My Girl 마이걸 is my fifteenth drama altogether and the first Korean drama during my college years. I had heard that My Girl was a very popular drama and was interested. When I checked out the cast list, I realized I did not recognize a single actor or actress. Of course, I was just mostly interested in seeing who the main female lead was. After seeing that Lee Da Hae was the main female lead, I decided to go ahead to watch My Girl. This drama is also one of the dramas that can be considered as a contributing factor to the Hallyu Wave. In fact, My Girl was so successful that a Filipino adaptation of the drama was produced.
Joo Yoorin (Lee Da Hae) is a tour guide on Jeju Island, working for a friend's small tourism company. Having grown up with a father who is a gambling addict, she helps with his debts through small schemes and jobs. Whil fleeing from debt collectors, Yoorin runs into Gongchan (Lee Dong Wook), the heir to one of the most luxurious hotels in Korea with a strong dislike for liars and cheaters. Gongchan finds himself needing a translator in order to conduct business with some visiting Chinese businessmen. To his dismay, he reluctantly asks Yoorin for her help. Nevertheless, she does a good job as a translator. While helping as a translator, she finds out the hotel lodge they had dinner at is usually vacant. Thanks to the debt collectors whom are after her and her father, Yoorin has nowhere to go. Afterwards, Gongchan finds out that Yoorin had been staying at his hotel lodge for free as well as selling tangerines from his backyard to help clear her father's debts. The situation leaves Gongchan with a very bad impression of Yoorin. However, Gongchan finds himself needing Yoorin's help again. Gongchan has been searching for his long lost cousin. Gongchan's grandfather had disowned his daughter when he disapproved of the man she was going to marry. By the time he decided to accept his daughter back, an earthquake hit and she passed away. Gongchan's grandfather is very sick and wants to make amends with the past by taking care of his granddaughter. Gongchan asks Yoorin to pose as his cousin while he continues to search for the real one. Everything goes fine, until Gongchan and Yoorin begin to have feelings for one another and their plan is at risk.
From watching My Girl, I learned about 63 Building. The 63 Building at one point was the tallest building in Korea. There is a scene in My Girl where Yoorin playfully tells Gongchan that if a person successfully holds his breath during the descent in the 63 Building elevator, his wish will come true. Although Gongchan scoffs at such a silly idea, Yoorin notices that Gongchan is trying the idea out. This scene was pretty funny and made me want to visit the 63 Building myself. At the end, Gongchan is desperate to find Yoorin again and the 63 Building is one of the places he goes back to. After realizing Yoorin isn't there, Gongchan holds his breath on his way down the elevator in hopes that he can find Yoorin. Another fun aspect to the drama was seeing how fluent Lee Da Hae was in both Chinese and Japanese. As far as I know, the pronunciations were very clear and understandable.
My Girl's soundtrack is nice. "Never Say Goodbye" by Mario and Nesty is the ending theme for My Girl. Mario raps to Nesty's vocals to make an upbeat pop track. "Sangeoreul Saranghan Ineo 상어를 사랑한 인어" is your typical drama ballad with the powerful vocals. "Cheombuteo 첨부터" is another upbeat pop song that has a nice casual melody.
Of the many dramas I've seen, My Girl is probably one of the funniest ones I've ever seen. This drama has a good balance between comedic humor to the drama in a way that doesn't go overboard on cheesiness or unbelievable plots. While every drama generally has it's funny moments, I don't quite recall actually laughing as much as I thought while watching My Girl. That's also taking into consideration of the nature of most dramas. Lee Da Hae captures Yoorin's silly and bubbly personality without pushing into the annoying zone and still maintains the proper seriousness for the appropriate scenes. I would definitely recommend watching My Girl. I would consider My Girl to be a standard for romantic comedy dramas.
