Overview of The Light in Your Eyes

‘The Light in Your Eyes’ is a South Korean drama series that aired from February 11 to
March 19, 2019. The South Korean television series was written by Lee Nam-kyu, and Kim Soo-jin and directed by Kim Suk-yoon. Han Ji-min, Kim Hye-ja, Nam Joo-hyuk, and Son Ho-jun in lead roles and their incredible acting elevates this K-drama and immerses the audience in healing family drama with time-travelling elements.

It banked on a solid and well-written storyline and clever plot twists. The beauty of the drama lies in its story, it’s what really sets the drama apart from the theme of K-dramas these days.

The drama revolves around the story of an aspiring anchorwoman who gets a mysterious watch which can manipulate the flow of time. Time manipulation comes at a steep price for this young woman, who becomes 70 years old overnight after using this mysterious watch.

Profile

• Drama: The Light in Your Eyes
• Director: Kim Suk-yoon
• Writers: Lee Nam-kyu and Kim Soo-jin
• Network: JTBC
• Episodes: 12
• Release Date: February 11 – March 19, 2019
• Language: Korean
• Country: South Korea

Cast

• Kim Hye-ja as Kim Hye-ja (70 years old)
• Han Ji-min as Kim Hye-ja (26 years old)
• Nam Joo-hyuk as Lee Joon-ha (26 years old)
• Nam Joo-hyuk as Kim Sang-hyeon
• Son Ho-jun as Kim Young-soo (Lee Min-soo)

Supporting

• Ahn Nae-sang as Lee Dae-sang
• Kim Ga-eun as Lee Hyun-joo
• Song Sang-eun as Yoon Sang-eun
• Kim Young-ok as Joon-ha’s grandmother
• Kim Hee-won as Kim Hee-won
• Park Soo-young as Kim Byun-sub
• Kim Kwang-sik as Byung-soo
• Jung Young-sook as Chanel (Choi Hwa-young)

Synopsis

The story begins with 25-year-old Kim Hye-ja (Han Ji-min) who has a dream of becoming an anchor. She has a bright and honest personality with self-awareness of her own weaknesses and strengths. She is loved by her family and friends and she really cares about her loved ones. However, Kim Hye-ja has a secret.

When she was a kid, Hye-ja experienced something magical happening to her when she picked up a watch from the beach, which gave her a special power to turn back time. For some time, Hye-ja used this mysterious watch to manipulate her fate, but after discovering the after-effects of bargaining with time, she hid the watch, deciding she would never ask for its help again.

Later, she meets Lee Joon-ha (Nam Joo-hyuk), an aspiring young soul who dreams of becoming a reporter. The hard-working gentleman lives with his grandmother who raised him since his childhood. The grandma raised him by showering so much affection and provided him with a better livelihood, thus he doesn’t look like he came from a dysfunctional family.

Kim Hye-ja and Lee Joon-ha eventually became close friends and easily opened up to each other about their lives. Kim Hye-ja finds herself attracted to Joon-ha and their friendship slowly blossoms into a romance.

Hye-ja’s father meets with a hit-and-run accident and he dies in the hospital. Hye-ja is so shattered by her father’s death that she desperately seeks the watch’s help to turn back time. She repeatedly turns back time on the magical watch until her father is saved. Although, she succeeds in her quest to bring her father back to life, she loses her life’s most precious times, especially with Lee Joon-ha.

Lee Joon-ha suddenly loses his whole world and his life becomes colorless. Hye-ja wants to meet Joon-ha, but she suddenly turns into an old lady who is 70 years old. She can’t accept what happened but she wakes up from this painful reality.

Along the way, she encounters her family and friends who no longer recognize her, including the young man Lee Joon-ha, who yearns for her while struggling with his life. As Hye-ja sets on a mission journey to put everything back on track, 70-year-old Hye-ja and young Joon-ha form an unlikely but special bond.

She eventually learns how to enjoy her new life and a devastating and life-turning truth is revealed, the crux of all the time she lost. It turns out that Hye-ja is an Alzheimer’s patient and she is losing her memory one by one causing great confusion in her life.

