Thirty-Nine (2022)

Wasted potential and focus on the incorrect character

As stated by others: This entire show is one huge wasted opportunity.
At first I was so excited to see a show about women in their 30s (almost 40s!). And with every episode I kept hoping that the show would get a little better. No such luck.
In terms of pluses:
The two "supporting" female leads were astonishingly excellent in terms of acting. Not being familiar with their prior work, it really took me by surprise -- I looked them up just to see what else I can catch them in.
The Joo-hee storyline was, by far, the most engaging. Again, as others have written, it was the story that made the most sense / was most realistic, and that made one care about the character.
The lovely, functional, supportive, and loving families depicted around the characters were a nice change from many Kdramas.
Now, for the negatives....
Primarily, the focus on MiJoo. How is it, that a supposed lead in a drama is diagnosed with terminal cancer, and she is not the true lead of the show??? Or at least on equal footing with anyone else? Maybe if MiJoo's story were more compelling, it could have worked out, but her story (and there is no "arc" to it, or character development) is just as many (boring) reveals and opportunities to show the character cry as the writers could cram into the script.
Unfortunately, the show's strength is also a weakness here: Because Kim Ji-hyun and Jeon Mi-do do such a spectacular job acting in their parts, it is somewhat jarring to compare Son Ye-jin's performance -- one can see how artificial it is in contrast to the realistic acting style of the other two actresses. I have seen SYJ in other shows, which I enjoyed more -- I think she was somewhat miscast here, with the part asking too much of her. I tended to speed through her bits in the later episodes.
Secondarily: The story is just so boring. Not depressing (which would make sense), but just -- eh.
I will not be rewatching -- have a feeling that I would get even more frustrated with the show. Maybe can find a compilation of just Kim Ji-hyun's scenes somewhere on YouTube.

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A Sad and Disappointing Story about Friends

This drama had so much potential but ended up being average at best.

We have three long-time friends who are not at all equals in this series. Mijo proves to be the main lead and hogs up most of the screen time with her lukewarm love story and grief. Chanyoung is gifted with a terminal cancer diagnosis and ultimately an ill-fated relationship. Joohee is the forgotten and left out friend who gets the least screen time even though I would've loved to see noona get that action because she finally gets it offscreen.

As someone who had someone very close to me pass from cancer at a similar age to Chanyoung, the story itself would speak to me and would be relatable in that regard. I can appreciate a story about a younger person suffering from cancer because unfortunately it happens. However, for some bizarre reason, Chanyoung's initial cancer diagnosis was shared with *Mijo* first and not her - thus giving Mijo the spotlight over Chanyoung over her own cancer. We end up seeing a lot of Mijo's grief throughout the series, so much that I would've rather seen her less. Her love story with Seonu was unremarkable and nothing to be excited about but he got a good chunk of screen time. We also end up being subjected to Seonu's unpleasant stereotypical awful dad and struggling adopted sister which I don't think really add to the story.

The series was all around well acted (Jinseok by far impressed me) and definitely brought me to tears at points. But I wish it were more balanced between the three friends. I would have loved for Joohee to have been a main player and to see her relationship actually develop. The finale was well done, so I will give them that. But I don't really recommend sitting through the whole series just to get to that point where you taste the bittersweetness and sadness of a trio of friends down to two.

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Heartwarming, yet missing something...

I really liked this kdrama! I loved the main theme of friendship between three women at the age of 39. Chan-Young being a terminally ill character was heartbreaking to watch, but nevertheless showed the deep bond the three women shared. I loved each of their romantic storylines too, all three of the male characters were great in their own way. My favorite couple was Joo-Hee and Hyun-Joon! I really wish we had seen more of their story, and quite frankly more of Joo-Hee. The only aspect of this kdrama that I wish had been approached in a different way was the character of Joo-Hee. We focused way too much on Mi-Joo's character throughout the entire thing and her feelings about Chan-Young. Even Chan-Young wasn't given enough space in the story. And when she was, we were solely focused on the friendship between Mi-Joo and Chan-Young, and I felt bad for Joo-hee always being the one left out of the know. Also, it seemed like Mi-Joo and Chan-Young had a much stronger friendship with each other than either of them did with Joo-Hee, which I wish had been the opposite. If there are three friends in the story, then there should have been a balance among the three. I really liked Joo-Hee's character and really wish I had seen more of her. Apart, from that, the kdrama overall was fun to watch, it made me laugh and cry, and all the supporting characters were loveable!

