KDrama: Youre The Best Lee Soon Shin

You're The Best Lee Soon Shin

You're the Best, Lee Soon-shin (Hangul: 최고다 이순신; RR: Choegoda Yi Sun-sin) is a 2013 South Korean television series aired on KBS2 from March 9 to August 25, 2013 on Saturdays and Sundays at 7:55 p.m. for 50 episodes. The drama is about a family devastated after the sudden death of the father, but who learn to find the true meaning of love and happiness, self-discovery and reconciliation.

Synopsis

Kim Jung-ae (Go Doo-shim) raised Lee Soon-shin (IU) with love as her own daughter when her husband brought her home as a baby, saying he found her alone at the bus stop. Soon-shin is a member of the "880,000 won generation," or college graduates who can't find a job and instead work in low-paying temp jobs. She becomes targeted by a swindler who claims he is Shin Joon-ho, head of a talent agency, and say he believes she has the potential to become an actress. After quickly signing a contract, Soon-shin finds out she has been conned and ends up being charged the amount of money he stole. Shortly after, Soon-shin's father, Chang-hoon (Jung Dong-hwan) dies in a car accident in which the suspect is unknown, and no witnesses have come forward. Meanwhile, Soon-shin begins working at Black Smith, the restaurant below the Gabi Entertainment office, in order to pay off her debt. After making a bet with actress and ex-girlfriend Choi Yeon-ah (Kim Yoon-seo), the real Joon-ho, over-confident and arrogant, is determined to transform Soon-shin into a star. But this time Jung-ae isn't supportive of Soon-shin taking the offer after finding out that her late husband may have had an affair with another woman, who then gave birth to Soon-shin. She later discovers that Soon-shin's birth mother is the famous actress Song Mi-ryung (Lee Mi-sook).

Middle daughter Lee Yoo-shin (Yoo In-na) has lived next door to Park Chan-woo (Go Joo-won) since childhood. Despite their constant squabbles, Chan-woo (now a dermatologist) still loves her confidence and prickly demeanor. Yoo-shin delays thinking about marriage and childbirth, instead prioritizing success at work. But when Joon-ho's younger sister Shin Yi-jung (Bae Green) develops a crush on Chan-woo, it makes Yoo-shin realize her true feelings for him.

Eldest daughter Lee Hye-shin (Son Tae-young) is beautiful and competent, but feels like a failure when her marriage ends. As a divorced single mother, she has difficulties re-entering the workforce. She later meets Seo Jin-wook (Jung Woo), a neighborhood baker who shows her consideration and gentleness, helping heal her wounds.

Meanwhile, Soon-shin has no idea that she was adopted, she continues to take acting lessons from Mi-ryung, which upsets her family, who have difficulty understanding why Chang-hoon would be unfaithful. Watching Soon-shin do everything to realize her dream of becoming an actress, Joon-ho looks back on his career and finds himself changing as he discovers the true meaning of success. But when Mi-ryung later discovers that Soon-shin is Chang-hoon's daughter, she immediately tries to destroy her career. Mi-ryung also informs her that she was merely a pawn in Joon-ho's bet, upsetting Soon-shin who decides to quit. Unwilling to admit his romantic feelings for her but genuinely concerned for her welfare, Joon-ho is determined make Soon-shin return to acting, which she once said made her happiest. After she rejoins Gabi Entertainment, Soon-shin also realizes that she likes Joon-ho, and they begin dating.

After breaking off their mentoring relationship, Soon-shin eventually finds out that Mi-ryung is her birth mother. She refuses to live with her, despite facing difficulty with her adoptive family. She only agrees to stay at Mi-ryung's house to keep the reporters away from her adoptive family. Upset at Soon-shin's coldness, Mi-ryung tells Soon-shin that Chang-hoon isn't her birth father, so she has no reason to go back to her adoptive family. Soon-shin keeps her paternity a secret from her adoptive family, and in the meantime lives with Mi-ryung while she and Joon-ho work on her acting debut.

After witnessing firsthand Mi-ryung's pitiful and lonely life, Soon-shin starts becoming kind to her birth mother. Mi-ryung values the relationship she's building with Soon-shin and is determined that nothing will ruin it. But after Soon-shin overhears in a conversation that her father Chang-hoon died while saving Mi-ryung, she runs away and Jung-ae takes her home. Soon-shin tells Mi-ryung that if she wants Soon-shin's forgiveness, she must beg her family for it and help find the suspect by coming forward as a witness. Mi-ryung refuses to do it, saying that fame is all she has. After a change of heart, Mi-ryung tells Shin Dong-hyuk, Joon-ho's father, to take his car's black box to the police since it recorded what happened on that night's accident. Both Mi-ryung and Soon-shin's careers become jeopardized after the news goes public.

