It's Okay to Not Be Okay (2020)

Was more enthralled by the side stories and brotherly love than the unconvincing romance.

Everyone loved this show, and understandably so. It had the perfect formula to become mainstream that everyone would truly enjoy. Sadly, for someone like me who craves for unique and realistic stories, some parts of it were too frustrating to watch that I had to convince myself to finish this show because of the parts I loved about it.

Things I loved about it:

- The fact that it revolved around Psychology (I’m a Psychology Major so I’m a sucker for this). I found myself crying every time they revealed and focused on the struggles of the families of autistic people, as well as the other Psychological disorders that were highlighted through the various patients of the ward. The first few episodes made my heart burn and I knew it would be a good story after how they revealed the story of that guy with manic tendencies. Wow, genius and heart wrenching.

- I loved the writing style. Whenever a drama uses a creative way to place a theme for each episode (in this case, the fairy tales), I know i’m in for good writing. Truly appreciated this side of the show. The mini story books and the final story book was truly a genius way to tie up the whole story. The first scene of the show which also used a story book to introduce everything was also truly genius.

- The acting of the brothers. Wow, that autistic brother was truly amazing. And wow, Kim Soo Hyun was just truly breath taking. I managed to finish the show because of these two, and I shed a lot of tears because of their scenes.

Things I didn’t like about it

- The romance. I still find it hard to believe that someone would fall for a scary woman like Mun Yeong. She indeed was fun to watch, but I honestly believe you’ll be creeped out if you met someone as obsessed as her in real life. Not to discount the fact that she also has a personality disorder, but I felt like everything between her and the male lead was too rushed and forced. They should have given their romance more time to develop to make it convincing.

- The story of Mun Yeong’s family was totally unconvincing. I hated how unrealistic her mom was, and I hated how their story was one of the main plots from the very start. I wish they explained a bit of the mom’s background just so we can understand why she turned out to be that way, staying true to this show’s attempt to explain their characters’ stories through the use of past traumatic experiences. Aside from lack of understanding for this character, the head nurse’s acting was actually quite off. She totally wasn’t convincing and I found myself distracting my head whenever she appeared on screen just so I won’t turn off my phone. The original mom would have been more convincing as the villain until the very end.

Don’t get me wrong, it was such a good show, it’s just that I was slightly disappointed about how they forced the “thriller” side of the show through Munyeong’s family, without properly developing their story. However, I feel like the show managed to redeem itself in its last episode after it chose to focus on the brotherly love again (which I honestly think was good enough to be the main plot) and the other patients.

A good watch, truly unique, but it did not really make a lasting impression. Maybe I was hoping for another Psychological drama (a realistic one) like It’s Okay, That’s Love? Once again, my high expectations ruined my viewing of this show. Don’t make the same mistake!

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Overrated and Such a drag!!

I am amazed by the reviews that “it’s okay not to be okay”has received here!! I am uncertain that those who find this show addictive watched any other K-dramas before ? Bcz honestly it was just an average K-drama. It’s been 3 weeks since I started watching the show, but I got soo bored in between that I kept it on hold And watched it On and off. And if I recall to myself what happened in previous episodes ,nothing eventful and exciting came to mind. Yes it somehow put a light on mental health, trauma and autism but that was the only good part about the show.

There was too much coincidence I would say ,more than needed ,that it made their love story odd. Firstly they knew each other as kids and Besides that It was a typical plot that Ms Ko’s mother turn out to be the murderer of Gang Tae’s mother. I have seen that before in various films and dramas that I can’t even recall now.Also Gang tae’s reaction to his mother’s murderer Being Ms Ko mother was also not how I should have been considering how badly it affected his whole life soo much and I mean who would be so okay with their only parent getting murdered and then finding out who did that. His REACTION MADE EVERYTHING SOO UNIMPORTANT. Remember that this was the plot from the beginning,BUTTERFLIES!!! and when he finally get to know ,it didn’t mattered?? How !!! ALSO the reason his mom was murdered for was soo lame .i couldn’t understand that I should laugh or be angry at how stupid it was. Meaning the whole logic just got nullified. It was no suspense as some hints were shown from the beginning as they happen to be from the same town and knew each other as kids. Plot was literally boring as There was nothing new.

Also I hated the fact that Gang tae was the only one suffering the most in the show. First dealing with autistic brother and then Ms Ko, no doubt she brought thrill ll in his life but I think he deserved better. He was now dealing with the demons of Ms Ko as well. Caregiver should have gotten more care from his love interest I believe. Something normal would’ve been much better than a girl with her own trauma and crazy family background.

All I am gonna say is that i didn’t get to see anything new!!

