Hyde, Jekyll, Me (2015)

Quando il troppo stroppia e i pregi diventano difetti

L'idea alla base della serie non è nuova - come dice il titolo si ispira al noto Dr.Jekyll e Mr. Hyde - ma la chiave di lettura sembra avere un buon potenziale di partenza: un Jekyll freddo, cinico, egoista e per nulla empatico e al contrario un Hyde che invece di essere un alter ego malvagio viene dipinto come un eroe, un salvatore, costantemente permeato da sorrisi e buone intenzioni.
Un meccanismo rovesciato che mi ha incuriosita e che già dopo i primi episodi mostra un ulteriore inversione: Seo Jin non è poi così freddo e calcolatore come si sforza di apparire e d'altro canto l'altruismo di Robin non è proprio così smisurato. Un doppio flip che sembra voler rimettere tutto in discussione, gettando l'idea che "la verità non è quella che appare". In realtà, alla fine, la verità si troverà un po' nel mezzo.
A condire la storia ci sono dei buoni temi a supporto: la psicanalisi, i ricordi del rapimento durante l'infanzia, con tematica poliziesca annessa.
Tanti aspetti positivi, insomma. Eppure...c'è mancato poco che non la terminassi. Il ritmo - non dico incalzante, ma quanto meno coinvolgente - dei primi episodi rallenta a una velocità da crociera. Il giro di boa l'abbiamo a metà serie, con la protagonista che finalmente fa 2+2 e scopre che non esiste alcun gemello, ma sia prima che dopo i tempi sono davvero troppo dilatati, parliamo di 20 episodi che potevano benissimo essere riassunti in poco più della metà. E poiché il troppo stroppia, tutti gli aspetti positivi sopracitati diventano delle zavorre: la questione dell'avvicendarsi dei due sembra voler proseguire all'infinito, la storia del rapimento e del recupero dei ricordi sembra la saga della "storia infinita", la dottoressa segregata, le sedute ipnotiche, ecc... a una certa viene da dire "ok, abbiamo capito, ora però andiamo avanti!". Sostanzialmente è proprio questo dilungarsi esasperante che affossa una serie dalle premesse più che buone. Anche il triangolo amoroso viene trascinato fin quasi alla fine e risolto con un ricongiungimento che non ha il tempo di essere percepito come tale (più che un protagonista che alla fine è sia Robin che Seo Jin, la spiacevole impressione è che lei si sia sposata con Robin per poi trascorrere la vita con Seo Jin). Poteva essere gestito meglio, insomma. In ultimo, c'è davvero un eccessivo buonismo: il dualismo bene/male di Jekyll/Hyde sparisce, e vogliamo far risultare buoni entrambi. Non contenti, anche al padre di Seo Jin viene condonato molto e, perchè no, pure l'amico d'infanzia, che ha fatto da antagonista per buona parte della serie, entra nella squadra dei buoni redenti. Alla fin fine, i cattivi sono tutti spariti, insomma.
Per quanto riguarda i due attori protagonisti, non conoscevo l'attrice ma l'ho apprezzata molto. L'attore che interpreta il Presidente l'ho già visto in altri drama - in primis Suspicious Partner - e lo trovo sempre una valore aggiunto. Quanto a Hyun Bin, servono due parole a parte: l'ho conosciuto nel più acclamato "Crash landini on you", che è stato anche il mio prima k-drama in assoluto, e che ha fatto da apripista a tutte le serie asiatiche che ho visto successivamente. Non avendo termini di paragone, all'epoca, l'avevo trovato ineccepibile - pur nei panni di un personaggio non particolarmente scattante, va detto - ma molti degli altri suoi drama ero finita poi per abbandonarli, ridimensionando la sua bravura a una triste monotonia interpretativa. Con questa serie, invece, si riscatta decisamente: non solo perchè ricopre ruoli diametralmente opposti ma perchè emerge in entrambi tutta quell'energia che mi era sembrata sopita persino nella sua sopracitata serie di maggior successo. Consiglierei questa serie? I primi episodi valgono la pena, ma mettete in conto di non arrivare alla fine.

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Colpi di scena.

