1
classic heart-wrenching healing drama
Kdrama at its best. 2025, 12 eps at 1hr10mins ea = 14 hrs watchtime. The plot, deceptively simple and predictable to begin with, is a joyful surprise by the finale. An elegant, streamlined version of the classics within the boundaries of the new double audience for binge-watching and on-air experience. Kudos to the writer, Lee Gang.
The director, the composer and the two leads in themselves are all fabulous and very famous. In particular check out Nam Hye Seung's track record in producing the soundtrack for so many hits . The director Park Shin Woo is also an experienced romance-hit director, who I imagine kept this drama soundly on track. This review is a little long , apologies. The show deserves a little more praise than usual.
A pair of twins, Mi Ji and Mi Rae, secretly exchange their lives temporarily. Mi Ji , a chaotic and loving part-timer who takes care of her grandmother in a nursing home in Dusan-ri, puts on heels and skirts and bluffs her way through Mi Rae's corporate office job (which financially supports the family In addition to their mom's work).
The English title alludes to the roles of a poet and her poetry in the show and to the ways in which the twins finally learn to write their own stories. The Korean title, Miji's/ Yet Unknown Seoul, on the other hand, helps clarify that there is a steady dramatic focus on Mi JI and her first love, Ho Su.
The doubling of practically all the characters. is fun, but the arc of Miji's and Hosu's love is central to the plot. She is the narrator. Her story continues with unabated power until the final episodes where, in tune with new patterns, several storylines wrap up together at once (in older more desultory patterns, storylines begin and finish in sequence) .
Two settings, two moms, two lover-to-be. Both sisters, distinct in character, have a chance to stretch themselves within their new situations. Each puts her own distinct spin on the other's problems and each goes through a the temporary re-assortment of personality which accompanies psychological change and transformation.
Park Bo-Young, a profoundly good actress, playing both twin roles, accomplishes something even more difficult than playing only two separate parts consistently. The sisters become more like each other while suffering their psychological crises through the central portion of the show, and when they pull themselves together, are even more distinct people. PBY portrays psychological change in double.
Mi Rae's tightly-wound, organized and reserved character does not change as much as her goals do; they change to better fit her real interests and her hidden independence.
Mi Ji and Ho Su have long-term psychological wounds that they have to face. Hosu in particular, who is more physically limited than he looks (from the serious car accident which took his dad), must face his own profound fear of rejection and his desperate hope for a normal life.
Park Jin Young is a magnetic and amazing talent. In his role as Ho Su he is both beautifully clumsy and gracefully tactful. How does such a graceful dancer balance the fully buttoned-up, disabled, and overcoated lawyer with his own exuberance? Mainly he uses his eyes and a sort of hopeful stillness which his training enables him to precisely calibrate. Watch it happen. The absence of wider gestures (the character actually has to avoid losing his balance) gives the way he catches Mi Ji's hands when she sputters off track and his little goodbye waves, wordless eloquence.
Mi Ji's personal changes and her triumph over depression and lack of self-confidence are key to unlocking the estrangement of others, even characters as close as twins are. Ho Su's damaged health and painful memories estrange him from his stepmom, Mi Ji's failure in high school estranges her from her mom, secrets divide both the moms from each other, and divide the twins mom from their grandmother. As Mi Ji changes, the whole web of relationships shifts and others cease to be stuck in previous patterns too. The two sisters find improvement in relationship with their own mother, as does Ho Su with his stepmom.
My favourite supporting characters, the wonderful Jang Young Nam as the twin's Mom, and Won Mi Kyung as the companion of the poet Rosa, also change alongside Mi Ji as she starts her journey. Mom and grandmother finally share their stories at almost the last minute. The elderly restaurant owner learns to read the poet's poems.
Ho Su's first boss, one of Im Chul Soo's fabulous characters, also disabled, is an excessively competitive and unfeeling lawyer zipping around in a wheel chair when not leaning on his silver-headed cane. Even he eventually even becomes helpful when Ho Su's disabilities worsen.
And so, of course, as expected in a rom-com, the leads find love as they straighten out their misunderstandings. What a great watch!
a spoiler ---
ps. Friendship between the poet and Sang-Wol, my foot. True hearts and flowers full blown love in full sight. Miji and HHosu listen to her story and the openness in their hearts shows on PJY and PBY's faces. This is as healing as anything else in the story, Very daring for South Korea and very nice for Pride month.
