The ending of Dream High is something that I just cannot pass commenting on. To start off, my first reaction to the ending was disappointing, not that it was a bad ending, but because I was hoping for the generic fairy tale ending where my favorite couple gets together. (Side Note: I commented in a previous post how I refused to let myself get into this show because there was no way Sam Dong and Hye Mi would get together—I am forever indebted to this drama for shifting gears from Jin Gook to Sam Dong because it was AWESOME!) Yet, for 36 hours after the finale aired I found myself constantly going back to the ending of this drama because while it was full of angst and hurt my heart with every time I watched it—the ending was quite frankly GENIUS!
For years I wanted to go to film school before my desires finally shifted a couple of years ago but every so often I see a film or a compelling scene that revives that old passion and drive I used to have to want to work with film—the ending of Dream High is one of those scenes. Therefore I am going to do a play by play of what I enjoyed about the execution of this ending.
We will start off with the revelation of who ended up being K. I love how the drama slowly demonstrates to the audience one by one who is not K until it comes down to K either being Sam Dong or Hye Mi. I loved the revealing shot where Sam Dong sets down the photo of his Kirin High buddies and we discern for ourselves that it is Sam Dong by the presence of his tuning device right next to the K medal. In terms of the sound I love the steady pulse as we enter backstage of the grammies and how the background music slowly fades to silence almost as if they are providing us with no distractions from determining who K is. (Side note: I just love scenes where we transition from sound to silence and then sound again...it gives so much more intensity to the scene) We slowly see Sam Dong slip on the pendant and I just love how gold this guy is, perfectly matching the K pendant.
The sound of Sam Dong’s conversation with Hye Mi then comes in before we can even see them or know when and where their conversation is taking place. I really love how suspenseful this ending is in determine what Hye Mi’s fate is because at this point we technically do not know if Hye Mi is with Sam Dong as K or if she has stayed behind to pursue her own career, or heck she could have even ended up with Jin Gook and we just have not seen it yet. (Side Note: As I write this I am watching a version without subtitles so I will not be bothering with a line by line interpretation since I sadly don’t know Korean) I also like how we have a close up of Sam Dong intently staring straight ahead and then when we get our next shot we get the feel that he’s remembering this last conversation with Hye Mi instead of giving us a jump shot to him since his dialogue had come first.
Hye Mi and Sam Dong have their back and forth sad conversation about whether or not Sam Dong should go. I totally love Hye Mi’s transformation throughout this show. I despised her at the beginning of Dream High and loved Baek He until she went crazy. I never expected Hye Mi’s character to have such a journey and it was so awesome and a satisfying surprise to see her story unfold. I don’t remember exactly what dialogue comes in this scene but I love the moments where Hye Mi averts her eyes from Sam Dong, it just demonstrates how hard it is for her to mediate her feelings for him but at the same time she wants him to pursue his dream and not let her get in the way of it.
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| Unfortunately I have many inconsistent screencaps with what I am describing but I promise she does look away! |
Sam Dong then walks away from her and we see the clutched hand of Hye Mi before we cut back to the present and Sam Dong starts out unfocused and as he walks closer his stoic face becomes clear and centered within the shot. I JUST LOVE THIS SHOT…I don’t know why—I just find it visually stunning. On top of that we have the sound of the crowd cheering in the background helping us to build the anticipation along with the sweet music, which also helps. The flow of the music just goes so great as Sam Dong walks slowly up the stair step by step as he is about to perform. I think the choppy shots of the dancers on stage also help to make this sequence visually stunning (I’ll use this term a lot—I have an inability to think of any other way to express it). I like how Sam Dong takes out his ear piece passing it on to the stage crew member. I also just don’t know how I feel about Sam Dong’s last line being in English…for some reason its weird for me…probably because I speak English and just would not expect that. It’s a pretty sweet last line though. “Are you sure? Are you ready to go?” “I always am.” Props for the confidence Sam Dong!!
Sam Dong steps up to the hypothetical plate (love the positioning of the light in this shot as well) and then he flies.
To be honest upon first seeing the freeze of him in the air was really weird and I didn’t like it but once again as I have watched it over and over again I have come to love it and its one of my top 5 shots in this ending sequence.
We then transition from Sam Dong to Hye Mi’s own performance. I really enjoy the parallels between the two careers. Sam Dong has obviously ‘made it big’ as he performs overseas and his career is all about the artistic and flashiness of performance versus Hey Mi who seems to have had a successful but smaller and more reserved career as she gives her 100th concert in a simple dress, on a simple stage, with simple lighting, and in attendance are her fellow Kirin classmates. PLUS! Did anyone else notice that the same lighting that lit up Sam Dong before his performance is also the same light in the next shot with Hye Mi…CONNECTION!!! And it hits them in the exact same way in both shots.
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| Once again this screencap is a big inconsistent but those of you who have seen it know that there is a similarity in the framing of them and the light. |
Hye Mi then starts singing Only Hope from A Walk to Remember and as we get farther into the song we get a flashback to the beginning of the series when Sam Dong chases after Hye Mi on the bus and she lies to him and tells him that she likes him. Hye Mi’s singing ends and we once again return to years earlier where the roles have turned and its Hye Mi’s turn to chase after Sam Dong leaving on a bus. Don’t you just love it when series do reversals like this? ^_^
This time around though feelings have changed and both characters have grown…there is no longer any lies or fakeness (is that a word?) from either side. Hye Mi catches up to the bus and Sam Dong eagerly opens the window for her. She slips the pendant on around his neck and then the Sam Dong-Hye Mi shippers finally get their kiss.
Those of us who have seen A Walk to Remember, let’s be honest, this scene is twice as heartbreaking because we have seen A Walk to Remember and the associations we have with this song and that heartbreaking ending carries over into Hye Mi’s rendition and at least for me, gives me the sense that this separation is permanent with no hope because the ending of A Walk to Remember is a permanent separation. With that comment aside though I really love how the sequence of the ending was set up, we know that they are not together far before its over but they money shot (a.k.a. the kiss) was left till the very end, which served as a satisfying ending shot that shows us how far they have come, how they have completely switched positions, and how their feelings for each other are solidified with a parting kiss and a really (great) intense stare between the two.
The biggest debate going on in my mind after I first saw the ending was whether or not I found the series worth buying anymore…As with all of my initial reactions to this ending, this was just one more opinion that changed with time. Dream High was awesome and I think that it rose on my awesomeness scale through such an amazing and visually stunning ending. Thanks for reading my ridiculously long blabbering :)
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