Recalling the Endings of ′The Equator Man′ and ′Fashion King′

Recall: To remember. To bring back again.

There is a film called High Fidelity, which was imported to Korea with the Korean title Can Love be Recalled?.

The Korean title is completely different from the original title, but John Cusack, the lead, thinks back on the time he broke up with the woman he loved. He then takes a trip to the past through his ex-girlfriends and looks back on his actions.

This is why the word ′recall′ made it into the title of the film, because the lead ′recalled′ his past.

The endings of many Korean dramas these days continuously remind us of the word ′recall.′ Like people′s habits when it comes to love don′t change easily, it has to be hard for writers to change their way of writing.

A lot of dramas ended around the same time recently, and two dramas, in particular, drew attention for ending so similarly to the scriptwriters′ previous pieces.

They are KBS2′s The Equator Man and SBS′ Fashion King, which came to an end on May 24 and 22, respectively.

′Women in the Sun′ and ′The Equator Man′

The ending of The Equator Man wasn′t that much different from the ending of the 2008 drama Women in the Sun.

The Equator Man came to a close on May 24 with its 20th episode. The drama was about human greed and the conflict arising from unfulfilled love since the beginning, but the last episode focused on the topic of forgiveness.

Lee Jang Il (Lee Joon Hyuk) failed to have his revenge when he was stopped by Kim Sun Woo (Uhm Tae Woong) from shooting a gun at his enemy, President Jin No Sik (Kim Yeong Cheol), and soon started showing signs of mental instability. He made went to an asylum from the shock, but he forgave and was forgiven by Sun Woo, who stayed at his side.

The two then stepped into the hometown that contained their good and bad memories. Only after facing their past of 13 years ago did they really forgive. Jang Il, however, was unable to get past his guilt, and threw himself off a cliff.

This part of the ending of The Equator Man was similar to the ending of Women in the Sun, which was scriptwriter Kim In Young′s previous piece.

Women in the Sun was about a woman who was adopted into a rich family, who grew up to become a popular news anchor, and the little sister she abandoned, who was forced to live a different life from the one she could’ve had.

The last episode of Women in the Sun was also about the death of a character. The news anchor Shin Do Young (Kim Ji Su) tried to commit suicide through a car crash, and although she woke up for a while, in the end, she met her death.

The last scene, however, showed Do Young walking across a beach with Cha Dong Woo (Jung Kyeo Woon), sparking a debate among viewers on whether Do Young had really died, leading the production company to reveal that Do Young had died in the end.

Do Young’s death is fairly similar to Jang Il’s suicide in The Equator Man. Jang Il committed suicide because he couldn’t wake up from his own nightmare, just like Do Young.

Both The Equator Man and Women in the Sun didn′t have completely evil or good characters. The line between evil and good was blurred so much it was hard to tell who was who. This is why both dramas weren′t too predictable for the viewers.

′Fashion King′ and ′Bali′

SBS′ Fashion King came to a close with the shocking death of the male lead Yoo Ah In. However, the ending is also shockingly similar to another drama, Something Happened in Bali.

The May 22 broadcast of Fashion King concluded with a scene that showed Gang Young Gul (Yoo Ah In) die at the hands of a mysterious gunman. Young Gul, in despair after losing everything he had, called Lee Ka Young (Shin Se Kyung) up while he was drunk to tell her he missed her but met a tragic end when he was shot down by a gunman. Ka Young answered "I miss you" only after he was completely dead. Fashion King thus came to a close with a shocking ending.

The closing scenes were similar to a scene shown in the 2004 drama Something Happened in Bali. The main character Jae Min (Zo In Sung) committed suicide after killing the woman he loved, Soo Jung (Ha Ji Won), and the man who loves her, In Wook (So Ji Sub). It was a shocking ending rarely found in Korean dramas and is still often brought up to this day.

Fashion King actually gave off a Something Happened in Bali-feel since the beginning, as it was put together by a staff that had worked previously on Bali, namely, the screenwriter Kim Ki Ho and chief producer Choi Mun Suk.

Fashion King said it would be different from Bali, but in the end it only became a shadow of its predecessor and failed to overcome its limits.

So, drama scriptwriters: Can endings be ′recalled′ also?

Photo credit: KBS, SBS

Reporter : Ko Hong Ju (kohongju@cj.net)
[Any copying, republication or redistribution of www.enewsworld.com's content other than for personal uses is expressly prohibited without prior permission from enewsWorld. Copyright infringement is subject to criminal and civil penalties.]

[Hot Topic]
- Kim Bum Soo Says He Considers G-Dragon His Senior
- SNSD’s Hyoyeon Pelted With Salt, ‘Invincible Youth 2’ Criticized Again for Brutal Punishments
- Gong Yoo Says His Small Face Stresses Him Out
- Did Gil Foresee the Ko Young Wook Case?
- Suzy Goes Bold for ′Big′