Trying to get back on track with making reviews, I’ll be dedicating my comeback post to the drama ‘The Light In Your Eyes’. This drama’s title can also be interpreted as ‘Radiant’ or ‘Dazzling’.

JTBC aired this drama around February and it ended in the middle of March with a total of 12 episodes. With the number of episodes you may think it’s pretty short, but I think it was able to deliver everything that a full series should. More so, with superb actors and a strong plot, you wouldn’t want to miss out on this one as ‘The Light In Your Eyes’ mixes romcom, fantasy, family love, friendship, and melodrama.

In a nutshell, it’s like an all in one deal that’s relatable and beautiful on its own. And to prove my point I’ll give you a breakdown of the drama, my review and also some spoilers!

The Characters

Han Ji Min as Kim Hye Ja (25 years old)

Kim Hye Ja as Kim Hye Ja (70 years old)

Nam Joo Hyuk as Lee Joon Ha (26 years old)

Son Ho Jun as Kim Young Soo

The Story

25 year old Kim Hye Ja (Han Ji Min) has a dream of becoming an announcer. She has a bright and honest personality and is loved by her family and friends. However, Hye Ja has a secret.

From a young age, Hye Ja experienced something magical happen to her when she picked up a watch by the beach, which gave her the ability to travel back in time. For some time, Hye Ja used the watch to manipulate her faith, but after discovering the consequence of bargaining with time, Hye Ja hid the watch, promising she’ll never ask for its help again.

Later, she meets Lee Joon Ha (Nam Joo Hyuk) who is aspiring to become a reporter. Joon Ha is a hardworking 25 year old who lives with his grandmother who practically raised him. They don’t have much in life, but Joon Ha has been showered with so much love by his grandma that it doesn’t look like he really came from a dysfunctional family.

They don’t start on the right footing but eventually become friends who can easily open up to each other about their lives. Then later, Hye Ja finds herself attracted to Joon Ha. The latter doesn’t say it but Hya Ja has become a memorable character in his very twisted life. She brought him hope even if it was just a small amount.

But while their friendship is blossoming and going to a straight direction to romance, family troubles arise for Hye Ja. Suddenly she finds out her dad’s badly wounded from a hit and run accident and then he dies in the hospital. She’s so devastated that there’s no thinking twice and she desperately seeks for the watch’s help to turn back time. Hye Ja succeeds in her quest to bring back to life her father, but misses so many other moments in her life. Most of them being related to Joon Ha who suddenly loses his whole world and falls into a life without color.

Hye Ja wants to meet Joon Ha soon, but she suddenly turns into an old lady. She can’t accept what happened but because of Joon Ha she carries on. Hye Ja eventually learns how to enjoy her new life while dedicating all her effort trying to save her love, Joon Ha.

Can love survive the challenge of time? Or will time conquer Hye Ja’s effort in saving Joon Ha? Is time even the enemy here? Or is there more than meets the eye in this story?

Review:

I’m still in the process of trying to accept the fact that I’m already done watching ‘The Light In Your Eyes’. It’s such a heartfelt drama that tackles about life itself and I’m so in love with it that moving on is probably a hard task.

In a nutshell, the drama is a must watch. You’ll regret it if you won’t still watch it even if I tell you so.

In detail, I can say that this drama definitely delivered so much more than I expected. What I mean is that I already knew it would be a really good drama as soon as it was announced, but I can say it surpassed those expectations I had before. The plot, the actors, the characters, the setting, the themes and the plot twist are all great. I don’t see any reason to say anything against this one.

With the plot, it tells the simple life of a normal 25 year old woman who also experiences the ups and downs of life. Hye Ja has a normal life. With a middle class family she can do anything, but on the inside Hye Ja is just as much suffering because she has become scared of trying to reach her dream of becoming an announcer after so many failed attempts. She tries and tries, but ends up thinking of giving it up. Maybe it’s not for her. But starting again from nothing seems to hold her back.

Then she meets Joon Ha who is an aspiring reporter. Joon Ha’s hardworking and more persistent in achieving his dream. Yet, his status in life makes him think it’s not possible. Basically, being a spoon from the lower class holds him back from making everything work out.

Together, they become confidant to each other. Hye Ja finds a reason to laugh because of Joon Ha. As for Joon Ha, having Hye Ja around brings more light into his dark world.

But as their lives get struck with bad luck and grief, things drastically change for the both of them. Hye Ja turns into an old woman because of a magical watch that can turn back time. Joon Ha’s grandmother dies of sickness and old age and he throws away his dreams after losing all that he loves. It becomes a balance of positive and negative, of sorrow and happiness. And Hye Ja will slowly come to accept and love herself more that its enough for her to be able to love someone without asking something back.

The push and pull rom-com and the magical story of the old Hye Ja and her gang of incredible old people from Hyoja Exhibit Hall abruptly ends around episode 10, however.

In episode 10, the funny gang of old people saves the day. The scenes were pretty hilarious but unrealistic. Yet, I enjoyed this episode so much because of all the fun things that happened. I especially liked how Hye Ja turned into the perfect strategist in penetrating the enemy’s base. It got to be one of the funniest and lightest part of this drama that at first I thought it was only an attempt to bring comedy into a drama packed story. But then I realized from there that everything that happened from episode 1 until the very last moments had a purpose.

The reason why everything from these episodes, especially the last moments, looked unrealistic and magical is because all of it only happened through Hye Ja’s imagination. Hye Ja says something about her not really knowing whether she’s dreaming of becoming old or if it’s her old self dreaming of her becoming young again, but this is just a premise to a revelation through episode 10 to 11. Because the real Hye Ja actually wakes up from a long sleep at a nursing home and she reveals she has Alzheimer’s. It’s a disease that will slowly make you forget every little memory that you’ve created in the past.

