This week’s drama review will be slightly different, ‘Our Blues’ is a 2022 production that really took many by surprise with its plot, candid stories and unique production.
Rather than talking about the overall plot, we will focus on the different themes this drama touched upon, and how the different characters fit within the many stories this production shared. You are in for a little storytelling trip, and after reading about this drama we are sure you will want to watch it too.
The Basics
Written by Noh Hee-Kyung and directed by Kim Kyu-tae, ‘Our Blues’ is a tvN/Netflix production that shares the life stories with its ups and downs of a group of people who live in Jeju island. All of the characters are connected, they work together in some cases, and are life long or childhood friends.
The cast of this drama includes top actors and actresses in the industry, but we will talk about them as we share our thoughts on the different topics this drama spoke about.
Life-Long Friendships and benefits
One of the main topics this drama introduced to the audience is how lifelong friendships can be unbalanced and unfair at times, at the centre for this happenings was the very kind-hearted Jung Eun-Hui (Lee Jung-Eun).
Eun-Hui has done nothing but work hard all her life, to the point of being able to live a comfortable life but preferring to continue on with the hard work. All her years of dedication paid off and she is one of the most successful inhabitants of Jeju, owning buildings and having a thriving business. She keeps her feet grounded, however, her kind heart and personality sometimes can lead her to face issues while not being able to speak about it.
One of the first instances where her heart won over her reasoning was when her first crush Choi Han-Su (Cha Seung-Won) goes back to Jeju from the mainland. He is facing financial issues and he thinks of Eun-Hui’s money and support as his only way out. She would happily help him but he chooses to mislead her and creates a bigger issue.
Ko Mi-Ran (Uhm Jung-Hwa) is Eun-Hui’s best friend, she has been there most of her live, but this relationship becomes heavily unbalanced when Mi-Ran unknowingly starts taking Eun-Hui’s good heart for granted and uses it to her benefit.
Throughout this drama Eun-Hui keeps facing challenges when it comes to her friendships, however, all the circumstances never made her lose her spark, and it is for sure one wholesome and strong character in this story.
Not all the families are the same
In-Gwon and Ho-sik
Another topic this production beautifully portrayed was family. There were plenty of topics, including single parenting, teen pregnancy and even child neglect.
Starting with single parenting we get Jung In-Gwon (Park Ji-Hwan) and Bang Ho-sik (Choi Young-Joon), these two single fathers have tried their hardest to raise their children. In-Gwon had worked for many years to be able to save enough for his daughter Bang Yeong-Ju (Roh Yoon-seo) to be able to afford college.
Ho-sik decided to remove himself from dangerous jobs, and started a food stand in the market. He wanted the best for his son Jung Hyeon (Bae Hyun-Sung), however, he isn’t the best at expressing emotions and comes off as a rather unfriendly and drastic father.
In-Gwon and Ho-sik used to be best friends, but life and difficult situations drift them apart and they became more acquaintances. However, they are forced to work together when they find out about their teen son and daughter being pregnant.
Yeong-Ok
In the same topic of families, this drama also showed how having a disabled family member can really impact the life of someone, and this is portrayed through Han Ji-Min’s character, Lee Yeong-Ok.
Yeong-Ok is relatively new to the island, she is a very self-confident woman, who has had many jobs, and not many people know about her life before Jeju, and many gossip about her having a family or a child in the mainland.
She meets Park Jeong-Jun (Kim Woo-Bin), and after a few dates they start dating each other, the gossip in the town intensifies, and Jeong-Jun waves his options. He likes her a lot, but she has many secrets. Soon he discovers that Jeong-Jun has a sister with Down syndrome on the mainland, and tries her best to keep a regular life while trying to take care of her sister.
Dong-Seok and Hye-Ja
One of the storylines that was developed throughout the whole series was the story of Kang Ok-Dong (Kim Hye-Ja) and Lee Dong-Seok (Lee Byung-Hun).
Ok-Dong is Dong Seok’s mother, and their relationship is heavy and complicated. Dong-Seok left her mother when he was only a teen due to her neglect. He used to be beaten up by his adoptive siblings but she never did anything to protect him. With heavy scars mentally and physically he leaves her and decides to live as if he was an orphan.
Throughout his life he ignored her even though they lived in the same city, but as the drama develops we get to know more about their story and see how Ok-Dong tries to make amends, even though it is too late.
Mental Health
A big topic that also stayed consistent through the full series was mental health, all the characters faced their ups and downs, but for this section we are talking about Min Seon-A (Shin Min-A).
Seon-A used to live in Jeju, she had a rather tough childhood, and became a medically diagnosed depression patient. She has dealt with depression all her life, and has been honest about her condition, however, the stigma about the mental illness makes her life challenging, especially when she has strong episodes.
Her husband Kim Tae-Hun (Jung Sung-Il) leaves her and takes their child with him, after he feels she has become an unsafe person to live with. Seon-A is determined to prove him wrong and decides to regularly take her medication and go to therapy.
In doing all of these she reconnects with her childhood friend Dong-Seok. They both try to help each other and have a healthy relationship. He doesn’t judge her for her illness, and she doesn’t look down on him for his life story.
Human stories to tell
These are just a few of the stories that stood out for me. ‘Our Blues’ tells many other stories with beautifully written characters and a lot of souls. With twenty episodes that run for a bit over an hour, this drama openly criticises social stigmas, and through the characters show how society can really hurt an individual.
This production is an emotional ride, get ready to laugh, cry and feel frustrated while watching it. You can watch it on Netflix, and check the trailer below.
