Oh My Baby (2020)

A mature, no-nonsense love story, where the leads are real adults.

I had avoided this show for a while, because from the posters and synopsis I felt it would be a cheesy rom-com involving three guys and a woman wanting a baby. I was not interested to see a love square with 3 guys and a girl, even if it boasted the casting of Jang Nara, no thank you.

Yet, I was curious nevertheless and decided to just give two episodes a try (you'all know how this usually ends)

You will love Oh My Baby, if you can relate to any of the following elements in a show:-

1. Adults (leads, second leads) actually having proper conversations. They talk things out, having meaningful conversations.

2. If you love FL with a no-nonsense approach but not crass and rude, bravely taking a lead in love but pulling back too, feeling hurt but recovering, a FL that does not resort to whining, screaming or shouting, not being pitiful even in a worst scenario.

3. If you had bad trauma from the mother in Something in the Rain, then Oh My Baby will restore faith in good mothers. She is similar to, but much better than the cool mom in Witch's Romance. This mom gets angry yes, but tells her daughter immediately that she should not lose her sense of self or feel guilty just because her mom is being angry with her. She stands by her daughter through all decisions, even those involving public ridicule. She doesn't care two hoots about societal response and family comments. This is a mom that does mountaineering and dancing, while also constantly looking for a match for her daughter. This is a mom that made friends with ML even even before she knew of her daughters interest in him and vice versa. Not just acquaintances in friendly terms, I mean real buddies.
I usually skip mom scenes in kdramas, and if you are like me, don't skip this mom's dialogues. She is sassy and open minded, and her scenes are worth listening to. This is a mom to end all kdrama moms.

4. There are no jealous female second leads, (but jealous male lead yes ) not everyone around the male lead is pining for his love, and they are all actually shipping them together, yes even the gals. No one bitchy and manipulative. Second male lead gets angsty a bit but that doesn't last more than a couple of episodes. He never stood a chance, it was clear from the beginning.

5. A romance that is gentle, but cracking with chemistry all the same.

6. Its not fluffy, silly rom-com but at the same time retains elements of fun throughout. The topics they deal with are emotional but handled with directness and spirit.

7. This is even better than Search WWW in terms of female portrayal because this is more realistic and honest. The women are not out-of-the-world sassy and bold, but rather as much real as anyone in that society would be. The only unreal element is that the FL is too pretty to be actually someone who never had proper romance for her age, but they also show why this is so,. its convincing.

If you liked Because this is my First Life, then you will definitely love this. I guarantee. Come back and trash me here if I am wrong.

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A story with great potential, that lost its spark along the way

I was really looking forward to this drama, it seemed like it would be fun and refreshing, and I have to say it was. I loved this drama so much during the first half. It was funny, the characters were all so real, and the drama was also able to deliver meaningful messages. The ost was cute, and I loved Eu Ddeum, he was such an adorable character. Hari and Yisang continuously made my heart flutter, and I would always look forward to their scenes. There was cute bromance as well. Oh My Baby was everything I had been looking for.
However, the drama lost its spark for me at around episode 10. The characters suddenly became so immature. The angst really didn't suit this drama. Hari and Yisnag suddenly began acting like children, breaking up and getting back together again, not trying to face the problem. The episodes felt boring, and I started to watch them in 2x. I was expecting actual third lead syndrome from this, something new, but Jaeyoung and Eu Ddeum were practically useless. Jaeyoung was so frustrating. His character had such a unique setup: a man who had it all, a beautiful family and well paying job, who was now at the lowest point of his life, with a daughter to take care of. But we barley got to see his growth and he was just there to frustrate viewers. I was also disappointed with the use of Eu Ddeum's character, he was just there to add humor. For a drama that focused on an infertile couple, we hardly got to see their struggles. Instead we got unnecessary break up scenes. In the last episode, everything that had been empathized on, was suddenly no longer a problem.
The ending was cute, a little predictable but I still enjoyed it. Overall, it was an okay drama. I really wish it didn't lose its spark for me, because it could've become one of my top dramas.

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it could've been more

i'm honestly quite disappointed. this had a pretty good start and i was thinking this was going to be an entirely different drama and won't have the usual kdrama tropes.

i really don't understand why there always have to be that breakup scene whenever a drama is ending. aLSO SOMEONE ALWAYS HAVE TO VANISH FOR A BIT like bruh where do you teleport to? in here, the fact that they did that just made it feel like they were dragging the story instead of putting a bit more focus on the important topics that this drama revolves around.

why not make the final episodes focusing on jang ha ri's struggle with pregnancy? what was the point of the scene of yi sang crying a river??? legit it was just him crying... no purpose given as to why he was crying lol i didn't come here to watch a melodrama

i could care less about the side couple.... fr why? so much more could've been brought into the plate. i get they did mention adoption once. it would've been nice if that was explored a bit more?

