Pink Elle Reviews…

Some people are lucky to be loved deeply by one but some are luckier to be loved by two.

I never understood the hype about Korean dramas. I could never understand how adults could be reduced to sobs and tears over a show or how people could stay up till the wee hours of the morning just to finish a series. That was until I watched my very first Korean drama, Stairway To Heaven, which happened to be one of the biggest tear-jerkers of all! Although it was first released in 2003, Stairway to Heaven has apparently so many fans worldwide that it is continued to be aired for even up to 10 times in Chile and remakes in Philippines are ongoing! Story and spoilers below for this not to be missed drama.

Spoilers To Korean Drama Stairway To Heaven

Stairway to Heaven features two people destined to be together since childhood. Han Jung Suh (played by Choi Ji Woo of Winter Sonata fame) and Cha Song Joo (played by Kwon Sang Woo) have always shared a special bond that blossomed into love. However, things get complicated when Jung Suh’s father remarries an actress who brings her two own children into their home. She favours her own daughter, Yoo-Ri, over Jung Suh but does not care for her son, Tae-Hwa, who starts to be attracted to Jung Suh when she shows him kindness. Jung Suh is cheated out of studying abroad with Song Joo by her stepmother. Before he leaves, Song Joo gives her a locket for which he holds the other half so they may be reunited upon his return.

Many years later, Song Joo is back and when Jung Suh runs to meet him at Song Joo’s mother’s mall carousel they have often spent their childhood at, she is knocked down by Yoo-Ri who wants Song Joo for her own. Jung Suh then loses her memory and is cared for by Tae-Hwa who has loved her all this time. He changes their names and leads her to believe that they are engaged to be married.

Song Joo tries to forget Jung Suh as he prepares to marry Yoo-Ri (who has been manipulated by her evil mother) but is unable to. Sitting at the carousel, he suddenly sees her again but she has absolutely no recollection of him. Just as he is about to think that he was mistaken, she regains her memory and learns the truth from Tae-Hwa who did everything out of love for her. Both Tae-Hwa and Song Joo love her desperately but Tae-Hwa knows her heart lies with Song Joo and gives her up to him although it hurts him. The two lovers reunite at Jung Suh’s childhood home where they have spent many happy memories where they both finally match the halves of their locket to make it whole again.

Will it work out well in the end? I can’t spoil it here so go see it yourself!

Edit: I decided to provide the full story below. Highlight if you want to read it!

Song Joo is engaged to be married to Yoo-Ri and although he wants to be with Jung Suh, he is forbidden to by his mother. In a twist, at their engagement ceremony Song Joo offers the ring instead to Jung Suh who rejects as Tae-Hwa is caught by police for faking paintings (from a tip off from his own evil mother). Song Joo gets Tae-Hwa out of jail then asks Jung Suh to be his best friend if they can’t be lovers.

Jung Suh starts to lose her eyesight from eye cancer and decides to reject Song Joo so he wouldn’t feel sorry for her. She returns to her childhood home with Tae-Hwa but Song Joo finds her and together with Tae-Hwa, they try to help her but the odds are against Jung Suh as she gradually goes blind.

Just a day before he is to marry Yoo-Ri, Song Joo invites everyone to a banquet and surprises everyone by marrying Jung Suh although she is blind. During the dinner, it is revealed that Yoo-Ri was the one who tried to kill Jung Suh many years ago and she is taken away by the police while her manipulative mother goes mad and is put in a mental institution.

For a wedding gift, Tae-Hwa painted them a painting he titled “Stairway to Heaven” which featured a couple at the bottom of an endless flight of stairs leading up to the clouds. Song Joo leaves Tae-Hwa to look after Jung Suh while he goes to work for he is the only one he can trust with her. One day, Jung Suh tells Tae-Hwa she wishes she could see the face of the man she loves so dearly before she dies so she can forever commit it to her memory. Tae-Hwa contemplates this and decides to set up an elaborate plot of him leaving to France and falling in love with a French girl when he was actually planning to commit suicide so he could donate his corneas to Jung Suh.

Tae-Hwa leaves a letter for Song Joo telling him not to tell Jung Suh of his sacrifice. Her operation is successful and she can finally see again until the cancer spreads and she loses all hope of living. Jung Suh decides not to go for chemotherapy as she would rather die at home than in a hospital. In frustration, Song Joo tells her how Tae-Hwa donated his eyes so she could see and how she should not waste his precious gift. Jung Suh decides to see only beautiful things from now and makes peace with Yoo-Ri and her evil stepmother.

One day at their gallery, she stands looking at the painting Tae-Hwa gave them and requests for Song Joo to drive her back to her childhood home by the sea. Song Joo is reluctant to for he senses her time has come but she is insistent. They make the journey back there and Jung Suh asks Song Joo to walk with her on the beach where they used to play as children. There, in his arms, Jung Suh dies but not before promising to meet him in heaven again.

*sob*

Quotes From Stairway To Heaven

SONG-JOO: Perhaps he may have loved her more than I did. However, this does not mean that I loved her any less.

SONG-JOO: Jung suh I loved you to death, I still love you to death and I’ll continue loving you to death, until we meet again.

SONG-JOO: Jung-Suh, when I return, I’m going to draw a picture here and give it to you as a gift. A world with no sadness, no separation, and no pain… Heaven.

JUNG-SUH: If I go to heaven, I’ll truly be able to love you. Because there’s only love there. So this is the beginning of our beautiful love affair.

SONG-JOO: Then that means our love begins now.

Definitely a must-see! It’s my all time favourite Korean drama series! The love displayed in this drama series was so deep which made it incredibly touching to see the lengths one would go to for love. I enjoyed seeing how two men who were so in love with the same woman could put their differences aside to be the closest of friends to make the woman they love happy. And if nothing else moves you, the cute Korean actor playing Song Joo definitely will!

Do have a tissue box at hand when you watch it. You’ll need it!

Somewhere out there is a place called heaven where lovers will one day reunite.