3GGG

Thank you very much, @Trouble-chan! Oh, I love that quote as well. It's the quotes that leave you thinking and mulling for hours after listening to them. I am also a hugger! And it's a given since I'm from Mexico, so for me some of the hugs shown in k-dramas feel very lukewarm in comparison to Mexican hugs lol. Thankfully, Come and Hug Me has a wide range of hugs, all very different and all serving their own unique purpose, which was great to watch.

Please let me know what you think of the drama once you've watched it! I have a feeling that, like me, you'll feel very moved and connected to Ok Hee as well. She's probably one of the strongest female characters I've seen developed in K-dramas. For sure she's the top mom character!

Thank you, @Gulsen! I'd be lying if I said this drama was light or won't take a toll on your emotions. But more than depressing and dark, I'd call it hopeful. There's always moments of gentleness and sweetness before and after moments of cruelness. However, this is a story about hurting characters trying to find a way to heal (which they eventually do).

My advice would be to watch it in bite sizes. This is a 32 episode drama, with each episode being 25-30 minutes long. So you could always watch one or two per day, then watch something lighter to sort of "re-fuel" if you feel a bit sad after those episodes. I balanced my second re-watched by also watching "Terius Behind Me" and then "Feel Good to Die", for example. Both are super fun dramas, very lighthearted and also have short episodes. So it was perfect. :)

Thank you very much, @Aya97! I know what you mean, the article just got a bit out of hand because there's just so much to talk about this drama. So I thank even more for reading it despite it's length! More so since you haven't seen the drama yet.

I do highly recommend you watch it because it's an exciting rollercoaster ride! Keep some tissue paper close by because it's also a tearjerker, though it's worth every tear. What can I say about Hyeon Moo...? Prepare to get your heart stolen!

If you can, let me know what you think after you finish the drama! :)

Thank you very much, @neaa! Yes, you'd be surprised by how subtly they added small plants and trees to certain scenes. In fact, during the scene where Hui Jae has Ok Hee tied down, if you notice as she's sitting on the couch, there's a small plant nearby. That in combination with the light makes it feel like there's hope for her. Then when Hyeon Moo arrives and he's confronting his father, you see the plant still peeking into the frame. And that's just one of the many examples I left out!

Like I said, the attention to detail is intense in this show!

Thank you very much, @Ele! I know what you mean by character driven dramas. Often a good plot without relatable characters won't make me watch the story. But a bad plot with good characters might keep me glued to my screen.

Speaking of complex characters, if you haven't watched "Cruel City" I highly recommend it. It has a good story, it's pacing is similar to Come and Hug Me but it probably has twice the amount of characters, all highly complex (though some more than others). It's not a drama without it's flaws, but it's worth watching just for the characters alone.

Thank you very much, @asimina! I'm always glad when anything I write proves insightful for others, so this is delightful! And yes, any excuse to re-watch "Come and Hug Me" is valid! I left a lot more examples of techniques out just to keep this at a manageable length, but I have been toying with an idea to write an article about "Common Visual Cues found in K-dramas" (which deals with some of the things that they do here which I left out).

Thank you very much, @Akaisora! I am glad the neutral tone of my writing came through. Though I loved this drama and gave it a solid 10, I know it's not perfect and thought it fair to mention some of the things in which it wasn't as strong. The high score I gave this drama was because, despite it's flaws, it was still a masterpiece to my eyes. So I'm glad so many other people feel the same!

And I agree! Characters that linger within that grey zone often come across as more "human" and therefore relatable. I love Ok Hee because she was also written within that zone. But I purposely kept her out of this article because, if I ever do a "top 5 badass female characters in k-drama" or even a "top 5 characters that show water can be thicker than blood", she's going to be leading the list!

Thank you very much, @panchi! I agree, it was a roller-coaster for me too! I remember after it was over the first time, I was left with the impression that young Nah Moo (Nam Da Reum) did a better job at conveying emotions. But now that I've watched it again, I took that back. Jang Ki Yong did an excellent job in his portrayal of adult Nah Moo. The gif I added where he's looking out the window and he starts to cry... it gets me every time. He deserves an award just for that scene!