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There were several things I liked about this drama and some things I didn't.

I don't know why, but it seems like infertility isn't discussed enough in media, so I was eager to give this story a chance. However, I put off watching it for a while because I thought it was going to be one of those useless "love square" stories, but surprisingly it wasn't what I expected.

So, starting with the things I liked about this show:

1) During modern times, I feel like people (particularly women) are somewhat shamed if they even think about wanting children. There's nothing wrong with not wanting kids but there's nothing wrong with wanting them, either. I think both sides of that coin should be respected. I liked how the main story presented this in a non-controversial way.

2) I liked how the drama showed that infertility affects men as well (and just as strongly). Honestly, this is probably my favorite part of the show.

3) There are characters at all stages of the themes explored (family, parenting, and in/fertility). Let me explain what I mean: the subfertile couple's journey, the main couple's struggles, a single mom AND a single dad, post-partum depression, abandonment. It touched on all of these without being unfair - it acknowledged that wrongdoing/desertion can be done by either parent, which is something I think society often forgets.

4) This is an extension of #3 that I wanted to talk about a little more: single parenthood. I find the relationship between Ha Ri and her mother (and the situation with Ha Ri's father) SUPER relatable and I thought it added extra depth to the story overall. At the same time, it's great to see some love and awareness shared for the struggles of a single father, too (I just really loved this, okay!).
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Now for the things I didn't like very much about this show:

1) The story maintained a nice balance for a while - but around the midway mark, unnecessary conflict seeped through. It felt like it was there just for the sake of cliche. I'm talking about the change in Jae Young. At first I could understand why he was acting like that, and it would have been fine, but I think the writer dragged that conflict out too long and it became too annoyingly cliche. However, I didn't dock points off for this because I liked how his character arc ended.

2) The story between Kang Eu Tteum and Hyo Joo wasn't needed. It's like the writer didn't know what to do with Kang Eu Tteum's character after a while and made something up. It didn't add anything to the story and served as filler. Blah.

3) Yi Sang's decision close to the end (I don't want to put a major spoiler here). I don't think I need to explain why I hate this. This cliche is getting old...just like all the others, I suppose.

4) NOT ENOUGH SCENES WITH DO AH!! SHE'S SO ADORABLE!!

Wrap-up:
It's a great drama! I highly recommend watching it if you haven't already!

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It was disappointing

It was disappointing.

The synopsis was different - a single woman trying to have a baby on her own in such a conservative society. I was enraptured and I thought this show would break barriers and challenge norms. Throw in Jang Na Ra and what more can one ask for. I was all in and committed. And so it was for the first four episodes and I was standing with Ha Ri's convictions.

Then the biggest catastrophe happened. The show did a complete 360 and dropped every cliche imaginable becoming a regular played out trope. It was as if they had felt they had pushed the limit too far and feared the repercussions. So what did they do? They went back to the original formula. Girl meets boy, they both fall in love, add a love triangle, drunken scenes, away trip, forced break up, get back together and happily ever after.

Sounds familiar right?

Maybe because you've seen it in a dozen other shows.

I felt like I was catfished.

After the show fell into this trap I must admit I sped through, skipped some episodes and landed straight to the end. The forced ever after just cemented my disappointment. They took this wonderful idea that could have represented real life struggles for some women and made it a cliche. I wished they had committed to the original idea and made this a worthwhile drama.

New watchers are welcome to view this show as you will see all these scenes with fresh eyes. As for the veterans - it's the same old with nothing new.

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Flop

Based on the ratings I was expecting a spectacular show although a few of the reviews were not that great. First of all I love the female lead in most of the shows that she is in. She is an amazing actress. The second male lead is a great actor as well, well I can’t remember any particular shows that I’ve seen a man I’ve seen him in quite a few and I still think he’s great. Overall the acting for this series was good. I think the plot was good. There were definitely a few funny moments in here and a significant amount of heartfelt moments that will really tug at your heart strings. While I enjoy the acting and the cast, I honestly feel like the show was lacking.

I love the fact that they touched on the infertility topics for men. Most of the time you see the focus on women but this one brought awareness to infertility in men and how it impacts their lives in relationships. I felt that that was just an amazing portrayal of the emotions that men go through. Although the focus is usually on women this one seem to bring attention to how it affects both in their present and how they plan for the future. What I did not like about this series was that by episode five I can already tail who are female lead would end up with and at that point it was just blah. I know that some believe that actually did an amazing chemistry but I just didn’t feel it. I don’t know if it was the lack of character development, editing or the lack of chemistry. It just didn’t seem fulfilling at all. In truth after episode five I found myself skipping so many scenes. I did develop a keen interest in our second male lead because he seem to have a more connection with the female lead.