The twist about Hye Ja’s real condition will be only revealed on the tenth episode. So, with only two more episodes left I was indeed shook so bad that while I am waiting for the perfect time to watch till the end, I was thinking whether it was all real. Did they just make me watch 10 episodes only to slap me with a cliffhanger? What will happen to Hye Ja and Joon Ha then? Is this even for real? The plot twist disturbed my once peaceful mind, but then I’m glad that the last 2 episodes were able to wrap up the entire drama neatly as it gives us glimpses to Hye Ja’s real past, her real relationship with the people around her, and also opens to us bits and pieces of explanation to their regrets or why in Hye Ja’s world those characters came alive that way.

The story starts so differently and carries on fantasy, love, comedy and friendship for most of its run, but ends with a quite different but more realistic conclusion where everyone learns that we can’t simply live a life full of regrets. We can’t just miss the important moments in our lives while only remembering the past or looking forward to the future. Instead, we should learn to live the present and cherish people around us who consider us so important. And of course, we must learn to love ourselves in order to receive the same amount of love and realize that we are loved in the different ways than one by our family.

Actors & Characters

I got to say that this drama has a superb cast and at the same time gave so much honor to veteran actors who are given very important roles throughout. The young ones are impressive in giving laughs, in making me all giddy with their romance, and also in making me cry because of the small cracks in their lives and through the comfort they receive. On the other hand, the older actors had longer lines with deeper meanings and honestly I felt like crying every time they were acting. There’s not a single episode that I did not cry because of these people. They made all of these so beautiful.

Nam Joo Hyuk’s acting is something worth a shout out too as he portrayed a character way different from his old ones. Joon Ha has so many raw emotions he showed in the drama that made me think how much NJH grew as an actor. So, if anyone’s having doubts watching him in this drama, fear no more. He’s good in this drama.

Same goes for Han Ji Min. She’s beautiful and stellar in this drama. I still see a similarity to her other characters, but HJM is an actress seasoned by the many dramas she starred on, so if it’s her you bet that it’s always a good watch. You won’t regret her acting here.

But I must say, though, that the main star of the drama is Kim Hye Ja who have done such a great job acting a 2 in 1 role of a woman stuck in the body of an old woman and also as an old woman with Alzheimer’s. Her acting is so raw and genuine that it reaches the heart. She can give you a heartache but also make you feel truly happy just with seeing her smile and enjoying her last moments interacting with her family.

Also, I definitely like the chemistry of the actors. They all look so close. I personally like Hye Ja, Hyun Joo and Sang Eun as a trio, because they are best friends with friendship goals. They cause trouble but also always have each other’s backs all the time.

As for the other characters, I really like how Hye Ja’s imaginary self is like a reflection of her reality. The first 10 episodes happened because Hye Ja definitely had lots of regrets how she lived her life in the past and through her dream she’s able to salvage the relationships that are actually still not mended in her present.

Examples of what I’m talking about: (1) Hye Ja’s father being actually her toughened up son in real life (2) Hye Ja’s mother being actually her hardworking and patient daughter-in-law (3) Joon Ha being her actual husband (4) The people in Hyoja Exhibit Hall being patients in Hyoja Nursing Home in the real world (5) Young Soo being her brother and also her grandson (5) the old guy on a wheelchair wearing Hye Ja’s watch being the bad guy who caused Joon Ha to die.

I also like how the other roles were all given a backstory as to why they were portrayed that way at Hyoja Exhibition Hall. For example, the lady who loves to hoard things from the hall into her pants. It wasn’t explained why she looked like a ‘kleptomaniac’ in Hyeja’s world, but you would know that this character must be saving them for someone at home that’s why she takes advantage of the Hall’s generosity. In reality, she’s just another patient at the nursing home, but regrets so much about her only daughter’s death that she keeps everything she could to give it to her deceased daughter in her mind.

All of them became an important element of the story that I’m happy with everyone though there are some characters, like Lady Chanel, that didn’t have a counterpart. How I can interpret the role of this woman in Hye Ja’s world is this: Chanel is probably a metaphor of how Hye Ja wants Joon Ha’s mother to be. Someone who would wait for her prodigal son no matter how long. But because Chanel can’t get this love back from his son who left her, she ends up having the courage to finally end her life because of the loneliness she’s feeling. Somehow this woman’s story sounded like a revenge for the way Joon Ha’s mother left him at young and at the same time it’s a chance that Hye Ja’s subconscious gave to Joon Ha to feel what it’s like to be chosen and adored by a mother who was at first a stranger.

Over all

I think I was able to say whatever I want to say here. I know that if I went on to saying more, a day isn’t enough to tell my own story about this drama. But yes, if you want a refreshing drama about valuing your every day simple life and learning that we all regret but should never dwell on it or our past, then this a drama for you There’s also romance and friendship, but also largely tackles about the connection among family members.

As a reminder, the drama may be hilarious and filled with romantic scenes, but most of the time it’s a touching tearjerker. I dare say that the tears I shed for each episode is all worth it. It honestly helped me to relieve stress that I cried so I don’t regret being such a crybaby for this drama.

Overall, I recommend this to people who are in the constant search for the meaning of life and enjoys gaining important values through human experiences. If you’re also looking for a shorter drama then this can be the perfect drama to watch on your spare time. Trust me, it’s that good. You won’t regret it. Watching this made me realize how valuable life is and how important the people around me can be.

Rating:

Giving this drama a rating, for the perfect execution, strong plot and superb cast, I’ll be giving it 4.9 out of 5.