Now this is a drama that deserves to be listed on people's favorites.
Before I go with my review, I'd like to point out a fact that I agree with the point which many other reviewers both here on MDL and other sites pointed out, this drama dealt with new unexplored lands, and was unique in choosing it's characters (and their interactions), the plot. And for this exact reason, and different from what would be expected, it was not everyone's cup of tea, not implying that people who didn't enjoy it are old fashioned and don't prefer introducing new tools to the drama making, rather I have to admit that like any drama that introduced a new genre or plot, it comes with its flaws, which comes from the fact that it's a land not trod before so most screenwriters however veteran they may be, are mostly not be experienced in. But to me, I loved this show's new-ness above anything, and appreciated how realistic and believable all it's characters felt like while at the same time fresh.
I would like to first go with the pros of the show and what I most liked about.
First, The Story:
As I stated above, the story in this show, introduced some fairly new types, in that it deals with mental illnesses and psychological patients on a high level (to the extent that you get the feeling there's no character in the show free of one), but it doesn't deal with it in the normal way where the character suffering from the ailment fights to come over it and ultimately succeeds, it rather sheds light on the true meaning of a psychosis, not just what a patient feels like and behaves like,but also deals with the taboo-ish heart of the problem ie. the stigma toward such illnesses in most societies. The biased viewing of mental ailments doesn't need to be pointed out, and can be easily proved in that people nowadays find it easier to open up about suffering from cancer or high blood-pressure than it is to admit that they're suffering from schizophrenia or some type of phobia. The show tries to emphasize the idea that psychological diseases should not be treated differently from physical ones.
The show goes the extra mile, and discusses the issue through different human relationships, like parent - son, friend - friend, doctor - patient, boyfriend - girlfriend, girl's parent - boyfriend. Above all, it concentrated on the true commitment and resolution that dating a psychotic patient requires.
Second, the script:
At the start of the show especially the first episode, I couldn't warm up to the script and felt the scenario was either too complicated or fast-paced, and sometimes felt they were trying hard to sound cool and smart with some lines. Later on, when I started to get in the vibe of the show, I on the contrary started appreciating the script a lot, each and every sentence counted well, highly witted and fairly realistic compared to other Korean dramas.
Third, the acting.
TOP NOTCH from the WHOLE cast, especially the two leads Jo In Sung and Gong Hyo Jin. I'm a fan of Gong Hyo Jin and already think highly of her acting skills and her charisma and ability to produce a strong sense of chemistry with any actor she acts with, but this was my first drama for Jo In Sung and I'm positive it won't be the last. The Guy is simply a genius! His acting left me breathless at many times, made me rewind some scenes just to appreciate his expression in certain moments. He played a fairly difficult role in a very believable way. Above all you could sense how he is a professional actor who could analyze the character he's playing thoroughly and bring out all it's sides and dimensions however seemingly contradicting they may be, the character he plays would seem like a conceited, arrogant and materialistic playboy at the beginning who acts like a know-it-all, but bit by bit he starts to reveal that there's more to him than meets the eye, and how that character he assumes is rather his defense mechanism.
Fourth The direction:
It's my first drama for this PD, who's most famous for This Winter. Although at first I was a bit distracted and sometimes even frustrated at how CLOSE his face closeups were, like you could count the skin pores on their faces! But putting this point aside which you gradually get used to, the direction and camerawork and also the shooting sites choice was excellent. I loved how they paid attention to the tiniest details in every room to fit the character.
The Music:
I loved the OST in this drama, both the Korean and foreign tracks. I liked how all the vocal songs had lyrics that fitted so much the context. Though I have to admit that there were certain scenes though few they were, in which the BGM didn't quite fit and felt a bit distracting especially at the beginning of the show . But all in all, the music was one of the positive points to the show for me.
Now I move to the few gripes I had towards the show, but I would first like to point out that such gripes never posed as such a problem that would prevent me from enjoying the show.
First, the pace in certain parts of the show was off, meaning that they took their time to show some developments or to cover a certain side story, but when it came for the crucial development it sometimes felt kind of rushed. I won't be explaining in details less I spoil anything, but for instance there were whole scenes wasted for certain characters that later (before even the first half of the show was over) simply disappeared, but compared to that certain developments took time so that when we could finally deal with it was a bit later in show that I personally felt I would have preferred the show was longer just so we could savor them properly.
As for the technical parts, I guess many people who watched this show had their objections regarding some of the technicalities either in the legal or psychological fields, but since I'm neither knowledgeable in this nor that, and also don't really believe one should seek accurate information from dramas, but I still felt like some psychological cases where cured so easily they felt like they've been making it up or exaggerating. I won't go further than that.
There's one character whom I couldn't fathom or understand the idea behind, it's Oh So Nyeo. She was a big question mark for me! I couldn't understand right till the end the necessity of making her a high-schooler, it rather made me a bit wary from Soo Kwang for loving her,....despite how I mostly enjoyed his character other than that point. If someone understands this girl please enlighten me :D
To sum up my super-long review, this show is unique, fun, cool, heart-warming, full of hope and messages....but for me rather than all of these nice aspects, the PERFECT acting delivered here was more than enough for me to fall in love and add it as an all time favorite. I would like to point that especially the few final episodes had the most epic performances I had seen in a long while, maybe even in any other Kdrama I had seen before, I was bewildered and awed at everyone's acting I was soooo glad I had watched the show till the end, those last few episodes starting episodes 12~13 is just too awesome it will definitely redeem for any flaw the show might have exhibited. The final few episodes were so well done I personally felt the story was worthy of being turned into a cinematic movie. All thanks to the actors performance and the well-written story by veteran screenwriter Noh Hee Kyung *hats off*
I really enjoyed watching It's Okay, It's Love, not saying that there were no times when I was frustrated with either a part of the plot or a certain character, but overall this drama was a very fun ride that I would definitely recommend to any Korean drama fan, whether ones who prefer feel-good-dramas or light romcoms or heavy melodramas, who concentrate on the reality factor and originality.
ENJOY!
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