Ho Goo's Love (2015)

If I hadn’t known and loved Choi Woo-Shik I probably would’ve never knew of this drama nor would I have cared to watch it.
This drama was everything I didn’t expect an Asian drama to have, the topics that were brought into question and talked about is rarely seen in Asian dramas, if ever. I think that Hogu’s Love stands out for that reason alone and I find myself relating to the show better because they cover issues of homosexuality, sexual assault, sex protection and single motherhood. That said, I may have not been through any of those big issues but it happens in our world today, these problems occur everywhere so I enjoy the realism and the awareness spread.


Initially, I didn’t see the plot going anywhere after Do Hee has the baby and Ho Goo tries to figure out who the father is until a big, amazing plot twist happened. Ho Goo suspects an old classmate from high school, a smart man known as Byun Kang Chul who was the school president who had a relationship with Do Do Hee and is now a successful lawyer. I have never seen so much misunderstanding of more than one situation in my life until I watched Byun Kang Chul’s involvement with Kang Ho Goo and Do Do Hee and that is what made me continue watching the show, there were backstories within these characters that are vaguely explained and I wanted to find out more about them because they were like mysteries that I needed to solve because it affected the plot and the characters’ feelings that came to be.

Our lead character, Kang Ho Goo has a heart that is obese, his absolute kindness to others and altruism tends to be taken for granted or taken advantage of. He’s weak in independence, he puts everything on the line for Do Hee throughout the series and is willing to take care of her and her baby. All that went through my mind was how pitiful the guy was, I pitied him so much to the point where it hurt. They purposefully made his character that way, Ho Goo was not meant to be a strong and independent protagonist, his personality takes after his own name, Fool. But I like him. I actually love this aspect of Ho Goo because everyone has a Ho Goo in their life, someone who’s always foolishly taken for granted or advantaged of, or lacks strength in dating. I enjoy that connection to the character. Ho Goo is very fun to watch, he’s feels like a friend to the viewer.

I want to mention that Choi Woo-shik was a perfect casting choice for Ho Goo, his physical appearance suited the role best and his acting was spot on with expressing a different side to Ho Goo of confrontation and honestly that shapes his character to be more than just a one dimensional fool.

Uee’s acting really sparks in this role as a young pregnant single mother, she did a great job on representing Do Hee’s personal afflictions as she doesn’t smile and speaks with a monotone voice as if all colour was drained out of her. I did have a difficult time relating to her though, I think that’s one problem with her character but I still liked watching her. The chemistry between Ho Goo was depicted as a lost love, it was as if their relationship was already built and now they just needed to revise it. It might have needed a bit more development for the viewers to see, I myself wanted to see more build up.

Byun Kang Chul, played by Lim Seulong, stole my attention and the show as a whole throughout the middle to end of the drama. His character was very interesting, he came off as cold, arrogant, and skeptical; I liked the depth within his character as his insecurities unfolded and his personal confessions were made, I was very immersed with him and I really cared about him. Even as an adult, throughout the drama he continued to go through a unique self discovery, (when you watch the show or if you watched it you would understand what I mean by ‘unique’). His relationship with Ho Goo’s sister Ko-Kyung was more developed than the two main leads, there was realization that came into Byun Kang Chul’s relationship that made it grow.

There is too much to say about Hogu’s Love even without spoiling it, one last thing I wanted to talk to share was how my eyes watered and I shed a tear during a certain scene in one of the last episodes where Ho Goo was telling Do Hee not to feel any guilt for what happened in her past and with her baby and reassured her that she doesn’t have to apologize all the time; something about the topic really hit me and I’ve never cried while watching a K Drama before.

Hogu’s Love has it’s flaws like every drama with one big plot hole that still bothers me (I cannot say it because it is a spoiler) but it can be overlooked, it really depicts certain morals and social norms of Korean society which makes an interesting subplot. I enjoyed the main characters without a doubt and was invested in their problems and wanted to know the outcome of it all as their issues were gradually growing. There was good comic relief in Ho Goo’s friends as well, I enjoyed every scene with them as well as Ko-Kyung interacting with her parents and drinking with her friends.

