Mr. Plankton

Good Enough

Korean Drama '' Mr. Plankton '' is a dramedy with a crazy plot mixed up with a tragic core.

The drama has some pretty tragic characters who fight against the odds to be happy, often, however, failing to achieve that happiness. Also, the process of that was filled with many comical elements.

Alas, that mixture was a failure. The comedy didn't blend smoothly with the drama, and the plot was more often than not all over the place, with the characters constantly moving from one place to another so quickly that the plot didn't organically develop. Thus, the story fails to engage.

Fortunately, the performances were stellar and the actors and actresses handled their characters nicely.

So, overall, six out of ten.

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The Writers Forgot...

I watched this as part of a watch party. For the most part, the first six episodes of the show, although not perfect, were fun, and the story surrounding his biological father had me intrigued. The comedy, although exaggerated, had me cackling. I enjoyed them a lot. Up till then, the show was an 8 to an 8.5. Then, episode 7 happened.

The show went on a downward spiral from there. I thought it would recover before the end, but it didn't. The female lead was annoying and childish. Her crying started grating on my nerves and the way she kept hitting the male lead's head despite knowing his condition baffled me. She was completely devoid of critical thinking. Hae Jo, the male lead, had strong douchebag tendencies. I know the way he tried to push people out of his life stemmed from the neglect he suffered while growing up, but there were times that I had to shake my head at the comments he made to the people around him. They were honestly kind of perfect for each other... There were also too many filler scenes and dubious relationships. At times, it felt like the writer(s) were suffering from the same terminal illness as the male lead. Why would you write all this tension surrounding Eo Heung and John, only to have her ask him to be her second son? What? Come again? That was not the only strange relationship dynamic, there were others. It was like they simply forgot what they had written previously. The reconciliation with the trash father was also irritating, anticlimactic, and felt like an afterthought as it was not well developed. I am not going to delve deeper into that. This show could have also been 8 episodes. It did not need 10. This story had so much potential and it could have been one of the better 2024 K-dramas.

The show features California Dreamin’ by The Mamas & the Papas which is honestly one of my favorite songs and the other OST songs are decent too. It also had beautiful cinematography. There were truly beautiful shots.

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messy and noisy plot

I was excited when I learned that Woo Do Hwan and Lee Yu Mi were the main leads. I enjoyed their acting in previous projects, and I thought they matched well—Woo Do Hwan has a sharp, intense look, while Lee Yu Mi gives off a bubbly vibe.

However, the plot just didn’t work for me. I found it messy. The story tried to pack in too much information, but I didn’t care for the side plots—for instance, the whole bloodline thing and the gang’s revenge. I was more interested in the main leads’ relationship and the male lead’s journey to find his biological father, especially since we knew he was sick. All of the side plots made the series feel too noisy, in my opinion. About halfway through, I also started getting annoyed with Lee Yu Mi’s character because she screamed a lot, which kinda ruined the mood.

I wanted to like this series. In fact, I had high expectations since I like both main leads, and the premise had so much potentials. But sadly, this one is not for me.

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Scripted horror.

Unhealthy relationship, lack of communication. If there was a quote on the poster: "An example of what not to do", then it would be a masterpiece, but I doubt that the message was exactly that.

The first half of the quote on the poster states that it should be a romantic comedy, and the other half hints at a tragic ending. The story should make you laugh and connect to the characters, so that you can be moved at the end, despite the fact that you already knew the ending. This is not the case here.

About the title. Sometimes the titles of films or TV series do not carry a load, but sometimes they encapsulate the essence of the whole plot. "Mr Plankton" or simply "Plankton" clearly had to have a meaning. But what was it? It is difficult to understand what idea the drama is trying to convey. The title of the series suggests that even the smallest organisms matter, but how does the series try to make this point, which we only see in one scene where Hae Jo says this to his younger sister in a dream? Where is this overarching theme that was supposed to follow the adventure and comedy that are no less problematic here?

There is no special chemistry between the main characters, and it's not even clear whether you want them to be together or not, it's just not clear what connects them to be together in any case.

