It's Okay to Not Be Okay | Notes and Review

A normal boy has to take care of his crazy brother and an even crazier woman who declares her love for him. 

Notable Actors and Actresses
Kim Soo-Hyun: Moon Kang Tae

Seo Yea-Ji: Ko Moon Young

Oh Jung-Se: Moon Sang Tae

Park Gyu-Young: Nam Joo Ri

Network: tvN

Year: 2020
Episodes: 16

Recap Grade: D
First Impression: 4.5/5

Mini Notes

No Recaps. These are notes I make as I watch the drama when I remember to write notes. 

[Ep2] Moon Young reminds me of King Kong when she giganticized herself to pluck the object of  her love (Kang Tae) off the street. Her imaginations are wild. 

[Ep3] Moon Young’s animal instincts are on display this episode. Her deer calling had me rolling in laughter. Her silent roaring at Kang Tae’s abs is what every Kim Soo Hyun fan girls imagine themselves looking like if they had a chance to see it real and up close. Am I wrong? XD

[Ep4] I’ve never heard an angry confession that was this funny.

[Ep5] I love Kang Tae’s exaggerated door kick to hide the fact that Moon Young is in his room. It’s a good use of his muscles that he’s graciously flaunting these episodes. The funny doesn’t end there. Ko Moon Young locks him out of his own room. He’s begging her to open it as patiently as he can through gritted teeth. She agrees. She doesn’t open the door though, she opens the window. She then makes a Romeo and Juliet argument to get him to sleep with her. Her imaginations are wild and so is her logic. 

[Ep6] Joo Ri finds out they slept together in the same room. These girls start a cat fight. Kang Tae angrily yells at Moon Young to stop. Moon Young is angry at him for only hollering at her when Joo Ri was in the wrong too. Joo Ri is crying in her bed as well. She’s angry at Kang Tae for calling Moon Young's name instead of hers when she's obviously closer to him. There’s a third person angry: Sang Tae. He’s angry Kang Tae didn’t lend his shirt to Moon Young when it was better than Kang Tae’s. I don't know who's is better looking but at the very least Sang Tae's was more expensive. All of these are pretty reasonable but very petty reasons to be angry about. Heh. 

Joo Ri’s mom curses at herself for sending her daughter’s man to another woman. I love how she fears her own daughter. Joo Ri is quite a beast herself. She can’t slap or yell at her mom so she takes it out by road raging. Only really close family members can be that awful to each other and still be loving the next day. 

By the way, Kim Mi Kyung (Joo Ri's mom) is one of my favourite Korean moms. When I see her, my confidence in the drama spikes. 

[Ep7] Kang Tae slow-mo dodges a falling Sang In. I thought Kang Tae was going to let him drop but then he catches him like a prince that he is. Sang In’s hands are then stuck like a magnet to Kang Tae’s developed pec’s. I don’t blame him.  

Moon Young’s smile when Kang Tae calls her pretty is angelic, healing almost. As if she isn’t already beautiful enough. 

[Ep8] Choi Daniel cameo. He makes Kang Tae jealous but Moon Young was only thirsty for Choi Daneil’s oh so fine pen.

Moon Young’s noodle slurping. She’s so real, haha. 

When a patient’s ex slaps Moon Young in the face after she said she thought he was a garbage can, I was like there’s no way he’s going to walk out of there alive. That’s when he’s punched by Kang Tae. He who normally contains his anger could not contain it when Moon Young is injured. He asks her if she’s okay. She’s mesmerized by his pure awesomeness and says she’s in pain. He holds her face where she was slapped. From behind her, a rock drops from her palm. Hahaha. Seeeee, I knew she had her retaliation all planned out. 

[Ep9] The ruined kiss because of a deer earns another hilarious deer calling from Moon Young once more. I’ll never get sick of her. She’s brilliant. Such a pretty face doing something so hilarious makes her even prettier. 

Kang Tae’s bright, bight smile when he leaves Moon Young cowardly crossing the bridge by herself is contagious. 

[Ep10] My least favourite episode: the inevitable breakup. Just what did Kang Tae do that he needs to beg and apologize to Sang Tae for? Why must he be so utterly devoted to his brother?

The firework gave me a fright.

[Ep11] One. Two. Three. Kiss. 💋

Kang Tae tells Moon Young that he needs to stay with his brother so she needs to stay with him (Kang Tae).

[Ep12] Moon Young declares loudly that she wants a baby in the supermarket. 

I also love Joo Ri’s mom’s reaction when Sang Tae and Moon Young were arguing over what a family is. She’s like you two are really alike. Moon Young doesn’t find this offensive and continues to argue with Sang Tae. Indeed, they’re very alike. 

[Ep15] Joo Ri asks Moon Young to take care of her mother. She flatly refuses (in her hilarious way) but still goes. It’s the mom who’s taking care of Moon Young. Actually, it was everyone’s well thought out plan to take care of Moon Young. 