The director, the composer and the two leads in themselves are all fabulous and very famous. In particular check out Nam Hye Seung's track record in producing the soundtrack for so many hits . The director Park Shin Woo is also an experienced romance-hit director, who I imagine kept this drama soundly on track. This review is a little long , apologies. The show deserves a little more praise than usual.
A pair of twins, Mi Ji and Mi Rae, secretly exchange their lives temporarily. Mi Ji , a chaotic and loving part-timer who takes care of her grandmother in a nursing home in Dusan-ri, puts on heels and skirts and bluffs her way through Mi Rae's corporate office job (which financially supports the family In addition to their mom's work).
The English title alludes to the roles of a poet and her poetry in the show and to the ways in which the twins finally learn to write their own stories. The Korean title, Miji's/ Yet Unknown Seoul, on the other hand, helps clarify that there is a steady dramatic focus on Mi JI and her first love, Ho Su.
The doubling of practically all the characters. is fun, but the arc of Miji's and Hosu's love is central to the plot. She is the narrator. Her story continues with unabated power until the final episodes where, in tune with new patterns, several storylines wrap up together at once (in older more desultory patterns, storylines begin and finish in sequence) .
Two settings, two moms, two lover-to-be. Both sisters, distinct in character, have a chance to stretch themselves within their new situations. Each puts her own distinct spin on the other's problems and each goes through a the temporary re-assortment of personality which accompanies psychological change and transformation.
Park Bo-Young, a profoundly good actress, playing both twin roles, accomplishes something even more difficult than playing only two separate parts consistently. The sisters become more like each other while suffering their psychological crises through the central portion of the show, and when they pull themselves together, are even more distinct people. PBY portrays psychological change in double.
Mi Rae's tightly-wound, organized and reserved character does not change as much as her goals do; they change to better fit her real interests and her hidden independence.
Mi Ji and Ho Su have long-term psychological wounds that they have to face. Hosu in particular, who is more physically limited than he looks (from the serious car accident which took his dad), must face his own profound fear of rejection and his desperate hope for a normal life.
Park Jin Young is a magnetic and amazing talent. In his role as Ho Su he is both beautifully clumsy and gracefully tactful. How does such a graceful dancer balance the fully buttoned-up, disabled, and overcoated lawyer with his own exuberance? Mainly he uses his eyes and a sort of hopeful stillness which his training enables him to precisely calibrate. Watch it happen. The absence of wider gestures (the character actually has to avoid losing his balance) gives the way he catches Mi Ji's hands when she sputters off track and his little goodbye waves, wordless eloquence.
Mi Ji's personal changes and her triumph over depression and lack of self-confidence are key to unlocking the estrangement of others, even characters as close as twins are. Ho Su's damaged health and painful memories estrange him from his stepmom, Mi Ji's failure in high school estranges her from her mom, secrets divide both the moms from each other, and divide the twins mom from their grandmother. As Mi Ji changes, the whole web of relationships shifts and others cease to be stuck in previous patterns too. The two sisters find improvement in relationship with their own mother, as does Ho Su with his stepmom.
My favourite supporting characters, the wonderful Jang Young Nam as the twin's Mom, and Won Mi Kyung as the companion of the poet Rosa, also change alongside Mi Ji as she starts her journey. Mom and grandmother finally share their stories at almost the last minute. The elderly restaurant owner learns to read the poet's poems.
Ho Su's first boss, one of Im Chul Soo's fabulous characters, also disabled, is an excessively competitive and unfeeling lawyer zipping around in a wheel chair when not leaning on his silver-headed cane. Even he eventually even becomes helpful when Ho Su's disabilities worsen.
And so, of course, as expected in a rom-com, the leads find love as they straighten out their misunderstandings. What a great watch!
a spoiler ---
ps. Friendship between the poet and Sang-Wol, my foot. True hearts and flowers full blown love in full sight. Miji and HHosu listen to her story and the openness in their hearts shows on PJY and PBY's faces. This is as healing as anything else in the story, Very daring for South Korea and very nice for Pride month.
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