[REVIEW] SBS TV Series “49 Days” - 1st Episode

"49 Days" Wed-Thurs SBS 9:55 PM

SBS series "49 Days" [SBS]

“You think all tears are the same?” Through the lips of 'Afterlife Scheduler,' (Jung Il-woo) the Death Messenger, new SBS series “49 Days” emphasizes what it means and how difficult it is to win tears that are 100 percent genuine from three people. In Ji-hyun’s (Nam Kyu-ri) eyes, who fell into coma due to accident and currently exists as a wandering spirit, everyone at a funeral looks teary and sad. In reality however, the only one who was truly sad was the sister of the deceased. Upon hearing Ji-hyun’s condition, her fiancee Min-ho (Bae Soo-bin), her high school buddy Han-gang (Jo Hyun-jae) who is secretly in love with her, and her best friend In-jung (Seo Ji-hye) all burst into tears but there is no guarantee whose is 'real.'

Hence, the mission to receive the tears of all three people was in other words, the process of proving whether you have lead a life that was truly worthwhile. As if to keep implying that it will be no easy task to solve, the camera in “49 Days” continued to show close-ups on the faces of Min-ho, Han-gang and In-jung with ambiguous expressions. The camera even captured the moment when Scheduler casually passed by Yi-kyung (Lee Yo-won), laying forth almost all the clues that are likely to mean something in the future.

Ji-hyun may have wholeheartedly believed that those three people were the ones who loved her very much but what really lies in their heart seem to be closer to jealousy, inferiority complex and ambition. Perhaps what awaits Ji-hyun who borrowed Yi-kyung’s body is not '100 percent genuine tears' like she expected but the uncomfortable truth. The first impression of “49 Days” was a bit unfocused in the way it laid out so my pieces of puzzles here and there throughout the story yet the reason we look forward to this drama is because of this one line in the drama: “In this town nothing happens out of the blue. Everything is linked to everything."

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Reporter : Lee Ga-on
Editor : Heidi Kim heidikim@