Dimpled riri

“Can this love be translated” is a campy piece that you’re going to enjoy for reasons beyond its story. It has brilliant cinematography indicating a ridiculously expensive budget. They have managed to capture the most visually pleasing shots in Korea, Japan, Italy and Canada, showing us some overly edited, almost perfect imagery from these countries natural scenery, historical architecture, food and touristy charms and sites. Everyone has a very unique (read expensive) taste in fashion and female lead is basically a walking talking billboard.

“There are as many languages as there is human in the world”
The story has a good start by introducing two rather peculiar characters in an uncomfortable situation. Ju Ho jin is a translator fluent in Japanese, English and Italian. Despite knowing all these languages he is incapable of expressing his own feelings. He is avoidant person with a broken family background wishing for a drama free life (oh only if he knew). He makes a one day trip to Japan every year in a specific day hoping for something he knows wont happen because he will never try to do it. while our Fl, Cha Mu hui, is the anxious air headed D-list actor who acts first, blabbers second and talks third. She has a tendency to dance around what she is trying to say, just to suddenly close up right at the moment the conversation gets real. Her Japanese boyfriend ghosted her and she is determined to find him and demand explanations. Problem is she doesn’t speak Japanese and you can’t learn a language by stalking someone on instagram. Luckily she meets a translator kind enough to help her. These two speak completely different languages even if they both speak Korean.

The main concept here is miscommunications, forcing them to go back; reconsider their thoughts, see a different perspective and try again. Its an interesting concept and goes well for a while but unfortunately the story soon turns to a convoluted mess introducing many different concepts and ideas in a very sudden and confusing manner. What ruined the story for me was Do Ra mi. At first she was a TV character that shot Mu hui into stardom but later turned to Mu huis manifestation of her insecurities and anxiety. It was clear that Mu hui has some sort of mental illness causing her hallucinations and until now I had no problem with it. It was one the elements that gave this series its campy feeling. Then she seeks doctors help just to be told that nothing can be done medically which for me was the first red flag. Later on they turn this hallucination to an obvious case of DID where Do Ra mi turns to an alter ego of Mu hui, capable of taking control of her body without Mu huis knowledge. Now we are out of camp territory. This type of problem calls for some serious interventions. There are some responsibilities you would wish the writers take or some lines they wont cross. They cross many which I don’t have the energy to go back and recall all but just to mention some: They never use the name of the illness. The only reason I know this is DID is because I've seen it in another drama.
She finally seeks some professional help after Do Ra mi is gone. How did she get cured you ask?
Jo Ho jin takes on various jobs through out this drama that he has no business taking but the job of a psychiatrist was a step too far. And Mu huis mental disorder vanishes just by the power of a translators love and his relentless quest of translating all of Mu hui/ Ra mi incoherent blabbers? Without any professional help? How lucky. Some crazy stuff has been written here.

The main problem in this story is the fact that writers want us to believe it’s a deep psychological romance story with thought provoking ideas but cant even decide what Mu hui alter ego , Do ra mi, is supposed to be. Is Do ra mi a self-sabotaging alter ego trying to stop her from happiness and puts Mu hui in a safe path where there is no risk of losing? Or it’s the alter ego that says and does what Mu hui is too scared to do but makes her happy?
By this series logic, both are true. Do Ra mi explicitly tells Jo Ho jin to reject Mu hui when she come back and goes out of her way to flirt with Hiro. Later on she uses Hiro to make a situation where Mu hui and Ho jin can talk to clear some misunderstandings. One minute she pushes them apart, the next pulls them together.
So this woman is crazy enough to give herself a split personality but the split personality also has a split personality.

Beside its insensitive approach to mental illness, the romantic aspect of the story is quite problematic too. We are out to believe these two have finally found the way to translate each others languages but I find that hard to believe. The more the story progresses the worse their communication becomes. In earlier episodes they were trying ( to some extent ) to communicate. They were clear in their talks. Their different personalities was the cause of misunderstandings. “the unstoppable force meeting the immovable object” sort of problem. Somewhere along the middle they started to talk in riddles. You can’t tell me some dialogues couldn’t have been better written.
The main couple were the reason I kept watching in the beginning as I found every other character boring but found myself detesting their scenes in the middle. There is no actual positive progress ( I know many viewer will disagree ) and then BOOM they’re together. They are cute as a couple but the relationship is all based on nilly willy.
Hiro was a pleasant surprise. I like the character growth quite a lot.
Everyone else were annoying. Did not care about the second couple whatsoever.
Do not get me wrong. I enjoyed watching it while simultaneously questioning myself on why am I even enjoying it hence the big gap between the story score and overall score. If you are considering it, shut your brain off and take everything at face value. Know that its gonna be a feast for your eye.