Thirty Nine (2022)

“When you’re overwhelmingly grateful, you find it so hard to express your gratitude.”

when watching this my uncle was also terminally ill (he helped raise me). when i first was watching i stopped since he just got diagnosed, but than a bit after i began watching again because i was curious if the show might show what our future will hold. while watching it I was confused why the acted some ways they did, I could get a grasp but not truly understand. For example how she knew she passed without picking up the phone, not going to see he body one last time and etc. I thought "oh they just wanted it to be dramatic for the audience, but now I know, at least for my case that it portrayed it perfectly. That moment you get the phone call you instintly know, the fact that she didnt go in to see here for the last time is so relatable, for me i couldnt move i froze and kept my head down while others went in. I guess the reason i love this drama so much is because i relate to the characters so much, the show is definitly not for every one but this show for my has helped in so many ways i never thought a show could.

“When we encounter an inconvenient truth, the truth itself isn’t what makes us flustered. We become flustered because we finally encounter something ominous that we’ve strived so hard to bottle up.” – Cha Mijo

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I really enjoyed this Drama

I have read a lot of negative reviews relating to this drama and though it may not be perfect it still rates high on my list , for the storyline , acting and presentation .
A beautiful picture of the deep friendship between three women who have known each other since they were teenagers , who have laughed ,cried , got drunk together , helped each other over all these years . Then something happened to one of them for which none of them were prepared for nor had experienced before . Suddenly their world is thrown upside down and they have to find a way to adjust , cope , understand and deal with it , while life is going on around them as normal . The story is told by one of them Mi-Jo who takes charge and is trying to stay positive , upbeat and not always succeeding . Anyone who has seen someone dear to them die of cancer , will know that one tries to be strong for them , to be there , to remain hopeful , to stay positive . But it take its toll on you . They also have their own life to live and work to manage . It is this juggling of death amid life and life in death that concentrates their focus and energy . They are supported in the many facets of their lives by three admirable young men who care , who are understanding , patient and loving although they themselves have other issues to deal with . I do not mind having a brief look at these issues even if they are not dealt with fully because we know there is a future for them all . The acting is superb . One laughs , cries , feels . I would have liked to be one of these friends . They all dealt with this phase in their lives with dignity , compassion friendship and love .

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A TOTAL WASTE AND A TOTAL MESS

A drama that had everything to be one of the best of the year but unfortunately in each episode it was getting worse and worse.
Clearly there was a huge problem in the scrip, the worst mistake they did was to tell story from Chan Mi Jo's point of view.
No balance between the scream time give to each character and the most interesting character were the ones that were shown the least.
They were determinate to make "the most devastating drama" giving a million problems to the FL but everything felt so saturated and confusing, removing one of the millions problems wouldn't make anything important to the drama.
The main plot supposed to be their friendship and their life at 39 but we couldn't see anything interesting about it .
A cast full of amazing actors totally wasted, I'm surprise they agreed to do this in the first place.
I was really excited about this drama and I wanted so bad to like it but it wasn't the case, reading the comments my opinion isn't far from others people's opinions, such a shame.

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Hard-core, unrelenting melo relieved by some good performances

Don’t be deceived by the trailer, this is wall-to-wall weeping melo with a few flashes of sparkle to light up the path. We start with a big shock early on and then gradually add trauma to the mix for each character as we go. It’s pretty unrelenting.

This is the main drawback, it tries to pack too much in and takes on too many themes. A secondary focus is child-parent relationships and nature versus nurture. This theme led to the introduction of a lot of characters and some distracting and unnecessarily complex story-lines, one of which is introduced quite late. They have a different resonance to the main plot and disrupt rather than reinforce the central story. The pace of the drama is slow enough at the start to realise the emotional developments, but as the plot becomes more complex the treatment becomes more superficial. Some plot-lines need more attention to be worthwhile and on occasion the emotional impacts are truncated and left hanging.

The romances are somewhat half-hearted and it is notable that the male characters are all listed as support roles. The focus is split between the women’s friendship and their love lives, which means that neither get the strong treatment that they deserve.

The editing of the last episode doesn’t feel smooth to me and although the ending creates the right emotional mood the story-line is fragmented. It pulls its punches and loses something in the process.

On the positive side, it is prepared to get down and dirty with real feelings and conflicting emotional responses. And there are some good performances, particularly from the three leads, Son Ye Jin, Yeon Mi Do and Kim Ji Hyun. The relationship between the them had a believable chemistry and there is a naturalness to the delivery of the lines.

Overall, this is not a bad production, but it carries far too much weight to be an easy or compelling watch.

What my rating means: 6+ Some aspects of it were OK but it had serious flaws. It will pass the time but you can find something better.

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Beautiful and moving drama

???????????

