My Mister (2018)

"You're Nice".

There was something profoundly heartfelt about My Mister. This is a drama - a true drama - about pitiful people for pitiful people. Our main characters are essentially losers, outcasts, jokes amongst their peers. However we learn vital lessons through their actions, we hear healing stories as well as heartbreaking ones.

Park Dong Hoon is the man everyone wants to be while also being the man no one wants to be. No one is more genuine and honest than Dong Hoo, but that affects his life in a huge way. No set of brothers are so close to each other that when one is sad, they are all upset by proxy and feel guilt at any form of happiness. That bond is unbreakable. And thus, this affects his home life with his wife feeling isolated, lonely and, herself, an outcast. Of course, this leads to her being unfaithful with one of the few people Dong Hoon dislikes. But My Mister is so much more than a story about infidelity. It's about the hardships of life. Nothing is more evident than his relationship with a subordinate, Lee Ji-Ah. A broken person who is stuck in a life of debt, pain and frustration. Lee Ji-Ah spy's on Dong Hoon because of the affair under the orders of CEO Do Jun-Yeong, who is sleeping with Kang Yui-hi, Dong Hee’s wife however she develops love for Dong Hee in the process and begins to help him in this struggle. Is My Mister about romance? No, but there is a clear returned love between the two characters, as shown through dialogue and visual storytelling in Dong Hee’s case. But again, there is a maturity to the relationships as well. My Mister is so multi-layered in that regard. Outside of our main story of lust and politics, there is the comonardary with the brothers and the neighbours friends of Dong Hee. And the subsequent stories that are splintered off and are given just as much meaning and purpose to the story as Dong Hee’s climb to the top. There were so many characters, so many plots that were quite frankly perfectly executed and mapped out flawlessly.

Every episode felt like a movie in itself. There was a long run time with each episode which was risky because it can feel long winded. However the lengthy time run only made me feel more immersed in the story. It made me feel a part of everything. When it was sad, I felt it. When it was happy, I was happy. My Mister played with your emotions. And that was thanks to the immaculate performances from each character. IU and Lee Sun Kyun especially. Kim Young Min as Jun-Yeong as well. It's difficult to pick out certain people because this was truly a team effort.

My Mister was very sentimental, sad and euphoric at the same time.

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Must See

Several months after My Mister came out in 2018, it showed up on one of my Asian drama streaming apps. I should've watched it then, but I didn't. When it recently showed up on Netflix, I watched it right away. The timing was perfect. I absolutely devoured it, binge watched the entire thing. Easy to understand why it won best drama 2018. Moving, touching, sentimental, maddening at times, and always tugging at my heart. Very well done. The ending is also beautifully done. Intentionally enigmatic and rightfully so. It's the kind of ending the viewer brings their own emotions into account..., imagining the next step to be whatever suits your sensibilities. To answer some inquiries about 'do they love each other?'..., of course they do. Love is not limited to social constructs of dating, sex, or even marriage. They absolutely love each other, but without feeling compelled to make it anything else. Deeply caring for another person, wanting their happiness, wanting what's best for them, is love. And so well played in an amazing drama. I'm not given to cry much, or even tear up..., but I did both..., and often with My Mister. Great job, Director Kim Won-seok. Great job, IU, Lee Sun Gyun, and the entire, fantastic cast. Khamsa Hamnida.

I am not sure if I was the only one, but I was crying at the end. I didn't know why until I realized I was happy crying. I also finally understood what Dong Hoon and Ji Ahn relationship was and was happy for both of them! They loved one another and not in a romantic way, maybe in the future but as friends.

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the feelings conveyed in this drama deeply touched my heart. we all have different experiences but we share similar feelings of and understand too well the emotions of human suffering, pain, loneliness.. this was a very comforting drama. i loved many scenes but one scene that comes to mind at the moment is the ending...when the waters calm and the storm clears. i also hope to reach that place where the sea sleeps.

love, empathy, vulnerability, resilience..

