The entire drama world was going crazy over the first season of ‘It’s okay to not be okay’. The K-drama was filled with amazing actors, great script and a one of a kind storyline. I too was swept away by the story and was waiting anxiously for every new episode to come out.
Plot
‘It’s okay to not be okay’ is in essence, the story of two brothers, Kang-Tae and Sang-Tae. The eldest brother Sang-Tae is on the autism spectrum while his brother Kang-Tae trained to become a caregiver. The two brothers have been fleeing for years. Their mom was murdered by someone who was wearing a butterfly pin. Sang-Tae, who was there when it happened, has been plagued by nightmares of butterflies ever since.
They haven’t had the easiest life. Kang-Tae, played by Kim Soo-Hyun was basically born to help take care of his older brother. Honestly, the flashbacks gave me such a heartache.
Sang-Tae portrayed by Oh Jung-Se has been bullied at the schools, so it’s not like he’s had the easiest life either. Oh Jung-Se did such an amazing job, I’d be very surprised if he doesn’t win a Baeksang for his performance. The man is brilliant. I also saw a post on Instagram telling the story of a real life person on the autism spectrum who watched the show and felt so bad for Sang-Tae’s character at one point that the sister reached out to the actor so they could meet. Oh Jung-Se took the two of them to an amusement park. I’ll link that post here, because it’s so heartwarming.
Love Story
It wouldn’t be a K-drama without a love story though. This one was so excellent, I was rooting for the two of them from the start. Ko Moon-Young played by Seo Ye-Ji is a famous writer of children’s books and has an antisocial personality disorder. She falls in love, or I should falls in ‘want’ for Kang-Tae when they first meet. It isn’t until later that she learns to deal better with her APD.
There’s more to the story, especially about the three’s parents. They’re all carrying childhood trauma and they’re learning how to deal with it. When you think about it, the amount of influence our parents have on how our characters are shaped is humongous. And sometimes they’re not always good influences. I liked how the drama explored this. At one point Kang-Tae asks if they own their child just because they put them on the world.
Fashion and Research
I also really enjoyed how I learned so much about APD and the autism spectrum. I feel like the writer Jo Yong took great care in researching the mental disorders. Jo Yong is also the same person who wrote ‘Jugglers’ which I thoroughly enjoyed.
Everything from wardrobe to setting was so well constructed. The costume director explained that they chose all of the stripey shirts for Sang-Tae because people on the autism spectrum enjoy repetitive patterns. Also Moon-Young’s character has this A+ style that is fantastic and on the level of IU’s character in ‘Hotel Del Luna’.
Overall
I 100% recommend the K-drama ‘It’s okay to not be okay’. It was just so unbelievably well done, I have a feeling I will rewatch it. Sometimes everything comes together and creates a gem like ‘It’s okay to not be okay’.
Also, a quick shout-out to the nation’s mom Kim Mi-Kyung, because she was loveable as always.
You can watch the K-drama on Netflix. Here’s the trailer.
