However, SBS primetime drama "Alone in Love (Yeonaesidae)" tells you that
marriage isn't the almighty solution. As a mere extension of love, one cannot
handle marriage without first overcoming the cruel yet crucial steps of love.
Drawing many young men and women to the TV screens every Monday and Tuesday
nights, the drama ended yesterday, successfully bringing up realistic issues on
love and marriage. The once-happily-married couple Dong-jin (Gam Woo-sung) and
Eun-ho (Son Ye-jin) in the drama start the tiring process of love after
divorce.
After losing a much expected baby, the couple fails to heal the wound together,
choosing instead to separate before "they see the worst of each other."
But even a year and a half after their divorce, the two meet up in their
favorite bakery for breakfasts, quarrel over trivial things like a married
couple and eat dinner on their wedding anniversary with a free meal coupon
provided by the hotel where they got married.
While wondering whether the lingering feelings are love, Dong-jin and Eun-ho
are both too afraid to start over - and more afraid to end the relationship
completely.
With neither brave enough to confront each other about the misunderstanding on
the day Eun-ho had a stillborn baby, they are unable to move on. Although they
had gone through marriage, they are no better in solving the problem than other
lovers. Having "failed" once, love turns into fear.
Eun-ho constantly wonders to herself, "Where and when does love begin? Are they
feelings of worry and longing love? If one loses sleep over the lingering face,
is that love? If one's heart keeps on aching after a long time, was that love?"
"Alone in Love" was neither a light and sugary love story with pink balloons
flying out of car trunks, nor a macroscopic analysis on the issue of love and
marriage. Through dry monologues of the two main characters and realistic
depictions of life, the drama placed the main characters in the vulnerable gap
between the married and the unmarried.
As the two main characters approached love and marriage from separate views,
the drama turned into viewers' own stories, even for those who had never
married, divorced or ached over love before.
Directed by Han Ji-seung, who won the best director award at the 2001 Daejong
Film Festival for the movie "Haru," and written by Park Yun-sun, who wrote the
scenario for "My Tutor Friend (2003)," the drama proved that a solid plot and
convincing narrative were the two most important conditions of a good drama.
Actor Gam and actress Son - currently the two most-wanted people in the local
entertainment scene - also showed off the best of their acting skills already
proven through several movies including "King and the Clown" and "April Snow,"
respectively.
For Eun-ho, love becomes simply too painful.
"Love hurts. At the beginning the hope hurts. After a while, the desire to know
everything about him hurts, and when it ends, it hurts because love doesn't end
at the same moment for the two people," she says to herself. "Nothing is sad or
funny. I am neither angry nor happy. But when an unexpected sigh passes through
my body, the small gap between the ribs aches with a penetrating chill."
Dong-jin, on the other hand, strives to move on.
For him, unraveling Eun-ho's misunderstanding about the day when she had a
stillborn child - which he spent next to the dead baby - is meaningless as it
will only deepen their wounds.
After meeting someone new, Dong-jin tries to justify his new romance by saying
to himself, "Since when did I stop talking about my future hope? Growing up
means losing hope and realizing that tomorrow won't be different from today.
This is why grown ups love. Romance is like a naive hope that makes them wait
for a different tomorrow with a fluttering heart."
Watching Dong-jin and Eun-ho hesitate and vacillate, many viewers wondered with
frustration why the two main characters couldn't be more frank about their
feelings. None the less, perhaps the frustration had been pointed toward
themselves.
For many of those confused men and women out there, "Alone in Love" gave a
valuable piece of advice. Hesitate, regret, stumble, collapse and do whatever
else it takes. But although you can be "alone in love," only two can take it up
to marriage.
The Korea Herald
