South Korea · Drama · 2011
Scent of a Woman
Synopsis
Lee Yeon-jae is in her mid-thirties, single, and stuck in a dead-end job when she is falsely accused of theft at work. Not long after, a doctor tells her she has terminal gallbladder cancer with roughly six months left to live. Rather than spend that time in treatment, she quits her job, cashes out her savings, and takes the solo trip to Okinawa she always put off.
In Okinawa she runs into Kang Ji-wook, the wealthy son of her former boss, who is nursing his own disappointments. The two fall into an unplanned friendship that turns into something more as Yeon-jae works through a private bucket list, learning tango, traveling, and doing the things she always deferred. Around them, Chae Eun-suk and Im Se-kyung complicate the picture with feelings and history of their own.
The series plays its terminal-illness premise for warmth rather than melodrama, following Yeon-jae as she chooses to live loudly instead of quietly waiting out her diagnosis. It aired on SBS across 16 episodes from July 23 to September 11, 2011.
Scent of a Woman cast
Filming locations
Several episodes were filmed on location in Okinawa, Japan; the production's own coverage of the trip was reported at the time (dramabeans, "Scent of a Woman shoots in Okinawa," July 2011). Within the story, Yeon-jae's Okinawa excursion is guided by a character introduced as her local guide there (NamuWiki), tying the on-screen bucket-list trip to the real shoot. No other filming locations for this production could be independently verified from the sources checked.
Themes and messages
The drama's premise centers on a woman given a terminal diagnosis who chooses to complete a bucket list of dreams rather than spend her remaining time in despair, favoring a life lived deliberately over one spent in fear of death (synopsis per MyDramaList and HanCinema).
The show is credited with helping popularize the term "bucket list" (버킷리스트) in Korean pop culture (NamuWiki).
Interesting facts
Lee Dong-wook was discharged from mandatory military service on June 20, 2011, after two years as a public-affairs officer, and began filming this drama immediately afterward as his first project back (allkpop, June 2011).
Kim Sun-a and Lee Dong-wook first met at the tango practice hall and had to start dancing together right away; Lee said Kim "led me well," which he credited with making the tango scene easier to film than he expected (Soompi interview, 2011).
JYJ's Kim Junsu (Xia) both sang the OST track "You Are So Beautiful" and appeared on-screen in a cameo as a singer character, in a concert scene that aired with episode 5 (Soompi, August 2011).
Actor Namkoong Won's role in this drama marked his only television drama appearance and his final screen role before his death (NamuWiki).
Real-life loves on set
No confirmed off-screen romance between Kim Sun-a and Lee Dong-wook turned up in the sources checked. The pair did win the Best Couple Award at the 2011 SBS Drama Awards, which recognizes on-screen chemistry rather than an actual relationship, and no dating report from Korean entertainment outlets was found.
Episodes
| Ep | Title | Air date | Status | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Episode 1 | 2011-07-23 | Aired | |
| 2 | Episode 2 | 2011-07-24 | Aired | |
| 3 | Episode 3 | 2011-07-30 | Aired | |
| 4 | Episode 4 | 2011-07-31 | Aired | |
| 5 | Episode 5 | 2011-08-06 | Aired | |
| 6 | Episode 6 | 2011-08-07 | Aired | |
| 7 | Episode 7 | 2011-08-13 | Aired | |
| 8 | Episode 8 | 2011-08-14 | Aired | |
| 9 | Episode 9 | 2011-08-20 | Aired | |
| 10 | Episode 10 | 2011-08-21 | Aired | |
| 11 | Episode 11 | 2011-08-27 | Aired | |
| 12 | Episode 12 | 2011-08-28 | Aired | |
| 13 | Episode 13 | 2011-09-03 | Aired | |
| 14 | Episode 14 | 2011-09-04 | Aired | |
| 15 | Episode 15 | 2011-09-10 | Aired | |
| 16 | Episode 16 | 2011-09-11 | Aired | |
| 17 | Episode 17 | 2011-09-17 | Aired | |
| 18 | Episode 18 | 2011-09-18 | Aired |
Awards
| Year | Ceremony | Category | Recipient | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | SBS Drama Awards | Top Excellence Award, Actress in a Weekend/Daily Drama | Kim Sun-a | Won |
| 2011 | SBS Drama Awards | Top Excellence Award, Actor in a Weekend/Daily Drama | Lee Dong-wook | Won |
| 2011 | SBS Drama Awards | Best Couple Award | Kim Sun-a & Lee Dong-wook | Won |
| 2011 | SBS Drama Awards | Excellence Award, Actor in a Weekend/Daily Drama | Um Ki-joon | Nominated |
| 2011 | SBS Drama Awards | Special Acting Award, Actress in a Weekend/Daily Drama | Seo Hyo-rim | Nominated |
| 2011 | SBS Drama Awards | Special Acting Award, Actress in a Weekend/Daily Drama | Kim Hye-ok | Nominated |
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