That Man Oh Soo

That Man Oh Soo

3.5/10

That Man Oh Soo

Genre:                                                 Episodes: 16                                       Year: 2018

Romance

Melodrama

Fantasy

Synopsis:

Oh Soo has inherited his family’s gift of seeing love as colours. He works as a barista, using a magic pollen to help customers' love come true. Oh Soo accidentally causes a young woman, Seo Yoo Ri, to be dumped by her boyfriend after giving him some of the pollen.

Cast:

Lee Jong Hyun (Oh Soo)

Kim So Eun (Seo Yoo Ri)

Kang Tae Oh (Kim Jin Woo)

Heo Jeong Min (Oh Ga Na)

Kim Yeon Seo (Han Hyo Jin)

Park Na Ye (Seo Soo Jung)

General Thoughts:

This is a drama that is kind of weird for me, because it wasn’t downright hard to watch, it just left me feeling very unimpressed, and a tad bitter about the whole experience. It’s not like this drama was a giant clusterf*ck where nothing made sense and things came out of left field, making it fun to hate. It was just uneventful and boring. Not fun boring. Just lame boring.

Maybe some soju would have made this drama feel more fun

I didn’t expect this drama to be great, but I was expecting it to be…better. To start with, I just don’t care about the characters. Not at all. I mean, I like Oh Soo cuz he’s played by Lee Jong Hyun, but that’s it. I have no concept of who he is supposed be as a character.

Like seriously- cheer up girl

I could tell that the writer was trying to make him swoony and romantic, but the whole time I was watching I was just kinda like…but why? You’re supposed to be a cold businessman, why are you doing these things? The show never made me understand why Yoo Ri was different for Oh Soo. I mean yeah, he accidentally ruined her relationship- but why does he care? He doesn’t know her. And from the tiny amount of character construction that was done, Oh Soo doesn’t care about people he doesn’t know. He hardly even cares about people he does know. Then there’s Yoo Ri who I can only describe as being a big lump of negativity. At first she’s depressed because she got dumped. Then she’s depressed because her Mum is sick. Next she’s depressed because the creepy tree might kill her or her boyfriend. Finally she’s depressed because she got dumped. Again. Like, I think I could count on one hand the number of happy scenes Yoo Ri had. And boy did I get real sick of her moping real fast.

I thought this was supposed to be a cheery rom-com. Why is everyone so depressed?

As a character I want more than a heroine that is simply pathetic, thus allowing the hero to save the day. Like, jeezus woman, be an actual person and not just a tear factory. Admittedly I did like Jin Woo. About 65% of that is because Kang Tae Oh is alarmingly attractive and his smile is killer- oh, and he played a character that actually got to smile, so bonus!

Ga Na is delightful and Yoo Ri is...still miserable

The remaining 45% is because Jin Woo is actually a character that seems genuinely nice and actually like a legit person, not just a 2-dimensional shape that a rather unimaginative writer came up with. Ga Na was also a character I enjoyed, but that was 100% Heo Jeong Min. He has a great energy and I love him in comedic characters. His goofy sassiness is totally my style, and I’m beyond glad that he brought that in for Ga Na, making my viewing experience a little more enjoyable. Being the only character that really got comedic scenes, I liked Ga Na even more as he was a saviour from all the completely unnecessary angst going on between the leads. The rest of the acting was pretty shaky. Lee Jong Hyun is not a bad actor, but this drama has made me realise that he’s not quite up to the task of adding his own taste to the characters he’s given. He’s excellent at acting out really well fleshed out characters, but for characters that are lacking (such as Oh Soo), Lee Jong Hyun can't really add his own flavour to make the character more than he is on paper. I usually find Kim So Eun likeable, though admittedly I find her acting ability more mediocre than good.

The chemistry had about as much heat as frozen peas

As I didn’t find her all that likeable as Yoo Ri, that unfortunately left me open to completely focus on her acting. Kim So Eun is good at pretty crying. She is not good at convincing me that her character is actually genuinely, heartbreakingly sad. Mildly sad or disappointed? Sure. Completely devastated? Not a chance.

Great smile: Check. Heart stolen: Check.

