"There's no way you can be lost if you don't set a destination"
Mr. Plankton told the story of three wounded people finding love and reconciliation down a messy, uneven path. Woo Do Hwan can make any role compelling and he had some heavy lifting to do in the early episodes of this drama, thankfully he’d been working out.Hae Jo and Gi Ho run a boys for hire service, picking whatever jobs Hae Jo thinks will be fun. Hae Jo was emotionally abandoned as a child due to a mistake at an IVF facility and seems to have no love to give. The entrepreneurs take on a job of “kidnapping” a bride which goes south really quick and ends with Hae Jo discovering he has three months to live. He decides to search for his biological father to try and make some sense of his life and in the process kidnaps another bride for real. Soon he has the first bride’s villainous gangster groom after him as well as the second bride’s loving groom.
The first few episodes were difficult for me because I had real concerns about the lack of consent on Jae Mi’s part when Hae Jo kidnapped her. Despite having a past, it came across as problematic. Of course, eventually their shared loved and Woo Do Hwan’s gorgeous face and body convinced her to help him on his parental quest, but that doesn’t negate the kidnapping. Jae Mi’s fiancé, Heung, became hopelessly entangled in their lives. I actually liked Heung. While he had mommy issues due to an overbearing mother, he was a good man who genuinely loved Jae Mi and didn’t deserve to have a front row seat to Hae Jo and Jae Mi’s burgeoning love story. Gi Ho, who became embroiled with the gangsters searching for Hae Jo suffered greatly for his loyalty and friendship which went all but unacknowledged.
Now that I’ve stated the things that didn’t work for me, here’s what did. I’m a sucker for reconciliation stories and found families. Once everyone was mutually onboard the crazy train without a destination, the story worked better. Hae Jo discovered that his family was not the only one with problems. Heung began to develop enough confidence to defy his overbearing mother. Jae Mi came to understand that she had worth. And all three would have their eyes opened to the love all around them.
Woo Do Hwan’s performance was mesmerizing even when Hae Jo behaved liked a self-centered jerk. He has a way of making any character sympathetic and did the same here which was a momentous task as Hae Jo spent much of his time hurting others. Oh Jung Se had the difficult job of making a middle-aged man who could not stand up to his mother likeable. Heung was such a compassionate character that he could set aside his own feelings and respect Jae Mi’s choices. The character that downgraded this drama for me was Jae Mi. I found the writing for her and the acting grating. Jae Mi spent much of her time yelling or acting childlike which caused me to hit the mute button numerous times per episode. All three characters were complicated and flawed, having been wounded by their parents. All three were on a journey towards love, growth, and forgiveness. Though much of the growth was understandable, there was some that felt unearned.
Mr. Plankton was an uneven drama with moments of humor, sorrow, and love driven by Woo Do Hwan’s compelling performance. The specter of Death lingered in the shadows from beginning to end. Hae Jo’s vision of what was important cleared as his final days approached. Family isn’t always what we’re born into, sometimes it’s what we make it.
“Never set a destination. Just let your instincts take the lead for you. That way you’ll never lose your path.”
11 November 2024
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When Love Gets Messy and Real
I started Mr. Plankton out of pure curiosity, drawn by the title and a familiar cast. I was expecting a simple romance, maybe a guy running errands who meets a girl along the way. But I was in for a surprise—the story had far more depth than I imagined. After one episode, I couldn’t stop and ended up watching seven in a row.The story kicks off with an ending scene, leaving us to figure out how it all fits together. Instead of a typical boy-meets-girl scenario, we learn the leads are ex-lovers, both orphans, with an intense past that ended without real closure. Their chemistry caught me off guard. The lead actress usually plays cutesy roles, and the lead actor leans more toward action, yet they bring a fresh, raw connection to the screen. His character is definitely a “red flag” type, but it’s understandable given his tough background, abandoned and left to fend for himself.
Things really heat up when he suddenly returns to her life, just as she’s about to marry someone else, sparking an unexpected love triangle. While his intentions are protective (especially around her secret medical condition), he pulls her along on a road trip to find his birth father without giving her the full story. This journey is full of tension, close calls, and moments where she tries to escape before ultimately deciding to stay by his side.
One of the most touching elements is how the title, Mr. Plankton, ties to his character’s sense of identity. In a quiet but powerful moment, he compares himself to plankton—seemingly insignificant and unnoticed, like mere accessories in the vast sea. But plankton, he explains, actually sustain life in the ocean by producing oxygen, a contribution people overlook as they focus only on their sparkling glow. Through this metaphor, he sees himself as someone who may be overlooked but who still has a role and purpose, even if the world fails to see it. It’s a quietly beautiful symbol that resonates throughout the series, shaping our understanding of him as a character.
