My Girl
A Brief Synopsis:
Mostly due to the antics of her well-meaning but hapless father, Joo Yoo-Rin grew up in a nomadic, impoverished lifestyle. This allowed her to become familiar with many different places and fluent in both Chinese and Japanese. Cheerful by nature, she spends much of her time trying to get enough money to keep herself and her father afloat, often having to con her way out of sticky situations.
During one such instance of her conniving, she runs into Seol Gong-Chan, the young successor to a prosperous hotel franchise. Inconvenienced and irritated by her antics, he finds no use for her -at first. When his grandfather falls critically ill and requests to see his long-lost granddaughter, Gong-Chan turns to Yoo-Rin for help, asking her to act as his cousin for his grandfather's sake. Unsurprisingly, she requires monetary compensation.
Things begin to unwind when the grandfather recovers and asks Yoo-Rin to stay at his house with Gong-Chan and his entire family, forcing Yoo-Rin and Gong-Chan to contrive together to protect their secret. In the meantime, she encounters Seo Jung-Woo, Gong-Chan's playboy and fun-loving best friend, who happens to develop an attachment to her. When Kim Seo-Hyun, Gong-Chan's former girlfriend who abandoned him to pursue a tennis career, returns to Korea to get him back, the situation spirals out of control.
Plot Review:
For a Korean serial, it’s pretty original, although it does require a bucket-load of coincidences and a slight stretch in imagination to make it work. That being said, it’s more believable than most Korean serials, and I think that’s because of how the narrative is handled.
There is a definite class difference between Gong-Chan and Yoo-Rin, but it does not become the ultimate driving wedge between them, unlike other dramas. It’s more about seeing the difference in their characters as a result of their upbringing.
Without a doubt, if it weren’t for Yoo-rin and Gong-Chan’s good intentions, their deception would have been pretty horrible. But as the series progresses, their sincerity practically forces you to forgive them.
The plot resolution was a little too convenient — after all, what are the chances of all the characters coming in to speak on the lovers’ behalf? But it’s a drama after all.
Character Review:
Yoo-Rin – Cheerful and sunny, the typical Korean female lead. All the same, she’s pretty complicated: she is at once shameless (when she’s lying) and sensitive (when she’s embarrassed); she’s always looking out for herself, but does her best to care for others; and although easily discouraged, she keeps plugging away. I find her lies to be hysterical, because she really does play them off so well. Being something of a professional liar myself, I recognize talent when I see it.
Gong-Chan – One of my favorite male leads in any Korean drama, I like that he’s not one-sided. Typically, the rich male lead is pretty cold-hearted at first, but from the very beginning you can see that despite his reserved attitude, he has a lot of heart. I love how uptight he was at the beginning, with only a weak humor around the people closest to him. But after meeting Yoo-Rin, he becomes more playful, revealing a great whimsical side.
Jung-Woo – I don’t have much to say about this character. He didn’t really change very much from his original state as a playboy and player — both aspects of which weren’t very emphasized very well, except for the few random encounters with foreign women. He was nice to Yoo-Rin, but compared to everything Gong-Chan did, it pales. I totally agree with another reviewer who said that at no point did I think Jung-Woo deserved Yoo-Rin more than Gong-Chan.
Seo-Hyun – Great eye candy, but nothing more than that. Her reasons for leaving Gong-Chan in the first place were ill-founded, and her reasons for getting back with him are even more so. They had very little chemistry, in my opinion, which only made the Yoo-Rin/Gong-Chan pairing that much easier to accept. She was pleasant at the beginning, but quickly spiraled into a clingy, insecure, and whiny character.
The Ahn Siblings – This was a great comedic duo. Every show needs a comic sidekick, and sometimes, double the trouble is better. Jin-Shim really shone every single time she was either bashing someone up (i.e. her brother or Yoo-Rin’s dad) or teasing someone. Jin-Kyu was always fun, either doing pratfalls or being love-struck by Secretary Yoon, who always came off to me as a Mona Lisa of sorts; very attractive, but she always seems to know what’s going down on any front — that smile of hers tells me she’s in on every secret of this drama.
