ArvisJaggamar
There is honestly no way for me to begin this review with any kind of adequate summation of the feelings that I'm Not A Robot put me through. Somehow, this show made me fall in love with its lead female, cry for its lead male, and lose days of my life lost in mental soup of ennui and daydreams, imagining life as these characters and wanting more than anything to be at their side. Although this fell just painfully shy of being my highest rated drama ever, I can safely say that no other drama has stayed with me for so long after I turn the television off. I haven't written a full review of any drama for probably a year, but I'm Not A Robot deserves this effort.
STORY
While I do feel the need to point out that it's this category that keeps this from being a 10/10 (there are a few glaring plot holes), it is also this category that is going to get people into this drama. Besides the few plot holes, the concept of this show is brilliant: a rich young man with an allergy to humans is interested in investing in a robotics lab that has a working android, thinking that android companionship could be the solution to his isolation. Too bad the people who run the lab don't know about his allergy. Their android breaks and they send a lookalike human in its place for him to "test"! What could possibly go wrong, as these two attractive young people spend all their time together?
While you can tell just from that premise that this will be a show full of cuteness and hilarity (and it is), you will never imagine the emotional heights that this drama is able to achieve just from that simple plot. I won't even try to describe it here, you just need to see it for yourself. Kim Min Kyu and Jo Ji Ah are two of the best lead characters I have ever seen in any piece of fiction; a loneliness as deep as the ocean finally meets an incredible selflessness that might be able to fill it. You will weep with Kim Min Kyu as he rails against his isolation and desperately searches for a glimmer of light in his life. Your heart will shatter every time Jo Ji Ah denies herself happiness and chokes back her words and tears in order to protect the people that matter to her. And when the two of them are together, you'll never want to see them apart.
ACTING/CAST
I'm going to actively try to avoid hyperbole here. Suffice to say, I had real feelings for the characters. And I don't mean just feelings. I mean that I really felt like they were real people and I needed to be with them and help them. That never happens to me. Ever. When I say I "fell in love" with Jo Ji Ah, that's honestly not too far from being literal. Fortunately, I haven't completely gone off the deep end, but the point is that this cast brought these characters to life in the most beautiful and vibrant way.
First, relative newcomer Park Se Wan. She is the definition of adorable. Infinitely watchable, she's going on my list of actresses to follow across genres.
My boy, Kang Ki Young! From his first moments onscreen in High School King of Savvy, I've loved this guy and am so happy to see his career continuing to gain traction. He's never played a role quite like this one before but seems to have taken to it naturally. There wasn't quite enough for his character to do, but KKY himself killed it, being able express a broad range in his role here.
Definitely want to mention brand new actress Yoon So Mi in her first ever Drama role as Jo Ji Ah's sister in law. A lovely woman who comes out as a natural on screen. Even my wife couldn't resist her charms, remarking multiple times how cute she was.
And of course, a young lady who has been hard at work in some truly excellent dramas in 2017: Lee Han Seo! Little Han Seo knocks it out of the park here. She steals every scene she's in and you'll only wish that she had even more lines by the time it's all over.
Now, our male lead, Yoo Seung Ho. What a gravitational charisma. He can literally make "annyeong" sound like it's full of meaning and emotion. I admit he sometimes struggles a bit with some melo scenes, but only because of the impossible tightrope he's having to walk in many of them: balancing true, raw emotion with total awareness of the absurdity of his situation. Despite this, during the melo climax at the halfway point of the show, expect YSH to completely destroy you.
And finally..... what can I say about Chae Soo Bin? She has charms that can't quite be put into words. The same way that a person just has to *see* Lee Min Jung to understand her beauty, and a person has to actually *watch* Jang Na Ra act to understand why she's quite as lovable as she is, Chae Soo Bin has to be experienced for yourself. I will admit, on a personal note, when she has long straight brown hair and bangs, she may be the most beautiful woman in the world. That's impactful enough on its own (in fact, distractingly so, since everyone around her should really always be tripping over her beauty, but aren't because it's fiction), but it goes far beyond just her looks. Her tender depiction of a feisty but pure young woman who never loses her spark in the face of adversity is one of the most touching and impressive performances you're likely to see in this genre. You owe it to yourself to watch CSB work, and to see her build Jo Ji Ah into a person we would all do well to emulate.
MUSIC
It doesn't disappoint! While it lacks one huge standout track that acts as a hook, and maybe a theme or two is forgettable, in an OST of about 7 vocal tracks, I came away from it saving 4 of them to my Kdrama Playlist. I can't say any other drama has hit that kind of success rate.
Additionally, a lot of the incidental and mood music is pretty well composed to; not exactly beautiful, but catchy and evocative, quirky and winsome. No flies on this drama in the Music category.
REWATCH VALUE
This is the first 10 I've given in this category in any of my reviews. The mind-bogglingly huge amount of amazing character moments, hearty laughs, and tender romance means that I'm Not A Robot can be watched, watched, and rewatched many times over and never get old. Heck, if you're trying to convert anyone to kdrama, add this to the list of potential shows that can suck in someone who's never seen a kdrama in his or her life. It's that good. It really is that good. It's never too melo, so no FFing needed there. The villains are never too annoying, nor are there stupid love triangles to skip through. There's no filler at all and never any wasted scenes. In fact, if anything, this show needed more episodes, because there were definitely parts of the story that got cut in order to keep up with the blistering pace, to its detriment. There's literally not one minute of these 16 hours that anyone should ever need to FF through. Not only WILL I watch this one again someday, I am EAGER to do so.
