Where Else To Watch Son Ye-Jin As You Wait For Her New Drama ‘39’

Have you heard? Son Ye-Jin is back with a new drama. The Crash Landing On You (CLOY) star will soon lead the JBTC series 39 where she will play a 39-year-old woman who slowly comes to terms with turning 40. However, no release date has been announced yet.

Did the news make you miss seeing Ye-Jin again on the small screen? Before you start re-watching CLOY for the nth time, why not watch these Son Ye-Jin dramas and films that earned her the title Queen of Melodramas instead?

A Moment To Remember (2004)

Soo-Jin (Son Ye-Jin) and Chul-Soo (Jung Woo-Sung) are two strangers whose paths continue to cross after a mundane encounter at a convenience store. Proving that opposites attract, the two eventually fall in love and end up getting married. However, their happily ever after started falling apart when Soo-Jin was diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer’s.

Why you should watch it: This movie has every element of a good love story. There’s the passionate beginning, the warm and comforting domesticity in the middle, the angsty conflict, and a very satisfying ending. The storytelling is gripping and heartwarming (sidenote: it’s still a personal favourite even more than 15 years after it aired).

April Snow (2005)

April Snow is another Son Ye-Jin film that showed her versatility even early in her career. Ye-Jin played the role of Seo-Yeong, a woman who finds out that her husband was having an affair after he was caught in an accident. In the hospital, she meets In-Soo (Bae Yong-Joon), the husband of the woman her husband is having an affair with. As they wait for the recovery of their partners, they navigate through their feelings of anger and betrayal together, leading to a very unexpected turn of events.

Why you should watch it: This film unfolds beautifully, depicting the tormented feelings of the two main characters with a great parallelism. Son Ye-Jin and Bae Yong-Joon convincingly played each and every emotion their characters were going through and with such complexity. Your eyes would be glued to the screen at their every interaction.

Don’t Look Back: The Legend Of Orpheus (2013)

The title may sound like a fantasy drama, but it’s not. Son Ye-Jin co-stars with Kim Nam-Gil in this revenge series that’s part of a trilogy created by director Park Chan-hong and writer Kim Ji-woo. Ye-Jin played the daughter in a rich family, which, due to certain circumstances, becomes responsible for the ill fate of her first love’s father.

Why you should watch it: If you want a drama that will keep you at the edge of your seat in each episode, this is the one to watch. Son Ye-Jin and Kim Nam-Gil’s chemistry in this drama also adds another layer of excitement to the plot.

Something In The Rain (2018)

Before she was Yoon Se-Ri from CLOY, Son Ye-Jin played Yoo Jin-A in this 2018 K-drama. Jin-A seem carefree and relaxed on the outside, but she’s actually very lonely and empty on the inside. One day, she reunites with her best friend’s younger brother Seo Jeon-Hee (Jung Hae-In). As they start to spend more time together, Jin-A starts to feel happier and alive, leading her to viewing Jeon-Hee differently.

Why you should watch it: Aside from the incredible chemistry between Son Ye-Jin and Jung Hae-In in this drama, it also addresses a lot of societal taboos women face when in their 30s with such ease. The soundtrack and cinematography of this drama is also worth the praise.

Be With You (2018)

A remake of the 2004 Japanese film Ima, Ai Ni Yukimasu, Be With You delivered a fresh take to this heartwarming story without losing the charm of the original. It tells the story of Woo-Jin (So Ji-Sub) who is one year into raising his son, Ji-Ho (Kim Ji-Hwan), alone after his wife Soo-A (Son Ye-Jin) passed away. Before she died, Soo-A promised she would return during the rainy season to be with her family again. And by some miracle, Woo-Jin and Ji-Ho really met Soo-A again when the rainy season started. However, she has no recollection of her family, as well as the fact that she’s already supposed to be dead.

Why you should watch it: While it may seem like a supernatural story on the surface, Be With You is actually a stirring narrative about family, fate, and choosing a person over and over again despite all odds. What’s interesting about this film is even after the rollercoaster of emotions you’ll go through while watching it, the final twist at the end still gives the strongest impact.

The Negotiation (2018)

Before they were Yoon Se-Ri and Captain Ri Jeong-Hyuk, Son Ye-Jin and Hyun Bin already played opposite each other in this 2018 action-thriller film. Son Ye-Jin played Hae Chae-Yoon, a crisis negotiator trying to deal with terrorist Min Tae-Gu (Hyun Bin).

Why you should watch it: Ye-Jin and Hyun Bin spent no more than 10 minutes of screentime in the same room in this film, but their exhilarating back-and-forth as negotiator and terrorist through a phone and a computer screen provided great precedent to their chemistry in CLOY.

(Cover photo from: @yejinhand)