Kill Me, Heal Me

Kill Me, Heal Me

9/10

Kill Me, Heal Me

Genre:                                   Episodes: 20                                   Year: 2015

Romance

Comedy

Mystery

Synopsis:

Cha Do Hyun is a third-generation chaebol, son of the deceased eldest son and his mistress. After a traumatic incident in his childhood, Do Hyun’s mental state is fractured into several pieces as a defence mechanism, and each of these pieces takes on its own distinct personality- otherwise known as multiple personality disorder. Do Hyun’s most violent personality, Shin Se Gi, takes interest in a particular woman, Oh Ri Jin, who happens to be a psychiatrist. Do Hyun hires Ri Jin as his private doctor, so that she can control his many personalities while he works to inherit his family’s company.

Cast:

Ji Sung (Cha Do Hyun/Personalities)

Hwang Jung Eum (Oh Ri Jin)

Park Seo Joon (Oh Ri On)

Kim Young Ae (Se Tae Im)

Kim Yoo Ri (Han Chae Yeon)

Oh Min Seok (Cha Ki Joon)

Shim Hye Jin (Shin Hwa Ran)

General Thoughts:

Oh, the feelings. I love this drama. Let’s be honest, it’s worth watching for Ji Sung’s stellar performance alone, but the plot is absolutely brilliant. There are so many parts of me that want to do comparisons with ‘Hyde, Jekyll, Me’, but I will restrain myself.

How I felt when this drama ended

The cast was brilliant, no faults there- congratulations everyone on a spectacular performance. The script was brilliant, the music was brilliant, it was all brilliant. The slow unveiling of the past connections between our two main leads was both heartbreaking and heart-warming at the same time. It was devastating to watch the brutal effects of these traumatic events start to both break and develop our characters. The drama wasn’t afraid to go into the darker aspects of its plot at all, but still managed to maintain its humour, which saved it from becoming horrendously depressing- a fine line to walk, but executed well. Both our main leads were acted excellently, and had continual development throughout the whole drama.

It's cute and funny and sad and my poor emotions

Oh Ri Jin has a sweet, mildly whacky, character, and is easily likeable without being too bland or unrealistic. Cha Do Hyun is also interesting and likeable enough- at first he does seem a tad boring and vague due to the eccentricities of his other personalities, but as the show goes on, his character develops nicely and he becomes more than just the ‘main personality struggling for control’. None of the other personalities were developed, but this itself was a brilliant move. The fact is, they aren’t separate characters- they are simply parts of Do Hyun’s mind. Their consistent quirky traits and obsessions made them interesting and enjoyable to watch, but prevented the personalities from having a real sense of ‘self’- because in reality they didn’t have one, they were just mirages that Do Hyun created out of simple memories and desires. It was a wise move to continually throw in similarities between Do Hyun and his other personalities to further emphasise this point.

How could you only choose one?

What Was Great:

Ji Sung:

Ten out of ten

So basically Ji Sung is the greatest thing ever. Oh my goodness, that man can act. It was phenomenal. He was 100% believable as all the different personalities- right down to the details. He was never ‘Do Hyun acting like Se Gi’, he simply became Se Gi. His voice, actions, and even tiny movements- the way he walked, the way he held his mouth, the way he turned his head- all were totally different with each personality. Plus he’s handsome. His crackling chemistry with the female lead was also a bonus. The kid actor who played young Cha Do Hyun was fantastic as well.

The Whole Point:

The story, the story, the story. You can have the greatest actors in the world, but without a solid plot you have nothing. Standing behind the radiating wonder that is Ji Sung, we have a thrilling, compelling story. We were always given just the right amount of information with each new episode. The plot was never easy to predict, and never had any lags.

Wasn't afraid to visit some darker scenes

We had an unfortunate episode or two towards the end where our main couple were separated even though they wanted to be together (typical bloody K-Drama), but apart from that the series managed to avoid any irritating or nonsensical plotlines. The issues involving the company were always present, but not in your face- quite often taking a welcome backseat to the much more interesting personality problems. The gradual reveal of the past kept the mystery going strong, while also developing our three main characters nicely. On that point, Oh Ri On was a fantastic character.

Yo Na + Ri On = hilarious

At first, I thought Park Seo Joon was doing a poor job acting the character out, as I kept thinking he was looking at Ri Jin like he was keen on her- not like a brother. And then it was like- OH! That’s the whole point! Good job Park Seo Joon, good job scriptwriters.

Towards the end of the drama when we had the farewells to all the different personalities- well, I won’t lie. It was cheesy. Superb, delicious cheese.

Ain't nothing wrong with a bit of cheese

The way they send off the personalities is predictable, but it’s the way we all wanted it to go. After all the struggle and hurt and suffering, it was nice to sit back and watch our main couple reap the rewards. It was also nice that the reasons why each personality was formed were explained. We were able to guess most of it anyway, but it was still enjoyable to have our different theories confirmed. The science wasn’t close to realistic- it’s not an accurate representation of DID, but who’s watching for the science? The writers kept the rules of personality switching, creation and disappearance consistant, so that’s all that really matters.

The Music:

I don’t know what it was exactly, but I loved the soundtrack. The main song was lovely and catchy, and never felt overused. Most of the music was gorgeous, and just lurked in the background, enhancing the drama and not begging for attention. Well, the main song- Auditory Hallucination grabbed a bit of attention, but it was fantastic so who cares. 

What Wasn’t:

Bad Boy:

Shin Se Gi is great. Characters like Se Gi are why women have relationship issues. Because as much as we wish they did, nice bad boys like Se Gi just don’t exist. I loved everything about Se Gi- his reason for creation, his role as the protector, his holding of the memories.

Exact depiction of why girls like bad boys (the secret is in the guyliner)

But I didn’t like the way Ri Jin interacted with him. Several times she herself admitted that Se Gi was the most hurt and damaged of all Do Hyun’s personalities, and that he needed the most love and comfort. Yet does she ever really love or comfort him? Not really. Most of her interactions with the beloved bad boy were just keeping him from wrecking Do Hyun’s reputation, or trying to call Do Hyun back out. It felt too much like the writers were far too worried about how to logically make Ri Jin fall for Do Hyun over Se Gi, that they just never let any real connection develop between them. Not once in this drama did I honestly believe that Ri Jin cared for Se Gi as a person, or a man.

But...but...how can you NOT love him?!

Re-watch?

Definitely. This is a drama that really pulls at your heartstrings. The fantastic plot paired with a fantastic cast make it in excellent watch. Even though there won’t be any mystery the second time around, it’s worth watching again just for Ji Sung’s incredible performance.

It's actually amazing