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Potential lost on those additional episodes
WARNIG, this review contains some massive spoilers!This drama gave me a lot of mixed feelings. For the most part it seemed very interesting and actually well written. I think I should be warned beforehand by really bad reviews, but at first I didn’t understand why it was so criticised, as it seemed to be actually entertaining. But then something happened.
Let’s start from the beginning. The idea is simple and actually well known. Gu Seo Jin is a young chaebol, director of amusement park. He is very composed, everything must be according to his words, he rules his company in a very stoic manner. And there’s a very good reason for it. Seo Jin has a DID, dissociative identity disorder. And his other identity, Robin, who’s name everyone avoid, can appear when Seo Jin’s heart rate will go too high. So no excitement for Seo Jin. But his five year steak of being Robin-free is about to be broken when Ha Na appears on the scene. Young circus actress work on Robin in mysterious ways and soon he appears.
And honestly, that’s a neat idea, and how it was done was also interesting. The comparison with Kill Me, Heal Me comes naturally, so I’d only say that transformation lacked weird effects, like change of eye colours, magically appearing tattoos or eyeliners (as it was in Kill Me Heal Me). It all seemed a bit more natural here, but of course it wasn’t perfect either.
And at first I really liked this drama. It all seemed pretty well. Production-wise it might’ve not be the best looking, there were some weird, pretty ridiculous moments, but not bad at the end. Main characters were interesting and well played (I mean, duh… Hyun Bin, right?).
It was sometimes painfully cliche. Because of course, and here comes major spoiler, so be aware, Seo Jin’s trauma from the childhood was caused by kidnapping. And of course, the child that was kidnapped with him is now a perp who kidnapped Seo Jin’s therapist. And Seo Jin wanted to save the kid as well but wasn’t able to do it, so that’s why Robin has a need to save people.
But aside all those things, up to some point this drama was pleasant to watch, just like that. Wasn’t the best, but I wasn’t bored, I felt somehow even invested in the story. Characters were interesting, there was some king of plot, even though writers seemed to forget about some motives and they brought them back out of spite.
What you can see from the beginning is cheap production. It’s maybe not incredibly obvious but I laughed my butt off when I’ver seen how they’ve changed car for accident scene. Brand new Mercedes shapeshifter into old Nissan. I mean, color was the same so I guess it’s all fine. But you can see after scenes like this that it’s not all perfect here. At least CGI gorilla wasn’t the worst.
So I actually enjoyed watching it, it all seemed very good, aside of those minor flaws that can be overlooked considering that this drama is not that new.
But you may ask, what happened then? Why am I writing good things about drama that I’ve marked so low?
Well… it all happens somewhere in the middle of the series. I’m always a bit sceptical towards drama that have more that standard 16 episodes. I’ve learned that many times writers just don’t use this additional time perfectly. And it happened here again. For four episodes we have an absolute chaos that doesn’t really changes anything. There’s a lot going on, but it doesn’t have any effect on the main plot.
A lot of new motives were brought then and some were totally forgotten about (third identity, anyone?). And yet, there were just too much information, too much was happening at the same time but the issues were not solved. There was no real plot development.
There was one episode that I swear was just dialogues. Nothing real happened, there was just exposition talking. Who’s who, and what could happen, that sort of things.
And the villain, interesting at first he grew into this exaggerated, over the top bond-type villain, who can do anything and cannot be captured. There were moments that I was wondering if he’s invisible because despite doing pretty obvious things, police still couldn’t figure out that it was him all along.
And don’t start me on the hostage situation episode. Yes, EPISODE. The whole episode when we had exclusively hostage situation. Nothing more happened, just talking about kidnapper. How it ended? I have no effing idea, it was so chaotic that I actually I haven’t catch all of it.
After this we had stretching motives till the very end. One issue had to be talked through by everyone and before anything happened my curiosity was long gone.
And only at the end, last two episodes we had some sense back, those two episodes brought my faith in this drama back a bit, but nothing could bring back my time that I’ve lost before.
So… I’m a bit in a pickle here. I really wanted to like this drama. Despite all of its flaws, ridiculous solutions and poor production. I liked main characters and I really liked how it all ended between them. But the truth is that Hyde, Jekyll, Me should have 16 episodes, no more. That’s it, thank you.
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Wraps itself up nicely, it's not rushed - some may argue it's perhaps a bit slow but I appreciated that they took the time to not gloss over some difficult stuff.
