Friday, 8 May 2015

Drama Views: Kill Me, Heal Me (2015)


This will probably be my last drama review in a few months since my exams are coming up :(

Kill Me, Heal Me is about a chaebol named Cha Do Hyun (Ji Sung) who has 7 personalities due to Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID), and the female psychiatrist, Oh Ri Jin (Hwang Jung Eum), who helps him overcome the problem.
I had pretty high expectations for the show from the rave reviews, and it met some while it faltered at others. But overall, I really enjoyed it, especially Ji Sung's fantastic performance. A lot of people were highly annoyed by Hwang Jung Eum's admittedly excessive screaming in the first few episodes but I personally was fine with it. Don't let that minor point deter you from watching this show!



Pros:
 - Fantastic acting all around, especially Ji Sung. He nailed all 7 personalities, allowing the audience to believe him even as a teenage girl!!! And he grounded all of them with so much pathos that I'm sure many tears were shed when each personality left. Special mention for Shin Se Gi, for being so utterly hot. Yes, Shin-gun, your entire existence is a lump of appeal.

- Unending hilarity, especially from Oh Ri Jin and Ahn Yo Na. I don't usually laugh out loud when watching dramas, but this drama kept causing me to burst out into laughter! I think Ri Jin is quite underappreciated - she was the main source of comic relief throughout the show imo, since Yo Na didn't appear that much.

- Oh Ri Jin's lovely, functional family. I loved Ri-On oppa, who despite his love for her as woman, chose to stay beside her and support her as a brother.

- A wonderful OST, especially Auditory Hallucinations by Jang Jae In feat. Nashow. It was severely overused, so luckily it was so good I didn't mind hearing it over and over again.

Cons:
- Way too many flashbacks. Yes, some flashbacks were important, but most of them weren't. It got so bad that the same scene could be played thrice in 5min. I felt that it was an utter waste of time and a major reason why although I liked this show, I didn't love it. Because during flashbacks, I would just be twiddling my thumbs, not focusing on what was going on the screen and end up thinking about the flaws of the show instead.

- Lack of character development of the side characters, especially Chae Yeon (Kim Yuri). What a wasted opportunity to make her a memorable second female lead. They really should have spent less time on flashbacks and more time developing these characters.

- The complete unbelievability of Oh Ri Jin being a psychiatrist. But it's a drama, so I guess it doesn't matter. Real psychiatrists don't go around screaming at their patients! The hospital is generally a very subdued, sombre place.

Favourite scenes:
Yo Na making moves on Ri On and them running down the streets of Hongdae (with hordes of fans lining it). One of the most hilarious scenes in kdrama EVER.

Yo Na stealing Ri Jin's bunny pyjamas!

Se Gi and his supremely unfair wheel of love. But against all odds, the pointer lands on Cha Do Hyun's segment! And the subsequent scene where Se Gi says Do Hyun stole Ri Jin and Ri Jin barks back 'I TOLD YOU I'M NOT YOURS YET!', then promptly goes back to her sweet, placating voice.

Also, this scene where Ri On gets Ri Jin to stand up again after she recovers her memories.

(credits to respective owners for all gifs)