Kdrama Review – Another Oh Hae Young

Wassup fellow drama addicts? Been a while no? I’ve been having a funk both in my personal life and my professional one but there’s nothing that patience and a little positive thinking can’t solve. Okay, so let’s talk Another Oh Hae Young!

After watching a ton of drama I realized I became selective with what I devote my time to. There was even a time that I stopped watching completely because it felt like I was watching the same thing over and over. Got sick of it enough to venture to Jdramas and Cdramas for a change.

I honestly stopped looking for the next kdrama. Nothing enticed me. I wanted something new, something exciting. Wuxia gave me that excitement and Japanese slapstick gave me the mood boost. Then one day I saw clips of Another Miss Oh/Another Oh Ah Yeong on Instagram, I knew I wanted to watch it. Something about the drama caught my eye – maybe it was my familiarity with Eric or me wanting to see more of Hyun Jin. The leads were enough reason for me to watch.

Just to note, I did marathon this twice with a 2-week interval. I may come off as contradicting at some point but just bear with me. TBH this drama is good, but it seriously gave me a hard time and made me rethink multiple times. If you watched it, you’ll know what I mean. If you haven’t hopefully, I get you intrigued.

Main Players

Do Kyung

I did tell you that I haven’t watched any of Eric’s past acting work other than his variety stints. He is insanely popular so I was curious if his acting was all hype. There’s no denying that he is a complete package and I now understand why he has a lot of fans. Besides his obvious attractiveness and despite his timidness, he has killer charisma. From all the male leads that I have seen so far, his presence is one of the best.

Although I love Eric, I was not a fan of his character here. There’s definitely a lot of pain going on with everybody. Each has their own baggage and Do Kyung is no different. I’d say that most of his baggage and conflict is self-inflicted – I had the most “if only you did this” moment with him. Things would have been better if he made better choices. I don’t blame him for his choices because the man has his reasons but his character was the hardest to understand. 

Given the things that happened in the drama, I thought that he got off too easy with everything.  I think the biggest WTF moment for me with Do Kyung was how he handled the Hae Young + Tae Jin issue after the secret was out. I expected a lot from him. There came a point where he was close to becoming unlikable. His personality was just too brash and unapologetic. I think he pulled off later on but dang if I met someone like him, I would run.

The “Ordinary” Hae Young

This is so not fair for Hyun Jin’s character but for simplicity, she’s ordinary Hae Young.

Hyun Jin is like the new it girl in drama land. She’s everywhere but she’s killing it. Saw her in Let’s Eat 2 first then Romantic Doctor, Teacher Kim – she’s awesome! What I love about her is how effective all her deliveries are. She’s amazing in comedies and awesome in romance – but with rom-coms there’s no one quite like her. Her emotions are effortless and off the charts. I like how she doesn’t try to look pretty when she cries or act drunk. I have watched her in 3 dramas now and each time I see her on screen, she shines.

Her portrayal of normal Hae Young was great but how her character handled herself – not so much.

Her character had the perfect backstory to root for. She’s very cheery and positive, I love how strong her character felt UNTIL the pretty Hae Young came into the picture. Her character became a mess. Her self-confidence crumbles and I wanted to slap some sense into her.

I would have loved it if they wrote her with less pity and crazy. She’s broken and very relatable but some of the things she does are too damn pitiful. I mean she’s broken by one man then falls in love with another and goes back to the other just because she’s bored and just needs ANY man. Make. Up. Your. Mind. Woman!

Either fall and commit or treat the scenario as a learning experience and find yourself a better man. Maybe I just don’t appreciate that kind of love and fickleness but I seriously wanted her to have what she deserves.

The “Pretty” Hae Young

I have to admit that I know nothing of Jeon Hye Bin other than being the ex-girlfriend of LJG girlfriend of LJG. I know that sounds bad but I did check her filmography and I haven’t seen any of her work prior to this one. I skipped watching Gunman in Joseon, Woman with a Suitcase is still in queue, and deciding if I want to watch Queen Insoo.

Pretty Oh Hae Young is a character I love then hated then loved then hated again. I wont deny that. I automatically hated her for hurting Do Kyung and had the audacity to come back and kinda disliked her because I was rooting for ordinary Hae Young. Unfair for her character but it is what it is.

Of the 3 characters, she was the easiest to like after all the hullabaloo however like Do Kyung, the majority of what she did I couldn’t understand. I hated her for leaving, liked her a bit for coming back and wanting to redeem herself but hated her again because her reasons just don’t compute.

Soo Kyung

Another character worth mentioning is Soo Kyung. This is the first time that a side character helped me pull through a drama. I have nothing but praise with this noona.

I have watched her numerous times in different productions and each time she pulls of a crazily amazing character that fits her like a glove. Each of her portrayals is unique and have their own color. I love how eccentric she is, badass and funny.

Of all the crazies and characters in this drama, Soo Kyung noona is definitely a character who’ll help you persist. ️

For anyone who dislikes our main couple, her story is a good reason to continue.  If you are having a hard time with the drama like me, believe that Soo Kyung noona is the key to your misery.

I’ve only pointed a few characters because I don’t want to go on forever so if you want to know more about each character, there’s a quick character introduction guide at the OW of the drama. I highly suggest checking it out. Might note that it’s in Korean though.

BURNING HOTTTT!

