I am going through a reading slump right now. I’ve got four half-read books next to me but am not able to continue with them. My friend recommended some of her favourite K-Dramas. It has been a while since I watched one, and so I decided to watch one of them. I decided to watch ‘Encounter‘, because the story appealed to me. It is an older woman – younger man romance. My favourite kind of romance.
A young man is travelling to Cuba on a holiday. There while watching the sunset, he bumps into a woman. She is also Korean. She looks elegant and she seems to be lost. Someone has stolen her bag and she doesn’t have any money. This young man helps her, gets her something to eat and drink, spends some time with her and gets a taxi and drops her back at her hotel. Later he goes back home to Seoul. Sometime after that he gets a phonecall from a hotel where he had applied for a job. He discovers that he has got the job. On the first day at work, all the new recruits are invited to the auditorium, where the CEO of the hotel arrives soon and gives a talk and welcomes them all. Our young man is shocked to discover that this CEO is the same woman whom he had helped in Cuba. The CEO also recognizes him in the audience. What happens after that is the rest of the story.
‘Encounter’ is a beautiful love story. It is my favourite kind of love story, between an older woman and a younger man. We wonder how a CEO and a fresh recruit can fall in love and be in a relationship because their lives are worlds apart. But the way it is presented is convincing. Park Bo Gum as the young man Jin-hyuk, and Song Hye-kyo as the older woman Soo-hyun are wonderful in their roles. This is my third Song Hye-kyo series after ‘That Winter, the Wind Blows‘ and ‘The Glory‘. After watching ‘The Glory’, I felt that she did only intense, serious roles. I couldn’t imagine her in a romantic story, playing the lead character. But she does exactly that here, proving what a great actress she is. She is brilliant, and it is so hard to believe that she is the same actress who acted in ‘The Glory’. Clearly she is one of the legends of K-Drama.
The romance part of the story was sometimes a bit too much – it was like having too many sweets on Diwali or Eid or Christmas or having too much cake on my birthday 😊 But I loved it. Sweets and cake are always delicious and pleasurable, aren’t they? 😊
Somewhere closer to the end the story takes a sharp turn and then something unexpected happens which left me emotionally devastated. The last time I felt like that was when I watched ‘Something in the Rain‘. I never thought I’ll feel like that again while watching a K-Drama, but I was wrong, it happened again. If something like that had happened in my own life, I wouldn’t have been able to come out of that. I’ve failed miserably in less challenging situations. So I prayed for the main characters and I hoped the scriptwriters will listen to my prayers. I won’t tell you what was that thing which happened, and what happened after that, you need to watch the series to find out.
I loved many of the other characters too. Soo-hyun’s driver Nam is such a cool character. On paper he is the driver, but in reality he is her father’s friend and has known her since she was a kid, and so is like her uncle. The way he speaks his mind, and doesn’t care about what the other person thinks is charming to watch. Soo-hyun’s secretary Mi-jin who is also her best friend and confidante is also a wonderful character. Jin-hyuk’s family is very beautiful. His brother is an adorable fun guy and his parents are beautiful people. His mother is such a beautiful soul and I loved every scene in which she comes. She made me remember my own mom. She does some questionable things which leads to devastating consequences and sometimes it is frustrating to watch how a beautiful human being can sometimes be so wrong, but she does those things out of love and it is hard to get angry at her.
Hye-in, Jin-hyuk’s best friend since childhood who is secretly in love with him, and Dae-chan who runs a small restaurant and who is friends with Jin-hyuk and the rest of the gang, are also adorable characters.
What is K-Drama without one or two terrible moms? There is not just one, but two of them here. They are closer to the villains in the story and I hated them most of the time. One of them has some redemption at the end.
Talking about moms, one of the surprising things I discovered in this series is that Gil Hae-yeon, who played the role of the terrible mom in ‘Something in the Rain’, comes as a beautiful, affectionate, aunt kind of character who supports Jin-hyuk. It was such a contrast to her earlier role, that it was so hard for me to believe that it was the same person. The mom in ‘Something in the Rain’ was one of the worst moms in all of K-Drama. I hated her throughout the series and she gave me nightmares even after I finished watching. To see the same actress playing a beautiful, gentle role was amazing to watch. So brilliant and versatile she is.
One of the things that I love in K-Drama is the food that is shown on screen. I always look forward to those scenes and love discovering new food. Here in ‘Encounter’, Jin-hyuk’s mom makes a mandarin preserve. It looks so beautiful in a glass jar. Sometimes ‘preserve’ is used as a synonym for ‘jam’ or ‘marmalade’. But this is definitely not jam or marmalade. This is something totally different. This is mandarin preserve, Korean style. It looks amazing. I want to try it sometime. Another food I discovered was Acorn Jelly (Dotorimuk). One of the characters raves about it and I want to try that. Another was Makgeolli. It looks milky white and it seems to be rice wine, and I can already feel its delicious taste. It makes me think of the Chinese rice wine, Mi jiu, which is one of my favourites. There were also Korean fritters probably made of corn, and a Korean style stew which Jin-hyuk’s mom brings to the table when it is steaming hot. They are both very tempting. The next time I go to the Korean restaurant, I’m going to ask them for all these 😊
I loved watching ‘Encounter’. Hoping to watch more Song Hye-kyo and Park Bo Gum series.
Have you seen ‘Encounter’? What do you think about it?
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