Hyde, Jekyll, Me (2015)

This is the first time I'm writing a review for a drama, because seeing the ones that are up on this page just shocked me. I don't understand how people could think so negatively about this drama.
Maybe some people compared it to Kill me, Heal me, and let me just say that I have watched and completed KMHM before watching this, and yes I loved it. But although both dramas have DID as a theme, they're totally different.

I loved how Hyde, Jekyll and Me had another perspective on the subject. It's deep and actually addresses issues that had not been central in KMHM. Some people thought it was boring or nothing happening. Well let me just tell you this, this drama is all about the internal stuff going on! It's all about the people and their feelings and although nothing major is actually going on, it's all about the little changes that make you go from the situation in episode 1 to the ending. Some people also said that it was too long and could have been just 16 episodes. I disagree, all the steps were necessary, all the dialogues were necessary. For once, I actually thought the characters had a way of approaching the story logically. I don't understand what people don't like about HaNa, just think for a second if you were to be in her shoes. I thought she acted rationally (or emotionally but it MADE SENSE).

The actors played well in my opinion, but I guess everyone has their opinion. But it just doesn't make sense to me when people go crazy about a lame drama like Sensory Couple (Omg... at least in this one the police doesn't seem as incompetent, but I digress...) and bash out at something as awesome as Hyde, Jekyll and Me.

So the only recommendation I have is that you give this a try yourself (and we all know giving a chance to a drama means 5 episodes at least) and don't take into account all the negativity surrounding the ratings, which honestly I still do not get.

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First of all, personally I do not recommend this drama to anyone. But I am sure there are people who enjoyed watching too, so who knows maybe you will like it?

The beginning was slow and boring, the show picked up around ep 5 (that's when it was actually really good) and the excitement lasted until ep. 10 or so, then the show turned flat like a pancake and only kept flattening towards the ending. The two last episodes were completely ridiculous, the writer had no idea about DID whatsoever! The chemistry between main characters died somewhere along the way. This is weird because Seo Jin and Hana had chemistry, but Robin and Hana didn't; they were like two children playing together.

The Acting

I didn't have much expectations, but for Hyun Bin this was a failure. I think he did great job with Seo Jin but perhaps two personalities were too much for him to handle. Robin turned out to be weird (with overacted expressions) and boring, an extremely dull character with no chemistry with the camera or any other characters. Han Ji Min was quirky at first but soon lost her charm and transformed into a woman of one face. Sung Joon had enough charisma and a powerful aura, but unfortunately he didn't have enough space to shine and suffered from repetitive lines and scenes (and bad directing). What a waste of talent. He is worth so much more than this.

Han Sang Jin pulled it through the whole drama with guaranteed brilliance. His character was interesting, he felt and looked like a man who worked in an amusement park. Sang Jin was the only one who truly brought his warmingly silly character to life and he really shone. Shin Eun Jung had the same dull face throughout the drama and her character, despite being smart and having potential, was ruined with poor script.

All side characters except the secretary Know were completely meaningless and the pathetic little love triangle on the side was purely a filler. Okay, I admit that Detective Na vs Seung Yeon was quite a fun ride and there were not enough scenes of them together. But the cops in general were way too stupid.

The Plot

Yeah, what should I say? The whole implementation of hypnosis and all that, it was a refreshing idea but failed because it was taken too far. The whole DID issue had potential but at some point the DID turned into Robin. I understand where the writer was going with this. She tried to create a conflict between the real man and the illusion, with the illusion being way better than the real deal. However, the writer failed miserably because instead of concentrating on the conflict and bringing out the whole heart-wrenching reality of it all, she concentrated on a ridiculous love relationship instead. This drama could have been brilliant, a struggle between real and imaginary, two realities crashing together and confusing everyone around to the point of madness. This whole idea went down the drains when DID became Robin and Seo Jin was sort of abandoned to deal with his problems alone. I am sure that by writing the ending as it was, the screenwriter tried to go for a fresh image. But the point of the whole show was not love to begin with. It was the conflict, which was forgotten, and the show lost its standing. Hana was one of the dumbest and maddening characters I have ever seen.

The first part of the story concentrated a lot on the problems of Seo Jin and his past. It was interesting until several repetitive flashbacks clogged the episodes. I also wished there were more quirky scenes with Seo Jin and Hana to back up the last episode. The silly grudge of children was taken on a complete new level. The trauma of that grudge was never explored fully and in the end it was pushed aside in a hastly manner. The whole idea of that hatred was that it stemmed from pain and loneliness, but the bad guy remained flat, his character was trapped in a superficial shell and never explored to the depths of his soul. I'm saying that the darker moments could have been way darker and with much more impact had the writer concentrated on the right things. Like the battle within, not what was going on outside.

All in all, this show was either a mess with its characters running around out of control or then flavorless snail-paced boredom wrapped in pink, fluff and all cute with some glitter on the top. There were some loopholes, which could have been avoided easily. And the worst thing of it all: despite being a slow run the ending was still rushed. How? Just how is that possible? You had two freaking hours!

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