Mr. Plankton

Mr Plankton - The Emperor's new clothes

The writer of Mr Plankton (Jo-yong) has thrown away the rule book. Whatever you were expecting, it isn't. At first I saw noise, chaos, swearing, fighting. By the end I saw romance, caring, concern and love.
The actors chose this project and decided to leave their outer shells at the door. They trusted the writer, director and crew to undress them metaphorically and to wear strange and dangerous personalities. If you wanted predictable, nice and twee, it isn't. From the lead actors down to to the smallest parts, they have all worked hard to bring this caustic fairytale to us. If we hurt actors and production crews, we will only get the k-drama we deserve.
I recommend that you watch 100%.
Stay safe everyone.

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Life is a bitch and then you become a plankton

This show is not your typical mainstream drama. It is a wild ride and has an indie feel. Some might say Tarantino-esque and I'd agree.

At its core, it is still a k-drama but it is quite subversive at times. It can be irrelevant and touches on subjects that will resonate more with its local audience. This is a double-edged sword though. If you stumbled onto this on Netflix and expect a quirky road movie then you might come away feeling a bit confused.

To wit, the concept of lineage runs deep in Asian cultures. Your family and your clan anchors you and grants you identity. This began to wane in the 20th/21st century as the concept of nuclear family takes root. However, if you look, you will find its influence and reverence still evident today. Similarly, we are made aware that being a single parent is tough. Being an orphan is even tougher.

This drama brings all this into sharp focus via our 3 leads. The ML had a wonderful early childhood but was casted adrift due to an IVF mistake. The FL was abandoned at birth. The 2ML is the sole heir to a 500 year old clan. He is their only hope of continuing this bloodline. So much pressure.

On the surface, the three of them are getting on with their lives but the pain and scars run deep. Especially for the ML. He was floored when he finds out he has inherited a terminal condition. He embarks on a mad race to find his biological father. It was a crazy idea from the start but it is amplified 10 folds when he impulsively kidnapped the FL on her wedding day. Not that the FL was in a good place herself because she is hiding a dark secret. It was like an indie black comedy has a baby with a tragic grand opera!

The pacing was manic for the first half and the mood and tone swings like a weathervane in a storm. It is a blast to watch but there are times when you have to turn a blind eye to the plot holes and the odd pacing issues. Ask no questions . . .

The chaotic ride comes to an end at the end of the surreal castaway island episode. It became much more introspective and tropey. I suppose the drama can’t sustain the breakneck pace and wacky storylines forever. It is time to take stock. The show almost seems “normal” going forward. The sadness and despondency can be overwhelming at times.

The last episode was bittersweet. The last road trip was like a quasi-honeymoon. We laughed and swooned at their antics, but we know the end is nigh.

The show has many impactful scenes and subtle messages scattered throughout but at the moment of finality, it was more like a sigh. It was a blessed release. There are no miracle cure in this dramaverse, chingu. This show really knows how to hit us in the feels, again and again.

However, the story doesn't end there. The FL's journey continues. They made a pact that they will drift on if he found a 4 leaf clover. So much is unspoken. We can only wish her safe travels and hope that she will find solace somewhere, some day. Maybe her wish will come true and experience motherhood. I envy her children. Her love will know no bounds.

Coming back to here and now, we have fantastic acting all around. The 2ML was perfectly casted and the veteran actor put in his all. I was disappointed with the FL when she starred in Strong Girl Nam-soon. She has redeemed herself with this role. The ML is just so watchable and charismatic. A strong support cast and a wonderful OST rounded out the roster.

The show is a little rough around the edges and difficult to watch at times but then again, Queen of Tears was polished to an inch of its life. Give me a diamond in the rough any day. Peace.

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tragic love

This hurts too much!
I didn't know it would hurt like this, I was on episode 9 when I found out there would only be 10 episodes, suddenly my world fell apart, I thought, how on earth is a "miracle" going to happen and make him stay alive? -I asked myself When I realized that he was going to die and I just didn't want to accept it, because it happens right? How many similar series have we seen and in the end everything was resolved? This one was just tragic, they really were unlucky, I'm not going to write much otherwise I'm going to start crying again and I just wiped away the tears.

The OST's were very well chosen and gave an incredible match with the scenes, it was extremely BEAUTIFUL! And I must praise the beautiful scenes, the visuals captivated me from start to finish.

