Characters of OMR

[mikey]

Oh boy! I get to post the very first OMR message! Let me tell you, though, it's a real shock seeing the "One Million Roses" theme pop up that first night after having gotten so used to seeing that Yellow Handkerchief in the water image every evening for the past eight months. I felt like I'd lost an old friend.

Anyway, I think this might have been posted before, but if you haven't seen it, here's a great description of the OMR characters:

com1.akheva.com/bcjkdramasincalifornia.fdiscussion.t13

Mikey

[Soju]

Thanks for the link. It's always initially disorienting with new dramas, trying to get straight the relationships amongst the characters. Plus, I was distracted during the first episode, constantly thinking, "Hey, that was [some character] on [other drama]"

[JadeEyes]

After 2 eps. I'm trying to sort out the relationships on top of trying to decide if I want to watch this one or not!

Here's my main source of confusion, and if any of the viewers (maybe the LA contingent w/ more viewing time could answer this better) could help, I'd appreciate it:

I understand that Oh In-hwan is president of Joyland theme park. He has been married for many years to Kim Soon-young. They were both married before and each had a son...their spouses died when their children were young and they married each other. Min-jae is the son of Soon-young from her first marriage, and stepson to Oh In-hwan (Joyland president). Min-jae currently serves as director at the theme park.

Oh Hyun-kyu, the rebel son just back from the US w/ the bad hair, is the son of In-hwan from his first marriage, and stepson of Soon-young...and stepbrother to Min-jae. After marrying, the couple had a daughter together, Eun-ji, who has not been shown yet, to the best of my knowledge.

In-hwan and his wife, Soon young, live w/ In-hwan's mother, the bossy, ill-tempered grandmother who favors her biological grandson Hyun-kyu and has nothing nice to say to her daughter-in-law Soon-young, or Soon-young's son, Min-jae. Also living w/ them is Soon-young's unmarried sister, Soon-ok, who apparently somehow had and lost a cafe and apartment of her own. Grandmother is even more uncharitable to this character, and referred to her as sponging off her son.

The attractive young woman who works at Joyland is Park Hae-ran. She lives w/ her mother, Choi Keum-ja and brother, Park Hae-sung. Min-jae said something in a conversation Friday to the woman whose blouse he borrowed for Hae-ran that Hae-ran was the sister of a college friend of his (Hae-sung, I presume). The mother, Choi Keum-ja, just started work as a maid for the Oh family, and was also loaned out as an emergency fill-in to the Suh family, who I get to next.

The Suh family consists of the husband, Dong-pyo, an affluent businessman of some sort, who seems inordinantly attached to his wife, Jo Mal-bung, who seems equally ga-ga over him. They seem to have 2 daughters...Yu-jin and Yu-kyung. The two sisters seem to work together as interior decorators/designers, something like that. Yu-jin is the sister who visited Min-jae at Joyland Friday, and who loaned her blouse to Hae-ran at MJ's request. She brought a present from a recent trip to Paris to MJ and laughed about how, while they were growing up, she treated Min-jae and his mother like the evil stepmother and stepbrother and thought of Hyung-kyu as the poor Cinderella. Yu-jin's mother is the one left suddenly w/o a maid and messy kitchen to clean up, w/ no clue as to how to manage the task herself. In a state of panic, she calls the Oh house and talks to the bristley grandmother, calling her "Mother". The grandmother offers her the loan of their new housekeeper, Hae-ran's mother. They seemed very affectionate toward one another...in sharp contrast to the grandmother's treatment of her daughter-in-law and that woman's sister and son.

My question is, who is the Suh family? How are they related to the Oh family? The synopsis on soompi referred to them merely as old family friends, but I wonder if anyone watching can tell me for sure? Also, where is Eun-ji, the biological daughter of Joyland President Oh and his wife, Soon-young?

Thanks for any help anyone can give to straighten out things for this potential viewer.

Jade

[mikey]

Even after watching OMR for almost three weeks now, I admit that there are still aspects about it that have left me confused. But, here’s my best answers to some of the questions you raise about the Suh family (and anyone else out there with a clearer picture, please do chime in).

Suh Dong-pyo (the father) owns his own construction company. He and Oh In-hwan (Joyland president) seem to be close friends: early on, he suggests a joint venture between them: building a second Joyland in China (In-hwan declines). Dong-pyo seems to be a tough, serious businessman, but by all appearances he’s still decent, unpretentious kind of guy. Mal-bung (his wife) also seems nice enough, but (unlike her husband) she’s very hung up on social status and can be a little stuck up at times.

