Right from the very first episode, the insanely popular Korean soap, Something Happened in Bali (or as it's also known as What Happened in Bali) draws you in and keeps you glued for its 20 episode run.
Waiting for life to give her a break, Lee Soo-Jung (2004 SBS Award winner for Outstanding Actress, Ha Ji-won) works as a tour guide in Bali hoping that one day a wealthy man will rescue her. She finds herself guiding a tour with the director of a large company, Jung Jae-Min (2004 SBS Award winner for Outstanding Actor, Jo In-Sung), his arranged marriage fiancee Choi Young-Joo (Park Ye-Jin) and the man she attempted to run away with, Kang In-Wook (So Ji-Sub).
Thanks to a series of mind boggling coincedences they all find themselves interconnected by love, greed, power and status, each playing the other like pawns on a chess board - only to be held back by their pride.
There are a lot of themes and discussions that can be deconstructed with Something Happened in Bali. The main would be this notion of status/money/pride/diginity vs. love; how much should one sacrifice? Each of the characters struggles with these questions. For Soo-Jung, the unwitting pawn and thorn in most of Jae-Min's relatives side, is perhaps one of the most abused characters in the series. The struggle to survive and maintain ones dignity outweighs the right to love and breaks the will to hope for something better. And while she doesn't ever act like a victim (her pride doesn't let her), the guys see it otherwise thus turning the drama to 1 part corporate spy game to 3 parts love triangle. Things get incredibly messy and intense from here that leads the series to an "OH MY GOD, NO, THEY DIDN'T!" shocking end.
Performances are good all around with much deserved credit to Jo In-Sung who nailed Jae-Min's over the top, crazy-in-love but too cool to show it jerk of a character. Ha Ji-Won's Soo Jung teetered between being overly pitied to being questionably liked. As a viewer, I found myself being both irriated yet strangely drawn in by her.
YA Entertainment releases the 7 DVD boxed set with all 20 episodes, plus the first episode of Stairway to Heaven and two bookmarks.
Also found throughout the series is the requisite crying, drinking, eating, karaoke, drunken karaoke, drunk dialing, drunken fist fights, cellphone ringing and of course pouting and sulking.
Enjoy ... it's a good one!
