Naeildo Malgeum

Our first foray into Korean soaps was a lot of fun. The scriptwriters balanced the drama with comedy, usually via parental antics. Kang Hanui is 26 and drifts from one minimum-wage job to another. An encounter with a rude customer at her barista job finds her unemployed yet again, so she decides to create her own fashion business based on a patent her father acquired before his death. We see social interaction on three levels: working-class, comfortable middle class, and CEO of a fashion design business. Unemployment, abandonment, and romance are all mixed into this light summer cocktail which deals with serious issues but leaves no bitter aftertaste. I'm not used to laughing heartily while watching a soap!! A few of the plot threads come loose and are never trimmed, but for the first time I experienced "end of series syndrome"--after 121 episodes, I felt slightly bereft.