Only you is a trendy romcom type of drama that came out back in 2005. I watched this show for the first time handful of years ago but not when it came out in 2005, I remember watching it a couple of years later. I decided to watch this again recently so I can write a review for it. I couldn’t help but to notice the fact that the show looked a little dated.

 

This show starts out in Italy. Cha Eun Jae and his friend goes to Italy to study culinary arts. In such a short amount of time Eun Jae meets someone that will be a special part of her life that she won’t be able to cut off so easily. This changes her life forever.

 

Cha Eun Jae’s character can come off as a bit ditsy and maybe even clumsy. However, she is quite stubborn in her ways and has a unique thought process compared to those around her.

 

Cha Eun Jae is so clumsy and appear to be thoughtless that those around her get

annoyed with her but even when other people are pointing fingers at the ways she does things, she is still true to her emotions.

 

Cha Eun Jae is just an ordinary gal that has a knack for cooking but once she meets Han Yi Joon, her life itself becomes a drama.

 

Han Yi Joon is a neat freak; almost obsessive about things being super clean. Also, on the surface this guy seems very cold and distant but yet after he meets Eun Jae, his life changes just as much as our gourmet princess.

 

Han Yi Joon is from a quite a well to do family, that is the complete opposite to Eun Jae’s family. Eun Jae works odd jobs trying to support her family, while Yi Joon doesn’t have to worry about financial affairs.

 

Yi Joon might be doing well financially but his life is still empty and through Eun Jae he finds what he has been lacking all these years.

 

Yi Joon’s mother left the family when he was only a small boy; 7 years old to be precise. This man was still a small boy on the inside when he met Eun Jae. He seemed to miss his mother greatly, and this is why he goes to Italy in the first place. Italy is such a memorable place for Eun Jae and Yi Joon since they made a special connection out there.

 

Eun Jae likes to think for herself but sometimes she tends to go to the extreme. At her job she is an extrovert when it comes to how she is feeling and such. Eun Jae and Yi Joon are quite different personality wise.

 

Eun Jae never forgot about Yi Joon even after being separated for six years. Eun Jae’s friend Hyun Sung filled the gap of Yi Joon not being there for six years but it wasn’t the same.

 

Yi Joon seems like a very smug guy but after being around Eun Jae for a long time he changes bit by bit. This is why I feel that Yi Joon has a character arc; well, a positive one. On the other hand we have two side characters; Hyun Sung and Soo Yeon. Now they have an arc too but not so much a positive one.

 

I really enjoyed the scenes set in Italy. it was beautiful and I got to see Cha Eun Jae and Ji Soo Yeon speak some Italian. Too bad Yi Joon didn’t speak any Italian, apart from his somewhat okay English. Jo Hyun Jae’s English wasn’t bad since I was able to understand without a problem.

 

This show is only 16 episodes so its perfect for people that don’t have a whole of time on their hands. It has a lot of dramatic scenes but relatively light. That would be so true if we were to compare this show with Love Letter.

 

The show was very solid from start to finish. They don’t waste time or beat around the bush, they get to it and they are able to get you involved right off the bat. I guess when a show can rope you in instantly and get you involved throughout, that probably means that whoever wrote this did a very good job indeed.

 

My only gripe with this show is the repetitive ONLY YOU theme song.It gets kind of annoying after awhile. Although it makes me want to listen to the original ONLY YOU done by The Platters.

 

My other gripe is male characters yelling a lot. However, this I should be able to forgive since most every other Korean drama has some male character screaming from the top of their lungs.

 

As far as the characters I disliked were most likely Eun Jae’s dad, and Yi Joon’s dad. They are both annoying in different ways. Eun Jae’s dad is kinda useless. All he does is cause trouble and become a nuisance to the household. I guess this man is into the whole get rich scheme kinda deal and this gets him into trouble.

I felt bad for Eun Jae’s mother for dealing with his big child of a man. Yi Joon’s dad seems like a cold and heartless man. Yi Joon’s dad probably became cold once the divorce was final with Yi Joon’s mother.

 

Yi Joon’s mom was fond of freedom. She loved to cook and she loved art. She wanted to get a divorce but I don’t know if she wanted to divorce Yi Joon’s dad because he was too rigid or what. But in any case for being able to divorce him, Yi Joon’s dad practically stripped everything she valued including her art and even her precious children.

 

At the beginning of the show when we see Yi Joon for the first time on the train in Italy he was very smug and it seemed like his only focus was finding his mother. I remember when I first watched this show I thought he was pretty smug and watching it again some years later I still felt the same way.

 

Even if Yi Joon came off like a jerk but I think years of growing up in such a cold household made him into such a person as he grew older. You could tell that he missed his mother a lot. He looked at the drawing of him done by his mother quite often. On the surface Yi Joon seemed like a guy that just doesn’t give a care but he was a soft and sensitive man on the inside. Eun Jae was the one responsible bringing that out of him.