It's not funny or interesting, and sometimes even annoying. It's hard to feel any sympathy. Certain decisions of the characters are unnecessary. For example, when Hae Jo leaves Jae Mi in front of her mother's house and leaves. What's the point? He's sobbing in the car because he dumped her, and she's sobbing because her mother didn't recognise her, even though she started crying not even because of that, but because Hae Jo had abandoned her alone, and then started screaming at the woman in hysterics. Where is the compassion here?

Why did He leave her there? And why did she scream hysterically to that woman that she was just scared and ran away because she didn't want the attention of her family and it's clear that she didn't know how they would react, because it was all out of the blue. Hae Jo could have told her that he had found her mother, prepared himself, come with her with a gift, talked to her quietly or made an appointment, and then she would have introduced Jae Mi to her family. But here, there is no justification for this merry-go-round.

Then we see Jae Mi telling her newfound friends that she has found the mother who left her in the orphanage as a newborn baby. And here is a comedy that is not comedy, they are like: "Let me call the right places," each of them giving their options, "and we'll teach her a lesson, what kind of mother does that?" Was that supposed to make me laugh? There are different reasons why she could have left it, she didn't throw it in the trash. Why didn't she come back for it? The scriptwriter should have thought about that, not just left it as a subplot ending.

"Plankton" missed the mark in all areas. It is incomprehensible, emotionless, although many people write that they both laughed and cried. Honestly, it didn't give me any emotions. There is not a single spark between the characters, and for some reason it leaves us somewhat annoyed with its characters and their motivations. The main characters don't know how to communicate, they leave each other and then cry, then come back again, because it's just a forced necessity to create a drama that doesn't work like that.

For some reason, I was also annoyed that they added the song "California dreamin'," which played at the end of the episodes. I associate it with the 1994 film "Chungking Express". For me, this song is recognisable because of this film, and it makes sense even for the plot. But here, it's not clear why it's there.

The only psychological plus in this story was the character of Eo Heung, he is the only psychologically mature person, but in the ending, you can see that his mental wound has not yet completely healed, because it takes time. It would have been better if they had shown that he didn't start his travel blog alone, but with a new girlfriend.

I don't see any point in you watching it. I've warned you. 90% of people's reviews of this project as a masterpiece on various film resources are incomprehensible to me.

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The Ocean's Quiet Hero!

7.8/10
This drama left me with mixed feelings. The journey starts with Hae Jo trying to find his purpose in life and his parental lineage while grappling with a ticking time bomb in his head.

'Mr. Plankton' is such a beautiful and apt title and metaphor for the story. While plankton may seem insignificant in the vast ocean, their lives are crucial to maintaining the ecosystem much like Hae Jo, who feels overlooked yet contributes in his own ways to people around him.

At the start, Hae Jo came across as a brat but as the drama progressed I found myself sympathizing with him more and more. His flaws and initial arrogance gave way to deeper struggles and vulnerabilities, making it hard not to feel for him. The transformation from a seemingly self-centered character to someone with real pain and abandonment was gradual yet powerful. Woo Do Hwan did an excellent job portraying this character.

The road trip part was exciting and the cinematography was simply stunning. However, I wish the show had delved deeper into Jae Mi's character and her own internal conflicts which felt somewhat underexplored.

Also, I loved the bonding and sort of 'found family' dynamics overall in the drama, especially during the second half! The pacing was also better in the latter half, which made it more engaging than the first.

But the emotional weight of the drama is undeniable. Yes, it is not perfect but WDH's portrayal of Hae Jo was so raw and heartfelt. His struggle with abandonment and his illness leaves a bitter-sweet taste in the mouth that lingers.

Despite its flaws, this drama is worth a one-time watch, especially for the powerful performances and emotional depth it delivers.

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Let's go on an adventure.

This show is worth watching. It's about friendship, love, adventure, and most importantly, the meaning of family. A lot of people say that this is a sad ending but to be honest, it's not. It's more so a bittersweet ending.

