Stairway to Heaven (TV series)
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| Stairway to Heaven (TV series) | |
|---|---|
| Hangul: | 천국의 계단 |
| Hanja: | 天國的階梯 |
| Revised Romanization: | Cheon-guk ui Gyedan |
| McCune-Reischauer: | Ch'ŏnguk ŭi Kyedan |
Stairway to Heaven is a popular television drama in South Korea produced and broadcast by SBS between late 2003 and early 2004.
Contents |
[edit] Plot
A story about Jung Suh (Choi Ji Woo) and her best friend Song Joo (Kwon Sang Woo). As childhood friends, Jung Suh and Song Joo held a special bond within their friendship that blossomed into love. Song Joo leaves to America to study abroad, leaving a sad Jung Suh behind. Jung Suh is left alone to suffer in the silent cruelty of her step sister, Yuri, and new step mother. All the while, Jung Suh tries to be nice to her new step brother, Tae Hwa, who in return mistakes this friendship for affection. Tae Hwa falls in love with young Jung Suh.
Jung Suh later met with an accident while Yuri was driving on the road. She lost her memory, and changed her name to Kim Chil-su. Song-joo recognized her, but could not convince her that she was Jung-suh until she regained her memory. The relation between Song-joo and Jung-suh was stormy; they encountered problems created by Yuri and her mother who wanted Yuri to marry Song-joo in order to get some of his wealth.
Jung Suh soon suffered a relapse five years after the accident. She was diagnosed with eye cancer, which explained her detoriating eyesight. Jung-suh suffered the same fate with her mother, who did not want to get her eyeballs operated. Tae-hwa also chipped into raise funds for the eye operation by forging real paintings, whilst Song-joo was not informed of Jung-suh's condition. Song-joo dies in the end.
Song-joo learned of Jung-suh's condition minutes before she became completely blind. Jung-suh later went for platative radiotherapy to kill the cancer cells in her eyes. However, had the cancer spread, she would have faced certain death.
Despite that, Song-joo insisted on marrying Jung-suh, and together with Tae-hwa and his father, Bil-su, exposed Yuri's mother's plot in front of the audience during the wedding ceremony.
Tae-hwa committed suicide in order to donate his cornea to Jung-suh. Jung-suh later found out that the cancer was already metastatic when she vomited in a conference. Jung-suh went to visit Yuri and her mother in jail and hospital respectively, shortly before her death. Jung-suh died days later at the seaside near her childhood house in the arms of Song-joo.
Song-joo played a tune which he had played with Jung-suh during their childhood days. At length, he stood up, wondering if Jung-suh could hear them.
[edit] Popularity
Stairway to Heaven stirred up fever and spurred thousands of viewers to flock to chat rooms and discussion forums to share their views and comments on the drama. Directed by Lee Jang-soo, "Stairway to Heaven" boosts fame of the four lead characters swiftly and has won the hearts of thousands of Korean drama fans worldwide. In Korea, "Stairway to Heaven" was the 3rd popular drama in Korea in 2004 and one of the most popular Korean dramas in Asian countries.
[edit] Cast
The names used in the Philippines are in parentheses.
- Kwon Sang-woo - Cha Songjoo (Cholo Cha)
- Choi Ji Woo - Han Jeongseo/Kim Jisoo (Jodi Han/Jenna Kim)
- Kim Tae Hee - Han Yoori (Eunice Han)
- Shin Hyun Joon - Han Taehwa/Han Chulsu (Tristan Han/Charlie Han)
- Lee Hwi-hyang - Tae Mira (Maita Tae) - Tae-hwa & Yoori's mother
- Ha Jae Young - Han Suha - Jeongseo's father
- Jung Han Yong - Han Pil-su - Taehwa & Yoori's father
- Baek Sung Hyun - Cha Songjoo (as a child)
- Park Shin-hye - Han Jeongseo (as a child)
- Lee Wan - Han Taehwa (as a child)
- Park Ji Mi - Han Yoori (as a child)
- Lee Cham - Director Jang
[edit] See also
- List of Korea-related topics
- List of Korean television shows
- Contemporary culture of South Korea
- Lotte World
- Save Zone
