My pace of watching korean dramas has really dropped off, but I decided to pick up Our Unwritten Seoul due to rave reviews and the interesting premise of Park Boyoung acting as twins who swap places. Mirae is the twin who excelled academically and works in a big corporation in Seoul, while Miji excelled in sports but got a severe ankle injury which ended her running career, and now works odd jobs. One day, Miji finds out Mirae is suffering from workplace bullying, and they decide to swap places, just like old times.
First things first, give Park Boyoung all the awards. She was SO convincing as two different people. The whole aura of Miji and Mirae were completely different, and correspondingly, so was the chemistry with male lead Hosoo (Park Jinyoung). I loved the relationship between Mirae and Hosoo both before and after they got together. This is my first Jinyoung show and I have to say I was majorly impressed, having only known him from his idol days with GOT7. Major props to the actors of the younger versions of our leads as well, creating a strong foundation for the audience to believe that those two have been in love with each other since their youth. The friendship (and possibly burgeoning relationship) between Miji and second male lead Han Sejin (Ryu Kyungsoo) was also lovely to watch, and it brought me comfort watching two scarred individuals bond over growing strawberries and finding solace in each other.
The supporting characters in the show were also outstanding. We have the ever wonderful Kim Sunyoung as Hosoo's protective and caring mum, while Jang Youngnam played the role a not-so-great mum who couldn't even tell her twins apart. Kim Rosa (Won Mikyung), a restaurant owner whom Miji has to convince to sell her property, was also a very interesting character as the show slowly peeled back the layers behind why she just refused to sell her restaurant.
Good characters are due to good writing, and the writing in this show was excellent. Thoughtful, layered and assured, every detail in the show served a purpose. Little throwaway moments turned out to be clues to a bigger picture, and it was done subtly enough that the reveal was satisfying. The script also had so many thoughtful and deep lines that resonated deeply, and the use of voice overs was effective to bring across the inner thoughts of the characters.
The one thing I have to fault with the show is that the episodes were just a tad too long. I personally think 45 min to 1 hour is the sweet spot for episode length, but this show came up to 1h 20min every single episode. So even though it was 12 episodes, it was really a 16h show. And I feel like it would have benefitted from tighter editing and trimming of the episodes.
Nevertheless, this series was a gem of a show, anchored by strong writing and acting. Just give Park Boyoung all the awards!