My eyes are swollen from too much crying. Blaming myself for torturing myself but then if I hadn't watched this drama I wouldn't know how beautiful this drama is. I don't get the hate they are getting when in fact this is one of the most beautiful and must-watch drama of 2023. I wouldn't waste my time if this is just a so-so. 39 reminds me that life is short and we should all cherish it, every minute of life is important. As we get older we shouldn't focus on the things that are just temporary but rather on something valuable. I envy their friendship, they are more than family. Who wouldn't want that kind of friendship?

People tend to pass this drama because it may look like a depressing one but I beg to disagree, this drama is full of life and very heartwarming.

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The reality of how significant yet fragile our lives are.

The impact we have on the others is something that we certainly aren't aware of. Everyday we wake-up, we prepare ourselves and we go to work. Sometimes we fall in love, sometimes we get hurt yet we are never completely alone as next to our deathbed someone who cares for us will certainly be mourning. This drama surely is a realistic portrait of life in all its imperfections. We could have wished for a different ending but that's how life is, cruel till the very last moment. That is why friends and family are so important. They make your burdens seem less heavy and they hold your hands and make you laugh even in the worst possible situation. This drama is a perfect mixture of sadness, joy and strength. The main characters friendship is something so valuable that makes you yearn to find someone with whom you can share all your best and worst memories. Son Ye Jin, Jeon Mi Do, and Kim Ji Hyun certainly are amazing actress as they perfectly portrayed all the facets of their characters in the most engaging and overwhelming possible way. This drama is a well deserved 10.

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Feelings that flew through me after watching...

Actually i couldnt relate more to this story then i do. i Had the same thing happening to me, but instead was my father. Thoses feelings that i was talking about mostly are from regret, like mijo had after cha young died. My biggest regret was that i didnt get to spend that much time with my father, but the moments we shared are still golden to this date. Its not easy to get over someone vanishing from your life like they were never there, no matter how old you are that will always stick with you in your mind. mi jo and joo hee, have people to support them no matter what. I feel really sorry tho for jin seok, what he does in the end is not easy, loving someone with all your power, even tho that person is gone for good. Im not saying that love doesnt last forever. Im prettry sure that does exist, its rare, im refering about the sadness and loneliness that he is going through is heartbreaking. Overall, I can tell you that cancer is a shadow that grows as the daily time passes by. It affects everyone around you, and they did a great job showing it. I wish cha young was the main character tho, she had way more to tell for sure. We only saw a portion of it. Unfortunate, but i dont regret watching it and to be honest i dont blame the writers. Nowadays people want and they get it. Lastly after watching it, i felt every bit of emotion that exists. I smiled while there were happy scenes i cried my eyeballs out when there were sad scenes. I felt it thats the most important thing for a drama. I went back in time, thanks to this story i now can tell myself that is ok so I can move one to and so i canstop feeling that much regret everyday.
Life is short so try to enjoy it the best of it. Like they tried to do.

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Consumer Warning: Overbearing melodrama ahead!

On paper, this show should be a top-notch production. The stellar cast, the high production value and a nice OST do present a strong case.

In terms of the central plot, it is about as transparent as it can be. It literally gave the key “twist” to us at the end of episode 1. We know with certainty what is the end game. It then spends the bulk of the Show plotting the meandering path towards that exit. It was not necessarily a difficult path, but it was very weighty and melodramatic. It does not hold back on any opportunity to tug at our heartstrings.

While the synopsis of the show hinted at an ensemble drama with a female concentric focus, it is only partly true. Yes, the three main leads are all females about to turn 40 but two are the true leads and they are Son Ye Jin (as Cha Mi Jo) and Jeon Mi Do (as Joeng Chan Young) while the third FL played by Kim Ji Hyun (as Jang Joo Hee) has a lesser role. All the male leads are firmly in support and powered the romantic storylines. Their respective families played in the next tier and move the plot along as required.

It is true that the close friendship/sisterhood of the 3 leads formed the central pillar of the story, the plot around Chan Young is what drives the bulk of plot developments. There is certainly no shortage of subplots but the majority of them were treated superficially. Not that the subject matter is lightweight (abandonment, prejudice, deceptions and more) but they are just shiny fruits hanging off the main trunk. Some were given more attention and used to stir our emotions, but all faded away eventually in the face of the all-consuming main event. To be fair, all these threads were not forgotten, the writer-nim did gave them resolutions even if it is just a quick scene or a snippet of commentary but some felt perfunctory. It allowed the threads to be closed but it doesn’t really give them their dues. IMHO, this is largely because the story is written to appeal and engage with the target audience. It is not about pushing agendas that might distract from the central theme.

There is no doubt the Show is watchable. There are swoon worthy moments and occasional rays of sunshine but I can’t help but cringe at the overly melodramatic scenes and the endless rounds of the female leads drinking, shopping, bickering and basically creating “moments”. Some of those screen time can be better used to explore some subplots that were crying for some love and attention.

Now the elephant in the room, I do pity Joo Hee. Her character is poorly developed and weak by design, suffered a lot, aimed low and achieved little in life. Her love line is contrived. She is supposed to be in a serious relationship (her own words) but there are hardly any outward signs. Just a few hints and no skinship.

