Spring Waltz

Spring Waltz (Hangul: 봄의 왈츠; RR: Bom-ui Walcheu) is a 2006 South Korean television series starring Seo Do-young, Han Hyo-joo, Daniel Henney, and Lee So-yeon. It aired on KBS2 from March 6 to May 16, 2006 on Mondays and Tuesdays at 21:55 for 20 episodes.

It is the fourth and final installment of director Yoon Seok-ho's season-themed Endless Love series, following Autumn in My Heart, Winter Sonata and Summer Scent.^[1][2]

Plot

Jae-Ha (Seo Do-young) is a wealthy young man who lives an honorable life as a gifted pianist. As a child, however, Jae-Ha lived with his father who was a conman and endured a miserable childhood. His foster mother Hyun Ji-Sook (Geum Bo-ra) then raised him because she lost her own son.

Eun-Young (Han Hyo-joo) lived on the island of Chungsan with her mom happily. Darkness came when Jong-Tae (Lee Han-wi) and his son Soo-Ho (Jae-ha's real name) appeared. The man stole money from Eun-Young's mother, which was set aside for Eun-Young's surgery. When Eun-Young's mother travels to Seoul to look for Jong-Tae she dies in an accident. At the hospital where Eun-Young is hospitalized, she has no money to have surgery. At this time, Jae-Ha's foster mother Hyun Ji-Sook was there, due to her inability to deal with her own son's death. Her diplomat husband Yoon Myung-Hoon (Jung Dong-hwan) asks Soo-Ho to become their son. If he would do so they would pay for Eun-Young's surgery. Soo-Ho now becomes their son Jae-Ha (the name of their deceased son) and leaves for Austria. Meanwhile, Eun-Young successfully receives her surgery. Eun-Young grows up with a new family. She now makes accessories and she sells them on the streets.

One day, Eun-Young wins an exhibition contest and, as a prize, travels to Austria. There she meets Jae-Ha and his friends Phillip (Daniel Henney) and Lee-Na (Lee So-yeon). When Jae-Ha and Eun-Young first meet they don't like each other much, but slowly get attracted to each other. Jae-Ha then makes the shocking discovery that Eun-Young is the girl he met in the past and his dad killed Eun-Young's mother. Jae-Ha tries to hide this from Eun-Young, but she finds out anyway. They then separate.

Jae-Ha reveals his dark past at a press conference and leaves for abroad.

Eun-Young tries to forget Jae-Ha and live her life. She goes back to Austria. There, Jae-Ha appears again ...

Cast

Main characters

• Seo Do-young as Lee Soo-ho/Yoon Jae-ha

Jae-ha is a talented classical pianist of the next generation who has been closely watched with interest by Koreans since he won a prize at a famous concert. Even though he was brought up in a rich and enviable family under his father who is a foreign diplomat, Jae-ha is a lonely person with only one friend because of his eccentric and particular personality. He is a well-mannered and dutiful son to his parents and never harms others, but his piano melody always sounds sad. He shows his true feelings only to his best friend and manager, Phillip. He is a sad person who keeps secrets of the past that nobody knows, although he has a charismatic personality amidst a wonderful environment. At first, Jae-ha is interested in Eun-young when he meets her in Austria because she is similar to his childhood sweetheart. As he sees her with playboy Phillip, he thinks Eun-young is not a decent girl. But he gradually falls in love with her.

• Han Hyo-joo as Seo Eun-young/Park Eun-young

Eun-young is a cheerful, pretty little woman who works at her adoptive mother's kimbap (Korean rolled rice) restaurant in the daytime and sells homemade accessories and clothes at her street stand at night. Even though she could not finish her studies, she is a talented person who is good with her hands and is to be able to win the grand prize in a handicraft contest open to the public. She never loses her smile nor her dashing spirit although she lives in poverty; a hardworking girl who always gives her all and is never selfish. As her prize for the handicraft contest, she gets the opportunity to visit Austria, and there meets Phillip and Jae-ha by fate. Eun-young, who does not know of this ironic fate, deeply misses Soo-ho from her childhood.

• Daniel Henney as Phillip

He is the only friend as well as the global manager of Yoon Jae-ha. He was born to an Austrian father and a Korean mother and was expected to become a promising musician during his childhood. He plays the piano, the cello, the guitar, etc. Even though there are no musical instruments that he cannot play, he gave up playing music. Instead, he decides to pursue his dream by becoming the manager of Jae-ha who Phillip acknowledges as being a true musical genius. He has playboy tendencies, which makes Jae-ha accuse Eun-young of being easy since she dances with Phillip at an Austrian ball.

• Lee So-yeon as Song Yi-na

She is a capable career woman who started her career from the bottom and became the director of the planning department in a leading classical record and concert company due to her own ability even though the company is owned by her parents. Yi-na is a perfect woman with remarkable beauty, wonderful background, and outstanding ability, but there is only one thing that she earnestly desires... It is Jae-ha who played the piano with her when they were young. Having liked Jae-ha since childhood, she recklessly gave up playing the piano and left for Canada to find Jae-ha after he left Korea. However, she could not find Jae-ha but completed her study in Art Business in Canada. She volunteers to promote Jae-ha's debut in Korea after she happened to see an article of Jae-ha's activity in Austria. Her parents also own the hotel where Jae-ha and Phillip stay when they are in Korea.