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overrated

I lost interest in this kdrama in episode 11. a lot of unexplained relationships and loopholes here and there. the hot and cold relationship makes me so tired and can predict what will happened between the couple. i dont know how to write review, but then this kdrama is just filler for my time.

few things I found its funny, how come somebody who works as a caregiver at smalltown hospital can afford to buy VOLVO car (support character who drive white volvo car) ? its such fail product placement and kind of spoiled the mood to watch it because it not believable at all.

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Isn't this drama too overrated?

A tip to watch this drama: Please remember in every episode that this drama is not a mystery-based drama. It's mainly romance, so don't expect much about the mystery aspect in it. Warning: starting from ep 12, the plot somewhat will go off. It can betray you. But, episode 16 absolutely is your healer.

And here are the pros and cons:
Pros:
- Ko Mun-young's character is so badass, Seo Yeji's acting is powerful! JANG MAN WOL's COMPETITOR!
- Sang Tae's acting is 10/10!!!
- Comedy, yes.
- Legendary filmography
- Beautiful story concept (Using children's book as the main value in a drama? OH YES!!!)
- Episode 16 is super family-friendly. I was teary when watching this episode.
- Support roles make this drama 100000% better!
- Production. Castle in the forest, why not? DEL LUNA's COMPETITOR IS HERE!

Cons:
- The mystery aspect is pretty bad. Imagine, you as a viewer are supposed to think and solve the mystery (about Ko Mun-young's mother and her family story) along with main characters within +- 10 episodes. But, in the end, the antagonist herself appeared out of nowhere, without her true identity being exposed by the main characters. I FELT BETRAYED! Why I had to think hard who and where is Mun-young's mother while she would appear voluntarily?
- Sometimes, romance scenes are too long. This leads to a loose plot. This drama could have a solid plot with a rich aspect if they cut off some unnecessary romance scenes.
- Wasting some characters just to help raising viewer's curiousness about Mun-young's mother. Where did Ok Ran go? Who's the guy that trapped/being held in that place?
- Horror scenes failed! It's scary but it actually makes the plot go off a lot.
- Inconsistency in picking genres. This drama would have been better if they didn't put the mystery aspect that much. Romance-Family-Comedy is more than enough to create touching scenes.

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First Half is amazing, Second Half is draggy

IOTNBO has been the most talked-about drama of 2020 and for some maybe even the best drama of 2020. I am not one of these people and IOTNBO has been added into my list of the most disappointing dramas of 2020. There are good aspects of course but there are some bad aspects which have caused my rating to be so low.

The Good:
- The first half is amazing
- The psychology aspect is very well done and is blended into the story pretty well
- All the characters have motivations and aren't just one dimensional
- The Characters by themselves are interesting
- The story is interesting
- The MC's have great chemistry
- The Acting is really well done by all the cast especially Oh Jung Se and Seo Ye Ji
- The FL is interesting
- The OST is phenomenal

The Bad:
- The Drama falls flat in its second half and becomes unpleasant
- The Love story happens too fast and doesn't make sense
- The writing is the weakest point as they don't really string together all the great aspects very well and instead, it feels
really messy and confusing
- There really isn't a plot and instead its just random events that happen
- The drama is filled with cliche tropes and even though it does have interesting aspects (such as the psychology aspect)
it's mostly just an average Rom-Com
- All of the character development is really messy
- The FL mother being the murderer was really badly done and her whole character arc was not done very well
- The drama has many opportunities that it wastes

Conclusion: IOTNBO is not the worst drama in the world but it is disappointing when you see how much potential the drama has. IOTNBO could've been one of the best dramas of the last decade but it squanders a lot of its opportunity by adding unnecessary tropes and predictable plot twists. So for me, I would give IOTNBO a 6.5/10

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Overrated

I’m sorry, but I have no idea what all the hype is about. I thought it was terrible and annoying. I didn’t believe in any of the main characters for one second. They all seemed made-up, with no connection to reality. And don’t get me started on the evil mom who survives a cracked skull, broken neck, and drowning in a suitcase at the bottom of the ocean. I think it’s actually more believable that she’s a crazy nurse who learned all about the Ko family from taking care of the father and now mistakenly believes she’s the mom. And the dad tried to strangle his daughter because he was afraid she would turn evil too? How believable is that? And the music was horrible. The singer sounded like her mouth was full of marbles. I’m sure she’s a nice and talented person though so I’m sorry to be mean.

The only thing that saved this drama from being an utter failure were the side characters, who were likable and more real than the main characters. I especially like Ju Ri and her mom.

I guess I just have totally different tastes from most drama fans. But I have very low tolerance for people who mope and feel sorry for themselves all the time.

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Dissapointing

I was really, really excited for this one.
I'm a huge Kim Soohyun fan and I was counting down for him coming back. When I saw that he took on a new drama, I was so excited. But, I'm now at episode 13 and it's getting really boring for me.
First of all, the drama is getting hype for being about mental health but that isn't that prevalent to be honest. It's a love story between someone who works at a mental health facility and a someone who became 'difficult' because of her childhood. But, there's never a healing story of Munyeong. She just falls in love and kind of keeps the irritating attitude.
The only really mental health story is the one of Moon Sangtae because he has autism. But I feel like he is just there to make the love story 'cuter'.
I did like the stories of the patients. They were really interesting but there was never a focus on that.
Really hoped this would be better.

