It’s ok to not be ok — KDrama Recommendation
I’ve been into Korean dramas for 10 years now. It has been my guilty pleasure. I could never admit to my young, funky, maybe hipster friends that I spend my nights numbing my anxiety watching Korean dramas. If I mention that I watch Korean they would ask, “Is it a Park Chan-wook or a Bong Joon-ho movie?” in a deadpan and unironic tone. (I mean, yes I do like their movies, but it would have induced more anxiety and existential questions, than I could face in the middle of the night.)
I didn’t think that I could ever find the courage to recommend a KDrama series to friends who are not aware of this phenomenon. It’s the sort of thing that can be divisive, you’re either into it or not. It’s a sub-culture I’ve been secretly a part of, like being into Cos-play and following Comicon heroes for years. You can only discuss the passion you have for KDramas with like-minded individuals. I always wondered if my friends would judge me being into KDramas with its parade of very pretty leads who have broad acting ranges; over-used tropes that are surprisingly addictive; and sickeningly sweet endings…
But last week I finished a Netflix Original called “It’s ok to not be ok” (alternate title “It’s psycho, but it’s ok”). And this might be the first time that I can bravely recommend a KDrama that my friends would get into. The drama was magnificent. It has a great character-driven story. Everybody loves a good story. I have to say in terms of titles — it wasn’t that inviting or alluring. When I first saw it on Netflix, having no background knowledge on the story, it’s production crew or lead actors, I poo-poo-ed it. I scoffed and thought, here we go a lame attempt at tackling mental health. Whatever. But my cousin, a KDrama connoisseur demanded that I watch it. I put it off for a couple of weeks, until one night, in my usual anxiety-ridden insomnia, I finally pressed PLAY and well, was pleasantly surprised.
Watching the first episode of “It’s ok to not be ok” (IOTNBO) put me in such a trance. I immediately lapped up the Tim Burton-esque animated introduction to the main characters’ story. I knew after 5–10 minutes that this drama was going to be different from the others I’ve seen before. Admittedly, I probably only saw about twenty over the 10 years, but still. Then the first episode further pulled me into the intriguing characters: the female lead with her unashamedly flamboyant costumes, the male leads who are brothers one is older and is on the autism spectrum and the other younger and have been the primary caregiver for his older brother. In a span of half an hour, I was hooked, invested and rooting for the main characters. The richness, dimensions and relatable-ness of every single character introduced set the tone for the entire drama.
Now, it’s not perfect. I am not going to say there’s no plot holes, or that it doesn’t use the “childhood friends/childhood shared experience hence we’re destined to be” trope, or that there is no romance to keep us dreamers going, but what sets this drama apart from the other dramas is that it remained true to its soul-searching message of: finding the courage to find your own happiness. And that just hit me hard, you know. Because at this time in humanity’s history, while a pandemic has turned our lives into disarray, when all our certain anchors in life — routine, familiarity, relationships, work and community are being re-shaped, this drama was blasting these important life lessons — courage to keep holding on and finding ourselves. Finding our happiness should be the best thing that we can do for ourselves.
Throughout the series the writers, director, actors and the rest of the crew did not sacrifice a great character development for more titillating scenes. And not only that there was magical continuity and parallelism throughout the episodes that made me feel like I’m seeing something that has been percolating and been planned for a very long time. It’s like the writer and director have been setting every single theme, episode title, character, costumes, setting and music to create this one smooth, seamless masterpiece for years!
Oh and the fairy tale books. OMG… So the female lead is actually a children’s book writer and she writes stories that are dark and brooding, but deep and have messages reflected in the actual drama. The way they have interwoven the fairytale books and also use it to emphasise a character’s psyche or development was so clever! (By the way, the books that were written by the female lead are now also available as actual books we can order online. Definitely clever.)
Besides the story, characters, themes, great books as plot devices, the other thing that made me keep watching this drama is it’s cinematography. Every scene seems to be oozing layers of meaning and easter eggs waiting to be over-analysed by the KDrama community. I also became an active lurker of many recap blog sites and followed some Twitter-ers almost live commenting on each episode. I never had the urge to reach out for more content on any KDrama I’ve seen before. These bunch of intellectual KDrama fans dissect not only the characters, the story, the hidden meanings in actions, words and costumes, but also the way each scene transitions to the next as if, it is some scientific discovery.
The experience of watching this drama made me feel full and satisfied. Made me proud to be a KDrama viewer. If you’re into a character-centred story with an amazing cast of actors and a great strong story with a clear message that will tug at the heartstrings, then I will say this: if you are only going to watch one KDrama series ever, watch “It’s ok not to be ok”.
