Recap: You Raise Me Up, Episode One
You Raise Me Up is the new drama starring Yoon Shi Yoon. It recently wrapped up it’s 8 episode run so I thought I’d check it out. The drama is about a man’s personal battle with erectile disfunction, so some of the humour is going to be, well, you’ll see.
You Raise Me Up: Recap, Episode 1
The episode starts in a field full of sheep. An oddly shaped rock appears in the middle of the field and begins to rise. It looks like… could that be…
No, no… it’s just a weird little man totem.
An angry-looking llama approaches the statue. After a stare down between the statue and the llama, the statue deflates like a bouncy castle when it’s power is shut off.
Fortune Teller
The scene shifts to that of a fortune teller’s office. The scene we’ve just seen is a vision they’ve had. The office is filled with similar looking miniature stone statues. The fortune teller is clearly a friend of Yoon Shi Yoon’s character, Do Yong Shik. They’ve obviously been acquaintances for a while and Yong Shik is struggling to remember not to deadname his trans friend.
Jennifer agrees to write a talisman for only $50. Unfortunately for the unemployed Yong Shik, that’s almost all the money he has left currently. He buys the talisman and heads out into the world. Since college, Yong Shik has studied for the civil service exam but never passed the test. He considers himself a bottom ranked person and has no self-confidence left at all.
On the street, Yong Shik passes a handsome and seemingly wealthy young man who greets a woman by handing her a large bunch of flowers. The woman is clearly angry over something and the flowers are meant as an apology.
Fancy Restaurant
We follow the couple to a fancy restaurant where the girl, Lee Ru Da sits angrily watching the man, Do Ji Hyuk, eat. He had previously offered to take her friends out for a meal but then skipped out on it. Ji Hyuk has taken Ru Da out for a meal now instead, hoping to placate her. It is unfortunately, not working.
Ru Da asks for a sincere apology and does not get one. Ji Hyuk laughs at her idea of words being more sincere than his spending money on her. She becomes frustrated and says she wants to break up, but Ji Hyuk laughs this off too.
Ru Da answers this question with a story about a man she knew who was better than Ji Hyuk. She tells him about her first love, the one who got away.
Not So Fancy Restaurant
The scene cuts to Yong Shik tidying up a table at a barbecue restaurant. A crowd of people he recognizes comes in. Earlier in the day Yong Shik got a message about a class reunion going on that night. He skipped the reunion to work, but here they are for their second round (out of all the gin joints…)
The classmates are shocked to see their former class president working part time at a barbecue joint. Yong Shik works away at cooking the meat for them. Most of the classmates seem uncomfortable watching him work. One of them, Tae Jin, tells him to sit and visit. Yong Shik refuses since he’s working, at which point this annoying classmate calls for the boss and in front of everyone asks what Yong Shik get’s paid for an hour. Tae Jin pulls out $20 and offers to pay for two hours of Yong Shik’s time so that he can visit with them. The dinner continues to be awkward as they discuss how much better Yong Shik was than Tae Jin in high school, and how much better Tae Jin Has become.
Outside, Tae Jin offers to drive Yong Shik home in his car. Yong Shik says thanks but no and tries to walk past him. When Tae Jin grabs at him, Yong Shik’s bag drops and everything in it falls out. The classmates are surprised that everything in the bag is pink. It’s then that we are shown how many of Yong Shik’s personal things are pink. His phone case, his shoes, his umbrella. Everything is pink.
Home
A dejected Yong Shik arrives at home. We learn just how far his love of pink goes. A therapist told him once that everyone has a colour that eases their mind. Yong Shik, that colour is pink and he has surrounded himself with it. Everything he owns appears to be pink. He flashes back to how the colour pink has brought him comfort in the past and how it continues to bring him comfort.
After a depressing phone call with his mother, Yong Shik get distracted from his feelings by a suggestive pop-up add on his computer screen. Even if everything else in life is bad, at least he can distract himself with porn, right? Unfortunately for Yong Shik though, the deflating dream from earlier in the day appears to have been a prophecy, and his $50 talisman does not appear to be working.
Flashback
2 years earlier, Yong Shik gently pushes a girl back onto a bed. They kiss but when he begins to remove his clothes, she pushes him off her. It’s her birthday and she has had to pay for the motel they are in herself. Seeing his ratty old pink sweatshirt has been her final straw. They’ve been dating for 3 years but nothing has changed and she’s over it. She says that he’s not good in life and he’s not good in bed. When you’re dating someone there should be something good about them that you look forward to.
For two years Yong Shik has been unable to perform with a partner, but this is the first time that he was unable to even enjoy himself alone at home. He’s sure it’s only temporary and the problem will right itself in the morning.
Morning
Unfortunately, in the morning, the sun is the only think that rises.
Yong Shik goes back to fortune teller Jennifer to let her know that her deflating vision was true. He asks for another talisman to get him standing tall again. Unfortunately fortune telling isn’t that sort of magic. Jennifer tells Yong Shik to go see a urologist and get checked out properly.
Health Clinic
Meanwhile at the urology office, Ru Da is performing a vasectomy on a patient. Apparently a little local anesthetic and snipping wasn’t enough to keep him down, because the patient is hoping for a “happy ending” to his appointment. Ru Da puts him in his place though.
Ru Da heads up to the rooftop garden of the hospital to calm down, only to find Ji Hyuk there waiting for her. He asks if she is still thinking of breaking up with him for her awesome first love. Ru Da says she’s been thinking about that awesome guy a lot lately and wonders what he’s up to these days.
Back in her office, Ru Da finds another doctor lounging in her window. He asks her why her rooftop date was so short today and laughs when she says that she broke up with Ji Hyuk. She says that she doesn’t feel loved by her boyfriend to which the other doctor laughs and asks if a man would spend money on a woman he doesn’t love? Ru Da answers that she makes plenty of money on her own, she wants a more spiritual connection.
Outside in the reception office, Yong Shik is trying to book an appointment. He fills out the forms and is sent to a small room to collect a sample. Unfortunately, his problem persists and he is unable to provide a sample. The next step involves a prostate exam and bent over with his head down, Yong Shik is surprised to hear the doctor giving the exam is a woman. After the exam is over, Yong Shik and Ru Da come face to face with each other for the first time since high school.
Flashback
Yong Shik remembers Ru Da in high school. He remembers the pink sweatshirt that she was wearing the day he rescued her from a creepy flasher.
After chasing the pervert off, Yong Shik warned Ru Da to only go around with her friends from now on. She introduces herself to the boy as he leaves. She nervously turns to continue on her way alone, but Yong Shik sees that she’s scared and comes to walk her the rest of the way home.
Final Thoughts:
This drama has been cute and clever so far. It is finished and I haven’t heard anything terrible about the ending yet, so I definitely think that I will stick with it. I really like the clever little imagery it uses throughout in lieu of showing too much detail.
It doesn’t really seem like this will be a romance between our two main characters at this point. Which I’m totally okay with. I’m not big on the idea that a first love is an only love, and a doctor patient romance is questionable ethically. Either way, I’m enjoying this drama enough to stick with it and see where it goes.
