ThePlotDemandsIt
Thailand
If this show were a persuasive essay on literally any of its themes, it would fail.
*Not really specific spoilers, but I do describe general concepts of the story which may influence how someone who hasn't seen the drama may understand the show. If anyone sees this as spoilery, just let me know, and I'll put an official warning label on it. Although I'm not so sure enough happens in this drama that one could spoil anyway.*
Come and Hug Me is a great example of a story that introduces exciting ideas but never follows through with them in a way that actually make sense. Let's dive in.
Story/Themes:
If this drama were an essay, its argument wouldn't make any sense. We see this through the themes and concepts introduced through the story such as, "Are parents their children?" and "Some people are become monsters." There is even this idea that Na Moo's father has ruined all their lives, but the only way we see this is through sad remembrance and mean people (who don't really seem to bother Na Moo that much anyway?) The argument of this is all very confusing and made little sense to me as I felt like what I was seeing was different from what was said without giving too much away. While there are several problems this storyline, my goal isn't to tear this drama down and rip it apart. Rather, I simply want to review on some overall things that were done wrong or not as well as they could have been.
These ideas I just relayed are examples of ones that were the most developed in the show, but failed to do much more than give the audience surface understandings about them. The writing of the show also confusingly contrasted against its own arguments at times which didn't make any sense.
We get these illogical moves in the story that only seem to happen because the "plot demands it." Not to mention (as many have already mentioned) there are so many flash backs and flash forwards that feel not only out of place but unnecessarily dragged out and sometimes nonsensical.
Cast/Characters:
Oh, the cast. Oh, the characters. I give it a C.
One of the most brilliant parts of the show, to me, was how well done the casting was for the younger roles. They were absolutely perfect and convinced me that they really were their younger counterparts. Unfortunately, the characters were less compelling and hurt what was built at the beginning of the show.
We have Na Moo and Nak Won who are absolutely perfect. The writer seemed to want to show imperfection merely through weakness in being a victim as if the title of "victim" defined who our main characters were.
I mostly had problems with Na Moo as a character. He felt incredibly bland and far too perfect, despite the issues the writer seemed to force on him (it literally felt forced. Again, another one of those things that didn't quite make sense). I haven't seen his actor in anything else before, so I can't judge him too harshly since I have already concluded that the writing was not well done, but I also can't deny that any bland characters can seem interesting enough if their actor is a beast. All that to say, there were problems on all sides.
Going along with the challenges the storyline faced, the writer seemed to have characters do a lot of things and come to so many conclusions that astounded me. The actions of the reporters were absolutely ridiculous (especially after recently watching Pinocchio which slayed it all).
The most interesting character was Na Moo's brother for me. Had he been the main character, I wonder how things would have been different....
Music:
One of the songs sounded like Happy Birthday or something to me every time. Not important...but nothing stood out to me. It did a fairly decent job of raising suspense without going overboard which I love. Somewhat above average with a score of 7.5/10.
Entertainment:
I never rate the rewatch value section and instead adjust it to "Entertainment." Otherwise I would give most dramas a 1 or 2 which just wouldn't be fair. So! Entertainment!
This is a decently entertaining show. As I have said before, the story is interesting with interesting ideas and some pretty good pacing. However, I give it a 4 because all of these other things with the story, the characters/acting, as well as the production problems (which isn't on here but there are quite a few production and editing problems which got in the way). As I am a film major, these things affect how entertained I was. Even though the elements in the story are exciting, they are not executed well through the writing of it that made it less and less entertaining as the plot holes became more and more distracting.
Overall:
I really do appreciate all the efforts that went in to making this drama. It is not easy to put a film let alone an entire show together, so there was a lot of people involved and a lot of work! Everyone really did a great job--it's more than I have ever done for sure.
Despite this, there are certainly things that could have been improved and hopefully will be better done in the future. We see from this show that it really is important to show the logical moves from one plot to another in the story. There are many inconsistencies with children being the same as their parents or not, and very little explanations are given to help further the arguments as to what the show is trying to say.
One theme that did work for this show is the idea of your real family not having to be related by blood. It was still a little choppy getting to this conclusion, but there are a lot of beautiful discussions on it. The relationship between Na Moo's brother (Hyun Moo) and their adoptive mother was one of the most moving parts of the story to me. There is value in this show which many people have noticed of course because of the high ratings for it which is great. However, as successful as it has been, let's still recognize that some of the most important aspects of making a meaningful story are missed.