Secondo me, questo dramma è sottovalutato. E' una storia ben costruita piena di componenti variegati. Anche se un po fantasiosa, Gli attori hanno saputo darle del veritiero. In ogni puntata c’è almeno un piccolo colpo di scena che desta l’interesse e numerosi sono anche i momenti di ilarità sopratutto nelle prime puntate. La storia offre una combinazione fra romanzo poliziesco, storia di amore e di amicizia, analisi psicologica , suspense, relazioni familiari, lotta per l’ascesa nel potere economico.
L’indagine poliziesca, se non è propriamente vivida e consistente, è sufficientemente coinvolgente per far evolvere la vicenda in maniera stuzzicante. L’analisi e l’interpretazione psicologica è più consistente sia nella trama che nell'interpretazione dei personaggi. Gli ambienti sono il più delle volte piacevoli , esteticamente gradevoli come anche i costumi. Le riprese di primi piani sono numerosi e mettono in risalto la mimica interpretativa che è eccellente come pure i dialoghi e le battute che sono dinamiche accattivanti.
La musica accompagna e commenta adeguatamente e con gradevolezza i vari momenti della vicenda.
I protagonisti , con la loro bellezza e il loro saper fare interpretativo rendono allettante la visione dei filmati .
Yu bin è fantastico nella gestione di due ruoli tanto diversi in una stessa serie.
In maniera sottile ma attraverso grandi difficoltà e compromessi e soprattutto attraverso la compassione e, in fondo la benevolenza reciproca nonostante l’apparente ostilità, le due personalità si evolveranno gradualmente arricchendo emozioni, nei sentimenti , nei ricordi e nei valori.
L’attrice protagonista, a parte la sua apparenza gradevole, è seducente anche per la sua semplicità, la sua giovialità mista ad afflizione e dolcezza di carattere. Risulta un animo puro e sincero , qualità che influenzeranno sulla salute del protagonista.

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This is the first time I'm writing a review for a drama, because seeing the ones that are up on this page just shocked me. I don't understand how people could think so negatively about this drama.
Maybe some people compared it to Kill me, Heal me, and let me just say that I have watched and completed KMHM before watching this, and yes I loved it. But although both dramas have DID as a theme, they're totally different.

I loved how Hyde, Jekyll and Me had another perspective on the subject. It's deep and actually addresses issues that had not been central in KMHM. Some people thought it was boring or nothing happening. Well let me just tell you this, this drama is all about the internal stuff going on! It's all about the people and their feelings and although nothing major is actually going on, it's all about the little changes that make you go from the situation in episode 1 to the ending. Some people also said that it was too long and could have been just 16 episodes. I disagree, all the steps were necessary, all the dialogues were necessary. For once, I actually thought the characters had a way of approaching the story logically. I don't understand what people don't like about HaNa, just think for a second if you were to be in her shoes. I thought she acted rationally (or emotionally but it MADE SENSE).

The actors played well in my opinion, but I guess everyone has their opinion. But it just doesn't make sense to me when people go crazy about a lame drama like Sensory Couple (Omg... at least in this one the police doesn't seem as incompetent, but I digress...) and bash out at something as awesome as Hyde, Jekyll and Me.

So the only recommendation I have is that you give this a try yourself (and we all know giving a chance to a drama means 5 episodes at least) and don't take into account all the negativity surrounding the ratings, which honestly I still do not get.

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First of all, personally I do not recommend this drama to anyone. But I am sure there are people who enjoyed watching too, so who knows maybe you will like it?

The beginning was slow and boring, the show picked up around ep 5 (that's when it was actually really good) and the excitement lasted until ep. 10 or so, then the show turned flat like a pancake and only kept flattening towards the ending. The two last episodes were completely ridiculous, the writer had no idea about DID whatsoever! The chemistry between main characters died somewhere along the way. This is weird because Seo Jin and Hana had chemistry, but Robin and Hana didn't; they were like two children playing together.

The Acting

I didn't have much expectations, but for Hyun Bin this was a failure. I think he did great job with Seo Jin but perhaps two personalities were too much for him to handle. Robin turned out to be weird (with overacted expressions) and boring, an extremely dull character with no chemistry with the camera or any other characters. Han Ji Min was quirky at first but soon lost her charm and transformed into a woman of one face. Sung Joon had enough charisma and a powerful aura, but unfortunately he didn't have enough space to shine and suffered from repetitive lines and scenes (and bad directing). What a waste of talent. He is worth so much more than this.

Han Sang Jin pulled it through the whole drama with guaranteed brilliance. His character was interesting, he felt and looked like a man who worked in an amusement park. Sang Jin was the only one who truly brought his warmingly silly character to life and he really shone. Shin Eun Jung had the same dull face throughout the drama and her character, despite being smart and having potential, was ruined with poor script.

All side characters except the secretary Know were completely meaningless and the pathetic little love triangle on the side was purely a filler. Okay, I admit that Detective Na vs Seung Yeon was quite a fun ride and there were not enough scenes of them together. But the cops in general were way too stupid.