Watching their road trip was exciting, though I would have loved to see more of the female lead’s perspective on her choices, especially as she reconnects with her ex. Her impulsive decisions can be frustrating, but her backstory makes it understandable. Her ex-fiancé also surprised me; he respected her decisions and even supported her ex in the end, which added a layer of maturity to the story.
Overall, Mr. Plankton was an engaging watch. I even teared up during the lead’s breakdown about his illness and his struggle with feelings of abandonment and unfairness. The ending is simply a return to the opening scene, but it’s beautifully done but bittersweet, leaving me pensive. This drama isn’t something I’d watch twice, as it really makes you think about love, loss, and purpose. But it’s definitely worth watching once, especially if you’re ready for a fresh, emotional take on love and closure.
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Story Built on Bad Decisions
✿Personally, I’m not a fan of the “cheat on your current partner to find your soulmate” genre. Unfortunately, this drama turned out to be exactly that and that’s my biggest issue with it.✿The best thing for me was definitely the countryside visuals. I’m a complete sucker for countryside dramas regardless of genre, I almost always end up watching them. That’s the main reason this drama was on my watchlist in the first place.
What I didn’t like were the characters and the core story. Honestly, not a single character won me over. The entire drama is just people making one stupid life decision after another.
✿The male lead, Hae-ju, might be one of the most infuriating characters I’ve ever watched in a Kdrama. He dumps the female lead but the moment she’s about to get married, he finds out about his illness and suddenly kidnaps her to accompany him on a journey before his death without even informing her properly. He gives zero thought to what she would go through or the emotional state she’d be left in once he abandoned her again. Every tragedy in his life except the illness is self-created. He does the same to his birth mother, never allowing his adoptive father to process the fact that the child he raised isn’t biologically his. His mother eventually commits suicide and he leaves home and becomes a street kid. His entire arc is chaos driven by selfish choices.
✿The female lead, Jae-mi, is a pushover overall. This time, I could at least understand why she’s content with less than the bare minimum, given her background. But let’s be honest many people in the real world accept the bare minimum only because it comes from a handsome face, no matter what others might have to offer.
✿Eo heung—the cuck. I felt sympathy for him at first but as the story progressed, that sympathy turned into pure irritation.
Despite hating the characters, I managed to finish the drama because I disliked all of them equally. I hate it when genuinely good people end up with irritating partners. I firmly believe that people with the same level of emotional mess deserve each other. And in that sense, the ending at least made the story feel more meaningful.
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A young girl in early menopause and her terminally ill ex-boyfriend.He kidnaps his ex-girlfriend who is about to get married and drags her with him in search of his biological father.
But couldn't he have gone alone, I wonder?
What was the need to ruin her life, knowing that he will die soon?
Arguments, violence and mistreatment of this poor friend/companion (what a shitty role he has), the bodyguard specially brought back from America who practically doesn't say a word. This poor betrothed who chases her to save her.
In all this tragic comedy Woo Do Hwan's physique is one of the few things I would save.
From the eighth episode until the end the pace becomes slower and the story sadder.
Ups and downs of the disease that keeps getting worse, one moment he's fine, then he seems dead and the next moment everything seems ok... which makes you wonder if it will be over or he will wake up again...
Towards the end we discover the reason for the title "Mr Plankton".
In all this there are things that don't hold up: for example... The real father was the first. But taking the test when the child was little, no? The story collapses like this and makes no sense.
He abandons her by her real mother, runs away with the car, loses control and when it stops, the fiancé gets into the car (?!) or when they are on the island the criminal appears out of nowhere, alone and without henchmen in tow (?!!)...
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Please make her stop screaming
A new judging criteria should be added: scream level. FL starts as a little girl always smiling hoping that a happy and nice child will be more easily adopted than a sad and crying one, but as an adult she cries and above all screams a lot..maybe too much. A good story is somehow ruined by this interpretation, like it happened with Kill me Heal me.And talking about comparison, here you can't help but compare Woo Do Hwan with Kim Woo Bin (Uncontrollably fond) and Lee Jun Ho (Just between lovers) and I'm sorry to say that the result is not so positive. Maybe his performance is ruined ruined by the over the top acting of Yoo Mi Lee.
Anyway, I enjoyed whatching this drama even if it didn't involve me emotionally as I thought.
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Cliche but good
Sincerely, I started to watch this K-drama because I was bored, thinking it would be another average love story and that I'd ditch it halfway as soon as the "bad boy" wout get his cute girl to fall in love with him. I couldn't have been more wrong, I thought, after laughing for five episodes straight-actually, this is not that bad. Even though it was a totally fictional plot, the connection with the characters amazed me with how real they were. My heart started to feel heavy and squeezed by emotions throughout the whole journey. It was a total rollercoaster of character relationships and emotions-their acts, sometimes selfish, sometimes absurd, sometimes pitiful, made them so human. But everything they did was to seek one thing: love.People are so foolish for searching love where they aren't needed, forgetting to look around and see those who love us no matter what. People who aren't related to us by DNA but who gather with us throughout the journey of life. The main characters did a beautiful job portraying this feeling. Sometimes when I try to explain love to my friends, I imagine this down-to-earth, realistic, but still such a powerful, unimaginable feeling that I cannot explain.
