Twinkle Twinkle

Twinkle Twinkle ("Banjjak Banjjak Bitnaneun", also known as Sparkling / All That Glitters / Shining) is a 2011 South Korean Drama centered on a publishing house. Currently an ongoing series of 50 episodes running on the Korean Broadcast Station (as of June 2011).

Han Jung Won is the daughter of a successful publisher, working as one of the editors. She is hoping her father will promote her to editor-in-chief; the problem is, he has already offered the position to an obscure reporter, Song Seung Joon, with whom she has had a previous unfortunate run-in.

In the meantime, Hwang Geum Ran is an employee in a bookstore, quietly living her life and helping her Jerkass fiancé, Yoon Seung Jae, further his career. Her good friend is Kang Dae Bum, who is studying for the bar exam along with Seung Jae.

It's discovered on the eve of their 29th birthday that they were switched at birth at the hospital, leading to family chaos, poor vs rich arguments, and other dramatic devices. The series touches on whether your birth or your upbringing ultimately are most important to your happiness.

The lives of both families intertwine in the best Soap Opera fashion, with tears, laughs, and WTF moments.


 * All Women Love Shoes: The heel heights and styles shown almost go into Impossibly Cool Clothes.
 * Alone in a Crowd: Jung Won and Seung Joon meet at a busy movie theater.
 * Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Geum Ran, once she finds out.
 * Break the Cutie: Jung Won, who eventually loses her original family, home, and position in the publishing house.
 * Caught in the Rain: Seung Joon runs out to find Jung Won in Episode 26. She ends up in his apartment wearing his clothes while hers dry.
 * Cherry Blossom: Jung Won takes her biological mother driving along the cherry tree-lined streets of a park in Seoul. It's a bittersweet scene because they both are aware that her mom has a degenerative condition in her eyes and that she may be blind the next time the trees blossom.
 * Corrupt the Cutie: Geum Ran decides to trade her personal integrity in for bitter retaliation, using the Freudian Excuse that she was treated poorly during her first three decades.
 * CPR: Clean, Pretty, Reliable: Jung Won receives this from Seung Joon.
 * Dogged Nice Guy: Kang Dae Bum
 * Door Step Baby: Left with Kang Dae Bum
 * Every Girl Is Cuter With Hair Decs: Jung Won
 * Evil Matriarch: Jung Won's rich mother, who dumps her for her biological child, and Seung Joon's mother, who plans to destroy anyone who gets between her son and the woman she's chosen for his bride.
 * Expository Hairstyle Change: Both the female leads frequently change their hair length / color / curl on a regular basis.
 * Family Business: The Tree of Wisdom Publishing House.
 * Fiery Coverup: Granny's secret warehouse of loan shark stuff and money is blown up and burns while she is being held a the police station.
 * Hollywood Tone Deaf: Jung Won, who loves to sing K Pop and Trot tunelessly. I mean, really tunelessly.
 * Hospital Gurney Scene:.
 * Kick the Dog: Yoon Seung Jae, when he dumps his fiancee Guem Ran in hope of snaring a rich wife. Then he stops chasing Jung Won and starts chasing Guem Ran once he finds out she's the rich family's daughter.
 * Local Hangout: Sueng Joon's mother's blood sausage (Korean "soondae") shop, where a lot of soujo is drunk, and there's usually a litter of small green bottles.
 * Loan Shark: Han Jung Won's biological father, who owes almost 600,000 dollars.
 * Love Dodecahedron: Two guys, two girls, two rich, two poor...
 * Mama Bear: Seung Joon's mom (nicknamed Polar Bear) goes ballistic when she finds out Jung Won's parents refused his proposal.
 * Married to the Job: Han Jung Won
 * My Beloved Smother: Seung Joon's mother, who has decided to choose his wife in the best I Want Grandkids tradition.
 * My Secret Pregnancy: Former Editor En Li Jing.
 * Nosebleed: Uncle spots his first love in Episode 23.
 * Punch Clock Villain: The two small time loan sharks start taking orders from Grandma Polar Bear.
 * Ramen Slurp
 * Shirtless Scene: Dae Bum in Episode 29. All the Hwang girls get to peek.
 * Switched At Birth: Jung Won and Guem Ran
 * Together Umbrella: Jung Won and Sueng Joon, in episode 15.
 * Wounded Gazelle Gambit: Geum Ran tries to elicit sympathy and cause a schism between Jung Won and her mother in Episode 16.
 * Workaholic: Han Jung Won
 * Workaholic: Han Jung Won