[REVIEW] SBS TV series "Beautiful Life" - Finale Episodes

A scene from "Beautiful Life" [SBS]

Last episodes to SBS TV series "Beautiful Life"

In the end, everybody was happy. Tae-sup (Song Chang-eui) and Kyung-soo (Lee Sang-woo) became strong-willed enough to believe they will not waver may they face outing from society and married couple Byung-tae (Kim Young-chul) and Min-jae (Kim Hae-sook) who always served as the unfaltering roots to their family became excited with the thought of going on a trip for the first time in many years. Also, as he had wished, the grandfather (Choi Jung-hoon) spent the last moment of his life next to his dear wife.

Like its title, till the very end "Beautiful Life" delivered to its viewers the beautiful moments of life. And what is amazing about this is that this beautiful happy ending did not come after its characters somehow reconciled and showed consideration to each other 'a year later' expressed in subtitles, as is so often usually done in dramas.

The reason the awfully finicky grandmother (Kim Yong-lim) could say to her daughter-in-law Min-jae, "I'll look after you for a whole lifetime so become my wife in your next life," is because their conflict was not merely between that of a mother-in-law and daughter-in-law but the elaborate storytelling of it being character versus character. Although a strict hierarchy existed within the family, the grandmother showed that she is a determined person and not stubborn, and Min-jae fulfilled her duties as a daughter-in-law but spoke her voice when it came to issues about her family. For example, when Tae-sup and Kyung-soo revealed their relationship, Min-jae raised her voice while emphasizing she too is an adult in the household and the grandmother soothed Min-jae's heart, which had been much distressed, by disguising it with criticism. This was possible because of the unique vibe of the family where its members were considerate toward each other.

Of course, 'insane' moments existed within this ideal family as well. The grandfather and Byung-joon (Kim Sang-joong) always disliked each other and even the 'super mom' Min-jae developed frozen shoulders and depression. In short, those were the moments they were in pain because they were family. And yet despite everything, the reason all could flow towards a happy ending was because they communicated in a true sense rather than depending on each other's bond as a member of the family.

To Byung-joong, who till the very end fails to rid himself of the resentment he feels to his father, Ara (Jang Mi-hee) warned, "There is something that only dad feels. Don't conclude it whichever way you want." And she confesses that was how she overcame the bias she had toward Byung-joon and realized how he felt, her words meaning that one can only truly come to know about another person by acknowledging that you do not know how that person feels.

Simply put, they were a family that knew how to understand instead of tying down each other because they were family. Of course, it is quiet ideal to become such an ideal community by being able to think from the other person's point of view and communicate so effectively. Is life as beautiful in reality? Nonetheless, one thing that should not be forgotten is that while a drama may be simulated, it is also directed toward reality. In other words, "Beautiful Life" was not a simulation created by ignoring reality but a demand for life to be beautiful. Such demand becomes all the more important the less the world that we live in is beautiful and the larger the gap there is that is felt between a drama and reality. Like what we felt from this drama.

Reporter : Wee Geun-woo eight@
Editor : Jessica Kim jesskim@