Other than love in its many forms, we felt loss, forgiveness, redemption, letting go, rebirth, and the meaning of self and so much more.
I just want to say thank you and hope others can take a piece of the story with them, just as I did.
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Worth watching for the acting
I was very excited when I started watching this drama because of Woo Dohwan who is basically one of my favorite actors (yes he is handsome but his acting skills are pretty amazing too).At the beginning, I was really intrigued about his character Hae Jo. And the first half of the drama was really exciting and fun!!! the whole chase through the country, the drama, the funny moments were on point, if only the drama had continued like that…
Basically, after they got rescued from the island and came back to Seoul everything went down the drain…
In my opinion there was a lot of unnecessary drama and the plot was not moving on. The main lead was sulking and treating Jae Mi like trash and it kept on going back and forth. I got quite bored during a few episodes to be honest…
And then the scene when Hae Jo leaves Jae Mi in front of her mother’s door and runs away! Why??? Why did he have to run away??? I was sooo confused! What was the point anyway if you were gonna go back to Seoul afterwards? I thought he was gonna start his journey to look for his father with Heung but no they just went back to Seoul!!! I got really annoyed tbh and I also got annoyed at Jae Mi a couple of times. At the beginning she was acting like a spoiled child, punching Hae Jo and telling him to die etc. I think thats a little bit too much to say to someone, no matter how shitty they treated you…
Ofc I was also a little bit annoyed at Hae Jo at times. Why did he have to agree to kidnap the first woman from her wedding? And why did he say such mean things to Jae Mi in their first relationship? And then being so egocentric and kidnapping her and throwing away her shoes etc.
In general I also found it kinda sad how quickly and easily Jae Mi got over Heung and the treatment of his mother and how easy it was for her to move on and fall in love with Hae Jo again… I don’t think she was really in love with him… he was just a nice man she wanted to have kids with…
And finally, I was reallyyyy annoyed about how the drama started with the search for Hae Jo’s father but was never finished!!!! Like what was the point of watching (except for Woo Dohwan’s naked upper body)??? We already knew how it was gonna end (him dying in the snow) so what other new information did we gain??? I was very confused and quite disappointed to be honest…
The storyline is definitely lacking and most of the characters were very problematic too. However here are some good points:
1. The quotes: Hae Jo had some impressive quotes and it brought me to tears many times.
2. In general it did have some tearjerking moments. I dont understand why the movie’s genre is romance/comedy… it is more of a drama imo.
3. The acting skills!!! Like no matter how annoying some characters were, the actors brought them to life sooo well and authentically… Kudos to all of these high class actors.
4. The music especially the instrumental one in dramatically sad scenes (for example when Hae Jobwas dying in the snow). It was one of the reasons I got hooked on the show. The music, directing and screenplay were done sooo well!!! I couldn’t stop thinking about it…
In general I think it is okay to watch it if you are interested but be prepared for some toxic characters and relationships…
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This show was just meh for me. Yes the acting was great and Woo Do Hwan's emotional journey was something to behold. However, it was just another, childhood trauma series that really wasn't resolved. That's fine but then don't take us on that roller coaster ride. Jae Mi's screeching also got on my nerves.
The pluses of the series are Oh Jung Se. He has always been one of my favorite K actors and he was great here as the sort of jilted fiance. I did like that he was able to let Jae Mi go but he still was grieving that. A more realistic approach to a hard break up.
Lee El. OMG! I love this woman. Absolutely fantastic as Bon Suk, friend and mother figure to Hae Jo. Those scenes in the hospital should get all the supporting actress awards.
Kim Min Seok as Ho Ji was such great comic relief but I also really liked the character.
11/24/24
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I don't know how I feel about this drama
It was an ok drama with a weird set up...I LOVED the editing and cinematography of this drama. Every shot and scene was something worth studying. My favorite scene from this drama was how Hae Jo met his lil sister, who was looking for her brother. I didn't expect that and it was such a bittersweet surprise that the drama threw. I wish there was a scene where they met later...
Everything else was meh... It felt like at times the drama was going to hit the high that it was seeking and just shine brilliantly but then it just flares off and then just meh... I don't know how else to put it... I felt like this drama was unfinished.
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1This review may contain spoilers
No
A 10-hour-late head pop.Just wasn't for me. Maybe you will get more out of it!
