Spring Waltz (KBS 2006) final installment of the seasonal series

Spring Waltz (aka Endless Love 4) KBS 2006

So far I am finally watching the final installment-"Spring Waltz" of a four season drama series. "Autumn Love" with Son Seung Hun and Song Hye Gyo and Won Bin started my Kdrama journey with my mom's resounding endorsement. Since then I have caught "Summer Scent" with Son Seung Hun (again) and Son YeJin. Next came "Winter Sonata" with Kdrama queen Choi Ji Woo and Bae Yon Jun (he shot to major popularity plus his scarf and hairstyle was copied alot).

I am halfway through this drama, for Daniel Henney fans, you get to see alot of him (except for episodes 2-5 when they do the background story of Suho and Eun Young). As my sis calls it, he is the Asian Clark Kent with the dorky hairstyle but he looks great in glasses. His charm and smile are well utilized in this drama. Han Hyo Joo as Eun Young is luminous. I love her very sweet and innocent smile. The young girl who plays Eun Young grew on me and I adored her. Now I am halfway through watching this drama and my sister and I like this more than FREEZE.


Yoon Suk-Ho's seasonal drama ends with "SPRING WALTZ (aka Endless Love 4)" 봄의 왈츠 (Bom-eui Wal-cheu) KBS 2006.

Seo Do Young 서도영 as Yoon Jae-ha 윤재하
Han Hyo Joo 한효주 as Park Eun-young 박은영
Daniel Henney as Phillip 필립
Lee So Yeon 이소연 as Song Yi-na 송이나

Synopsis (dramawiki)
Will the tragedy of spring be repeated years later? To escape debt, Lee Su-ho’s father escaped to a remote island where his friend has a young daughter Eun-Young, who is the same age as Su-ho. After being abandoned by his father, Su-ho sought to leave, but his mind changed after being touched by Eun-Young’s pure heart.

A series of unfortunate events ensue, and Su-ho disappears, while Eun-Young is sick in the hospital. Years later, while traveling in Austria, Eun-Young meets the talented pianist Chae-ha, a man with a cold exterior with a few words, who bears a resemblance to Su-ho. As their love start to develop, the truth unfolds… Can their love endure the harsh spring tragedy many
years ago?

(hancinema.com/dramawiki.com/)

(below source: WIKIPEDIA.com)
Series Development

Spring Waltz, a 20-episode Korean television miniseries, is a final feature of the season-themed drama series directed by Yoon Suk-ho. Although the story shares the similar code in telling stories of genuine love and childhood memories, Yoon also adds several twists and turns
into the story’s complexity. One of those differences is that the theme of the season of spring is engaged in the drama’s message more actively – the way love finds us is just like the way spring blossoms into our lives…bringing a sense of hope and gently embracing a long and harsh coldness of the winter as well as the loneliness in our hearts. Another noticeable fact is that the series is the only feature out of four season series to include overseas locations – in Austria, where the shootings have taken place around well-known tourist spots such as Hallstatt and Salzburg. Also, most of its production money has come from external sources and investments made by domestic and foreign interests. With news that the drama has been sold to nine countries including Japan, Taiwan, Hong Kong and others, the series has earned wide-spread attention from the media and the industry even before the series aired in March of 2006.

One of the most striking differences that this series has taken in comparison with former series is the cast. All four main characters are relatively, or almost completely, new faces who take the leading role for the first time. The casting of two main characters playing lovers – Seo Do-young for Jaeha (a model-turned actor who has appeared minorlyin few TV shows) and Han Hyo Joo for Eun-young (appeared in teenage sitcom series “New Nonstop5”), has brought a controversial yet refreshing breeze into the drama’s production. Daniel Henney for Phillip, (also a model-turned actor) who probably is the most known actor out of four, has an established acting career, through “My Lovely Sam Soon”. Lee Soyon for Inna, on the other hand, is a traditionally educated actress who has appeared in many TV shows and movies including the film “Untold Scandal”(2003). At interviews, Yoon has told the press that he deliberately has chosen to work with new faces rather than the already-established
actors who tend to be too-chiseled in their image with not enough flexibility. Working with new faces, he says, is “like working on a new painting on a new white canvas”. With that said, it still has been a challenge for Yoon to go with such an unexpected path, considering the amount of anticipation the drama has received. When the series aired in March (2006), concerns whether the new actors were capable of carrying the weight of the story have disappeared, as Seo and Han make picture-perfect lovebirds and portray their characters as if they “really” are Jaeha and Eun-young.

