Did We Really Love? (1999)

My Review of Did We Really Love?

Did We Really Love? (1999) marks the end of the early years of Bae Yong Joon as an actor. In 1999, Yong Joon enters the ancient and historical Sungkyungkwan University to study drama and film directing. Does not return until 2001, when he shows off everything he learned in his college years in the drama Hotelier (2001). He bids farewell to this cycle with this serious plot drama. Did We Really Love? is a South Korean drama series broadcast by MBC in 1999. Starring Bae Yong-Joon, the series portrays the struggles between love, happiness, and the pursuit of material success. (Source: Wikipedia)

Jae-ho and his sister Jae-young were abandoned by their mother to escape poverty. Because of this, Jae-ho doesn't understand what love is. And so, he has a dream of becoming rich, thinking that there is no such thing as love, only money. He works hard his whole life while supporting himself and his sister through college. He works at a seafood wholesale market selling crabs to vendors. He lives with his aunt who has taken him and his sister in after their mother abandoned them. With his big dreams and ambitions, he pretends to be rich while in school, in order to gain the attention of Hyun-soo, who is from a very rich family. Thus, he tries to get her to like him so he can marry into her family and become rich. But during this process, he falls in love with his Psychology teacher, Shin-young. He battles with his feelings and his ambitions and ultimately picks love over money. Even though they go through hardships, he realizes that he can't survive without both, and so he gives up on Shin-young for money and wishes her happiness. He only does this because everything seems to go wrong while he is with Shin-young. He loses his job, all his money, and his aunt's house gets seized. He thinks that if he has money, none of this would have ever happened. Through all the stress, he finds out that he has brain cancer and expresses his desire to die.

Fun Facts of Did We Really Love?:

Bae Yong Joon is one of those leading actors who kiss little in movies and dramas. However, this is the drama which has kissed most.

Yong Joon is a gentleman, but in this drama, he was asked to give the actress who characterized his sister the only slap he has given on television.

Yong Joon entered the historic Sungkyungkwan University when the drama ended. Precisely Yong Joon's character is a college student who has a full-time job.

This is the only drama where the character of Bae Yong Joon dies. The scene is quiet because he dies while he was sleeping, in the arms of his wife.

It is the only drama where the character of Bae Yong Joon becomes seriously ill. He suffers from brain cancer and very real presents all stages of the disease: dizziness, nausea, vomiting, severe headaches, loss of vision, hearing loss and quadriplegia.

My Opinion:

It is a very real drama, with situations that can occur in any country. Bae Yong Joon presents the reality that many live: studying, working, sacrificing, getting sick. All with a stunning realism. The one who sees this drama needs to arm himself with strength because he lives it as if he were a family member tearing himself before our eyes. The scenes of his suffering as a cancer patient touch our soul. So much to work, study and get a degree in finance, the desire to be rich, the love of his family, the sacrifice of leaving the love of his life for money, feeling worthy of pity, come to less, the desire to die when losing his senses, the encounter with his mother in that lamentable state, the birth of a nephew that bears his name and will never see grow, and finally, the resignation and succumb to death in the arms of his wife. The drama of every day, in many families in the world, expressed with pain. It is the most painful drama to represent in Yong Joon's career. A jewel of dramatic art. Because this drama we can all live in real life ...


An anecdote that I wish to share ...

I watched this drama seven and a half years ago. I just became widowed just a week ago. I cried inconsolably in the final episode, because my husband died in my arms, sleeping peacefully, in the same way, that Yong Joon dies in the drama. The impression I got was very big. Only to share with you. Thank you for allowing me to tell you and to undress my soul...

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Watchable, maybe...

It's a love story yet they failed to establish the first steps of love. Were they even in love? The leads lacked chemistry anyway. Bae Yong Joon didn't give off any romantic vibes. Kim Hye Soo was always quite and soft spoken unlike what we used to see of her empowering personality. They tried to provoke sadness and tragedy but none of it had any weight because of how under developed everything in this drama. The entire last arc was off putting and underwhelming. Feels like a waste for a 44 episodes drama that couldn't accomplish much.

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