Tudo Bem Não Ser Normal (2020)

Incredibly Well-Done Drama

One of the things that is so interesting about this show is the way they play with male/female dynamics, especially in Korean culture. Mun Young is a very dominant and aggressive (often abrasive) personality, while Gang Tae is very nurturing and supportive. Mun Young pursues Gang-tae very openly and directly. She has no problem talking about her sexual desire for him, or asking him questions about his sexual history. While all of this could be chalked up to her personality disorder, Gang Tae later willingly plays into light-hearted teasing about their dynamic. They make jokes about him being the “wife,” as in Mun Young needing to ask Gang Tae’s brother for his hand in marriage, or Gang Tae being teased for acting like a daughter stealing food from his mother-figure to feed his “husband.” Furthermore, Ju Ri as the love rival represents the more traditional sweet and kind feminine image who patiently waits for Gang Tae to notice her, but Gang Tae never shows even a bit of interest in her. I do like the symmetry of him having to do SOME pursuing of Mun Young towards the end, though.

The dynamics between Gang Tae, Sang Tae, and Mun Young are absolutely everything. Sang Tae is a gem and I adored him so, so much. The underlying mystery drama for the series was very compelling, and had some shocking twists and turns. The supporting cast of characters grew on me — I loathed Ju Ri for a while, but she improved greatly as the series went on. They were all positively heartwarming by the latter episodes. Oh, and the soundtrack was incredible! Janet Sunh’s In Silence was probably my favorite, but I also liked Cheeze’s Little by Little and Lee Suhyun’s In Your Time.

Everyone’s acting was so good, Moon Gang Tae, Moon Sang Tae, and Park Haeng Ja in particular. But I have a special spot in my heart for Seo Yea Ji as Ko Mun Young. Her performance was phenomenal and she is soooo pretty. She looks like a doll. Her outfits and makeup in the show were impeccable. I’m obsessed with her; she may be one of my favorite Korean actresses right now. Her chemistry with Kim Soo Hyun was fantastic (their kissing scenes were top tier). I also quite liked Kim Soo Hyun; he was very cute and sweet (most of the time) and did an incredible job.

Slight con: the representations of disorders were empathetic but not totally accurate or consistent, in some cases. I feel like this especially for ASPD, which started out accurate in the beginning, but later seemed to substantially waver in its depiction as the story developed. I almost wondered if she was really diagnosed with ASPD at one point, or whether they were trying to chalk it up to trauma or how she was raised. I also feel like the representation of autism, while also very empathetic in its portrayal, was a little two-dimensional. This is the third Netflix kdrama I’ve seen with an autistic character, and the representations are all so similar, it starting to feel like it’s now a typecast characterization instead of a true representation of the spectrum that autism can take. To be fair, this was the earliest of the three I’m thinking of (the other two being Extraordinary Attorney Woo and Crash Course in Romance). That being said, I think the fact that the conversation is started and the good intentions are there means that overall they did a pretty good attempt. Also, these are common issues in Western shows as well, even though they portray these issues more often. It may not be something that someone would notice unless they either had background in psychology or lived personally with these disorders.

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Amazing story, and amazing actors

This is the first k-drama I've ever seen, but it took me a while to get into it. I admit that it took until episode 6 to actually be interested but once I did, I was completely hooked. First of all, I'd like to highlight the acting. I've rarely seen such good acting, and everyone in the cast conveyed emotions perfectly, making me attached to every character and feel for every single one of them. I love that they incorporated fairy tales to tell the drama's story, it was brilliant, original and interesting. Gang-tae and Sang-tae's melted my heart and the actors played the brothers perfectly. I would definitely re-watch, I recommend it to everyone!

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Interesting and On-the-Edge Drama

I was initially attracted to watch this drama by the title "It's Okay to Not be Okay." From the title, I expected this drama to be something I would get in my heart, and I wasn't disappointed in this aspect, where it has been a emotional rollercoaster, and there were a lot of areas and scenes where I connected and sobbed my heart out to. Nevertheless, there was this area that was missing, and I spent a lot of time thinking of what exactly was not fulfilling after watching this drama. At this time, I am still not completely sure what I was looking for that is missing, but here are some of my thoughts about the drama.