The Plot

Yeah, what should I say? The whole implementation of hypnosis and all that, it was a refreshing idea but failed because it was taken too far. The whole DID issue had potential but at some point the DID turned into Robin. I understand where the writer was going with this. She tried to create a conflict between the real man and the illusion, with the illusion being way better than the real deal. However, the writer failed miserably because instead of concentrating on the conflict and bringing out the whole heart-wrenching reality of it all, she concentrated on a ridiculous love relationship instead. This drama could have been brilliant, a struggle between real and imaginary, two realities crashing together and confusing everyone around to the point of madness. This whole idea went down the drains when DID became Robin and Seo Jin was sort of abandoned to deal with his problems alone. I am sure that by writing the ending as it was, the screenwriter tried to go for a fresh image. But the point of the whole show was not love to begin with. It was the conflict, which was forgotten, and the show lost its standing. Hana was one of the dumbest and maddening characters I have ever seen.

The first part of the story concentrated a lot on the problems of Seo Jin and his past. It was interesting until several repetitive flashbacks clogged the episodes. I also wished there were more quirky scenes with Seo Jin and Hana to back up the last episode. The silly grudge of children was taken on a complete new level. The trauma of that grudge was never explored fully and in the end it was pushed aside in a hastly manner. The whole idea of that hatred was that it stemmed from pain and loneliness, but the bad guy remained flat, his character was trapped in a superficial shell and never explored to the depths of his soul. I'm saying that the darker moments could have been way darker and with much more impact had the writer concentrated on the right things. Like the battle within, not what was going on outside.

All in all, this show was either a mess with its characters running around out of control or then flavorless snail-paced boredom wrapped in pink, fluff and all cute with some glitter on the top. There were some loopholes, which could have been avoided easily. And the worst thing of it all: despite being a slow run the ending was still rushed. How? Just how is that possible? You had two freaking hours!

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Poor Hyun Bin. I don't even know where to begin with this review. Let's see...if you drop the first four episodes and the last four episodes, then it is a pretty decent drama. The writing is just horrible. I can't write spoilers so I can't go into it all, but if you want to know more, then PM me. First, the female lead character is horrible. I can't stand her from beginning to end. Selfless my ass. Everything she did was selfish under the guise of selflessness and she is stupid. The male leads in one person may sound interesting, but it is the stupidest thing I have ever had the misfortune to watch. What was the purpose of the circus or any of those characters that add nothing to the story? What is the purpose of the cousin or whomever he was trying to out Seo Jin? What was the doctor's purpose? Forget it. I'm done.
EDIT: OMG...I forgot about the over used hypnosis. Great idea, poorly executed.

Hyun Bin is great and some of the side actors are good. I don't know what happened to Han Ji Min. Did she always act that horribly and I just didn't notice? Sung Joon was beautifully "bad".

The music was ok sometimes.

I will never ever rewatch this.

Don't watch it. Watch something else!!!

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I just finished the drama and i was somehow disappointed with all the hate comments i have been reading even before i see the ending.

I cannot say that the drama was perfect but it was not bad afterall. I am a psychology major student and i guess it was the main reason why i enjoyed the drama.(doesn't mean that the symptoms or cases of DID shown are possible because it was just fictional )

Hyun Bin was Hyun Bin. He was a great actor that could make us cry a river with his crying scenes. Until the end i still see seo jin and robin as different person and he did a well in portraying both characters. On the other hand, han ji min who was highly bashed for her acting skills in this drama was reasobable. there are maybe some parts she lacks emotions but not until the last episodes (with robin ) that made me cry like a baby.

I understand that the hate and disappointment of all the other reviews rooted from their own expectations. they are asking more of the scenes they wanted like more seo jin and hana scenes. blaming han ji min for bad character when she was only portraying her role according to the script.
Unlike the majority, I loved this drama. One of the dramas that made me weep and flood my room.

Somewhat SPOILER:
For the bias part. . until the end i was hoping robin would overcome seojin and hana and him would be together, I liked robin more because i see him as another seojin not just a mere symptom of his illness. I see his pain and i love how he is able to give love and protect people beyond all their hate of his existence.

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This drama had such a good start and theme. I absolutely loved it up until around ep. 12 or something when Ha Na learned about Seo Jin's ilness.

The way she kept on holding onto Robin and feeding into that illusion is seriously damaging and abusive, there's no way someone in real life would do that to someone after finding out they're ill.
She kissed, asked to marry and, as was implied, had sex with Robin who is not a real person and is a result of DID. How fucked up is that?

