Alone in Love (연애시대)
Genre	Dramedy
Starring	Son Ye Jin Gam Wu-seong Gong Hyeong-Jin Lee Hana
Language(s)	Korean
No. of episodes	16
Production
Executive producer(s)	Oh Nam-seok
Producer(s)	Koh Kyoung-Hee
Location	Bundang, Gyeonggi-do,
Running time	approx. 60 min.
Broadcast
Original channel	SBS
Original run	April 3, 2006 – May 23, 2006
External links
Official website
IMDb profile

Alone in Love (Korean: 연애시대, Hanja: 戀愛時代) is a 16-episode South Korean TV drama series aired in 2006, starring Son Ye-jin, Gam Wu-seong, Lee Hana and Gong Hyeong-Jin. The story is about a divorced couple still in love. The main storyline is based on a Japanese novel by Hisashi Nozawa.

Overview

This is the story of two ordinary people who fall in love, marry and divorce, but are unable to move on from that point, because their love did not end when they separated.

Synopsis

Eun-Ho (Son Ye Jin) and Dong-Jin (Gam Wu-seong) meet one day at the bookstore where he works and they are immediately drawn to each other. They fall in love after subsequent meetings, and are eventually married.

Two years later they are divorced. Dong-Jin still works at the bookstore, while Eun-Ho works at a fitness club. The pair continue to meet and mingle in each other's lives, punctuated by each character's internal monologue contemplating their past, their current relationship, and how things are to move on.

To make matters complicated, new love interests have entered their lives, with Mi-Yeon (Oh Yoon-Ah) and Hyeon-Joong (Lee Jin-Wook) marking their steps into Dong-Jin and Eun-Ho's lives. Even so, a year and a half after their divorce, the two still meet up in their favorite bakery for breakfasts, quarrel over trivial things like a married couple and eat dinner on their wedding anniversary with a free meal coupon provided by the hotel where they got married.

All of this make them wonder whether these lingering feelings are love, though both are still too afraid to start over, and even more afraid to end the relationship completely. With neither brave enough to confront each other about the misunderstanding on the day Eun-ho had a stillborn baby, they are unable to move on.

Production

The script is written by Park Yeon-Seon who wrote for the film My Tutor Friend. The music director is Roh Young-Sim, who got married to the director Han Ji-Seung.

Locations

The house of Eun-Ho and Ji-Ho is in Bundang-dong, Bundang-gu, Seongnam near St. John's Cathedral. Dunkin' Donuts where Dong-Jin and Eun-ho usually meet is located at Jeongja-dong, Bundang. Dong-Jin's house is Ewha Villa located in Bundang-dong. The bookstore where Dong-Jin works is Kyobo Bookstore located near Gangnam Station. The fitness club where Eun-Ho works is Worldcup Sports Center located in Suwon, behind Suwon World Cup Stadium. The hospital where Joon-Pyo works is Bundang Jesaeng Hospital near Seohyeon Station in Bundang.

Themes

Through dry monologues of the two main characters and realistic depictions of life, the drama places the main characters in the vulnerable gap between the married and the unmarried. As the two main characters approached love and marriage from separate views, the drama was praised for turning into viewers' own stories, even for those who had never married, divorced or ached over love before.