~ THE STORY AND NARRATIVE ~

The story is tagged as a psychological, comedy, romance, drama, and family. Nevertheless, it ranges slightly into 'horror' and 'detective' theme. Overall, the plot is pretty on-the-edge but predictable at the same time. Ever since the two characters travelled all to Ok psychiatric ward, it was easy to predict the story line and ending. Additionally, the story isn't very romantic in any way; in fact, it deeply involves the mental health theme and recovery. I have seen a lot of people mentioning that this drama was very 'healing,' and I agree, but before watching this, it would be nice to know that there were a lot of dark scenes and heart wrenching themes, not exactly the 'healing' we have in mind. Back to the romance part, the relationships seemed to revolve more around dependence rather than love 'love,' which some people may agree and disagree to.

~ THE CHARACTERS ~

I will be honest; although I am in fact a person that is very involved in the mental health field, I found it very hard to connect with the characters most of the time. There are times where I did not get how exactly they felt, especially with Ko Moon Young's antisocial personality disorder. I actually took some time researching more about this particular personality disorder to try to understand the situation a bit better, but at this point, I'm still questioning how an antisocial personality disorder person is capable of truly 'loving' someone. I suppose the word 'love' is very subjective, and speaking of which, I am not very convinced of the romantic love between the two main characters because I felt that they simply bonding during this traumatic time, but then again, who am I to say? Back to the point, because I had a hard time connecting to the characters, it was slightly difficult to continue the drama.

As for the acting, although I have seen reviews praising about the chemistry between the two main leads, I felt that the chemistry and romance were all a bit forced. Sure, the conversation flowed (based upon the script) and they did have some sort of connection, but both of them just seemed so independent in a way. Either way, I'm not quite sure if it was exactly the acting or if it was the personality of the characters. I have to really say that the actors themselves portrayed the characters super well!

~ THEMES ~

MENTAL HEALTH: Other than the hard-to-understand-themes, there were a lot of common themes with loneliness and happiness that really hit deep for me. This is a drama that covers a lot of common thoughts we have, which drew a lot of emotions and heart breaking moments, where some are happy ones and some are sad ones. The drama really covered a lot about denial, avoidance, and seeking support in terms of each character's development; it was amazing to see how each character progressed, too.

FAIRY-TALES: With the female lead being a fairytale writing, it shouldn't come as a surprise that there are stories and stories and stories with hidden meanings behind each one. The drama itself has 16 episodes, slightly separated into 16 fairy-tale stories that goes along with it. I personally always loved reading twisted fairytales and fairytales that have hidden meanings, and in this drama, they take it to a new level, where the female lead completely take the moral of every fairytale into a darker and 'realistic' perspective.

~ MUSIC AND AESTHETICS ~

The music was honestly amazing! I personally believe the music makes everything a lot better, especially the songs were a bit creepy and deep at the same time. I would take it so far as to say the music was really the best part of the drama.
Here's a playlist some may want to check out: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1ITeTDTz5lIkZ4VkrCS3LG?si=3uH2SxVmT1GKEdMNE3UvOw

The next part is the amazing aesthetics. The costumes were awesome, which is pretty much expected in every k-drama these days. Either way, the power of each costume, and the meaning behind each of them were just wow. I still remember a scene that stuck with me, where the director of the psychiatric ward mentioned that (not directly quoted) "she wears fancy clothes not to show off, but to protect herself, like armor."

~ REWATCH VALUE ~

As I slightly covered before, psychological dramas that range into the 'detective' or 'horror' areas aren't really my thing, so I will not be particularly rewatching this drama any time soon; I love horror movies not dramas because it gets kind of old in a way. In any case, the main reason I may rewatch it is only for certain scenes. On that note, I loved all those small stories and the whole plot of the drama, except the overall plot of Moon Gang Tae's mother's murder case.

~ OVERALL ~

I absolutely loved and agree with Ko Moon Young's perspective on the fairytales and facing reality, and it was amazing to see how she was able to face everything that came her way. The moral of going out of avoidance to facing reality was also very relatable. Most important, it really was those short themes, where some of the characters acted with disregard of the public opinion in order to help certain people really stuck out. It is the feeling of relief to get everything out and getting past traumatic experiences.

