Currently, I have watched many historical dramas and I thought it could be a good idea to watch something that takes place in the modern era. There are many programs that are set in the contemporary world but I was able to pick a show that I wanted to watch. This drama avoided the traditional setting which is something I haven’t done in awhile. I Miss You is the one that I decided to get involved in and the main reason why I chose it was because of Yoo Seung Ho. Lately, I have been fangirling over this actor after watching The Great Empress Seon Deok and this contributed for me to select this particular presentation. I Miss You came out in 2012 and ended in 2013. I was very much intrigued by this show that I was able to finish it in just a few days. This show got me excited throughout the whole thing because it had thrilling moments where it gets your Adrenalin pumping despite having  problems. I think that the characters and certain situations can be a bit over the top from time to time but the crime elements of the show made me stick around for more. It was entertaining, even though there were some questionable things about the show.

Han Jung Woo and Lee Soo Yeon have their fateful encounter at the tender age of 15. Soo Yeon is hated wherever she goes and that includes her school. She is disliked even in her own neighborhood. This girl is despised so much because of her father being a criminal. She attends her local middle school and is ostracized there as well. This poor maiden has no friends until Han Jung Woo shows up in her life. These two kids start out rather awkward but become close eventually. Soo Yeon thinks her life is happy now ever since Jung Woo came along, then things take a turn one day that changes everything around. This tragic event happens to both Han Jung Woo and Lee Soo Yeon and with this incident Soo Yeon becomes further away from her  first love. Kang Hyung Joon becomes more involved in Soo Yeon’s life instead of Han Jung Woo. When Soo Yeon was in trouble, her middle school sweetheart left her hanging while the 12 year old Hyung Joon that she barely interacted with was actually there for her. Fourteen  years  later Han Jung Woo becomes a detective at the local police station and his regretful past has motivated him to take on this duty. Lee Soo Yeon is under the name Zoe Lou and she is an up and coming fashion designer. Kang Hyung Joon inherited a large sum of money and he becomes an investor. Now he is under the name  Harry Borrison. Jung Woo and Soo Yeon run into each other after 14 years have passed but they unfortunately don’t recognize each other right away. At this time Soo Yeon and Hyung Joon are together.

There are several themes in I Miss You. The most obvious ones are extreme greed dealing with  money,rape,bullying,physical abuse, and abandonment. These things drive the drama into madness when it comes to our dear characters. I have seen other themes being dealt with a lot in your typical K-dramas but seeing anything about rape is quite controversial.  This show has romantic elements and that’s a typical Korean drama trope that they stay loyal to but I Miss You also delves into the thriller elements as well. Lately, Korean Soap Operas have been mixing thriller and sometimes even horror into it, along with the love story aspects.

I would like to discuss more about the main characters in greater detail. First of all there is Han Jung Woo (Park Yoo Chun). Han Jung Woo is a bit ditsy,silly and random all rolled into one. He’s born into a wealthy family but he’s not the happiest kid around. Han Jung Woo’s father is too obsessed with money to even care about his own son’s well being. Jung Woo was sent to America as a young teen but decides to go back to Korea, where his dad is living. The boy’s father isn’t so happy to see his son return home from The States. On the surface he might seem like a young man that has it all but at the end of the day he is still lacking something which is the love of his father. This slightly dopey kid doesn’t get along so well with his stepmother either but he is in good terms with his little sister. As a kid Han Jung Woo comes off as a rather bland character but his older version is a lot more fun. I think he  has never lost his goofy and even unique personality even if he has changed a little since he was 15 years old. This young detective likes to talk to people in a casual manner regardless of age. In Korea younger people normally use honorifics when speaking with people that are older than them but Jung Woo talks to his elders rather casually.

Lee Soo Yeon/Zoe Lou (Yoon Eun Hye) goes through a lot ever since she is in middle school. Soo Yeon’s home life isn’t peaceful, and at school she isn’t liked by her peers either. On top of that she goes through something big that is too humiliating to even utter. Lee Soo Yeon tries to erase her painful memories and somehow she is able to magically suppress everything for a time. Despite looking  joyful on the surface Soo Yeon is going through pain inside. This girl is consumed by shame and even guilt because of her hurtful past. The young woman  has to live with this disgusting memories and runs from it for awhile along with Harry Borrison.  Soo Yeon seems to allow guilt to run her life and because of this she can’t be honest with herself. She also holds a grudge towards her teenage sweetheart and this is because of what happened fourteen years prior. This is part of the reason why she can’t even be truthful to herself,to Harry and even towards Jung Woo himself.

