49 Days

WARNING: This post contains some spoilers so those who are interested to watch this series and/or hates spoilers, please leave this page immediately. Thanks! :)

I first learned of 49 days when it was aired on a network here in the Philippines. I thought that the story is interesting and that the plot is unique. I've always regarded Korea as a benchmark in quality dramas. Most of the Korean dramas I've watched pleased me so I was quite excited about this drama.

49 days is the story of a young girl, Shin Ji Hyun, who has everything in her life: loving parents, very good friends, beauty, wealth, and a handsome & smart fiancé. One day, she encounters a vehicular accident and sees her own body full of blood.  She then learns that since it wasn't her time to die yet, she would be given the chance to live again if she would be able to gather three pure tears from three people who sincerely loves her. Ji Hyun was very positive about having many people who loves her but then she discovers that her life isn't as perfect as she thought it was. The people she considered as friends dislike her and won't shed pure tears for her. What's more shocking is that her fiancé is actually in a relationship with one of her best friends and they are planning to bring down her father's company. Now she has to find three people who really love her and at the same time stop her fiancé from stealing her father's company.

When I watched the first few episode on TV, I felt that I couldn't wait for the remaining episodes so I finally decided to download the episodes so that I could watch it before being aired on TV. True enough, every episode was very exciting. The story developed unexpectedly and the actors were very good at portraying their respective roles. It also illustrated the belief about karma. It was one of the things in this drama that sparked my interest because it says that you have a fixed lifespan determined by how you lived in your past life. The idea of having modern grim reapers was also interesting.

However, I felt really bad when the female protagonist had to die in the end. I think that it was so unfair, given that she has to waste 49 days of her life looking for at least three people that truly loves her only to find out that she would eventually die five days later. Well, who said life is fair? In my opinion, the story was trying to teach a lesson that life is very short. As what was said by the Scheduler, "We are born to die." We have to live each moment as if it is our last day so that we won't have any regrets. I would also like to quote some dialogues that really touched me. Han Kang's mother said that when you love someone, it's okay to be misunderstood. You would rather be misunderstood than to explain because you know that it would inflict greater pain to the person you love. Also, Ji Hyun said that it's more painful hiding your feelings for someone than not knowing what you really feel. I think these statements are very profound. It entails a lot of sacrifices but at the same time great concern for your beloved.

The alternate title "Pure Love" is really fitting for this series since it shows different kinds of love, but the most important one is pure love since it would show that you love a person unconditionally and that the only reason you love that person is because they are who they are. Although I categorize it as a tragedy, most of the characters got their happy ending and I guess that is what's important. When I shared my sentiment to my sister about the death of Ji Hyun, she said that it made the drama unique up to the very end. If she hasn't died, then it would just be a typical drama where the bad guys get arrested and the good guys would live happily ever after. Upon hearing this, I felt at ease. The writer really did a good job on this drama. Overall, I was satisfied with the drama and I would always want to watch it again.