Exploring Fantasy of Love, Spring and Island

Spring Waltz - All rights reserved - Yoon's Color
Established for his captivating ability to bring picturesque sceneries and memorable music onto screen, Yoon takes maximum advantage of the spectacular view of Hallstatt lake overlaid with Jaeha’s sorrow and his yearning for lost identity and love. "If you truly love and miss that person, Then, love will come again when you meet that person again. Just like playing a
game of hide and seek, No matter where he/she hides or even if you can't see him/her, He/she must be waiting at some place for you. Amid the countless choas, Just like the sincere prayers of love. "The people in love will surely meet again."
~Park Eun-young (taken from episode 1 of Spring Waltz)

One of his main motifs for this series is the 'island,' a place that seems to be isolated from the rest of the world. At the beginning of the story, a father and son escape from the city and from the trouble he has caused, and end up arriving at a remote yet beautiful island of Chungsan-do. There a son – named Suho, meets a girl, Eun-Young, who lives with a single mother who happens to be an old friend of his father. Upon the father’s request, Suho and Eun-young end up living together under the care of Eun-Young’s mother. The story then unfolds into series of incidents that will change these young children’s lives forever. The director Yoon and his production crew has hunted for the perfect island settings for months, eventually deciding on few islands located in southern Cholla province. Chungsan-do appears as the site where the young Suho and Eun-young meets and reunites again as adults, whereas heart-shaped Hanuneom beach in Bigeum-do is the place for the children to share the innocent feeling of affection and love towards each other.

An island as a place, Mr. Yoon says, tends to be remained as certain fantasy in our thoughts, bringing out a sense of nostalgia that can be quite distant from the reality of everyday life. Our childhood love, similarly remains as fantasy in our memory. The story of Spring Waltz explores such fantasy of our first love – how the pure and genuine love for someone can face the reality of living with our bruises and identity-crisis, and eventually heal the painful process of forgiveness and reconciliation, just like the way spring brings us a hope.

Synopsis
The story begins with Eun-young’s plane ride to Austria, where she happens to sit next to Song In-na, who is on her way to meet her childhood love, Jae-ha. However, Jae-ha (a.k.a: Chris Y), who has now grown up to be a young, accomplished pianist in Austria, seems not pleased with meeting In-na again after 15 years for some reason. Eun-young, on the other hand, excited about her first overseas trip, bumps into Phillip (Jae-ha’s manager and best friend), who has mistaken her as In-na whom he was supposed to pick up at the airport. The four meets, each in different turns of circumstances and incidents, and their story of love, fate and destiny begins.

On her train ride to a classical concert - a gift from Phillip – Eun-young meets Jae-ha, who is also on his way to his concert. Despite him displaying his reluctance and indifference to be friendly to Eun-young, the two are immediately attracted to each other – especially for Jae-ha, because of the way she reminds him of his long-lost childhood love (and that is not Song In-na for him). After the concert, Jae-ha meets Eun-young again, but soon finds out that she is in fact Phillip’s love interest. Even with Inna by his side, and the sense of disappointment that his best friend is interested in Eun-young, Jae-ha can’t stop thinking about her. Eun-young, realizing that Jae-ha is a renowned pianist and Inna’s first love, also finds herself drawn to Jaeha time to time.

Cast
Seo Do-young 서도영 as Yoon Jae-ha (Chris Y.) 윤재하
Jaeha is a talented classical pianist of the next generation who has been closely watched with deep interests and concerns by Koreans since he won a prize in a famous concert. Even though he was brought up in a rich and enviable family under his father who is a foreign diplomat, Jaeha is a lonely person having only one friend because of his eccentric and particular personality. He is a well-mannered and dutiful son to his parents and never harms others, but his piano melody always sounds sad. He is hidden behind a veil showing his true feelings only to his best friend and manager, Phillip. He is a sad person keeping the secrets of the past that nobody knows although he has a charismatic personality and wonderful environment.

Han Hyo Joo 한효주 as Park Eun-young 박은영
Eun-young is a diligent person who works at her adoptive mother’s gimbap (Korean rolled rice) house in the daytime and sells homemade accessories and clothes at her street stand at night. Even though she could not finish her studies, she is a talented person who is good with her hands and is to be able to win the grand prize in a handicraft contest open to the public. She never loses her smile nor her dashing spirit although she lives in poverty. She has an opportunity to visit Austria from her prize winning in the handicraft contest and meets Phillip and Jaeha by fate. Eun-young who does not know of this ironic fate deeply misses Suho from her childhood.

Daniel Henney as Phillip 필립
He is the only friend as well as the global manager of Yoon Jaeha. He was born to Austrian father and Korean mother and was expected to become a promising musician during his childhood. He plays the piano, the cello, the guitar, etc. Even though there are no musical instruments that he cannot play, he gave up playing music instruments. Instead, he decided
to pursue his dream of a musician by becoming the manager of Jaeha who Phillip acknowledges as being a true musical genius. He is not only a considerate and warmhearted person who kindly understands Jae-Ha’s fretful personality but also is a romantic. Phillip is in love with Eun-young and despite knowing that she loves Jaeha, he chooses to stay by her side.

Lee So Yeon 이소연 as Song In-na 송이나
She is a capable career woman who started her career from the bottom and became the director of the planning department in a leading classical record and concert planning company by her own ability even though the company is owned by her parents. Inna is a perfect woman with remarkable beauty, wonderful background, and outstanding ability, but there is only one thing that she earnestly desires for. It is Jaeha who played the piano with her during her childhood.
She has exceptionally liked Jaeha ever since her childhood; thus, she gave up playing the piano and left for Canada to find Jaeha after he left Korea. She has a reckless personality to do so. However, she could not find Jaeha but completed her study in Art Business in Canada. She voluntarily tries to promote Jaeha’s debut in Korea after she happened to see an article of Jaeha activeness in Austria.