This drama tried so hard to be melodramatic, which involved Kim So Eun’s character crying. A lot. And that became old pretty fast. Kim So Eun is better at playing more Candy-like characters, and I think the script here was trying to make her do a level of emotional heavy-lifting that she just isn’t capable of. Kang Tae Oh didn’t have to do much except smile cutely (success) and, uh…smile cutely. So this drama was an all-round success for him. Kim Yeon Seo did an excellent job at making her character memorable in the very short amount of screen time she was given. I bought her as the slightly vain chaebol girl, and liked the quirkiness she brought to her character. Given the cute chemistry she had with Lee Jong Hyun in ‘My Only Love Song’ (they weren’t even in a love-line then), I kinda wish that Kim Yeon Seo had scored the lead here. Because the chemistry between Lee Jong Hyun and Kim So Eun was just not good. The chemistry wasn’t bad- it just wasn’t there. The two felt awkward around each other, and didn’t sell the romance at all. I felt less bad about getting Second Male Lead Syndrome in a drama with Lee Jong Hyun as the lead, simply because I didn’t even believe that Lee Jong Hyun wanted the girl.

I know Jin Woo, I'm miffed too buddy

I will give the drama this- it was pretty. It was very, very pretty. The cafe was delightfully picturesque, and while I doubt its ability to be an actual successful business (mainly due to the fact that this cafe had no customers. Like ever.), it was indeed charming to look at, and was a great space for the leads to interact. The outside scenery was also lovely, and I must admit the the camera work was all top class. The idea of this huge, magical tree growing in the middle of this ancient family house was a visual I really enjoyed.

Now I want a house tree. Not one that can kill people though.

While the execution of the magic tree was, speaking simply, completely cr*p, the concept was a good one. The CGI around the tree was not that fabulous (CGI in K-Drama is so rarely good though that I’m not even that surprised for disappointed),

What even is that sweater?

but where the tree came into its own is when it was simply being a tree. It was stunning to have this beautiful tree growing in the centre of a house, and not only was it pretty to look at, it aided the story too. It showed how this family had literally built their whole lives around this entity. Not only were they magically bound to this tree, but physically as well, and having the family home be built completely around the tree really showed the level of their entrapment. One thing that was not so pretty was Kim So Eun’s wardrobe. Seriously, I think whoever her outfit coordinator was needs to look into new career paths. Because what she chose to dress Kim So Eun in was just terrible decision after terrible decision. I can see what they were aiming for- trying to tomboy her up and make her seem less delicate, but there are ways to do that without making your character a complete fashion disaster. I mean, her clothes didn't even look like they fit her half the time. Fashion isn't something I tend to notice in dramas, but this was so bad that it was actively drawing my attention.

What Was Great:

45 Mins:

The best part about this drama is that the episodes were pretty short. I feel like I’ve been watching a fair few dramas where the episodes have been leaning towards the 90 minute mark. And I’m not a fan of that. I like my episodes to be zippy, and 45 minutes allows for that feeling.

If you're not gonna be good, you can at least be quick

Despite the rather minimal plot, because the episodes weren’t outrageously long I was able to mostly keep my mind from wandering. While I admit that I never found the series all that interesting or engaging, I will say that it never felt like it was taking forever. Some dramas feel like they’ll never end, but this one always felt like it was steadily making its way towards its conclusion. Hurrah. 

What Wasn’t:

Why Are You Even Dating?:

Given that the two lead characters were written so poorly, it’s really no surprise that there was minimal chemistry. Lee Jong Hyun is a pretty inexperienced actor, and I wouldn’t exactly call love-lines his strength (unless it's with Gong Seung Yeon).

