Forever climbing Stairway to Heaven

When given the opportunity to write a love story, we would certainly choose to do one on love and frustration that leaves an indelible mark on one’s heart. Such was the experience we had after watching Stairway to Heaven. We couldn’t let go of the story. It haunted us, and we were eager to learn more.

Suddenly, it was no longer a problem that we couldn’t understand the language spoken. By the sheer tone of one’s voice, we could tell if the person was happy or sad, angry, grateful and frustrated. We found climbing the Stairway to Heaven simple and most enjoyable. How did all these begin?           

Stairway to Heaven is a 2003 South Korean TV series featuring Korean stars Choi Ji-woo as Jodi Han and Kwon Sang-Woo as Cholo Cha, who had been good friends since childhood. Theirs was a special relationship that blossomed into love. They both had shared the loss of a beloved person — Cholo’s father had died in a traffic accident and Jodi’s mother had died of eye cancer. Jodi’s father (Ha Jae-young) married actress Maita (Lee Hui-hyang), who brought her real daughter Eunice (Kim Tae-Hee), and son Tristan (Shin Hyeon-Jun) into the household.

Eunice had always been jealous of Jodi, making her look terrible in front of her mother. When Jodi’s father would leave for work, her stepmother would assault her, destroying Jodi’s attempts to study abroad with Cholo, who left for America alone. Three years later, Cholo returns from America, Jodi rushes to greet him and a jealous Eunice tries to stop them from reuniting. While racing to the airport, Eunice intentionally hits Jodi with her car and is taken to the hospital where some people had died. Eunice swaps Jodi’s ID with someone who had died to fake her death. She takes the real Jodi to her biological father’s home. Tristan, still in love with Jodi, finds out what Eunice has done, seizes the opportunity to run away with Jodi. Jodi loses her memory while Tristan moves them away and changes their names. Five years later, Eunice is now engaged to Cholo who has decided that he needs to let go of Jodi and goes to the carousel they used to ride as children.

Jodi, now named Kim Ji-soo, works at a small clothing shop while living with Tristan. Cholo rushes to Ji-soo and tells her that she is Jodi, but she doesn’t believe him. Jodi regains her memory when Eunice nearly hits her with her car again and rushes to tell Cholo about it. She forgives Tristan as she knows he did it out of love. Jodi and Cholo are happy together, until she discovers she has eye cancer, asks Tristan to take her away from Cholo, since she can’t bear to see him in pain. Gradually, Jodi’s vision deteriorates into blindness. Tristan tells Cholo and his family the truth starting from the accident.

Cholo marries Jodi, who is now blind, with the blessing of his mother and her father. Jodi tells Tristan that her one wish is to see Cholo’s face one last time. Both Cholo and Tristan ask a doctor to let them give Jodi one of their corneas, but the doctor tells them that they can’t take corneas from live donors. Tristan commits suicide in order to donate his corneas to her.

After Tristan’s death, Jodi has the operation and is able to see again. When Cholo finds out about Tristan’s death, he tells Jodi who starts feeling sick again. The doctor states that the tumor has spread to her brain and is inoperable. Jodi, realizing this, forgives Maita and Eunice, who are both feeling remorse for their sins. Jodi dies a few days later at the seaside near her childhood home, in the arms of Cholo.

According to its background on Wikipedia: “In 2004, the broadcast rights were sold to Japan for 1.2 billion, a record price for a Korean drama export. It aired on cable channel KNTV June 4 to Oct. 29, 2005, as third most popular Korean drama in Japan, in the Philippines on the GMA Network in 2004, receiving peak viewership rating of 41.5 percent, making it one of the highest rated shows of all time in the country. In 2005, broadcasting rights were sold to eight countries across South and Central America, including Mexico, Peru and Costa Rica.”

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