“Thirty-Nine” Review : Death-related topics that will eventually lead to how to live

The latest Korean drama “Thirty-Nine” starring Ji-hyun Kim, Woo-jin Yeon, and So-hee Ahn with actor Ye-jin Son, who is watched for trust, and “Hospital Playlist” Mi-do Jeon, has started two episodes.

A realistic romance about the friendship, love and life between three soon-to-be 40-year-old women, exploring a deep story.

The story opens with the narration of the heroine, Cha Mi-jo (Ye-jin Son), about life at the age of 39.

The rhythm of the plot is brisk and warm, and the lines are realistic and close to life. The trio, who have been together since the age of 18, have an enviable friendship for more than 20 years!

However, Cha Mi-jo’s narration continues, the music becomes slow and sad, the picture changes, and three men arrive at someone’s funeral.

This funeral is the funeral of one of the three women. Let the originally brisk comedy atmosphere take a sharp turn, become sad, and there is some suspense, which attracts speculation. Who exactly died?

This funeral scene only depicts the expressions of the three men, and the female protagonists did not appear.

In addition to keeping the suspense, it seems to imply that the person who died may have a deep connection with one of the men…

Cha Mi-jo’s love line progressed rapidly in the first two episodes because it was set to be a mature 39-year-old man and woman.

She met a man at the orphanage where she once lived, and gave him two Common Peonys because he helped her return her watch.

The two, who didn’t even know each other’s names, had a romantic night together on the third meeting.

The process of Common Peony from budding to full bloom is the speed of progress and emotional state of these two people.

An interesting little detail is that Common Peony’s Korean pronunciation is the same as “darling”, and the flower language is shy.

The difference in the attitudes of the two towards this relationship is also delicately expressed through Common Peony.

Kim Seon-woo put Common Peony in a glass bottle from the beginning until the flowers bloomed, which means that he valued this fate and did not treat it casually.

And Cha Mi-jo just put the flower in the mineral water bottle. The next morning after spending the night together, she thought of the flower again, smelled it, and put it in a glass vase.

This implied that she was very satisfied with last night, and gradually began to seriously consider the relationship.

On the occasion when the two officially met and exchanged names, the slow motion followed Kim Seon-woo’s back, paying tribute to the scene where Hyun Bin appeared in Switzerland in the last episode of “Crash Landing on You”, and even the background music was the same as Debussy’s “Crash Landing on You”. clair de lune.

In the second episode, Kim Seon-woo has confessed to Cha Mi-jo and started his pursuit. In addition to arranging too many coincidences, this pair of straight men and women is still worth seeing~

How to leave?

Although there was suspense at the beginning of the first episode, it was revealed at the end of the second episode that the owner of the funeral was Jeong Chan-young.

Unlike his outwardly capable temperament, Jeong Chan-young is a complex character who is also the most worrying emotionally.

Jeong Chan-young and Kim Jin-seok met through Cha Mi-jo, and they broke up due to studying abroad after falling in love. He married someone else and had children, and later came back to find Jeong Chan-young.

Jeong Chan-young is nostalgic for the relationship and dates him, but refuses to have a relationship. She stubbornly believed that she knew him first, so they were not considered extramarital affairs now.

But in the eyes of Cha Mi-jo and the audience, it was clearly an extramarital affair.

Jeong Chan-young still decides to “quit” the wrong relationship, but he’s stalking and she’ll soften up again.

Just then, Cha Mi-jo learns the fact that Jeong Chan-young has stage four cancer, and runs to Kim Jin-seok in tears to settle accounts.

Cha Mi-jo thinks it’s all his fault, he’s the one who hurt Jeong Chan-young, and he who introduced them to them is also at fault…

Cha Mi-jo’s eyes at this time have strong resentment towards Kim Jin-seok, and deep self-blame for himself.

Would Jeong Chan-young not get sick if they didn’t get to know each other?

Feelings of resentment and self-blame are intertwined, and actor Ye-jin Son’s highly infectious burst scene makes this crying scene plump, layered, and full of power.

In the end, she cried to the ground. It seemed that compared to the resentment and self-blame of the person in front of her, she felt helpless and helpless. Why did such a thing happen to her dearest friend?

The director edited the scene of Cha Mi-jo crying at the funeral and the scene of crying now, as if parting was imminent.

Facing the already doomed ending, how will they usher in parting? Facing death?

It’s a life-to-death perspective, and unlike the comedic healing style of “Work Later, Drink Now” or “Be Melodramatic”, the three women’s story of “Thirty-Nine” is a mix of sadness and joy , life and death are closely linked.

In the first two episodes, the atmosphere of lightheartedness and sadness is relatively balanced. The rhythm is fast and not procrastination. There are laughs and tears, but with the discovery of Jeong Chan-young’s illness, can this balance be maintained?

And, how will the show handle the proposition of parting and death? How will the three of them live in Jeong Chan-young’s final days?

Topics related to death ultimately point to how to live. Maybe that’s what “Thirty-Nine” is saying.

Related Post: Nearly 40 years old and doing nothing well, “Thirty-Nine” brings us a warm and healing charm.