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It's Okay to Not Be Okay korean drama review
Completed
It's Okay to Not Be Okay
3 people found this review helpful
by Erin114
Aug 20, 2020
16 of 16 episodes seen
Completed
Overall 10
Story 10.0
Acting/Cast 10.0
Music 9.0
Rewatch Value 10.0
This review may contain spoilers

Beautiful

Honestly I could spend hours talking about this drama but there is one word that sums it up perfectly and that is BEAUTIFUL. The whole story right from beginning to end is so beautiful and magical. There are only a very small handful of dramas that exist in the world that have that element of true magic and beauty and this is one of them. From the three main characters stories to the patients in the hospital, all their stories touched me to the point I shed both sad and happy tears for each of them.

As for the cast, well they couldn't have got better actors if they tried. The three main leads absolutely smashed it and made the characters what they were. I think it is incredibly hard to create a masterpiece unless the actors are spot on and make the character themselves which is exactly what they did. As for the the side characters in the hospital, both staff and patients well they were insane and they portrayed the roles as if they were actually them characters.

It is very easy to make the main characters come across as superior and take the centre stage constantly even when the focus is on another characters story but I think they balanced it out well. Yes, the story is obviously about the three main characters and their journey and development together so the focus is on them but when the story is about other characters too, IOTNBO perfectly balances it. And the final story that Moon Young wrote proves that. It included the story of the two patients that they helped move on and live a better life and honestly when they read out the story I shed a few happy tears because they were saying that without these people that they helped then they wouldn't have been able to help themselves either and it's true. I just loved that they brought in the other characters at the end and showed that by helping others you really can help yourself too.

The music and intro is so good. I could never skip the intro and when the music came in at certain points and just fit the scenes perfectly, honestly it added so much more depth to the story and acting (which was already amazing). They used several different songs repeatedly but it didn't feel like they were being overplayed or used at the wrong points, they were placed accordingly and it worked that way.

The re-watch value has to be a 10 because of how amazing it is. I just can't explain how much emotion this drama gave me. I felt for each and every character in many different ways and although I myself have struggled with mental health it still opened my eyes up to the different forms it comes in and how it can affect many different people in many different ways. I just found the story so touching and it was done so cleverly and thoughtfully that I think I could watch this drama over and over again and would still get all the depth and emotion ever time. Many dramas fail to do that even if they're amazing. Dramas tend to give you the feelings and excitement etc. the first time and you might want to re-watch it again but the next time might not excite you as much, especially if you watch it quite soon after. IOTNBO is the opposite, no matter how many times you watch it, every plot and every character still will make you feel something and probably something new each time on top of that too.

Obviously credit goes to all the cast because they pulled off a phenomenal show due to their insane acting skills and the three main cast made it what it is but I also want to credit some of the support actors. Specifically, Kwak Dong Yeon who played the patient Kwon Gi Do and also Kang Ji Doong who played Gang Tae's friend/ older brother Jo Jae Soo. That's not to say that I don't find every single character and actor amazing because I think the characters and cast couldn't have been better if they tried. It's just that I think these characters really touched my heart. The patient who's father thought he was so dumb that he didn't deserve to be his son and he beat him, locked him up etc. and then his mum loved him so much that to protect him she tried to keep him away from the family and pretend that she was disappointed and didn't love him. He saw through it though and actually he felt so much better after being able to speak openly about how he was treated, I just thought he deserved so much love and attention and the actor pulled it off perfectly. He deserves so much recognition for that role. Then there's the friend who was always there for the two brothers, looked after them, listened to them, protected them etc. and in return he always had to move around and never settle and he felt that he was only being given half of what he was giving them. Despite all he felt he still stuck by them and loved them endlessly like a brother would and the final episode where Gang Tae told him that without him, he wouldn't have been able to cope half as much as he did and that he needed him in his life, it felt like all this pain he'd felt that time had been eased and he realised that although Gang Tae never said how much he valued him, he valued him so much that words couldn't explain it. I just think that his character is amazing and once again it isn't an easy role to act so I just think that the actor did an incredible job.

I have so much more to say but honestly no time to and it'll go on forever so I think for now I have said enough
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