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A good drama let down by its marketing and expectations

Thirty-Nine starts as a peek into the lives of 3 middle-aged women who have been inseparable for nearly 30 years, when suddenly one of them receives a terminal cancer diagnosis. What follows is an emotional and often heart-wrenching story about how the bonds you form with others are stronger than the ones you are expected to have, and about the sacrifices and hardships that go into caring for someone so deeply.

The story and acting are often supported by Jeon Mi Do (playing Jeon Chan Young) and Lee Moo Saeng (playing Kim Jin Seok), who are both excellent and often have the most emotional scenes in the drama. The rest of the cast are relatively boring or bland, and often have short story arcs that only serve to wrap up into a happy ending where every character is satisfied.

The marketing for this drama will ultimately be its downfall and why it won't be rated higher. Son Ye Jin (playing Cha Mi Jo) turns out to be the main actress in this drama, despite the descriptions and summaries promoting it as a story about three friends. Cha Mi Jo's story arc is predictable and drags on through the middle of the drama. The other actresses showed interest in Son Ye Jin taking a larger role in this drama since they are both relatively new to the acting scene, but it only takes away from the story. Kim Ji Hyun (playing Jang Joo Hee) took the backseat in this drama, which is a shame because her acting has been great, and her character's story of continuing to live from home into your thirties and working a unsatisfactory job could have been a relatable tone to strike with viewers.

Is this the best drama about friendship? Certainly not. But it is not as bad or poorly written as others make it seem, as long as you do not read or watch anything about the drama before starting it.

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True Family and Friends Are Forever

The central themes of this series are friends and family, and what exactly makes someone family. In many cultures, biological parents--no matter what--are given unlimited respect, even when love isn't present. As it was stated in "Boyz and the Hood:" Any fool can make a baby, but only a real person can be a parent. Of course, I'm paraphrasing, but that is the gist, and there is a lot of truth here.

There are still those that might feel that adoptive parents can never be real parents. This is a lie...as much of a lie as saying that a biological parent is the only requirement needed. Mi-Jo's mother and Seon-Woo's father are despicable people who can never call themselves a "mother" or a "father."

Frankly, there are a lot of people who shouldn't be parents; those who are incapable of accepting the responsibility to love and be there for their kids. We see several examples of this throughout this series.

The series centers around three women, all of whom are thirty-nine, and have been best friends since high school. We quickly see just how involved they are in each other's lives, how much they love and care for each other. The strength of that bond is put to the ultimate test when one of them finds out that she is terminally ill.

While this may seem like a melodramatic plot, it really isn't. I am constantly amazed by Korean series and the actors and actresses who are able to simply "be real" in these types of situations. It's not too much and it's not too light. Perhaps that is why they are able to make the audience feel what they are feeling so acutely.

The three leads have undeniable chemistry as three besties! Chan-Young (Jeon Mi Do from "Hospital Playlist), Mi-Jo (Son Ye Jin from "Crash Landing On You" and Joo-Hee (Kim Ji Hyun). There is laughter, teasing and light bickering, joy and tender moments when these three are in a scene together.

What impresses me the most about this series is how family and friends are always there for each other through thick and thin, and it feels absolutely genuine, and this is tested when the time on this Earth is going to be cut short for one of them. We see how this affects each person who's intimately involved.

There's no denying the acting strength of the entire cast, but Joo-Hee (Kim Ji Hyun) was my favorite. She's the somewhat shy and slightly aloof member of the trio. She gives us grace through soft, warm smiles, and it would be a mistake to perceive her as being weak, when she, in fact, has a quiet strength. The scene at the department store with a very rude customer is a testament to this.

The other performance that impressed me was that ofJin-Seok (Lee Moo Saeng) as Cha-Young's love interest. When his voice cracks and goes high-pitch with raw emotion in several exchanges with Cha-Young, made me choke up a few times.

I also loved how these characters never gave in to abuse or intolerance. Mi-Jo's confrontation was a thing of beauty; nearly as impressive as Seon-Woo's showdown with his father.

The last episode will be a tough one to get through. Even when you know what's about to happen. That's the hallmark of great writing and storytelling; when you know what's coming, and it gets you anyway.

