It's Okay to Not Be Okay

A Deeply Emotional Journey

"It's Okay to Not Be Okay" has firmly established itself as one of my all-time favourite dramas, a sentiment reaffirmed by a recent rewatch. The series excels in every aspect, delivering a beautifully crafted narrative that is touching and carefully planned. What stands out most is the chemistry between the male lead (ML) and female lead (FL), both compelling and deeply moving, providing a strong emotional core to the story.

Each episode, with its blend of main and side stories, masterfully evokes a range of emotions, often bringing me to tears. The way the drama intertwines personal struggles with broader themes of mental health and healing is both educational and heartrending. This is a standout drama that combines excellent storytelling with powerful performances, making it a must-watch for anyone looking for a deeply emotional and thought-provoking series.

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"You’re all empty inside. You’re just loud. Like an empty can.”

There has never been a drama where I wouldn't change a single thing. Until this.

That is why this is my all time favourite drama.

If you can see my ratings for every other drama, you know I'm pretty picky when it comes to perfect ratings. I'm also very picky when it comes to high ratings (8.5+). But this one takes the cake.

There's powerful emotions - performed by one of the best cast I've ever seen.
There's traumatic memories - making you hold your heart in pain.
There's an abundance of tears - forcing you to cry alongside every time. It's not diluted but perfectly timed and required.
There's beautiful smiles - willing the corners of your lips to curl and join in.
There's comedy injected with perfect timing - never pulling you out of the story.

I love this drama with all my heart and even every single character. A number of quotes I even debated to make my senior quote. If you're ready and willing to laugh, smile, cry and fall in love... this drama will always be waiting for you.

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What a waste of time!

so, I was scrolling comments and reviews and they were just too positive. Maybe it's just my special taste in dramas of maybe there are somethings that should be told and nobody said them.
Story:
It was special? yes. I have never seen a drama with this kind of story and challenges. but does being special means it's great? Not at all. in my opinion, there were so much more we could see about support couples, the past of the main characters, etc. I was hoping to see more about families and their daily life in the past. knowing almost nothing about the past, made me confused sometimes.
Acting:
As a kdramer I worship Kim soo hyun. in every single dramas that I've seen from him, he is the best actor with no doubt. in other side, this drama was the first drama I've watched from Seo yea ji. She is a talented actress but I think her acts wasn't matched with Kim soo hyun's. and about Oh Jung Se, He should win an Oscar for his acting in this drama. he should. he nailed it.
Ending:
Everything ended perfect. and that's the problem. everything is just as it should be. lovers are together and the villain is caught. everything ended like a Disney cartoon and that's just not good. for example, the drama "Big mouth" has one of the best endings ever. we see good people die, bleed, cry. and in this drama? everything is as it should be. everything is the same, except the lovers found each other and the bad guys are arrested. I'm not a fan of these kind of endings.
Hope this review helps you! :)

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Beautiful story

I love this show and everything that it offers, It used to sit at the number one spot in my list and it stayed there for years. But since everything came out about Soo hyun I just can't look at it the same way I used to, but nonetheless the story is still there and I love it. That's all that matters, so that's why the rating stays unchanged. The way that this show deals with mental illness and the toll that taking care of these people can take on someone is done really well. The actors portray everything really well (Especially seo yeaji love you), the emotions that they brought to the screen were impeccable. The side storylines with all the patients were really intriguing, especially the war veteran and the lady who heard and saw things. Being so in love with someone but having to hold yourself back because of your circumstances must be so heartbreaking, and Gang tae always had to do that as well. He was brought into the world just to deal with his brother, bro was doomed from the start but hey he got his happy ending. Mun Young oh how I love you, characters with tragic backstories that aren't held back by that are my favorite kind. Plot twist after plot twist with this one god damn, they really wanted to make this as confusing and as interesting as possible. Beautiful story, beautiful everything.

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Serious issues were dealt with in such a way that I was engaged not traumatized.

Initially I didn't think that I would like this as it seemed like a melodrama with & family issues & heavy emotional trauma is not interesting to me.
[I don't EVER want to ugly cry over my entertainment ].
So I was shocked at how unexpectedly likeable this drama was !
The serious issues were dealt with in such a way that I was engaged but not traumatized.
It didn't quite hit the 10/10 for me because;

1) I kept wondering : WHY does the male lead like the female lead ?
All I could come up with was that his mother was not extremely warm to him, so he may have interpreted coldness & being treated a certain way as love?

2) There was a bit too much bickering before the happy ending [though the way they ended it soothed it over.]

They made some bold choices with the OST.I didn't' particularly like the style of music (or the fact that it was all (?) in English) , but it added a quirkiness that went well with the theme. Really, though, it's a Korean drama so it should have had more Korean music-but perhaps that's just because English is my 1st language & so it doesn't have the same charm for me.

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In my Top 3 Kdrama

Re (re re) watching this drama and still enjoying as much as the first time (or even more !).

2nd of my Top 3 (My Mister 1st and The Glory 3rd),

First time I watched IOTNBO it really was a « good surprise » because synopsis didn’t sound that good for me so I didn’t expected a lot from it.
And woww !!! I was wrong :/ it was so great ! I loved Go Mun Young character. One of my favorite FL characters and soooo well portrayed by Seo Yea Ji, stellar acting / impressive !
Oh Jung Se is also very talented. Of course other actors (Kim Soo Hyun, Park Gyu Young, etc…) are very good too.

