I just finished watching the 126th episode of "High Kick through the Roof". This series was my company while I ate meals at home alone. I watched this many times when I was depressed and it enabled me to express my frustrations through crying. My favorite male character was probably Ji-Hoon who had the affection of to women, though he only dated one of them. I like him because he is cool, a doctor and he is considerate of others. But actually his character changes for the better as the series progresses. My second favorite character is Jun-hyuk who is a high school student. At the beginning of the show he is a gangster but he also changes as he falls in love with Se-Kyung, my favorite female actress. Even though Jun-hyuk's family is rich, and his mom doesn't have compassion for Se-Kyung or Sin-Ae (incidentally a name similar to my fiancee), Jun-hyuk convinces his mom to take in these two sisters and he does things for them without announcing it to the whole family.
Se-Kyung is probably around Jun-hyuk's age and she is a housekeeper, and a good one at that. She starts out very mellow in the beginning and becomes more relaxed as the show progresses.
Although these are my favorite characters, I see myself the most in Jun-hyuk's dad, who is always making some kind of a mistake and can't seem to do things right, even if his life depends on it, until the series is nearly over.
The irony of this series is that Se-kyung and Sin-ae, who come with hardly any money to their names, and work in a rich family, are actually rich in terms of character. Sin-ae is usually happy except for the understandable disappointments of having to be the guest of someone else's house. Se-kyung is very pretty and has a lot of character which is often overlooked by Ji-hoon until nearly the end of the series. Jun-hyuk continually tries to win her heart and only comes close in the second-to-last or last episode.
This drama or sitcom, depending on what part of the world you live in or were born in, is good for its rich variety of conversation. With the various ages of people, one can learn how to address people in Korean using honorifics as well as the lower form without honorifics between friends or loved ones. This gets to be a little tricky because not everyone uses the honorific-less form just because they are the same age or even if they are dating.
I won't tell you how the story ends in case you are interested in viewing this series yourself, which you can easily find on the internet with English subtitles.
Oddly enough, as I finish this series, I myself am a little depressed. I suppose it could be that the series is over, though I'm planning on watching it again to improve my Korean. I suspect there are other issues at play such as job issues, wedding preparation, being engaged to a graduate student in South Korea, my future job and other related aspects. I've been wrestling with shame, which I see as a significant theme in "High Kick through the Roof". I see the two greatest "shame-carriers" being Bong-suk (I hope I have his name right) and Se-kyung, who simply endures a lot of heartache. It's bad enough that she and Sin-ae are separated from their dad for an uncertain amount of time but to not even be noticed by the man she has the most affection for is even worse.
As I watch the end of this episode, the question of the meaning of life comes to my mind. Many questions confront me, like, Why does a good thing have to come to an end? Why does a person have to give up a good relationship for the sake of supporting her family? What gives a grandpa the right to treat his son-in-law disrespectfully until the son-in-law proves himself?
But I don't think the producers of this sitcom want the show to only impress a person at that level. Instead, I see a different motive in mind. It is the things that seem the most routine, and the most annoying at the time, that develop our character and it is those things that we look back on both in laughter and in genuine sobriety that form us and make us into better people. And, if we are blessed, we find ourselves in the moment we dream of, even if it only happens in the last moment.