The relationship between the main characters are quite different from regular k-drama couples. The upside about this particular relationship was that there were little to no misunderstandings. Nevertheless, I personally thought the relationship wasn't built upon love, but more about dependence and understanding, where these two characters were able to support each other; which made me think about whether it was love or not, and whether having antisocial personality disorder made it possible to love, but who knows? At the end of the drama, I felt that their relationship seemed more about convenience, but I suppose it depends on everyone's perspective on it. On a separate note, the side character relationship also seemed a bit forced and for convenient sake.

Throughout the drama, the main issue I encountered (which is slightly covered in the "Character" section) is that the character's intentions are hard to relate too even if they made sense/were understandable. I am more of a person who likes morally grey characters with relatable 'antagonists,' but this drama is more of a oh-so-he/she/they-did-that unattached-kind of feeling, which made it very hard to continue the drama. I did end up finishing it, but it was more of because I wanted to have a closure.

Another issue I had trouble with was the repetitiveness. Don't get me wrong. I love the fairytales and the horror scenes, but it gets kind of boring, and the plot also gets kind of long, where certain scenes could be simply cut out to make it more interesting. Nevertheless, the drama was an interesting watch!

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Best KDrama Ever

There just that one show that will hit you sooo hard you will not and can not foget and this is that show. Most ppl will look at thus and say its a sad show well it is and you will love it,coures when i saw it i thought the same and was right but the thing is that i fell in love with it because it was not only sad it was funny and when i me sad i don't mean awww that was soooo sad i mean i bursted out in tear and creal like a child when watching this and laughed so much as well. So please please try this show out but be ready to cry and laugh you ass of. I recommended 1000% watch it pleassssssss

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Hard hitting drama to the society who sees mental health patients as PSYCHO

●This show is an apology to the mental health patients that they are mad or something and other harsh wrds used for them. Its like the show name ITS OK TO NOT BE OK, its fine if you have a mental health issue, you are just seeing the society differently. But we as society see them as not fit for society is totally wrong, and we need a change of perspective.
●Story- I was a bit shocked to the initial episodes featuring ghosts as I don’t watch horror genre and was absolutely nor ready for it so I took my time and watched it patiently and I was slowly damped with amazing story and powerful performance. Its not a typical romcom but a dark mystery full of thriller.I love the mental health issue portrayal by various characters due to certain trauma or pain. Their healing was somewhat good. Yes I hate that DEER too.
●Acting- for me it was all about seo ye ji as ko-moon-young. Her sassy look,badass character and straight forwardness were beyond excellent. Her each actions were speaking volumes.
Kim soo hyun as moon-gang-tae was perfect. His sadness, love, caring for his brother, he just nailed it.
Oh jeong se as moon-sang-tae as an autistic oler brother dealing with his trauma was above par my words. He was excellent.
●Music- each ost lyrics and music is excellent. They blend with the scene perfectly.
●Rewatch- I would defintly watch this masterpiece again. I love medical genre drama.

●Appreciation- I love the tiny tales in each episodes. The animation to them was visually soothing to eyes.
I love the costumes of ko-moon-young, an applause to her hair and makeup artist.

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One of the BEST if not the GREATEST

This is my first time writing a review so bear with me :)

First of all I would like to thank everyone for bringing this drama to us. From the producer, writer, actors and everybody involved.. We are grateful.

Story - If you want fast paced and plot driven drama this is definitely not for you. Guys this is a healing drama, not a mystery or thriller drama so for those saying theres too many plotholes and stuff I get that you want everything to be solved but for me I liked that it was left a mystery for us to think about what really transpired and focus on the main point which HEALING and GROWTH.

Acting - I haven’t watched a lot of kdrama but one thing is for sure.. The acting in this one will make you feel every emotions that each actor is trying to portray. Even haters are praising the acting in this one so that says a lot. The chemistry of the main leads is really off the charts.. I honestly don’t want SYJ and KSH to be paired with a different actor/actress lol, I just want them to really get together irl. To OJS.. damn this is my first time watching him and I can say that his portrayal of Moon Sang is on point! If you liked Joo Won in Good Doctor, you’ll appreciate and love Moon Sang Tae for sure.