FINAL SCORE - 9.5/10
While a few unforgivable plot holes, a too-quick resolution, and not enough falling action (along with some rather lazy production work in the penultimate episode, randomly) prevent this from being a perfect 10, please please please do not sleep on I'm Not A Robot. Easily a Top 5 All Time Drama, in my book, and perhaps my sentimental second-favorite, this will be 16 hours WELL spent for any drama lover. Just sit back and let it shatter you, because when it pieces you all back together, you'll feel like you're better off for the experience.
STORY
While I do feel the need to point out that it's this category that keeps this from being a 10/10 (there are a few glaring plot holes), it is also this category that is going to get people into this drama. Besides the few plot holes, the concept of this show is brilliant: a rich young man with an allergy to humans is interested in investing in a robotics lab that has a working android, thinking that android companionship could be the solution to his isolation. Too bad the people who run the lab don't know about his allergy. Their android breaks and they send a lookalike human in its place for him to "test"! What could possibly go wrong, as these two attractive young people spend all their time together?
While you can tell just from that premise that this will be a show full of cuteness and hilarity (and it is), you will never imagine the emotional heights that this drama is able to achieve just from that simple plot. I won't even try to describe it here, you just need to see it for yourself. Kim Min Kyu and Jo Ji Ah are two of the best lead characters I have ever seen in any piece of fiction; a loneliness as deep as the ocean finally meets an incredible selflessness that might be able to fill it. You will weep with Kim Min Kyu as he rails against his isolation and desperately searches for a glimmer of light in his life. Your heart will shatter every time Jo Ji Ah denies herself happiness and chokes back her words and tears in order to protect the people that matter to her. And when the two of them are together, you'll never want to see them apart.
ACTING/CAST
I'm going to actively try to avoid hyperbole here. Suffice to say, I had real feelings for the characters. And I don't mean just feelings. I mean that I really felt like they were real people and I needed to be with them and help them. That never happens to me. Ever. When I say I "fell in love" with Jo Ji Ah, that's honestly not too far from being literal. Fortunately, I haven't completely gone off the deep end, but the point is that this cast brought these characters to life in the most beautiful and vibrant way.
First, relative newcomer Park Se Wan. She is the definition of adorable. Infinitely watchable, she's going on my list of actresses to follow across genres.
My boy, Kang Ki Young! From his first moments onscreen in High School King of Savvy, I've loved this guy and am so happy to see his career continuing to gain traction. He's never played a role quite like this one before but seems to have taken to it naturally. There wasn't quite enough for his character to do, but KKY himself killed it, being able express a broad range in his role here.
Definitely want to mention brand new actress Yoon So Mi in her first ever Drama role as Jo Ji Ah's sister in law. A lovely woman who comes out as a natural on screen. Even my wife couldn't resist her charms, remarking multiple times how cute she was.
And of course, a young lady who has been hard at work in some truly excellent dramas in 2017: Lee Han Seo! Little Han Seo knocks it out of the park here. She steals every scene she's in and you'll only wish that she had even more lines by the time it's all over.
Now, our male lead, Yoo Seung Ho. What a gravitational charisma. He can literally make "annyeong" sound like it's full of meaning and emotion. I admit he sometimes struggles a bit with some melo scenes, but only because of the impossible tightrope he's having to walk in many of them: balancing true, raw emotion with total awareness of the absurdity of his situation. Despite this, during the melo climax at the halfway point of the show, expect YSH to completely destroy you.
And finally..... what can I say about Chae Soo Bin? She has charms that can't quite be put into words. The same way that a person just has to *see* Lee Min Jung to understand her beauty, and a person has to actually *watch* Jang Na Ra act to understand why she's quite as lovable as she is, Chae Soo Bin has to be experienced for yourself. I will admit, on a personal note, when she has long straight brown hair and bangs, she may be the most beautiful woman in the world. That's impactful enough on its own (in fact, distractingly so, since everyone around her should really always be tripping over her beauty, but aren't because it's fiction), but it goes far beyond just her looks. Her tender depiction of a feisty but pure young woman who never loses her spark in the face of adversity is one of the most touching and impressive performances you're likely to see in this genre. You owe it to yourself to watch CSB work, and to see her build Jo Ji Ah into a person we would all do well to emulate.
MUSIC
It doesn't disappoint! While it lacks one huge standout track that acts as a hook, and maybe a theme or two is forgettable, in an OST of about 7 vocal tracks, I came away from it saving 4 of them to my Kdrama Playlist. I can't say any other drama has hit that kind of success rate.
Additionally, a lot of the incidental and mood music is pretty well composed to; not exactly beautiful, but catchy and evocative, quirky and winsome. No flies on this drama in the Music category.
REWATCH VALUE
This is the first 10 I've given in this category in any of my reviews. The mind-bogglingly huge amount of amazing character moments, hearty laughs, and tender romance means that I'm Not A Robot can be watched, watched, and rewatched many times over and never get old. Heck, if you're trying to convert anyone to kdrama, add this to the list of potential shows that can suck in someone who's never seen a kdrama in his or her life. It's that good. It really is that good. It's never too melo, so no FFing needed there. The villains are never too annoying, nor are there stupid love triangles to skip through. There's no filler at all and never any wasted scenes. In fact, if anything, this show needed more episodes, because there were definitely parts of the story that got cut in order to keep up with the blistering pace, to its detriment. There's literally not one minute of these 16 hours that anyone should ever need to FF through. Not only WILL I watch this one again someday, I am EAGER to do so.
FINAL SCORE - 9.5/10
While a few unforgivable plot holes, a too-quick resolution, and not enough falling action (along with some rather lazy production work in the penultimate episode, randomly) prevent this from being a perfect 10, please please please do not sleep on I'm Not A Robot. Easily a Top 5 All Time Drama, in my book, and perhaps my sentimental second-favorite, this will be 16 hours WELL spent for any drama lover. Just sit back and let it shatter you, because when it pieces you all back together, you'll feel like you're better off for the experience.
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