Is the show awful, no.
Is it Romantic, not really
is it funny, yeah a bit
Would I rewatch, no

It really was a stimulating enough to make you find any one character other than supporting me leave with the kids. But of course because he’s a second mail lady we all know how that how that ended.

My hopes weren’t high but they were definitely higher than this.

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Good Enough

" Oh My Baby " had a really strong start, though the love square was a bit boring.

The drama has a lot of angst when it came to the leading lady's dream of becoming a mother. And, a lot of babies!! The romance was also nice, although the love square was boring. The one guy was quickly eliminated and the second lead was too annoying in the end. The whole drama, in those ending episodes, was about the male lead going back and worth about what he wanted, what he felt, and what he ought to do. Which is a bit off, as they had options (if they've got married they could apply for adoption, for example. He is a rich photographer, she seems to love babies and kids, and, for what I've seen in other Korean dramas, adoption isn't really a big no-no in Korean society, unless I'm wrong.) So, yes, that whole drama could have been lessened.

But, overall, Oh My Baby was quite enjoyable. The leading lady did an amazing job with her character and she was both tragic and entertaining. The whole romance was nicely paced as well, and the vibes of the drama were just perfect.

So, seven and a half out of ten.

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Family Oriented Drama with real issues

I think this drama does a great job at highlighting the painful problems that occur in our lives.
From the main character's you can see that the FL deals with her age and how society puts a label on how she should live her life. They often showed others rushing her into marriage in order to have a child that she dreamed of however, she had other barriers that constantly slowed her down. She had problem's with her mother/father (showing how childhood can affect your adult life), problem's with her health/age (lowering her chances of having a baby), problem's with her work, problem's with a long term friendship, problem's with the man she loved and many more. It is very realistic and sometimes it can be heartbreaking to hear their deep conversations.
Moving on to the ML, at first I thought he would be a jerk however, it turned out that he was a very soft hearted man carrying complicated feelings. His past love had scarred him and the reason was big enough for me as the viewer to understand why he was so hesitant. As a man infertility is not spoken much so I'm glad this drama decided to talk about it. The main couple's romance is indeed slow and reserved however, I think they are still pretty sweet. They can be immature at times despite them being in their late 30s and early 40s.
If you are hesitant to watch this drama because of the annoying second ML, I hope you can push that aside. I admit he is very annoying and irritating but I think the rest of the drama deserves a chance!

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Intriguing concept but execution underwhelming

I really wanted to like this drama. It is a story that should have appealed to me, because I am in that age group as FL was, but it was so actually more frustrating. The relationship between ML and FL was at times very mature, they talked over important matters, but at the other times it wasn't, probably for sake of adding more episodes to the story. The drama behind their break up was ridiculous, as was evident when they got together again. It would have been better if they actually showed them struggling toward their mutual goal, rather than doing that sudden hope losing and separation thing that didn't serve any purpose, because it defeated the point of all the talking they did at the beginning of their relationship.
The SML disturbed me a bit because he verged toward psychopathic tendencies, and by all means he could have been a perfect SML who had it all - brains, looks, humor, and even a baby to share (well, if there wasn't a mom already around even though not present). By the way, the Do-a's Mom character was important in highlighting the issue not very much talked about, the postpartum depression. Kudos to writers for talking about women issues rarely shown on TV, but sadly that alone does not make a good storytelling.
What actually annoyed me the most, was that here we had a story about 40-somethings and they all behaved as cringy teenagers - barely touching, holding hands, and keeping decent distance. There was no romantic tension between FL and any of her possible love interests - they all could have been her siblings for all I saw here. Only one kiss and even that one was timid. The only actually quite sexy scene was when I-Sang was caught taking his shirt off by her mother, and the director was probably planning it purely for laughs! Do not misunderstand me - I did not need steamy scenes like those in Love to Hate You (I wouldn't have complained though), but more chemistry between leads would have made a lot of difference in my seeing their relationship as realistic. There was so much possibility to make that happen. For example, when ML and FL were finally alone together at B&B, SML saw them through the window holding hands and smiling at each other. Seriously? The scene would have been so much more powerful (not to mention more realistic) and painful for SML if he saw them hugging and kissing as real couples do.
Except for those annoyances, I liked actors, both Go Jun and Jang Na Ra, and side characters were interesting too. There were no villains and no evil plotting (except by screenwriter himself). The first half of the series was imho better, as the second half went into overdrive with all the unnecessary melodrama, but I am not sorry for watching this through. It was quite pleasing to see women and men supporting each other, and actually talking over important issues. If only there was more chemistry as would have been normal for relationships between adults, and if only there wasn't that superfluous drama in the second half, it would have been a great show, especially because of some valuable life lessons shared both for women and men.

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Slice of Life Drama of the Year!

So many good dramas about motherhood this year! This drama definitely makes the list of one of my all time favorites!

