Not sure why it took me so long to watch this 2017 drama Fight For My Way, but then better late than never right?
Fight For My Way is a seriously refreshing, light-hearted, yet relatable and meaningful watch with great life lessons that would resonate with everyone who is working hard and hoping to achieve their dreams.
Fight For My Way stars the King of romantic comedies Park Seo Joon as the simple-minded Dong Man who is extremely talented in Taekwondo and martial arts fighting but who gave up his dream and ended up in a lowly job he had no passion for and who is often bullied by his supervisor.
Kim Ji Won acts as the fiesty Aera who loves holding the microphone and dreams of becoming an emcee/broadcaster in spite of being repeatedly rejected in all the TV broadcaster interviews.
Fight for My Way is a coming-of-age story about young people trying all their means to achieve their dreams in spite of all odds against them and finding love and friendship in the process.
Great Pacing and Focused Theme of Chasing Dreams Against Odds
One thing notable about Fight for My Way is its great pacing that reels viewers in very quickly. The story started with our leads in their youth, all naive and passionate about their future career paths and then fast forward to the present day where they are working but unfortunately nowhere near their original dream job.
Sadly, this is probably a realistic depiction of many working adults watching this drama and hence this theme would likely strike a chord with many, attracting viewers who want to see how our underdog leads defy the challenges to succeed in life.
Realistic depiction of challenges young working adults face
Our 4 main leads here are all in very ordinary jobs just like people whom we see around us. They are in jobs they have no passion for, working simply to make ends meet. They work hard, they try to conform to societal expectations keeping their ‘unrealistic’ dreams hidden in their heart, they too suffer from grievances at work and had to bend down to their bosses just for the sake of keeping their rice bowls.
Hence we feel their pain when Dong Man had to apologise to his supervisor even though he has nothing to be sorry for, and when Aera lost her dream job as the broadcaster for the mall because she had no connections to the boss, reflecting the harsh and unfair truths of the working world that we are all working in.
It is thus extremely uplifting when we see our leads take a brave step to quit their jobs and throw themselves headfirst into the arduous and seemingly impossible journey of achieving their dreams regardless of the consequences.
Extremely likeable leads of Park Seo Joon and Kim Ji Won with fantastic chemistry
This is my first time watching Kim Ji Won and I always thought that she looks quite beautiful and aloof, I could never guess that she could portray the fiesty “crazy” yet cute Aera so well. For such “crazy” characters, it is very easy to overact, and hence sometimes such lead protaganists can even come across as being quite irritating in my eyes.
However Kim Ji Won is really great in this role, and because there is much effort to depict her character, somehow this Aera character became really 3 dimensional and believable and we grow to like this character like a friend we know.
Park Seo Joon seriously has great comic timing and he really brought the brawny but simple-minded Dong Man to life. Helps that Park Seo Joon has a really affable vibe and a brilliant happy smile that is really suitable for the clueless Dong Man.
A big part of Fight For My Way focuses on the ambiguous friendship of Dong Man and Aera who are secretly in love with each other and always rooting for each other, yet clueless about their feelings for each other.
The whole when-will-they-discover-their-feelings-and-just-get-together sentiment has me really involved in the storyline and I truly devour all scenes of Park Seo Joon and Kim Ji Won together as I cannot wait to see their love blossom. It helps that there are many scenes to portray their depth of understanding and concern for each other and hence it makes their progress from friendship to love beautiful and believable to watch.
They are seriously sooo cute and compatible with each other, and I love seeing this bickering pair together on screen,especially in the later half of the show where they just shower affection on each other. The scenes of them madly in love are just so heart-fluttering.
I seldom see a Korean drama where there are so many kiss scenes, and Fight For My Way seriously had many scenes of Kim Ji Won and Park Seo Joon kissing each other. In fact, I wonder if they truly fell in love with each other during the acting? After all, both are equally good looking and they really kiss non-stop!
Second Plotline of Office Romance between Seol Hee and Joo Man Just As Interesting and Realistic
The second pair of couple Seol Hee and Joo Man are Aera’s and Dong Man’s good friends respectively, and these 4 are forever glued together and their warm friendship is a pleasure to watch.
Unlike the loud Aera, Seol Hee is kind, mild-mannered and naive. A pure-hearted girl who loves her boyfriend Joo Man of 6 years more than she loves herself, willingly hiding their relationship where both of them works in the same office. Joo Man is just as crazy about Seol Hee but finds himself thinking about the office intern who reminds him of a younger Seol Hee and who makes it obvious that she wants him.
With the pretty office intern trying hard to win Joo Man’s affections and a series of misunderstandings after, this couple broke up. (quick observation: why is Pyo Ye Jin always acting in ‘innocent’ roles? She was so in What’s Wrong With Secretary Kim and VIP)
I find the depiction of the breaking up of this couple rather interesting and realistic because there was in actual fact no real affair going on between Joo Man and the office intern but rather it showed how insecurity in a relationship (by Seol Hee who feels threatened by a pretty and rich intern and whom she thinks may appear to be a better match for the higher-ranking Joo Man in office) a lack of communication, plus an imbalance in the power in a relationship ( Joo Man feeling pressurised by the sacrificial girlfriend who does everything for his good) , can slowly disintegrate a relationship.
It also displayed how self-love is key for a relationship to work. Although ultimately Joo Man was portrayed as the bad person who was tempted by the office intern, however I do get Joo Man’s frustration with regard to Seol Hee’s doormat and self-sacrificial behaviour when in love..
I think this is a mistake that many females have when they are in love; they willingly let their lives revolve around their man and try their best to make the man happy, yet in the end they lose the man who took all these for granted and who even feel suffocated in the relationship.
In fact I feel that the drama should give more emphasis in Seol Hee’s process of rediscovering herself and finding her self-worth.
A 10/10 Drama About Passion, Friendship and Love that will leave You Feeling Warm, Fuzzy and Just That Bit Touched
Fight For My Way is truly a great drama that leaves me wanting more when each episode ends. It has all the ingredients that make for a good watch – great leads with chemistry, fast-paced and believable storyline, romance mixed with comedy, inspiring theme of chasing after dreams.
I originally thought Park Seo Joon had good chemistry with Park Min Young in What’s Wrong With Secretary Kim , but his pairing with Kim Ji Won really trumped the Secretary Kim pairing in my view.
Fight For My Way is really a feel-good romantic comedy and I would highly recommend it to fans of the romance or romantic comedy genre.
Chasing Carefree 