''Thank You'' () is a 2007 South Korean television series starring Jang Hyuk,

Gong Hyo-jin Gong Hyo-jin (born April 4, 1980) is a South Korean actress. She is best known for her leading role in the film '' Crush and Blush'' (2008), as well as for her popular television series '' Sang Doo! Let's Go to School'' (2003), ''Thank You'' (20 ...

Seo Shin-ae Seo Shin-ae (born October 20, 1998) is a South Korean actress. She made her entertainment debut in 2004 in a commercial for Seoul Milk. Seo then became known as a child actress, notably in the film ''Meet Mr. Daddy'' (2007), and the television ...

, Shin Sung-rok and Shin Goo. It aired on MBC from March 21 to May 10, 2007 on Wednesdays and Thursdays at 21:55 for 16 episodes. The

drama Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance: a play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a genre of poetry in general, the dramatic mode has b ...

was actor Jang Hyuk's successful comeback after his mandatory military service and draft-dodging scandal. He gained the empathy of viewers after portraying a self-centered doctor whose life changes when he meets a single mother and her

HIV The human immunodeficiency viruses (HIV) are two species of ''Lentivirus'' (a subgroup of retrovirus) that infect humans. Over time, they cause acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), a condition in which progressive failure of the immune ...

-positive daughter.

Synopsis

Doctor Min Gi-seo ( Jang Hyuk) is a surgeon whose wealthy background and superior talent causes him to be arrogant and curt with others. But when his girlfriend Ji-min ( Choi Kang-hee) dies of cancer after he failed to save her on the operating table, he is haunted by her confession that she had unwittingly given a young girl

via a

contaminated Contamination is the presence of a constituent, impurity, or some other undesirable element that spoils, corrupts, infects, makes unfit, or makes inferior a material, physical body, natural environment, workplace, etc. Types of contamination ...

blood transfusion Blood transfusion is the process of transferring blood products into a person's circulation intravenously. Transfusions are used for various medical conditions to replace lost components of the blood. Early transfusions used whole blood, but mo ...

when she was a

medical intern A medical intern is a physician in training who has completed medical school and has a medical degree but does not yet have a license to practice medicine unsupervised. Medical education generally ends with a period of practical training similar t ...

years ago and never owned up to her mistake. Grieving and needing to make amends on Ji-min's behalf, Gi-seo searches for the child Bom (

Korean Korean may refer to: People and culture * Koreans, ethnic group originating in the Korean Peninsula * Korean cuisine * Korean culture * Korean language **Korean alphabet, known as Hangul or Chosŏn'gŭl **Korean dialects and the Jeju language ** ...

for "spring"), and finds her living on Pureun-do ("Blue Island"). The precocious eight-year-old Bom (

) is innocently unaware of her condition, and she lives happily with her mother Young-shin (

), and her great-grandfather Mr. Lee ( Shin Goo) who's always wandering off and loves

choco pie A choco pie is a snack cake consisting of two small round layers of cake with marshmallow filling and a chocolate covering. The term originated in America but is now also used widely in South Korea, Japan, and its exports, and many other countr ...

. Ever since Bom's diagnosis, Young-shin has worked hard to care for her daughter and senile grandfather, keeping a strong face and cheery front despite their poor circumstances and the difficulties of being a single mother. Young-shin has always been mum about Bom's paternity, but in the small community of Pureun-do, rumors are rife that the father is Choi Seok-hyun ( Shin Sung-rok), son of the richest woman ( Kang Boo-ja) in town. Seok-hyun currently resides in

Seoul Seoul (; ; ), officially known as the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea.Before 1972, Seoul was the ''de jure'' capital of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) as stated iArticle 103 of ...

with his fiancée ( Kim Sung-eun), until work-related matters take him back to the island for the first time in a decade. Upon seeing Young-shin again, Seok-hyun had no idea that she'd had a child, and doesn't believe her assertions that Bom isn't his. As their paths continue to cross, he becomes jealous of Gi-seo and realizes that he isn't quite over her. Meanwhile, to keep an eye on Bom, Gi-seo decides to rent a room at Young-shin's house. At first he mocks the seemingly backward, rural day-to-day life on Pureun-do, but as he observes the Lee family and their constant kindness and selflessness at close quarters, Gi-seo finds himself slowly changing and falling in love with Young-shin. But when the townspeople later learn that Bom has HIV, they must all deal with the fear and discrimination that follows.