The chemistry is there! They are on fire! Do Kyung and ordinary Hae Young are oozing with chemistry and they are burning. Every time I see them together they just make my heart pound. Not sure why they have this effect on me given that I’m not so inlove with each character. This is the main reason why I said I’ll be contradicting myself.

http://hearts-shinhwa.tumblr.com/

The way the story was written it’s evident that their relationship wouldn’t be fluffy and I braved myself. The relationship felt real, relatable. I think that’s why a lot of people loved this couple. I loved how complex and unconventional their relationship is – it felt electrifying.

Electrifying as it was, there’s some part of my brain that questioned if this relationship is healthy though? I can see myself make stupid decisions like them when I was younger but I believe I outgrew that phase and matured a bit. Personally, there’s no way I can handle such emotional baggage the way they did.

I think the main reason that this couple worked is that they’re like two peas in a pod. They are both heartbroken and scarred by their past. They are both afraid yet curious of the possibility. You have Hae Young who is burning with desire and love + Do Kyung who’s afraid to get hurt and break down his walls. They are like a ticking time bomb but they balanced each other and it somehow works.  

The Good, The Bad, The Itty Gritty

The Good

CHEMISTRY. If we’re going to summarize AOHY with only chemistry as the factor, this drama would be a blockbuster because their chemistry is insane. Whether they’re arguing or being lovey-dovey on screen, they’re on fire. Aaaand that damn kiss – that kiss that everyone talked about. Yes, it was amazing. It was one of the best. It made it to my best kisses in kdramaland. 

ACTING. I am content with how the actors performed in this drama. Despite my lack of fondness for the characters, their acting was spot on! Having watched most of them in different series before, I knew they’ll kill it.

JI YA. Or better known as Do Kyung’s mom. She’s so good at being bad that her character became memorable. If you are familiar with evil mommas in kdramaland (there are a ton of them) but I’ll bet that she’ll make it to your “Most Hated Mom” list. 

The Bad

ORDINARY HAE YOUNG. TBH it’s a tie between her and Do Kyung but I sincerely dislike how pitiful they made her character. I have familiarity with flawed characters, but with her, she just came off as desperate and it didn’t sit right with me. Watching her was emotionally draining.

The biggest example would be the scene in public when she looked like a clown – that was a major reason I hated her character. I know she was trying to make a point and prove something however my issue is with how she did it. I forgave everything prior to this but when she told him to kneel and beg I just lost some respect for her. It was executed poorly. I hate people who fight in public and to humiliate someone in public is just demeaning and pathetic. I understand her anger but how can she stoop that low. Never felt so disappointed in a character.

Personally, I understand her anger – to experience what she just went through would break my heart. It would hurt too much. It would be hard to forgive Do Kyung but I felt that Hae Young just made a fool of herself by making a scene no matter how justified she felt at the time. Ohhhhh those few minutes – I was boiling mad!

PACING. It’s an 18-episode drama and with most of the cards laid out as early as EP 7 – I was half intrigued, half worried. The first half of the series was good but the later half just felt years. If they spaced out the events carefully, it wouldn’t have been difficult to watch. I admit that I FF’d a couple of times and didn’t even had the energy for the last two episodes but didn’t want to drop it when I came that far. 

TOO MUCH POTENTIAL WASTED. I felt this drama could have been better if they paid attention to some parts (Tae Jin’s revenge for example), slashed some fluff out, and made this 16 episodes. There’s no shame with 16 episodes yo! There were shorter dramas done better IMO.

Tae Jin is a good character to explore – all those revenge plot possibilities gone to waste. I felt like they could have done a lot on his character arc to make the story more interesting efforts felt short to none. Darn! 

Well, at least that bouquet smash was satisfying! Props to LJY.

Itty Gritty

SHAKY SHOTS. For those who watched this drama, am I only seeing things or some of the camera angles/shots look shaky? Do you think this was deliberate? I have vertigo and was curious if it was just me. There were scenes that gave me bad spells when I watched on my laptop. It was horrible at times.

MULTIPLE LOVE LINES. This is not the first drama that I got sick of these multiple love lines. I think SK dramas enjoy this plot device but as my taste change, this is getting on my nerves. Stick with 2 people! If you want to do 3, make it good.

Wrapping Up the Show

I think this is the drama that I felt most polarized and conflicted about. I loved the first half, hated the second half but not enough to drop it. Loved the characters but also hated them at the same time. Even re-watching this drama for this review didn’t help.

I want to love it and recommend it to everyone but also know that there are issues that I can’t unsee. There are times that you’ll fall deep for the character, but there are also instances you’ll question the scenes.

Seeing other opinions on this drama, I’d say it has a huge following. I do like it, don’t get me wrong but this wouldn’t be on the top of my recommendation list. I feel like this drama will invoke different emotions and reactions per viewer. It’s a case to cases basis drama. Watch this with caution is the best I can do.

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Series Details

ALTERNATIVE NAME: 또! 오해영
CAST: Eric Mun, Seo Hyun Jin, Jeon Hye Bin, Lee Jae Yoon, etc.
EP: 18/1 hr. 10 mins.
AIRDATE: May 2, 2016 – Jun 28, 2016
NETWORK: tvN
MDL RATING: (8.2)

SUMMARY

Two women, both named Oh Hae Young, find themselves constantly mixed up in each other’s lives because of their shared name. From confusion over boys and grades in high school to ending up in the same occupation and company as adults, they can’t stop running into each other. And then there’s the man in their lives, a man with the ability to see into the future, a man who must decide which of these women he wants in it. Will these two women continue to find their lives entangled with each other? Or will they finally find a way to separate themselves from each other and become their own people?

LINKS: OW | MDL | Wikipedia
WHERE TO WATCH: Disney+ | Prime | Viki