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Pierce Conran

Lead cast: Kim Hye-ja, Son Suk-ku, Han Ji-min, Lee Jung-eun
Latest Nielsen rating: 6.89 per cent
Those who have pondered what awaits us after we shuffle off this mortal coil probably should not look for answers in Heavenly Ever After, a fantasy drama that imagines the afterlife as a version of Korean society overrun with bureaucracy and pastel colours.
There is an episode halfway through the series that brings us on a tour of hell and all its fire and brimstone, which is nothing like the world we live in. Yet for those who have been good during their mortal lives, the heaven that awaits them in this show must surely be a disappointment.


The afterlife in Heavenly Ever After revolves around the Heaven Support Centre and its myriad rules and programmes. Not following these rules earns you a one-way ticket to hell. No matter how good you were to get into heaven, you need to be even better to stay there.
Residents receive purple grapes each time they break the rules – six berries and you are out – and it does not take much to break them.
Lee Hae-sook, played by screen veteran Kim Hye-ja (Mother), quickly fills up her grape counter with a few light cuss words and by grabbing onto the hair of the amnesiac Som-i (Han Ji-min, Love Scout), who shows up at her doorstep with only one name in her head: that of Hae-sook’s husband Ko Nak-joon (Son Suk-ku, My Liberation Notes).
Though she does ultimately find her way back from hell, Hae-sook learns the hard way that sinning is serious business in heaven.

Speaking of business, capitalism is alive and well in this version of the afterlife. Its denizens earn a form of currency through good deeds, which they use to pay for goods and services. Heaven even has vending machines, which is curious, given that the New Testament states that “the love of money is the root of all evil”.
It is pretty easy to pick apart Heavenly Ever After’s theology because it does not make an effort to present a consistent one.
Rather, the show’s purpose is to concoct a fantasy world mimicking the real one that allows for maximum sentimentality. On that score, the show is a bona fide success, as it manages to be mawkish and manipulative at almost every turn.
Among its cringeworthy components, the most aggressive and cloying are the many interludes involving pets in the afterlife.

When a pet dies in South Korea, as a popular local euphemism goes, they “cross the rainbow bridge”. While the term originated in the West, it is far more commonly used in Korea, and Heavenly Ever After repeatedly delights in scenes of hordes of pet dogs trotting over a rainbow bridge to be reunited with their owners in heaven.
But not all dogs are reunited with their owners. Those who were abandoned by their owners spend most of their time at the Heaven Support Centre, where they engage in a variety of therapy sessions.
It should be noted that these pets mostly take on human form in heaven, including a trio of side characters who keep popping up, even though the writers struggle to connect them to the story.
Heavenly Ever After is more interested in the novelty and sentimental value of its concept than any real story. As it stands, the narrative proceeds through a variety of messy vignettes and haphazard side plots.

These include Hae-sook spending time with and cooking for a lonely pastor played by Ryu Deok-hwan (Nobody Knows), and her dealings with her stern mother-in-law, who suddenly begins to show up every day for no reason.
The closest thing to a main plotline is finding out the identity of the ditsy Som-i, who flounces around in the same slinky clothes every day while trying to retrieve her memories.
Hae-sook briefly mistakes her for her adopted daughter and loan shark assistant Lee Young-ae (Lee Jung-eun), until she happens to bump into Young-ae in hell and brings her back to heaven.
After being suspended from his heaven mailman job for going to hell to try and save Hae-sook, Nak-joon spends his time bringing Som-i to the real world as he helps her remember who she is.

Meanwhile, Hae-sook does not really have much to do, which is not the most encouraging state of affairs for the lead character in a K-drama.
That could change in the remaining third of this 12-part series, but any narrative meat is likely to be complemented by even larger sides of excessive sentimentality.
Heavenly Ever After is streaming on Netflix.


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With only four episodes to go, this Korean drama on Netflix is more interested in the novelty of its concept than any significant plot


With only four episodes to go, this Korean drama on Netflix is more interested in the novelty of its concept than any significant plot.


Netflix K-drama Heavenly Ever After midseason recap: jumbled with no real story

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}With only four episodes to go, this Korean drama on Netflix is more interested in the novelty of its concept than any significant plot

With only four episodes to go, this Korean drama on Netflix is more interested in the novelty of its concept than any significant plot