I started watching my mister while it was airing in April 2018. The past couple of years were extremely hard for me, personal problems, battling with myself, and on top of that health issues manifesting. The saddest part about me while being in this tough place was that I started losing interest in things that used to make me happy, watching dramas included. My mind would be screaming way too loud for me to pay attention to the show. In spite of that, my mister was compelling enough for me to follow it. However, I put my mister on hold in its 12th episode, despite me loving it while airing due to the aforementioned issues. My mental stasis wasn't strong enough to watch such a serious drama.

A year and a half has passed since then and I find myself now mentally healthy enough, in defiance of every day problems, not only to watch and finish it but also to rewatch the whole thing from the beginning. In retrospect, what exactly put me through hell weren't really the hardships that may, or may not, had come my way, but the feeling of being lonely, scared that nobody will understand, afraid that nobody will like the true sad face behind this ever-glowing smile. Little did I know, and little had i understοοd back then, this was exactly what my mister was about in the end.

My Mister isn't just a drama, isn't, probably, just the best drama that i have ever watched, it is life itself. Trying to delve deep into My Mister and then convey its meaning in written form ends up being a challenging job as I have taken so many notes in order to write this review, and yet nothing really makes as much sense as the feeling while watching and as I have finished this peace of true art. Therefore I'll start backwards and prompt everyone to watch this masterpiece. It doesn't really matter what genre you like, what mood you are into, what type of person you are, if you have feelings, are romantic or dead inside, my mister will open and warm a beautiful place in your heart with its rawness, its beauty, its soul, its reality.

The drama talks about the hardships of adult life and how they shape us, directing the way we live and the type of people we end up being - good or bad. Problems, sucky lives, faking it till we make it, facing horrible, selfish people, emotional draining jobs and a rotten society that makes good people feel worthless for being fair.

The goal of the drama is to show us how to battle the inescapable sadness that attacks the earnest people and eats them alive while showing several personal life issues, always putting in the center that everybody has it hard and that should not make them evil, but rather more caring instead. Survival, strife for money, unfulfilled dreams, giving up hope, career problems, society demanding and accepting only perfection from us, failed marriages, wrong choices, family issues, fear of failure, fear of being misunderstood are only glimpses of what my mister has to offer as reasons for sadness in people's lives.

How to survive? Two ways are offered by my mister's profound writer, or are they offered by life itself?

The goal is to not let all that destroy us, destroy the hope, the confidence, the faith, the optimism in our lives and how we get to do that? How we get to stay afloat and survive, just a little bit? Just enough to get through the day? Friendship and family. Family, those people who will always be there no matter what, no matter if you want them or no, the people who will be summoned at once when you kneel. And of course friends, the family we choose from ourselves, the people who will put a smile on our faces even when the whole world around us is crumbling, who will listen to all our stupid shit no matter how tedious they might be, just because they care. People who, around them, it's ok not to be ok, it's ok not to be perfect. Not being alone is the goal. People's support is the key to happiness and survival. A beautiful soul once said "every person in our life has a purpose and what we should do to repay them is to live a happy life". Let's all live a happy life, let's all be grateful for the people we have in our lives that love us and thank them! Happiness is small things.

And then in midst of all that, that may or may not turn us in complete passive doormats trying to survive in the sidelines or crazy dogs trying to fight our way through, a special magical person will appear who will, without trying, maybe even without even wanting, tap deeper inside our soul, see us for who we really are, understand us respect and love us for us. A person who will be there, a person who will see you being vulnerable and will stay, a person who will see you cry and won't bat an eye, your person. The drama is about finding our person, that one special person, around whom, we can fully be our perfect broken down selves and that will be ok. Our person!

The drama teaches us the importance of forgiveness, empathy, understandings, meritocracy, of acceptance of others, of ourselves and our mistakes and so so on. Hell, it even showed a great, magnificent example of what transformational leadership is like! I have a MBA and this drama did it better than managerial books (lol). It seriously compells you to watch, it touches your heart, it shocks you and simply moves you with its beautiful message and pacing.

Plot-wise you are thrown in a company with some serious scheming going on and you get to witness how the two main leads seamlessly grow closer together without any cliche happening, without any classic romantic scene by the book. The plot, however, was mysterious and pretty dark without it being makjang though. It might be argued that it was slow, but the build up and the development was so well thought out, I cannot really point out any flaw or any plot hole or any actual dragging or plot slower device or sub story of filler episode. Even the comic relief was so, so meaningful. This is one smooth drama.

Moving on to acting, "life work" has been called the actors' effort in this drama and It is totally, absolutely justifiable. IU shut a lot of mouths with her work here and I'm so glad for that. She can pretty much act solely is silly rom coms from now as she has done this! Her performance was shivering in every way. This is truly a life's work for IU who ended up being my favourite actress after this.

Lee Sun Kyun didn't really need to prove anything, however I firmly believe this is one of his best works so far and he will be remembered for this. His character and his portrayal was luscious and I'm Thankful for him acting in this role.

The whole support cast was marvelous, an overall standing ovation. No character was there simply as a plot device, even the antagonists ended up showing deeper complexity by the end. Having such multiple layered characters is just so unique, especially when the cast is so big.

At this point I want to thank and mention the writer, Park Hae Young outdid herself. This was beautiful, the most accurate and simple word I can use. I wish i had a more sophisticated one. This was truly beautiful. Thank you.

Finally the music was excellent and purposeful as well as absolutely appropriate.

The drama gracefully doesn't reduce the concept of "my mister aka my person " to just romance, your person can be a friend, a relative, a family member, a lover even a co worker. Your person can be anyone who can see you for you without trying, that special person. Here's to all of us finding that special person. I found him, and God, I'm happy, for the first time in my life I've been alive, so yes, my mister did that for me, and I wish that to all of you. Let's hang in there! Fighting!