[Drama special review] A Walk

by missvictrix

If you’re a sucker for stories about the elderly that deal with themes of loss, love, and being left behind, A Walk — part of the O’PENing drama showcase series — explores just that. Add in little white dog, a grumpy grandpa, and a dash of magical realism, and you can buckle in for a heartwarming single-episode drama.

 
DRAMA SPECIAL REVIEW

We open with our harabeoji hero CHA SOON-JAE (Lee Soon-jae) suffering the loss of his wife YOON GWI-AE (Sunwoo Yong-yeo), but at first it looks like he might not even notice she’s gone. Well, except for the fact that he now has no one to cook for him — that he notices first.

He’s a mean grump, he smothers all his feelings, and his son and daughter-in-law look like they’re afraid to even deal that much with him. After the funeral, his daughter-in-law is a bit desperate, despite the bad timing, and explains her husband’s been out of work and they’re thinking of moving to Jakarta. Soon-jae meets their hard times with only more gruffness. And even his adorable grandson seems like he doesn’t find harabeoji all that likable. Also, there’s the question of SOONDOONG, the little white dog that belonged to Soon-jae’s wife. It can stay outside in the doghouse, he answers his grandson gruffly.

That little dog just so happens to be the gateway by which Soon-jae starts to soften. But first, it’s just there so it can be the recipient of the rice Soon-jae burned in the rice cooker. Watching him struggle to feed himself is part satire, part tragedy. It’s sad in that we see how very alone and incapable he is without his wife, and it’s satirical in that we get a very familiar picture of an old generations-ago couple where the husband huffs around like the king of the castle, and the wife exists merely to care for him. It’s the melding of these two perspectives that the drama does so well, because underneath the exterior, we can watch Soon-jae realize what he seemed incapable of realizing (or expressing) before: he loved his wife.

The drama’s strongest feature is how it plays with the character of Gwi-ae — during the course of the drama, we see her pop into Soon-jae’s day. Soon-jae will be sitting alone on the couch, and suddenly his wife appears next to him, begging him to change the channel from the baduk game so she can watch her dramas. Another time, he relives the moment when she asked him to stop being so cheap and get them a kimchi fridge. It’s through these little vignettes that we learn about their relationship — and eventually, when Soon-jae admits she’s stopped visiting him, we see him realize how lonely he is without her.

One of Gwi-ae’s passions was her little rescue dog, which Soon-jae is still ambivalent about. He won’t feed it proper food and he won’t let it in the house. But when the local vet that was caring for it (a sweet bit part by Lee Yeon-hee) stops by the house to check on him, she learns that Gwi-ae has passed, and she acquaints Soon-jae with the dog’s poor health. He reluctantly agrees to take it for a daily walk, and this becomes, as it were, the turning point for Soon-jae.

It takes him about five minutes to fall in love with the dog when he finally tries, and soon he has a little companion in the house to talk to. It’s absolutely precious, because it’s the most simple thing ever. The dog doesn’t do anything special. It walks around, wants to play ball, and gobbles food, but we see how Soondoong somehow gets into our lonely grandpa’s heart.

Soon, the repercussions of being — gasp — not grumpy and mean start to permeate Soon-jae’s relationships. The harsh and judgmental attitude he always brought against his son’s family softens. He orders the crazy pizza his grandson loves. He finally sees his son’s struggles with compassion.

It’s the simplicity of this story that makes it work so well. Nothing dramatic happens. The dog doesn’t express any human emotions or do something wild to save Soon-jae from the depths of despair. In fact, the dog himself dies (spoiler, sorry), and his passing offers another opportunity for Soon-jae to confront his emotions. While he couldn’t bring himself say farewell to his wife in the crematorium, he’s now able to say that farewell to Soondoong… and it’s so clear he’s not talking to the dog when he does this.

I found this story very touching, showcasing a stage of life where most things lead to goodbyes — much like Navillera did. Perhaps a little sentimental in moments, I can’t take any points off because I think a story about someone’s heart softening — and the idea that it’s never too late for that to happen — is always worth telling. And while little Soondoong might have sparked the change in Soon-jae’s heart, I love that his internal change expressed itself in how he learned to treat the people around him. Soon-jae might not have been albe to show his wife the affection and appreciation he had for her, but he learns how to do it for the people that are around him now.

The drama’s direction is also quite lovely, and pulls this simple story together. It’s not in hurry, just like the story isn’t in a hurry, and the little moments are brought out even more by the directing style. We linger in the moments — Soon-jae telling the vet about how he built his house as they stand there in the sunset. Soon-jae practicing Indonesian with Soondoong listening and barking (this was such a cute and realistic dog moment). Soon-jae sitting in the bathroom giving the dog a bath. These precious everyday moments are captured so tenderly, it makes you want a shed a tear. Or several tears.

Dramas such as this always make me think about poignancy, and what actually makes a story poignant. It’s a thing you can strive for a little too hard, veering into the overwrought or sentimental, and you lose what you were trying to capture in the first place — and I think that’s the feeling of recognizing something precious and fleeting. Whether it’s the wife you never showed your appreciation for, an animal that keeps you company when you need it most, or the kind words of a stranger, these are the things that make this little story feel like an important slice of real life.

 
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