It's Okay to Not Be Okay

Isn't this drama too overrated?

A tip to watch this drama: Please remember in every episode that this drama is not a mystery-based drama. It's mainly romance, so don't expect much about the mystery aspect in it. Warning: starting from ep 12, the plot somewhat will go off. It can betray you. But, episode 16 absolutely is your healer.

And here are the pros and cons:
Pros:
- Ko Mun-young's character is so badass, Seo Yeji's acting is powerful! JANG MAN WOL's COMPETITOR!
- Sang Tae's acting is 10/10!!!
- Comedy, yes.
- Legendary filmography
- Beautiful story concept (Using children's book as the main value in a drama? OH YES!!!)
- Episode 16 is super family-friendly. I was teary when watching this episode.
- Support roles make this drama 100000% better!
- Production. Castle in the forest, why not? DEL LUNA's COMPETITOR IS HERE!

Cons:
- The mystery aspect is pretty bad. Imagine, you as a viewer are supposed to think and solve the mystery (about Ko Mun-young's mother and her family story) along with main characters within +- 10 episodes. But, in the end, the antagonist herself appeared out of nowhere, without her true identity being exposed by the main characters. I FELT BETRAYED! Why I had to think hard who and where is Mun-young's mother while she would appear voluntarily?
- Sometimes, romance scenes are too long. This leads to a loose plot. This drama could have a solid plot with a rich aspect if they cut off some unnecessary romance scenes.
- Wasting some characters just to help raising viewer's curiousness about Mun-young's mother. Where did Ok Ran go? Who's the guy that trapped/being held in that place?
- Horror scenes failed! It's scary but it actually makes the plot go off a lot.
- Inconsistency in picking genres. This drama would have been better if they didn't put the mystery aspect that much. Romance-Family-Comedy is more than enough to create touching scenes.

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An average drama which is overrated because of powerful chemistry

Let me be honest here, like everyone else I like the chemistry between leads. It is very powerful and not to forget characters are interesting by own. But calling it a masterpiece seems little overrated. It was started and promoted that FL is suffering from ASPD, if it were BPD I will adjust but this disorder is a very strong topic which needs to handle carefully. Do the writers know what SOCIOPATH means? They promoted it like now everyone out there thinks that people with ASPD are cool and badass? Why? Why do you have to ruin it using it as a promotion? FL is already interesting, even without adding such a thing. Let's focus on how they handle other character's mental problem treated, this drama shed light that mentally disabled people and all those who deal with mental problems need to treated with emotions too. But where was the professional help?? All the characters and head of the psychiatric hospital seem so ridiculous.

Now moving to leads, all the feminist out there found it cool when FL harass or force ML to do things which he doesn't want. Probably he falls in love later but TOXIC is TOXIC. No doubt, the chemistry in undernying. And the biggest mystery about FL Mom doesn't live up to expectations.

As individual characters, I like all the characters. They are at least emotionally relatable to some extent.

ACTING-

When I say that story is mediocre but actors put their souls, I mean this. Seo ye Ji and Oh Jung Se nailed their roles even though character was flawed at a time. Compare to his previous dramas, Kim So Hyun is good here not exceptional but enough to hook me with his character. The acting of Seo ye Ji stood out most for me in this one, she showed emotion with her eyes.

MUSIC -

This drama is one of the best albums out there. Nothing more to say, each soundtrack hit differentt

REWATCH VALUE -

I won't go for rewatching often but yes I can definitely rewatch some of the clips but not the whole drama since I couldn't cooperate with the story.

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Healing drama done perfectly

I've been watching dramas for more than 10 years now.
So far, only two dramas have managed to leave an imprint on my heart.

Now I count three.

I can't even find words to say how watching this drama every weekend has been such a wonderful journey.
There are so many meaningful morals you can take from this drama but ultimately it comes down to the importance of loving oneself, showing gratitude to people around you and muster the courage to overcome the obstacles life throws your way.

This drama is the best and the most perfect healing drama I've ever come across. I loved every minute of it.

The actors were perfect.
The acting was perfect.
The OST was perfect.
The cinematography was perfect.
The storyline was imperfectly perfect.
The rewatch value is definitely 100%.

I might sound biased because I totally, completely, absolutely loved this drama in its entirety.
But I truly believe this drama has something to teach everybody and anybody interested in watching it.

However, don't just watch it. Immerse yourself in it and it will bring you to a magical fairy tale world.