 

I also liked the side characters; Jung Hyun Sung and Ji Soo Yeon. These characters showed me how not to love. Although, Han Yi Joon wasn’t the best chap at expressing himself when it came to romance either. Awkward as it was he was at least trying to be genuine in his own way, even though Eun Jae didn’t think so.

 

Jung Hyun Sung and Ji Soo Yeon were both innocent and pure; at least at the beginning. Soo Yeon was always smiling and helping out the Han family. Jung Hyun Sung was willing to drop everything and practically run to Eun Jae if she wanted him to.

These two side characters or even villains of the romantic affairs had something in common: They weren’t able to let go.

 

Eun Jae’s character was practically the same from beginning to end. However,Yi Joon, Hyun Sung and Soo Yeon had arcs like I mentioned earlier.

 

Yi Joon was learning how to love and what love is little by little. Hyun Sung and Soo Yeon seemed like they knew what love was through their innocence and their purity but that’s totally not the case here.

 

It’s almost painful to see Hyun Sung and Soo Yeon destroying themselves in the process of acquiring their so called love. As the show goes on it gets worse and worse for our side characters.

 

At the same time I was able to sympathize with Soo Yeon a bit. Just because she lost her parents at a young age due to an accident, people in the Chaebol world kinda looked down on her. That is beyond shallow.She really came off as a nice girl, unless you pushed her buttons.

 

I think the only true support she had was Yi Joon’s sister; Yi Kyung. Yi Kyung seemed to be a bit cold too just like her father; she is all business. Although she is sweet to Yi Joon as well since she is almost like a mother to him. Yi Kyung’s attitude changed towards Yi Joon once Cha Eun Jae was receiving all kinds of favoritism.

 

The two real villains of this show were Chef Kang and Director Kang. Oh crap, I just realized that they have the same last names. I don’t know if they ever mentioned in the show but perhaps they could be relatives working together.

 

Director Kang wanted to destroy the number one Italian and build something else over it but this was a special place for Yi Joon’s father. The more I pondered over this I realized that Yi Joon’s father wasn’t all that cold if he really was a cold hearted bastard he wouldn’t have cared if they were gonna destroy the number one store.

 

The thing that I still can’t forgive regarding Yi Joon’s dad is the way he loves. He was so mean of him to not allow his kids to see their mother. Yi Joon’s father,Hyun Sung and Soo Yeon were all doing it wrong. They seem to mean well but Yi Joon is better at it despite how awkward he can get.

 

I mentioned earlier that Eun Jae’s father was practically good for nothing but I give him one thing; comic relief. Eun Jae’s father reminds me of some kid that’s about to cause mischief at any moment. He is looking for every opportunity to take the easy way out for his financial troubles. Luckily Eun Jae’s mother puts up with it.

 

Yi Joon had to go through abandonment from his mother but really didn’t know the whole story so he thought for the longest time that his mother just took off without saying anything but that’s so not true.

 

Even after Yi Joon and Eun Jae haven’t seen each other for six years they were obviously thinking about each other. Eun Jae probably thought that Yi Joon just thought of it as a one night stand. If it was a one night stand why would Yi Joon look up at the moon and think about our certain someone. Same goes for Eun Jae. Even if she doesn’t go around admitting she really cared for Yi Joon.

 

I think the moral of the story here is to learn how to love better. Even Cha Eun Jae was annoying me towards the end. Yi Joon was trying really hard to make her happy to the best of his abilities but Eun Jae was being all smug about it. Although Eun Jae has a reason for this. I think she could have been more communicative when things were getting hard for her because of Yi Joon’s family.

 

The little boy that they casted to play Jin Sol, I would have to say it really looks like Jo Hyun Jae when he was a child. Although that little boy now looks completely different.

 

Jo Hyun Jae’s acting was good as usual. Except for the yelling too much and that is not his fault. It’s the way these scripts are written.Other than that Jo Hyun Jae’s acting is great. I am not just saying this because I am his fangirl.

 

Jo Hyun Jae is very good with his facial expressions. Also his soothing voice melts me and I am pretty sure many fans that have seen this show would agree with me. Jo Hyun Jae has cute set of lips. And I miss that fluffy hairstyle that he used to have.

 

Han Chae Young is such a beautiful woman. Since she is almost like barbie it’s kinda hard to believe that she was able to pull off someone that looks opposite from flashy.

 

Jo Hyun Jae is very good at playing rich boys. Although in real life that’s not the case. He is successful but he isn’t a chaebol.

 

I thought the guy that played Jung Hyun Sung showed exceptional acting skills. Everybody in this show did a good job but only a few people have met my expectations.

 

If I were to rate this show it will be a solid 8. I feel that it could have been better. I don’t know, I think it could have been slightly longer. Maybe like 20 episodes. The ending felt a little rush but that’s most K-Dramas unfortunately.

 

I think anyone who is a fan of Jo Hyun Jae should watch this. I had a great time watching this again.