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Hyde, Jekyll, Me is a kdrama centred on a character with DID that came out at the same time as the much better received Kill Me, Heal Me. Because they share similarities in concept and came out around the same time, these two dramas are held up to one another automatically, so I think it's important to recognize how and why KMHM had such good reception when HJM couldn't pull in ratings. Other reviewers have mentioned the similar time slots, so I won't get into that. Instead, let's focus on HJM's shortcomings.
The story is about Goo Seo Jin, a rich chaebol heir who was kidnapped as a child alongside his friend--check off another similarity to KMHM. The trauma from that event and his inability to do anything about it eventually birthed Robin, his heroic, kind-hearted alter ego. But the story doesn't start with Robin's birth and instead, we're shown Seo Jin's position later in life, his bad personality and selfishness as he meets ringmaster Jang Ha Na and the two clash. One big drawback to the series is the very start of it. It took me two attempts to get through the first episode, and another two to make it past the first four. The beginning is clunky with weird pacing, an even weirder setup, and not a lot to suck you into the story. The first introduction to Robin as a character is cringy. He feels less like a person and more like a comic book superhero someone came up with in middle school. Both he and the main personality feel like caricatures, and it's painful to watch. Getting into this drama is hard, there are no two ways around that. But does that mean it's not worth watching? Well... I have a story for that.
I started watching HJM coming off of a few really great dramas. I absolutely fell in love with those dramas back-to-back and once they were over, I couldn't bring myself to get invested in any of the other good-looking shows out there. Ah, I thought, the dreaded burnout. That's when I looked back at my 'dropped' list and saw the name Hyde, Jekyll, Me. I went into it wanting a trashy, badly-written drama that I could laugh at. I only paid half attention, especially to the earliest episodes, and it worked out exactly as I expected it to. The plot was cliche, a bit stupid, with some moments that didn't make a lot of sense and a bit of dragging towards the middle that I was used to seeing at the halfway. Every now and then, I would put the drama back on hold again and would switch to series that I was invested in until the burnout came and I would inevitably need my 'trash drama' once more.
But something strange happened amidst all that. The writing wasn't good by any means, even when the acting was decent, and my wife and I would mock and laugh at some of the things that they were doing, but then it came time for the final episodes. The main conflict was over, the antagonist was gone, and there were still a few episodes to go. All that was left to settle was the conflict of the dual personalities, something that, remembering KMHM, I expected to take maybe half an episode. But it didn't. And as I watched the characters go through their days and saw the inevitable end creeping up on them, I realized that I actually cared about the characters for some strange reason. The characters I thought of as caricatures grew on me when I wasn't looking and suddenly they mattered to me. And sure, what happened from there on was predictable, but I was still invested.
Just like how production values don't make a show, you don't always need a solid story to love something. Sometimes all you need is time and a little bit of passion. HKM is nothing of a masterpiece, but that doesn't mean it did everything poorly. Instead of focusing on the outward appearance of DID like KMHM did, it put time into the internal effects that the illness had on both Seo Jin and Robin, and the ripple effect it had on the people they surrounded themselves with. Even while its handling of the issue was silly, with hypnosis sprinkled in for added effect, and even with Robin being a better person than Seo Jin and more likeable to boot, it remembered that the root of everything was mental illness. It took the time to make Robin a person instead of a stereotype the way that KMHM treated its alters, and it respected its characters enough to give them a proper end.
The production is a bit of a mess, the writing is sloppy and premise is weird, but it's a drama with heart. Don't take it seriously, and you may be pleasantly surprised.
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Overall i would recommend it
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JUST WATCH IT!
it took me a while to see the drama due to the raiting (I only saw it after 3/4 years of joining my list) . After finally deciding to watch, I don't regret anything, I also read some reviews from very good to very bad. Users who gave a bad rating only spoke of the main character being egocentric, it is true that sometimes he did what he felt like but she made many actions thinking of everyone.If you saw kill me heal me you will like this one :)
About the story: the story is quite interesting, it didn't become a tiresome story and you can see the episodes well. For me, I even think there could have been one more episode at the end.
About the cast:they chose excellent actors, they was chosen to act as a couple were chosen very well. What ended up bringing me to know the drama was hyeri (because she is my favorite k-idol) and hyun bin , if you know any of the main ones it becomes more interesting to see the drama.
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Didn’t realise Hyun Bin was also in this!