This drama definitely changed something in me, and I am forever grateful for it.

P.S.: prepare tissues, you might cry a lot.

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Started off strong . . .

I'm not going to lie, I have a strong Kim Soo Hyun bias and have been really looking forward to his post-military duty drama comeback. I think the concept of the story was intriguing, the cinematography: excellent, the cast: spectacular, the soundtrack: addictive, but the execution didn't quite reach the desired effect. I do give a lot of props to the writers for writing stories within the story. The illustrations and moral messages of Moon Young's fairytales were so poignant and beautifully written. I'm grateful for this drama because it introduced me to the talent that is Seo Ye Ji. She is gorgeous, her acting is top-notch, and her voice is absolutely mesmerizing.

The story started off so strong and made me jump to my tv at 9am every Sat/Sun morning to watch this drama as soon as it was released...sadly, a little past the midpoint it fell victim to the k-drama slump and lost its momentum. There was also a huge question left unanswered: how the hell did Moon Young's mom survive all those years?

The drama does take an interesting look at mental health since essentially everyone in this drama have their own varying conditions but it's also very insulting to healthcare workers. Never have I seen more incompetent, irresponsible, and gossipy caregivers. I certainly wouldn't trust this staff to look after my family members. The staff handle altercations so carelessly that it's a wonder they haven't been shut down yet.
Anyways, Gang Tae and Sang Tae's relationship is absolutely heartbreaking. This pair of brothers depend on each other so much that it actually caused a slump in both of their mental health developments. Fueled by love, guilt, and responsibility, Gang Tae sacrifices all of himself and more for Sang Tae however, this is a double-edged sword since the result is that Gang Tae has no life of his own and Sang Tae is smothered by Gang Tae's mothering. Enter Go Moon Young. She is the exact opposite of selfless Gang Tae. She's bold, selfish, unapologetic, and demanding with everything around her. If she likes something, she will stop at nothing to own it. . .which includes Gang Tae.
The beauty of their relationship is that Moon Young forces Gang Tae to act for himself and learn that it's okay for him to be a little selfish. In return, Gang Tae teaches Moon Young to not only think about her own needs. They also have a wonderful group of friends who at times, act as their enablers and at other times, help to raise them up when they crumble.

Overall, it was very enjoyable and it's an delight to watch these 3 characters love, hurt, and grow together as friends, siblings, lovers, and people.

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First Half is amazing, Second Half is draggy

IOTNBO has been the most talked-about drama of 2020 and for some maybe even the best drama of 2020. I am not one of these people and IOTNBO has been added into my list of the most disappointing dramas of 2020. There are good aspects of course but there are some bad aspects which have caused my rating to be so low.

The Good:
- The first half is amazing
- The psychology aspect is very well done and is blended into the story pretty well
- All the characters have motivations and aren't just one dimensional
- The Characters by themselves are interesting
- The story is interesting
- The MC's have great chemistry
- The Acting is really well done by all the cast especially Oh Jung Se and Seo Ye Ji
- The FL is interesting
- The OST is phenomenal

The Bad:
- The Drama falls flat in its second half and becomes unpleasant
- The Love story happens too fast and doesn't make sense
- The writing is the weakest point as they don't really string together all the great aspects very well and instead, it feels
really messy and confusing
- There really isn't a plot and instead its just random events that happen
- The drama is filled with cliche tropes and even though it does have interesting aspects (such as the psychology aspect)
it's mostly just an average Rom-Com
- All of the character development is really messy
- The FL mother being the murderer was really badly done and her whole character arc was not done very well
- The drama has many opportunities that it wastes

Conclusion: IOTNBO is not the worst drama in the world but it is disappointing when you see how much potential the drama has. IOTNBO could've been one of the best dramas of the last decade but it squanders a lot of its opportunity by adding unnecessary tropes and predictable plot twists. So for me, I would give IOTNBO a 6.5/10

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Overrated

I’m sorry, but I have no idea what all the hype is about. I thought it was terrible and annoying. I didn’t believe in any of the main characters for one second. They all seemed made-up, with no connection to reality. And don’t get me started on the evil mom who survives a cracked skull, broken neck, and drowning in a suitcase at the bottom of the ocean. I think it’s actually more believable that she’s a crazy nurse who learned all about the Ko family from taking care of the father and now mistakenly believes she’s the mom. And the dad tried to strangle his daughter because he was afraid she would turn evil too? How believable is that? And the music was horrible. The singer sounded like her mouth was full of marbles. I’m sure she’s a nice and talented person though so I’m sorry to be mean.

