I made it no secret last year on my Instagram account when this show was running how much I adored it and it was even on my Top 5 K-dramas of 2020 post. Since I successfully made my mother watch it recently (SHE LOVED IT!) I thought of making this individual post!
It’s Okay to Not Be Okay is one of the best shows I’ve watched that beautifully addresses the issue of mental health and the power of healing. The characters were all flawed to begin with but it also realistically portrayed various mental issues and neuro-diversity starting from autism, ASPD, psychotic depression, PTSD, DID, Mania, and many more, and these characters each have their own wounds to heal and their growth throughout the show was excellently executed.
The show was described as a “healing romance that resembles a storybook fantasy,” and rightfully so, with the drama featuring mysterious and unusual characters at first glance: Gang-tae, a caregiver in a psychiatric facility, Mun-yeong, an antisocial author, and Sang-tae an autistic illustrator with a photographic memory and Gang-tae’s older brother. A major setting of the series was the OK Psychiatric Hospital where Gang-tae works at and Mun-yeong’s father resides.
I’ll be honest, I wasn’t a huge fan of the storyline, and the romance, while the chemistry was fabulous, was okay-ish, plus the twist at the end was not it for me. But everything else stole the spotlight. From the powerful acting to the CGI to the sprawling dark fairytale-like vibe hovering over the entire story, it was gorgeous! Speaking of gorgeous, Mun-yeong’s outfits made me, someone with zero sense of fashion, audibly gasp. She was an absolute Queen!
Some of my other favourite things were how the episodes were titled and resonated with the episodes themselves (Sleeping Witch, Zombie Kid, The Cheerful Dog, The Boy Who Cried Wolf, etc), the heart-rending yet soulful dialogues, and the OSTs. I’m a sucker for such details. Gang-tae, Sang-tae, Mun-yeong, and all the other side characters had a massive impact on me, with their journey towards self-love and self-discovery, and every single character complement each other in perfect harmony.
The drama is from the POV of these broken characters and the main point of the drama, which I believe some viewers overlooked, was that for every action there’s a heartbreaking reason behind it. Through them, one can learn to empathise with those who express themselves in ways that deviate from the norm.
Mist Ghost 