The Most Beautiful Goodbye (2017)

Very humane. Tangible. Touching, yet not maudlin. Sad, yes. But unpretentiously radiating, too.

"The Most Beautiful Goodbye" is a KDrama that consists of only 4 episodes. However, they have it all and are completely sufficient to leave their mark in the sand. We are confronted with the limits of healthcare system - when medicine no longer has a solution to offer and people are left with themselves and what they are: mortal beings. In ruthless directness, the viewers are confronted with what many people (all over the world) might at some point face in one way or another.

The family here is not particularly rich and not particularly poor. The individual protagonists are not particularly successful and have not particularly failed. Everyone lives their (South Korean) life as best they can. Not very happy and not very unhappy. With a tendency not to not be so happy. But they are actually not really unhappy either. In fact, everything could be quite nice, but everyone is just too busy with themselves. The WE becomes self-evident and rather annoying... until the day the finitude of being was knocking on the door...

However, hello-wake-up does not imply everyone starts reinventing themselves, overcoming their weaknesses and becoming better people. It does, however, force them to reflect on what they have and what they have forgotten (to love) (consciously) despite everything being taken for granted. In stumbling everyone is searching for an expression of their own feelings. At least they try to be a little bit more alert about what is going on in their life.

Very humane. Tangible. Touching, yet not maudlin. Pretty close to life. People are clumsy, speechless and helpless, as akward as it gets. It is a lesson in compassion, triggering your own experiences, when it comes to similarily unprepared being confronted with any form of (unwanted as it is) final farewell.

Sad, yes. But unpretentiously radiating, too.

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This is a great drama written by Noh Hee Kyung, who has written other top-tier dramas like Live and Dear My Friends. At 4 episodes, it tells a very simple story about a middle-aged woman who gets terminal cancer, and how that affects her and her family.

It's a heartbreaking story, and I guarantee you will cry, or at least have tears in your eyes while watching. You slowly see this kind and loving mother, who treats her family with such care, becoming sicker and sicker, and there's nothing anybody can do. This is not a comedic story by any means. It's dark and devastating, and you should definitely prepare yourself before watching. However, it's a very important drama to watch, and I would recommend anyone to watch it once, because it is so realistic, and shows something that can easily happen in real life. It presents many life lessons which are valuable to any human being.

The performances are all great, and I hope by the final episode, all the actors got their tear-ducts filled back up with water, lol. Won Mi Kyung, who plays the mother with cancer, gives a stunning performance which makes you care and feel so sorry for her. So does Yoo Dong Geun, who plays her husband, who is also deeply affected by the tragedy. You will empathise with all of these characters, and cry with them.

However, this drama is so depressing and sad, that I will probably never re-watch it again. Usually short dramas like this make me feel like that it could possibly go on further, but by episode 4 (the finale), I was worn out with emotion and glad that it was over. It's relentlessly sad, and I don't really want to experience it all over again, at least not for the distant future. But, it's still something I'm glad to have watched once, and it has made me think about my own mother and family even more.

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