Mal-bung called the crabby Grandmother “Mother” early on in the series, and I also assumed there was some kind of family relationship between the Suhs and the Ohs. Apparently, though, there is none: I can only guess that she calls her “Mother” simply as a result of the long, close friendship between the two families.

Eun-ji is In-hwan’s pretty, high school aged daughter, and she lives in the Oh household with her parents, her half-brother Min-jae, and the crabby Grandmother. So far, though, Eun-ji appears to have no major purpose in this drama (which is probably why she doesn’t make her first appearance until episode 3 or 4). Since she’s crabby Grandma’s biological granddaughter, Grandma adores her, but since she’s also the half-sister to Min-jae (whom grandma seriously dislikes) she’s in a rather difficult position. Eun-ji seems a bit lazy and fun-loving by nature, and her only real talent seems to be in buttering up the crabby old grandmother when frictions arise within the family (which, from all appearances, is something that continues without end . . .).

Yes, Kang Min-jae and Park Hae-sung are buddies from way back (high school, I think) and so he’s known Hae-sung’s little sister Hae-ran since she was a little girl. Min-jae seems to be romantically attracted to Hae-ran, and he apparently played a major role in getting her that job at Joyland.

The real mystery of the series seems to be how Keum-ja (Hae-ran’s mother, the housekeeper) seems to recognize Joyland president In-hwan. No explanation yet, but it seems to be some great and terrible secret.

Here in SoCal, reaction to OMR seems to range from “It’s even better than Yellow Handkerchief!!!!!!!” to “Oh, it’s okay – but it’s no Yellow Handkerchief.” I tend towards the later view, finding OMR pleasurable enough to watch, but nothing worth planning my day around. But, maybe it’s just a “slow-hooker.” I do like it enough to keep watching, though, so I guess I’ll know for sure after another month or so.

[Lucy]

I've missed the first three episodes--should I bother trying to get up to speed, or is it a lost cause? I really miss having a K Drama to watch, and was hoping that OMR would be it, but I keep forgetting to tape and am just so annoyed that I seem to have missed the boat here.

Thanks,
Lucy

[nsheldon]

OMR gets better as time goes... I suppose you have to give yourself time to 'warm' up to the characters & to understand their relationships w/one another.

You will get hooked soon enough I imagine. I still miss YH but am starting (after 17 episodes) to really look forward to OMR...

There are some family connections that are not yet evident (talking about Hyun kyu's father & Hye ran's mother). I believe Eun ji is basically serving as the glue to the two families living as one in the house. She is the only one connected to both mother & father & both brothers and to meanie grandma.. She seems to be the one that runs interference on behalf of her mother's sister & brother Min jae to the meanie grandma. She obviously adores meanie grandma & has her wrapped around her finger. But meanie grandma won't budge with her resentment of her daughter in law & Min jae. It seems that meanie grandma adored her first daughter in law & will not accept the current one. She knew her son loved Min jae's mother when they were young but meanie grandma would not allow the marriage. So the two married others... After they were both free due to spouse's deaths & each had a son, they went against meanie grandma & married & had the daughter.

Min jae seems to have more resentment & anger than Hyun kyu. But the story seems very much centered around these two & their issues of who had a worse child hood than the other. I believe this will be a great drama to watch... MY ONLY QUESTION IS... DOES ANYONE KNOW HOW MANY EPISODES IT IS??

[JadeEyes]

Lucy said:

I've missed the first three episodes--should I bother trying to get up to speed, or is it a lost cause? I really miss having a K Drama to watch, and was hoping that OMR would be it, but I keep forgetting to tape and am just so annoyed that I seem to have missed the boat here.

I don't think it's too late, Lucy. I didn't pick up YH until it was into its 40 or 50something ep. and got hooked very quickly. I regret missing so much of it, but I picked it up fast and enjoyed it so much, even for getting so late a start. I don't know how OMR will be, but if you're destined to like it, I say you can get into it wherever you start. Don't hesistate trying to watch now just because you've missed a couple of intro eps.

Jade

[JadeEyes]

Sheldon -- I've seen several people ask the same question on different forums of how many episodes OMR will be, but so far, I've not run into anyone who knows w/ authority. One person said she thinks it will be about as long as YH, but it might not be anything more than a guess.

I will be certain to post if I hear anything definite.

Jade

[Pinoy]

Well not sure if this info is correct but on Kbfd is says that this drama has 150 episodes.

[nsheldon]

PINOY.... THANK YOU... I had called my local KTE station who said they 'thought' it was about 3 or 4 months long but had no information from Korea on exact # of episodes. So I really appreciate your input....