Welcome to Kdrama and Ramen

A university art student, who had her heart broken by the art teacher she was dating, is no longer interested in dating or falling in love.  But one day she meets a handsome fellow student known as the campus flirt.  He is a player who is kind and friendly to everyone, but keeps a safe emotional distance.  Despite herself, Yoo Na Bi finds she is drawn to him, but how will she ever know if his feelings towards her are sincere or all just part of a game?

Song Kang as Park Jae Eon

Park Jae Eon is an art student who specializes in metal sculpture.  He also has a strange obsession with butterflies.  So when he meets a beautiful fellow art student whose name literally means butterfly, he is intrigued by her.  What starts out for him as just another casual fling brings up new feelings that he isn’t used to. Emotional commitment is something he has never been good at so he is suprised when he finds himself suddenly  wanting to give it a try.  But old habits die hard and he has a long way to go if he is going to convince Na Bi that his feelings for her are sincere.  

Park Jae Eon grew up as the son of an absentee mother who is a weatlthy and famous actress.  While he likely inherited his love and talent for art from her, he never got the love and support that would make him emotionally stable and mature.  As a result, Jae Eon is cold and closed off  He is popular and surrounded by friends, as long as they don’t try to get too close.  I think it is Na Bi’s vulnerability that is most attractive to him.  This was an unusal role for Song Kang and it was good to see him try something new.  But I missed his more heartfelt acting.  This character, while tragic, lacked the emotional dimension to feel relatable or generate sympathy.

Lee Yeol Eum as Yoon Seol Ah

Yoon Seol Ah has just returned from studying abroad.  She and Jae Eon dated at one time and she has never really gotten over him.  She isn’t all pleased when she notices Jae Eon’s interest in Na Bi and she does everything she can to keep them apart.  

♥ Art

Using a university art school as a setting provides a great opportunity to show some beautiful and interesting art pieces.  All of the sculptures were great to look at, and even the bracelet Jae Eon made for Na Bi was unique and noteworthy.  I love when dramas use the setting to promote certain scenery and this was a perfect example of that.  I want to cry right along with Na Bi when her amazing sculpture is crushed into pieces.  

♥  Mom Backstories

I really enjoyed the way both Jae Eon and Na Bi had mothers with backstories that gave some understanding into their own emotional development.  To show glimpses of their personalities and fears through the stories of their moms made it more interesting than if they had just told us about them with no context.     

Yoon Seol Ah

Yoon Seol Ah was a mysterious character.  It is easy to see that she and Jae Eon had dated at one time and that she still has feelings for him.  But I couldn’t understand Jae Eon’s lingering attachment to her.  Why was he the one to take her to her doctor’s appointments?  And why does he rush to her side and put up with her obsessive personality even though there is no romantic interest in her at all?  I wanted a little more back story about how they got to where they are and what were Jae Eon’s real feelings about her.  

Butterflies

Maybe this one is just me but I swear, I heard so much about those dumb butterflies that I was expecting something really spectacular.  Don’t get me wrong.  Having a whole room in your house full of trees and free-roaming butterflies is definitely eccentric, but I was expected at least a couple shots of stunning butterflies or something.  The reality was much more mundane than I had anticipated.  

So…this ending.  There are a lot of disagreements about whether or not this is a happy ending, so I will skip any classification.  Let’s just break it down.  After some panic about having to recreate Na Bi’s project we come to the end of the semester.  Sol and Ji Wan are an official campus couple and seem happier than ever.   Bit Na and Kyun Hyun are also still together and all smiles.  Later at dinner, Kyun Hyun confesses that he has liked Bit Na for years.  At the art show, everyone admires Sol and Na Bi’s art, and even the professor praises Na Bi.  Do Hyuk shows up with flowers to show his support but Na Bi keeps waiting for Jae Eon to show up.  It seems like Na Bi’s classmates are the only ones excited to see poor Do Hyuk.  When Jae Eon finally comes, he sees Do Hyuk there and tries to leave.  Na Bi pushes the flowers back into Do Hyuk’s arms to chase after him, basically making her choice obvious.  But Jae Eon is already gone.  Everyone goes out to dinner but the overwhelming couple vibe depresses Na Bi, so she ducks out and heads back to see her piece one more time.  Jae Eon is there and asks her for one more chance and after telling him how much she hates him, she agrees, even though she says she knows she will regret it.  They kiss while Jae Eon sheds tears of relief.  The final scene shows them together and smiling.  Some girls try to give Jae Eon their number but he politely refuses.  Na Bi joins him and as they walk, Na Bi spots Do Hyuk through a window.  She hesitates for just a second before walking away with Jae Eon.  And that’s the end, folks.