Hopefully I can offer some valid insight. So far, I'm surprised by the amount of depth (story and character wise) "Feel Good to Die" has shown. It was unexpected considering how absurd the whole thing started. But it goes to show that a good writer coupled with a smart director can switch the tone between hilarity and serious/heartfelt emotions smoothly --without compromising quality. Hopefully it'll stay in that path!

You did indeed help! Just by showing genuine interest it made me want to put extra effort into the article!

I have already claimed a currently watching article for "Feel Good to Die". Though it won't be nearly as intense or time consuming as this one, I'm still hoping to strike a good balance between objectively painting what the drama is about and my personal opinions of the drama (which I'm enjoying). That way rather than just look at the good parts, people will be able to determine whether the drama is a good fit for them.

I'm glad you enjoyed it, @MKdrama! Having re-watched this drama recently I can attest that it's a re-watchable story for sure!

I've already began writing my next article, though it's not going to be as long or intense as this one. It's actually a currently watching article for the drama "Feel Good to Die". Hopefully I'll finish that soon and it would be helpful to people who may be on the fence about this one :).

You're welcome, let me know what you think about it! I'm really enjoying the simple fact that it has refreshing characters. You have a FL that's mature, has real problems and isn't tied to being "pure, good, light, nice, gentle, sweet, etc."... Instead, she's a complex shade of grey that makes you want to know more about her and her past.

The ML is also not quite ordinary. So, as they work together, they're creating a really solid (and balanced!) partnership. In which they are both learning something from each other. Super enjoyable to watch!

Although I forgot to mention it in the article, can we appreciate how in Hyeon Moo's imagination (screenshot of them sitting at the table), everyone is wearing the same colors (white and pinks --though Nah Moo is wearing red, it's still related to pink). I really loved that detail because he subtly gave them a uniform matching his own. And a uniform is meant to group people into a "tribe" or a team. So of course, Hyeon Moo's sub-conscience, reminding us that he wants to belong somewhere, would do this.

Thank you very much, @Bhavya! Yes, I couldn't help talking at least about Hyeon Moo since his character was so well constructed! Had Gil Moo Won (Nak Won's adoptive brother) been given more screen time, I bet his character would've also been someone to root for. Unfortunately, the show only scratched the surface with him.

Thank you very much, @ManishaSingh! I am very happy you enjoyed it!

Thank you very much, @Harshit Gour! I'm glad you enjoyed it and that you found things you hadn't noticed :). Chances are now you'll be able to consciously consider and realize how light (it's temperature) is used to create a mood. You'll see that many shows do this.

Thank you very much, @pujipuji! :)

Aww, thank you so much, @yentsik! It's one of my favorite shows as well! It's just sits at a different level than most shows and I'm surprised it hasn't won more awards.

Slightly off topic, right now there's an ongoing k-drama called "Children of Nobody" and it gives me the same feels as with Hui Jae. Where the art direction and music is mixed in such a way, that you really feel creeped out. Highly recommend it!

Thank you very much, @purple_kimchi, glad you enjoyed it! I also enjoyed Nah Moo's and Nak Won's characters and found them delightful. However, unlike with Hyeon Moo, I never felt like they might go astray precisely because they worked better as a concept. If Nak Won, for example, had had moments of anger where she looked at what was happening to them and screamed "it's not fair!" she would've felt more dimensional. Because she would've displayed moments of weakness that would make her moments of strength stand out. As it was, she never really had any moments of weakness and that made her a bit less relatable than Hyeon Moo and even Nah Moo.

Thank you very much, @penel! You were indeed one of the people who gave me the excuse to re-watch CAHM in order to write this article! I'm glad I met your expectations. I kept trying to keep the article short, but there's so much to talk about with the art direction of this drama, that it was easier said than done!