I dare anyone to get through the brunch scene with a dry eye, or the video message that Cha-Young leaves for Mi-Jo. Both were absolute scenes of beauty.

There aren't enough shows out there that truly showcase the power of family and friends; that demonstrate that love and being there for each other are the pillars of true relationships. If you don't already have such people in your life, this show may make you wish that you had. It will also challenge you not to take your loved ones for granted. We never know how much time we have with them. Spend it with love and devotion. In the end, Cha-Young is correct: quality is always more important than quantity!

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A heartwarming and heart-wrenching story

I just finished watching 39 and I am broken. I cried so much during that last episode that my eyes are so tired from the crying. I really enjoyed this drama, a lot more than I expected to. I saw the ratings and read the reviews beforehand so I wasn't sure if I should even watch this drama. But the reviews probably helped warn me in what to expect so that I wasn't disappointed like so many other reviewers. For me, since I knew Mi-Jo was going to be the main narrator, I didn't think her obstacles and stories were out of place. We were seeing things mostly through her eyes so of course, the story will focus on not only Chan-young but her love life and biological mother as well. But I do agree with the other reviews. I think it would've been better to see more equal screen time amongst the three female leads. I felt especially bad for Joo Hee because her story was basically pushed off to the side and didn't fully develop. Joo Hee made it clear that she felt left out amongst the three of them, yet it seemed like even after she spoke up, the two continued as they were and nothing was actually changed in Joo Hee's situation. And although we knew Hyun Joon and Joo Hee were going to be together, I wanted to see how it played out, but we only got the end result.
But overall, I really enjoyed seeing the wholesome and heartwarming friendship of the three female leads with their respective male counterparts. I enjoyed seeing the love that they all had for each other and how they were so supportive of each other. The last episode was obviously the most emotional but I think it was done beautifully, especially the brunch scene. I felt all the emotions and cried my little heart out. So for me, this drama gets a pretty good rating on my list.

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It's OK.

Hello! So I just finished the series. TBH my major drive to watch this series till the end is to see how exactly they would capture the events after the loss of one dear friend of a group and also to see if Ji-hyun(the one who plays Ji-hoo) gets more screen time. Well, the series got its end pretty well, they made sure it's heart breaking but not to the point that you can't move on from the drama. But my other wish to watch Ji-hyun ssi for longer duration isn't fulfilled and I am highly disappointed for it. This series being categorised into slice-of-life genre seemed less of it and more of a romance with a dying supporting cast. Might sound harsh and would feel like I'm dissing all the efforts the crew had put in making this series, but they missed/got lost on capturing the true essence of a friends trio. It was more like a main lead, her love life and her friends. Of them one is dying while the other is ready to read the script. They should have worked harder in the trio portrayal. They DIDN'T do enough justice to the friendship. And I HATE it. Now I don't even want to talk about the friends'(Chan-young and Ji-hoo) love lives. Okay they atleast have shown Chan-young's till the extent they should. But they CLEARLY yeeted out Ji-hoo's story, as if it isn't important at all. I liked the story. The acting is good too. While being happy with the takeaway/lesson 'to cherish things while they last', I am more than just disappointed about the their failed portrayal of the friendship. I'd like to clarify again that the reason I watched this series was to see how they'd tackle a friend's death, it's consequences and Ji-hyun ssi's screen time.

Would I rewatch this? No. But if I ever do, it's only for Chan-young and Jin-seok. Sorry Ji-hoo, they made your story so short, I can just find your clips on YouTube.

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An Opportunity Missed

This is a drama that promises a lot and has the ingredients to be awesome - but its problematic narrative, haphazard execution and difficulties with its plot line lets it down brutally. I’m a Kdrama enthusiast with an unholy amount of patience but this show defeated my better angels.

This slice-of-life drama tells the story of three female protagonists – Mi-jo, Chan-young & Joo Hee – on the cusp of turning forty and navigating their way through the realities of life and love. Two of those realities are their common rejection of social and cultural expectations combined with their offers of unconditional support to each other as their special friendship is cruelly truncated by the terminal illness of one of the women.

On closer inspection, it’s a story with one protagonist, not three. A flaw which would have proved less lethal to a better written script. There are some important ideas here about love, friendship, family and loss but most of them are too thinly sketched and as a result lack emotional resonance.

