Its premiere episode tried to establish that Fashion
King will live up to its title. Showing the
character of Kang Young Gul (Yoo Ah In), a manufacturer of imitation clothes in Dongdaemun in Seoul, watching a legit a fashion show is
quite interesting for viewers like me.
It is something the viewers will try to understand since it’s just the
start of the drama. Indeed, there was
more than that.
Young Gul’s character reveals that when they were young,
he and his sister who died later were abandoned by their father to the care of his aunt. His mother left for the US but never came
back and so was his father whose character was mentioned anew before the end of
the drama. Young Gul studied in high
school but it was not, if I’m not mistaken, established if he even set foot in
college. He grew up in the streets that
made him both clever and foolish. Yoo Ah In’s free spirited and carefree character
in Fashion King made him look cool and adorable.
But things changed when he meets Lee Ga Young (Shin Se
Kyung), a young girl who came into his factory to work because of the
advertisement’s free accommodations. Lee
Ga Young is an orphan. Her parents
passed away after figuring in a traffic accident. She was raised by Jo
Soon-Hee (Jang Mie-Hie), the woman who used
to be one of the staff in the boutique owned by GaYoung’s parents but is now
owned by Jo. Ga Young was thrown out of
the house because Jo suspected her of arson.
Jo Soon Hee despises Lee Ga Young.
Young Gul, meanwhile, searched for people who could lend
him money so he could pay his debts to the gang leader in the area. He went to a friend who suggested try his
luck with Jung Jae Hyuk (Lee Je Hoon), a schoolmate and son of a major clothing
company whom he barely know. Feeling
hopeless, Young Gul took the shot. He
paid Jung Jae Hyuk a visit only to be humiliated at his office. His situation pushed him to persevere.
Meanwhile, before she was kicked out of the boutique, Lee Ga Young submitted
an application for scholarship in a design school in New York, but did not know
she was accepted (because President Jo hid the acceptance letter sent by the
New York school) until she secretly used Young Gul’s laptop to check her email. Young Gul caught her and she explained what’s
inside her email. It was then Young Gul
remembered that he knew Ga Young. He is keeping
Ga Young mom’s necklace, which Ga Young then begged President Jo to give her
but didn’t. Young Gul stole it from Jo Soon
Hee and the timeline was more than a decade ago.
One night, Young Gul went to Lee Ga Young to help her
live her dream. She gave her some money
to buy herself a ticket to New York so she could finish her studies. Ga Young left for the US. Unknown to her, Young Gul gave her the money
the factory earned. And since Young Gul
was sleeping with a woman, whom he later discovered was the girlfriend of a
loan shark, Young Gul went into hiding. A
series of misfortunes happened in Young Gul’s life until fate finally lead him
to the US.
The scenes filmed in the US seemed well planned. It even showed how one can possibly be an
illegal migrant in the land of milk and honey.
That dreams may do come true in New York. Or that dreams may die in there as well,
leaving you devastated. It was also in
the New York scenes that Young Gul and Ga Young connected well. For me, they have good chemistry even though
their characters are somewhat opposite. They
have sweet, unforgettable moments together.
It was also in the US scenes that the intertwined lives and loves of
Young Gul, Ga Young, Jung Jae Hyuk and Choi Anna begin. Young Gul and Ga Young love each other but
keep their feelings to themselves because of their boss-staff relationship
while former lovers Jae Hyuk and Anna try to rekindle the flame.
I like the story of Young Gul and Ga Young as they try
to live each day in their small apartment in New York, hoping to fulfil their
dreams together. It was a happy sight
until the two were arrested and was deported because of Young Gul’s past misfortunes. Fate or destiny, their intertwined lives
continued a year later when Young Gul was freed from prison while Ga Young
returned to the factory. Bruised and
hurt by the people surrounding them, Young Gul took Ga Young with her.
Since then, the two lived together and
struggled hard to make it big in the industry.
Conflicts further arise when Jae Hyuk gets interested in Ga Young while
Young Gul used Anna to scheme against Jae Hyuk. And for insulting him several
times and looking down on him, Young Gul showed signs of revenge. What started out as a mere way to
create jealousy to other partner became a serious entangled love problem that clouded
their minds and affected their businesses.
Jae Hyuk had an agreement with Young Gul to lend the latter
some capital money. In return, Ga Young,
whose passion in fashion is seen in her well-designed, trendy clothes, will work
for the wealthy businessman for several days.
Her creations will be used and presented by Jae Hyuk to his parents as
Anna’s creation.
The feud between Young Gul and Jae Hyuk worsened when the
latter discovered that the designs given by Ga Young were all displayed in
Dongdaemun. Unknown to him, Young Gul
registered the designs to their company’s name, YGM, before it was shown to
them. But Jae Hyuk, being conceited and
stubborn, tried to find ways to make YGM go bankrupt. Ga Young’s character, meanwhile, wants to
help Young Gul in his problem but ends up making things worse for both of them
whenever she meets Jae Hyuk. Jae Hyuk
offered Young Gul to buy YGM with Ga Young in tow. Young Gul declined. However, without him knowing, Ga Young accepted Jae Hyuk’s offer to work in
J Fashion. Since the person he loves
betrayed him, Young Gul accepted Jae Hyuk’s offer and put up another clothing
company. All these for revenge and to bring
back the woman he loves in his life.
Ga Young’s character became lame in the middle of the
drama as she was always the damsel in distress. She was in love with Young
Gul and yet, for a character who is good in speaking her mind and for someone
who once initiated a kiss with the man she loves, I find it lacking that she
never had the courage to ask Young Gul of how he truly feels.
Young Gul’s character became greedy because of love and
revenge. But for someone so greedy, he also became stupid and a big time trickster.
From being high and mighty, Jae Hyuk’s personality turned pathetic in the
middle to end of the show because of his love for someone who doesn’t love him. Anna’s character, on the other hand, became
wiser in the end.
I find Fashion King quite lacking in romantic
moments. Young Gul has done everything,
bought almost everything for Ga Young but never confessed his love until they
were alone in New York for an event. He
never said 'I love you' though. For someone
thirsty and hungry for the one he/she loves, the kissing scene in the hotel should be followed by a love scene – which could have established more how
much they love each other and that no one can keep them apart.
Also, after Young Gul left the necklace and the candy near the ending, there
was no effort in Ga Young’s part to run after Young Gul. And for someone who loves Young Gul so much,
it is quite unbelievable that she would just easily turn her back on him. Plus, I find it sad for Ga Young’s part that
she never even heard or read that Young Gul loves her because Jae Hyuk hid the
letter and the ticket sent to her in the end. The drama established a good character of Young Gul in the start, the creative team could have just simply put back the sound personality of the leading man in the end.
This SBS drama under the direction of Lee Myung Woo
could have executed a better ending. The
writers could have given the storyline new twists in the latter part and not
just repeating buy-out negotiations. They
could have extended another episode or at least added a few more minutes to
enhance the finale of the show. The last
part of the finale was totally disappointing.
I was left in awe since I was made to believe that the couple here are
Young Gul and Ga Young. The show was
supposed to be inspiring. Though if they want it tragic, they should have
executed a better, totally better ending.