Hogu’s Love is a very interesting drama I must say with vulnerable and intense topics and themes that I haven’t seen in any Korean drama yet, it has a good balance of humour, drama and romance. It’s definitely worth watching, if you love plot twists and want to watch a drama without an actual love triangle (you will understand what I mean when you watch it) then this is your kind of show then.

Hogu’s Love deserves an 8.5/10

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I absolutely fell in love with this drama. It had so many opportunities to be cliche and expected, but maintained its freshness, warmth, and hilarity throughout.

Some highlights:
- Choi Woo Shik is a standout and is so good at making you feel whatever he is feeling throughout. His protrayal of Hogu's growth as a person is one of best things of this show. By the end of this show I wanted Hogu to be my first love, my kid's babysitter, my goofy big brother, and my neighborhood shop clerk.

- The slapstick comedy. I haven't laughed this much during a drama in a long time. Yes, the situations are silly but the actors do such a good job with the physical comedy, it never feels cheap. Both CWS and Seulong are especially great at going all in with the slapstick.

- Hogu's family. They felt so real and existed not just to further the plot, but to really help you better understand Hogu more as a person

One drawback:
- Secondary character story arcs have poor payoff. There is so much richness and good stuff for our main characters, that there isn't enough time to really develop the secondary characters. There are a lot of interesting people introduced but their motivations are never really clear. Especially in the cases of Kang Chul's parents, Do Hee's coach, Director Park, Kim Tae Hee, and Gong Mi, we get interesting snapshots of their past and hints at their motivations, but in the end they really only exist for the purpose of furthering the story for the main characters and not as characters themselves, which is a little disappointing.

In summary, I've watched a lot of dramas and this one is a really special gem. If you need to feel good about something, you can't go wrong falling in love with Hogu.

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It's a very difficult drama to rate, sensibly.

All in all, I really enjoyed the drama. It got a happy-go-lucky feel, with a lot of sweet moments, but there's some disturbing points that can spoil you the watch if you don't watch it while minding the context.

STORY : The story is original, and pretty free from cliche, which for me is a big YES. I get tired of cliche really quicly. The "pretty-sweet-clumsy girl meet cold-rich bastard, while getting harassed by plenty of second leads" is something that I can't watch anymore if I am not insanely bored. My main problem here is, regarding the serious matters that were treated , the light-hearted mood was a little overdone. Especially on the last episode, I was sometimes uncomfortable watching it. But they are issues for the Korean society and (they are issues in a lot of countries, if not the whole word, even if media know how to pretend otherwise), and the drama was meant to speak to Koreans, that's why, despite of my feelings, I think they did a good job, nonetheless. It's better to be clumsy while speaking of it than not speaking of it at all. While I didn't like this obsession with being "normal", as in like the majority, at all costs, it shows how important being "normal" is in the Korean society. This has its goods sides and unfortunately, for people that can't be "normal", it shows how it can be so, so sad. So better watch the drama, knowing that it is an attempt to put issues in light without "attacking" people, so they can view things a little differently. And I really like how they deal with Do Hee's character. I read some comments on that, saying that the writters didn't do their research on the subject, but I disagree. I loved it because it clearly says one thing : "one moment of your life doesn't dictate your whole life."

CAST : the characters are just GOLD. Do Hee is very strong even though she has her weeknesses, she appeared to be cold but she's very sweet and just wants to be loved. Ho Goo is... just adorable. He is kind, happy with the simple things in life and dependable ; the perfect fighter. You just know that the lead couple will do great in the future, they've got such an healthy relationship, even if they are far from perfect. The secondary cast is just equally awesome. My favorite was Ho Kyung that is like... a spiritual guide ? She helps her brother all along, on whichever road he wants to take, she's always here to give him advices and support. She's a true bad ass, I loved her. Kang Chul was at times... very unnerving (in the court scenes, I wanted to murder him, if I have to put it in simple words). But he's just a poor lonely soul who knows so little of life... you can't just hate him, and he was pretty sweet too. Ho Goo's friends were funny and great too, Ho Kyung's BFF too, and the Kang parents were AWESOME.