Ha Na was so selfish that she convinced Seo Jin to live mentally ill for the rest of his life so she could be happy. When that wasn't possible she cried and basically begged Seo Jin to stay ill. She then guilt tripped Seo Jin and Robin for seeking treatment and only accepted Seo Jin when she found out he still had a part of Robin in him.
Everyone else around him also fed into this illusion and nearly made a funeral when Seo Jin was finally cured. What even.

At first I hated Seo Jin's father but after he said Ha Na's behavior was destroying her son and she was the reason he was still ill, I saw that he was the only smart and sane person in this drama. Simply a father(even thought not perfect) rooting for his son's mental health, which is the most important, when not even the psychiatrist seemed to care.

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I have mixed views about this series. On the one hand: Hyun Bin! On the other hand: shitty writing.

The Story:
Waaaay too long. This could have been shrunk down to a 16-episode show and it would/should have been a better drama. Meaningless plot lines were dragged out, hypnosis was treated like some sort of super power, and I don't know but I'm pretty sure this writer didn't do much research on DID (I'm not saying I know more about DID than she does, but I'm pretty sure DID doesn't work like that). The whole kidnapping plot was something that was supposed to keep watchers on their toes, and although I think Sung Joon is brilliant, more could have been done.

The Cast/Characters:
I cannot even right now. Hyun Bin could have picked a much better drama for his comeback. I need to go rewatch Secret Garden right now. Seo Jin was a much better character than Robin, who seemed over-the-top and fake. I liked him when we first met him, but I began to want Seo-jin more. Hyun Bin can act, I'll give him that, and he may have salvaged the train wreck that was this drama. What even happened to Terry? The third personality barely had half an episode to himself before we never saw him again. I have no idea what Han Ji Min was doing, but Hana is the next Bella Swan. No expression, no personality, selfish in the name of selflessness... and practically no chemistry at all. I was rooting for Eun-chang and Woo-yong more than anybody else in the show. The only delight I got was in Cousin Seung-yeon and his weirdness.

I do not recommend this drama, but if you like this kind of thing, then watch it if you like flat plot lines, poor writing, and Kristen Stewart-characters.

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What to say about this drama:

The story begins from a veeery good idea and as usual the first "discovering" episodes are great and interestingly introduce the concepts. But the story is getting looong and loopy as the show goes on. Some characteRs else than the main ones seems not that interesting to me

The cast is awesone. Be it Hyun Bin, and his amazing skills to change himslef into another self. I almost thought there were 2 actors. As for the actress, I did not know about her, she disappointed me in some ways but overall did well. Sung Joon as usual was very good and could turn himself in different character, which was really convincing!

Overall this drama is worth watching but without too much excpectations as it's sometimes plainer that what we would like! I had a great time though!

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Hyun Bin's first drama for me!!

Firstly, I know that people compare this drama with Kill Me, Heal Me but I would like to mention that I've seen Kill Me, Heal Me before this one and let me tell you that only basic story about the main lead having DID and the main girl being the trigger is the same, other than these two I didn't find much similarities so its just wrong to judge this amazing show from Kill Me, Heal Me point of view.

The story was awesome. I love the way how writer tried to show that no matter how many alter-egos, all of them together make ONE person. It was cute really, so I loved watching it though there was few holes here and there in the story.

Acting was AWESOME. I hadn't seen any of Hyun Bin's dramas or movies before and this was first for me and I LOVED his acting. He is amazing, really. JiMin was amazing too as well as the other people. Though Jimin's character got a little irritating towards the end but I was able to ignore it because of Hyun Bin's characters of course =p

Overall it was good and it has its own story, so don't compare it with Kill Me, Heal Me even though I'm a huge fan of that show! ^^

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Don't really care about all the bad reviews, so glad I did not read them before I watched this drama.

I am also a huge Hyun Bin fan, especially in My Name is Kim Sam Soon, but I am also a big fan of the female lead, Han Ji Min. she is one of my favorite Korean actress. She was also in Roof Top Prince which is a MUST SEE favorite Korean dramas. The chemistry between the two leads were wonderful. Great cast overall, even the supporting cast.

Had a little of everything, mystery, bad guys, humor and romance! There were no dragging moments for me, I looked forward to every episode and stayed up late for a couple of nights to watch it. Cried a lot towards the end, but be patient, good ending.

I loved Hyde, Jekyll, Me!!!!!! Would rewatch it again in the future.

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