The only thing that saved this drama from being an utter failure were the side characters, who were likable and more real than the main characters. I especially like Ju Ri and her mom.

I guess I just have totally different tastes from most drama fans. But I have very low tolerance for people who mope and feel sorry for themselves all the time.

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The same old clichés!

The story is not something that unique. Like most Korean love dramas it is full of predictable twists, childhood and parent relationships, jealousy and love triangles, characters trying to act cool and make the other lead jealous. For example, the other girl who loves the main lead has done nothing wrong but love him, give him a home and a job but still he never appreciated her enough and just uses her whenever he needs her. I know that happens in real life too but that's not ok as it is always shown in Kdramas. To be honest, watching that time when she is drunk and slaps the female lead and curses the male lead felt really good!
Also, again, like most other Korean dramas they just suddenly jump on a motorcycle to rescue their love in sadness. Ok, I'm not saying that's bad, but that happens in all Kdramas and sometimes it is performed even better. This show has a lot of these old cliches and I don't want to bore you mentioning all of them. Most scenes were based on them and even though it had other moments too, it was not satisfying enough.
As for the acting, the main male lead has this poker face a lot of times that I couldn't really connect with. The acting is not something that unique either. It is just fairly done.
I liked the cinematography for the first few episodes (which it just suddenly stopped). This small part is well done, but that's never enough to make a drama unique.

I want to point out some of my other views regarding the story.
let me first say that I love realistic dramas. Shows that mirror our daily problems which can happen even in a fantasy.
I don't like a show because everybody does, or hate it because everybody does so.

How probable is it that you willingly choose the same career of a mother whom you don't actually like? I'd say none.

The main reasons why I had problems with this show:

First of all, I love serious people, but I don't like arrogant ones. It's the easiest to be rude to others and angry if you're facing problems (or having mental issues). Blaming everything and everyone around you, thinking you are mistreated or you are better than others is very immature - Even though there is always a source for every bad trait of a person and they have to fix themselves and don't think it's ok to continue like this unless love happens and because they are not fine they can hurt others and people should always understand them. So, I don't want to watch the life of a person like that.

Secondly, the beautiful dresses and the cinderella complex! You may think what on earth you're talking about, but let me explain. The FL is far too dramatic. She has everything one could wish for. She has money, talents, she has a beautiful face, good people around her, and still, because of her past, she acts like she is the only one with problems without trying to work on them with the proper psychologist and overcome these problems, while people facing issues like hunger and inequality don't act rudely to that extent. I know that even rich people can suffer from all sorts of issues, but still, they have one very big problem less than others and they can actually pay for treatment. There is a difference between dying from hunger and suffering from past traumas which you can at least try to fix( with the money of course! Doing yoga, going traveling, seeing a psychologist, relaxing, and ...)

Thirdly, It still is full of cliches. In the end, she needed someone (read one man) to enter her life, so she could understand that she has problems and she has to change so she could be a better person for him, instead of fixing herself for the sake of herself and everyone around her. And the fact that even with her success she should still have a romantic life to be complete. ( I know this is a romance genre but still! )

lastly, It's completely mainstream, and still very stupid, of Korean shows when the protagonists' bad actions are always justified in a way, while those who do some bad things towards them are the mere evil ones. Let me make an example, if you have seen Revenge, the American show, you never feel like the female lead having done all sorts of things to get on with her plans is somehow justified. It's like she knows doing this she is no longer an innocent and decent person and she can never go back. Knowing that we can understand her better and like her better. The bad things she has done become a very important part of her, that sticks with her, even if she goes on with her life. Asian dramas always make everything about evil or good rather than the reality of the grey or black personality of people. Like they magically change to this person with a clean slate at the end. We are responsible for our actions and if someone does something bad to us or if we have traumas and mental problems it never justifies our bad behavior. We have to compensate for these rude actions, that's the proper response.

I want to see a Korean drama in which a woman helps other women without being arrogant (being serious still) or rude while having a bigger understanding of the world trying to be better while putting aside her own jealousy when she is communicating with a love rival, and love, well, that can happen too! But I guess I ask too much from this (dramaland) fantasy world. They are made for that purpose. :D

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A Bittersweet Fairytale...

