Welcome 2 Life on Viki is now one of my all time favorite dramas. My 9/10 rating reflects some flaws in the script, which were easy for me to overlook because of how brilliantly Rain and Lim Ji-yeon portray their respective ML and FL roles.
In this drama, Rain plays Lee Jae-sang, a corporate attorney who successfully represents evil-corporate-criminals. The only one willing to beat and chastise him over his ethically-compromised career choice is ex girlfriend Detective Ra Si-on played by Lim Ji-yeon (Obsessed.) She makes it clear that she'd rather see him dead than watching him defend the bad guys with such success. However, just when he decides to change his ways (for her), an attempt on his life and resultant coma opens a door to a parallel life where he finds himself the noble Prosecutor who's now married to Detective Ra and father to their adorable daughter Bo Na. The only things that survive from his old life are his memories and guilty conscience, which initially makes it difficult for him to understand the love and admiration Detective Ra-now-wife now feels for him. It makes for some very funny and endearing scenes when he first adjusts to his new life. Also, the evil characters and plots are eerily similar in both worlds, which makes solving these crimes alongside his now wife very interesting and entertaining.
Without giving too much away, he does end up waking up from his coma and is once again in his original life. This time, however, he has the memories of his other life that compel him to redeem himself with the old Detective Ra while now grieving the loss of her love for him and also no longer having their beloved Bo Na in his life. It's a brilliant story of one man's quest for redemption that takes him on a journey that is rife with obstacles and yearning that only experiencing an alternate life can bring.
For those like me who really don't like too much suspense and/or violence, if you carefully fast forward through the worst scenes, you can still get the gist of the plots and enjoy the best parts of this drama even more. (But, that's me. 😀 )
