Neliel
Germany
This review may contain spoilers
A completely different RomCom from the ones you know
It's Okay, That's Love is a drama about many characters coming together, each dealing with their own personal struggles. So far, that sounds like a typical drama show, maybe even like a typical RomCom. But what's so refreshing about this title is that the characters' internal struggles heavily include mental health problems and those are actually the focus of most dramatic and suspenseful moments in the show.
Writer Noh Hee Kyung masterfully manages to touch on a lot of taboo topics such as tourette syndrom, schizophrenia, depression, PTSD, OCD and more. All while not ignoring the character's interaction between each other and their everyday struggles. I personally felt like they dealt with these topics wonderfully, although it was somewhat dragged out at certain moments and especially the last few episodes felt a little bit rushed. They should've taken more time for this, but I get why they didn't: K-Dramas need to have their structure in terms of when the most suspenseful moments occur, in which episodes, and when they're relieved. Episode 14 and 15 are usually a huge throwback into the problematic structure, after previously healing already. Episode 15 clears most things up while episode 16 deals with the aftermath and follow-up stories.
It's Okay, That's Love has a beautiful cast and also deals with the life struggles of secondary cast members, although not as much as I would've liked. In the end, this is one of the critiques I got for the show: it was too much focus on Jangyeol - which especially in the last few episodes of the show makes perfect sense, but I would've liked to see more about Dongmin & Yeongjin as well as more about both Jaeyeol's and Haesoo's familys. To me, especially the letter, was somewhat introduced as a huge problem to overcome but then just pushed aside without much explanation in the last episodes.
8.5/10 for a very original take on mental health and not shying away from actually talking about and facing the cruel reality of such illnesses. Some minus points for the plot holes here and there, the leaving out of most side characters of the equation and also for the rushed last few episodes rather than stretching out the focus problem of the story.
Writer Noh Hee Kyung masterfully manages to touch on a lot of taboo topics such as tourette syndrom, schizophrenia, depression, PTSD, OCD and more. All while not ignoring the character's interaction between each other and their everyday struggles. I personally felt like they dealt with these topics wonderfully, although it was somewhat dragged out at certain moments and especially the last few episodes felt a little bit rushed. They should've taken more time for this, but I get why they didn't: K-Dramas need to have their structure in terms of when the most suspenseful moments occur, in which episodes, and when they're relieved. Episode 14 and 15 are usually a huge throwback into the problematic structure, after previously healing already. Episode 15 clears most things up while episode 16 deals with the aftermath and follow-up stories.
It's Okay, That's Love has a beautiful cast and also deals with the life struggles of secondary cast members, although not as much as I would've liked. In the end, this is one of the critiques I got for the show: it was too much focus on Jangyeol - which especially in the last few episodes of the show makes perfect sense, but I would've liked to see more about Dongmin & Yeongjin as well as more about both Jaeyeol's and Haesoo's familys. To me, especially the letter, was somewhat introduced as a huge problem to overcome but then just pushed aside without much explanation in the last episodes.
8.5/10 for a very original take on mental health and not shying away from actually talking about and facing the cruel reality of such illnesses. Some minus points for the plot holes here and there, the leaving out of most side characters of the equation and also for the rushed last few episodes rather than stretching out the focus problem of the story.
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