The Real One Has Come

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Synopsis

Oh Yeon Doo is a young woman who discovers one day that her boyfriend is cheating on her. After their break-up she realizes she is pregnant. Meanwhile, she meets Gong Tae Kyung who is an OB-GYN. He never wants to get married. They both get entangled and start developing feelings for each other.

My Opinion (No Spoiler)

I am a huge fan of dramas and shows in general that tackle pregnancy, though it’s pretty difficult to find some in Dramaland. Well, let me tell you that I was definitely not disappointed with this one. The Real One Has Come displays a lot of different family configurations when it comes to being a parent. But apart from that variety of scenarios, I really loved that they developed a reflection on what it is that makes you a parent. And of course, blood is not necessarily the right answer. The romance is also top-notch, and the plot unravels quite fast. I didn’t get the impression that the story was being repetitive or boring. Of course, some characters deserved some good slaps and the leads were way too kind with them, but that’s generally what happens in family dramas. 

Analysis

• Characters
  Oh Yeon Doo
  Gong Tae Kyung
  Jang Se Jin
  Kim Jun Ha
• What are the themes tacked?
  Pregnancy
  Parenthood
  Relationships

Characters: Let’s start by taking a look at our main quartet around whom the entire story unfolds.

Oh Yeon Doo: Oh Yeon Doo (Baek Jin Hee) is a strong, determined and independent woman. She is not one to be trifled with whether it’d be by her jealous colleagues, rebellious students or cheating boyfriend. She knows how to make herself heard when needed. Yeon Doo is also the perfect daughter and pillar of her family. Her mother is proud of her accomplishments, and can’t help but show off. Indeed, she has never put herself or her family in trouble, unlike her uncle (who ran away with his sister’s savings and lost them) and her brother (who became a father at 18). Finally, she’s an excellent teacher with a promising career. At the beginning, Yeon Doo seems to be in the best situation until she discovers she’s pregnant with her ex-boyfriend’s twins. Yeon Doo takes the hit, but stubbornness is one of her top qualities. Once she has decided something, she can’t be swayed. This is a strength that she demonstrates throughout the drama along with kindness and magnanimity. Yeon Doo is not the resentful type. She rationally analyzes situations she’s in and decides with her heart and brain on the best solution. She’s a force to be reckoned with capable of changing people and family dynamics simply by being herself and embracing everyone as they are.

Gong Tae Kyung: Gong Tae Kyung (Ahn Jae Hyun) is a wounded man when the drama begins. He’s often been bullied by his step-family, particularly his grandmother and siblings who’ve rejected him ever since the remarriage. Therefore, Tae Kyung doesn’t have the best view on family which has always brought him suffering and pain. He thus refuses to get married and have children against everyone else’s wish, including his mother’s. His relationship with Yeon Doo starts as a contract marriage in order to get himself out of a forced union with Jang Se Jin. However, Gong Tae Kyung warms up to Yeon Doo to the point that he is willing to fight to protect his newly-found family (wife and daughter). He lets go of his desire to be alone forever, and becomes what he’s refused to be all his life: A son, a brother, a husband and a father. His transformation is sincerely heartwarming because it’s clear that all these feelings had been buried deep down as a child, when in reality Tae Kyung has always yearned for affection, care and love. Just like Yeon Doo, this young OB-GYN is kind (even nicer than his wife) and generous. He doesn’t hold grudges towards those who have wronged him, and wishes for everyone (even the villains) to be truly happy as much as he is.

Jang Se Jin: When she was younger, Jang Se Jin (Cha Joo Young) used to go to the same high school as Tae Kyung. They were each other’s crush and had a similar social status. Until one day, Se Jin’s father declared his company was bankrupt. So, Se Jin was forced to push Tae Kyung away. But she has never lost her desire to get married into the Gong Family. She stayed as the CEO’s secretary and climbed the latter to become a trusted adviser of the family matriarch. Nevertheless, she never forgave her father for making her lose everything overnight and promised herself she would be rich again. Obedient, respectful of the elders, and compliant, she made the perfect match for Gong Tae Kyung according to his grandmother, who wishes but one thing at the beginning: to have him under control. When the marriage is broken thanks to Yeon Doo’s involvement, Se Jin sees red. She reveals her other face: a self-centered and selfish manipulative liar, who would go above and beyond to fulfill her ambitions. Her goal throughout the drama is to split the main leads apart, no matter the means she uses. She is even willing to destroy her parents’ marriage if it means getting her way. Though she takes her distance at the end upon realizing that she’s holding on to a chimera, the damage is done.

