|
|
I wanted to like this show because the premise is very unusual. A young man (Kim Soo-Hyun playing Moon Gang-Tae) is the sole caregiver to his mentally and emotionally impaired older brother (played by Jeong-se Oh as Moon Sang-Tae).
Gang-Tae also works as a caregiver in a succession of mental health care facilities. The brothers constantly move from place to place as a result of Sang-Tae 'acting out', often in the form of panicked episodes based on his fear of butterflies.
A famous writer of dark, twisted fairy tales (Seo Ye-ji as Go Moon Young) is worshipped by Sang-Tae for her stories and illustrations. Inevitably, Gang-Tae crosses paths with Moon Young, not realizing he knew her when they were both very young where he was severely traumatized by her behavior. As adults, Moon Young now relentlessly pursues Gang-Tae and the storyline goes from there.
I'm four episodes in and I can see why this K-drama was not very well-received when it initially ran in South Korea. The character of Moon Young is written as an extremely annoying, privileged, prima donna who has childhood secrets and traumas of her own. However, it's hard to care because she's been written as such an exasperating person with a spoiled, cruel attitude and actions to match. I'm finding her tediously painful to watch. Sadly, this leaves the role of Gang-Tae reduced to a series of blank stares, speechless moments and zero emotional range. The secondary roles of a male and female friend to the brothers are relegated to sounding boards and only used as filler to round out the story.
I'll try to finish "It's Okay to not be Okay", but I can't commit to it. The pacing is off, and the writing (in my view) borders on being unsympathetic to the world of mental illness. That being said, I've yet to find one character or storyline interesting enough to warrant watching the show through to its conclusion.
score 5/10
sareed1971 29 June 2020
Reprint: https://www.imdb.com/review/rw5866375/ |
|
1-7-2020 00:20:07