Cast

* Jang Hyuk as Min Gi-seo *

as Lee Young-shin *

as Lee Bom, Young-shin's daughter * Shin Sung-rok as Choi Seok-hyun * Shin Goo as Mr. Lee / Lee Byung-gook, Young-shin's grandfather * Kang Boo-ja as Kang Gook-ja, Seok-hyun's mother * Kim Sung-eun as Seo Eun-hee, Seok-hyun's fiancée *

Ryu Seung-soo Ryu Seung-soo (born August 12, 1971) is a South Korean actor. Ryu made his acting debut in 1997 with a minor role in Park Chan-wook's film ''Trio'', and has been active as a supporting actor on film and television since. Among his notable films a ...

as Oh Jong-soo, local doctor of Pureun-do Public Health Center * Jo Mi-ryung as Park So-ran, nurse *Kim Ha-kyun as Park Taek-dong, shopkeeper *Jeon Won-joo as Song Chang-ja, neighbor with a crush on Mr. Lee * Kim Ki-bang as Song Doo-seob, Chang-ja's son * Kil Yong-woo as Min Joon-ho, Gi-seo's father *

Hong Yeo-jin Hong Yeo-jin (born February 5, 1958) is a South Korean actress. Hong's family immigrated to California, United States in 1977, and she began working as a broadcast announcer and commercial model in Los Angeles in 1978. She joined the Miss Korea ...

as Kang Hye-jung, Gi-seo's mother *Yoo Min-ho as Lee Young-woo, Young-shin's brother *Yang Hyun-woo as Choi Young-joo, Seok-hyun's nephew * Yoo Yeon-mi as Bo-ram, Bom's friend * Choi Kang-hee as Cha Ji-min, Gi-seo's girlfriend (cameo, ep 1) *

Kim Su-ro Kim Soo-ro (born Kim Sang-joong on May 7, 1970) is a South Korean actor. Career Early career Kim Soo-ro studied Theater at the Seoul Institute of the Arts and Dongguk University, then joined the Mokwha Repertory Company. In 1993, he made hi ...

as Dr. Oh's photographer brother (cameo, ep 16) *

Um Hyo-sup Um Hyo-sup (born October 24, 1966) is a South Korean actor. Um mostly plays supporting roles in films and television dramas Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance: a play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed i ...

(cameo, ep 12-13)

Production

Jang Hyuk reportedly studied the 1998 film '' Christmas in August'' in preparation for his role. He said at the press conference, "I want to delicately express a man who is transformed by love. ..This drama deals with the disease

HIV/AIDS Human immunodeficiency virus infection and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) is a spectrum of conditions caused by infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), a retrovirus. Following initial infection an individual ...

, but it is also a story of hope and miracles." Jang and

previously starred together in the 2001 film ''

Volcano High ''Volcano High'' () is a 2001 South Korean martial arts action comedy film. It revolves around a troublemaking high school student named Kim Kyung-soo (portrayed by Jang Hyuk) who finds himself transferred to the last school that will take him, ...

''. This was also Gong's second collaboration with writer Lee Kyung-hee, after the 2003 drama '' Sang Doo! Let's Go to School''. Choi Kang-hee, who made a

cameo appearance A cameo role, also called a cameo appearance and often shortened to just cameo (), is a brief appearance of a well-known person in a work of the performing arts. These roles are generally small, many of them non-speaking ones, and are commonly ei ...

in episode 1, was dating director Lee Jae-dong at the time (they had previously worked together on the 2004 drama '' Sweet Buns''). Director Lee Jae-dong spent weeks searching for the ideal shooting location for the fictional Pureun-do ("Blue Island"). He settled on Jeungdo, Sinan County,

South Jeolla Province South Jeolla Province (; ''Jeollanam-do''; ), also known as Jeonnam, is a province of South Korea. South Jeolla has a population of 1,902,324 (2014) and has a geographic area of located in the Honam region at the southwestern tip of the Korean ...

