ANGEL EYES EPISODE 1

Lovers are forced by circumstances to separate, only to find each other more than a decade later. The premise is not new - it's been played out in at least three dramas that I can think of right off the top of my head: 'Winter Sonata,' 'Emergency Couple,'�and�'I Need Romance 3.' But there are very few original plots: action movies, for example recycle plots over and over, but it makes them no less thrilling. The window dressing is the key, the details, in other words: what situations do our hero and heroine find themselves in and can the writers put a fresh spin on it all?

'Angel Eyes' starts out with muted colors and ambling ballads like Don McLean's "Vincent." Not really a fan of either. While the color choice highlights the note of tragedy that runs through the first episode, we need something that breaks through the grim atmosphere. If you get too dark, you end up running full circle and your work becomes a grotesque parody of itself.

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The music choice is also not my favorite, but I understand the reasoning behind it.�"Vincent" opens with the phrase "Starry, Starry Night," and, as our heroine works in a planetarium, it's halfway appropriate, even if the style is not very evocative.

This is not to say that 'Angel Eyes' falls down in substance, not at all. Within the first two minutes we're treated to a tunnel collapse, cars tumbling end over end, and Fire & Rescue teams saving people, all in matrix-style bullet-time where the crux of the action is in slo-mo before speeding forward suddenly in realtime. It was a bit jarring rather than thrilling, at first. You come to expect one thing and another occurs in an entirely different style than the rest of the cinematography. It was very watchable though and kept my eyes glued to the screen throughout the action.

But 'Angel Eyes' is not an action series, so we shift gears to the future, where �our male lead, Dong Joo, is a teen working two part-time jobs. Our heroine, Soo Wan, is blind thanks to the tunnel accident, and working in a planetarium. His father was a rescue worker who tried to save Soo Wan's mother, but perished in the attempt. Neither of them know this. They meet in the planetarium and he is instantly drawn to her. Her lecture on the constellations relies on timing as the sky map changes to focus on one part of the sky and she cannot see when the pictures change. Her timing is off, so Dong Joo helps her through it. At this point she is just a pretty girl to him, but he is compelled to find more.�

There are charming scenes in which he comes to her rescue in everything from a theater fire to teenage hecklers at the planetarium. It helps establish Dong Joo as a caring guy, a likable character and hopefully he can sustain this throughout the series. Too many dramas have the "unattainable guy due to emotional issues" whose heart the heroine has to melt to get to. It's nice to have someone to root for, even if they do play up the damsel in distress trope a bit too much.

Soo Wan is fiercely independent, perhaps because of her disability. The planetarium is important to her since it's the only way she can feel useful. She doesn't want pity, it seems she really wants to be left alone. When Dong Joo saves her from getting run over, she is less than grateful, instead insisting that his face must be ugly because his voice is. She lives alone -- her father won't come home to her and her mother died in the tunnel accident. Though she has built a wall around her heart, Dong Joo scales this wall and becomes her friend.

It takes the full hour, but they finally come together in the way we know they must. The colors become somewhat brighter despite the barren trees of winter. There are scenes that show�Dong Joo gradually discovering that Soo Wan is blind and afterwards, begins to realize what that means for her. I love the fact that he doesn't become discouraged by her disability - he instead works around it. �

I can't wait to see more. How do they separate, and why? And how do they end up together again? I know he ends up a surgeon in future episodes, so is that likely to result in some hospital drama like in 'Emergency Couple'? Or might they just gloss over that part of his life and instead focus on other areas? Probably not, since she becomes an emergency rescue worker (also in future episodes) and the hospital would be the perfect stage for a reunion.�

What do you guys think? Leave us your comments below!

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