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This review may contain spoilers
Dream to You is more of a healing drama. It was tagged as Comedy/Romance/Drama, but I felt it was more Melodrama/Romance than anything. The romances pretty much played out within the daily lives of the characters and we got to see some background on how stories are put together.
Spoilers from here on….
The basic plot & storyline of Woo Soo Bin and Ju Yi Jae was very predictable and has been seen many times over, but still, was nicely depicted in Dream to You.
JJY’s difficult and sad backstory after WSB left took some time to surface but eventually helped us understand most of her ongoing angst with WSB. However, as you watch the two together, along with their backstories, it’s obvious JYJ had grown very little from her high school and college days. The family debt trope is overused in KDramas as a reason to be in that mediocre job she had. She had a brother. Where was he in paying back the family debt? Certainly there was opportunity for JYJ to have advanced in her settled-for career. If not, she could have been collecting ideas for and/or crafting screenplays.
Even if she did none of these, forgiving him in her heart and/or coming to terms with the hard things that happened to her would have helped her in a big way to move forward more than she did. But she stayed stuck in what could be considered a bitter state. What if WSB had never returned??? Where would she be in 5 or 10 more years? What was wrong with Geum Seong Mu exactly? (Did I miss why they broke up?) Or was everything that kept her from moving on all about Woo Soo Bin? I guess I’m reinforcing my point about her limited growth since high school. In the end I was not impressed with how her character was written.
Woo Soo Bin’s traumatic backstory was hard to watch. This was more reality than fiction as there are people like his father (a narcissist through and through) in every country. Watching the real-life childhood story of singer-songwriter Bart Mallard in the movie “I can Only Imagine” was even more devastating to watch. Because it was true, and Dennis Quade played the physically and mentally abusive father with unbelievable realism. The hopeful take away from both these childhood stories (and others) comes from a quote I picked up elsewhere; “childhood trauma, hardship, and broken relationships shape people but do not define their future.”
Woo Soo Bin could have easily become his father and/ or biological mother because he had their genes. He had to have acquired that graceful manner and gracious personality from his mom. Even though he wasn’t fully healed from his trauma, he showed tremendous growth by overcoming much of it. His success helped to a large extent because he focused his life on achieving his first dream so, as he said, he could return home and not run away anymore. Once home, he remained true to his desire for a happy ending to his life.
Each person has to take responsibility for their own lives. Bad things happened to both of them. He was not perfect toward her but to put the blame on WSB for where JYJ ended up 15+/- years later is displacement and wrong.
That brings us to the second couple. Actors from very different worlds, both were fighting for similar dreams of success. O Ha Na had no control over her upbringing by an overbearing mother (another narcissist) trying to live vicariously through her daughter. An Su Hui was literally teaching Ha Na how to be a narcissist. Ha Na wanted out of that prison to find herself and achieve status as a successful actor in her own right.
The humbly raised Sim Yu Gyeon worked multiple jobs to survive financially while persuing his long time goal of becoming a real, bonafide actor. He suffered through rejection after rejection, taking any part he could get, not giving up on the hope that his day would come.
Their first meeting was kind of cool actually - but it was by chance and could easily have been just that. The second time they met was pure and sweet and perfectly executed for us. I looked forward to their screen time together as their relationship progressed. But the mother!!!
The third couple, Chae Sa Rang and Seo In Uk were cute at first. I know their story had a point in this drama, but personally, I was put off by Sa Rang’s caviler character. You thought she fell in love at first sight. But, no. [IMO, their great chemistry was largely because of Lee Sang Yeob’s charisma and charm.] CEO Seo, maybe not fully interested in a permanent relationship, was willing to invest himself in one with her. He deserved much better than CSR.
Woo Soo Bin’s father should have been hauled off to jail more than once. What an awful, awful man.
Ha Na’s mother learned zero empathy from her relationship with that awful man whose son she bore. An Su Hui does not get a pass from me for sending 10-year old WSB back home when he begged and pleaded with her to take him in. Her character offered nothing to appreciate. Her entitled attitude and abuse-of-power over her daughter, her staff, and later, Yu Gyeon was over the top.
WSB’s mom was a truly lovely lady and showed beautiful, unconditional love to him. Any normal husband would have been honored to share is life with her.
Sim Sim, hard working, rough around the edges man was a proud father who loved Yu Gyeon beyond words. This is my first time seeing Ki Hong. The guitar piece he played at the preview party was simply beautiful. FYI - It’s on the OST called Sim Sim’s Guitar by Woo Kun Kim.
The reviews are mixed for this drama. However, I watched it with an open mind, having not read any of the reviews ahead of time. The plot itself was light and predictable, offering some very good emotional backstories and other tender moments. To my earlier point, it would have been more realistic for the writers to have placed both WSB and JYJ at similar maturity levels - even similar levels of accomplishment for their respective paths when they met again. As far as the relationship between JYJ and WSB in the present, they didn’t have the best chemistry in my view. It ended fairly well. Most of the loose ends were tied up except for the dad who should have been spending his time behind bars.
As you can see I got into the characters themselves. My reactions to and analysis of them reveal IMO, how well the actors themselves portrayed their roles. The stand outs to me were Hwang In Youp (Woo Soo Bin) and Park Ji Young (An Su Hui).