It is undeniable that even amongst the drama-watcher community, there tends to be a notable problem of more well-known dramas being “ overrated” or “ glossed over” from noticeable flaws by biased fans of certain actors, actresses or directors, and “ It’s Okay, Not To Be Okay” is certainly no exception .

Written by lesser-known screenwriter Jo Yong ( After The Rain, Jugglers), ‘It’s Okay, Not To Be Okay’ plays itself upon being an “ atypical” romance between a stoic, yet kind-hearted psychiatric health worker called Moon Gang Tae ( Kim Soo Hyun ) and the eccentric children’s writer Ko Moon Young ( Seo Ye Ji) as they both try to find new ways to heal and recover from their past traumatic wounds along the way ...

Before talking about the interesting joys and delights of characterisation in the show, it is first prominent to commend most of the cast for their performances. Oh Jung Se was undeniably brilliant within his role as Gang Tae’s older autistic brother Moon Sang Tae; a performance which was angst-ridden and heartwarming for viewers over the course of series . Parallel to Jung Se, of course, was undeniably Seo Ye-Ji’s performance as the witty, sardonic yet complicated children’s writer Ko Moon Young; purposefully comical and flamboyant, yet intricately heartbreaking as well.

Truthfully, however, the show’s acting quality could sometimes be a mixed bag, not least from Kim Soo Hyun as our main lead. Although Soo-Hyun is undeniably a brilliant and talented actor, his role as Gang Tae was a little lacklustre and “ wooden” at times to say the least. This is not to say that his performance was unwatchable nor was it “ dire” , however, considering his reputation as a top-notch actor, it was a little surprising that Soo-Hyun didn’t truly add anything to his character . On the other hand , perhaps some of this can also be attributed with screenwriter Jo Yong’s deliverance of characterisation and several plot inconsistencies as well.

As a concept, ‘ It’s Okay, Not To Be Okay’ did not truly step upon new ground with its setup of the recently popular “ reversed gender trope ” in Korean dramas (where the female lead “ calls the shots”, and the male lead is nothing more than the “ object of obsession” in her eyes at first). Nevertheless, one of the undeniable great strengths of ‘ It’s Okay, Not To Be Okay’ was its ability to write several fairly “ fleshed-out” main characters who gradually grow over the course of the series .

Ko Moon-Young wasn’t supposed to be your typical “ Princess” heroine ( even labelling herself to be the “ Pretty Witch” of the story) ; she is successful and a talented writer, but intrinsically insecure and traumatised by her complicated past and her estranged relationship with her seemingly mentally-ill father as well. It remains apparent after finishing the show that Moon-Young often allowed her dark and twisted fairytales to adorn her view of the world; fairytales were once used commonly as morality tales to scare children and adults away from danger, a bittersweet belief (, which despite Moon-Young’s often reckless behaviour, )she applied full-heartedly to her own reality and comes to several harsh wake-ups calls by stepping away from these beliefs over the course of the series.

It is therefore apparent that just whilst Moon-Young is your “ atypical, yet typical” heroine, Moon Gang Tae is your “ usual, yet unusual ” knight in shining armour.

Gang-Tae is hard to really describe or feel true emotional attachment towards as a character ( perhaps explaining why Soo Hyun’s performance felt a little lacklustre at times) , due to his often stoic expressions and unreadable personality ( especially in comparison to Moon-Young) over the course of the series.

Nevertheless, it’s wrong to entirely dismiss Gang-Tae as a “ terribly-written character” , as his “ apathy” is often broken in the face of his trauma and clearer feelings( particularly towards his brother and later Moon-Young) in the second-half, however, the biggest problem about Gang-Tae’s characterisation was often a consequence of his sudden transition feeling a little purposeless.Although the show attempted to explain this characterisation by having to look after Sang-Tae as the “ carer” in their fraternal relationship, as well as evidently irked by Moon-Young in the beginning of the show, considering the extent of some of his traumas, Gang Tae’s reactions and coming to grips with them often felt lacklustre and perhaps resulted in Gang Tae merging into a “ stock male lead” over the course of the drama.

Naturally this draws us up onto the aspect of relationships in ‘ Its Okay, Not To Be Okay’. Perhaps the most praiseworthy thing to note about the programme is that although it is a “ romance” drama, it points out many different types of relationships ; from paternal ( such as the case of Kim Mi Sung’s character Kang Soon Deok and her adoration for her daughter Nam Joo Ri played by Park Gyu Young) ,to the fraternal bond between Gang Tae and Sang Tae and to the obvious romantic bond between Gang Tae and Moon Young over the course of the series.