The main character Mi-jo is played by Son Ye-jin, an actress whose performance I enjoyed immensely on CLOY, but even I spent a large part of my time while watching this drama wondering why she cried more often than Chan-Young, the character with a terminal illness. She is the biggest star in the series - but I felt that the huge spotlight on her character did a great disservice to this drama. It stunted it; whereas exploring the lives of the other female characters equally would have given this drama the much-needed boost it required.

Watching Mi-Jo make Chan-Young’s terminal illness about herself, with large parts of the drama dedicated to her feelings and how Chan-Young’s death is going to affect her felt paternalistic and annoying. I get that she’s a doctor - but I longed to see her decentre herself, restrain her easily wounded eyes and show her best friend empathy without paternalism.

My conclusion is that the plot of this show misses an opportunity. A deeply emotive story about a woman dealing with the distress of a terminal illness was sidelined in favour of an insipid romance (between Mi-jo & Seon-woo) that doesn’t draw you in any way. Not even the sight of Mi-jo’s boyfriend running to her rescue every time she needed a shoulder to cry on, like superman emerging from a phone booth, could make me stan their relationship. If I’m being entirely honest, I was glad they had fewer scenes alone by the time the story concluded.

Side note: the sight of their awkward amorous scene in the first episode of the drama was a sign to me not to expect much more in later episodes. 

I have to say however that for the most part, the acting in this drama was of very high calibre – one of its saving graces. But it suffered from a weak desultory script; too many subplots were given less time than they deserved. 

The final episode of this drama is its greatest achievement by far, although it was somewhat ruined by a) the decision to fast forward past the funeral ( why show a shot of a funeral in ep 1 that’s awaiting the characters as they reach the end of the season then gloss over it?) and jump straight to a happy scene afterwards and b) an accident which had been foreshadowed in earlier scenes but never materialised. The point of foreshadowing in a plot is to warn the viewer of something that will happen later.


The scene where Mi-jo watched Chan-Young’s last message to her was a poignant and moving depiction of grief. It was one of the few scenes where I felt an emotional connection to her character.

It would have been nice to see more of Joo Hee’s budding relationship with Hyun Joon and how her decision to forge ahead with her own business panned out. She is very much the third wheel in the friendship (and story) and of all the characters in the show, her storyline feels the most perfunctory. 


Overall this isn’t a terrible show but I’d be lying if I said I’d watch it again or recommend it to someone else for that matter. The concept of the show reeled me in hook, line, and sinker but its execution left a lot to be desired.


This best thing about this show is its depiction of a friendship dynamic between three women which demonstrates that intimacy and closeness isn’t reserved just for romantic partners.

I say three women, but it’s Chan-young and Mi-jo’s closeness that REALLY shows just how much true friendship can be medicine for the soul; it’s about love, support and solidarity.

Close female friendships involve a deeper connection than male friendships because women share a deeper level of intimacy.

For many women, friendships are the greatest loves of their lives and the only reason this isn’t more celebrated is because women are socialised to prioritise romantic love.

But it is our friends who know us best and understand what truly brings us joy. 

Our friendships are life sustaining partnership; they are about building a caring community with people who love you unconditionally.

Many of us will have romantic love come and go in our lives but we more often find that we have long lasting non-romantic love with our closest friends.

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Not Good Enough

Korean Drama "Thirty-Nine" is a drama about three friends and their year while being thirty nine, when tragedy strikes.

The viewer knows right from the start that one of the leads is going to die. A fact that makes the story even more dramatic and bittersweet, as the friends are trying to come to terms with what is about to happen. Their love stories are another part of the story, even though they were the drama's weakest point, as they were cheesy and obvious.

The drama got boring and predictable towards the ending as well. One would have anticipated that the emotional level will keep rising to hit its peak in the end, but the drama just got tiring to watch, with the ending losing its emotional impact due to that.

As for the performances, they were all great as it's expected from a star-packed cast.

So, overall, four out of ten.

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Such a Disappointment

Had very high expectations from this show, considering stellar cast. However, I'm six episodes down and its clear this drama would become a flop as it's heading towards straight disappointment.

My pain points with this show:

1) More screentime of Seonwoo (the bland and boring personality main lead whose only talent is to be at the right place and right time - to assist Mijo when she's distressed)

2) Lack of chemistry between Seonwoo and Mijo - it looks like the ML here was added just to act as a support system for FL rather than a potential love interest - considering his one dimensional personality being portrayed here.