The story took a shift to the 1970s where the 25-year-old Hye-ja actually lived. She lives with her mother Moon Jung-eun (Lee Jung-eun), her father Lee Dae-sang (Ahn Nae-sang) and her older brother Kim Young-soo (Son Ho-jun) in a small town. It’s a different era, she lost her reporter husband and raised her handicapped son by running a beauty salon.

The present Joon-ha is in an unclear memory of her own husband who died in the line of duty as a reporter. The people she believes to be her parents are her son and daughter-in-law. Her son Lee Dae-sang (Ahn Nae-sang) works as a security guard and her daughter-in-law Moon Jung-eun (Lee Jung-eun) continues to run Hye-ja’s salon.

At present Lee Joon-ha works in a nursery home for elderly people that basically scams these people into taking insurance and buying fake supplements so that they can catch the payouts when they die. Hye-ja’s friend, Mrs. Chanel stayed in the same nursery home. The child-parent relationship of Mrs. Chanel and her son is a good example of child-parent dependence. Her son never leaned on her and loved her. He is so selfish that he just walks away from his mother.

One day, Chanel passed away and Joon-ha is suspected of being involved in the death, but later it is revealed that Chanel committed suicide due to family issues. Chanel’s friend kidnapped Joon-ha suspecting Joon-ha took Chanel’s insurance payout.

Hye-ja rounds up all the elder people in the centre in order to save Joon-ha and the group of friends successfully rescue Joon-ha. After the rescue, they were enjoying a beautiful sunset and Hye-ja noticed a young man with a golden watch and immediately recognised him as the old man in the wheelchair in his younger years. She assumes that he also changed between being young and old by using the watch’s powers.

The Clever Twist

In the clever twist of the story, it is revealed that everything was Hye-ja’s imagination. As an Alzheimer’s patient, she has created her own make-to-believe world. While the watch is real, it is not a time-travel one. She was not a young 25-year-old woman who became a granny. She is actually an older woman.

The place she imagined as the elderly centre is actually a nursing hospital where she lives. Kim Young-soo (Son Ho-jun) is not her older brother, but her grandson.

Theme

‘The Light In Your Eyes’ is a sorrowful and impactful story about humanity. The drama is a whimsical reminder to live our life’s beautiful days and reminds us how time is fleeting, not for us, but for our elder family members.

The story is similar to time travel, and underlines that acceptance and understanding go hand in hand with patience for our elder parents. The deep drama series with an unpredictable plot twist discusses the everyday struggles of elder people and their grief when they feel like an inconvenience to others. It also highlighted some lesser-discussed topics such as how the younger generation perceives and treats the older generation.

Awards

• 55th Baeksang Arts Awards – 2019
  Grand Prize, Kim Hye-ja
  Best Supporting Actress, Lee Jung-eun

Interesting Facts about The Light in Your Eyes

1. The first script reading of ‘The Light in Your Eyes’ took place September 26, 2018, at the JTBC Building in Sangam, Seoul, South Korea.
2. The drama earned Nam Joo-hyuk wide recognition as an actor more than a model for his phenomenal performance in a double role.
3. The drama created a record achieving one of the highest-rated Korean dramas in cable television history.

FAQs

1. Who is the drama ‘The Light in Your Eyes’ director?
   The melodrama about life was directed by the popular South Korean director Kim Suk-yoon.
   
2. Is the K-drama ‘The Light in Your Eyes’ worth watching?
   Yes, the heartfelt story highlights life’s radiant moments and the story keeps getting better with each episode with a thought-provoking twist.
3. How many episodes are there for the Korean drama ‘The Light in Your Eyes’?
   ‘The Light in Your Eyes’ has 12 episodes, each around 60 minutes long.
4. What is the genre of the drama ‘The Light in Your Eyes’?
   The melodrama falls into fantasy, romcom and friendship genres.
5. What are the Instagram IDs of the lead actors?
   

   roma.emo is the Instagram ID of Han Ji-min and skawngur is the Instagram ID of Nam Joo-hyuk.