Kang Hyung Joon/Harry Borrison (Yoo Seung Ho) is pretty intelligent for his age. Around other people he is quite well mannered and comes off as a clever guy but he has a lot of grudge against Han Jung Woo’s father. I want to say that this boy is a tragic character. All three of the main people in the show are troubled but somehow I feel for Kang Hyung Joon a lot for some strange reason. He gives out a  smile when he is  around other people but in truth he is filled with rage and revenge. Just like Zoey he doesn’t really show his true feelings that’s deep inside of him along with his facial expressions that contradict. This boy thinks that his mother left him and this kind of messes up his view about what love is supposed to be. He lives his life with insecurities due to his traumatic childhood events and this makes him become more or less a control freak. Harry Borrison or Kang Hyung Joon is quite obsessive about his love towards Soo Yeon and this has a lot to do with what happened to him as a young boy. Zoey or Soo Yeon was the only one that said anything remotely kind to him and this is the main reason that gets him to like the girl in the first place. Harry does seem to love Soo Yeon but his methods of expressing his love towards the girl isn’t the right way to go about it though. The young man never learned how to love while growing up, so he would naturally not be so skilled in this department. I guess he is also jealous of Jung Woo and maybe because he knows deep within that he will never obtain Soo Yeon’s heart no matter how much time has passed.

There are a handful of noteworthy side-characters and this is a given when it comes to Korean soap operas. Sometimes these shows have way too many characters that it can be borderline overwhelming. In I Miss You there are good amounts of characters too but not so many to the point where it’s super difficult to keep track of them all.

Han Tae Joon (Han Jin Hee) is one of the most important supporting characters of I Miss You. This man is Han Jung Woo’s father and his main focus seems to be money just about most of the time. Kang Hyun Joo (Cha Hwa Yeon) is Kang Hyung  Joon’s mother and she is no different than Han Tae Joon. Due to these two adults the three main characters I mentioned above have to go through some painful events when it all could have been avoided. If Han Tae Joon and Kang Hyun Joo weren’t so crazy about money  then they would have been able to make a sound decision for the betterment of their children.

In just about all the Korean dramas it’s inevitable to have comic reliefs. I think comedic elements are necessary in any kind of genre or setting. Even in I Miss You we have a comic relief. Han Jung Woo and Detective Joo Jung Myung are the perfect duo. I really love the interaction between these two and when  it comes to the banter of them I find Detective Joo rather interesting than Jung Woo. I thought Mr. Joo was really cute and I think that this guy comes off slightly on the flaming side but I think that’s what got my attention. I certainly think that there is a bromance between these two men and I am glad to see personas  like this humorous detective because this goes to show that Korea is embracing unique males in their TV shows.

I also enjoyed watching  Detective Kim and the cleaning lady at the police station. Detective Kim has presence even though he is not the main character. He makes a mark even if it’s brief and the cleaning lady is almost like an aunt that you are familiar with. Maybe it’s because the actress that played her is in practically all of the Korean dramas I have seen as of late. I also need to mention Jung Woo’s younger sister. The sister’s name is Han Ah Reum (Lee Sae Young). This girl is a great help to her brother and She is the few support system Jung Woo has.

The one that I could do without is probably director Nam, Jung Woo’s stepmother, and Soo Yeon’s mother. Director Nam seems like a typical villain, in almost like a cartoony mustache twirling bad guy way. Soo Yeon’s mother just goes too berserk with the sobbing. I didn’t realize this until I watched this show a second time around with someone and this person pointed out that the mother of  Soo Yeon is too emotional. I thought her crying was valid at first and it is. However,crying is really not the problem here but it’s more or less the frequency of it that can be bothersome.Jung Woo’s stepmother seems to be pretty much underdeveloped. I guess I would forgive this flaw since she is just a side-character but that shouldn’t be an excuse, because even side-characters can be well written. Jung Woo’s stepmother is a strange character since I wasn’t quite sure what she was supposed to be. I felt like Jung Woo’s stepmother was just kind of there for the most part.

There are a few pet peeves of mine when it comes to these shows from Korea and that is the music. I feel that the music is either overproduced or under produced. The biggest problem with the music that they play for these dramas are a little too repetitive for me and especially with the OST(Original Soundtrack). Sometimes there are exceptions to the rule but when the theme song is decent you can put up with it. However, if the main song is crappy then it no longer sounds pleasant anymore. The theme song for this show was okay for me and most of the songs are the typical ballad love songs or soft rock type. I am alright with this as long as they don’t constantly blare them in my ears. By the way, the main theme song for I Miss You is a song called: Magic Castle by the Classic. This song has been around for awhile. It’s a soft ballad song that was popular in the 90s.

