Thanks so much! This is one of my early favourites, and I loved the vibe.
If I may, what did you think about ... well, the elephant in the room...their first 'sexual encounter'?

So Valid Love and My Name is Kim Sam Soon is from the same writer :o I have check out What's Up, Fox !

The side plots grossed me out, but I watched this a year ago and absolutely looooooved Chul-soo!

Your post brought back all the feels! I'm not a huge fan of noona romances, but this one completely stole my heart. Agree that it's the one to beat! ❤︎

Chun Jung Myung is a long time favorite of mine. Heart to Heart, for me, was his crowning glory, with Goodbye Solo a close second (though that was more for the ensemble and brilliant brilliant script) ! LOVED his character. I've always thought he and Jo Jung Suk should play brothers. But could two such powerful personalities be contained on one screen? Be still my heart...I'd love to see it nonetheless.

I liked Fox, but wasn't crazy about it. It's main draw was introducing me to him. What I really want to know, since you brought it up and I have been wondering about this a lot lately, WHY has censorship become even more prevalent in Korea with their dramas? I'm guessing it's because their audience demographic has changed? A younger crowd maybe so the older ones in power are 'protecting' their audience? All I know is I'm getting sick to death of the monotony of pablum they are serving up. I continue to thank the heavens for cable drama. I'm not asking, nor do I want sex and people eating each other's faces!!! ;) Just SOME kind of reality where love and sex are concerned in people's relationships. I am consistently surprised at older dramas like this where reality is more prevalent than in today's childish fairy tales. It's a much more even balance, real, and far more relatable to life.

Thanks for posting this! I haven't really explored noona romances, but the dynamics you described sound interesting. I'll probably start with this one.

I love how you talked about your different perspectives when watching this at different ages! Byung Hee is totally relatable as a thirty-something looking at her life. And Chul Soo is just the most adorable puppy ever. My gut says he'd still be her puppy if we caught up to the characters today :)

I thoroughly enjoyed What's up fox. Reading this post made me realize how long ago I watched it, man where has the time gone? haha I didn't realize the same writer wrote Sam-soon and Valid Love. I liked Sam-soon didn't love it but the female lead and her sister were a wonder full part of the story, they lost me at the cancer/ anorexic second lead. And when she tried to "cure" her illness by forcing her to eat. right because why didn't anyone else try that? haha not to mention her motivation was to get her boyfriend back. Ahem any way haha I also liked/ hated Valid Love. I Loved Illri and Joon together, they fit so well and he brought back her spark. I didn't think going back to her husband was the right choice. I never believed their romance, they basically stayed married because of the handicapped sister and then the dementia mother-in-law. I am convinced she only went back because of the mother in law and not her husband. So this writer is very talented and in general I like her stories, I just don't always like how she chooses to add tension and drama to the stories.

I love What's Up, Fox. As charming as Go Hyunjung was and always is, Chun Jungmyung's bright-eyed innocence was magical.

awwww, i've almost forgotten about this one -- it was one of my early watches, when i fell down the Kdrama rabbithole in 2010...

i really liked it! i was laffing out loud and was terrified of her best friend finding out about her and her younger brother...
: D

I really wanted to like this drama, for all the reasons you mentioned, but the show started with chul soo taking advantage of byung hee when she was way to drunk to say yes. Why couldn't they both have been drunk? One being hammered and the other sober makes it so icky. And I vaguely remember byung hee apologising afterwards? Which only upped the ick factor (may be wrong there though) that and the sisters story was also way creepy. Both couples were just so off...

Thank you, Odilettante, for your lovely tribute to What's up, Fox. I agree, it is still the one to beat for noona romance.
It is also one of my favorites for the low key, realistic portrayal of a couple navigating a relationship.

I also want to mention the OST?. I still listen to the songs on a regular basis.

https://youtu.be/n6pxuyf_-hI

It's so hard to find old dramas recently. Where I could watch this drama with english sub?

This is one of my favorite and i love the actor ever since this drama. Romance 2002 is one of my favorite too.

Oh how i missed this show. It's so hard to find old show to watch. I remember watching this a zilliontimes. I didn't realize it's the same writer as Valid Love, Me too Flower, and My Name is Kim Sam-Soon. They were all so good. Now I really wish the writer would please come back soon.

I just finished re-watching this a few days ago as well. I definitely appreciate this more now than I did back when i first watched it. I also forgot about most everything outside the OTP... (and omg the sister is the second female lead in She Was Pretty)... I'm still weirded out by her sister's farty spinsor... but, oh, well.

I'm with you on most everything you said.

Well if this drama were to be set in modern times, everyone will be crying foul over their age gap. One of the reason it worked was because they were both actors, idols hadn't invaded into the acting space then. I think if it hadn't been their superb acting, I might not be able to love it if it were another set of actors. I got hooked once I saw the scene of her pretending to know about sex when she was still a virgin. Then I fell for the realism of the drama. Although their road to happiness were paved with many obstacles, that they first have to overcome their own stigma then for their families and friends to accept them. She had such a hard time coming to terms viewing him as a man as she even changed his diaper when he was a baby. Lol. Somehow it was so well done that it still is on of my fave moons romance drama.

This has been on my to watch list for the longest time but have been hesitant in watching because I didn't want to be disappointed. Thanks for the reassurance! Will watch this after I finish the other four dramas I need to finish hahaha

I watched this drama for the first time in the last 18 months or so. What struck me was how many concept later noona romances took from this one. I would think as I viewed it...oh they did that in I Remember Romance 3 or they did that in Flower Boy Raymen Shop etc. I liked that it was grounded, the guy seemed like a regular guy with a regular job and oddly I liked that the makeup for both actors seemed minimalist by today's standards.

I do agree the secondary couple did nothing for me, and I eventually started skipping the scenes. I'm not ready for a re-watch but if anyone is a fan of the noona concept they should give this a go.

Thank you for revisiting this drama - loved your post as much as the drama. Let's hope there are more dramas like that to come to our streaming services.

i love this drama, good memories

I watched this drama when it was new because it was the same writer as Sam Soon and I loved it almost as much. The iconic scene that's unforgettable to me is Byung Hee throwing the model uterus into the sea, maybe because I was watching it at a much older age than the character's? Unlike most, I loved the nutty fashion mogul and forgot that his relationship with Sis (who was SUCH a brat) was initially based on creepiness. Now you make me want to watch it and Sam Soon (yet) again.

Wow. I thought Valid Love was outstanding. Me Too Flower, on the other hand, I couldn't remember the plot at all, so I went back to read the summary. Interesting. I enjoyed Dal Ja's Spring so I think I'll give this Noona Romance a try, too!