Spoiler Warning:

It doesn't end with us seeing him dead. The male lead has a terminal illness so obviously he will eventually die. So I guess knowing that is what is leading people to say this had a sad ending. His ending was the best ending one could hope to have given his situation and life circumstances. He was reunited with the people who matter to him in life and was able to accomplish the things he most wanted to. He was also surrounded by a supportive group of people. A lot of people in their last days don't get that. Anyways, that's just my take on things. Don't let the comments or other reviews discourage you from watching this.

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Dark Romance Comedy with very flawed ML.

The comedy aspect was good. Lots of hilarious scenes thru out the series.

The story was about ML who had lots of issues, parents issues, commitment issues. He met the FL when he at one of the low point at his life. They dated and even get rings together, but ML had commitment issues so as a jerk bastard he break up with FL with bunch of BS and insult the FL too.

Three years later, he find out he will had 3 months to live. By chance ( so many fate meeting in this series) he also find out that his ex (FL) will marry rich guy and she cannot carry a child.

He will.go road trip to try to find his real father (there are few candidates). So as a very selfish and narcissistic person, he go to the FL wedding, threatened her to come with him and then kidnapped her.

This when all hell loose break. They are being chased by a gang (from ML last job) and also the FL husband to be , SML.

Making it short, ML and FL deserved each other. Yes, ML is a HOT bastard . Who only thing what fun and best for him. What important for him. But even after being dumped by the ML years ago, although she had a very good fiancee, she crave the ML from head to toe. Even sometimes she beimg treated like crap again. But she willingly accepted the ML even she know he is so f-ing flaw and so selfish and will die soon. Yep, just because he is young and HOT and SML is not hot and young.

SML had to thank his lucky star he did not marry the FL. He deserved someone that truly love him and not abandoned him the very first chance she had.

The only character with real growth is SML. He was a Mama boy that obey his Mom before all this bride kidnapping happened. But because of his love for FL, he defied his Mom, runaway from home to save FL ( who does not wanted to be save in reality) At the end of the journey, he become more independent and more confident.

The story also show very long journey of ML try finding his real father with no avail. The writer should write more about the ML and the father that raise him till teenager relationship. But it never happen. They just getting back together as father and son just like that at end of ep 10.

The moral of the story: All people deserved love. Even with two flaw characters like ML and FL.

Lots of angsty and miscommunication and flaw plots. At least it was quick pace, good acting, quite funny here and there. The chemistry was good too with all actors.

Its entertaining watch because it only had 10 eps. Good but not my fav.

7 out of 10.

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I thought we were moving past the era of male leads who are violent towards their partners

Watching how abusive he is is making me feel sick to my stomach. I don’t understand why it gets such high ratings. Is it supposed to be funny that he conks her on the head twice? I don’t blame the performers. I have no idea why the writers think we should want these people to be together. I want her to escape immediately and I’m frustrated that it’s supposed to be funny that no one will help her. I’m also frustrated that she gives up so quickly, when being around him is making my skin crawl.

The show gets such high reviews I thought he must redeem himself somehow and stuck with it until the end. I wish I had dropped it, there is no character growth. If you are like me and don’t like watching verbal, mental and emotional abuse, even from an exceptionally beautiful man, then you should skip it. Obviously, a lot of people feel differently, but I wish I had seen a review like this before I started.

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The art of making dieing look fun...With a side of Stockholmssyndrom.

This is a pretty decent story about a bunch of people brought together by trauma and what one could call fait.

The chemistry between all the leads is really good, the acting decent and the story may not be very realistic but it did keep my attention throughout the binge.

However there are quite a few unnecessary annoying side twists , the female lead spends a lot of time yelling and crying wiht the type of voice that could make glasss explode and while the development of the story has a decent pace there are some parts that are overly done while others under-explored leaving me not completely satisfied in the end of the show.

That said Woo Do Hwan does a great job bringing this character to life, and while he makes it look a littel bit to much fun to die I cant help but fall for his charm,

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