This drama is a train wreck. If you're looking for anything good – a decent story, interesting characters, watchable acting – just turn around now. Seriously, save yourself. This thing is a mess, and it's not just a harmless mess; it actually pushes some pretty toxic stuff, especially with the male lead.
The biggest problem is the writing. It's just bad. The story jumps all over the place, like the writers just threw a bunch of random scenes together and called it a plot. Nothing makes sense, and you're constantly wondering what's going on. The dialogue is even worse – it's full of cheesy lines and awkward conversations that'll make you cringe so hard you might pull a muscle. You won't remember a single line five minutes after you hear it. And the pacing? Don't even get me started. It's either dragging on forever or rushing through important stuff, which makes the whole thing super boring.
But the absolute worst part? The male lead. This guy is a walking red flag. He's not just bland; he's straight-up toxic. He's controlling, he ignores everyone's feelings, and he has zero respect for boundaries. And the worst part? The show acts like this is okay, even romantic sometimes, which is a seriously messed-up message to send. The actor doesn't help things either. His performance is so wooden and lifeless; it's like watching a robot try to act human, but a robot programmed with toxic masculinity. You never get why he does anything, you never feel for him, and you definitely don't root for him. He's just there, being awful and making the whole thing worse. His behavior shouldn't be excused; it should be called out.
And the side characters? They're totally useless. They're just there to move the terrible plot along, and they have no personalities of their own. They barely get any screen time, and when they do, they don't do anything interesting. They're just… there. They don't add anything to the story, and you forget about them as soon as they're off-screen. They're like background extras who accidentally wandered into the foreground. And they just accept the male lead's awful behavior, which makes it seem even more normal than it should.
The lack of decent side characters just makes the male lead's awfulness even more obvious. He's supposed to be the main focus, but he's completely empty and, honestly, kind of scary. There's no connection between any of the actors, especially with him, which makes everything even more awkward and uncomfortable.
Pros:
• It's a great example of what not to do in a drama.
• It's short, so at least you won't waste too much time on it (but even a little is too much).
• It might get people talking about toxic masculinity in shows.
Cons:
• The writing is awful.
• The characters are boring and badly written, especially the male lead, who's also toxic.
• The acting is terrible, especially from the male lead.
I hope that Lee You Mi gets better script next time. Definitely want to see her in more FL roles. This just isn’t it.
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a quirky and fun ride
Life does not go planned always. But when it takes the biggest twist you start valuing your life a little more....Haejo has been living carelessly and carefreely till an accident revealed a chapter of his life he was unaware of. Jae Mi's free spirit nature faces roadblocks as a very precedented incident appears early.
Three twists make the journey eventful and rewatchable.
1. The past
Korean drama makers use a heart-wrenching past which builds the character graph with the progression of the story. The past of Hae Jo and Jae Mi keeps them from living through their present. As Hae Jo gets to know he has only a few months to live, his craving for having a real family starts overwhelming him all of a sudden.
Jae Mi's craving for having her own family and children seems to move far away as she tries to cling to it. Hae Jo tries to confront his past but the pain of betrayal comes in every time. The pain of being abandoned by his own family keeps on taking peace of his mind.
2. The Love
As Jae Mi finds herself falling apart, she finds love by her side. We have witnessed different love across Korean drama universe but this love track is going to take the peak spot. Falling in love when you are at your best is easy. But have you met someone who is there for you when you are at your lowest. Jae Mi has that one, who saves her from falling apart.
3. The Pain
It is the most irrevocable and unconditional emotion that stays with us thoughout. Everytime people fall apart they even count the not happened birthday coral from years ago.
Jae Mi did not fall out of love. But the pain of being abandoned again kept on haunting her, pushing her away from herself.
This mini right series is a must watch because of its unique plot and twists.
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#freethepsychiatricpatient
This show is actually a daydream of someone stuck in a psychiatric ward, someone who is clinically insane and destined to spend the rest of their life there. The entire narrative is a blend of hallucinations and delusions, blurring the lines between reality and fantasy. Once you realize that what we’re seeing is a figment of the psychiatric patient’s imagination, everything starts to make sense. The erratic, adolescence-like adults running around, doing bizarre and incomprehensible things—it all reflects the chaotic mind of this patient.The theme of abandonment is woven throughout the show because that’s what the patient is grappling with in real life feeling abandoned by the world, left to remain in the psych ward indefinitely. The show captures these intense mood swings, with characters going from crying and deep despair to sudden joy and laughter. It’s a rollercoaster of emotions, reflecting the unstable mental state of the patient who dreams it all up.
The insanity portrayed isn’t a kind of crazy that you can easily understand. It’s true madness, something beyond comprehension, and that’s what makes the show both fascinating and unsettling. But at only ten episodes long, it feels like we were thrown into the deep end of this madness without enough buildup. The craziness is there from the very beginning, and while that’s part of its charm, a bit more development could have made the journey even more impactful.
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