So after being disappointed with “Crash Landing on You” , I was looking for the Webtoon version of this series and wasn’t able to find the whole thing online. So instead, I used good ol Netflix instead and while watching the rest, I didn’t realise Hyun Bin was also on this and he killed it man with his changing personas.Now my only complaint is that the 20 episodes was long winded and wanted to finish it in one go (finished at 6am, stupid I know). However it was an addicting series to binge like both Hyun Bin and Han Ji Min were just very cute together, I think also Han Sang Jin played the wacky mischievous villian pretty darn good, I loved how in the near end he made Bins character draw in front of a serious conference like wtf with that scene man xDIt’s pretty good but again the episodes were long winded even if it was a binge to watch!
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This review may contain spoilers
Look, we've all been there. Watch a drama you absolutely frigging love and then it's over. You desperately try to find a replacement but the problem is you don't have encyclopedic knowledge of every drama made in existence so you don't know what the closest thing to the masterpiece you just watched would be. So you head on to Wikipedia, search up the actors to the drama you loved to death and go "ok, Hyun Bin, what else have you been in that I can watch?"This is what happened to me and the drama "Crash Landing on You". CLOY is a drama exclusive to Netflix which this is NOT, so if you have Netflix drop everything and go watch that instead. I consider Hyde, Jekyll, Me the rebound drama after CLOY and by god is it sub par in every way. It might fill your Hyun Bin needs but it's just not the same.
Ok, ok, fine you get two versions of him (specifically one with glasses and gelled up hair and the other one without either of those things), like what more do you want?
It's just unfortunate that they wanted to return Hyun Bin to the throne of rom com king after his stint in Secret Garden and while the premise of the story is quite interesting (when will split personalities not be interesting?), everything else just seems contrived. Like the story line exists in order for Hyun Bin to play this interesting role.
For example, Han Jimin's character (Jang Ha Na) being a circus master was laughably 1 dimensional in that she did absolutely nothing involving being the circus master besides: a) being slightly more athletic and being able to use a tightrope and b) constantly whining about how her circus is going to be shut down when their most elaborate shows is on par with a cheap children's party magic show. The whole circus business was merely way to keep Ha Na close to Seo Jin - after the whole Seo Jin/Robin plot took off with Ha Na as an unsuspecting passenger, it no longer matter Jang Ha Na was a circus master.
I don't blame any of the actors for this. On paper, this drama was just asking to succeed because it hit all the right points: rich guy/ poor woman story, pretty leads, quirky female lead, two male leads that cover all the points from likeable, athletic, protective to prickly, tsuendre, and outright cold. However it seems that splitting Hyun Bin into two different people meant Han Jimin couldn't quite build a connection with either sides of the coin. I personally feel it's why it falls short in terms of likeability. But hey, it's a rom com, if you like those, you'll probably be ok watching this one....
(But seriously, go watch Crash Landing on You.)
--- SPOILER BELOW---
I disagree with the way the storyline went with Hana falling for Robin exclusively. I think it would have been a bigger hurdle for her to realize the she like Seo Jin all along and that Seo Jin could have made that personal journey into being a better person through that relationship. It seemed like they tried to do this via the 'merging' of their personalities, but I find that to be the cheap way out. Seo Jin didn't really have a change because that's just Robin merging into his psyche. Hana liked Robin because he was the easier side of the coin for her to get along with.
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Team SeoJin or Team Robin?
First of all, this is one of the greatest series I've watched before and to be honest it's been years since I first watch it. Storywise, it's unique and has a lot of colorful stories inside it but since I re-watched it (and maybe because I got older) I felt like the story was to draggy. It could've been just 16 episodes instead of 20 but still it's a masterpiece. The thriller part at the beginning feels too long yet interesting like finding out how things will turn out then the latter part where you'll be torn between SeoJin and Robin. I wonder which side are you. Hmmmmm.Hyun Bin is such a legend in terms of dual characters. He did it on Secret Garden and here. I can't count how many characters did he bring into life and all of them are unique and just the gaze gives you away who is who. To be honest, I didn't know Han JiMin yet when I first watched this but I've seen her in several works throughout the years and I can say she's really a versatile actress. It's just that her character as Hana here is a bit immature (but not that annoying).
Oh and before I forgot, the OST on this series is also legendary. I can't stop myself from singing along the songs. It's been on my playlist for half a decade and it never gets old.
To be honest, this was one of the really classic series of 2015 and I honestly would recommend it to anyone who is a fan of K-Dramas whether newbie or veteran, this series deserves a spot on everyone's watchlist.
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