Neither of you look all that excited about this skinship

Aaaaand I wouldn’t say that Kim So Eun is exactly a chemistry powerhouse either, so together they were just kinda awkward. Not only was there minimal chemistry, but the characters themselves didn’t seem to even make sense together. Oh Soo has a general distaste for people, so I don’t see how a drunk kiss would suddenly make him super interested in this girl. I mean, Yoo Ri was extremely unexceptional. And Yoo Ri herself even said in the first couple of episodes that one of the greatest aspects of her falling in love is becoming completely and utterly comfortable around the other person. But is she ever comfortable around Oh Soo? Nope. Their whole love-line was so contradictory it drove me nuts. You know who Yoo Ri was completely comfortable around? Her totally hot friend, Jin Woo. She even reunited with Jin Woo before Oh Soo became a serious presence in her life, so I completely fail to see why this girl would fall for the cold, stoic guy over her warm and endearing childhood friend. Like…why? Just why?

Literally Nothing is Explained:

The fantasy element to this drama is really such a joke. All we know about the magical tree you can pretty much grasp from the synopsis. There’s a magic tree. It creates magic love pollen. Oh Soo sees love and can use the pollen to help it along. Which I might add he does very little.

Could his magic power have been more underutilised? No. No it could not.

He helps, what, like three people? And one of them is Yoo Ri, so that kinda doesn’t count. To add insult to injury we are not told what colours mean what, beyond green meaning comfort and red meaning love. I mean, we gather that black is not great- but what is it really? I was pretty bummed that the love-colours stayed either red/pink or black. I would have loved to see some variety and different kinds of love and how Oh Soo helped them along. Which is what I thought we would be getting.

Pink, pink, everyone's pink- where's the diversity?

Instead we got mindless angst. And at the heart of this mindless angst is that Yoo Ri accidentally drank some pollen infused coffee, and if the tree’s disciple uses the pollen on someone he loves she will die. It’s pretty classic angst ingredients, but the fact that this was the only plot point and it was drawn out over petty much the entire series diminished my care factor.

For a smart guy, you sure do some stupid sh*t

Like, a lot. At least that part was pretty clearly explained though- we saw it happen with Oh Soo’s parents. Mum drinks the pollen and gets sick. Dad kills himself to save Mum. Mum dies anyway. So after trying and failing to break up (which is so stupid, omg if you’re going to dump her quit hanging around her and doing nice things for her), Oh Soo decides to drink the pollen of death so Yoo Ri can live. Because that worked out so well for your parents. Oh Soo enters into a coma and Yoo Ri gets better. Not the most airtight plot but it’s passable enough up to here. Then we TIME SKIP three years. Yes, the dreaded time skip. Yoo Ri is still pining away for Oh Soo, even though she only knew him for like a month. Even though she forgot her boyfriend of three years in three seconds. Anyway, turns out Oh Soo is not dead. And neither is Yoo Ri. How? AMNESIA. Yes, you heard right. Amnesia in the drama’s last 5 minutes. Yoo Ri and Oh Soo meet again, Oh Soo doesn’t remember Yoo Ri, he asks her out for coffee, she goes with him, the end. Yeah, what the hell.

"Excellent, he doesn't remember me- that solves everything!" Um...how?

If the black pollen is amnesia pollen and not death pollen, why did Oh Soo’s Dad die? And the whole tree-curse thing (which was briefly mentioned in episode 15, even though it was the whole momentum driving the plot) stated that whoever the tree disciple loved was fated to drink the pollen and die.

Jin Woo's back? Didn't you write him out of the story when he didn't get the girl?

Sooooo even though Oh Soo forgot, once he falls in love with Yoo Ri again, won’t she accidentally drink more pollen and bada bing bada boom we’re back where we started? That’s what I gathered anyway. Because no one found a cure. No one killed the tree. No one did anything. And seriously, is Yoo Ri just going to jump right back into a relationship with this guy even though he remembers none of their memories? For a girl that cries over nothing, that sure seems like a recipe for disaster. Essentially everything I thought I knew about this show’s fantasy element was completely undermined in the last 5 minutes while the show tried (and failed) desperately to wrap up all its lose ends into some sort of happy conclusion. I think even the few people who were riding the emotions of this drama were left baffled by the random and inconclusive ending. If you’re not going to put any effort into your fantasy spin, why bother putting it on in the first place? I love fantasy, and you got me excited for nothing. 

Recommend?

I mean, on one hand it’s Oppa’s last drama before going into the army. But on the other hand, it’s terrible. Your call.

I kinda wish the tree had got its act together and killed somebody