Smile Again (2010 TV series)

Hindsight Review: KBS' Smile, Donghae Ends as a Fully Satisfying ...

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Smile Again (Hangul: Ãƒ, ????? ; : Ãƒ, ????? ; RR: Ãƒ, Useora Donghaeya , lit up. Smile, Dong-hae ) is a 2010 South Korean TV drama starring Ji Chang-wook, Do Ji-won, Oh Ji-eun, Park Jung-ah and Lee Jang-woo. It airs on KBS1's Korea Broadcasting System main channel from 4 October 2010 to 13 May 2011 on Mondays to Fridays at 8:25 pm to 159 episodes.

Video Smile Again (2010 TV series)

Plot

Prolog

More than 40 years ago, Cho's family lost their daughter (Cho Dong-baek) in a severe storm and nearly drowned. Although Dong-baek survived, he suffered brain damage, erased his past memory and left with the mental capacity of a nine-year-old child. Despite his tragic circumstances, he was adopted by an American family and renamed Anna Laker. Although he has intellectual limitations, he can function almost like an adult. As a young adult, he fell in love with a Korean man, who used the English name James (aka Kim Joon), as he studied abroad in New York. Due to personal circumstances, James had to leave Anna, but he asked Anna to wait for him and he would find her. James did return to find Anna, but at that moment, he moved and could not find his whereabouts; he returned to Korea.

A year or two later, James meets Hong Hye-sook (the adopted daughter of Cho Family), a woman who loves James and does not want to let her go. She presses James to stay with her and the two are married and have a son together, Kim Do-jin. Unknown James, Anna is pregnant and gave birth to her son, Carl Laker (aka Dong-hae). Anna will spend the next 27 years, waiting for James while being a single mother to Carl. Their past, present, and future will all change as the Lakers decide to go to Seoul.

Main Stories

Carl/Dong-hae visited Korea with his mother to participate in a short speed skating track competition as a representative of the American team. His journey to Korea was not just for the competition, but also to see his girlfriend, Sae-hwa, whom he dated for 6 years and promised to get married. However, Sae-hwa changes her mind. Sae-hwa tells Dong-hae that she can not be with him as long as she's with Anna. Later, he saved Sae-hwa from being hit by a truck in a traffic accident. The accident hurt Dong-hae and ended her skating career. Meanwhile, Anna sees Dong-hae's father by chance and does not want to leave Korea. Dong-hae decides to stay in Korea and find her father. He decides to find him and asks why he left them. In the midst of all this is Bong-yi, a would-be chef who wants to become the head of the first female chef. Bong-yi and her family bring Dong-hae and her mother Anna and treat them as family. However, the Lakers will be challenged in their quest for truth and happiness.

Sae-hwa has attracted Do-jin's attention and the two begin dating. Although James is faithful to his wife, his thoughts are always with Anna, causing him to be a father away from Do-jin. Because of how Do-jin grew up, he did not want to date someone who had a previous relationship, had an unusual logic that a woman with an ex-girlfriend would be dishonestly thinking about their ex-spouse rather than their current partner. Sae-hwa wants to marry Kim's Family and lies about being an inexperienced girl who's too busy learning to date anyone. The lie worked initially, but Dong-hae eventually works for Camellia Hotel, where her stepbrother works. Worried that Dong-hae might mess things up, Sae-hwa always worries Dong-hae might do something to ruin her plans. Sae-hwa ends up marrying Do-jin and the couple is happy for a while, but Sae-hwa's constant fear of her past appears to cause James to learn the truth between Dong-hae's and Sae-hwa's past relationships in New York. Finally, Do-jin also finds the truth too, leading him to disbelieve Sae-hwa and Dong-hae. Although both never revive their love, Do-jin is constantly convinced that Dong-hae is after his wife and Sae-hwa is somehow suspicious of being unfaithful to him. The real story blooms between Dong-hae and Bong-yi as they secretly date each other behind the backs of their families. Everything will be complicated when Sae-hwa learns the truth of Dong-hae's true identity.

Learning from Dong-hae's father to James, he does his best to ensure the Lakers are not too close to Kim's Family to avoid discovery. However, Anna eventually works at the Camellia hotel as well and James's wife (not knowing their relationship with James) takes care of the Lakers for a while. Through Sae-hwa's own groping, the people in his family begin to learn about Dong-hae's real identity and they conspire to help Sae-hwa protect each other's interests. When James finally finds Anna, he can not help but investigate into his life and Lees. Although Sae-hwa intervenes and presses Anna to not reveal Dong-hae, James finally realizes Dong-hae is her missing son. Due to the complication of reunion as father and son, James keeps his identity secret to Dong-hae, but uses his excuses as an executive to spend time with him. But eventually, Hye-sook and Do-jin will learn about Anna and Dong-hae.

With the secret revealed, Dong-hae has trouble accepting James as his father. Though Anna tries to explain that James never knows about her, Dong-Hae has trouble getting a father who never was there for them. Feeling guilty and responsible for his actions, James wants to divorce Hye-sook, leave his family, and take care of his lost family. Unfortunately, it was greeted with great resistance. Do-jin refuses to recognize Dong-hae as his brother and makes every effort to make his life difficult. Hye-sook will blackmail James, warning him that if he leaves the family, he will use all his strength to make the Lakers suffer for it. The Lees at the time were financially tied to Camellia Hotel in their kimchi business, Hye-sook intends to hurt anyone who ever treated the Lakers in retaliation, forcing James to stay. When Anna realizes that Hye-sook's husband is his beloved James, she is devastated and realizes she can not destroy the family. Hye-sook will face Anna, asking her to leave their own family and offer them the money and airfare to return to America so that Kim's Family will be at peace. However, Dong-hae does not want to bow to their pressure. While James offers to escape to America with the Lakers, but the Lakers themselves decide to leave town to avoid hurting Lees and bow to Kims demands. However, Bong-yi is destroyed because Dong-hae leaves without saying a word. He leaves a letter, explains his reason for leaving, but he promises it is not goodbye; he intends to return and wants him to wait for him.