, which is located on the Korean east coast. Young-shin and Bom's house in the TV series was specifically chosen by Lee, and renovations were made to the house with permission from the town residents.

Reception

Compared to its competition in the same timeslot, ''

The Devil Satan,, ; grc, ὁ σατανᾶς or , ; ar, شيطانالخَنَّاس , also known as the Devil, and sometimes also called Lucifer in Christianity, is an entity in the Abrahamic religions that seduces humans into sin or falsehood ...

'' (

KBS2 The Korean Broadcasting System (KBS) () is the national broadcaster of South Korea. Founded in February 1927, it is one of the leading South Korean television and radio broadcasters. KBS operates seven radio networks, ten television channels, a ...

) and ''

Witch Yoo Hee ''Witch Yoo Hee'' (also known as ''Witch Amusement''), is a South Korean TV drama series broadcast by Seoul Broadcasting System, SBS in 2007. Synopsis Ma Yoo Hee (Han Ga-in) is the executive of an advertising company. She would never be cau ...

'' ( SBS), ''Thank You'' premiered quietly to little hype or pre-show buzz due to lead actor Jang Hyuk's draft-dodging scandal. But it unexpectedly rose to number one in its timeslot, making Jang's comeback a success. Apart from the cast and writer Lee Kyung-hee who won recognition at the

MBC Drama Awards The MBC Drama Awards () is an awards ceremony presented by Munhwa Broadcasting Corporation (MBC) for outstanding achievements in Korean dramas aired on its network. It is held annually in December. Unlike its counterparts in KBS and SBS, MB ...

and the

Baeksang Arts Awards The Baeksang Arts Awards (), also known as the Paeksang Arts Awards, are awards for excellence in film, television and theatre in South Korea. The awards were first introduced in 1965 by Chang Key-young, the founder of the Hankook Ilbo newspap ...

, respectively, the TV series also received the Special Media Award from Amnesty International. The drama was recognized for "its frank, yet sensitive portrayal of a young

patient and her family and friends; it dealt with a touchy subject that had not been broached in other TV dramas and taught the audience to respect AIDS patients and other underprivileged members of our society."

Ratings

Source
TNmS Media Korea

Awards

Amnesty International *10th Special Media Award (2007)

2007 MBC Drama Awards The 2007 MBC Drama Awards () is a ceremony honoring the outstanding achievement in television on the Munhwa Broadcasting Corporation (MBC) network for the year of 2007. It was held on December 30, 2007 and hosted by Shin Dong-yup and Hyun Young. ...

*Top Excellence Award, Actress:

*Golden Acting Award, Actor in a Miniseries: Jang Hyuk *Best Young Actress:

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

*Best TV Screenplay: Lee Kyung-hee

Remake

A Chinese remake titled '' Angel's Happiness'' () aired in 2017, starring Ming Dao and Cecilia Liu.

International broadcast

It aired in Japan on cable channel LaLaTV in 2008, followed by

rerun A rerun or repeat is a rebroadcast of an episode of a radio or television program. There are two types of reruns – those that occur during a hiatus, and those that occur when a program is syndicated. Variations In the United Kingdom, the word ...

s on terrestrial network

TV Tokyo JOTX-DTV (channel 7), branded as and known colloquially as , is a television station headquartered in the Sumitomo Fudosan Roppongi Grand Tower in Roppongi, Minato, Tokyo, Japan, owned and operated by the subsidiary of listed certifie ...

. On defunct channel Q Channel 11 Philippines Aired This Drama at Middle of 2010 It aired in Thailand on Channel 7 every Saturday and Sunday at 9.15 a.m. starting from July 3, 2010.

References

External links

''Thank You'' official MBC website

at MBC Global Media * * {{Lee Kyung-hee 2007 South Korean television series debuts 2007 South Korean television series endings MBC TV television dramas Korean-language television shows South Korean romance television series South Korean melodrama television series Television shows written by Lee Kyung-hee HIV/AIDS in television Television series by IHQ (company)