I just can't stop thinking about how unfair it was, and how in the end, when he was dying, it gave him the greatest desire to live.

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I watched many kdramas but this is MUST WATCH MASTERPIECE!!

Must watch drama for kdrama fans. Really this is the best drama of 2024. I can rewatch it many times without boring. Many people like chaebol characters, powerful fantasy characters but this drama characters are common people. They talked about how their real life is hard. I most liked it because i felt the drama is real not just a drama. After i really touched that they choose woo do hwan as ML. He really nailed it. I fell for Hea jo because his traits. Also the FL & ML chemistry is soo good. Also the drama name is suits for ML. Lastly i hope every kdrama fan can watch this drama.💗💗

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Two words- beautiful and unforgettable! Ktrauma of the year!! Haha

I rarely write reviews, but for this show? I just had to!! It’s the kind of masterpiece that stays with you forever. I honestly don’t think I’ll ever be able to forget about it—it’s that beautiful.

From start to finish, it’s a journey of emotions—one moment you’re laughing, the next you’re sobbing uncontrollably. The acting is absolutely phenomenal, especially Do Hwan’s. He didn’t just play his character, he became him. Every scene felt so raw and real that it was impossible not to get completely lost in it. There were times I wanted to jump into the screen, yell at him, punch him for his choices, and then wrap him in a big hug because I couldn’t stand the pain he was carrying. Lol

The chemistry between the leads? Pure magic. The writing, the music, the direction—it all comes together so flawlessly, it leaves you in awe. This isn’t just a show, it’s an emotional masterpiece that takes hold of your soul and refuses to let go.

Now, I just can’t stop listening to the OSTs and crying all over again. Honestly, I can't bring myself to watch any other drama because of this one. If you haven’t watched it yet, you’re seriously missing out. Prepare yourself for something unforgettable.

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Life is About the Connections and Relationships You Have With Others

It's been awhile since a Kdrama had me bawling like a baby, but this one did it. It will not end as you hope, but the ending is important. The entire storyline and message is a good one. Life isn't about status, money, prestige, or stuff. It's about the connections and relationships you make with others.

A very hurt boy...hurt by the stupidity and selfishness of parents...shuts down, puts up walls, and wanders through life cold and unfeeling. Only, really, he is feeling, but doesn't realize it until he is diagnosed with a fatal disease and not much time to live. Then he realizes the relationships in life that are important to him, so he pursues these relationships relentlessly. The viewer is taken on an adventure of his last days. He finds his lost love, he finds his true father, he finds the people in his life that love and care for him, and can die feeling good about his life even though he put on an act of being aimless and cold for so much of it.

Thank you to the screenwriter, Jo Young, for this wonderful and important story. The actors were amazing. This was a very emotional drama, and there were scenes that could not have been easy to film. But they were amazing, especially Woo Do Hwan, Lee You Mi, Oh Jung Se (a favorite of mine since It's Okay to not be Okay), Kim Min Soek, and Lee El. The production value was high, the story flowed well from scene to scene and kept the viewer engaged with the storyline. The filming was sublime, the scenery was beautiful, the music score was top notch. I loved, loved, loved that Alex Landi was part of the story!! I've been a fan of his since Grey's Anatomy, and I hope to see him in more dramas.

I have to give a special note about the last scene. The Jeep all alone on the highway driving into the sunset with the music playing reminded me of the See You Again music video paying tribute to the death of Paul Walker of the Fast and Furious franchise. The car he was driving heading off alone on the highway into the sunset as the music was playing. It is sad, bittersweet, but also gives a sense of closure, as the viewer senses that a life was not in vane, but complete... when one lives as they dreamed.....excuse me....I need a Kleenex....sniffle, sniffle! I highly recommend this Kdrama!

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This series will trick your emotions.

I finished watching this series a few hours ago. It was a strange show. From the very first episode, I knew with all my heart that I loved it and wanted to keep watching, but I couldn't quite grasp why. Even after it ended, I was unsure of the feelings I was experiencing. At first, I thought it might have been better if Hae-jo's death had been portrayed differently, or at least if the series had continued for a few more minutes after his passing. I didn’t have any strong feelings about the ending, but once it was over, the thought of it lingered in my mind.