Music - Music was great and will always make you feel more emotional during the scenes whether it be happy or sad. It’s not like those background music that will just keep repeating and try to make up for the bad acting or unrelated scenes.

Rewatch Value - I put 10/10 coz this drama is that beautiful and I don’t know how many times will I rewatch this one coz I don’t rewatch dramas but this is also the first drama that I watched while it’s airing so I’ll watch it again to see the small details and enjoy more of the scenes of this wonderful drama.

Overall - This drama is really one of the best and I’m not being biased just because I liked it. Majority of the people here liked it coz they appreciate the drama for being true to its point and for me I was satisfied with everything.. actually I’m more than satisfied coz how can you not be?! This is probably the only drama that ended and tied everything, coz usually it’s rushed or they just make it confusing. If you’re thinking of watching this one I suggest go for it.. this is the only good that came out of 2020.


Thank you everyone from MDL and IOTNBO Fam and Comment Section. Let’s all hope they reunite with another project! See you guys! I hope everyone even the haters stays safe and healthy during these hard times and I also hope that this drama can heal you from the anxiety and stress that we are experiencing right now. Spead love and appreciate! Peace!

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WELL WRITTEN AND ACTED

story- I would've made it a 10/10 however I recently read another review that pointed out a loophole w/ regards to the mother of the lead character and although I forgot about it, the review is actually right. Other than that, I can say this drama is well written. The writing is grounded in reality that it prevents the story from becoming over the top. Which is great for a kdrama that talks about different mental health issues, since certain creative choices might tarnish the pereception of the audience towards the actual topic and the people who experiences it in real life. The writing also made the characters fleshed out, not like any typical dimensional character that's prominetnt in a lot ofther kdramas. Lastly what I love about the writing is that it was able to make a long enough resolution that felt real after all the hardship that the characters experienced. Unlike other kdramas that had a conflict / conflict again at the last episode and try to resolve it at the same episode as well *coughs: My ID is Gangnam Beauty, Fight For My Way, The Tale of Nokdu, etc.*

acting/cast- Everybody acted really well especially the three leads. Although personally I think the two leads (the romantic couple) could've had more chemistry on screen.


Music- It's good. I'm not korean so i don't really understand the lyrics but I can It's bad that I remember it for being awful. The music did it's job properly.

Rewatch Value- The whole series is rewatchable since the story is well written. Personally though I will not rewatch as a whole becuase it's too serious.

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AS HISTÓRIAS VÃO TE MARCAR COM CERTEZA

Me envolveu nos primeiros instantes, com o conto da menina presa no castelo. Dai pra frente já era! A protagonista é durona, meio macrabra e sedutora, e o protagonista é calmo, racional e contido. A música do casal é perfeita, doce e delicada. Até hoje quando lembro fico nostálgica.

Nosso Sang Tae roubou a cena algumas vezes, quem diria que ele e a Ko Moon Young formariam uma parceria tão boa. Até hoje para mim a declaração de amor mais linda nesse dorama é a declaração do Sang Tae para a Ko Moon Young "Eu amo você 10.000 vezes mais". Aliás, que cena foi aquela do Sang Tae alimentando a Ko Moon Young, tratando ela com todo amor e carinho como se fosse uma criança! Como não chorar?

Ver os contos de fadas distorcidos a cada episódio é uma experiência agridoce, quando ouvi o conto da Criança Zumbi fiquei arrepiada. Depois de um tempo que notei que as histórias quase todas as vezes era destinada aos pais, a nós adultos que perdemos algo na infância. Chorei em alguns momentos e ri em vários.