There’s another angry confession. But I wasn’t expecting it from Kang Tae. Neither was I expecting him to be so forward after that. Mm, mm. mm. 

[Ep16] The deer interrupts once again. It’s Kang Tae hollering. Where’s the deer call though? Drama, you can’t not copy that if you’re going to make Kim Soo Hyun do all the hilarious stuff Moon Young did. 

Remarks

[Commentary] Korean drama posts won't frequent here. I do watch them but there's just so many other sites for them and they do a great job at recapping. Also, I tend to lose interest in Kdramas because of how they’re aired and why they must be 16 episodes when they could be so much better with being so much shorter. It's a matter of profit, I guess. Although I hate how Chinese dramas release their episodes all over the place, I hate Korean dramas even more for being a stickler for only releasing two episodes a week. The old me had a ton of patience for them but I can’t do it nowadays. If I watch it as it airs, I‘m bound to drop the drama. Thus, I’ve waited until It’s Okay to Not be Okay to finish airing so I can watch this at my pace. And I’m having so much fun, so much fun that I’m making notes on it. 

[Actors/Actresses] 

Seo Ye Ji. To say that Seo Ye Ji is beautiful is an understatement. She’s beautiful hair up or hair down. She’s beautiful with long hair or short hair. She’s beautiful when she cries or when she’s angry. She’s beautiful when she hollers. She’s beautiful when she glares. Her proportions are out of this world. Can this girl even eat? Where does food go in her body and that nonexistent waist? She makes outrageous fashion look perfect. She makes deep voices the new sexy. She’s so beautiful it hurts. 

She’s not just beautiful, her acting is polished. She’s hilariously creepy at times. She’s crazily endearing other times. Most of the time though she’s just plain crazy and I love it. One sentence of hers can make me laugh out loud. One look of hers when she’s scared or sad makes me shake my head, how can she be so beautiful and be so good at acting?

I’m getting Seo Ye Ji videos in my feeds and I hadn’t realized I watched her on Knowing Bro’s three years ago. She was beautiful then too but her beauty exploded in this drama (this is my first drama of hers). She completely outshone Kim Soo Hyun for me. Her character is just too fun. When these two took selfies in the drama, I shook my head again. They’re just so out of my world. They’re so beautiful together it should be a sin. 

Park Kyu Young. The last time I saw her it was in Romance is a Bonus Book. She was so different. Here, she looks pure, sweet and innocent but when she goes on a rage, I see that bratty princess in her again, lol. I hope she gets a leading role soon.

[Ending] From the ending of episode 11 I knew that smile was the head nurse’s the moment I saw the corner of her lips curl. I started to suspect her when she asked about Kang Tae’s mother and then corrected it to Dooly’s mother. Also, seeing Jang Young Nam in the drama, there’s no way she would have a small role. The drama had a really good build up for her psychotic role. I got goosebumps from that evil smile of hers that was caught on the security footage but after she made her appearance, I felt that it was anticlimactic. 

I was joking with the people I watched the drama with at why everyone cared so much about Moon Young’s happiness in the last two episodes. I answered them “Isn’t it obvious? She’s the provider for everyone.” Even Joo Ri’s mom is dependent on her. Because her future son-in-law (Lee Sang In) depends on Moon Young for his livelihood. Kang Tae lives in her home. Sang Tae needs her for work. Moon Young is the breadwinner for all. People have to be nice to her, heh. 

[Review] Note: I hold Kdramas to higher standards. Don’t compare them to my CDramas. Kdrama romcoms in the recent years always have one gnawing flaw. They start off amazing but fail me in the second half. They get me so emotionally invested in the beginning but after that they just leave a large dugout in my heart. Why start something so good and then have a lacklustre ending? That is why I’ve been slowly falling out of love with Kdramas. They leave me empty more than anything. 

I love this drama for Go Moon Young / Seo Ye Ji. I can’t say I love this drama for its story though. Like most dramas, it focuses heavily on romance for the first twelve episodes and then remembers that it has a main story to finish in the last four. 

I think Kim Soo Hyun was completely outshone by Seo Ye Ji. It was especially obvious near the end where it was his turn to act like her. He just couldn’t do it. Ha. I don’t blame him too much. Her character is uniquely hers. Oh Jung Se also had an exceptional performance. The wacky ones get the praise meanwhile, the normal Kim Soo Hyun doesn’t. XD. As for the romance, I can’t say it was sizzling for me. I might be alone in this opinion. I just didn’t find them compatible. Regardless, I had a lot of fun watching this drama, definitely the most fun I’ve had for a single character. 

I also want to commend the PP in this drama. They make it look like the breaking system in Volvo’s are otherworldly. For a moment, I truly wanted a Volvo.