Come and Hug Me is a great example of a story that introduces exciting ideas but never follows through with them in a way that actually make sense. Let's dive in.
Story/Themes:
If this drama were an essay, its argument wouldn't make any sense. We see this through the themes and concepts introduced through the story such as, "Are parents their children?" and "Some people are become monsters." There is even this idea that Na Moo's father has ruined all their lives, but the only way we see this is through sad remembrance and mean people (who don't really seem to bother Na Moo that much anyway?) The argument of this is all very confusing and made little sense to me as I felt like what I was seeing was different from what was said without giving too much away. While there are several problems this storyline, my goal isn't to tear this drama down and rip it apart. Rather, I simply want to review on some overall things that were done wrong or not as well as they could have been.
These ideas I just relayed are examples of ones that were the most developed in the show, but failed to do much more than give the audience surface understandings about them. The writing of the show also confusingly contrasted against its own arguments at times which didn't make any sense.
We get these illogical moves in the story that only seem to happen because the "plot demands it." Not to mention (as many have already mentioned) there are so many flash backs and flash forwards that feel not only out of place but unnecessarily dragged out and sometimes nonsensical.
Cast/Characters:
Oh, the cast. Oh, the characters. I give it a C.
One of the most brilliant parts of the show, to me, was how well done the casting was for the younger roles. They were absolutely perfect and convinced me that they really were their younger counterparts. Unfortunately, the characters were less compelling and hurt what was built at the beginning of the show.
We have Na Moo and Nak Won who are absolutely perfect. The writer seemed to want to show imperfection merely through weakness in being a victim as if the title of "victim" defined who our main characters were.
I mostly had problems with Na Moo as a character. He felt incredibly bland and far too perfect, despite the issues the writer seemed to force on him (it literally felt forced. Again, another one of those things that didn't quite make sense). I haven't seen his actor in anything else before, so I can't judge him too harshly since I have already concluded that the writing was not well done, but I also can't deny that any bland characters can seem interesting enough if their actor is a beast. All that to say, there were problems on all sides.
Going along with the challenges the storyline faced, the writer seemed to have characters do a lot of things and come to so many conclusions that astounded me. The actions of the reporters were absolutely ridiculous (especially after recently watching Pinocchio which slayed it all).
The most interesting character was Na Moo's brother for me. Had he been the main character, I wonder how things would have been different....
Music:
One of the songs sounded like Happy Birthday or something to me every time. Not important...but nothing stood out to me. It did a fairly decent job of raising suspense without going overboard which I love. Somewhat above average with a score of 7.5/10.
Entertainment:
I never rate the rewatch value section and instead adjust it to "Entertainment." Otherwise I would give most dramas a 1 or 2 which just wouldn't be fair. So! Entertainment!
This is a decently entertaining show. As I have said before, the story is interesting with interesting ideas and some pretty good pacing. However, I give it a 4 because all of these other things with the story, the characters/acting, as well as the production problems (which isn't on here but there are quite a few production and editing problems which got in the way). As I am a film major, these things affect how entertained I was. Even though the elements in the story are exciting, they are not executed well through the writing of it that made it less and less entertaining as the plot holes became more and more distracting.
Overall:
I really do appreciate all the efforts that went in to making this drama. It is not easy to put a film let alone an entire show together, so there was a lot of people involved and a lot of work! Everyone really did a great job--it's more than I have ever done for sure.
Despite this, there are certainly things that could have been improved and hopefully will be better done in the future. We see from this show that it really is important to show the logical moves from one plot to another in the story. There are many inconsistencies with children being the same as their parents or not, and very little explanations are given to help further the arguments as to what the show is trying to say.
One theme that did work for this show is the idea of your real family not having to be related by blood. It was still a little choppy getting to this conclusion, but there are a lot of beautiful discussions on it. The relationship between Na Moo's brother (Hyun Moo) and their adoptive mother was one of the most moving parts of the story to me. There is value in this show which many people have noticed of course because of the high ratings for it which is great. However, as successful as it has been, let's still recognize that some of the most important aspects of making a meaningful story are missed.
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