A forma como a Ko Moon Young se joga para cima do Gang Tae faz a gente se sentir desconfortável, de uma forma boa hahaha... Eles quando crianças são outra fofura, perfeitos. Em nenhum momento a história ficou maçante, talvez só no último capítulo que algumas coisas

Então por que 8,00? Tirando o Sang Tae os demais personagens não eram tão interessantes, o casal secundário não me cativou em nada. Ficaram algumas pontas soltas, como por exemplo o que a Ko Moon Young fez depois do lançamento do último livro? Ele fez sucesso? O que o Gang Tae fez após a viajem? Eles ficaram morando na mansão? Além disso não acreditei de verdade no amor deles, não era como se eles se olhassem e a gente sentisse o amor. Eles se desejavam, isso é fato, mas se amarem para a vida toda eu não sei...

Ko Moon Young você ficou para história! Uma das minhas personagens favoritas dos doramas.

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A MUST-SEE DRAMA

"What the Shadow Witch has stolen from them was not their true faces but their courage to find happiness."
사이코지만 괜찮아, or better known with its English title, It's Okay to Not be Okay, is one of the dramas that I have been waiting to air because it is the small screen comeback of Kim Soo Hyun after serving in the military. That's why this is a very special one. Just in case you didn't know, I have been a fan of Kim Soo Hyun since Dream High era. Anyway, in this blog post, I'll be sharing to you the things I like, hate (if there's some) and lessons I learned in this drama. I may have some spoilers here so read at your own discretion.

Things I liked about this drama

The animation and VFX
As a multimedia artist, I am definitely impressed with the animation and the vfx of this series. I like how they used stop-motion animation to give this creepy vibe. Stop-motion animation is a meticulous type of animation. It requires a lot of patience that's why I really appreciate it. Also, I also like how they presented the main characters. They give me some kind of Addams Family vibe.Regarding the vfx, since they showed us at the end that they are using the blue screen for the scenes in the balcony of the castle, I must say that I am truly impressed on how they made those effects. Hands up to the vfx team.

The cast line-up
This drama has a solid line-up. The actors and actresses in this drama are so amazing. Well, amazing can be an understatement. Every actors and actresses fit with their roles and well, they also fit well for each other. I mean, I can't imagine other actors playing those roles. I also like how the main characters' past selves really look like their younger version. The casting team did well. And speaking of casts, Oh Jung Se is really a versatile actor! I first watched him in When the Camellia Blooms. His character here is really different from that character and he pulled it off very well. I hope he wins an award for his role here.

It tackles about Mental Health
Mental health is something a lot of people are afraid to talk about. Maybe because they are not that informed about it or they just don't want people think that they're crazy. Admit it or not, a lot of people will label us crazy when we tell them that we visited a psychiatrist or psychologist. As a person who is suffering from depression and anxiety, this drama gave me hope that those people who are not that aware with mental health and mental illnesses will have an idea about it and how they can deal with it. And also they gave me an assurance that I can recover from my mental illness.

The stories within the story
The fairy tale story books that Ko Munyeong wrote were really an eye-opener. My personal favorites are The Boy who Fed on Nightmares, The Cheerful Dog, and the Finding the Real Faces. The main reason why I loved this is because I can relate to the stories. I keep on thinking, is it really made for kids or is it made for adults? I love how adults can relate in these children books.
Aside from that, it gave me another perspective on how to look at the fairy tales. We always think that this is the moral lesson of the story because our parents or teachers told us so, but in fact, there are more lessons that can be found there. And I love how Ko Munyeong pointed it out.

The emotions it gives me
This drama will give you a roller coaster kind of emotions. One minute you'll see yourself crying and suddenly you will burst out laughing. A single episode can make you experience a lot of emotions. I think that this drama wants us to release those emotions because there are times that we also try to hide these.

The story twists
There are a lot of twists in this drama and that is what makes me want more of it. There were just so many mind-blowing happenings. Spoiler alert, yes it's a happy ending. I actually expected it already but I never thought that this happy ending can affect me equally with a sad ending. Maybe because I saw the development of the characters. It's probably one of the most satisfying ending. I personally love it. It was not the ending I was expecting but it was the ending the drama deserves, a happy one for each one of them.

Things I somehow hate in this drama

Questions that were not answered
SPOILER ALERT. The main question is how did Ko Munyeong's mom suddenly live again? Was she resurrected or something? I don't remember watching a scene telling how she survived from falling from the stairs knowing that a lot of blood spilled that time. Because somehow, it doesn't make any sense to me. I just need this question to be answered and we're all good.