Gong-Chan’s Grandfather – He’s a totally nice guy, but he definitely has an edge. It sure beats being either completely heinous or completely soft-hearted, the way granddaddies are apt to be portrayed in Korean dramas. His voice and laugh are a little creepy, and each time he mentioned how pretty Yoo-Rin was, he stared at her in a way I found profoundly disturbing.
Bae In-Sun & Jang Il-Do – I’m shocked by how fond I became of these characters. I thought I’d be annoyed by their side-romance constantly taking me away from the main romance of the series, but actually, theirs is almost as compelling. And since “Parapluies de Cherbourg” has always been one of my favorite movies, I loved its sporadic inclusions into the drama.
Main Actor Review:
Lee Da-Hae – She fit the role perfectly, and had great timing when she was doing gags or lying. But her pratfalls always struck me as stiff and awkward — you can tell she’s trying to protect herself. She played the poignant parts well. Her squeaky voice got on my nerves sometimes. I think she’s pretty, but the puffy cheeks never did it for me. And why does she always put her hair up? It looks stiff and unflattering that way. She managed the extra languages well.
Lee Dong-Wook – His mobile face is awesome for expressions, whether comedic or dramatic. Those bulging eyes or dumbfounded faces cracked me up every time. I think his timing is a little off though, because as entertaining as his bantering with Yoo-Rin is, I always thought he was on the losing side, because she was always so quick to make a comeback. I like his haircut in this series — when he has long hair, he just looks like he’s trying to look young.
Lee Joon-Ki – He successfully played a one-sided character throughout the series. And he looked good doing it. That’s all I have to say.
Park Si-Yeon – She had one expression for every single emotion she ever had to act, and that expression was always of discomfort. No matter what scene it was, she always looked uncomfortable. But she did have “face of an angel, body of the devil.”
Quibbles and Comments:
As a tennis player, I laugh at the idea of any Asian achieving that level of prowess. Besides Michael Chang (who was truly a one-hit wonder in the tennis world), no Asian has come close to the top ten. Seo-Hyun’s movements were average at best, and even the sound effect of the ball hitting the racket sounded weak. They couldn’t have amped it up a little?
Maybe it’s because I’m from the U.S., but I found nearly every outfit the girls wore to be either tacky or unflattering. The guys wore suits all the time, so they always looked sharp.
Every time Gong-Chan and Jung-Woo played squash, I laughed because they seemed so intense — and they always fell! I have never fallen when I played squash, but maybe they’re just more risky than I am.
The appearance of Choon-Hyang and Mong-Ryong at the end of the series was funny, but pretty much ruined the ending for me. Suddenly it became a promotion for “Delightful Girl Choon-Hyang,” which was good, but not really as well-plotted as “My Girl.”
As always, my favorite scenes were the fantasy scenes. Every single one of them was a gem, from Gong-Chan’s fantasy as an “oppa” to Yoo-Rin’s fantasies of being siblings with him. The best was Yoo-Rin’s fantasy where she “takes advantage” of Gong-Chan while they’re alone.
I’m from the U.S., so maybe I don’t know, but the way Gong-Chan and Yoo-Rin treat each other resembles sibling antics to me. I don’t get why the people around them interpreted it as couples behavior. That always struck me as odd, but I attributed it to my ignorance of Korean culture.
The music was great in this series. I loved the tinkling of "Yesterday" when Gong-Chan gave Yoo-Rin the globe, and of course, the music of "Parapluies de Cherbourg" was a nice touch.
Final Thoughts:
A strong romantic comedy with great leads, but relatively weak supporting characters. If you’re looking for something to make you laugh, then this is definitely it. If your taste is along straight drama or romance, then I wouldn’t recommend this. But those who like to stoke their sense of humor must absolutely watch this.