The series was filled with various emotions. However, its unparalleled humor constantly made me laugh. I didn’t shed a single tear for this series, nor did I choke up; I just laughed. Yet beneath my laughter, something squeezed my heart and made it hard to breathe. It felt as if the entire series mirrored Miju's laughter—like the scene where, after joking about the label on the mushroom packaging, she hid her immense sadness behind her chuckles. Now, I am no longer hesitant about this series because I know exactly what I witnessed. This series was liberation itself. It was growth itself. It began with the pain and bitter fate of all the characters—pains that remained and were never miraculously resolved. Yet, despite all that pain and bitterness, it concluded with the sweet fate of the characters.

It seemed that everyone had something within them that they were desperately trying to hide. One person concealed their eyes behind dark glasses, another buried their cigarette in the ground. One hid their courage, another their fear, and yet another their love.

Jang-na hid his pain behind his dark glasses, believing they kept his suffering hidden from others, unaware that those glasses not only concealed his from the world but also limited his own vision. In the darkness, those shades brought his down even more and prevented her from seeing others clearly.

Oh-young buried the cigarette that reminded her of her pain in the ground, thinking she no longer needed it, unaware that nothing had changed for her. The only thing that had changed was what she held in her hand to ease her suffering. She had replaced the cigarette with her son and instead of burning tobacco, she held him in her hands and set her on fire.

Oh-young hid his courage because he thought he had to behave like an obedient dog to stay safe, oblivious to the fact that he was a roaring tiger merely playing the role of a dog.

Jae-mi concealed her fears and shortcomings. She feared being alone, not being accepted, not being loved, and being abandoned. She longed to be deeply loved by someone but didn't think she was enough for that love. She believed that marrying into a prominent family would hide her loneliness and lack of family; becoming a mother would erase her own motherlessness; and if anyone knew she couldn't become a mother or that she sought marriage solely for family reasons, she would be rejected and left alone without family once again. Unbeknownst to her, others loved her despite all her limitations and shortcomings, simply for who she was.

And Hae-jo hid his love and desires from others because he feared that by loving them and keeping those he cared for close, he would hurt them. With all his heart, he wanted to return to Jae-mi and his father. He carried their beautiful memories with him but didn’t dare run towards them. Perhaps he thought that his desires might pull them away from their own wishes or make life bitter for them.

And then, when all the hidden truths were revealed, everything became more beautiful and easier. It became possible to breathe, to understand and be understood; to give others the chance to come forward and embrace them while saying this wasn’t what they wanted; to run towards what they desired; to be liberated; and to love themselves and others even more.
It seemed that all the characters were plankton—small yet valuable. Each one made another's life beautiful and meaningful. Now I think this ending was the best conclusion this series could have had; it didn’t need anything else to be complete. This series was, in every sense of the word, life itself, which concluded with a beautiful death—a death that perhaps, as Hae-jo said, wasn’t beautiful on its own; it was life that made death beautiful.
Beyond the beautiful themes of the series, what truly captivated me was the believable and stunning performance of the actors, especially Woo Do-hwan, who truly shone. The first role I saw him in was as Sun-ho in "My Country: The New Age." In that series, it felt like Woo Do-hwan didn’t just play a role; he created a real character named Sun-ho. You couldn’t trace Sun-ho in Woo Do-hwan or any of his other roles. He was solely Sun-ho, a young man who lived beautifully at a certain point in history and ultimately concluded that character with his death in the same series. After that, I saw Woo Do-hwan in other roles, and yes, his acting prowess was exceptional, but it seemed that his performances in no other series satisfied me in the same way that the name Sun-ho did. He no longer created characters; he merely portrayed them. The essence of Woo Do-hwan and the character did not fully overlap; at times, I would see only Woo Do-hwan, at other moments just the character he was playing, and then there were instances of a new persona that merged both. Thus, the intended character was created and dissolved in an unstable manner. But in the series Mr. Plankton, Do Hwan once again acted incomparably and this time he created another wonderful character named Hae Joo. This time, like the role of Seon Ho, there was nothing more or less than Hae Joo. Neither the character of Woo Do Hwan rode the role he was playing nor the role rode Woo Do Hwan. Neither surpassed the other. They were completely intertwined and one, and this time, Hae Joo's character ended with his death in this series. It was as if Hae Joo was really a young man who lived somewhere in the real world and with his death, his life's diary ended and only his lessons and happy memories remained. Hae Joo who perhaps reminded me of many (like Nam Seon Ho in the series My Country, Shin Joon Young in the series Reckless Love, Gu Dong Ma in the series Mr. Sunshine, etc.) but was not an imitation of any of them. He was just Hae Joo and that was it.

