Welcome to Kdrama and Ramen

Three university students explore love, life, and family trauma in this drama.  After being placed in the same group for a class project, the three strongest members begin to build an unlikely friendship that offers each of them the chance to find healing and true friendship.  But their personal struggles will not be easy to overcome as they learn what it means to grow up and become adults with their first taste of personal independence.  Through it all, they learn the important life lesson that the love and acceptance of real friends is the most important key to happiness and well-being.

Kang Min Ah as Kim So Bin

Kim So Bin is a motivated student who lives in the dorms and tries to balance her school and social life.  Her best friend is a guy she has known since childhood.  She has a crush on him but has never gotten the nerve to confess her feelings to him.  She approaches Joon because she needs him to give her his student job to pad her resume.  Joon ends up liking her but So Bin has a hard time believing his feelings are sincere, since he is a popular student who seems to have everything, while she is just an average girl.  So Bin finds herself in a group project with Joon and the unfriendly senior who has disregarded her work in the past.  But as the trio makes up the strongest part of their work group, they find themselves forming an unlikely friendship, and she is eventually won over by Joon’s puppy dog-like charms.

So Bin’s character development is definitely not as strong as the two male characters, but she is a sweet love interest and friend who rounds the trio out nicely.  She is honest and sincere in her relationships and expectations.  Kang Min Ah gives this character a down-to-earth feeling that is likeable and relatable.  While she shares a difficult childhood with the other leads, the story of her parent’s divorce and her mother abandoning her doesn’t factor into the overall story much.  It would have been nice if we could have gotten more insight into her history and personality.

Choi Jung Woo as Hong Chan Ki

Hong Chan Ki is So Bin’s childhood friend.  He is easy going and famous for dating several girls at once.  But he always believed that So Bin would be there when he finally decided to settle down and date seriously.  Once So Bin starts dating Joon, Chan Ki strikes up an unusual friendship with Young Ran, as the two commiserate about their crushes.

♥ Joon and Soo Hyun

It’s great to have a drama where the friendship is at least as important as the romance, and plenty would argue it’s more important.  These two young men form a brotherly bond that is so sweet.  Watching Joon slowly win Soo Hyun over despite Soo Hyun’s stubborn resistance is rewarding and fun.  

♥ Cast Chemistry

From all the behind-the-scenes articles and pictures I saw of this drama, it seems like the cast, especially the leads, were extremely close.  I feel like that friendship really came through the screen and made their acting so sincere.  This drama could have easily fallen flat without this kind of natural interaction between the cast, but I was happy to feel their friendship and respect coming through their roles.  

What Happened to the Brother?

After introducing an issue that will have catastrophic impact on the family, it felt like a let-down to not hear what happened to Joon Wan.  Did he lose his teaching job?  Did he take over the family business.  There seem to be several realistic guesses, and I hate that.  I would have liked to see him settled, with a chance to finally enjoy his life after years of living in such a toxic family.  

Advanced Classes

Did I miss the part about why Joon just got to take all the upper division classes with his seniors?  I know that his family was well connected and had power, but I feel like they never really addressed why he was there or what would have made him want to take the advanced classes instead of being with his peers.  For a culture that puts so much emphasis on age and rank, it seemed weird that Joon just took all the classes meant for third year and no one batted an eye.  

As the voice over at the end of “At a Distance, Spring is Green” tell us, the end is really just the beginning for all of our characters.  And that is the overarching feeling as things draw to a close.  There aren’t many endings or resolutions.  The one exception is Joon’s family.  His father is finally arrested, although we don’t find out what kind of repercussions that has on the rest of the family.  But Joon and Joon Wan have finally cleared the air and are working to restore their realtionship.  While Soo Hyun still maintains that he has no time for dating, he does find time to drop by the library and leave a note and drink for Young Ran, so maybe there is still hope for them somewhere down the road.  So Bin and Joon are still happily dating, although she isn’t so thrilled with her new role as judge and peace keeper between Joon and Soo Hyun who have progressed to bickering like true brothers, although obviously with real brotherly affection.