It's Okay to Not Be Okay

I was very skeptical, but ended up liking it. Like other Korean series, this one had some tone-deaf spots, plus an awfully long running time per episode, but I didn't find any other major "flaws" that would prevent it from making for a comfortable viewing. Sure, it's not a traditional Korean romance, but I guess that's what makes the series so good. At the beginning, because of the main nursing character's expression, I thought that either this Kim Soo-hyun had forgotten how to act during his break from acting, or he's just playing his character exactly as he's supposed to: rather hard to read, with a weird fake expression. I give it 4 stars, you can guess how it ended up being. Considering his character was supposed to be such a bland, flavorless character, he couldn't really shine; he was mainly playing an ordinary guy and they can't even let that shine on screen. But in his place the heroine, played by Seo Yea-ji, was brilliant, and damn did she play it well. I'm not just talking about her extravagant gowns, which suited her perfectly, but also the nature of the heroine, a whimsical child hiding behind a tough adult. And speaking of kids, the mentally challenged older brother played by Oh Jung-se was great. It wasn't so much the way he spoke, but all the little or bigger gestures and movements he made. The wiping of his nose, the unnecessary extra steps, the back and forth, the hand movements. Awesome. Those three were central characters, but I also loved this series because of the supporting characters, whether it was the director of the institute, the friend who always follows the brothers wherever they go, the landlady and her daughter, or the co-founder of the book publishing company and his subordinate who pretends to be younger. They all had their own thing going on, they stuck to it, they didn't break out of their characters, which weren't two-dimensional. They were all unusually ordinary and together they were terribly comfortable. There were a lot of little things I liked about the show, including the fact that the climax basically came in episode 14 and we kind of floundered for the last two episodes. But it was different from the way other shows tend to do it, where they still hastily come up with some kind of hilarious twist, because these two episodes made sense. Of course, I understand that some may find it long, boring and with too few awesome dates, but I'm awfully glad to have gotten out of Seoul and to the sea, even if it was to the mentally disturbed. I guess I liked it mostly because despite everything (the premise, the main character, the murder of her mother) it stays grounded. A little slice of life. A strong 4 stars. (09/01/2020)

When a friend recommended the series to me, saying "the lead actress is so pretty", I nodded back with a smile, thinking that while Ye-ji Seo is hot as hell, my main interest would probably be elsewhere. It was a mistake to underestimate her power and female charisma and think I would be immune to it. For me personally, Ye-ji Seo is turning into something like a drug from now on. Soo-hyeon Kim was great and getting better all the time, but he mostly didn't have a chance to steal a scene for himself. (Then again, when the script allowed him to, he did.) Not only did he have this gorgeous, charismatic woman next to him, but his older colleague Jeong-se Oh was next to him scoring points as his brother in what is thus far (in my opinion) the role of his career. His autism was perfect and can only salute him. Wordless, but down to earth. Although I had originally planned to do so, I ultimately see no reason to go on here about my concerns about the quality and authenticity of the series, which were formed based on the previews and promotion of the series. After all, that was silly. Anyway, I'm overflowing with feelings and my head is full of thoughts. Trying to somehow organize them would probably be futile right now, so I'll just end this for now (and maybe forever) by saying that I've gone to depths I’ve never known through these stories. This is true love, 5 stars. (10/31/2020)