Lessons I learned from this drama
I'll be writing a separate blog for the lessons I learned from each character because I think this review will be long once I added those. Anyway, these are the general lessons that I got while watching this drama.

Taking care of our mental health is as important as taking care of our physical health
Most of the time we tend to neglect our mental health because we consider it as a "not important" part in our lives. But in this drama, it shows us that mental illness is an illness. It is not something to be pushed away. It needs to be treated so that we can fully live our lives.

Blood-related or not, it is the bond and love that matters
We can see how the friendship of everyone grew. They may not be blood-related but you can feel the love that they have for each other. One example is Jaesu. He is definitely the best example of a best friend. He is just there for Gang Tae every time he needs him. And he is just so happy that at the end, Gang Tae called him "Hyung (older brother)". You can also see Nam Juri's mom. Look at how she takes care of everyone! She was just a landlady but she ended up being everyone's mom. The way she takes care of everyone is really heart-warming.

For parents, your children are not your artworks
Yes, you brought them to this world but that doesn't mean you can control everything in their lives. They are a separate human being. They belong to themselves. The thing you can only do for your children is to give them support and love they need and guide them while walking on their paths. Note, guiding is different from dictating what to do.

For children, your parents can make mistakes but that doesn't mean they don't love you
Like in Gang Tae's part, he grew up thinking that he was never loved by his mom, that he was born just to take care of his brother. But when he is sleeping, we can see how his mother loves him. It's just that his brother needed more attention. Our nation's eomma once said, cut your mom some slack.

And of course, it's okay to not be okay
Just like what the title says, it's okay to not be okay. It's okay to feel sad, angry, or just feel nothing. It's okay to show the world what our real emotion is. Because we're human beings. We're not robots who don't feel any emotion. Release your emotions instead of bottling it all up. Cry if you must. But after all these heartbreaks, let's all stand up together and move forward.

Conclusion
It's Okay to Not be Okay is a drama that I will cherish forever. It's now listed as one of my favorite dramas along with W Two Worlds, Angel's Last Mission: Love, and Scarlet Heart Ryeo. This drama will give you a roller coaster emotion. It will make you cry, laugh, angry, kilig, and everything you can think of while giving you a lot of life lessons. Each episode may be longer than the usual, but you won't feel like you're watching a long one because everything is well-packed. I'm very thankful for those people who created this drama. It was worth it. Watch out for my blog about the lessons I learned from each character of this drama.

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Um conto sobre viver

A sensibilidade, a tolerância, o amor ao diferente.

Transformar a vida sombria em cura. Cura da alma. Cuidar do outro, mas
cuidar de si também. Respeitar o mundo do outro, mas acrescentá-los ao nosso também, sendo um só em harmonia. Se
apossar de si. Deixar o outro ser. Em lealdade e amor. E cuidado.

Uma obra prima a qual é preciso ter sensibilidade para enxergar nas menores cenas as maiores lições.

Não acredito que seja uma obra para se assistir com pressa, fazendo outras coisas. Cada cena cheia de silêncio e olhares pode dizer muito e acabamos aprendendo junto com os protagonistas a sair das caixas em que nos colocamos e a apreciar o que o outro tem que nós não temos e o valorizá-lo por isso.

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Drama of the year

Saying goodbye to It's Okay To Not Be Okay was the hardest I've ever felt. It has everything I want in a drama. Love line is so subtle, no unnecessary kisses or bed scene. Character development is on point! The casts is good at portraying their character. I might say Moon Sangtae is my favourite. I have an autistic brother so i know how autistic people behave and Oh Jungse nailed it. I teared up mostly at his scene. Thank you Moon Sangtae for proving to us that having an autistic family wasn't a thorn all along but every silver lining has a cloud. I couldn't possibly thank the writer for being brave enough to write this kind of plot amidst many cliche drama nowadays. I truly believe she has open many eyes for what mental illness is and what autistic is. They are also human so they have feelings. It may not be everyone cup of tea but it definitely mine. I'm going to miss them so much ??

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