Lovers, Final Series in a Trilogy ~ Saved the Best for Last
“Lovers” is a 2006 Korean drama series with 20 episodes, categorized as Romance; based on the Lee Man-hee stage play “Turn Around and Leave”; and streaming on Viki and KOCOWA+. It is part of a trilogy romance series.
SUMMARY: What does a gangster, a plastic surgeon, and a selfish rich guy have in common? Love! It’s a many splintered thing. It could be a splendored thing if it wasn’t so complicated.
♦ If You Can Do Nip and Tuck, You Can Stitch Up a Stab Wound
In “Lovers”, Yoon Mi-ju is the daughter of a preacher, who owns a piece of land that has a church building and an orphanage with children. The father made his daughter the owner, on paper, but he never wants to sell the property. He considers it God’s property.
However, if someone makes her a reasonable offer, Yoon Mi-ju would gladly sell. She is a plastic surgeon and dreams of opening her own clinic one day. But for right now all of the money she earns goes into taking care of her father and the children. There is no time to lavish herself with luxuries or even have a love life.
Ha Kang-jae was once an orphan, but a gang boss took him in and raised him. Now he serves as the boss’ Number One right-hand man. Ha Kang-jae wants to buy Yoon Mi-ju’s property so they arrange a meeting. But before that happened, a few other things happened.
A Blind Date: One of Yoon Mi-ju’s patients is the mother of Kang Se-Yun. Like any dutiful Korean parent, she wants her son to marry a good woman. Specifically, she wants her son to marry Yoon Mi-ju. The mother believes she would be the perfect daughter-in-law, so a blind date is arranged. Kang Se-Yun sends a substitute to meet her and he observes her interaction with the “fake son” from a distance. He liked what he saw.
Yoon Mi-ju threw wine in the guy’s face and told him he was a jerk. How dare the man insult her because she’s a plastic surgeon? Kang Se-Yun decided he wanted to win her heart. He’s rich, healthy, and handsome. Should be easy. Right? He finds a way to introduce himself properly and lets her know he’s interested in a relationship. But Yoon Mi-ju doesn’t immediately fall into his arms.
Mistaken Identity: Yoon Mi-ju’s little sister is pregnant and the father of the baby doesn’t want to take responsibility. When Yoon Mi-ju finds out she rushes over to the restaurant where the deadbeat dad is supposed to be. She’s never met the guy but has a general description and Ha Kang-jae fits the description. It was an embarrassing case of mistaken identity but once the misunderstanding was cleared up, Ha Kang-jae was NOT happy to have made her acquaintance. If they never met again that would be fine. But they did meet again! TWICE!
First Meeting: Yoon Mi-ju’s next-door neighbor is Park Yu-Jin, the girlfriend of Ha Kang-jae. He has been trying to reach her, but she is not answering her phone nor did she answer the door when he came by. In desperation, he knocks on the door of her neighbor, and is surprised to see that it’s the apartment of Yoon Mi-ju. No matter. He told her he was concerned about his girlfriend and she changed the passcode. It so happened Yoon Mi-ju knew the pass code because she memorized the sounds having heard her neighbor push the buttons so many times.
Since Ha Kang-jae had done her a favor by helping her little sister, even though there was a huge misunderstanding, she returned the favor by telling him the code. Yoon Mi-ju heard loud sounds coming from the apartment once he entered and jumped to the wrong conclusion, believing he assaulted hi girlfriend. That didn’t happen but why should explain that to her? The girlfriend, Park Yu-Jin, came out and chased after him. She also did not explain.
Second Meeting: Ha Kang-jae met with Yoon Mi-ju to discuss the purchase of the property she owns. Once again he is surprised that he’s engaged in another encounter with her. At this point, he had decided he did not want to buy the property. He walked away and then heard her scream. When he turned around she and his friend who also attended their property sale meeting were being attacked. Some Chinese gangsters showed up out of nowhere. In the process of trying to defend Yoon Mi-ju, he got stabbed.
Yoon Mi-ju is frightened, and confused, and wants to call the police. The friend tells her involving the police would cause more problems. Since she’s a doctor she needs to tend to his wound. Reluctantly, Yoon Mi-ju took Ha Kang-jae to a shed located on her property and stitched him up. She said she didn’t know what was going on but what happened was a dangerous incident and there were children on the property. Ha Kang-jae and his friend told her they would leave as soon as possible.
♦ It’s a Complicated Love Quadrangle
Once upon a time, Kang Se-Yun liked Park Yu-Jin. But she rejected him because she fell in love with Ha Kang-jae, who also fell in love with her. But for some reason, their relationship is going through a rough patch. It’s even rougher because Park Yu-Jin is not clearly communicating what the problem is and Ha Kang-jae doesn’t know what to do to fix it.
Meanwhile, Kang Se-Yun decided to pursue Yoon Mi-ju romantically. At first, he intended to have a casual fling, but then he became attracted to her.
Yoon Mi-ju? She wasn’t involved with anyone but she is considering Kang Se-Yun since he is being nice to her. However, her multiple encounters opened a “door” she didn’t know was there. Ha Kang-jae seemed to be a gangster and that’s not good. But he also seems to be a decent nice guy. Is that even possible? Wait! What is she thinking? He has a girlfriend, her neighbor, Park Yu-Jin. But is their relationship solid? They act like they’re having problems. Will they break up?
Meanwhile, spending time on the church property to heal and being around the environment with the orphans is softening up Ha Kang-jae’s heart. That place makes a person feel like they could live a wonderful life. But is that possible? He has chosen a dangerous path in life, as evidenced by the stab wound. He starts developing feelings. Is he drawn to Yoon Mi-ju because he’s falling in love or is he just thankful she saved his life?
If it is love, there’s a problem. That means Ha Kang-jae and Kang Se-Yun both want to win the heart of the same woman.
If it is love for Yoon Mi-ju, who will she choose?
But Park Yu-Jin is still in love with Ha Kang-jae. Did she push him into Yoon Mi-ju’s arms? Oh no! That wasn’t her plan.
Why is love such a many splintered thing?
Main Characters:
Viewership and Rating:
My personal rating is the same as the Viki viewers.
This is it for the trilogy.
Unlike the other two (2) Kdramas filmed partially in Europe, “Lovers” was filmed on location in China’s Hainan Island. It is the last of the trilogy and I’m glad I watched it last. The characters were much more interesting – a gangster/good guy, a selfish rich guy, a humble commoner/daughter of a preacher, etc. Plus, I loved the numerous plot intricacies. Love triangle? Uuuhh … a quadrangle, this time.
OPINION: I thought this Kdrama was the best of the trilogy. But the one I liked the least won awards. Sorry. Can’t explain myself! (O.o)
LINKS OF INTEREST:
LOVERS ì—°ì¸ (2006) SBS Korean Drama Review | Kdrama Love
The 17 Best Romantic K-Dramas | Marie Claire
Best Romantic K-Dramas on Netflix | TIME
TRAILER/TEASER:
Paula, Doar. “LOVERS (2006) – Confession.” YouTube, 17 July 2015, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ryfbUJ4SKkU.
♦