Supporting characters

• Geum Bo-ra as Hyun Ji-sook, Jae-ha's mother
• Jung Dong-hwan as Yoon Myung-hoon, Jae-ha's father
• Kim Hae-sook as Jo Yang-soon, Eun-young's aunt and adoptive mother
• Park Chil-yong as Park Doo-shik, Eun-young's adoptive father
• Choi Si-won as Park Sang-woo, Eun-young's cousin and adoptive brother
• Choi Ja-hye as Hong Mi-jung, Eun-young's best friend
• Lee Han-wi as Lee Jong-tae, Soo-ho's father
• Park Hee-jin as Kim Hee-jin, Yi-na's friend
• Kim Mi-kyung as Kim Bong-hee, Mi-jung's mother
• Eun Won-jae as the young Lee Soo-ho
• Han So-hee as the young Seo Eun-young
• Han Bo-bae as young Hong Mi-jung
• Yoon Yoo-sun as Jo Hye-sun, Eun-young's birth mother

Soundtrack

Ratings

Awards and nominations

Series development

Spring Waltz was the final feature of the season-themed drama series directed by Yoon Seok-ho. Although the story shares the similar format of genuine love and childhood memories, Yoon adds several fresh twists and turns. In this miniseries, the drama's message is conveyed more actively through the season "spring". Love is compared to the way spring blossoms into lives, bringing a sense of hope. Love is also depicted as gently embracing the protagonists' lonely hearts, which are chillingly numb in the midst of a long and harsh "winter". Another noticeable change is that this series is the only feature out of four season series to include overseas locations, namely Austria, where filming took place around well-known tourist spots such as Hallstatt and Salzburg. Moreover, most of its production money came from external sources and investments made by domestic and foreign interests. With news that the drama was sold to nine countries including Japan,^[3] Taiwan, Thailand, Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, Macau, Brunei and the Philippines, the series garnered widespread attention from the media industry even before the series aired in March 2006.^[4][5]

One of the most striking differences from previous installments, is the casting. All four main characters are relative newcomers, who were cast in the leading role for the first time. The casting of the two lead actors – Seo Do-young (a model-turned actor who previously appeared in small supporting roles in a few TV shows)^[6][7] and Han Hyo-joo (a newbie actress best known for the teenage sitcom Nonstop 5) - brought a controversial yet refreshing spin into the drama's production. Sung Yu-ri was originally cast as Eun-young but when she backed out of the drama, Yoon unexpectedly chose Han, who had auditioned for a smaller role.^[8] Model-turned-actor Daniel Henney was perhaps the most high-profile actor of the four, after his role in 2005 hit My Lovely Sam Soon.^[9][10] Initially the character Philip character did not exist. However, after seeing Henney audition, Yoon was attracted to the actor's unique facial expressions and gestures, so the director decided to create a new role just for him.^[11] Lee So-yeon, on the other hand, had more experience in TV and film, notably Untold Scandal in 2003.^[12] In interviews, Yoon told the press that he deliberately chose to work with new actors rather than already-established actors, who tend to have chiseled images that do not have enough flexibility. Working with new faces, Yoon said, is "like working on a new painting on a new white canvas."

Renowned for his captivating ability to bring picturesque scenery and memorable music onto the screen, Yoon takes maximum advantage of the spectacular view of Hallstatt lake to convey Jae-ha's sorrow and his yearning for his lost identity and lost love.

One of Yoon's main motifs for this series is the "island" - Cheongsando - a place that is seemingly isolated from the rest of the world. He and his production crew reportedly hunted for the perfect island setting for months. They eventually decided on a few islands located in South Jeolla Province. Cheongsando was the site where the young Soo-ho and Eun-young meet and reunite again as adults, while heart-shaped Hanuneom Beach in Bigeumdo is the place where the children share their innocent feelings of affection and love towards each other.

An island as a place, Yoon says, tends to be a fantasy in everyone's mind. It brings out a sense of nostalgia which is quite distant from the reality of everyday life. Childhood love also is a fantasy in many a memory. Spring Waltz explores such fantasy of our first love – how the pure and genuine love for someone can face the reality of living with mental bruises and an identity crisis, and eventually heal the painful process of forgiveness and reconciliation, just like the way spring brings us a hope.

DVD release

The director's cut DVD is shorter than the original broadcast version, with the scenes removed totaling close to 3 hours long. As of June 2010, there is no information as to whether the "uncut" original broadcast version will ever be authorized for release.

Noticeable edits (North American version)

• Numbering of individual episodes are omitted
• Due to the editing, some episodes ended at different times/scenes than the original broadcast.
• Dramatic endings, which included episode credits and previews, were also removed.
• The story arc involving Hong Mi-jung and Park Sang-woo was completely removed.
• Episode 11 — During their first outing as a couple, Jae-ha leaves Eun-young in front of her mother's restaurant. Before leaving, he kisses her cheek. Her mother observes them through the restaurant window. (SCENE REMOVED)
• Episode 18 — Phillip & Eun-young are at the museum. Jae-ha's mother and Yi-na appear. All four go out to lunch; Jae-ha joins them. Eun-young later leaves after Yi-na presents her and Jae-ha's wedding invitation. (SCENE REMOVED)
• Episode 18 — Eun-young returns Jae-ha's jacket along with the rainbow shell. Jae-ha runs after her asking her not to leave. Eun-young answers, "...Why won't you allow me to hate you". (SCENE REMOVED)

Dubbed

A Tagalog-dubbed DVD was released in the Philippines through Star Records.

Soundtracks

See also

• List of Korean television shows
• Korean drama
• List of Korea-related topics
• Contemporary culture of South Korea

References

External links

• Spring Waltz official KBS website (Korean)
• Spring Waltz at KBS Global Marketing
• Spring Waltz at HanCinema
• Spring Waltz at the Internet Movie Database