The Mini-Series

Someday is a Korean television drama (K-drama) produced by the South Korean company Yellow Film. The story is about four individuals and how their lives are connected when a girl goes on an adventure to understand what love means. Along the way, the four find love with each other and endure various hardships and let downs. Overall, the drama is not as "soapy" or overly melodramatic as some series, but it still manages to offer an intriguing storyline with likeable characters to keep one's interest. It consists of sixteen episodes, each approximately an hour long.

The story focuses on Hana Yamaguchi (Bae Doo-Na). She is half Korean, half Japanese who resides in Japan with her grandmother. When she was young, she lost contact with her parents. Hana's father passed away and her mother lost the will to live. Following these events, Hana grew up a cold-hearted child--not understanding love, its reason or importance. At a young age, she became a successful comic book artist. Years later, Hana's neighbor Young-gil passed away. For some unknown reason, a woman named Gumiko stole his ashes and went off to Korea. This simple act of love sparked a great interest in Hana. Having her latest comic book series recently cancelled, she decided to find out what Gumiko would do such a thing. She goes to Korea to find out and her life changes... Hana starts to learn what it means to care about someone.

In Korea, Hana meets two handsome gentlemen, Yim Seok-man (Lee Jim-Wook) and Go Jin-pyo (Kim Min-Joon). Seok-man is a young twenty-something with a troubled past. When he was a kid, he was in a car accident. The incident took the lives of everyone he loved (parents and brother). There was also another victim, an innocent bystander who was hit by the car. Since, Seok-man has felt responsible and taken it upon himself to payback a debt to the victim's family. Jin-pyo is a medical doctor with a passion for comic books. He is obsessed with Hana's work and when she comes into his life, she becomes his center of attention. He hopes to heal Hana's painful past and teach to love. Connected to Jin-pyo is Jung Hye-Young (Oh Yoon-Ah). She is an advertisement/animation project director and deeply in love with Jin-pyo.

Jin-pyo takes Hana's quest to heart. He does everything in his power to help her find out what happened to Gumiko and why she stole Young-gil's ashes. He even hires a young private investigator to help with the task. That individual is Seok-man. At first, Seok-man sees Hana as another job. He is very focused on repairing his life debt. But soon, he starts to view Hana as a friend and falls in love with her. At the same time, Hana begins to feel chemistry with him, although it is difficult for her to understand as she is very unaccustomed to the ways of love.

The relationship between Hana and Seok-man is not without its problems. Jin-pyo is deeply in love with her. He believes that they are made for each other and does everything in his power to woe her. He even goes as far to locate Hana's mother and take her into his (medical) care to treat her mental illness. Jin-pyo hopes that by reconnecting Hana with her mother that she will know love and in turn love him. As if the love triangle with Hana, Seok-man, and Jin-pyo wasn't bad enough, the fourth main character Hye-Young has thoughts of her own. She has strong feelings for Jin-pyo and resents how much attention he gives Hana. Before she was around, Hye-Young had a chance. She plays a slightly evil character and tries to manipulate Hana and Seok-man's relationship, so that they fall in love with each other and leave Jin-pyo for herself.

As the story continues, Hana's quest plays a main role and continues to keep the characters' lives interconnected. There is some intrigue in it, but the resulting drama from the four characters tends to be the most interesting aspect. On that note, the show also spends time developing their back stories. Seok-man is of interest. He has a huge financial debt that results in the almost costs him his life. Hye-Young, without noble intentions, plays a big role in saving his life. There are tangents like these that make the characters likeable and easier to connect with.

Overall, Someday is far from my favorite K-drama. There is a definite difference in mood when compared to others in the genre. As previously mentioned, the melodramatic moments are not nearly as over-the-top. The drama feels more genuine than soapy. This turns out to be both bad and good. The bad is that I love the soapy, over-the-top melodrama that comes with K-dramas. On the flipside, the drama does feel richer and as such the characters are easier to associate with and feel their emotions as they go through the ups and downs of K-drama romance.

For what it is, Someday is a solid drama that has a strong lineup of characters. The four have a good chemistry together and turn a somewhat somber love story into an invigorating and enjoyable viewing experience. More specifically, it is a solid K-drama that fans will enjoy and not want to miss out on.

The DVD

Video:
This release is given in anamorphic 1.78:1 ratio widescreen color. The picture quality is excellent, providing a clear and clean picture with minor color distortions and compression artifacts. Both dark and bright colors are represented very well.

Audio:
The audio is given in Korean 2.0 stereo sound. The track is dialogue driven and has limited use of the surround/stereo capability. The music sounds good; it is dynamic and vibrant. For non-spoken language options, there are English subtitles.

Extras:
When you are finished watching Someday, there are a few extras to check out. The unfortunate part is that they aren't very substantial. Besides about fifteen minutes of interview footage, there isn't much else, just some promos and trailers. Here's the breakdown:

• Making Of (4:40): is a short interview featurette with cast members Bae Doo-Na, Kim Min-Joon, Lee Jin-Wuk, Oh Yun-Ah, and director Kim Kyoung-Yong.
• Promo (1:05): is a short with the main characters sharing their opinions about the importance of love.
• Trailer (1:00): is a trailer for the television series.
• Zoom In (10:27): is another interview panel with Bae Doo-Na, Kim Min-Joon, Lee Jin-Wuk, and Oh Yun-Ah. They talk about their characters, the show, and more.
• Music Video (4:17): is a music video from the show's original sound track of the song "The Fog".
• Teasers (1:32): is a series of teasers used to promote Someday.

Final Thoughts:
Someday is a K-drama about four individuals who find their lives interconnected when one goes on a journey to understand love. For a K-drama, Someday is not drama-packed with over-the-top, soapy content. Instead, the drama feels more genuine. This is a plus and minus. The genuine drama works well and helps detail the characters in a more realistic fashion. At the same time, I really do enjoy soap opera quality drama. Still, Someday is an enjoyable drama. It has a strong cast with very likeable characters and a good storyline. While not my favorite K-drama, it is still more than worth the time.