Fan Letter, Please
Starring: Yoon Park, Choi Soo Young, Shin Yeon Woo, Jeon In Ji, Kang Da Hyun, Kim Sang Woo
Year Released: 2022
Number of Episodes: Drama, Comedy, Romance
Country: South Korea
Where to Watch: Viki
Han Kang Hee is a top star actress who started acting ever since childhood. Because of the pressure as a top star, her self-esteem begins to drop and bad comments about her drama increase. The stress caused by those comments keeps her away from fanletters as well. In this crisis, she coincidentally runs into her first love, Jung Seok. He was a popular kid back in school but is now a single father of a sick child. His daughter Yu Na writes a fanletter to Kang Hee as her huge fan. However, as her letter doesn’t make it to Kang Hee, Jung Seok writes back instead. Kang Hee’s story with a beloved fan and her first love begins with a special fanletter.
Yoon Park made his way onto my radar when I watched him in Forecasting Love and Weather last year. His character started off as such an ass but I’m glad that over the course of the show his character kept right on charming me until eventually, he completely won me over. I don’t remember watching him in any other show so when I saw that this show was coming out, I was in.
The Story
This drama tells the story of A-List actress, Han Kang Hee, and a guy from high school, Bang Jung Seok. Jung Seok had a big crush on Kang Hee when they were in school but after a misunderstanding, they fell out with each other and drifted apart. Years later, they run into each other as adults and their lives are completely different and they, themselves are even more different. Jung Seok is a single father with a daughter who has cancer. Kang Hee is a famous actress that is struggling with PR issues. Jung Seok’s daughter is a huge Kang Hee fan and when she starts writing letters to her, her father delivers them and to everyone’s surprise, Kang Hee starts writing her back.
Kang Hee is also surprised when it comes to her attention that she’s been writing letters to a young girl with cancer and when she finds out that the girl’s father is someone she actually knows, she’s curious.
Male Lead
Yoon Park as Jung Seok was such a sweetheart and a good father and I absolutely adored him. He was smart and he was hard-working and such a devoted father that it was hard not to root for him. It was more than obvious that he still harbored a secret crush on Kang Hee but seeing him grow more and more confident in himself as the show progressed made for an enjoyable viewing experience. He’s not the perfect character that has all of his shit together but he’s a flawed character that is trying his best and I really liked that about him.
Female Lead
I haven’t watched a whole lot of shows with Choi Soo Young in them but I do like her acting. This was a fantastic role for her and I thought she did really well with it. Kang Hee was perfect on the outside but a mess on the inside and seeing her work through her issues and become stronger and stronger as the show progressed was great. It took her a while to work through her fear of getting fan letters (her reason for that was completely understandable, btw) and seeing her grow closer and closer to both Jung Seok and his daughter was great too.
The Cast
Aside from the two main leads, not a lot of other people were familiar to me. There were just a couple of people that I recognized from other shows so I can’t really say much about everyone. As much as I enjoyed the characters from the hospital (the other kids and the Moms), and then the reporter guy, not a lot of them were memorable though I’m sure that will change once I see more stuff with them in them.
The main leads definitely carried this show for me.
Final Thoughts
This show was a lot of fun. It was funny, it made me happy sigh and it even made me tear up as well. It packed a pretty great punch for such a short show. I thought for sure that I’d find it lacking in some way or form but that wasn’t the case at all. I didn’t think that it felt rushed or that the relationship and story suffered from not having more time to develop. I thought the actors, the writers, and everyone else told a solid story, developed a strong romance, and brought about a lovely cast of characters that charmed the socks right off of me. From the main characters to the kids, even the high school friends, and the convenience store owner, everyone did their thing and I enjoyed every last bit of it.
Final Rating
4 out of 5