Plot: This drama is so refreshing! Not only does it tackle some taboo topics (at least in regards to Korean culture) but it does it so maturely. This drama is comedic, romantic, and self-actualizing. It deals with grief and realistic relationships in a way that doesn't make you feel too bogged down. One of my favorite parts of this drama is that it doesn't take the Rom-Com aspect so seriously. It realizes that some of the stuff is cheesy and uses it to add to the shows comedic value.

Acting/Cast: 10/10 across the board. Leads have chemistry, supporting roles are all strong. Jung Gun Joo is really taking on some great roles. I hope that he gets more leading roles in the future. He deserves it! I had never seen a drama with either of the leads before but now I'm inclined to watch more of Jang Na Ra and Go Joon's works. Just really well done. Perfect casting and great performances.

Music: The intro song is so catchy!!!

Rewatch Value: Definitely will rewatch for some feel good vibes. Their romance is so cute!!!

TLDR: One of the best dramas of the year, imo. If you like rom-coms, slice of life, or mature romances, add this to you PTW immediately.

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I'll start off my admitting that the drama's premise isn't really my thing - heavy on the romance & ft life experiences (wanting a baby & marriage) that I don't really care about too much atm - but I checked it out because Jang Na Ra has the kind of charisma that can carry quite literally anything.

And I got all the way to episode 10 so clearly whatever she's doing worked (though I did watch 6 of those 10 eps on 2x speed...) She gets 1 star, Go Joon gets 1 star, Jung Gun Joo gets 1 star and the lil baby gets 1 and a half because she deserves it.

Anyway there will be plenty of people who will love this and there's nothing all that offensive about it. It's a sweet drama, Go Joon is surprisingly super cute - compared to previous villain roles - and the third male lead and his very feminist but clueless approach is just downright adorable (I didn't ship him with Ha Ri but he's my personal favourite).

In the end I was just bored. I kind of wanted more angst and dilemmas about Ha Ri's struggles with wanting motherhood despite time running out and more focus on unconventional motherhood in general, but instead I got heavy focus on the love story (not bad just bland). I was expecting the love triangle obviously, but I was hoping for a better balance between the two main plot threads and disappointed I didn't get it.

Ah - and the second ML absolutely sucks. A female character in his position would be vilified & villainised by the drama but his interfering, whining pettiness and inability to understand boundaries or what the word "no" means are being portrayed as... pitiful instead? I get the impression I'm supposed to somewhat sympathise. The double standard is gross because I'm never expected to sympathise with a second FL who has EXACTLY THE SAME story arc and characterisation. I'm glad most fans also clearly dislike him, now it's time for the writers to catch up.

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Disappointing

The beginning was great. It was a very interesting critique on societal norms and expectations about women. I loved the first episodes because they focused on Ha Ri and how she struggled in a world where having a child is only accepted if you're married. I loved how we saw points of view from different women with different needs: the woman who wants a child but doesn't have a partner, the single mother, the one who doesn't want children, the one who abandons her career for her children, the woman who tries to find a life-work balance and the one who puts her career above all. It was refreshing to see so many different perspectives in a good light. The only one who was seen as the bad guy, Do Ah's mom, was even successfully (although way too quickly, that plot point deserved more time in my opinion) redeemed at the end.

However, halfway through the show, I felt it became less and less mature. Ha Ri's personal growth went from a hundred to zero in the blink of an eye. Whereas she had shown maturity at the beginning, she later became childish. The same goes for Yi Sang, the guy was a rollercoaster. I hated that, before they got together, they used to be more open with each other than after they actually started a relationship. And the "being separated for months" moment was awful. Why? Why on earth writers think that that's EVER a good idea. I am so sick of this trope that adds nothing but takes everything away.

I hated the way Ha Ri left when she found out Yi Sang was infertile. I hated the way she then proceeded to give up on her dream of having a kid after they got back together. I hated the way they never talked about the issue and how they never considered other options—sperm donors, ADOPTING, etc. I, actually, also hated the idea that adoption was never an option. While they did mention it at some point in the series, Ha Ri dismissed it as she thought she wouldn't be eligible because she was single. Well, now you have a boyfriend/future husband. You could re-consider it. But nah, I guess. It's either getting pregnant or no child for these people. It gets to a point where you start to wonder whether Ha Ri's dream is actually having a child or just being pregnant. I mean, I understand that for a woman like her, who's always wanted to be a mom, pregnancy is a big deal. However, we have seen Ha Ri adoring on countless children throughout the show, so it should be safe to say that what she craves the most is to have a little one to cherish and indulge for the rest of her life. Why didn't she seriously consider adoption, then? Especially after finding a partner.

Anyway. The show is ok, not a gem but not the absolute worst. Though the actors were great (Jang Na Ra is one of my absolute favorites, she's actually the reason why I decided to start this drama—and also the reason why I didn't drop it at some point), I wouldn't really recommend it. I don't think it has much rewatch value either.

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