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Mr. Plankton: A Bittersweet Exploration of Love, Loss and Belonging

I just finished this drama and i absolutely loved it. To my surprise, the more i watched, the more the series grew on me. Initially when i saw E1, i didnt like it at all. But as the story began to unravel, i found myself getting more and more invested. Im not sure why it didnt click with me at first, maybe i wasnt in the right mood but this time, the show truly resonated with me.

The leads are incredibly flawed characters, which made them both frustrating and fascinating. At times i really disliked Hae Jo (ML) for his selfishness and the way he dragged Jae Mi (FL) into danger for his own selfish reasons. His harsh breakup with her was downright cruel and just when he learned about his impending death, he kidnapped her to spend his final moments with her. His actions made it difficult to root for him initially but as the story delved deeper into his character, I found it impossible to hate him. His backstory was heartbreakingly tragic and despite his flaws, i couldnt help but feel for him.

Jae Mi also frustrated me at times. How could she overlook someone as perfect as Eo Heung (SML)?? He was easily the best character in the series alongside Bong Suk. But as i accepted that the Jae Mi and Hae Jo’s love for each other was unwavering, it became easier to move past the idea of her and Eo Heung. Some relationships are simply not meant to be and theirs was one of those. Once i came to terms with this, i could fully like the leads and their pairing.

Hae Jo and Jae Mi seemed cursed by the abandonment of their parents yet they were incredibly lucky to have people like Bong Suk, Kkari and Eo Heung in their lives. I wish they had focused on cherishing the love and support they already had rather than searching for the parents who abandoned them.

Eo Heung and Juri were undoubtedly the heart of the series. Their love and care for Jae Mi and Hae Jo were unmatched. Bong Suk, in particular stood out, she was like a mother, sister and even a partner to Hae Jo. She raised him when he ran away, embodying every role he needed just as he described her in the first episode. Her dedication was nothing short of extraordinary.

Hae Jo’s closure with his adoptive father was intense moment but i still cant forgive that man for abandoning the child he raised with so much love simply because he wasnt his biological son.

One recurring theme in the show that irked me was the overemphasis on biological connections. Jae Mi’s desperate longing to become a mother felt unnecessary. Was it so important to have her own children?? As someone who grew up as an orphan, she could have understood the importance of love over biology. There are countless children in need of families, why not adopt and give them the love they deserve?? Similarly Eo Heung’s mother’s obsession with having biological grandchildren to carry on the family lineage felt outdated and frustrating.

Despite these issues, the characters felt incredibly real with all their flaws and complexities. Most of them left me with a warm & bittersweet feeling which is a rare feat for any series.

The show also delivered some deeply emotional moments, especially in the final two episodes which were nothing short of tear jerking.

Overall, Mr. Plankton is one of the best Netflix originals of 2024.

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Not everyone's cup of tea but reality hits hard. A Must watch

I know it's not really everyone's wish to see the ML dying, but I think the story was justified in itself. There were some questions left unanswered, like why did they breakup in the first place?

Regarding the family finding of ML, the story sets a realisation for him that no matter who is the biological father, he would only find comfort with the person he grew up with, aka his own dad.

Despite having a hard life, never giving up is a big thing while maintaining every situation.
Jae Mi also depicts the important character who plays an important role in ML's life in teaching him the real meaning of love and how true love always gives and lets the person go rather than keeping them to themselves. This realisation helped him achieve the satisfaction he needed all along.

About the family issues they had, later on in the last episodes, ML realised that he had everything right in front of him—Bong, Hyung, Jae Mi, Lacky. All a part of his family now.

Even though the ending is tough for many people to see, it still gives us strength to be okay with not having miracles and living life to the fullest in those situations rather than simply hoping and discouraging ourselves.

The story didn't have many twists or major plot changes or coincidences, but it was enough to keep the audience captivated, and it stuck to the plot, which made it wholesome.

The actors displayed immense emotions, which did not even for a second divert the audience and really touched emotions. Every character was just too good for their role and committed to it very well.

The music was kind of repetitive, and an English-based song didn't really catch up with all the emotions but was somewhat there for the mood. The music could've been better.

Its hard for me to watch this kind of drama, but I'm happy I watched it. Reality-check masterpiece it is.

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