They are broken on the inside.
A man and his autistic brother have been running from their past since they were young kids. Something terrible happened to their mother, so the younger brother takes care of his autistic sibling, and they never stay long in one place before moving again. The younger brother usually works at psychiatric hospitals, and this year, he meets a female author who is popular but broken inside due to her troubled past. The troubled author finds the younger brother interesting and starts falling for him, but he is not interested in her. This woman, who is rude and broken, never gives up, and you can sense that if they become a couple, it will be a toxic relationship.
It’s Okay to Not Be Okay is a South Korean romantic comedy-drama that many people love and recommend. I enjoyed the series, but it’s far from perfect. I liked that it feels like you are watching a fairy tale, and the characters are very colorful. The series tries to teach younger viewers about mental illness and what can go wrong if life gets too hard. However, the mental illness part of the series is aimed mostly at kids, so you don’t have to be very smart to understand what’s wrong with the characters and their troubled pasts.
The highlights of the series are two actors who excel in their roles. Oh Jung-se, who plays the autistic brother, is fantastic. He is so charming and, at the same time, irritating, but you just have to love him. I hope he received some awards for this role.
The second standout is the beautiful Seo Ye-ji, who has a cool and sexy voice. She plays the dysfunctional author who isn’t good at communicating with others, making her both funny and charming. I love the scenes when she’s cold or very demanding. She is so creepy in the first half of the series before she finds her more human side. When she does that, she loses some of the special charm she had in the first half, but she’s still charming, though she’s best when acting cold and dysfunctional in various funny situations.
I see that there have been some controversies with this actress, but I don’t care since the man she was dating at the time was an adult. It makes me angry when people just blame Seo Ye-ji for what happened. People make mistakes, and everyone is different. In the end, her boyfriend at the time could have just walked away earlier. So stop blaming Seo Ye-ji and leave her alone so she can concentrate on her acting career. She is charismatic and solid as an actress. People need to grow up and stop focusing so much on other people’s lives. Those who do are just a group of pathetic losers that no one cares about because they will always be losers. Come on, you’re just jealous of Seo Ye-ji’s beauty and acting skills. Get a life!
On the other hand, we have Kim Soo-hyun, who plays the younger brother. I don’t know much about him, and I’m not interested in knowing more about his career because he is not that good in It’s Okay to Not Be Okay. I see that I have watched him in three movies, but I can’t remember anything about him, which doesn’t come as a surprise. The problem with him is that many young South Korean so-called male TV actors look and act the same way. Oh, you’re so racist, but if you have a brain you know what I mean. If not, then you are just that special stupid idiot who should stay far away from me since I don’t have the time to waste on people like you. Just go away!
There’s nothing special about him as an actor. He walks around like a giant mushroom and is so boring. I know he’s playing a broken character who is sad, but even when he tries to be happy and smile, he feels fake like many other male Korean TV actors. In the TV series I have watched, the female actresses are much better than their male counterparts. It’s pretty insane that male actors in South Korea are paid a lot more than female actresses. It should be the other way around. Kim Soo-hyun is not that good, and I wish someone else could have played his role. He walks around with a couple of facial expressions, and his voice is so monotone. He’s just a boring actor, and poor Seo Ye-ji can’t create believable chemistry with this wooden plank of an actor staring at her with no energy. He is so stiff that it’s unbelievable he gets acting roles. This should also tell you something about South Korea. I’m glad I’m not South Korean, even though they have the most beautiful women in the world.
Many fans of K-dramas are insane and should be locked away. These losers can ruin an actor’s career if they don’t like them, and it’s insane that such losers control the entertainment business. I can’t stand people like that, and the world is better off without them. They won’t be missed.
So we are left with male actors like Kim Soo-hyun, who doesn’t have much talent, just like another wooden plank, Hyun Bin. It’s sad that these two “lipstick men” have careers as actors. This again says something about the sick entertainment business in South Korea, especially in TV, where you find a bunch of talentless actors and a bunch of lunatic fans.
Even though I had big problems with the lousy actor named Kim Soo-hyun, I enjoyed most of the characters, the setting, and the story. As I mentioned, don’t go in thinking this will be a serious take on mental illness. If you do, you are watching the wrong series. Instead, think of Walt Disney and how they would have made a series like this for children to watch with their parents. You will find love, and the troubled past will offer you a big dose of mystery and an evil witch who might be alive or dead. Someone from the author’s past is playing a game with her, and that part of the series is also entertaining. It’s not realistic, but it fits with the fairy tale feeling you get while watching It’s Okay to Not Be Okay.