Kim Jun Ha: Just like Se Jin, Kim Jun Ha (Jung Eui Jae) prioritizes his needs over everyone else’s, even if it means hurting everyone around him. When the drama starts, he stands out as an arrogant and disrespectful man, who cheated on Yeon Doo with none other than Jang Se Jin. He blames Yeon Doo for everything and abandons her. Later on, he tells her that he’d rather want her to have an abortion if she ever got pregnant with him, which leads Yeon Doo to let him go for good. Then Jun Ha disappears to the US after Se Jin breaks up with him. But when he comes back, he’s keen on getting Yeon Doo back, as if nothing had happened between them. Worse, he becomes obsessive with Yeon Doo’s pregnancy, deservedly convinced that he’s father. Once the truth is out, he holds on to his last hope of getting everything back. Out of jealousy, he registers himself as Ha Neul’s biological father. However, Jun Ha’s past gets revealed towards the end of the drama which opens up his eyes. He was adopted as a child, but still received love and affection from his family. This situation makes him understand that Tae Kyung can also provide his daughter with this kind of love. In the end, he accepts to let go of his greed by officially accepting Tae Kyung as Ha Neul’s father. Though he makes one last good action, Jun Ha doesn’t quite deserve repentance. He’s put the entire family through too much to be forgiven that easily.

What are the themes tackled?

The Real One Has Come is an excellent drama when it comes to breaking the silence around certain child-related topics and challenging taboos. It aims at offering a more inclusive and comprehensive view on the struggles related to parenthood. So, it doesn’t shame nor criticize, but is rather an invitation to accept that though circumstances are not always ideal, happiness can still be found.

Pregnancy: The Real One Has Come tackles a good number of topics related to babies/children. The more complex Tae Kyung and Yeon Doo’s love story gets, the more we advance through the different stages of becoming a parent, starting with pregnancy.

The first sub-narrative on that theme opens the drama. Oh Yeon Doo finds out that she’s pregnant with her cheating ex-boyfriend. So, she would most likely have to raise her pair of twins alone. Unmarried and at the real beginning of her teaching career, her mother and family push her into getting an abortion. Yeon Doo is reluctant to do so, and the miscarriage of one of her twins convince her otherwise. She will keep her baby and fight for her (she gives birth to a baby girl). Knowing how conservative South Korea is – though the culture and people are opening up more and more on these topics – it was expected that Yeon Doo’s decision to become a single mother and to choose her baby over her reputation, career and a more ‘normal’ (with huge quotation marks!) family configuration would be criticized by elders and people around her. Her resilience and stubbornness to remain a mother paid off in the end, proving that you don’t need to fit within the usual framework to find happiness.

The second sub-narrative revolving around pregnancy is miscarriage that 3 characters experience in the drama: Oh Yeon Doo, and her 2 sisters-in-law Gong Ji Myung (Choi Ja Hye) and Yeom Soo Jung (Yoon Joo Hee). In Ji Myung’s case her miscarriage was the result of overwork, fatigue and lack of care. She put her career first, which led to her neglecting her health. Despite the trauma caused by such an event, she never opened up about it to her husband and let him believe she had had an abortion. This created uneasiness between the spouses based on misunderstandings and miscommunication. On the verge of divorcing, Ji Myung accidentally gets pregnant again. This is an heaven-sent opportunity to clear the air for the pair and start off the right foot as reconciled parents.

Yeom Soo Jung’s situation is directly connected to the second sub-narrative on miscarriage. But it also leaves way to the third one which is infertility. Happily married and desperately dreaming to have a child, Soo Jung and Gong Cheon Myung (Choi Dae Chul) have tried several rounds of IVF, all of them unsuccessful. Both are mentally strained and physically exhausted. So, after their last miscarriage, they choose to make peace with their wish of becoming parents naturally. I was sincerely moved by their story, as the struggles they were going through were quite relatable. They have everything in place to welcome a child – especially the desire – but are hindered by biology. On top of that, I really appreciated the fact that the husband was the infertile one in the couple. Usually, the emphasis is put on the woman, blamed for not being able to conceive. In this drama, they showed that the other way around is as common. There’s no shame nor blame, it just happens.

Last but not least, I would add a fourth sub-narrative which is to use a child/pregnancy to hold on to a man. Jang Se Jin lies about being infertile to convince Tae Kyung to marry her. In the meantime, Yeon Doo uses her pregnancy to save Tae Kyung out of his forced marriage. She asks him to assume his responsibility as a father. Though we are aware it’s a scheme, there are some women (in Dramaland and surely in real life) willing to use pregnancy to get what they want. This despicable behavior is punished in the drama, as Se Jin doesn’t get things her way.

Parenthood: After pregnancy comes parenthood. This is another topic that is widely discussed in the drama. Parenthood is showcased in various types of family configurations that all fit with life and the struggles one can encounter.

