The drama was controversial even before it was on air. The problem was that the title "My Uncle" reminded of a romance in which a young woman makes love with an older, middle-aged man. Many people guessed the story by the title and were reluctant to watch the drama. But "My Uncle" is not just a drama about love between a man and a woman. The drama sends many comfort messages to us who live in hard and tough reality. It also throws questions about living as a real man in this desperate society and shows the answer through Lee Ji-an changing her character owing to Park Dong-hoon.
Introducing the Main Characters
Park Dong-hoon
He is the head of a department in a construction company and a structural engineer. He has more education than his current position requires, but because of his lack of greed and adventurous spirit, he is satisfied with his job as a structural engineer. Born as the second son of three brothers, he has lived as a good brother to his brothers, and a good son to his mother. Also, the company highly valued him for being kind and caring to all his subordinates. Dong-hoon chooses Jian as a contract employee for the company even though her résumé was not as good as other applicants. It stated that she was good at running, but this kind of résumé looked more attractive to him.
Lee Ji-an
At the age of six, she was abandoned by her parents, and left alone with her sick grandmother. She has always suffered from private moneylenders and lived from hand to mouth, working and paying off debts. She recognized the bitter taste of life so quickly that there was nothing but cynicism and distrust of other human beings and the world. To her, Do Joon-young, the president of a construction company offers to make a deal, saying "if you make a scandal with Park Dong-hoon and kick him out of the company, I will give you a lot of money." She begins to approach Park Dong-hoon so as not to miss a good chance to pay off her debts at once.
To gain easy access to Dong-hoon, Jian puts a bug on him and eavesdrops on his daily life, and gradually begins to learn about a man named Park Dong-hoon. At first, Jian approached him just for money, but as she got to know him, she felt that he was different from the other adults she had seen in her life. The "adults" to her has been those who choose desire over conscience, have two faces, and judge people by their appearances. Like Kim Dae-ri, who makes all kinds of compliments in front of her boss and talks behind her, and Do Joon-young, who is a junior at Dong-hoon's college and has an extramarital affair with Dong-hoon's wife, tries to fire Dong-hoon from the company through a young lady, Jian, because he feels awkward at encountering him in the same company. They were adults merely in terms of age. But Dong-hoon was different. Dong-hoon showed her a true adult figure. Dong-hoon gave her warm kindness without reason, treated her wholeheartedly, and covered her with a broad understanding. In addition, he taught her how to say she was wrong when she was wrong and trusted her and recognized her true feelings. Through him, she was comforted and gradually learned the feelings of faith, respect, and love. She gradually recovered her warmth and broke the walls of her heart.
The drama shows Jian changing through Dong-hoon as episodes go on. And as we watch her change, we get warm comfort. The man who changed Ji-an is not a man of great ability, but a mere ordinary man who lives quietly in this harsh reality. But he is a true adult who can endure the burden of his life and comfort others. I hope many people learn how to become a real adult like Park Dong-hoon after watching the drama and watch these series again when they are tired of life.
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