Cinematography is nothing special but it isn’t bad either. Most Korean dramas have limited budget so there’s not much you can do in the department of Camerawork, editing, and even writing. Those of you that don’t know about how these Korean shows are made, let me tell you,they don’t get a whole lot of time to prepare. Also, like I mentioned above, the budget is very low. I don’t expect an awesome film making  experience when it comes to these dramas but sometimes when the quality lacks so much, then that’s when it becomes an issue. I will say that they could have done a better job in the editing process. There are times when certain scenes look a bit choppy. I will have to let this one go since they don’t get a lot of time making these shows so it is inevitable that it will look sloppy from time to time.

Due to the Korean society being somewhat on the conservative side ,it’s rare to see Korean dramas dealing with rape or anything that’s too controversial.Even bullying is dealt with a lot more in these shows than rape. Honestly, I was a bit surprised to see rape stuff when I first started to watch I Miss You. I realized how bad rape can be and this messes up with people’s lives. Rape still happens but for a victim it can be a humiliating experience. It is a lot worse for someone that is already going through problems  such as: being bullied at school. When you don’t have anybody to talk about this with, this can be problematic. Rape victims have guilt as well because they think it’s their fault so I think in the Korean Society there should be more counseling for young girls that had to go through something so terrible as this. While watching this drama I was kind of angry towards the students that attend the local middle school with Soo Yeon. I think these kids are brutal for ostracizing someone just because she has a father that is a convicted murderer. I forgot to mention that there’s not only rape and bullying going on but also physical and verbal abuse by the parents. It’s terrible for such a young girl to go through physical and verbal abuse by a parent then get bullied at school and to make the matters worse experience the most horrific thing for a young woman. I can totally see why Soo Yeon turned out the way she did and block or even suppress all the painful memories out.

The acting was good and this really depends on which actor you’re talking about. Park Yoo Chun as Han Jung Woo wasn’t bad but he could have worked on his facial expressions a bit more. Yoon Eun Hye was convincing as Lee Soo Yeon but her interaction with Yoo Seung Ho felt awkward at times. I wonder if this was their 9 year age gap. I am not trying to be an ageist here and I am far from that but I just can’t seem to shake off the stiffness between them. It almost felt as if Yoon Eun Hye was a bit guilty playing the significant other of Yoo Seung Ho’s character but I think this works perfectly since Lee Soo Yeon is supposed to be a girl that carries guilt within her.

Yoo Seung Ho really proves that he can be an adult actor. He was barely 20 years old when he played Kang Hyung Joon a.k.a Harry Borrison. I realized that he had potential despite how young he is compared to his co-stars. He might have looked rather awkward with Yoon Eun Hye but still he doesn’t lack at all and he is able to convince me that he is 26 years old somehow. His face is still young but his mannerisms are of someone that’s a tad bit older than himself.  What I realized was that Yoo has a wide range of facial expressions even when he is just sitting there not doing much. I am not praising this actor left and right just because I am his fangirl but he is just that good. I am looking at it objectively.

I like to mention the child actors, I feel like they deserve a little praise like their adult counterparts. The three kids that play the younger versions of Han Jung Woo, Lee Soo Yeon and Kang Hyung Joon are as Follows: Yeo Jin Gu,Kim So Hyun and Ahn Do Kyu. I think that these three have done  a wonderful job playing the kid versions of our three main characters. Yeo Jin Gu plays the role of a ditsy fifteen year old boy really well. Kim So Hyun is fabulous as Lee Soo Yeon, for someone that young to play such a damaged young girl is impressive. Finally, we have Ahn Do Kyu and he is so convincing in acting out a boy that is so messed up. We don’t get to see him much in the show but he made enough of an impression that I wanted to see more of him. Out of all three kid actors I think Ahn Do Kyu resembles his adult counterpart the best.

The three main characters and the child actors of the main characters made an impression but there is a veteran actor that I would like to mention. Han Jin Hee plays the father of our protagonist Han Jung Woo. During his appearance all you see is expressionless yet stoic face but the cool thing is there seems to be more. Han Jin Hee is so good at being a stoned face but at the same time this actor does his job so well that you can’t help but to sense that there is something beyond his straight face.

The conclusion of the drama is a little bittersweet for me. I think the show ends more or less on a positive note but there are some things that makes me a little sad.Overall I have had a good experience with I Miss You but I believe that Korean dramas should take it to the next level if at all possible. I believe that I Miss You could have been better but it is still  enjoyable on the whole. I would recommend it to people that like sappy relationship stories,crime drama that gets you all excited and last but not least if you are into guys like Yoo Seung Ho and Park Yoo Chun; then  you would dig it. I can’t leave out Yoon Eun Hye.  If you are a fan of her then  you would enjoy it as well, although,she has never done a melodrama before.If I were to rate this show, it’s a solid 7.

The photo credit goes to MBC. I do not own the photo.