3) less screentime of Johee - we writers would want to know why shes still singe and still lives with her mother at the age of 39 - which is a shocker really

4) more romance than friendship - more screentime is being given to romance between leads (which is boring AF) rather than Female leads in this show - idk the writer doesn't seem to get this hint that this show is supposed to show friendship aspect.

5) Mijo inserting herself in every situation : again the writer seems to have forgotten that Chan Young is the one who has terminal illness - the viewers would like to see her perspective more - rather funnily enough - we see the perspective of her friend Mijo - on how she would cope up with pain (we couldn't care less about her suffering and her crying lol) . It feels like a Mijo show where everything revolves around her - and her boring ML who's only role is to appear from absolutely anywhere and offer comfort. *Eye roll*

6) Episode 3 of this show was BAD , REALLY BAD : nothing more can be said about this because my hand would start paining if I start writing about criticism of this episode specifically.

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The Story Telling is Super Slow & Not Focus

The drama has a good start from the 1st - 6th episode. The plot arrangement then becoming worst at 7th episode -for example what happen after Chan Yeong and Jin Seok caught by accident? - Is this incident is for real or is it in their dream? We expect something related to the plot at 8th episode but nothing happen. The accident scene stop at 7th episode without any explanation to it. The drama is strong because of the 3 cast. We love the drama at start, it kills with boredom and make me sleepy and I slept in the middle of show...8th episode even worst... We are going nowhere except bored.

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Thirty-nine is a slow paced, “eventless” drama that focuses on the characters and their relationships, when faced with a tragedy that cannot be stopped, while trying to keep their lives moving.

Honestly speaking, half way through the show I was not sure what exactly happened. Each episode was rather repetitive with just a few details changed here and there. I felt like the drama lacks focus, the core plot that would drive the characters forward. Rather, we had different stories for different characters that seemed separate in their tone.

While the drama does a really good job at presenting the friendship between the three female leads, I can’t do anything about being disappointed with the romance. Son Ye Jin and Yeon Woo Jin have little on screen chemistry, and their characters do not present an interesting dynamic to watch. Chan Young and Jin Seok’s situation is too over the top and makjang like for this type of a story. Joo Hee and Hyun Joon were the only pairing that worked well on screen, had great chemistry and a well built romance that was entertaining to follow, but with each episode, it got less and less screen time.

The disappointing love lines could be forgiven if they were not such an integral and important part of the plot, taking quite a portion of the screen time. Not to mention, realistically speaking, not every character needs a love line of their own.

Since the show tackles so many different issues, most of them are not explored enough. Some of the topics introduced are adoption (relationship between the child, biological parents and adoptive parents, views of the society on the adoptees, identity issues revolving around it), terminal illness (pain it causes the person who has it and their family/friends, accepting the inevitable, different choices concerning treatment or lack of it), emotional cheating and complicated romantic relationships, starting over with new passions and dreams at 39, and honestly speaking, probably more.

Even though the drama has three female leads, it’s a fact that Son Ye Jin stole all the spotlight. Jeon Mi Do’s portrayal of Jeong Chan Young did not leave any room for improvement, especially taking into consideration the complex situation the character was in.
While I enjoyed Kim Ji Hyun a lot, the character was written in a way that required less work. She did amazing with what was given for her, sadly she was often kept on the sidelines. Jang Joo Hee was there to fill the space as a 3rd friend. Which is a bummer, since the history of that character would perfectly fit into the story if utilized correctly.

The production was great, though the story telling itself could have been improved. Some essential information about the characters and their relationships could have been explored a little bit earlier - keeping me in the dark didn’t make me more curious about the plot, but rather frustrated me, since I did not understand the context of the events happening on screen. Another thing that kind of bothered me closer to the end of the show - they did not care about realism. Made sure everyone looks stunning and has full make up, not matter the circumstances the characters were going through.

The original songs, while truly good, were exactly what one would expect from a drama like that. None caught my attention, but they did fit the scenes they were played for.

Overall, it’s a really slow drama with a great beginning that loses the spark around the middle point. It had some great heartwarming moments, but a few gems cannot make this drama amazing. If only the middle part was as good as the last episode, which was truly a masterpiece.

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