There’s no age to be a parent – I mean technically there’s one, but what I mean is that some become parents sooner than others. That’s what happens to Oh Dong Wook (Choi Yoon Je), Yeon Doo’s younger brother. At age 18, the high school student accidentally became a father. His girlfriend of the time abandoned their daughter. So, he took it upon himself to raise Oh Soo Gyeom (Jung Seo Yeon). Thanks to the help of his mother and uncle – an undeniable support in that situation – Dong Wook managed to provide Soo Gyeom with love and care, while continuing to grow up himself. The more I discovered about this character, the more I appreciated him. He doesn’t shy away from taking his responsibilities, he protects his daughter from everything and everyone. But more importantly, he’s not ashamed of being a dad at such a young age. When all of his colleagues and friends have fun and enjoy their single life, he voices out with dignity and pride that he has a daughter he needs to take care of, like a true parent would do.

Though Dong Wook is supported by his family to raise Soo Gyeom, he remains a single father. His daughter is sometimes mistreated at school for not having a mother, but she brushes it off with an extraordinary maturity. Now, being a single parent seems to be a recurrent theme in the drama. Lee In Ok (Cha Hwa Yeon), Gong Tae Kyung’s mother, had to support her young son on her own before remarrying. Hence her ability to relate to Yeon Doo’s situation from the beginning. Even Woo Hee, the love interest of Yeon Doo’s uncle, is taking care of her sick son alone, and would be willing to do anything to keep him alive. Even if it means scamming others. Nevertheless, she learned her lesson fast enough: There’s a limit to what you can do to others to protect your child.

Though it’s a challenge to be a single parent, it’s also a great one to raise someone else’s child. Both Tae Kyung and his own step-father prove that you don’t need to be blood-related to be a parent. This morale transpires throughout all episodes. It was really heartwarming to see how far these fathers are willing to go to protect whom they consider their own. Especially Gong Tae Kyung. He’s the perfect depiction of what it means to be a parent, and guess what? It doesn’t start with sharing the same blood. It starts with love, sacrifice, compromise and protection. Ha Neul is his daughter no matter what others say, and nothing can nor will change this fact. Kim Jun Ha may share the same DNA, but he’s far from being worthy to be Ha Neul’s father. Something that he finally understands at the end.

Now that we’ve mentioned that what makes a parent is not the blood but the relationship, it’s essential to focus on one last configuration that punctually appears in the drama: Adoption/caring for someone else’s child. Soo Jung for example deeply cares for Woo Hee’s son Hong Jun. Without knowing his mother’s identity, she develops a connection with the young boy and wishes to protect him by any means possible. On another note, the grandmother’s lost daughter Strawberry also gave love to a son who was not hers. She adopted Kim Jun Ha and made no distinction between her biological daughter Eka and her beloved son. Discovering that he’s been adopted is a turning point for Jun Ha. He’s finally able to understand that blood doesn’t make you a parent, only love and affection can. His deceased mother made him understand this by providing him with affection, just like Tae Kyung would with Ha Neul.

Last but not least, I will tackle the pain and suffering that comes with losing a child which is briefly showcased in the drama. Tae Kyung’s grandmother has been aching for decades after the loss of her beloved daughter who she never managed to find again. Only at the end is she reunited with her and the family she made. But it’s already too late, Strawberry has died.

Relationships: A family drama would be nothing without its fair share of complex relationships. There are 3 main threads that allow a certain dynamic to the plot. Let’s dive into them.

Gong Tae Kyung’s complicated relationship with his step-family is what starts everything. As he is not related to the grandmother and his step-father by blood, Tae Kyung has often been bullied and ill-treated by his siblings and grandmother herself. His mother has been in pain for years and bore resentment that she kept hidden. Until she couldn’t anymore. This lack of consideration from his new family led Tae Kyung to keep his distance. He has convinced himself that he would not get married, nor have a family of his own to avoid such disturbance. Yet, this dislike is exactly what starts his romance with Yeon Doo. He enters a marriage contract with her only to free himself from his grandmother’s grasp and fulfill his wishes of staying alone.

As Tae Kyung chose Yeon Doo and she him, the side characters Se Jin and Jun Ha instigate a strategy to break the couple apart. Embittered, jealous and possessive, Jun Ha and Se Jin (who were also lovers) scheme a number of twists and evil deeds to fulfill their selfish desires. This represents the second red thread of the drama.

The last one has to do with the custody battle opposing Kim Jun Ha with Yeon Doo and Tae Kyung. While the main couple is trying hard to forgive, forget and protect, Kim Jun Ha is adamant about wanting his daughter and Yeon Doo for himself, not even considering the pain he inflicts on both of them. Though he comes around at the end, Jun Ha’s stubbornness still creates a mess in the last episodes that is tough to clean up after.