Another Oh Hae Young

Another Oh Hae Young

7.5/10

Another Oh Hae Young

Genre:                                 Episodes: 18                         Year: 2016

Romance

Comedy

Synopsis:

Two girls share the same neighbourhood, school, class, and even name. ‘Just’ Oh Hae Young is always compared to ‘Pretty’ Oh Hae Young, and always comes up short. The day before her wedding she is dumped out of the blue, and things only get worse when ‘Pretty’ Oh Hae Young joins the same company in a higher position. ‘Just’ Oh Hae Young continues to have chance encounters with the emotionally detached sound engineer, Park Do Kyung. Unknown to Hae Young, Do Kyung has been having strange futuristic visions about her that all come true.

Cast:

Seo Hyun Ji (Oh Hae Young)

Eric (Park Do Kyung)

Jeon Hye Bin (Oh Hae Young)

Ye Ji Won (Park Soo Kyung)

Kim Ji Suk (Lee Jin Sang)

Heo Jeong Min (Park Hoon)

Lee Jae Yoon (Han Tae Jin)

Kim Mi Kyung (Hwang Dook Yi)

General Thoughts:

While I do wish that the series hadn’t been extended by two more episodes, ‘Another Oh Hae Young’ still managed to be extremely enjoyable as a whole. What really sold the show was its leads- both characters and actors.

Definitely the heart of the show

Although Eric might not be one of the greatest actors, he delivered an endearing performance as Park Do Kyung- expressing the loneliness and guarded nature of Do Kyung’s heart, even when we weren’t explicitly shown why he became that way. And I just adored Seo Hyun Ji as Oh Hae Young. She was charming in an underrated way and Seo Hyun Ji made us feel every once of emotion that Hae Young felt.

All kinds of adorable. All kinds.

Simplicity was one of this drama’s greatest aspects both for its characters and its plot. It’s not to say that either was without depth, but we happily avoided having the drama be dragged down by complications that weren’t necessary. The overall plot was pretty basic- an insecure woman meets an emotionally stunted man and sparks fly. Throw in his ex-lover who is the source of our leading lady’s insecurities and you have enough conflict to work with. Add in his accidental meddling in her marriage and it’s just plain juicy. The writers didn’t try to milk these situations for more than they were worth, and that’s always a bonus. As for our heroine, it was her simplicity that I loved most because it meant I could always understand her. In a K-Drama universe that is filled with heroines acting stupidly and unreasonably, it was nice to have a heroine that was so easily understandable. Hae Young smiled when she was happy, cried when she was sad, and said she loved someone when she did. It was awesome. I also enjoyed the simple way that the ex-lovers were dealt with. Neither was painted with the ‘villain’ brush, nor were they playing the sympathy card. While it’s sad that their loves couldn’t work out, there were exact reasons why those relationships failed. Mainly that they were Noble Idiots. Which tickles my fancy so much. Because I hate Noble Idiots. More than almost anything else.

You know you've got a great heroine when I hate a character just because she does

I always enjoy watching a drama were the characters that make decisions on behalf of other people don’t get what they intended. I mean, it’s nobody’s fault except Tae Jin’s that Hae Young didn’t end up with him, because he called off the wedding with a stupid lie believing that was best for her (which c’mon dude, really?). While Tae Jin was definitely a victim of Do Kyung’s revenge plan (albeit revenge on the wrong Hae Young), it’s his choices afterward that show why he’s not the man our heroine should be ending up with.

That's how you know you f*cked up

Instead of wishing happiness for the woman he loves, he sets out to destroy her new relationship- which while understandable, is not commendable. It’s impressive that he’s a character that gets so little screen-time, yet still has a fully fleshed-out character arc- asshole-victim-villain. At times he was one of those things and at times he was all those things, making for a pretty interesting side-character. Compared with Tae Jin, the other Oh Hae Young had a much more neutral path. She never outright does anything nasty (except maybe leave Do Kyung at the alter), but after seeing high school through our Hae Young’s eyes it’s so easy to dislike her and her confidence. She isn’t actually a villain herself, as it’s other people that make comparisons between the two Hae Young’s, but she’s dislikable all the same simply due to her apparent ignorance of the situation. By the time her side of the story is explained, our main couple are so happy and in love with each other that it makes little difference to how her character is viewed. She had a hard time in school too due to growing up without the familial love and support that our Hae Young had- but at the end of the day, it was her choice to leave Do Kyung on their wedding day with no explanation. Along with its characters, another thing the drama did well was to balance its tone.

Perfect balance of humour and heart

Our main Oh Hae Young was funny for the most part even in her more emotional moments, with her drunken antics and pure dislike of the other Oh Hae Young. However the writing flowed smoothly between its humour and its more melo moments. It didn’t feel awkward or out of place when Hae Young or Do Kyung were sad as we understood the exact emotional turmoil of these characters, but the drama never lingered too long on these angsty moments (thank goodness).

And a bromance to add to the fun

The drama knew what is was and never wasted too much time trying to draw emotion out of the audience- because it knew that the situations and emotions of our characters could produce that feeling on their own. While I appreciated the fantasy element in there of Do Kyung seeing future visions of Hae Young even before they met, I do wish it had been a tad more explained. If indeed it was Do Kyung remembering and regretting how he spent his time with Hae Young while he died, then no matter what he did, those visions should have come true and Do Kyung should have still died. However, Do Kyung was able to see why he didn’t want those visions becoming an actuality, changed the way he acted by opening up more to Hae Young and being honest about his feelings, and thus changing the outcome of his visions. Which means he was never remembering the past, he was seeing the future. But that all goes rather unexplained. I loved the concept of the visions- Do Kyung could see what would happen if he continued to be guarded and closed-off to the woman he loved. Ultimately she would leave him and he would be left with nothing but regrets about not loving her when he had the chance. It was poignant and to the point in delivering the drama’s main theme- love as much as you can while you can because you could be dead tomorrow. I just wish the execution has been a little smoother.

