Tough and Tender

In the k-drama series Was it Love?, director Kim Do-hyung portrays a single mother’s battle between a past lover and her aspiring future to become a movie producer. 

In this heartwarming drama, which can be seen on Netflix, we start off seeing the struggles of Noh Ae-jeong(Song Ji-hyo) a single mother who left a college education to take care of her daughter. Before starting work at an entertainment company, she worked as a grocery clerk, theatre clerk, and even a newspaper girl. Unfortunately, as soon as she believed that her life was getting better, the CEO of the company disappeared leaving the company in debt. Ae-jeong, oblivious to the fact, meets up with Koo Pa-do(Kim Min-joon) who is ready to retrieve the debt of the company. Now knowing the real truth, Ae-jeong is determined to not let herself falter and decides to speak to Pa-do. Pa-do, who is moved by Ae-jeong’s unwavering determination, decides to give in to her. Pa-do decides to invest in the Ae-jeong and gives her the chance to produce a movie of her own and settle the debt; however, he gives her 3 requisites which are: to have famous author Cheon Eok-man(Son Ho-jun) write the script, actor Ryu-jin(Song Jong-ho) act in the film, and to have them both on board in eight days or he won’t settle the debt. After this moment, it feels impossible to Ae-jeong but she attempts to get in touch with them anyways. She finally meets Cheon Eok-man, who to her surprise, is actually Oh Dae-o, her ex-partner from college. As this plot starts to unfold, her daughter’s, Noh Ha-nee(Ohm Chae-young) own story begins as well as she starts her journey to find her father who she was forced to believe was dead. As she begins school she notices that her mother and her school teacher, Oh Yeon-woo(Oh Jae-sung) are friends. It is later revealed that Yeon-woo helped Ae-jeong and even offered her to be the father during Ae-jeong’s pregnancy. When Ha-nee begins to tie everything together she picks three candidates for her father which are Yeon-woo, Oh Dae-o, and Ryu Jin. Ae-jeong, after many days of trying and failing, gets them both to play part in the film and both plots begin to collide as her daughter, Ha-nee suspects that Ryu Jin is her father. At the end of the drama, both plots meet together in a suspenseful moment which reveals who Ha-nee’s real father is. This moment both ends Ae-jeong’s story and Ha-nee’s story; however, the final episode is a complete tear-jerker. 

Although the story has many different plots, the writer Lee Seung-jin and director Kim Do-hyung incorporated them smoothly so the stories themselves don’t feel choppy or empty. The movie boasts a nice aesthetic and the camera-work is done very well. This tied in with the sound-track compliments the movie so well. The series’ main soundtrack, a korean rendition of Dreams by the Cranberries, leaves mellow feelings in the viewer’s heart. It ties in well with the scenes that it is included in. The whole soundtrack could make a viewer cry because of how well they were made. 

The actors did amazing work, especially Song Ji-hyo, who is able to genuinely portray the toughness of a single mother and the misfortune that came along with her journey without going through it herself. One thing I really enjoyed about this series was that all the actors could seem to show genuine sadness when they cried. It was something I’m sure they practiced much on since a lot of the series’ itself had a lot of sorrowful moments. 

Overall it was a great series and I would definitely recommend it to anyone who prefers realistic instances over the cliches that are frequently seen in mainstream romance dramas.