Eventually Mi-ryung tells the press the truth as an act of taking responsibility, and retires from acting. The hit and run driver is arrested and jailed. As the drama closes, Mi-ryung is living a peaceful life in a remote area, and after she watches Soon-shin's new stage play, Soon-shin makes a tentative gesture of reconciliation by thanking her and calling her "Mom" for the first time. Hye-shin is dating Jin-wook with Woo-joo's blessing, Yoo-shin and Chan-woo are preparing for the birth of their first child, and Soon-shin films her first movie with Joon-ho behind the scenes, planning to propose to her. Jung-ae narrates these last few minutes and says goodbye to her late husband. After their father's death, the three sisters have grown as individuals through enduring hardships as a family. They come to realize that the most precious things in life can be found within oneself, and happiness is a blessing that comes to the courageous few who have high self-esteem and take charge of their own lives. Being poor is okay, not being first is okay, and not being in the spotlight is okay. It's okay to be happy with just the way you are

Cast

• IU - Lee Soon-shin

Soon-shin was named after the famous admiral Yi Sun-sin, a name given by her grandmother so that her mother would have a son. But her name has a loftier meaning - believe in oneself even in the face of great difficulties and pain. But lofty meaning aside, what kind of name is this for a girl? The name itself is a great difficulty to Soon-shin. Worse still, her name is just one of many, many problems she has to face. Soon-shin had to live her whole life in the shadows of her better-looking and smarter sisters. She gets poor grades, isn't all that pretty, is short, and isn't particularly good at anything. She’s not clever or tenacious. But then she can become overly emotional, often tearing up watching even a simple drama. She is tender-hearted and easily gullible, frequently falling victim to a scam. Still, being good-natured, she brushes off her older sister Yoo-shin's barbs with her spunkiness and humor. Soon-shin has been taking a couple of years off from college, on the pretext of looking for a job, but she still doesn't know what she wants to do with her life. But once she starts acting, her bright personality and natural talent starts attracting positive attention from audiences and industry denizens. 

• Jo Jung-suk - Shin Joon-ho 

Once a rising singer-songwriter, Joon-ho quit making music and set up his own talent agency, the now-thriving Gabi Entertainment, of which he is CEO. As the son of a famous dermatologist in Seoul, Joon-ho had a privileged childhood, but always felt pressured by the expectation of becoming a doctor like his father. In high school he formed a band in secret, but was soon caught by his father and sent to America. There he majored in commercial music and upon graduation came back to Korea and released an album. His first album was a moderate success, even generating some hard-core fans, but his music career tore apart his relationship with his father even further, to the point of severing family ties. At the time his girlfriend was the actress Choi Yeon-ah. The two had quickly fallen in love, but his failed second album plunged him into a deep slump and the couple soon split up. Joon-ho was lost and in despair for a while, but recovered enough to set up a management agency. He succeeded in debuting two hot idol bands in just a couple of years and started to emerge as a new bigwig in show business. Joon-ho is a workaholic, suave, exacting and serious, though he unexpectedly has an awkward and uncool side. At Yeon-ah's challenge, he will groom Soon-shin to become a star, but he begins to change over time as he understands the real meaning of success through Soon-shin.

• Go Doo-shim - Kim Jung-ae 

Mother of Hye-shin and Yoo-shin and Soon-shin. She has lived her life as a dedicated wife, mother, and daughter-in-law. Jung-ae doesn't have much, but she has raised her three daughters as best as she can. The eldest daughter, smart, demure and pretty, married a successful fund manager and now lives in Hong Kong. The assertive second daughter is a marketing executive for an outdoor sportswear brand. But the problem is her youngest, Soon-shin, who, unlike her sisters, always gets into trouble. She has no goal in life and no talent. Compared to her sisters, Soon-shin lacks both the looks and the brains. Jung-ae swears that she spared nothing in raising Soon-shin, but what went wrong? But she knows deep down that Soon-shin actually takes after her.

• Lee Mi-sook - Song Mi-ryung / Kyung-sook 

A famous actress, and the premier client of Gabi Entertainment. Mi-ryung had once been Korea’s top actress. Men used to fall over at her feet. Although much older and not as hot as before, she can still command quite a presence as a diva. She made her TV debut in her late twenties, after playing bit parts on stage for a long time. But amazingly her debut piece was a huge hit, shooting her straight up to the top, where she has stayed all this time. Mi-ryung has had several love affairs, but has never married. Not only that, her private life has been veiled in secrecy as dictated by her principle that an actress must remain mysterious. Perhaps this is why so little is known about her except that her parents were teachers. Mi-ryung discovers Soon-shin's potential, and takes her under her wing. She later finds out that she has a secret connection to Soon-shin's mother.


       

Love, 

LadyBie