The cast was great, too, all the actors did a great job. I read many comments on Uee acting. Well, female Idols are always criticized for her bad acting skills, and I always disagree, so nothing new here. Uee is great in this drama, her crying scene were pretty decent. The whole sobbing scene isn't something that a lot of actors achieve, and while she's not the best at it, she did good. Way above average. So all the cast were pretty fine. My personal favorite were Choi Woo Sik (ho goo), Kang Yong Moo and Kim Ok Ryeong (Ho Goo's parents) ; they offered the best performance in my eyes. But Uee is closely behind.

So it is a great drama, a little clumsy because it had to be clumsy, but still great.

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Choi Woo Shik plays the fool for the umpteenth time (but he is really adorable in this one)

This drama is penned by the same writer of Because This Is My First Life.
Indeed, we get some recurring themes. For instance: the rape theme; couples as partners who help each other get through ordinary hardships; the upheaval of Korean social normativity regarding relationships and happiness (e.g. we get one love triangle but it is the most unexpected one).
Once again the writer touches on some heavy topics (i.e. homosexuality, abortion, rape, shame, suicide and motherhood as well as fatherhood) and yet constantly aims at keeping the tone light and avoiding depth and true controversy.
This effort is carried out through a series of misunderstanding plots in true Comedy-of-Errors fashion. Although the result is undoubtedly funny in the beginning and nicely offsets the disruption in the characters' relationships needed for their growth arc, the continuous mishaps seem to drag the story after a while. They get more ridiculous overtime and are clearly used as filler rather than effective plot.
I enjoyed the overall story nonetheless.

I think the characters were well written and their arc was coherent and interesting to follow.
Ho Goon is interpreted in the most endearing and believable way: he doesn't come off as absurdly foolish, cartoonish or nauseatingly sweet. Rather he is the most lovable soft-boy as well as one of the greenest flag in dramaland.
What I've come to love about the male characters created by this writer is the fact that they are full rounded people that don't follow the canonical gender-coded behavior we so often see in romantic dramas. They have the ability to be lovable by uprooting their classic social role and fully respecting the female characters' agency and choices.
They don't protect, instead they support.

There are a couple of judgmental speeches, by the male protagonist, regarding abortion and what a mother's love should look like, that I didn't particularly appreciate. But, overall, I liked how the writer handled emotion to convey her message and personal view.

I also welcomed the realism of the rapist being absolved after the first trial and the victim being ostracized (by police and the public). It was bitter but the protagonists weren't discouraged in their search for happiness and the ending was sweet and uplifting.

The kid is too cute, fantastic actor. Made me feel all the feels.

FES (5/5) The female characters are all strong and their strength is wittingly shrouded in unexpected fragilities. We have the popular, amazing athlete who is in love with a fool and thinks she is unworthy because of the terrible violence she suffered; the badass (so much cooler than her brother), intelligent (ace student) girl with a thousand suitors that is ashamed of her bare face; the queen of the house mom that has a soft spot for stray cats and wants an ordinary happiness for her son but is too compassionate to hurt someone else; the accomplished psychology professor who defers to her husband foolishness.
We bring ourselves down for the most absurd reasons. If only we could look at ourselves through the eyes of those who love us…

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I took 3 years to finish watching.

I've just finished watching Ho Goo's Love around 3 years after I started it. I'm really unsure about rating this.
I've dipped into this on numerous occasions and really it's taken me 3 years to watch the first half and a day to watch the second half.