Cast and characters

Actor	Character	Description
Son Ye Jin	Yu Eun-Ho	29 years old, born in Busan. She was a swimmer when she was in a high school. She is now working in a fitness club. She had got married with Dong-Jin who she met in a branch of mega book store, but they got divorced after two years of marriage.
Gam Wu-seong	Lee Dong-Jin	33 years old, born in Seoul. He works in a branch of mega book store. One day he fell in love with Eun-Ho. He's hesitant about deciding things of his love life.
Lee Hana	Yu Ji-Ho	24 years old, little sister of Eun-Ho.
Gong Hyeong-Jin	Gong Joon-Pyo	33 years old, a gynaecologist in a general hospital. He falls in love with Ji-Ho.
Moon Jeong-Hee	Chung Yu-Gyoung	She is a chef specialised in traditional Korean foods. She went to the same middle school with Dong-Jin. She marries Dong-Jin.
Oh Yoon-Ah	Kim Mi-Yeon	29 years old. She went to the same elementary school with Eun-Ho. She has a daughter from the previous marriage. She falls in love with Dong-Jin.
Lee Jin-Wook	Min Hyun-Jung	26 years old. This rich man is very passionate about love.
Seo Tae-Hwa	Cheong Yun-Su	38 years old. He's a professor in psychology. He falls in love with Eun-Ho.
Cho Hye-Young	Choi Young-In	She got married with Yoon-Soo while she was abroad to study. Her family is very rich.
Jin Ji-Hee	Cho Eun-Sol	7 years old. Mi-Youn's daughter. She doesn't talk much but very thoughtful.
Ha Jae-Suk	Nah Yu-Ri	28 years old. She's a pro wrestler.
Kim Gab-Su	Yu Gi-Young	Eun-Ho's father. He's a pastor.

Comments on Alone in Love

• Gam Wu-Seong

I started acting as I just wanted to be in films, but it took me a good 10 years to find the right level, that kind of performance a good actor requires. When it comes to Dramas, if you work with talented people, then there's no reason to turn them down. All you need to do is adjust to the dynamics used in this industry, which can be quite different to those you find in Chungmuro. What's important is what the production team, the crew and the producer have in mind. The most important thing when acting is finding a kind of harmony with your partner, that's what counts. And Son Ye-Jin is the best of both worlds: she hasn't been acting for too long, but she's always very professional, a good actress, and also a very beautiful person. An actress who helped me a lot in the past was Shim Hye-Jin [they worked together in 1998's 수줍은 연인 (Shy Lovers)]. She both influenced the way I acted, and how I approached this profession. In terms of male actors, I'd certainly say Han Suk-kyu. Thanks to them, I was able to find what kind of actor I was and could be, deep down. In a way, working with Ye-Jin reminded me of the times I spent with Shim Hye-Jin, she has the same kind of aggressive spirit when acting. I'd like to be remembered as a non-mainstream actor who can give viewers confidence. Right from the beginning, I never really paid much attention to working for a huge management company and similar things. Since I haven't been on TV for 4 years [2002's 현정아 사랑해 (I Love You, Hyun-Jung)], I wanted to work in something different, a Drama you can't compare with the others. Just like what happened for 왕의 남자(The King and the Clown), more than ratings, my sense of satisfaction regarding this project is what counted the most.

• Son Ye-Jin

It's a nasty and mean character, but someone you can't hate. That's how Dong-Jin (Gam) looks in Eun-Ho's eyes. You look at him in a certain way he and seems OK, but then again he's always so impulsive and cheeky. In 작업의 정석 (The Art of Seduction) we always tried to go for comic situations in every scene, and that kind of exaggeration was the most enjoyable aspect of the show. But if you compare it with 'Alone in Love', this is much more natural. There's a kind of boyish side to her, while at the same time maintaining that natural femininity. Even speech patterns and dialogue are much different that what I was used to. You could say it's a character you can find easily in real life, but someone who doesn't feature in TV Dramas too often. Of course we're not dealing with something too heavy handed and dark, it's just a little more mature and realistic, with an ironic and lightweight touch which really appealed to me. What I liked the most about Eun-Ho was the fact even after divorce she'd worry if her husband was in pain, like a mother figure. She's very mature. If I think of my roles in 클래식 (The Classic) and 여름향기(Summer Scent), I don't think I'd be able to go back to that kind of character. Even looking at 연애소설 (Lovers Concerto), it feels like the kind of acting I could only do at that age. Sure, if I did it again I'd probably do it pretty well, but it would still feel really awkward. I want to do roles which fit my age and personality now, that's what most important to me.