What Was Great:

Understandable Leads:

I understand why everyone did everything they did in this series. How often can you say that about a K-Drama? Although I might not have agreed with every discussion and I might have done things differently if I had been in our characters’ shoes, I still had a firm understanding of why they acted the way they did, which increases my sympathies for the characters and lessens any frustrations with the drama.

They both just...made sense

Our main leads made perfect sense in all their flaws. Oh Hae Young was fantastic and could be straight-shooter about her feelings, but lost all her spunk around the other Oh Hae Young when her insecurities gave her a punch in the gut. Do Kyung was caring yet serious and was so clearly damaged by both his parents and the Oh Hae Young that left him on their wedding day. It made perfect sense why Hae Young wanted to pull closer to him, and why he was afraid of that closeness (not to mention he totally trashed her wedding and relationship). I even understood Hae Young’s Mum. So often I’m left confused at K-Drama parents when it appears that they are acting completely selfishly and care nothing about their children- but here I loved both of Hae Young’s parents. Dad was the calm to Mum’s storm, gentle with both of Hae Young’s love interests while Mum was ready to rip them to shreds for hurting her daughter.

You know the characters are written well when even the parents are understandable

Although Mum’s actions could be a bit over the top and meddlesome, it was always apparent that she was acting in what she thought was her daughter's best interests- as Mum has watched Hae Young have a hellish couple of months due to these two men. It just makes a drama so much more enjoyable when every single character has clear motivations and their actions are understandable rather than confusing. 

No Noble Idiocy:

I fully expected Do Kyung to run off and abandon Oh Hae Young for her own good at some point in this series.

So many reasons to Noble Idiot...but he still didn't ♥

But thank the good K-Drama gods that it didn’t happen. Even though Do Kyung thought he was going to die at some point in the near future, he never broke up with Hae Young under the guise of ‘I’ll hurt you now to save you from hurting in the future’. Instead, Do Kyung had the attitude of ‘f*ck it, let’s love each other as much as we can so I don’t die with regrets’. Hooray! Finally a drama that gets it! Despite leaving Hae Young making perfect sense (because having a loved one die is really, really sh*tty), it would have brought no enjoyment having the leads separated in the later stages of the drama. So thankfully it just plain never happened. Do Kyung was open and honest with Hae Young, no matter how hard that was for him, and ultimately changed his fate into one where the two of them were happy for (hopefully) a long time. 

Hugging:

While good snogs always improve a drama (and this drama certainly had them), a good hug can be just as effective, if not more so.

On point hugging

Kissing tends to have the underlying subtext of lust and passion- but a hug is generally softer and more about the love. It’s not always the case, but generally so.

He also snogged her like he meant it

And our leads were such good huggers. In lots of K-Dramas the leads seem almost awkward around each other as if they want to touch as little as possible, which often results in awkward looking skinship. Dramas also like to have everything look very, very pretty, so can sometimes pull back on the intensity of a moment in order to make it look ‘prettier’ on screen. We’ve all seen those no movement, lips-barely-touching kisses while the cameras spin around the couple so we can see it from every angle. But in ‘Another Oh Hae Young’ it felt like our leading couple actually wanted to be with each other. I believed the skinship which helped with the overall believability of the emotions and the relationship. Eric hugged Seo Hyun Ji like he meant it, and that really makes for a believable romance.

What Wasn’t:

Mild Drag:

I blame most, if not all, of the drag on the two episode extension. There were just a couple of episodes towards the end there where the plot slowed right down and Do Kyung seemed to be getting a little too caught up in his angsty emotions. It wasn’t enough to ruin the series, but it did slow the pacing of a show that was rather perfectly paced. While Do Kyung is getting bent out of shape about what his visions mean and how to avoid his death, a lot of the humour and cuteness disappears from the series.

At least the added angst gave us the cute duckling bros

It gets back on track after a while, but it could have been such an excellent drama if not for the slight lag towards the end when it should have been ramping up for its final conflict. 

Noona Romance:

I love a good Noona Romance, but this one just didn’t cut it for me. There are several ways the drama could have made the relationship work, and I’m a little dissatisfied with the way they chose.

Not a fan of all the awkward

While it makes sense on paper- Soo Kyung and Jin Sang do their relationship backwards (baby, getting comfortable, falling in love), it just didn’t translate to the screen all that well. The two felt awkward and I didn’t really buy into their relationship at all. I think what really killed it for me was the all-or-nothing vibe. Jin Sang either had to marry Soo Kyung or get out of her life completely- and that just doesn’t really work for me. Why did no one entertain the idea that Jin Sang could still be the baby’s daddy even if he didn’t marry Soo Kyung? He could stick around and help her raise the baby, but that doesn’t automatically mean he has to enter into a loveless marriage with her. Wouldn’t being two friends raising a kid together be better than that? And that’s not saying they couldn’t fall in love later. It wouldn’t be the first time someone had a baby first and got the loving relationship second. Soo Kyung and Jin Sang had some nice emotional beats, with them understanding each other completely due to a lifetime of growing up together, but I didn’t feel satisfied at the conclusion of their story-arc. While I did buy the emotion on Soo Kyung’s part, I felt like Jin Sang was forced into the relationship. I totally believed that he would fall for Soo Kung later on, I just didn’t think it was time yet, and their awkwardness only further enforced that idea.

Re-watch?

Probably not. While thoroughly enjoyable and bursting with charm, it’s somehow not something I’d go out of my way to watch for a second time.

And they both finally got married