Favorite Dramas

This drama is a beautiful tale of grief and redemption, compassion and forgiveness.

The best part of this drama hands down is Kong Woo Jin. He is not perfect. He has instances where he acts like a complete ass and should have apologized but didn't. He can be selfish and is extremely self-focused, not caring about how his actions affect others in the slightest. And that is what makes his growth so rewarding and heart-wrenching to watch. More than anything, I love how his trajectory is not a straight line -- because that's what healing is like, unfortunately. You can see the errors of your ways, and recognize the need for change... and still fall right back into old familiar patterns and habits that just take chokehold of your life once more. Healing is not a one-and-done experience, and I love how well this drama portrayed that process.

And that brings me to the other pillar of this drama, the wonder that is Woo Seo Ri. It always gets iffy when the female lead has to rely on the male lead for her basic needs -- food, house, safety, etc. There's just such a huge power imbalance there that it can get gross real quick. But I think this drama did a good job of not crossing that fine line. Seo Ri depends on the Kong family's generosity, but the way it comes about and how they interact with each other felt really natural imo. She may live in the little room under the stairs, but she isn't confined to that space or identity. Seo Ri's growth and moment of intermission after losing such an enormous part of her life is a thing of beauty to watch, and I love how she stays true to her personality and values even as she navigates this uncharted territory. Kong Woo Jin may be my favorite part of the drama, but I fully acknowledge it would be nowhere near the delight it is without the ever-optimistic Woo Seo Ri.

 I was experiencing a very traumatic event myself the first time I watched it, so rewatching it brings back some very raw emotions. I stand by my initial impression that it’s an important story and brilliantly told in terms of character growth and how PTSD affects people in different ways if left untreated for so long (really - all these characters should be in therapy! I wish that option were even a remote possibility, but alas, this does take place in Korea). My feelings toward this drama have deepened further if anything else. I don’t think I can take frequent rewatches, but I’m grateful such a thought-provoking and earnest drama that tackles its  subject matter with such gravity and poignancy exists.

A truly remarkable drama with wonderful character growth and an excellent portrayal of the havoc mental illnesses can wreak on our lives, and how much strength it takes to extract ourselves from their unrelenting stronghold.

I think what touches me most about this drama is the utter humanity of its characters. This has a lot to do with the strengths of the leads, but man, did Vic Chou dominates as Chen Ling. The vulnerability, the hard edges that ever-so-slowly soften as he learns to let go of his past and embraces the person Qi Luo believes he can be. It's magnificent. Chen Ling, though falling into the stereotypical "bad boy" persona at the beginning, doesn't fall victim to the tropes that surround that caricature. Rather, he's held up as an example of a flawed person, someone whose actions you should not admire or pursue.  He's given the time and space to develop and grow.

Luo Qi's growth and development is just as beautifully laid out and developed. She had a good pace of slowly opening up and blossoming into the person she could have been all along had those terrible things not happened to her. Their love story is one of the most beautiful I've seen, but also very realistic and deals with issues in, while not always the most mature way due to their age, at least in a thoughtful and meaningful way.

The drama questions what makes a person qualified to be a “Wife,” and to what extent that right extends to being a “Mother.” Does fitting all the qualifications of being a good wife automatically make Seo Rae a good mother, or does being a good mother to her son (adorably played by Im Je No) make her a good wife? In a society that stresses keeping up family appearances and keeping elders satisfied above all, can a “Wife” be more than a vehicle for her child’s success (and thus a mirror for her own parent’s efforts realized)? Can she still focus on herself occasionally and allow herself to feel like a woman - an individual - again?

It is one of the best portrayals of character growth and subtle changes in characters I’ve ever seen depicted. Yoon Seo Rae and Kim Tae Oh’s journey throughout the drama is one of the sweetest, more realistic and mature illustrations of dealing with the prickly topic of adultery. Usually, we only get the perspective from the person who is cheated on, but this drama took care to give us both sides; not only that, but also reasons for the reactions of all the families involved, even when the viewer might not agree with those reactions.

I simply love it. It was the first k-drama I ever binge-watched more than ten years ago, and I still freshly remember that feeling of anticipation and not being able to look away. It's just such a well-made drama from start to finish, with an excellent mix of romance with character development and fully fleshed-out story arcs. I love how real all the characters feel, and there's not a flawless person to be found -- they're all wholly human and magnificent in their multi-layered portrayal of the small build-ups that lead to the foundation of our actions, whether those actions lead to a crumbling of the world as we know it or a restart to a great new one. While there is some late-2000s cringe to be found for sure, there's no denying the long-staying power of this drama imo. I can (and have) go back and rewatch it countless times over and still be just as entertained and engrossed as the first time.

(I actually thought it was overhyped the first time I watched it, and didn't understand why people were gushing over it.)

To me now, watching Healer is like comfort food. You know it's going to taste good, you know exactly what goes into it, but every time it goes down so smoothly and leaves you feeling refreshed. Not to mention every time I watch it, I pick up on more little hints the writer parsed throughout that tie in later on in a manner that's not shoved in your face.

Even if it's not very complicated or especially contemplative, the thought that went into the story and the life breathed into the characters by these actors just gets me each time I watch it.

This was one of the first Asian dramas I ever watched more than 10 years ago.

Momo. She reminds me so much of myself for much of my childhood and teenage years -- shy to the point of it being a disability, only able to express herself in bursts of uncontrolled emotion, and prefers to just live in a fantasy world that's much easier to control than the real world. Momo was the first fictional character I ever saw who had similar traits to me.

I appreciated her character and her arc even more for the sole fact that /she isn't forced to change!/ She isn't "transformed" into a suddenly outgoing and perky girl. She is who she is, and the people around her slowly come to accept and really appreciate her for that. All her arc encompasses is ironing out some communication flaws and become more comfortable expressing herself. But the traits of being on the quiet side and preferring to stay in the background? Just the way she is, and /that's okay./

While the romance is a good slow-burn, the friendship between Mars and Yi Zhi, between Momo and Jia Sen, the sisterhood between Chuchu and Momo, and most of all, the heart-wrenching relationship between Mars and his mom -- they're all just so touching and meaningful. I laughed, I teared up, and my heartfelt bursting with warmth. These characters really care about each other and truly want the best for one another.

Nok was like looking in a mirror. A mirror that pulls your deficiencies out from the shadows they've been hiding in and lays them bare in the bright sunlight, squirming and uncomfortable to see but all too necessary. The self-sabotaging, the lashing out, the unrelenting wall of pride that comes crumbling down only after you've ruined everything good you have -- it was so exhausting to watch, yet so exhilaratingly satisfying. I connected to Nok on a personal level I have only experienced a handful of times in my drama-watching life.

As for the rest of the drama: Nai, of course, was amazing, and I liked how he wasn't the infallibly perfect style of lead like I suspected he might be; he was just really calm (which is one of the top personality traits I admire) and reasonable. Someone who can take in the chaos around them and ponder through the panic before taking action.

I thoroughly enjoyed this drama. Even though it could be a little melodramatic and over the top at times, it had a lot of heart and I really liked the directions it took.

What stood out to me the most was the character development -- all the major characters went through major characters arcs that made them all the more interesting and compelling. I especially liked Sarut's storyline.

I also liked that the story never got stuck and kept progressing forward smoothly. There were some points it slowed down, but for the most part, it was executed nicely.

This is probably one of the most thought-provoking and important dramas I've seen addressing this sort of topic. The topics it covered were fascinating and I fell in love with all the characters, despite how flawed and human they were.