TV Drama: My Girl

Starring: Lee Dan Hae, Lee Dong Wuk, Lee Jun Gi, Park Si Yeon
16 episodes


On the first episode I was not impressed. I even found Lee Dan Hae’s acting annoying and overacted, very much like poor imitation of Song He Gyo’s Ji En character in Full House. But then I saw Lee Dong Wuk, and was hooked until the last episode. His character in My Girl felt like the mix between Jae Min (Memories of Bali) and Ming Ge-oppa (Full House). Now, how can you say no to THAT??!!?? And then the new (said to be) hot new Korean actor Lee Jun Gi, who received many praises because of his role in King and the Clown. I didn’t really enjoy watching him in comparison with Dong Wuk, well… hmmm… it’s difficult to say… but you know when you think ‘this guy is not exactly good looking’ but somehow cannot take your eyes of him? That’s the way I felt about Lee Jun Gi in this drama.

The story was about Gong Chan (Lee Dong Wuk), the heir to a large hotel/apartment company fortune owned by his ailing grandfather. The grandfather deeply regretted his decision in shunning his daughter (Gong Chan’s aunt) because she married unsuitable man. She moved to Japan and supposedly gave birth to a daughter, but all the information about her family had been lost after a big earthquake. Gong Chan’s close relationship with his grandfather after the tragic death of both of his parents, made him determined to find his cousin.

While doing some business in Ji Zhou Island, Gong Chan met Yu Rin (Lee Da Hae), a girl whose life was basically based on “petty” lies. Having a poor life and a gambling addicted father, made her accustomed to saying the “right” thing at the right time in order to survive. When the grandfather’s condition became critical, the desperate Gong Chan asked Yu Rin to help him fulfill his grandfather’s dying wish: to meet his granddaughter and beg her for forgiveness. Hesitated but then agreed under tempting compensations, Yu Rin became Gong Chang’s long lost cousin. The situation became complicated when the grandfather miraculously recovered and Yu Rin realized that she’s developing feelings for Gong Chan (can’t blame a girl for falling for a face like that! Hehe).

As you may have guessed, the love conflict would not be interesting without rivals. Park Si Yeon played a so-so character of Gong Chan’s ex-lover. She didn’t just dumped him but abandoned him when he needed her most, that was Gong Chan’s very own words. When helping Gong Chan to realize that he still had feeling for the ex, Yu Rin felt a pang in her heart. But of course, she had her own admirer. Lee Jun Gi played as Cheng Yu, a playboy who was described to be able to make world Olympic with girls competing for him, (somehow) falls hopelessly in love with her. Cheng Yu turned out to be Gong Chan’s best friend whose shoulders were always available for Yu Rin’s tears.

There were a high dose on short skirts with tight leggings in this drama. That, and accesories, lots. The most noticable was probably the girls' earrings. There were scenes where Yu Rin was wearing Hello Kitty's pair, I think, with different colors, gold on the left and silver on the right (that or the other way around). Park Si Yeon was also often found wearing big earrings (she actually practised tennis wearing a big round-bracelet-look-alike pair!!! Dangerous, I should say! And ridicilous, I have to add!!!); and big ethnic-taste necklaces.

Anyway, there’s nothing really new in this drama, except for the “new” good-looking faces. There were some scenes that were really funny, for example when Yu Rin’s best friend sew an orange gave to him by the girl he liked, or the play-out of the characters’ imaginations (Gong Chan became a flirter, a irresponsible brother, etc). But other than that, I didn’t shed a tear… me, a crybaby for romantic comedies. Well, there were a few blurry eyes’ moments, but that’s it. The fighting scenes of Jun Gi was quite entertaining, though, someone said to me that he’s actually a Tae Kwon Do’s athlete. Although there were times when I felt the episodes were unnecessarily prolonged, the drama was not all that bad.