On paper it would seem a great show for me to watch, Romantic Comedy, no Jerk ML, powerful FL, a baby - just so many of my favourite elements. Yet I struggled so hard to keep watching I just kept hitting cringe walls for the comedy, the characters failed to endear themselves to me, the plot twists left me cold....and yet.... I kept seeing it listed on various sites and would dip in for another episode or two.

Then yesterday it showed up on Cereal (YouTube) so I tried it again and watched from 8 - 16 pretty much back to back. It still wasn't perfect and I still was irritated by a number of character choices but I enjoyed it all the same. I have a pretty good memory so I didn't have to recap but it's not so good that my memories weren't softened by time. Would I watch it all the way through if I rewatched it? I doubt it.

So the basic story is pretty good but the execution wasn't always compelling. A lot of interesting topics are dealt with but not always in a good way. The side characters did enough to keep you interested.

I thought on the whole the acting was fine the veterans were of course on point and everyone else gave their characters life. Choi Woo Shik isn't a favourite of mine but I coped with him in this Uee just has an inexpressive face once you get used to that her acting is fine.

The music was ok, nice and bouncy in places.

Rewatch ? I have literally no idea - maybe?

Try it if the plot sounds good it might reward you.
Be aware it has some trigger things like abortion, bullying, sexual violence, homophobia etc. they come up but aren't dealt with terribly.

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ORIGINAL AF!

Even though the drama has its cliche moments but since the story is so original and interesting it keeps you hooked up!
I've never seen anything like this before!
It started off as a simple, fluffy, and cute drama but then it became more mature and serious and I'm still in awe at how did the writers handle all the serious topics with a pinch of comedy.
Some characters were troublesome, some badass, some relatable, and some of them were simply beautiful and pure!
The misunderstandings in this drama were not annoying but interesting.
For a 2015 drama, it is a bang-on!
The ending couldn't be more beautiful!
Only if it could have been 2 ep less it would have been PERFECT!
OST is pleasing to hear!

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Simple ,cute and little senti love story

First want to write about acting Kang ho soo,I guess this the name of the lead ,Korean names are little difficult to remember but anyways mr. Lead of the drama what so good , fantastic ,amazing ,I am become speechless to see his acting . He portrayed as cute,simple and soft hearted boy but still he understands what wrong is happening and his inner soul wants to correct everything by raising the voice but he started imagine that how he made realized people about their mistake by shouting and got angry but all in waking dreams but when he came to reality he remained soft hearted boy who accepted the pain and in return says nothing. He is too good . About others all were good . Last scene when they ran on green light that was cool .but I want more about the ending part . Thay had two kids so properly together they all should get screen and plus want to know then what happened to his sis ,did she got married at the very end as hers brother then had a child . Rest is good.

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Ups for this drama:
really funny
female lead is pretty
male lead is cute
the rest of the cast are great
the story itself is funny as in REALLY funny

downs:
the throwbacks are out of order. The throwback should be after the present to have emphasis and a better understanding for the sake of the viewers.
Also, there is a part of the story which has a big impact on the roles of the leads but was unable to explain. I believe its because they find it a little sensitive to tackle but then again, since you put it there in the story, the writers should ave been prepared in putting emphasis on it.

my verdict:
Must watch. The down side of the story is not big enough to overthrow the humor they put on it so its still really good.

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An fantastic yet underrated drama

Ho Goo's Love is based on the webtoon of the same title by Yoo Hyun-sook. A story that is solely built on misunderstandings and bemusement between all characters that ended really well. I find it odd that viewers are not really into it when it's one of the few Kdramas with a romantic yet quirky plot. Some scenes and sequences were outlandish, but it got me laughing throughout. And when you thought that Ho Goo's Love is a cute drama, it also tackles burning issues of today's society such as rape, unwanted pregnancy, suicide, plastic surgery, and sexuality. Props to the production team and the cast for delivering a wonderful, unique drama.

It's a shame that this drama is underrated. But if you want to have a good laugh from the first episode to the last one, this drama is for you.

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