In the case of the latter relationship , the show had an odd balance between genuine and striking similarities between the polar opposites acting as their magnetic force to stick together, as well as later riding upon several cliches which intrinsically took certain earlier driving factors from their fairly well-written and blossoming relationship. The ending was undeniably sweet, though perhaps a little anticlimactic for some watchers (considering the darker themes tackled).

The obvious and evident pairing overshadowed in the show by Gang Tae and Moon Young’s romance , occurred between Nam Joo Ri(Gang-Tae’s “ lovelorn” best friend) and Moon Young’s colleague and CEO of the publishing company Lee Sang In ( Kim Joo Heon). By default their pairing should have perhaps been the most grounded portrayal of the most “ normalised” romantic relationship in the show , however, by investing so much time into Gang-Tae and Moon Young’s, Sang In and Joo Ri’s pairing felt lacklustre , incredibly forced and a cliche setup between the “ extras”, rather than fleshed-out and realistically built-upon over time.

So, is ‘ It’s Okay, Not To Be Okay’ actually worth watching? Although there were a couple of questionable acting moments, cliches and plot inconsistencies, ‘ It’s Okay, Not To Be Okay’ was still a good drama, and certainly shouldn’t be dismissed as “ mediocre” ; the plot was intriguing, the cinematography was creative and beautifully shot, the OST was eclectic and themes of mental-health as well as psychology were fairly well-tackled and portrayed. ( Perhaps one of the most gripping scenes in the whole series came from a veteran soldier experiencing a bout of PTSD and the horrific scenes through the cinematography he was seeing on a normal bus ride.) ‘ It’s Okay, Not To Be Okay’ is undeniably not a flawless show, however, it is certainly still worth a watch ( not least for Moon Young’s more and more extravagant attires by each passing episode).

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Dissapointing

I was really, really excited for this one.
I'm a huge Kim Soohyun fan and I was counting down for him coming back. When I saw that he took on a new drama, I was so excited. But, I'm now at episode 13 and it's getting really boring for me.
First of all, the drama is getting hype for being about mental health but that isn't that prevalent to be honest. It's a love story between someone who works at a mental health facility and a someone who became 'difficult' because of her childhood. But, there's never a healing story of Munyeong. She just falls in love and kind of keeps the irritating attitude.
The only really mental health story is the one of Moon Sangtae because he has autism. But I feel like he is just there to make the love story 'cuter'.
I did like the stories of the patients. They were really interesting but there was never a focus on that.
Really hoped this would be better.

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Great acting, great premise, bad execution, no real drama

While It's Okay to Not Be Okay started out with an intriguing premise and captivating first few episodes, the series stagnates around episode 5 and completely loses its luster by the end of episode 7, never to recover until the very end.

My biggest complaint is that it was hard to sympathize with the ML, Moon Gang-tae (Kim Soo-hyun), who I found to be very whiny, mopey, and immature throughout, treating everyone around him with little to no respect. It was hard not to roll my eyes every time he grabbed the wrist of the FL, Ko Moon-young, which was A LOT.

Overall, I felt that there were many storylines that could have brought some much needed drama to the story, but the writer chose to center the drama around a very fickle romance that really didn't feel earned at all.

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Highly recommend !!

This drama is the best drama i have watched till now.



Best things about it :


*unique story based on mental healing & fairytales.

* Each and every OST's are really good.

* When all people want perfection in their life, it leaves a message " Its okay not to be okay "

* All the short stories of this drama are my favorite one's and I'm going to remember these stories for a long time for sure .

* Performance by all the cast is TOP NOTCH
you will not feel in any emotional scene that they are overreacting ,Cause the cast in the show made it so real that even you can't hold your tears .

*Great cinematography and production quality.

Although there're some minor issues in the second half , still it's really good.

Watch it you gonna love it!

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Average drama

Well, I have no complaints about this drama as I knew this was not for me. Even my friends didn't recommend as they knew this is not my type of drama. But it was not so bad neither so good...This drama got such a big viewership internationally and maybe, it can surpass dramas like Goblin or Dots.
About the couple, I missed chemistry and felt lack of emotions . As a drama, I felt that this could be placed in the same class of itaewon class. So if you like that drama, go for it!!

The music is good ..could be added to your playlist. I don't know whether the psychological condition of the characters are portrayed medically correct . I felt a bit of artificiality in that.

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