You can’t really say the Show dropped the ball. Quite the opposite! The Show has a laser focus on the endgame. Nothing is allowed to get in the way of the melodrama. Every morsel of happiness is bittersweet. Every special moment is handcrafted to heighten its impact. Lingering contemplative shots and close-ups of the protagonists (often in tears) reinforce the despondency.

I have no doubt the Show will be popular but it is also polarising. Its fans will love it and wish for more. The rest of us can only lament the lost opportunities to push back some boundaries or explore relevant issues. If you start watching the show thinking that it is a rom-com then you might felt a bit cheated as the show quickly morphed into its final form. Ultimately, the Show wants to preach to the converted and it did it with consummate skill. Caveat emptor, my friends.

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Esperava mais

E mais uma vez um drama que tinha um enorme potencial foi pelo ralo a baixo. Eu realmente queria muito ver esse drama, a premissa era boa os atores eram bons mais quando comecei assistir toda minha espectativa se esvaiu por completo.

O drama te promete 3 protagonistas porém te entrega apenas uma e isso foi frustrante , toda a atenção e todos os problemas foi dado a Mi Joo, assim como a maior parte do tempo de tela foi dado para ela. Como assim gente uma das "protagonistas " estava morrendo com um cancer e nem assim foi dado quase nenhuma importancia a isso, pois estavam todo mundo correndo e prestando atenção nos problemas da Mi Joo, chegou um ponto que eu não aguentava mais ver ela em cena , tanto coisa acontecendo, eu querendo ver o progreso das outras histórias e tudo que eu via era a Mi Joo sofrendo.

Achei um drama arrastando, cansativo em certo ponto ,não foi de tudo ruim porem não foi bom o suficiente para me cativar, o unico episódio que me senti conectada foi o ultimo, em fim posso afirmar com conficção que não iriei assistir novamente e provalmente vou esquecer rápido disso tudo.

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Waterfall of TEARS

This series wasn't originally on my radar but I saw a tiktok video of Joo Hee and Hyeon Joon's meet cute that I decided to check this one out. In terms of my original plan of seeing a cute noona romance, I watched a melodrama instead.

STORY
As opposed to majority of the people in the comments section, I didn't find the friendship arc lacking. Adult friendships are supposed to be like that. The only reason they still see each other as often as that because they're all unmarried at 39. I did find this show pretty slow (admittedly I watched most of it at 1.5x speed) and I'd rather see more screentime on Joo Hee than Seon-u and his sister. Chan-young's story is the one that made me cry a river. Since this is a melodrama, they should've just put full force on the melo and explored more on Chan-young's struggle with the illness.

ACTING/CAST
Perfect! All of them nailed their roles perfectly. I don't think I'll cry as much as I did if it wasn't for the on point acting of everyone in this cast. Hats off for the perfect casting!

MUSIC
I can't even remember any of the songs because most of the time I'm watching, I was crying.

REWATCH
I will never be able to rewatch this one unless I want to torture myself. I just won't have the strength to rewatch a series that's so emotionally draining.

This is melodrama and slice of life combined so if you dislike either of those then this series is not for you. It's a slow show and definitely not for binge watching. Still kinda sad I wasn't able to see an amazing noona romance storyline lol.

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Jeon Mido did good work here!

I enjoyed Jeon Mido's acting here. I'm a fan! The other actors were good, too, but she stood out to me.

What I enjoyed the most about the show was how it showed women in the cusp of turning 40 acting like lil kids with their families. That was really cute to me hahaha.

The story was quite interesting. I'm not sure the script did full justice but it is worth checking out. The thing I liked about the ending was how the characters went about their lives as usual - there was pain but time doesn't stop for anyone and nor does life. This is both a bitter truth and a bit of solace, I think.

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Love from friends and family are the best love!

Imagine having spent your life with someone and suddenly hearing a news that that someone will soon be gone. How will you prepare yourself…

I thought this series will be a 'FUN' series. I thought this is about being single and still having fun at 39. But I thought wrong. This ain't fun at all. I cried on almost all episodes except the first two?! Haysss

I even thought of dropping it but I am curious on what will happen to their friendship and their family.

Mijoo, Joohee and Chanyoung have the best friendship. I envy them. Will I be able to have friends like them even after I turned 39? 40? I also love their relationship with their families.

Chanyoung’s story is interesting. She seems like a mistress but I can’t tell if she really is since her relationship with Jinseok is platonic. They love each other but they both missed the timing. And now she’s dying…. I want her to be okay and be with Jinseok happily after his divorce but she’s gone. WTH. I hate it!

Jinseok- He is nice but also foolish! To all the characters I feel so sorry for him the most. I feel like he’s the one suffering a lot even before Chanyoung’s diagnosis.

This drama is full of heartache but I enjoyed it. I just don’t think I can rewatch it. I don’t want to feel that pain again. Overall 7.5/10.

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