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4 things you probably didn’t know about K-drama Reflection Of You

Shin Hyun-been (left) as Gu Hae-won and Go Hyun-jung as Jeong Hee-joo in Reflection Of You. (Screenshots: Netflix)
Shin Hyun-been (left) as Gu Hae-won and Go Hyun-jung as Jeong Hee-joo in Reflection Of You. (Screenshots: Netflix)

This month sees a number of enticing K-dramas, including the recently released The King’s Affection and the upcoming Jirisan. Reflection Of You is one of these dramas too, and stars Go Hyun-jung as a successful painter Jeong Hee-joo. Her seemingly perfect life turns into chaos when a young woman Gu Hae-won (Shin Hyun-been) she once befriended resurfaces.

Two episodes of the 16-episode series have been released on Netflix, and new episodes will drop every Wednesday and Thursday. Here’s what we've seen so far in the show:

1. The story begins with an air of mystery, and can be a little confusing.

Based on the novel Someone Who Looks Like You by Jung So-hyeon, Reflection Of You depicts the twists and turns in the lives of Hee-joo and Hae-won. It employs a nonlinear narrative, starting with the present timeline, and flashing back to the past from time to time.

In the present timeline, Hee-joo leads an enviable life, and never thought she would meet Hae-won again. From the snippets of the past, the two women were close friends, and Hae-won even taught Hee-joo how to draw.

But as with most nonlinear plots, you won’t know the full story until you’ve watched everything. This can be a double-edged sword as the story has to drop sufficient cookie crumbs of information to keep the audience on track and hooked. Unfortunately, this is where Reflection Of You is lacking.

The first two episodes are filled with too much mystery such that the story becomes a little difficult to follow. On one hand, Hee-joo seems to have a strained relationship with her husband Ahn Hyeon-seong’s (Choi Won-young) well-to-do family. On the other hand, she is also dealing with her unspeakable past with Hae-won, who is finding trouble with her now. Given its confusing storyline, Reflection Of You may lose some of its audience before anything substantial comes into play.

2. There is more to the characters than meets the eye.

Despite its underperforming storytelling, the characters are well-crafted with subtle hints of their unbeknownst personalities. While Hee-joo looks successful and happy on the surface, some scenes reveal her temperamental and violent tendencies. Hee-joo’s mother-in-law seems to dislike her for something that happened in the past as well.

As for Hae-won, an interaction with her mother unveiled that she was suicidal in the past, which likely has something to do with her comatose husband Seo Woo-jae (Kim Jae-young). To make things even more complicated, Woo-jae is somehow related to Hyeon-seong, who visits him at a hospital in Ireland.

3. Lead actress Go Hyun-jung is actually 50 years old, but looks nothing like it in the drama.

Hee-joo is the mother of a teenager Li-sa and a kindergartener Ho-su. Despite being in her fifties, Go Hyun-jung looks nothing like it, acting alongside the 35-year-old Shin Hyun-been, who filmed Reflection Of You around the same time as the second season of Hospital Playlist. Whether it is a close-up shot or a scene where she shows off her shoulders and slender figure, Go seems to display no signs of ageing.

Kim Su-an as Li-sa in Reflection of You. (Screenshot: Netflix)
Kim Su-an as Li-sa in Reflection of You. (Screenshot: Netflix)

4. Kim Su-an, who plays the role of Li-sa, is the little girl in Train To Busan.

Some may find the name Kim Su-an familiar, while others may know she was the daughter of Gong Yoo’s character in Train To Busan. As it turns out, the 10-year-old little girl then has now evolved into a cute young lady, playing the role of troubled middle schooler Li-sa in Reflection Of You. Kim has kept up her spectacular acting from Train To Busan, and presents yet another impressive portrayal in this latest K-drama.

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