tells MH not to wait for her as she realises how painful it must be for him.

YJ returns when he is told that JE is in a sorry state as she has been "abandoned" by MH. This is a lie that Dong Wook made up to get YJ to return home.

YJ realizes that he is still in very much in love with JE and after some to-ing and fro-ing, he finally agrees to act in her movie. The movie is a hit and YJ regains his popularity. He ends up with JE finally as man and wife.

Comments
The story is a little silly and it gets a bit tedious with the to-ing and fro-ing of the relationship between YJ and JE. Nevertheless, it is good entertainment and the characters grow on you.

You cannot help but think that YJ is very childish even though he is supposed to be a big pop star. I did not really understand why he was always shouting at JE. Everytime things looked as if they were going well, he had to scream or insult JE. The script probably called for YJ to look "proud" and conflicted and maybe even confused about his feelings, but did he really have to scream and shout all the time?

Strange thing is that he doesn't seem to have anything to do even when he was still popular - does he have to hang around the house all the time?

I would definitely recommend this series for hours of entertainment! It is a nice happy, albeit sometimes silly, story. It does leave one feeling happy inside though. One word of warning - the wardrobe for this show must be the worst I have ever seen! You have to see it to believe it!