FL is an outstanding character; her resiliency is inspiring. i really appreciate ML's presence and the comfort he brought. their relationship remains very dear to my heart. i loved the way it developed and changed and grew. and tho the relationship wasn't necessarily a romantic kind of love, i personally accepted the hint of romance at the end.

also, i grew to...not love..but feel a bit affectionately towards the character that collected her debt (I'm bad with names lol). if only the adults around younger FL and him were kinder and more understanding, things could've been different. none of his actions were excusable and I'm not trying to romanticize his character but i feel sad that a lot of this could've been prevented. I'm glad the writers gave his heart some peace at the end.

thanks to the old cleaning guy and the grandma.....thanks for showing FL kindness and love. thanks to ML's friend who owns the bar, and thanks to the support system surrounding ML (tho i didn't quite like the whole aggressive masculine thing going on with the men..lol sigh)

i said i wouldn't write a lot but here i am lolll anyway,,, thank you to IU and Lee SunKyun for bringing their characters to life. their performance with the story gave me some comfort and kept me company. tbh I'm left speechless bc I'm so touched haha

*i would've given this drama 10 stars if not for the glorification of the drinking culture and i also didn't appreciate several aspects of the family/gender dynamics depicted. usually i can overlook these things but they hit closer to home so i couldn’t bear to give it the remaining 0.5 oops

**also, while I'm at it, here's a few things from the top of my head that i want to mention (these aren't reflected in my rating bc i can overlook all this in dramaland lol). i wish we were given more backstory to FL's "best friend". i wanted to like him more, i really did, but i couldn't bc i didn't know enough about him. i also wanted the writers to show more empathy towards ML's wife. i don't justify her cheating on him but i do empathize with the pain and loneliness she felt. honestly i skipped some of the scenes with the monk friend and i skipped most of the scenes with the celebrity friend and the ex-assistant director brother.

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Everything is the End of the World (until it isn't)

I had absolutely no expectations for My Mister. I went in pretty blind, just wanting another 'healing' show after finishing Hospital Playlist 2. The binge-watcher in me usually tends to struggle with slow burns, especially ones which deal with heavy topics. But, oh my god, did My Mister turn out to be the sweetest surprise of my life.

This show is perfect. There are no two ways about it. I'm not a very confrontational person, but I'm going to say it: if you disagree, you weren't paying attention. The writing is perfect. The acting is perfect. The OST, the cinematography, the pacing, the ending, the relationship between the main two. Everything adds something to the plot, to the characters; no second of screen time is wasted.

Watching this drama reminded me of the closing lines of one of my favourite poems, Night Walk by Franz Wright. It goes: "Walking home for a moment / you almost believe you could start again. / And an intense love rushes to your heart, / and hope. It's unendurable, unendurable."

You know that feeling when you're so happy, or in love, or whatever positive emotion you can imagine, that your heart literally hurts? Like it's momentarily caving under the sheer weight of the beauty of the moment? That's what this show feels like to me. I can imagine Ji Ahn and Dong Hoon walking home in the dark, with their coats and scarves and Ji Ahn's poor frost-bitten ankles, side by side, each thinking of these lines. It's unendurable. Unendurable.

Life is so goddamn unendurable sometimes, isn't it? It's painful and unfair; sometimes it's like the odds are completely stacked against you. Oh well, that's life, deal with it, right? But that's not true. Because sometimes life can show us these beautiful moments, these moments of love and hope that warm your heart so much it may feel like its on fire, that make you think, okay. Maybe there's a light at the end of this tunnel, somewhere. Maybe I can stop lamenting my unendurable life and start counting my unendurably beautiful moments and maybe, just maybe, life will turn out beautiful. And it does. It does for Dong Hoon. It does for Ji Ahn. And it will for you, too.

Thank you, My Mister, for showing us how painful and beautiful life can be, and how to endure it either way.