I would recommend this drama, however it’s not one I’d rewatch.
Spoilers from here on….
The basic plot & storyline of Woo Soo Bin and Ju Yi Jae was very predictable and has been seen many times over, but still, was nicely depicted in Dream to You.
JJY’s difficult and sad backstory after WSB left took some time to surface but eventually helped us understand most of her ongoing angst with WSB. However, as you watch the two together, along with their backstories, it’s obvious JYJ had grown very little from her high school and college days. The family debt trope is overused in KDramas as a reason to be in that mediocre job she had. She had a brother. Where was he in paying back the family debt? Certainly there was opportunity for JYJ to have advanced in her settled-for career. If not, she could have been collecting ideas for and/or crafting screenplays.
Even if she did none of these, forgiving him in her heart and/or coming to terms with the hard things that happened to her would have helped her in a big way to move forward more than she did. But she stayed stuck in what could be considered a bitter state. What if WSB had never returned??? Where would she be in 5 or 10 more years? What was wrong with Geum Seong Mu exactly? (Did I miss why they broke up?) Or was everything that kept her from moving on all about Woo Soo Bin? I guess I’m reinforcing my point about her limited growth since high school. In the end I was not impressed with how her character was written.
Woo Soo Bin’s traumatic backstory was hard to watch. This was more reality than fiction as there are people like his father (a narcissist through and through) in every country. Watching the real-life childhood story of singer-songwriter Bart Mallard in the movie “I can Only Imagine” was even more devastating to watch. Because it was true, and Dennis Quade played the physically and mentally abusive father with unbelievable realism. The hopeful take away from both these childhood stories (and others) comes from a quote I picked up elsewhere; “childhood trauma, hardship, and broken relationships shape people but do not define their future.”
Woo Soo Bin could have easily become his father and/ or biological mother because he had their genes. He had to have acquired that graceful manner and gracious personality from his mom. Even though he wasn’t fully healed from his trauma, he showed tremendous growth by overcoming much of it. His success helped to a large extent because he focused his life on achieving his first dream so, as he said, he could return home and not run away anymore. Once home, he remained true to his desire for a happy ending to his life.
Each person has to take responsibility for their own lives. Bad things happened to both of them. He was not perfect toward her but to put the blame on WSB for where JYJ ended up 15+/- years later is displacement and wrong.
That brings us to the second couple. Actors from very different worlds, both were fighting for similar dreams of success. O Ha Na had no control over her upbringing by an overbearing mother (another narcissist) trying to live vicariously through her daughter. An Su Hui was literally teaching Ha Na how to be a narcissist. Ha Na wanted out of that prison to find herself and achieve status as a successful actor in her own right.
The humbly raised Sim Yu Gyeon worked multiple jobs to survive financially while persuing his long time goal of becoming a real, bonafide actor. He suffered through rejection after rejection, taking any part he could get, not giving up on the hope that his day would come.
Their first meeting was kind of cool actually - but it was by chance and could easily have been just that. The second time they met was pure and sweet and perfectly executed for us. I looked forward to their screen time together as their relationship progressed. But the mother!!!
The third couple, Chae Sa Rang and Seo In Uk were cute at first. I know their story had a point in this drama, but personally, I was put off by Sa Rang’s caviler character. You thought she fell in love at first sight. But, no. [IMO, their great chemistry was largely because of Lee Sang Yeob’s charisma and charm.] CEO Seo, maybe not fully interested in a permanent relationship, was willing to invest himself in one with her. He deserved much better than CSR.
Woo Soo Bin’s father should have been hauled off to jail more than once. What an awful, awful man.
Ha Na’s mother learned zero empathy from her relationship with that awful man whose son she bore. An Su Hui does not get a pass from me for sending 10-year old WSB back home when he begged and pleaded with her to take him in. Her character offered nothing to appreciate. Her entitled attitude and abuse-of-power over her daughter, her staff, and later, Yu Gyeon was over the top.
WSB’s mom was a truly lovely lady and showed beautiful, unconditional love to him. Any normal husband would have been honored to share is life with her.
Sim Sim, hard working, rough around the edges man was a proud father who loved Yu Gyeon beyond words. This is my first time seeing Ki Hong. The guitar piece he played at the preview party was simply beautiful. FYI - It’s on the OST called Sim Sim’s Guitar by Woo Kun Kim.
The reviews are mixed for this drama. However, I watched it with an open mind, having not read any of the reviews ahead of time. The plot itself was light and predictable, offering some very good emotional backstories and other tender moments. To my earlier point, it would have been more realistic for the writers to have placed both WSB and JYJ at similar maturity levels - even similar levels of accomplishment for their respective paths when they met again. As far as the relationship between JYJ and WSB in the present, they didn’t have the best chemistry in my view. It ended fairly well. Most of the loose ends were tied up except for the dad who should have been spending his time behind bars.
As you can see I got into the characters themselves. My reactions to and analysis of them reveal IMO, how well the actors themselves portrayed their roles. The stand outs to me were Hwang In Youp (Woo Soo Bin) and Park Ji Young (An Su Hui).
I would recommend this drama, however it’s not one I’d rewatch.
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