Beautiful Love, Wonderful Life (2019)

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 Joon Hwi is frozen - taciturn and withdrawn, but is looking for resolution.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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Beautiful Love, Wonderful Life (2019) - it's been a long time since I watch a 100-episode Korean drama, and I struggled finishing this drama. The reason why I watched this drama is because I have a copy somehow and also Yoon Park is here, with the same role as a chef on Age of Youth. I super love him in Age of Youth that is why I was really looking forward to this drama but expectations vs reality hit me and I really struggled finishing this drama. I was affected and got hurt with what happened with the characters especially at the first parts of the drama, I cried a lot but still continue watching this. What I did is about 1 to 3 episodes per day depending on my mood. True to its number of episodes, they did the pacing slowly, alongside the revelations and the love story.

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This is the first weekend-family Korean drama I've watched! I've attempted to before, a couple times, but ended up concluding that they just weren't my thing. I don't exactly know what pushed me to try and watch this one, I think I saw a comment here on MDL, on the upcoming "Once Again" drama, criticizing this one and curiosity got the best of me, though I'm glad it did.
Now I think I understand what the appeal is: you get really attached to the characters (regardless how one-dimensional they can get), their stories and their growth. Though nothing especially interesting happens, just watching their journey becomes enjoyable and pleasing. It gives you a nice feeling of familiarity every time you play a new episode. Also every plot line has interesting aspects so when one becomes momentarily uninteresting the other makes up for it and viceversa.
In any case, with all the previous weekend family dramas I tried (not many though) I never got this attached or cared for the characters this much, so this one must have something special. Maybe how likeable most of the characters are or become eventually. When it ended I surprisingly found myself feeling a little nostalgic and sad.

Story - 8.0 - The plot is far from original or fast paced, besides I'm not gonna sit here and pretend that a weekend 100 episode drama didn't drag the plot, sometimes some scenes where unjustifiably long and some situations repeated one or two many times. Therefore I skimmed parts (yeah I'm a skim watcher). Nonetheless the characters, story and its end are heartwarming and worth the watch.
I, unexpectedly, really enjoyed Cheong Ah's character and I think she is what makes this drama good. At first I thought she would be your typical Mary Sue but no, she was nice and warm-hearted without being a pushover, and she was forward with her feelings without being too clingy. She wasn't a perfect character and sometimes she made choices I didn't agree with or annoyed me, but she was relatable and I liked her mentality and recilience.
Although for me the best character was Kang Shi Wol, I enjoyed all of his appearances and I wish he had been more relevant to the plot (got major SLS with him but I still liked the OTP).

Cast/Acting - 9.0 - I loved Seol In Ah and Yoon Park though IMO Lee Tae Sun stole the show (rated it a 9 for introducing me to him). Everybody loves Kim Jae Young and I think he has lots of potential but he's still a little wooden/stiff for my taste. Everyone adored Oh Min Suk's acting on this one, and I enjoyed him but I don't think he was as outstanding as I've seen people claim. Everyone else was okay (with some exceptions here and there).

Music - 6.5 -Music wise it wasn't memorable enough for me to even recall the songs, but at least as far as I remember it wasn't distracting or annoying.

Rewatch Value - 7.0 - I mean it's a family very long drama so I probably won't rewatch but I don't rule out visiting some scenes in the future.

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This is a good drama. No doubt about it. Was it heavy? Yes. Was it enjoyable? Well, better than I expected. Though I do think that there were a few things that I didn't really agree with the drama. This review will have some spoilers but not big ones. Though I do recommend you to watch it first or after you decided to drop it because those 100 episodes were quite worth it.

// STORY //
I personally liked the story. It touched a quite sensitive subject which is suicide, bullying and cheating/affairs. At the start I really wanted to kinda just drop the drama as to how unfair it was for Kim Cheong Ah as she was suffering so much and the people around her weren't able to understand how she felt, that really made me feel mad towards those around her and sympathetic for her. I really liked how the drama progressed and you could really see how these characters managed to change overtime. Though a genre that I quite disliked is the comedy. I was able to finish this drama in three days because I skipped most of the comnedy skits as i felt like it was quite a ruin to the mood of intensity that the main plot gave off. There were times where the drama made me laugh but I still skipped most of it because I wanted to know what will happen in the main story. The romance for this drama is quite good. I loved i and it was better than my expectations. Seol In Ah was really good at playing her character as she has a very innocent looking face. The drama kept it's intense feeling from the start towards the end. So for the story I think it was made real good and was executed real greatly. (7/10)

// ACTING/CAST //
I can't really say much for the acting and cast as nothing really stood out of the ordinary for me. I think the cast acted out their characters real good and there weren't anything that they lacked, at least from what I noticed. I do think that they chose the main roles nicely as they all seemed perfect for their roles. (8/10)

// MUSIC //
Again there is really not much to comment about the music as non of them stood out for me. Non of the music they chose felt off in each situation either so it ain't bad or outstandingly good either. (7/10)

// REWATCH VALUE//
I probably won't rewatch the drama but I might take some time to look at the romance and comedy as I skipped most of the comedy and enjoyed the romance. (6/10)
// OVERALL //
I would recommend this drama if you want to watch something quite heavy but also enjoy some comedy in it as I believe the producers and director wanted something to kind of cool off from the heavy plot. I wasn't into the idea as much because the heavy plot made me mad lots of times and having that random bit of comedy kinda threw me off a little. So I would rate this drama quite well and better than I expected. Should you watch it? Of course! (7.5/10)

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Poster as well as title doesn't justified the story

