While the concept of Heavenly Ever After is pretty interesting, I feel like the execution was a little bit lackluster. Especially the first half of the 72-minute episode. I mean, it’s better than the 90-minute second episode of Resident Playbook, but I really think K-dramas need to start editing their episodes shorter now, because our attention spans are simply not up to the task of 1.5-hour TV episodes; we’d rather watch movies. Anyway, this show tells the story of an old woman who becomes a loan shark because her husband is bedridden. Soon enough, though, something very unexpected happens, which leaves her wondering if she’s made the right choice. Will she end up in the right place, but more importantly, will she make the right choice? Let’s find out in the first episode.
Spoiler Alert
Why Is Hae-Sook A Loan Shark?
Heavenly Ever After episode 1 begins with two gangster-looking loan sharks trying to get their money back from a man. Hae-Sook steps out of the man’s house, saying she’s his mom and that he’s gone to the Han River. When the gangsters try to barge into the house, Hae-Sook tells them they should take her with them if they’re so desperate for their money. She uses reverse psychology tactics on them, and they leave. But ironically, she herself is there to get the guy to pay her her money back, and she’s got her assistant with her, a burly woman named Young-Ae, who looks like a bully but is kind-hearted. On the way back home, Hae-Soon and Young-Ae encounter some old clients. However, she’s always prepared, and she’s in a good mood, because when she gets home, she’s going to cook for her loving husband, who is unfortunately bedridden. It seems Hae-Sook’s husband, Nak-Joon, had always been a master of pranks; however, one day he ended up meeting with a real accident, which left him paralyzed from the waist down at a very young age. Even before she could turn 30, Hae-Sook became a loan shark so that she could keep her husband alive and the household running. I suppose in a way, Young-Ae’s also like the daughter Hae-Sook never had.
When someone tells Hae-Sook she hopes she goes to Hellbecause she asked her to pay back her dad’s loan on the day of his funeral, it worries Hae-Sook a little bit. Hae-Sook dwells on it and eventually decides to go to church, hoping a little bit of praying will send her and her husband to Heaven. But in church, she has a strange dream in which a man dressed in Joseon clothes tries to take her husband away. She imagines it’s the Grim Reaper, and she’s woken up when, in the dream, her cat Sonya tries to save her husband by jumping on the Grim Reaper. Hae-Sook rushes home to find her husband sleeping, but the cat is dead. Hae-Sook thanks Sonya for protecting her husband and puts a cross at her gravesite, hoping for her to go to Heaven. But her husband never wakes up, which leaves Hae-Sook completely broken.
Why Does Hae-Sook Think She’s Going To Hell?
Hae-Sook tries to get rid of Young-Ae because she worries she’ll leave her brokenhearted when she dies, which she doesn’t want. But Young-Ae doesn’t leave her side, and eventually, Hae-Sook ends up dying a year after her husband. Young-Ae is the only person who mourns her, but a grim reaper is there, and she does talk to him, though I think that was almost like a dream sequence. This grim reaper is dressed in modern gear, and Hae-Sook can’t help but ask a dozen questions. This frustrates the guy, who simply wants to transfer her to Heaven or hell, whichever it turns out to be. The souls of the dead are given a wristband when they’re to be sent off. This keeps them grounded, literally, because otherwise they’ll float off into the distance. Back when he died, Nak-Joon tried to rip his off, but the reaper told him he just needed to wait for his wife to come find him.
Hae-Sook is given the choice of many vehicles to go to the afterlife on; she chooses the subway. In the subway, she notices everyone praying to go to Heaven, so, flustered, she also ends up doing the same thing. When the Hellstop arrives, Hae-Sook watches as more than half the people are pulled out of the train like they’re in a tornado, but she herself is basically stuck to the seat. This means she’s going to Heaven. When they arrive in Heaven, Hae-Sook watches as multiple people have to leave their only belongings behind before heading inside. It looks like an airport immigration system. Before entering, people have to leave their belongings behind and even get consoled by some of the “guards.” Finally, when it’s Hae-Sook’s turn, she’s got nothing in hand. She walks freely into Heaven.
Hae-Sook gets interviewed by someone at the Heaven help desk. She’s asked two questions. One is, who does she plan on spending her happily ever after with? She chooses Nak-Joon, of course. The Condition is that if the other person doesn’t want to live with them or has ended up in hell, you can’t live with them. And that they’ll never get to change their answer. The second question is what age she wants to look like before meeting said person. Hae-Sook first says before the age of 25-30, but then remembers that her husband told her that she’s the most beautiful in the present day. She decides to stay 80. But this is quite the mistake. Hae-Sook also chooses the superfast method to get to Nak-Joon’s place, even if it means she could end up in Hellor get lost.
At the end of Heavenly Ever After episode 1, Hae-Sook is shocked to learn that her husband decided to age himself backwards, but she remained 80, making them an interesting couple, to say the least. In the preview of the next episode, it looks like an old fling of Nak-Joon is going to show up knocking on his door. On the other hand, it looks like they’re fighting because she chose to be old, and he was basically giving her false compliments in the living world. Also, it looks like Sonya did survive but became a human. I suppose the show is going to be about aging gracefully and also old-age romances. Did you like the first episode? What’s your take on the show? Let us know in the comments below.
