#there’s plenty more GIFs coming from e1-3 | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

lianabrooks · 4 years

Text

It’s Okay To Not Be Okay: Early Review

Title: IT’S OKAY TO NOT BE OKAY/PSYCHO BUT OKAY Country: Korea Genre: Dark Drama (murder with a chance of romance)

Basic Premise: Moon Kang Tae (Gang Tae on Netflix subtitles - MKT for this review) works at a mental health facility while caring for his autistic older brother, Moon Sang Tae. Kang Tae gets help from his BFF (bi friend forever) Jae Soo.

When a suicidal patient attacks a visiting children’s author, Ko Moon Young (KMY), Kang Tae rescues her and keeps her from stabbing the patient in retaliation. Moon Young invites Kang Tae to bring his brother to her book signing, where Moon Young winds up violently defending the autistic brother to angry parents who do not want an adult at the signing and are scared because he is not neurotypical.

The show focuses on trauma, society, and how we cope with the worst things in life.

How Much Have I Watched? The first 3 episodes.

Rating: So far this is a 4.5/5.

This is either going to be one of the worst dramas of the year or one of the best. It’s beautifully shot, uses themes well, has some excellent writing (so far), and has me thinking about color theories already. The premise itself is very dark and it’s all wrapped up in the language of fairy tales.

SPOILERY REVIEW FOR THE FIRST THREE EPISODES & PREDICTIONS BELOW THE BREAK

The Spoiler Filled Breakdown:

Let’s start with the main characters and their traumas....

Ko Moon Young... the only child of Professor Ko and his beautiful wife. She was raised in a castle (literally) and her father tried to murder her. It’s entirely possible that he beat his wife to death. Professor Ko has scars on his hands from Moon Young fighting back, her mother is paralyzed but her mind works (according to E1), and Moon Young is struggling with the PTSD that gives her night terrors, insomnia, an antisocial personality, and it seems she has a penchant for stealing things.

She’s presented as being antisocial but what she really she’s more entitled and broken. She’s got her guard up, and she has plenty of money, so she’s never had to address her issues. She knows she’s broken and it comes out in her books and world view.

Moon Kang Tae... the youngest of two sons. His father is missing, his older brother is autistic, and his mother was murdered. It looks like his older brother saw the murderer. When child services came, Kang Tae ran away from home with his brother and has been working multiple jobs ever since in an effort to keep them both alive.

Kang Tae is super serious and has internalized everything. He’s the mirror image of KMY. Where she has money to protect her, he has hard work. Where she gets to lash out because of her status, he has to internalize everything and play nice so he can protect his brother.

Fun fact!

KMY and MKT knew each other as kids. They lived in the same town and the girl who had a crush on MKT when he was young knows KMY very well. But they don’t seem to recognize each other. Or, if they do, Kang Tae is acting like he doesn’t. He had a childhood crush on Moon Young but was scared off by her behavior.

And, her behavior is presented as abnormal and terrifying. If you flip the optics and look at it through the framing of an abused girl threatened every time she tried to intervene, her behavior is less terrifying to some extent.

Moon Young saved Kang Tae from drowning as a kid. By E3 that seems particularly relevant as she dreams of watery ghosts and a woman screaming for help as she drowns.

Everything Else...

By E3 we know everything is going to revolve around Moon Kang Tae and Ko Moon Young. They are our main characters and everyone else is going to fall far, far behind them.

The current subplots are.... - Who murders Momma Moon? Sang Tae saw the murder but also saw butterflies, which means the murder might be tied to Professor Ko.

- Resolving Moon Young’s feelings to her father. She’s expected to love and care for the man who tried to murder her. That’s some nightmare gaslighting BS.

- Then there’s sad nurse, Nam Joo Ri. She’s in love with Kang Tae but she’s hiding secrets of her own. The way she reacted to Moon Young asking about her mother makes me think there’s more there than meets the eye. And her behavior makes me ask a lot of questions.

- And there’s also the terrible politician who abused his kid and drugs him for an excuse to lock him up during election season.

Where do I think this is going?

1) Kang Tae and Moon Young are going to rebuild that gorgeous old house together and take care of Sang Tae and live happily ever after. 2020 owes me a happy ending for my OTP.

Why do I ship them when Moon Young comes across as such an abusive witch? Because I believe in redemption arcs and I think she can get better. I also think that she’s the only one who tries to understand Kang Tae and accepts Sang Tae. She’s the only one who Kang Tae is completely honest with. He lets his emotions show around her in a way he won’t even let them out with his best friend. It’s either going to be a terrible, tragic relationship or the healthiest one ever. There’s no middle ground.

2) Professor Ko was involved with the murder of Kang Tae’s mom.

3) Joo Ri knows something about her parents. Maybe that her mom had an affair with Professor Ko, maybe that she helped cover up the murders. The other option is that she knows by Moon Young isn’t coming to visit her father and feels guilty asking her to come.

CREDITS: Abs GIF - @ YesDramas Screencaps by me Drama Poster from AsianWiki.com

#trigger warning #content warning #suicide #self-harm #depression #mental illness #murder #death #domestic violence #domestic abuse #child abuse #kdrama #it's okay to not be okay #psycho but okay

6 notes · View notes