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HEARTBREAKING BUT BEAUTIFUL

IONTBO made me feel so many different emotions altogether. But mostly the main leads did, they were all hurt and wounded in their own ways and needed someone to love them and understand them. The very fact that it was a drama that treated psychological problems was a little different since I haven't really seen a drama this focused before. Some people said that the character's didn't even seem to have any of those mental health problems but I want to remind everyone that at the end of the day it's a Korean drama and not a documentary, of course the romance and the drama is supposed to be there, of course at one point it seemed to focus more on other elements but it was essential for the healing of the characters. Personally, I feel the actors did an awesome job, so good that at times I just couldn't stop the tears cos it seemed so realistic and painfully sad. The relationship between KT and ST was so pure, but they had their problems but I'm happy that as brothers they managed to solve them all the time. MY's slow but steady, but not complete development made her look more human by the end and I'm happy about that, since many hated her personality at the start, but probably it's because they didn't try to understand. Yes, she was rude and extra, she still is at times, but try to go to the start of her behaviour, you'll understand why she is, or why are all the characters the way that they are. It's called It's Okay Not To Be Okay for a reason.

I also wanted to talk about OK Psychiatric Clinic, the staff and patients there. Their stories made me realise and understand so many things and I just want to say that those actors also did an absolutely amazing job.

KSH and SYJ are both very good actors, and they had a very good understanding of their characters and they played their roles well. They broke my heart, they made me cry but also smile and laugh. Them two were mood. The supporting cast was also very important and without them the drama would have been surely very different, they were so essential. Also the director, writers and production really did an awesome job, the way they assembled everything, the cinematography, the dialogues and everything is needy of praises.

The OST was awesome. I pay very much attention to the soundtrack and music of a drama cos I believe that it can make a huge difference to the overall mood and atmosphere of a drama. Many of my fave dramas are also my favourites because of the high quality music they offered.

To conclude, the ending was good. The only thing is not knowing more about how things went with the mother, but maybe it's good like this. Everything I wished for happened and I have no regrets. I want to say that it was a really good journey to watch this for the last month and a half, I met so many wonderful people while commenting and discussing this k-drama on MDL, and it was a good ride. You should really give this drama chance and understanding, it's actually really beautiful.

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Great acting, great premise, bad execution, no real drama

While It's Okay to Not Be Okay started out with an intriguing premise and captivating first few episodes, the series stagnates around episode 5 and completely loses its luster by the end of episode 7, never to recover until the very end.

My biggest complaint is that it was hard to sympathize with the ML, Moon Gang-tae (Kim Soo-hyun), who I found to be very whiny, mopey, and immature throughout, treating everyone around him with little to no respect. It was hard not to roll my eyes every time he grabbed the wrist of the FL, Ko Moon-young, which was A LOT.

Overall, I felt that there were many storylines that could have brought some much needed drama to the story, but the writer chose to center the drama around a very fickle romance that really didn't feel earned at all.

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Healing drama done perfectly

I've been watching dramas for more than 10 years now.
So far, only two dramas have managed to leave an imprint on my heart.

Now I count three.

I can't even find words to say how watching this drama every weekend has been such a wonderful journey.
There are so many meaningful morals you can take from this drama but ultimately it comes down to the importance of loving oneself, showing gratitude to people around you and muster the courage to overcome the obstacles life throws your way.

This drama is the best and the most perfect healing drama I've ever come across. I loved every minute of it.

The actors were perfect.
The acting was perfect.
The OST was perfect.
The cinematography was perfect.
The storyline was imperfectly perfect.
The rewatch value is definitely 100%.

I might sound biased because I totally, completely, absolutely loved this drama in its entirety.
But I truly believe this drama has something to teach everybody and anybody interested in watching it.

However, don't just watch it. Immerse yourself in it and it will bring you to a magical fairy tale world.

This drama definitely changed something in me, and I am forever grateful for it.

P.S.: prepare tissues, you might cry a lot.

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Highly recommend !!

This drama is the best drama i have watched till now.



Best things about it :


*unique story based on mental healing & fairytales.

* Each and every OST's are really good.

* When all people want perfection in their life, it leaves a message " Its okay not to be okay "

* All the short stories of this drama are my favorite one's and I'm going to remember these stories for a long time for sure .

* Performance by all the cast is TOP NOTCH
you will not feel in any emotional scene that they are overreacting ,Cause the cast in the show made it so real that even you can't hold your tears .

*Great cinematography and production quality.

Although there're some minor issues in the second half , still it's really good.

Watch it you gonna love it!

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