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I've come across this drama many times, and for some reason, I always put it off. Maybe I needed a good enough reason/review to watch it? Maybe I needed to be strapped down to a chair and held against my will just for the first episode, and then after, be given the choice to cotinine voluntarily? Who knows. But I did watch it. Willingly, if I may add. So here's what I'll say to you, WATCH IT ! To put it blankly, it's a weird one. A drama that will have your head FIGURATIVELY spinning with so many questions, comments (cough, cough), and emotions, but in the best non-nauseating way! All of the characters will leave an imprint in your existence, whether you forget it is up to you, but the two main characters will probably leave the most impactful influence. It's been two days since and I still think about Ji An and Dong Hoon and the other fabulous characters we were gracious enough to meet. If you want a quality drama that will leave you with a better understanding/sympathy for humanity and existence, give this one a try.

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Wholesome. Comforting. Heartbreaking.

This drama will forever hold a very special place in my heart. Some will argue that it's slow paced, but I believe that's what the drama needed. The range of emotions portrayed in this will take you places.. The heart-breaking back stories and the hardships that are so real and rawly portrayed was beautiful to me.
I never thought I'd enjoy watching a bunch of ajjussi's living a very mundane life after failing to meet society's expectations, but to my surprise it was so heartwarming, cozy and... comforting?
The dialogues were so well written, the soundtrack was perfect (I'll probably always feel a pang in my heart whenever I listen to it) and the acting!! You just see what the characters are going through without them having to say anything, and you feel it deep deep down.
I loved this drama so much. I just finished it and so my thoughts are all over the place (as you can see from how disorganized this review is) and I've never bothered to write a review before because everyone else pretty sums up how I feel about every other drama I love. This one is no exception either, but I really wanted to leave a review here because this drama... well I don't know if it took something from me or added more to me.. I just love it.
It's been so long since a drama made me cry and cheer so hard for the characters. And just how relatable their feelings were is beyond me.
I don't care if I'm the only one in the world who loves it or feels this way about it. All I care for is that such a drama exists.

I didn't give the rewatch value a 10 only because some things are so precious when you watch them for the first time that a second watch won't be as awesome (I wish it would be though)

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It's a story of emotions and real life story

I would say the story is a bit overrated because when I first watch the first few episodes I don't know what I'm even watching or expecting but as I watch further, I realized why so many people loved it. The story consists of real emotions that you can easily relate to and emotions that people don't usually talk about.

I love how IU's versatility was once again proven in this series. The complexity of her character brought out more of her talents as well as the male lead. I really feel like everyone performed well and it can be shown on the chemistry and the way they deliver the right emotions.

I'm glad that I decided to finish this series though I started confused, I got to love how it turned out. I really recommend this as it has a lot of meaningful life lessons. Fighting!

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"Just hang in there."

This series tells the story of a midlife crisis: career challenges (career stagnation, office politics, threats of being fired), finding another love; all of which stem from the background of each character. The series also talks about how the "good" character faces problems in his life.

Each character of the character has many layers of past stories, which are patiently peeled off in each curve of the scene. Many stories are told not in straightforward dialogue, but through pictures, the expressions of the characters.

The two main characters of this drama: Park Dong-hoon and Lee Ji-an - who have a boss-subordinate relationship in an office - are the people who are pressed by their various problems. The situation forces them to be in opposing positions. But Dong-hoon is attracted to Ji-an's "kindness" and vice versa. At the end of the day, these two people were strengthening each other, supporting each other in a unique way - and I found it beautiful.

I was attracted by the character Dong-hoon, a building construction engineer who is honest in his work and life principles, not talk too much, but his words have deep meaning. He is trapped in dirty office politics, and he who is considered the weakest politically is the figure who is most easily sacrificed.

The warmth of Dong-hoon's closest community relationships: his mother and two brothers (who also have their own problems), and his fellow villagers help strengthen Dong-hoon (and ultimately Ji-an). The scene of Ji-an's grandmother's mourning ceremony in the last episode was touching.

This is not a romantic romance series even though it tells a lot about love. This is also not a dark series even though it tells a lot about the tough challenges of life.

