Welcome to Kdrama and Ramen

Kang Da Jung is a capable, hard-working manager for a luxury hotel whose traumatic childhood makes her shy away from serious relationships.  When a handsome stranger takes an interest in her, she considers giving him a chance.  But a tragic event leaves her with more questions and trauma.  In search of healing and friendship, she meets a psychiatrist who has an office in the building where she lives, but he carries wounds of his own.  As the two of them search for answers to a mysterious crime, they find an emotional connection that may help them both make peace with their pasts.

Kim Dong Wook as Joo Young Do

As a psychiatrist with his own private clinic, Joo Young Do is plenty busy, but he keeps finding himself crossing paths with the woman who lives above his office.  He is instantly attracted to her, and when a strange man begins to follow her around he is both jealous and concerned for her well-being.  The man’s sudden suicide is strangely suspicous and Young Do can’t help questioning what really happened to him.  He and Da Jung have an opportunity to grow closer as they try to piece together the life and death of  Chae Jun, but Young Do has a secret that could make any long-term relationships impossible.  

Joo Young Do takes pride in being a caring doctor who listens to patients and helps them forgive themselves for their past mistakes.  But he carries his own guilt of not being able to save his sick brother’s life or comfort his mother in her grief.  As he spends time with Da Jung, she helps him learn to forgive himself and find peace and healing.   Kim Dong Wook was wonderful as the kind-hearted doctor with a wounded heart, both literally and figuratively.  He handled the role with a quiet dignity that made his character sweet and likeable.

Nam Gyu Ri as Ahn Ga Young

Ahn Ga Young is a beautiful, young actress who was once married to Young Do.  She pushes her way into Da Jung’s house and declares them best friends.  Secretly, she is dating a famous idol, but she doesn’t want it to interfere with either of their careers, although he would like to go public with their relationship.  

♥ Ahn Ga Young 

I loved the character of Ahn Ga Young.  She manages to be totally self absorbed and yet innocent enough to still be likeable.   Her desire to be loved and understood showed a sweet vulnerablility and I loved how she just decided Da Jung and Eun Ha were her new besties.  I also thought her romance with Patrick was very cute.  They made a perfect couple and it made sense that he is younger since she is still finding herself.  

♥ Heo Yu Kyung

Heo Yu Kyung provides some wonderful moments of humor in this drama.  From cussing out the guests on the telephone to her silly English mistakes, I found her character endearing and fun.  It’s true that her character has no real impact on the story at all, but her character brought me plenty of giggles and I appreciate her for that.  

Twin Story

Initially I was intrigued with the idea of combining a slow burn romance with a mystery thriller, but in the end it didn’t really work for me.  The mystery elements were sporadic at best, and the lack of context made it really hard to keep track of which twin did what.  I actually think the foundation of a really cool mystery drama where there, but it should have had it’s own show where they could have more story development.  There was so little crossover between the two plots that it made it feel very disjointed, and truthfully I would have rather used the time spent on the crime plot to develop some of the supporting character stories more.  

Vice Chairwoman

Building on my complaint about the mystery crime story development, they built up the story about the Vice Chairwoman threatening Dr. Chase like it was going to have some significant consequences.  But despite her ominous threat, we don’t see anything happen.  She seems to have had something on Dr. Chase to make him do what she wants but we never really find out anything about their connection, their history, or if she takes revenge.  Her whole story seems patchy and irrelevant.

“You Are My Spring” bows out quietly with an understated ending that manages to wrap up most of the main stories but leaves plenty of loose ends along the way.  Ian finally confesses all his crimes to the police, but since none of them can actually be tried, he is set free.  Unfortunately for him, his own guilt doesn’t let him off quite so easily.  In one final scene of him, we see that he is receiving therapy because he is tormented by nightmares and unable to work.  Da Jung finds out that Eun Ha and Tae Jung are dating and is slowly coming to terms with it.  Da Jung and Young Do have committed to staying together, regardless of what the future might hold.  And after a bit of hazing, Da Jung’s mother also gave them her blessing.  The last scene of the drama shows Da Jung waiting for Young Do to finish work.  She walks to the place directly above his desk and begins jumping to get his attention, which works well.  He closes the office and walks up to the roof where the two of them talk about their day.  A voice over talks about the importance of love and healing as the couple giggle suggestively and run inside.