I love everything in this drama:
- Amazing casting/acting : as explained above main characters and support roles are portrayed by very great and impressive actors. IOTNBO was the second or third Kdrama I watched and these talented actors made me want to watch more !
- Writing/Story/Plot: Sometimes emotional, sad and/or funny the storyline is consistent and allows actors to shine. Real characters you feel close to. Interesting relationships (love, friendship). Credible development of lead characters and support roles.
- Direction/Filming : same as the storyline, direction/filming allows actors to show how great and talented they are. A great work ! (IOTNBO atmosphere made me think to Tim Burton)
- OST : even OST is very good. A lot of songs are now in my playlist (In Your Time, Wake Up, I’m Your Psycho, In Silence, Facing The Fate, For Joo Ree, etc…)

To summary IOTNBO is for me a Masterpiece I love and recommand ! It is the perfect drama to (re)watch when you want/need to have a good time !

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I loved this K-drama so should you

I loved this K-drama, I loved it so much to the point that I finished it in 1 and 1/2 days. I loved it so much because of all the plot twists, if you like plot twists or K-drams where there is denial in love but in the end they fall in love this is the show for you. Things I disliked in this drama were that I didn't like how the male lead had bipolar feelings toward the female, and also that the male lead was too focused on his brother instead of his feelings. But things I liked in this drama were that the story wasn't just focused on romance but also family problems and thriller. I liked how the female lead overcame her fears, and also i liked how the second male lead was more fond of the female than the male lead. If you want to watch a drama that doesn't just focus on love this is the one for you.

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"The Person I Like the Most is Myself."

I can't believe that I have put this drama off for so long. I've been hearing about it since I first started watching them and was planning on watching it after I finished Queen of Tears but obvious recent events put me off. I won't be mentioning any of the controversies regarding the main leads because this review is purely about the show.

I had no idea that this drama was so heavily focused on mental health or that most of the drama would take place in a mental health facility but as someone who's not only a psych major but also has mental issues of my own, this drama hit very close to home.

I loved that we not only got to learn about the main characters and how they started to accept their past and work on themselves but also seeing the characters in the facility and their stories was amazing. Usually when I watch dramas, I don't care at all about most side characters but I got so attached to this drama. There wasn't one single weak episode and even the side characters were amazing actors.

I also love how this drama went against so many common tropes that typically upset me, for example: didn't make Munyeong forgive her father when he was dying because the trauma doesn't just go away just because he's dying. This is genuinely one of the best k-dramas out there and I will 100% go back to this and bring up everything it did correctly whenever other shows make me mad lol.

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i regret the fact this is the first drama i've watched because it made my standards be WAY TOO FUCKING HIGH!!!! was she a little crazy? absolutely .. but i also loved how everything was connected from the stories to just the subtle things i could only quite catch on later or when i was rewatching. i liked the way they portrayed autism i feel like it opened my eyes a little bit to it the actor did a super good job !!!! the brothers dynamic was so beautiful it made me so damn emotional. like seriously i'm pretty sure i almost cried because of this show a couple of times. i do want to rewatch it properly because there's just so much to talk about and i wanna add everything to this

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Acting like rent was DUE

Title says it all. Every actor brought their A game. To a degree where I couldn’t believe I’d seen them act in other shows because they held so true to their characters. It was bittersweet but life often is. A story about learning to love and be loved and the mortifying ordeal of being seen. I’ve never felt so invested in side characters and quite frankly, only about 2-3 out of the entire cast felt like a true side character. The characters were fleshed out to a “t” and the ups and downs were believable. Your heart ached when they cried and life was unfair. You laughed when they were ridiculous and out of pocket. You felt butterflies when you saw someone be loved for who they were instead of who the world thinks they should be. No notes, just watch it.

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Captivating Story, Subjects, and Acting

I started watching this at the recommendation of a friend and it was fantastic. I was blown away at the storyline, and how the writers tackled and incorporated themes of mental health and illness throughout the drama. The leads are both amazing actors and deliver their roles well (character of one of them outside of acting excluded from analysis) and each episode delivers a more nuanced and complicated layer and development to each character. The series is long but never feels slow and every episode feels important in the overall plot and story development.

I love how Ko Mun Yeong is misunderstood and portrayed, as well as overcomes obstacles and inclinations about the way she was raised and the sociological and environmental influences she faced from her mother. Despite the seriousness of the series overall, the humor and dark fairytale like story are captivating. Visually, the drama is wonderfully done and even the support case in the drama is outstanding.

As one of my first non BL dramas, this set a high bar for other dramas to live up to! Definitely watch this if you want character depth, a different style love story, and characters that sometimes break the traditional K-Drama molds of leads.

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i loved it

i laughed, cried, got mad, screamed, cried and laughed some more but most importantly i loved it.

the story and characters are great, but the message about everyone having their own trauma's and getting over them or learning to live with them is so important. that there are always people around you that care for you no matter how lonely you feel or how much you tend to push them away.

i think everyone should watch this drama because there is a good message behind it, you'll learn a lot from it. you never know what happend in someones life no matter how much they pretend to be fine.

i really needed this in my life and i am glad i watched it.

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