"Even if you're having hardships in life, just hang in there. It's no big deal".

Hugye!

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You haven't really watched a KDrama until you watch this.

I've seen the high score of this drama and I was really sceptical. I don't like real dramas, but this...IS GOOD!!!
The story, the acting, the directing and the music and everything else....oh my... it's is like you are part of that story. And the end was as it should be. Everything is so natural that it makes you fill like is your story/life too.
You need a few boxes of tissues...but you'll be OK.
I watched quite a few KDramas and I always hated that they brought the story to an end in the last 3 minutes, but this one it leaves you building the end and what is to come the way you want it. It gives you a "path" but that path can split into more, leaving you crying and smiling, thinking "That's the way it should be".
Watch it and you will not be sorry.

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A Masterpiece, but a few complaints on the characters

This is my first time writing a review and I created an account just for this as well. I was having such a huge k-drama burnout but this drama really helped me get back to it. This is literally such a masterpiece, at first I read the summary and it sounded so boring but after reading a few reviews, I decided to give it a watch and it did not disappoint me at all! I have never cried this much and been this invested in a drama.

However, I have a few small complaints that doesn't matter much but I just wanna rent about it a little. I feel like they could have added more character development and backstory to many side characters. Personally I actually felt pretty bad for the characters that were perceived on the "mean" side in the drama.


(Spoiler - just my personal rent about this)
I honestly wanted to get to know the wife, the CEO and the mean guy who kept beating IU's character more (sorry i'm extremely bad with names). I feel like the more I watched the more I pitied the wife more. So many people are gonna disagree with me here and im so sorry to say this, but I kinda understand why she was having an affair, the main lead guy is also kinda at fault. I mean he wasn't that great of a husband either and barely talks to his wife. They kept talking about how trash the CEO was, and maybe that's just from my own perspective on things, but I didn't really see anything super wrong or bad with him. He just seemed like an adult who hasn't grown up mentally yet, like a kid's mind in an adult world. Lastly, the "abuser" ill call him. His story actually made me really sad honestly, he never learnt how to express his feelings, mostly because of his abusive dad, so he just kinda grew up like the only adult he saw, his dad. Idk he just made me really sad the more the drama went on. Anyways, I think they could've added more story or told more backstory on them.

Maybe that's just me for another thing, but I think they could've made this drama even more focused on the normal daily life of everyone (aka more backstory of side characters) instead of focusing so much on the plot of bringing down the main guy.

This makes it seem like I hated the drama now that i'm reading this again haha. Other than my small complaints, this was a really wholesome drama, much different from the typical format, and I will definitely rewatch this when im in my 30's and maybe I'd have different opinions, reactions and feelings about it than now :)

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A MUST WATCH

One of the best dramas EVER (not just for a Korean drama, but of any drama from any country or in any language).
The drama brilliantly presents life and the human condition in a story that is universally resonant.
It is both “quiet” and appropriately “emotional”. It is understated in a deeply heartfelt way.
It’s beautifully written, acted, and directed.
To say I HIGHLY recommend this drama is sincerely an understatement or I can simply say: WATCH IT WATCH IT WATCH IT WATCH IT WATCH IT WATCH IT WHAT
WATCH IT WATCH IT WATCH IT WATCH IT WATCH IT WATCH IT WATCH IT WATCH IT WATCH IT WATCH IT WATCH IT WATCH IT WATCH IT WATCH IT!!!

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Full of emotion story worth watching

Base of story-
story trully aint very important its something which could very well happen in real life if little toned down.
Young girl with financial problems and many works X Older married man working at firm as engineer.
They meet at worst time of their lives and helps yeach other maybe cause of their pitty of each other.
This drama surelly got romance, BUT its realistic romance.

From young woman its romance of young peoples fast, straightforward, intense. Based on nothing but feelings.

From older guy its damn old love. - Care and support. Old love which focuses on nurturing and caring for one another.

Dont wanna spoiler. But its not drama for everybody. Actors did great job in passing emotions. Whoever writed its story did great job too.

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