• Han Ji-Seung, director

I always wanted to try something like a Miniseries format, and then they offered me to produce 'Alone in Love', so I said, why not? I was really intrigued by the original novel, and since producers Yellow Film promised to respect my production methods, accepting their offer was even easier. I knew and worried that the Drama shooting system [shooting on the fly] wouldn't fit with my style, especially as someone who never worked in this field before. Of course I was also aware of how much more difficult shooting TV Dramas before broadcast can be, for a variety of issues, but they allowed me to shoot a good 8 episodes out of the final 16 before airing the first, so that's how we started. Many people seem to be interested in this show because of its themes, but we're not dealing with one of those Dramas where characters are trying to make up their mind between marrying or not. Personally, it's not really that important that the two main characters were married in the past. What we're focusing on here is the way they cope with this break up, how they start a sort of 'new life' after leaving behind people they loved. And those are the kind of details I wanted to focus on in developing this Drama. Of course the original novel had a lot of comic elements, even going as far as slapstick, but even though we tried to do the same in the show, compared to other Dramas we're dealing with something much more serious. I guess the biggest difference between TV Dramas and Movies is that the latter start from a full shot and then slowly zoom in to find more details, whereas Dramas start from a closeup, and then expand the view. Just this new challenge that difference makes was exciting for me, as a producer.

Ratings

Episode No.	South Korea	Seoul and Gyeonggi-do
Ep. 1	12.9%	14.5%
Ep. 2	11.5%	12.2%
Ep. 3	12.6%	13.4%
Ep. 4	12.9%	14.2%
Ep. 5	12.3%	13.6%
Ep. 6	14.1%	15.8%
Ep. 7	13.1%	14.7%
Ep. 8	13.4%	15.1%
Ep. 9	13.2%	14.8%
Ep.10	10.9%	11.1%
Ep.11	14.6%	17.1%
Ep.12	14.8%	16.9%
Ep.13	13.5%	15.2%
Ep.14	14.9%	17.1%
Ep.15	13.8%	15.7%
Ep.16	17.4%	19.1%
Average	13.5%	15.0%

Source: TNS Media Korea

Soundtrack

• Title: Alone In Love OST (SBS TV Series)
• Released: 8 May 2006, EMI Music Korea Ltd.
• Composers: Yoon Jong-shin, Chung Won-young, Roh Young-sim
• Language: Korean
• Songs

1 Love Is…

2 만약에 우리(Original bossa_ver) - 진호

3 Breeze - 이재준

4 아무리 생각해도 난 너를

5 사랑이 사랑에게 묻다

6 사랑이 사랑에게 말하다

7 보내지 못한 마음 (Piano Ver.)

8 독백

9 영국 런던 그리니치 천문대

10 나폴리 피자

11 우린 이미 끝났는데

12 은솔이와 실전화 아저씨 - 이재?

13 그녀 미소

14 When I Saw you(내 사랑을 바다에 맹세해,부서지는 파도에 맹세해)

15 I`m Still With You - 진호

16 모빌 박스

17 긴 슬픔

18 그건 바로 사랑이었을까

19 당신의 행운을 돌려드립니다

20 Frankly Speaking - 최우혁

21 만약에 우리(Samba ver.) - 진호/김정배

22 보내지 못한 마음(piano & guitar with strings)

23 After Love(그 남자의 20kg 감량에 대한 열망)

24 YK259 Zipper

See also

• List of Korean television shows

References

• soompi.com: Alone in Love (연애시대)

External links

• (Korean) Official Website (SBS)
• Twitch: 연애시대 (Alone in Love) Production Meeting Report
• (Korean) YTN Star: Production Meeting Clip (Downloadable, 14mb, Windows Media)
• The Korea Herald, June 3, 2006: Are you 'Alone in Love'?
• The Korea Times, March 12 2006: After Big Screen Success Son Ye-jin Returns to TV