And another lovely drama comes to a close. I think that I have said this before, but there have been a lot of really good dramas this year. That's not to say that this drama didn't have it's faults, but some of the over the topness in the beginning can be forgiven for the great ending that it had. In Dramaland, endings are very hit or miss, but I think that this ending was a home run. It was beautiful.
I'm also wondering how to talk about one of the characters without putting in any spoilers. If you have seen the drama then you know who I am talking about. His whole existence is a spoiler so I will do my best to keep it as unspoilery as possible and make a warning if I say something that people may want to avoid.
So, this drama stars the lovely Gong Hyo Jin as Hye Soo, a fellow in the psychiatry department of a hospital and Jo In Sung as Jae Yeol, a mystery writer and radio DJ. This all sounds simple enough but everyone in this drama has their demons that they must overcome. Jae Yeol is OCD and Hye Soo has a panic disorder when it comes to physical intimacy.
With both of our characters having mental issues, one being a psychiatrist, and also finding that Jae Yeol's issues are deeper than we initially thought, this drama is all about (surprise!) mental illnesses and how people deal with them in the hospital and outside the hospital. I thought that it was interesting that this would be a topic of a drama because mental illnesses are something that Korea doesn't talk about a lot. It's a taboo topic everywhere but more so here. That being said, all the mental illnesses were very much romanticized and either watered down or amped up. Not that I expected a true telling of how people with mental illnesses acted, but sometimes the way that they were handled in the drama was a little strange.
I think that one of my favorite patients in the drama was the depressed, suicidal, transgender patient. The writer just went for a triple whammy and I think that it was written very well and the story was very relevant to things that are happening today. But then the writer did a 180 and you have the boy who hates his mother and is always drawing pictures of genitalia...........
Okay, so that picture doesn't have anything to do with the above paragraph, but a picture that was related would be weird and I wanted to use this picture because, seriously, how cute is D.O?
For the main characters' issues they were very interesting and I liked how they shaped the story, but the way they were written was sometimes odd. Hye Soo and especially Jae Yeol had these huge issues, but then one day they were just gone. They had been struggling for years with their problems and once they decided to get over their problem, or thought really hard, they were gone. They did get over things with the medicine called love though and that is some of the most potent stuff in all of Dramaland.
The last thing that I want to mention are the two characters Soo Kwang played by Kwang Soo who has Tourette syndrome and Kang Woo played by EXO's D.O an aspiring writer and Jae Yeol's number one fan. The only thing that I had seen Kwang Soo in was City Hunter and his cameo in Dating Agency: Cyrano and this was D.O's acting debut. Kwang Soo was amazing as Soo Kwang and I read an article that said he was determined to do a good job with his illness so as not to make a mockery of it. Best moment for Kwang Soo's acting? The kiss he has with So Nyeo in the garden. Is that a spoiler? You kind of know that they will get together, so I don't think so............ Sorry?
The other actor, as I said, is D.O. At first, I didn't know how I felt about D.O's acting. I wan't sure if I liked it but I quickly changed my mind about that. For his first acting job, he did very well and there are a few articles about the director and other actors saying how well they thought D.O did. You go, D.O! Best moment for D.O's acting? The last two episodes, specifically the last one and that is all I am going to say about that. Yes! D.O's paragraph finished and not a spoiler in sight! Virtual five!
When I was talking about this drama with my friends one said that she was iffy about the whole thing up until episodes 13-16 and I wouldn't say that I was iffy about anything, but those last episodes really are the best part of the drama. Everything was wrapped up really well and you were left with many warm fuzzies and the characters had a.........tomato fight? Yes, that's right, this drama ended with our characters throwing tomatoes at each other and even though it's weird, it's endearing and that is what a lot of this drama was. Weird and endearing, but it's okay, that's love.
~ Alora
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