A few weeks have passed and the Lakers initially find peace in a new environment. Hye-sook and Do-jin keep alert for the Lakers if they ever return. Lee Pil-jae (a policeman and uncle Bong-yi) falls in love with Anna and tries to find them. Finally, through his police connection, he finds Anna. Dong-hae is a novice celebrity chef and secretly works at a friend's restaurant to help meet his needs. During this time, Do-jin and Hye-sook become cold and tired with Sae-hwa; they both want him out of their lives and insist on divorce. Not wanting to surrender to Do-jin, he calls Chos back to the hotel, causing blackmail and pressure to prevent him from divorcing. Mal-sun, Anna's mother, had previously assigned Hye-sook to look for her missing daughter. However, he lied and secretly buried the investigation. Since he was loved by Chos and devoted 30 years of his life to the Camellia Hotel, he always felt entitled to the ownership of the hotel. If Anna wants to return, Mr. Cho will never transfer his majority stake to Hye-sook and he will only be an executive for the rest of his life.

Mr. Cho returned to review the status of his hotel while Mrs Cho used that time to continue searching for their lost daughter. Mr Cho finds Kim's family split because of James's past relationship with Anna and tries to pressure him to stay with Hye-sook. Sae-hwa finds out that Anna and Dong-hae are associated with Chos and do everything in their power to use this information as a bargain to keep him in the Kim Family. Unfortunately, his secret is revealed and he loses all bargaining power. Sae-hwa finally gets tired of trying to win back Do-jin and she gives her a signed divorce papers. However, Sae-hwa then finds out she's pregnant with Do-jin's son. Because James feels responsible for what happens to his daughter-in-law, she tries to look after her and she rewards her kindness by occasionally tiping him about the cunning intrigue of his wife and son.

During the wedding of Dong-hae and Bong-yi, Do-jin asks for an emergency shareholder meeting to discuss the future management of the hotel. Dong-yi silently finds a miscalculation in the hotel's finances and notifies the tax fraud authorities. This discovery was very expensive and Mr. Cho could not save the hotel unless he liquidated his stake into the market. Gathering his own support group, Do-jin collects enough stock to make Hye-sook the new majority shareholder of the Camellia Hotel. News of this was a big surprise for Mr. Cho and he fell into a coma. Dong-hae's marriage was crushed by the sudden collapse of her grandfather. With Hye-sook as the majority holder, he can now secure his strength as hotel chairman. However, Lees, Chos, and the Lakers will not take this defeat easily.

During the power struggle, Camellia invested in a large hotel project in Hainan-China, but the funds were lost. Do-jin moves money from the project and causes instability in hotel investment. Dong-hae starts investigating the matter and the key to solving it is Do-jin's lawyer. After the takeover, the lawyer disappears and Dong-hae assigns Pil-jae to help track him down. In between, Do-jin loses his support from his own mother. Hye-sook has been very guilty about what she taught her adoptive father. To atone for his sins, he decides to support Dong-hae as CEO of Camellia, not Do-jin. Beyond Do-jin's imagination, Hye-sook hands over his stake to Dong-hae, returning him as Camellia's majority shareholder. Do-jin's lawyer provides all the necessary evidence to prove Do-jin guilty of embezzlement. With evidence against him in the Hainan project and losing his share because of his own mother, Do-jin goes away with embarrassment. However, it would be James bringing the family together.

James had an accident some time ago and he suffered a brain aneurysm, slowly killing him. With all that has happened, he wants to finish things and see his family if he does not succeed. Although Dong-Hae asks his father for an emergency surgery, James awaits Do-jin. Dong-hae tracks and both fight each other in a fight and then sit down for a frank conversation about their dad and Sae-hwa's pregnancy. Upon learning that their father is dying and Sae-hwa with the child, Do-jin finally releases his revenge against Dong-hae, reconciles with Sae-hwa, and sees his James before he operates. The final problem is James's decision between Anna and Hye-sook. Though Hye-sook realizes she presses James to get married and she always thinks about Anna, James realizes she needs Hye-sook more than Anna. By doing that, James restores his marriage to Hye-sook. With James out of the competition, Pil-jae can be with Anna without any further emotional confusion. Everyone finally made peace with each other.

Epilogue

A year has passed now and everyone is doing well. Dong-hae has been an excellent manager at Camellia and Bong-yi as a master chef. Do-jin pays for his crime and returns to the community, where he can finally reunite with Sae-hwa and meet his son. Joo-yeon (Sae-hwa's sister) becomes a successful model while her husband finally passes the exam and becomes a judge. With everything right in the world, Dong-hae proposes returning Bong-yi (after health concerns with her grandfather) and both managed to marry without hindrance at the moment. Dong-hae can smile again.

Maps Smile Again (2010 TV series)

Cast

Ji Chang-wook as Carl Laker/Dong-hae
Do Ji-won as Anna Laker/Jo Dong-baek

Lee's Family

Smile Again (2010 TV series)

Rabu, 20 Juni 2018