First by looking the poster I thought Yoon Park is second lead and in whole drama I was waiting for second leads love story to start and this is not happen so I am disappointed with the ending . Secondly Oh Min Suk as do jin who is second famale lead husband or ex husband ,cheated his wife and frankly he told that he was tired from her but after accident he realised how much he loves his wife and continue to pursue her till her heart not melt so this part I didn't understand and at second side she should never allowed him to come near her as he cheated on her but she always had softer corner for him . Both knew the reality of their relationship that she wanted money that's why she married to a rich man and he thought one day she fall for him in this way they spent 9 years and then he tired form her and had external martial affair . So how one can forget this . Thirdly after one year of the accident ahe felt nothing when he came closed to her but her heart felt something when Yoon park comes near to her and she said him that she like him and never said to her husband ,so all these thing strongly shows that she end up with Yoon Park but .....
First leads are the best . Only second lead story is not justified . About tiltle . In whole drama everybody had a pain of the past because they were unhappy from inside but showed some happiness . Everybody is going to through fire of attonment though some of them had not done anything wrong so there was no wonderful life but yes there is beautiful love and my favourite scene is when first male lead wore her rings inbeach finger of her .

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i like this drama because I can just turn off my brain when I watch it. Every moment isn't something to be dissected (apart from the moments between Chung Ah and Joon Hwi, because those 2 are damn adorable and I always replay their scenes 100 times each)
This drama is extremely slow but in the best way, it takes its time rather than dragging anything out and to my surprise I've found they're actually giving us some subtle yet brilliant character development and growth. All their characters - bar one - are not solely perfect or evil, they are real and that's so fun to watch. Admittedly Chung Ah is who I come back for again and again, whether it be her sweet relationship with her best friend, her up and down relationship with her sister, her strained relationship with her father or the beginnings of love with a man who swears he will never date or marry. Seol In Ah is a fantastic actor and having only seen her in Strong Woman, I'm so pleasantly surprised by how well shes managed to carry this drama for me. She plays such a brilliant character and although at the beginning of this drama she was who I watched it for, I am now finding I'm starting to like characters and look forward to seeing characters who I swore I would hate for the entirety of this drama.
Anyway as someone who has never finished a show with over 25 episodes in it (Korean, English, american or otherwise), I know that I will be finishing all 100 episodes of this drama and that makes it pretty good in my books.

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disclaimer: I have watched 46/100 episodes

I hate trailers that spoil anything about the story. But the trailer that I saw only contained what emotions will be there. After watching the teaser trailer ver 2, I couldn't wait.

I started watching it mainly for the parents cast (this isn’t like me, but the performance of those ‘parents’ from other dramas really grabbed my attention) after I saw the trailer and the poster I got this excitement I used to have when I blindly went to watch dramas based on curiosity. I don’t watch ongoing dramas the wait is hard… so I had to wait for almost half of the drama to air.

Just like there is no all-good person in the world, there's no all-bad person either. There is always more than one side. This drama shows some ridiculous acts but justifies how each person feels. It goes very slowly, it is a drams that you might want to pursue, cherish and admire for a longer time. You feel many things watching it. It explores everything in detail not leaving anything out. it makes you cry, laugh, smile, get excited along with them, and sympathize. But you need patience and an open mind to thoroughly enjoy everything about it. Because it is not a shot-like drama or story where the succession of events is fast and you can see progress quickly. In fact, everything goes at a natural pace and everything comes out when it is time.
살짝 is enough sometimes when the alternative is nothing at all. (Kim Cheong Ah's influence ;) )
and I definitely cried a LOT during the first half (quarter).

What I have come to love in long family dramas is that they focus on many things that help us get to know how the characters live, feel etc and not only focus on a defined plot. Although it gets prolonged but it means to engage us with the characters so it always feels better after watching a long drama because you got to know your favourite character better and understand their feelings.

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100 Episodes wow! This is my 2nd time watching this. Seol In Ah (Kim Chung Ah) was amazing but the only problem I had with this actress, I didn’t feel the love chemistry between her and KJY until episode 100. Kim Jae Young (Goo Joon Hwi) is amazing and very tall, no matter what part he plays, he transfers his personality to that character. Jo Yoon Hee(Kim Seol Ah) did very well in the portrayal of the character she played. Yoon Park(Moon Tae Rang) is another tall actor and I like the character he played. Oh Min Suk(Do Jin Woo), this actor was lively with humor and serious when he wanted to be.

The storyline is somewhat different from others. The domino effect of two families was destined in this story. I’m so glad the writers brought attention to suicide prevention and how it is important to see the red flags. The suicide rate in South Korea is #4 Worldwide. I know 100 episodes is a long watch, but the story had to be told.

Thanking the team who worked hard in making and telling the story of Beautiful Love Wonderful life.

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It's a really nice story but some storylines I don't agree with.

The beginning was of the drama was interesting. The characters were nice, and I really liked how it was going except when there were some storyline choices that I strongly disagree with. And this is exclusively to Seol Ah and Jin Woo's relationship:
-Forgiving an infidelity
-Going back to a mother in law who only insulted and bullied the daughter in law.
-Loveless marriage
-"Falling in love" with another person while still trying to get over another relationship.

I just couldn't understand this storyline and to be honest, I feel bad for the characters involved, lol.

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I felt something was different from the previous episode (7-8), the atmosphere that was appointed did feel like watching a drama in 2009 (9-10). But compared to the previous episode was very different from the style of video editing and shooting. the house property looks too artificial, the light is spreading everywhere, usually there is a dynamic establish shoot using depth of field, one scene usually has many cameras, but this episode only feels there are only 2 cameras. the effect of the animated transition in episodes 7-8 is quite pronounced, but episodes 9-10 are too many cutaway techniques that will make a stiff impression if overdoing it, it is not usually Korean drama 2019 like this. even though I'm very curious about this drama, but when entering episodes 9-10 many scenes that I skip. try to pay attention

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